Chapter 4 - Destiny
The door to the Castle Library swung shut, but the echoes reverberated on and on.
That was a reason why Twilight did not yet feel adjusted to her crystalline palace. Those echoes: they reminded her of the size of the palace, of Tirek and his destruction, and of the old Golden Oaks Treehouse. Vaulting buttresses and stained windows could well impress, but they were no match for the cocooned safety of a small warm nook.
One day, Twilight promised herself. One day, I will install artificial ceilings in this room... She stifled a yawn – Celestia, did the revelations of the past few hours tire her out!
But work beckoned. “Spike,” the alicorn called out. “Spike!”
A door on the far side of the library opened and from his little cubby-hole the dragon emerged, rubbing his eyes after a nice sleep disturbed. “Oh… hey, Twilight,” he grumbled. “Back from the protest already?”
The alicorn yawned. “Ah… no, Spike, I went to Town Hall to- who told you about me going to the protest?”
“Applebloom told me that AJ told her that you told AJ,” Spike responded, reconstructing a perfect reverse-chronology. “Said she and the Crusaders were going to try getting cutie marks in social activism.”
That’s one occasion when I hope those fillies won’t succeed, Twilight thought. “Spike, please get me the following books: ‘Regional Histories of Equestria, Vol. IV’, ‘Old Ghosts – Exploring the Ruins of the Everfree’, and ‘A Hiker’s Guide to Historical Ponyville Sites.’”
Spike looked on, as Twilight groggily tried to stifle another yawn. “You know that afternoon naps and local trivia combined make you an old fart, yeah?”
“Very funny, Spike,” the alicorn muttered, nestling into her favorite reading pose and sweeping away last night’s study (equations and stargazing) to one side of the table. She really should have gone to sleep last night, as Princess Celestia had advised. “Oh- wait!”
Spike stopped dead in his tracks. “Hm?”
“Spike, have you ever heard of Imp?”
A confused frown. “What?”
“Ponyville slang? Words that don’t sound Equestrian?”
The dragon scratched his forehead. “No, not really,” he said. “I guess sometimes I hear things that I don’t understand, but I thought that was because I didn’t know better.”
“But you play with the Cutie Mark Crusaders; you play with Applebloom. You must have heard her say something.”
The dragon frowned. “I’m pretty sure I could understand everything she was saying.”
“Nothing at all? No ‘rolling the camera’? No ‘Low-B’? No ‘suh’?”
“No!” The dragon exclaimed, grumpy already and frustrated with this occult questioning. “Maybe if you’d leave the house for more than once a week, I’d have more time to notice these things!”
Twilight made a face at him. “I’ve told you a thousand times: you don’t need to limit yourself to the Castle whenever I’m around.”
“Yes, but my Dragon Code, Amended… argh!” Grumbling at his impotence, Spike trudged off to find the blasted literature.
The alicorn watched him labor away, sympathetic yet distracted. There was no particular reason to believe that Spike wasn’t telling the truth, but it was certainly odd that Applejack would speak Imp and Applebloom wouldn’t – perhaps the filly only spoke it with her family, akin to Applejack’s stance on the matter. Certainly there was a clubbish and exclusive air about the community of Imp-speakers; probably should have expected that of a language whose term for foreigners was ‘tribals’.
Spike came back with the requisite items – ‘Holy Celestia, these books aren’t even unwrapped!’ – and soon departed to his own business; Twilight began to read. Stuff for old farts indeed: dirt-brown paths snaking through seas of verdant grass, picturesque pathetic towers crumbling amid evening skies, tangled cobwebs and grasses, ‘Once a quaint backwater scarce distance from Canterlot, the Ponyville region has rapidly seized the national imagination due to its old-age charm…‘, but eventually the purple pony began to exercise a firmer grasp over the material.
