//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 - It Will All be Over Soon // Story: The Egg and the High Wall // by swirlstar //------------------------------// Chapter Five – It Will All Be Over Soon A single golden ray materialized near the Castle roots as dawn broke over Ponyville: slowly it crept up the walls, higher and higher, rising until it reached the level of the library window; suddenly it burst forth, and immediately flooded the interiors with a soothing warmth. Twilight groaned at the unfamiliar feeling, creaking open blurry and encrusted eyes to find that she was slumped over her by-now dog-eared copy of Regional Histories, the poor book sporting an unsightly splodge that led up to the corners of the alicorn’s mouth through a silver bridge of drool. The alicorn's head was throbbing; it had not been a pleasant night. “Ugh, Celestia… need to-” Suddenly the memory of what had happened hit her like an oncoming train; she sat upright, feeling her brain shift and turn like a sackful of bricks- “Town Hall!” Twilight yelled out, anxiously… But everything was calm: just the warm light embracing specks of dust and thread, just the lazy fwap-fwapping of a nearby fan. Thin curtains rustled in time with the morning breeze, and beyond them the land richly illuminated in vibrant colors. There seemed precious little different about this world, and for a moment Twilight believed that the ponies would think and live as they had always done- “They are still out there, Twilight.” The alicorn whipped around: Princess Celestia was sitting on an adjacent table, porcelain cup to her lips; a pot of coffee smoldered beside her. She looked unperturbed, and the grace of her poise and the steadiness of her demeanor seemed to Twilight to be like a marbled statue, serenely gazing down on all the curious creatures who came to admire her. “They’re still out there – the Occupiers, my faithful student. I have ordered the Police to stand down,” the Princess commented, softly, apologetically. “I didn’t want to alarm you.” Twilight blinked as she slowly processed the information. “Was anybody hurt?” “Twenty, maybe thirty. No deaths. But those are likely only the serious injuries – the rest have stayed inside, and of course we have no way of divining the situation there.” The purple mare’s ears twitched. “Inside?” At this point Celestia sighed, and set down her cup with a nervous clink: outside a songbird chirped, obliviously striking up that tune which all its kin across Equestria seemed to share. “Yes – the occupiers have barricaded themselves within Market Square. The center of Ponyville is effectively a no-government zone…” “W-what?!” Twilight exclaimed, disbelieving. Tear gas and barricades and occupations – these were hallmarks of societies beyond Equestria, less-fortunate places condescendingly described in newspapers and television reports. For this to happen in pony country, and Ponyville at that- “What can we do? What will you do? I can’t- “ “Twilight.” Princess Celestia held up a golden-shod hoof. “We’ll talk about this later – but for now, you should go clean yourself. You’re a mess…” The lavender alicorn could feel the white alicorn ushering her out of the Library, feel the Solar Princess’ magic entwining with her mane, gently working out the knots and kinks in her hair. “Stars, dear, you’re a mess – last night, last night must have really gotten to you… ” Princess Celestia stopped before the door to Twilight’s rooms. The purple alicorn instinctively turned back, and saw that in the half-shade of the morning light Equestria’s sovereign had possessed less of the stoicism than she had earlier presumed: her eyes were sunk, her form stooped, and her lips trembled. Unsteadily the Solar Princess opened her mouth to speak, but something choked off the flow of her words. The Princess exhaled deeply and averted her eyes. “Twilight…” she began again, ashen-faced. “For what it’s worth: I’m sorry for placing you in this position.” * Twilight tried, but she could not wash and she could not brush. The soap suds slipped and slid round and round the drain, and the wildly-flailing water barely flowed before it was shut off once again. Skimming a towel over her dampened form, the alicorn hastened to join the others in the dining-hall. Spike had prepared omelettes and together the three of them ate in silence. Knives and forks chattered as pony and dragon alike diced up their food with industrial speed, keen to get the whole business over and done with. Twilight, having finished first, began looking impatiently at her other co-eaters, her mind skittering rapidly between angst and anticipation: in moments of lucidity she wondered if all leaders felt thus in times of crisis; she felt bad for them and hoped that Equestria had not played a part in their stress. Princess Celestia was the last to lay down her cutlery. She had been brooding in silence, and while her face remained impassive as ever Twilight was attuned to the swirls in the wind, the sparks in the air, and the chill that announced darkening skies. While Spike cleared the dishes, the Solar Princess stared determinedly at the table surface; she then got up and, without warning, strode to an empty part of the room. Now her gaze was fixated upon a wall, and once again in her form Twilight recognized the outline of a monument, but now one that had spent an eternity within an empty cave, alone and forgotten. “Twilight – Princess Twilight – please believe me when I say that I have rarely begged anypony for their understanding before,” the Solar Princess began, uneasiness masking itself as its opposite. Panicked, the purple