//------------------------------// // Foreshadowing // Story: A New Moon Is Rising // by Jinxed //------------------------------// 18 hours earlier Today was really quite beautiful, mused the Element of Honesty as the Sun was almost swelteringly blazing in the sky. Princess Celestia had made another beautiful day it seemed, and Applejack wished to make the most of it before the scheduled clouds were due to come in from Cloudsdale. Dash had told her to prepare for a storm, which irked the farmhand as it was such a lovely day, but regardless of her wanting, the tempest over the horizon was clearly going to encroach over Ponyville within a few hours. "Least the crops'll get a nice waterin'." She noted under her breath, wiping away some beads of sweat running down her brow and placing her stetson back on her head, her ears poking out either side. She'd finish up here in the orchard and go inside for some lemonade. Rearing back her leg, she then slammed her boot into the middle of a tree trunk. Her innate magic surged, her muscled body the conduit, passing through her and causing every single apple to detach from their branches, down safely into several carefully placed baskets around the tree's base. A small smile presented itself as not one missed their intended location. She continued down this row of trees, repeating the action she did almost daily. Apples fell into baskets, as the sun reached its zenith. She'd been working as always, since early morning around seven, and she needed to eat soon to keep her energy up. The other crops were seen to already; the corn had been watered, the carrots that were ripe had been picked, and several other vegetables or fruit tended all within schedule before noon, then she could focus on cleaning up after and feeding the livestock, and pay Gertrude a visit at her cottage to collect the milk she gave as way of paying rent. Things were going well. But why was Spike running towards her from across the field? "Spike?" She asked, not particularly to him as he was still quite far away. The shapely dragon was sprinting with a great deal of haste, a thin sheen of sweat visibly staining the shirt he wore. His clawed feet that were free of footwear were kicking up a good deal of healthy soil too which really peeved her, her ears flicking in annoyance, he could have run along the path at least. When he came to a grinding halt before her, she stood for a moment with her hands on her hips while he regained his breath, panting heavily. "Take a second there, boy." His face was a mask of confusion, mostly. When he did straighten up, he was already letting words fall from his mouth before she could ask what the problem was. It took her hand over his mouth to stop the talking, until he actually stopped talking into it. When she released his jaw, he simply let out another breath, and then spoke. "You need to come quickly. Twilight disappeared in front of me. My fire won't send messages." He summarised rather well, Applejack got the gist of the issue, and it certainly explained why the slim dragon had run here. Without saying a word, she gestured for him to lead the way back to Twilight's library. Usually when Twilight suddenly vanished it was because she was teleporting somewhere to try something that was science-y or experimental. Spike was probably just overreacting, she mused as she followed his footsteps. "S'alright, Spike. Ah'm sure there aint no problem, just Twi doin' her thang." She told him, essentially speaking her mind, but Spike shook his head they went, at a rather fast pace too. He began to list reasons as to why this was different from what happened normally, such as there being a blastwave when she vanished, and scorch marks from the area she had been standing in. She patted him reassuringly as they jogged on, his long tail was really swishing around worryingly in contrast to her own that was just flowing in the breeze. "Whatever it is, everythin'll be fine." Not reassured in the slightest, he led on while murmuring to himself in a panic. She purposely steered him along the dirt path so he wouldn't cut across her nice fields again, even though he still tried to direct himself that way for the sake of speed. He got the idea and kept to the designated avenue after the last attempt earned him a swat from her. "Sorry, just really worried." She nodded her head in understanding and a smile. "Really? Ah couldn't tell." The sun in the sky had started to dip down towards the earth as they made their way to the centre of Ponyville, and Applejack noted that everypony she saw actually looked rather out-of-sorts and on edge. She wasn't too surprised with the news she'd been hearing about the meetings up in Canterlot, and the strange increase in Royal Guard presence during the afternoons, ponies must have been a little nervous. She hadn't really been keeping up with it all though, too much work to do on the farm, same as always. Big Mcintosh had mentioned something about today if she recalled right... She bumped into the back of Spike, who'd apparently stopped. Looking towards where Spikes eyes were staring, she gasped in shock. That was probably what Mcintosh had told her about. Near the