Before Twilight’s mind initially floated a picture of modern-day Ponyville, the farms and the roads, the Everfree and the running waters; and slowly with each new packet of information she began altering the landscape: removing the rails, the houses; trimming the forests and re-adjusting the rivers, all the while feeling the ghosts of a distant time draw ever nearer…
*
Mane Street was a long, dusty road that stretched out some length before it rounded a corner behind a copse of trees. On every inch the wind blew, kicking up clouds of dust that then clung to the surface, insignificant and miserable. The gusts came from the so-called ‘storm breezes’, common this time of year, and while they did herald the arrival of a storm they never really adhered to schedule: the rain could fall in a minute's time or it could fall tomorrow; nopony knew.
Beyond the stamped path on the right, the earth descended at a steep angle until it touched the marshy riverbed, center crossed by a line of especially tangled green. On the left stood pockmarked buildings of wattle and daub: not particularly impressive structures, age warping them out of shape until they resembled nougats, but civic pride was nonetheless enough to keep their walls whitewashed and clean – ironically making them even more resemble the sugary snack. Signs swayed lazily from them like necklaces, bearing names like ‘PONYVILLE ING & IMB’ and ‘PARADISE HEA-DO’.
This was hardly a prestigious site for Celestia’s first capital.
“Stars, fend; don’t stray from the music so much and give other ponies a lookin’ chance, sta?”
Twilight turned to see a cloaked pony, evidently very unhappy at having her view blocked by the much taller alicorn – the effects of nutrition, no doubt – who was tapping her shoulder impatiently.
“S-sta. Sorry,” the alicorn apologized, moving out of the way. With one final glare, the mare took her spot amongst the crowd, thinned and stretched out along the line of the dusty road. Silent, the ponies anticipated.
Twilight took the opportunity to gaze once more at her surroundings – the lumpy buildings, the dusty road, the trickle of a stream that could not even fill its bed – and could not feel anything but the most supreme irony.
“And they’re back, ponies! Fillies and gentlecolts – let’s break our hooves for the return of the famous Fifty-Fifth!”
Upon the signal provided by the announcement, the crowd reared up as one and roared its approval. “Suh! Suh! Suh! Suh!” they chanted, fierce and determined, chanting the spirit of a hundred wars and a hundred victories. The earth shook with every coordinated stomp; the air pulsated with every cry. “Suh! Suh! Suh! Suh!”
The whitewashed buildings, the dusty road, the stream that could not fit its bed; yet Twilight could not help but be mesmerized, be taken by the untrammeled zeal of the patriots, by the grain-husks now falling like hail from second floors, by the great sun-on-white flag of the 55th just emerging around the corner, bringing tales of valor and deliverance across the great sweep of The Big Tribe…
Melancholy, for the alicorn knew how it was all going to end. Already Celestia's Sun was crowning in the northeast a certain purple mountain, slopes barren and wild – but one day, on that very mountain, would sit the new capital of Equestria, rid of all misshapen buildings, ill-paved roads and trickling streams. Canterlot, proud and strong, would proceed to completely eclipse Ponyville as a trade and political center, leaving the latter to decay over centuries into a barren wasteland, forlornly awaiting re-settlement from its former children…
“Suh! Suh! Suh! Suh!”
A peal of thunder darkly rolled across the azure and sunny skies. Pop… Pop… Pop…
*
“Twilight, Twilight! Wake up, for Celestia’s sake- wake up!”
“What- huh? Spike?” Twilight grumbled, feeling the dragon’s sharp claws dig into her coat and send pain shooting up into her addled brain. “Look, if I’ve- “
Pop.
Twilight's ears twitched. The thunder was real… was it even thunder? It sounded too different, lasted too short… it sounded more like a large balloon popping...
“T-twilight!” Spike’s voice was shaking, unsteady. Pop. “B-balcony!”
Twilight rarely saw the little dragon so scared before, and his fright was fast transplant itself to the alicorn. Pop. “Spike? What’s happening? What’s that noise- ”
“Come- on!” Spike exclaimed, tugging at Twilight’s forehoof, trying to drag her towards the glass doors. Pop. Confused, and suddenly wide, wide awake, the alicorn broke into a gallop, yanking open the balcony doors, skidding to a halt upon the deck.
