//------------------------------//
// Chapter 12 
// Story: Sleeping in the Light 
// by Wheller 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 12


With a blink of an eye, the scene had changed, as Kelso and company had left the memory of the Castle at Canterlot and now found themselves in the middle of a machine dug trench, approximately two metres deep and seven metres wide. The area that they were in was heavily forested except for an open plain for several kilometres in the northern direction, but it was not a region that they recognised as Equestrian.

‘Where do you think we are?’ Dizzy asked as they looked around at the surroundings.

‘Judging by the trees? Southern Kanata, we’re probably some hundred or so kilometres from the Hoofson Bay’, Hopely said as she glanced around the trench and up towards the sky. ‘But what could we possibly be doing here?’

Sparky turned her head and discovered that a large concrete bunker several dozen metres down the trench from them, inscribed on the bunker, were the words: ‘Sunburst Project Test Site’. Sparky was pretty sure that this was the reason why, and her theory was confirmed as the bunker door opened and the unicorn mare known as Emerald that they had seen from the memory at the castle appeared from it and began walking towards them. ‘That might be why’, Sparky said as she pointed to the sign, and to Emerald.

The group all stepped to the side and allowed Emerald to pass. They weren’t actually here of course, but the idea of her walking through them was highly disconcerting. Emerald passed out of their view as she rounded a corner. Kelso and Company immediately followed and stopped when they discovered a group of ponies standing on a large platform that allowed them to see up and over the trenches. They recognised one of them as being Princess Celestia, standing beside her was another unicorn, this one a midnight blue with a cobalt mane, and a cutie mark of a crescent moon, Luna the Mad in all her glory.

However they were not alone. Standing next to them were two ponies much larger than any that they had ever seen before. They both had the horns of a unicorn and wings of a pegasus, Alicorns, a mare and a stallion.

The mare stood at approximately five hundred centimetres tall, here coat was a crème colour, and her mane was auburn red, and she had a cutie mark of a bottle of ink with a quill inside it.

‘Who wants to bet that is the queen we’ve been hearing about?’ Viola asked as she pointed to the tall mare. Everyone nodded in agreement as they moved closer.

The stallion next to her was somewhat shorter than the Queen, and he was mostly obstructed by her, what they could see was that he too, had a mane of similar colour, and he sported a beard along with it.

Suddenly, loudspeakers burst to life. Announcing that it was time for the test, each of their party clamoured to the edge of the trenches to watch whatever was about to happen.

There was a bright flash of light, followed by the sound of an explosion. The mouths of the ponies in their party fell open as a column of fire rose into the air, forming an all too familiar shape, a shape that they had all been taught to recognise in school, a mushroom cloud.

‘What the hell!?’ Sparky cried out as she watched the mushroom cloud rise. ‘Sunburst is a nuclear weapon!? Are these people crazy!? Don’t they know about fallout?!’

‘I don’t suppose it’s possible that Sunburst is a fusion weapon?’ Dizzy asked.

‘And that! Fillies and gentle colts, was our fair kingdom’s first nuclear weapons test!’ They heard Emerald cry out from the platform.

Sparky looked over to the platform and frowned. ‘Yeah... it’s not a fusion weapon’, she said with a frown.

...

Another blink of the eye, and the memory changed again. This time, Kelso and company were back in Canterlot Castle, in what they imagined was Princess Celestia’s bedroom. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were arguing with each other, and as Kelso turned around to look at the room, she discovered that the door was open, just a crack, and Emerald was kneeling outside the door, looking in and watching.

‘How can you possibly say that, Tia!? You think this what mother would want?!’ Princess Luna cried out.

‘A better question is: how can YOU possibly say that. Luna, you saw at first hoof the destructive power of Emerald’s nuclear weapon! You want to use it!? Are you insane!?’ Princess Celestia cried out.

‘The answer is yes!’ Sparky cried out on a whim, causing everyone besides the princesses, and Emerald, to turn and look at her. ‘The passive observers in the room would like it to be known, the answer to that question is yes!’ Sparky cried out again.

‘Tia, the nuclear weapon is a tool, our kingdom is already great! Think of how much greater we could be?’ Luna said, trying to reason with her.

‘By using it to conquer the other races?! Luna, this is madness!’ Celestia said as she turned from her sister.

‘Don’t you get it Tia? We would only need to use it once! We are the only ones who have it, we detonate a nuclear weapon over the gryphon capital city, and the entire world would fall to its knees! We would unite the world, under our nation’s banner! Think about it Tia, it would end conflict forever, not just here, but the entire world!’ Luna said, trying to reason with her sister.

‘I’m getting it just fine! You are the one that doesn’t get it Luna! I don’t understand how, but you just don’t get it! So much destruction... It’s evil! How can you not see it?’ Celestia cried out.

‘It’s you who always said that we should set aside conflict and live in harmony. Like it or not Tia, that weapon is the best solution of bringing about harmony for forever. Sure, a few thousand gryphons die. They were already going to die anyway! It’s a sacrifice for a new world order...’ Luna did not have a chance to finish her sentence before Celestia’s hoof struck her across the face.

‘Let me make this abundantly clear’, Celestia said, her voice shaking with anger. ‘For as long as I live, Equestria, my Equestria, will never use these demon things against another living creature, and should you ever think to try... Luna I swear to you... I will make your regret it’.

‘Well, lucky for us then...’ Luna said as she rubbed her face where Celestia had hit her. ‘You are not queen yet’.

‘Mother is dying, Luna, that bomb made her sick!’ Celestia said with a frown, as a tear began to form in her eye. ‘How could you ever want to use it knowing that?’

Princess Luna said nothing. She lowered her head and began to trot out of the room. Kelso and company moved out of her way and she pushed open the door, nearly bashing Emerald in the face with it on the way out.