alicorn rushed to her side; Celestia gave but a passing acknowledgement. “All these years, ponies have either accepted the logic of my benevolence, or else they have not possessed the strength to resist. You know what the result of this has been, Twilight; you know what Equestria is like today, and by no means is it a bad result." Twilight opened her mouth and attempted to say something, but no words seemed able to come out. What could she possibly say? The alicorn did not want to just answer with a glib 'yes' and seem vapid and uninterested; answering 'no' was evidently out of the question. So like a fish out of water the purple unicorn commanded her lips to seal back up, and hoped that her mentor would graft her best intentions onto the silence. It did not seem that the Princess was looking for an answer, anyway. "My dear student..." she began again, voice dreamy – Twilight could feel an alicorn's foreleg glide over her shoulders, pulling her close; Celestia felt tense and shivered at the touch. “Do you remember that time when you asked me how Canterlot was built?” "Um… y-yes," the purple alicorn stumbled, initially taken unawares by the question’s spontaneity; she calmed down and thought about it again, and in light of what she recalled about Old Ponyville the query seemed eminently more reasonable. "You told me about the craftsponies hewing rock out of the hillsides, the magical cranes where two ponies would walk on the treadmill and one would operate the controls... the stone cutters and the wood-carvers brought in from all over the land, and the architect who showcased every pony building style within your new city..." Celestia chuckled. "Yes, of course you'd remember," she praised, and pressed her student a little closer to her; they maintained their poses for a while longer, and when they finally parted the Solar Princess was ready to reveal her thoughts. "My faithful student," she began tentatively, cautiously. "This situation is not what I had in mind when I rose you to this position, and I would have done almost anything to stop this burden from falling on your shoulders, had I been more vigilant... but there are things that even I do not have the ability to control, and it seems Fate has decided that you are to preside over this... Occupation." The white alicorn crowned her prose with a wispy sigh, almost resigned in its nature: "For all intents and purposes, I rely on you." Twilight felt her blood run cold at the mention. "Rely on m-me?" she stammered, feeling the weight of responsibility grind down steadily upon her head. "Yes: just as I do not intervene in Cadence's affairs and Luna's nightly visits are none of my business, so would it be poor form for me to intrude directly into your Kingdom," Celestia answered simply. "And I think we can assume that your friends in Ponyville form part of that Kingdom. "But fear not, Twilight," the white alicorn quickly consoled, reaching out to the terrified student. "I won't leave you alone to deal with this. I'll always be reachable in Canterlot, always ready to give you advice and support should you need it; the good ponies at Town Hall too, they are your loyal subjects, they will be there to aid you. We should talk to Mayor Mare - she's holed up in Town Hall now; we can teleport there and discuss the ongoing situation." "Yes, of course!" Twilight nodded hastily, accepting her mentor's solution as soon as it was proposed; she was only too relieved to hear the Princess' comforting words, to see the steadying smile that now rose over the Solar ruler's visage. No small reassurance it was, the knowledge that however bad the raging storm about her, the Princess of Friendship would always have her sturdy rock to lean upon. * Mayor Mare's lair, perched right at the tip of the cylindrical Town Hall, was like a scene from some musty old novel: heavy curtains covered all the windows, resulting in drab yellows and silhouetted browns splayed out everywhere; the heating had run through the night, and the room now felt unseasonably warm. Scattered everywhere were crumpled papers and orphaned documents: in drawers, on the rug, amid armchairs - and in the middle of this sad spectacle was Mayor Mare, prostrate and snoring loudly over her wooden desk. Vague chatter wafted up from the ponies of Market Square, and in its blurriness the noise almost sounded normal, though of course the real situation was anything but; it was very strange indeed, that feeling of being able to just close one's eyes, clear one's mind and then pretend that nothing extraordinary was happening at all in the town… undoubtedly Ponyville was now going through historic times, but what surprised Twilight the most was that the minutes and hours still felt so painfully… mundane. Meanwhile Princess Celestia strode over to the oaken desk. "Mayor," she commanded, nudging the sleeping mare. "Mayor!" The tan pony let out a very unladylike snort. “Huh? What?” she groaned, slowly animating into life. “Oh, ah- Your Highnesses!” she exclaimed, launching out of her chair and hurriedly bowing with her glasses, mane and tie askew – a manner more clown than politician. “Yes, yes, Princess Celestia, and you too, Princess Twilight,” she mumbled, motioning to the chairs before her. "Please, sit..." The alicorns acknowledged greetings and slipped into their seats. “We continue our conversation, Mayor,” the white alicorn began simply, placing her forelegs together in contemplation. “And from now on, I do not intend to leave Princess Twilight out of the loop. Her participation in this is essential, and I want her informed as to every development. What lies in front of