It was dark outside, the cool air settling over her coat and making her hairs stand even more on end. Ponyville’s nighttime chatter seemed exceptionally vibrant tonight, with somepony making some announcement over a megaphone. But then another Pop, and then – screams?! – coming from the direction of-
“Town Hall!” Spike yelled, climbing on top of the railings and craning his neck for a better look. Twilight quickly dashed to his position, eyes wide open in fear.
Town Hall was still there, illuminated by streetlight orange, but a green smoke was fast obscuring the structure from view. Fresh plumes were making their way up from the ground, from Market Square – buildings and rooftops were obstructing the open space before the Hall, but through the gaps Twilight could see detritus and trash, at least in the parts which weren’t obscured by the crowd were, but-
A green smoke trail arced into the air, and in a second exploded in a shower of sparks, deathly white – Pop – for a split second no other sound existed, but soon screaming as the crowd swarmed away from the epicenter, now fast-filling with a cloud of impenetrable green…
“Tear gas,” Twilight breathed. Unbelievable. “The protest… the police… tear gas… ”
Spike was about to say something before his cheeks suddenly filled up and he blew out a scroll with a burp. A quick glance - “Twilight! No!” he exclaimed, clutching one of Twilight’s hindlegs in a panic, for the alicorn had already stretched her wings out wide, ready to fly towards the chaos-
Twilight started at the sudden weight. “Spike I have to go down there and stop this!” she exclaimed, trying to pry her assistant’s claws from her leg. “Ponies are in danger- “
“No – Twilight – “ Spike said, clinging for dear life as Twilight tried to ease him off, swinging his head in the direction of the scroll in the hopes that Twilight would notice. “Princess Celestia- “
“Give me that!” the alicorn shouted, lunging at the scroll, hapless Spike smacking on the ground like an anchor. Twilight’s heart was beating like mad, mad like never before, she was blinking hard, breathing shallow. Pop – ponies in the distance screaming, trying to get away, the muffled blaring on the megaphone. With shaking hooves, the alicorn picked up the scroll and began to read.
“STOP TWILIGHT
Twilight,
Ponyville situation extremely dangerous – stay away – coming over, ASAP!
Celestia”
“T-twilight?” Spike pleaded, rubbing his bruised scales. “D-don’t… ”
With a heavy heart and a sigh, Twilight put the scroll down, adrenaline coursing through her veins like fire, urging her on. She had half a mind to disobey, but- “The Princess wants me to stay,” she murmured. Another Pop unleashed a fresh cloud of tear gas over Market Square; the screaming was unbearable. “Spike, I- she seems... scared.”
“I…” The shock of what had just happened caused Spike to temporarily fail at speech. “Maybe she’s just… I- “ He flinched again at the sound of another Pop, making motions to return indoors and to safety. “She.. she just wants you to be safe, Twilight.”
“I know… ” Twilight mumbled, viewing glumly the situation so close, yet so far away. Her hooves were still shaking, a bit, but at least she now knew what the danger was, what its likely outcomes and limitations were; she could calm down now – or do something about the situation. “But now I’m supposed to just sit here, and look at… this… happening?”
Pop – scream. That same pony was screaming into the megaphone – for the love of Celestia could that pony please shut up?. Twilight had never been struck with tear gas before, but it likely wasn’t anything pleasant: she shuddered to think about what the situation below was like – confusion, terror, blood… and all while I’m just sitting here, watching this like a movie!
Devoid of all other options, Twilight began to sniffle and cry.
Spike scrambled to her side, doing his brotherly best to comfort the alicorn in spite of his own fears. “Twilight, you know the Princess cares for you – there’d be nothing that would break her heart more than you getting hurt over this… we should go back inside; go back and…” The dragon struggled for words. “Celestia, I hope the Crusaders are all right,” he whispered, for a moment lost in his own thoughts.
Twilight was too upset to even give a response, and Spike’s mind was too muddled to nudge her on. And all the while, green clouds of tear gas continued to swirl and swirl around Market Square, and the screaming carried on into the night.