centre of the food market between all the wooden stalls that vendors would usually sell their wares at, was a massive armoured behemoth of cast iron, steel, and timber that was the size of an adult dragon, being escorted by a dozen or so of the Royal Guard Elite, their darkened gold armour much less reflective than the standard fare she'd seen on Guards up at the castle. It was... several cannons in one? She'd read about these in history books detailing older wars, the giant multi-cannon being one of the greatest weapons of the last era before peace had been struck, a Crepitus Aedificatio if she recalled her Ancient Ponish correctly, in the modern language it roughly translated to Explosion Frame, and it wasn't wrong in having such a title, the thing was said to cause unprecedented destruction on an almost town-wide scale that would decimate entire battalions in the blink of an eye, but it was only ever produced in small numbers due to limited resources at the end of the war before peace was attained and had never actually been properly deployed. Until now. The newspapers had spoken about preparations and talk of war, but seeing this fear-inducing monster of a weapon brought it down quite clearly that such a looming threat wasn't as empty as she'd thought, she'd dismissed it as flashy headlines made to sell the papers better and increase sales of produce, which admittedly she'd written off as a small boon as crops were selling faster than usual and Sweet Apple Acres did have quite a backstock they hadn't been offloading. Pacing over to a stand selling newspapers she snatched one up and glared at the front of it, ignoring the pony working at the kiosk who was asking for the bit it cost. She read it as Spike peered over her shoulder at what she was doing. The Pony Gazette Equestria on the brink of war? ----------------------------------------------- Yesterday at the Royal Canterlot Foreign Affairs Summit was likely the worst committee meeting of foreign officials in recent Equestrian history, with several officials backing out of trade agreements and many heads of their respective kingdoms or tribes nullifying defensive pacts with each other or making new accords entirely, which has been unheard of since before the two-hundred eighteen year long Gryphon-Minotaur war over thousands of years ago, which devastated many regions of both race's countries as well as the surrounding people's lands. Many heated debates were had between both Princess Celestia and Lady Luna regarding trade lines between the Crystal Empire and the region claimed under the New Lunar Republic founded by Lady Luna herself over four years ago, previously coined the Undiscovered West. Princess Celestia and King Idris of the Gryphon Kingdoms denounced the idea that the New Lunar Republic should be allowed direct trade routes via train through the region under Princess Celestia's rule, and instead should forge new routes around the Frozen North, despite meets earlier in the year between Lady Luna and Princess Cadence where the two had come to a deal on establishing lines for supply. It was apparently with great despair, according to spokesponies present, that Lady Luna had asked Princess Celestia before the summit if she wished to see her and her people die, for with a heavy winter on its way, her current trading with the Minotaur and Yak Kingdoms wouldn't be sufficient enough to support their needs, and a convoy with the Crystal Empire would ensure their survival. It was after this that the meeting broke down into little more than passive-aggression and other such barbs traded between several rulers, sparking the dissolvement of previously confirmed pledges, to which Lady Luna stormed out in her anger.   The Pony Gazette could not reach her for comment. Applejack grimaced inwardly, looking to the left side of the paper where the text wrapped around the printed sepia image of the summit meeting, showing Luna mid-shout as she glared towards Celestia, the hurt evident on her face. Spike's scaled brows furrowed, his eyes on the picture. He glanced up to the farmhand. "It looks bad, but things'll be fine, right?" For her part, she really hoped so, putting the newspaper back down as the kiosk pony grumbled, placing a hand on Spike's shoulder and giving him a smile. "C'mon, let's go see if we can't find Twi." He seemed calmer now, she guessed likely due to having time to think, as Twilight was never really in trouble for long even when she was knee-deep in problems. Plus the mighty weapon in the town square was still taking up both of their attention as they walked past it at a brisk pace towards Twilight's library at the very centre of town. When they arrived, she rapped her knuckles three times on the door of the semi-public building, just in case. Spike jumped back slightly in surprise and let out a cry of joy as Twilight answered the door. "Oh, hey Applejack, what's uAAH-" The Unicorn couldn't finish her sentence as Spike leapt at her in a hug, laughing to his friends safety as she stumbled back in confusion with the drake latched onto her. "Spike, what's the matter?!" Applejack chuckled as the dragon explained about her teleportation spell being