us is indeed a challenge, though not wholly unprecedented; given unity and prudent management, we can see this Occupation off without much trouble. “Let’s be honest and put this in perspective," the white alicorn continued, rehearsing a speech that she had long ago composed. "There is no question as to the outcome of this Occupation. Ponyville is not important to Equestria; the country does not revolve on the whims of a single provincial town. I will not yield on an issue to which the rest of Equestria has clearly registered assent – especially when a certain segment of Ponyville seems intent on holding the entire country to ransom!” The Princess rapped on the desk to emphasize her point. “This Occupation will fail and we are going to build the Ponyville High-Speed Rail, whatever the opinion of these malcontents. "That said, I have no intention of suppressing this demonstration through extreme force," Princess Celestia declared, smoothing out a blank piece of parchment before the other two ponies. "Not for me, the methods of King Sombra. In any case, my analysis of the Occupation allows us to defeat it without recourse to violence, provided we manage our response deftly and with skill. So with a view to this-" and the Princess began to write, "-I want to note down three points that I expect the Government to adhere to, in dealing with this delicate situation. “First and your topmost priority: arresting contagion. We must prevent the Occupiers from gaining broader sympathy, both within Ponyville and in the rest of the country. Obviously there will always exist the stubborn radical who insists on the validity of this form of protest, but the large majority of ponies can be reasoned with to see the light. “In this vein, you must compete for public approval. I don’t want the Ponyville Government removing protestors with plain brute force: that reflects well on nopony, and the scars will take decades to heal. Time is on our side: ponies need to make a living and eventually this disruption of Market Square will become too much for them; if the occupiers can be goaded into violence, so much the better for us. But we must not concede this ground to our opponents. "Lastly: everything the Government does must be seen to come from its own initiative. The royal institution will not be associated with the beating and gassing of mares and fillies, and neither will the public appreciate extensive intervention coming from the distant halls of Canterlot. Us Princesses can express our opinions, of course, but Princess Luna and I will categorically deny instructing you on how to deal with this protest; so too with Princess Twilight, although obviously the citizens will expect her to be involved to some extent. But if you dare drag her name through the mud… ” and at this point Princess Celestia’s voice grew sharp and steely- “… then so help me.” The commands were thus issued: Princess Celestia rotated the finished parchment over for Mayor Mare's perusal, and the quill that had hitherto been held in the Solar Princess’ aura collided onto the surface with an unnatural clack. The white alicorn now reclined back into her chair, eyes turned towards the plaster sky. "Questions," she stated simply. The room retained its deathly silence. "Th-these are good proposals, Your Majesty!" Mayor Mare hastily replied, giving the document but the briefest of passing glances. "Yes, they are good indeed, and the Government will of course follow them to the utmost of its ability..." the tan pony cast a concerned glance at Twilight Sparkle. “We will do everything to make sure the Princess' name is not sullied…" The purple alicorn did not say anything and chose to observe the two ponies sat down before her. Mayor Mare was jittery, sweating: her eyes darted uneasily between the alicorn on her right and the alicorn on her left, and it was quite clear that she worried desperately about their silence, and feared that she had offended one or both of them; Princess Celestia, on the other hoof, remained as serene as usual, if a little colder than what Twilight reckoned of her: she continued to stare at the plaster, dignified and distant, and in that moment Twilight thought that her mentor's form actually more resembled a facade, and that all her poise and words merely formed the covering stone, behind which hid real emotions and real insecurities. Mayor Mare had said her piece, and as if in response Princess Celestia exhaled, seemingly releasing all the air she had gathered in during the previous minute. "Thank you, Mayor," she said, voice returning to its dulcet tones. "I trust your ability to sail the ship of state during these troubled times, and as I have told Princess Twilight earlier: it was not my intention to place you in this unhappy position. Do you have anything you wish to add?" "Yes, actually," the tan pony immediately answered, a long-running concern bubbling up to the surface. "We’ve confirmed that Applejack is one of the Occupation's ad hoc leaders. Now Princess Twilight is of course a friend of hers-" "Yes, of course," Princess Celestia acknowledged, turning her head towards the purple alicorn. "Twilight, I trust you understand what's at stake here – please, don't go to Market Square, not for any reason! We can’t compromise the Government’s stance on the matter..." "I-I won't," the purple alicorn replied, fully cognizant as to the implications of such an act. The Solar Princess smiled appreciatively at her pupil’s prompt response. "There. It's not so difficult," she said gently, patting the purple alicorn on her back. "My faithful student, I promise you this – it will all be over soon."