//------------------------------// // Emergency // Story: These Final Words // by Scorch215 //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle slowly turned the dial on her latest invention. She hadn’t decided on what to call it yet, but the basic premise of it was a device that used radio waves to map out the stars in the sky. In order to get it to work, she had had to install a large antenna and dish on the roof of her castle in Ponyville. At first it had been working well, then one night as she adjusted the dished she ended up picking up something mixed in with the static. She had spent the next couple of days trying to clean up the signal to see what it was but so far she was having no luck. As she worked she heard a knock on the castle’s large door and she sighed. Spike was currently running errands in town, so that left her to go answer the door. Leaving the radio set, she made her way from the side room into the main room of the castle, past the large map in the center of the room and towards the front door. When she got there, she opened it and saw Applejack standing outside. “Hey Applejack.” She said smiling at her friend. “Hey there sugarcube.” Applejack said smiling. “Ah was wonderin’ if you were alright. Nopony’s seen you for a few days.” Twilight blinked at her. “A few days?” She thought about it before smiling sheepishly. “Eh…I kind of got wrapped up in something.” “Ah’m guessin’ it has somethin’ to do with that big tower thing you added to the castle?” Applejack asked, looking up at the roof and the large metal tower topped by a large dish pointed at the sky. “Yes it does.” Twilight said and noticed Rarity and Fluttershy making their way towards the castle door. “Ah, Twilight, darling. It’s so good to see you again. It’s been too long.” Rarity said and Fluttershy gave a small wave. “Yeah. As I was telling Applejack, I got wrapped up in a project I was working on.” She said, laughing nervously. “Oh? What are you working on?” Fluttershy asked looking at her curiously. “Well, I’ve been using radio waves to view the stars and I think I picked something up. But I can’t make out what it is through all the background noise.” Twilight explained. “What, like aliens or something?” Applejack asked, smiling at the sheer ridiculousness of the thought. “Well…the dish is pointed towards the sky, so….possibly…” Twilight said. She had actually been so focused on cleaning up the signal she hadn’t thought of what the signal could be. Her friends just stared at her for a little bit. “That sounds like it could be an amazing discovery, if it is.” Rarity said as she thought what sort of fashion aliens might have, though it was hard to imagine;, as she had no idea what aliens could look like. Twilight nodded. “Yeah, that is true. Just think of how much it would change our theories and views of the universe to know there is other intelligent life out there.” Twilight said as she thought how making contact could advance Equestria’s scientific field by leaps and bounds. “Ah’m sure you want to get back to your fancy radio, so I’ll head back to the farm. Ah was just taking a small break to make sure you were okay, Twi.” Applejack said. Rarity nodded. “And Fluttershy and I have our weekly date at the spa, so we will bid you farewell also, Twilight.” Twilight nodded and bid her friends goodbye before returning to the side room. She spent another hour doing everything she could think of to clean up the signal before she sighed in frustration and let her head fall onto the control panel. Her head hit the control panel harder than she thought it would, and her head shot up as she yelled and rubbed her forehead. A moment later, a slow tone came from the speakers of the radio. She blinked as the slow tone continued for another minute, and then an emotionless voice began to speak: This is an emergency broadcast for the continental United States. The federal government has issued a state of emergency for the following states: Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California… The emotionless voice continued to name off places Twilight had never heard of, all of them in alphabetical order... Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Twilight had been counting. The voice had listed 48 names total and Twilight wondered what could have happened for so many places to be having an emergency. If you have access to a fallout shelter, it is recommended you enter it and await further instructions. The National Guard has been deployed to provide aide and Martial Law has been declared across the United States. Citizens are asked to remain calm and await further instructions. The slow tones started to play again and after a minute the message repeated. Twilight listened to it again, in case it changed, but after the fourth time she realized it was some form of recording. Her mind raced with thoughts on what could have happened. She didn’t know what fallout was but she knew it must have been bad if there was a shelter built just for it. What could have happened that everypony was being told to seek shelter underground? After listening to the message for the tenth time, Twilight turned off the radio. It didn’t give her any more information she could use. She needed time to think about what the alien message had said and what it could mean.