‘You know,’ Sparky said as she turned to her friends. ‘I for one am very glad that Princess Luna is dead; it’s rather disconcerting that she was perfectly willing to use nuclear weapons on us all’.

...

Another blink of the eye, and the world changed before them. One word could be used to describe the world around them. Metal. The floor was metal, the walls were metal, and the ceiling was metal. They were in the middle of a long and empty hallway, in a place that did not look familiar.

No, scratch that. As Kelso looked closer and closer at the hall she slowly began to recognise it. This was the Whitetail Industrial Complex, the walls were a different colour than she was familiar with, but this was definitely still the same place. She looked over to Sparky, who nodded her head in agreement.

‘When do you think we are now?’ Kelso asked.

‘Who knows at this point?’ Sparky said as she began to look around. The group began to walk along the corridor and they rounded a corner to discover Emerald standing in the middle of the hallway, engaged in a conversation with another pony that they did not know.

Emerald had changed significantly since the last memory, the most important change was the fact that she was pregnant, and looked to be quite far along, at least nine or ten months. The other pony was an earth pony stallion, and he was not familiar to them at all. His coat was black, his mane was black, his eyes were brilliant amber, and he was wearing a white overcoat that covered his cutie mark completely.

‘The word came down today; Princess Celestia has ordered the destruction of all our missile bases, they’ve already destroyed the one in Hopeville’, the black stallion said.

‘I heard...’ Emerald said. ‘I’ve taken precautions, I’ve falsified reports that this base has been permanently sealed, and they’re not going to come down here and check... These are dark times for our people Cromwell, we’re about to enter a dark age, Princess Celestia is going to order our technology destroyed, I know it’.

The pony called Cromwell nodded his head in agreement. ‘It’s not a complete loss... the commander of the Vermillion Mesa Missile Base has refused orders to disband and disarm... of course, they have been branded as traitors now, and they’re kind of stuck there’, Cromwell said with a frown.

‘Traitors... those ponies at Vermillion Mesa are patriots! They’ve stayed tried and true to our fair kingdom... as it should have been before that bitch transformed it into her new Principality’, Emerald said with a scoff. ‘And with Princess Luna gone... exiled for standing against her... things are only going to get worse’, Emerald said with a sigh. ‘How did it come to this Oberlander?’

‘Our queen died’, Cromwell said with a frown. ‘Our king became a monster...’

Emerald looked up at Cromwell in surprise. ‘How do you know about that?’ she asked.

‘I watched the King transform into that hellish monster Discord’, Cromwell said with a shudder. ‘His face haunts me to this day’.

Emerald frowned and began to pace back and forth along the hallway. ‘Who else knows?’ she asked.

‘I would assume only me... you, and the princesses, the last thing they want is for their subjects to know is that Discord was their father’, Cromwell said with a shrug. ‘I’m not planning on telling anyone either, I wish I could forget it myself... I still can’t believe that they’re gone’.

‘Only that bitch is left... she’ll be the death of us all’, Emerald said with a frown. ‘Cromwell... there is a reason I asked you to come... we need to come up with a plan! We can’t let her do this!’

Cromwell sighed, offering Emerald a frown and shook his head. ‘What would you have us do, Emerald? Use a nuclear weapon on Canterlot itself?’ he asked.

‘No...’ Emerald said, shaking her head. ‘No that wouldn’t work, Celestia may be a technophobic luddite, but she’s not stupid, she’ll have left the early warning systems in place... a launch would be detected and intercepted...’

‘I’m leaving Equestria, Emerald’, Cromwell said. ‘And I’d like you to come with me’.

Emerald’s eyes widened as she looked at the stallion before her. ‘Leave!? And go where?’

‘Welara, the coltic civilisations are faltering, they’d be ripe for the picking, we could found a new Equestria, a better Equestria, you and me’, Cromwell said with a small smile.

Emerald frowned at the stallion before her and merely shook her head. ‘Oberlander... we can’t leave, how can we? We can’t just give up here!’ Emerald cried out.

‘What would you do, Emerald?’ Cromwell asked.

Emerald was silent for a moment; she turned and looked down the hallway. ‘I’m going to overthrow the monarchy, and establish a republic in its place’, she said.

‘Emerald...’ Cromwell began before she cut him off.

‘No! Cromwell, listen! I’ve got it figured out! I know exactly what I need to do... it’s... it’s going to take a while, and once I start, I can’t back out of it. I’ve spent the last five months designing the perfect soldier... now all I need to do is build up my army. I’ve got everything I need to do it from here...’ Emerald said.

‘When you say that it’s going to take a while...’ Cromwell began.

‘The process is slow, this Missile Base’s minifacturing plant isn’t perfect, I’ve run the numbers, and the minimum number of soldiers that I’ll need...’ Emerald began, before Cromwell cut her off.

‘How long Emerald?’ He asked.

‘The absolute soonest I can make my attempt is a thousand years from now’, Emerald said. ‘To be exact... one thousand and two years’.

‘Emerald...’

‘I’ve come up with a system to extend my life for as long as necessary, I’ll direct the revolt, and found my republic... then I’ll let it grown on its own’, Emerald said, confident in her plan.

‘Emerald... what about your daughter?’ Cromwell said, pointing towards her stomach. ‘Your plan... it requires her to grow up without her mother. Is that what you really want?’

Emerald looked at Cromwell sadly, shaking her head no. ‘No... no I don’t want her to grow up without her mother... but I want her children’s children to be slaves to Princess Celestia even less’, Emerald said softly. ‘This was the hardest decision of my life, Oberlander Cromwell, but I swear to you, on my life, my research, my integrity, and the Everfree Plains Missile Base. Equestria will be free from the Tyrant Celestia, and I, Emerald Sparkle, will be the caretaker of this revolution!’