different and how he hadn't been able to send messages to Celestia, while she took a seat for the moment, watching him relax as Twilight picked up some books that had fallen from her bag when Spike had tackled her. "No, no, I just fueled the spell a bit much, The Princess needed me to help her with something and I had to get to Canterlot really fast, so... I teleported there." She stated matter-of-factly, as Spike looked on with astonishment. "I'm new to teleportation spells so I just overestimated how much power it would take was the only issue, and Princess Celestia blocked messages so we wouldn't be disturbed. But having done it I am really hungry though." "I'll fix you up a sandwich!" Spike beamed, immediately rushing off before she could even say thank you. "Heh, that drake. He always worries." Twilight turned to her friend, who had been observing. "Applejack. I'm actually glad you're here, I needed to speak with you after my meeting with the Princess." Twilight smiled at her, then suddenly dropping the expression as it took on a more somber gaze. "I uh, look, I wanted to tell you that... hoo boy, this isn't gonna be easy to say, you've been reading the newspapers, right?" The farmhand didn't like where this was going. "Yeeaah..." "Well... Princess Celestia isn't sure what the future holds, but she's fairly certain she knows what's coming." Twilight was wringing her hands and glancing to the floor every time she met Applejack's eyes. "War is very likely to break out between Lady Luna and Princess Celestia... within the year." To her credit, Applejack's visage didn't change immediately, Twilight noted. Her friend slowly nodded, resting her arms on her knees and swallowing with a deep sigh. "Yeah... yeah, ah figured as much when ah saw that horrendus contraption th' Guard were haulin' outside, an' the newspapers said as much too." She scowled, staring up at Twilight with a concerned face. "Damn it, this aint good, Twi... what can anypony do ‘bout this but sit on their thumbs an' hope fer th' best?" "I don't know..." For the moment, they waited in silence, sharing the same low feelings. Only the sound of Spike humming from within the library was heard as it carried through. Twilight walked over to her friend and gently wrapped her arms around the mare sitting down. "I'm sorry, Applejack." The orange mare scoffed, shaking her head. "Aint yer fault, Twi. Ah aint gonna shoot the messenger." "N-no... not that. Well, yes that, but also..." Twilight flustered, she got like this when she had to tell somepony something important, or something they weren't going to like. Usually both. "The Princess, she’s asked me to ask you on her behalf, that is, of course, she's hoping you'll agree..." Applejack held up a hand, stopping the librarian immediately. "Think about what yer gonna say before ya say it." Twilight nodded, breathing in, and out. "Princess Celestia wants to requisition the usage of your farmland and all its produce and production to assist in the coming war." Twilight informed the now alarmed mare. "And enlist you into the main army as a Quartermaster to help oversee the troop's production of crops vital to the war effort, and after the war, you'll be reimbursed for the trouble. I-it's... not like she's demanding though, most of the time the Crown can just-" "No. Not ever." Came the quick clipped response. "Wha-" "Ah won't give mah folks land over to nopony, Twi. Not even Celestia." Applejack stood up abruptly, her voice low. Twilight shifted with the tone. "Mah kin built Sweet Apple Acres from the ground up, as well as Ponyville itself way back when, it aint nopony's to take. Ah know if ah give it over, it'll be ruined beyond repair. Not only that-" Applejack was almost shouting now, the sound had caused Spike to see what the commotion was about. "-but all ponies ‘round here rely on the crops we put out, we're the only supplier to Ponyville within hundreds o' miles! And besides that, if Celestia wants the Apple family's land, she can damn well ask me an' Granny Smith herself!" She breathed out heavily, her fists clenched. "How dare she ask that o' us." She growled. "Ah want no fuckin' part in this war." "I really am sorry, Applejack." Moments of silent fuming later, she spoke again. "No... no. Ah am." Applejack replied apologetically, looking up at her clearly distraught friend, moving forwards and hugging her tightly. "Ah'm mighty sorry, Twi. Aint yer fault, not at all. Ya don't shoot th' messenger." After holding the embrace for a few relieving seconds, she broke apart and hurriedly left the library, intent on something only she knew, leaving Twilight alone as Spike carefully tiptoed in, sandwich on a plate. He made to offer the dish to the purple Unicorn, but she quickly turned around, tears in her eyes as she went upstairs to her room. With a sigh, Spike followed and was going to knock on the door until he heard her sobbing within. She was quite emotional lately so he'd left her to cry and comforted her later when she was ready to talk. He placed the food outside her door on an end-table, leaving to go finish up what he'd been doing before Twilight had teleported to Canterlot. It was going to be a long day.