Operation Imortuus

by Pika53

Capter #3

Equestria, Canterlot Castle, 6:30 pm, 8th July 20xx, Night, Weather: Cloudy

Standing upon the lip of the tallest spire of Canterlot Castle, high on the side of mount Equinox, was a balcony from which, on a clear day, one could see all of Equestria. In a literal sense, not merely poetic, considering there were no neighboring civilizations of comparable size and sophistication to hem the land with treatied borders existed, the legal definition of Equestria’s territory was in fact everything Celestia surveyed, by naked eye, from her lofty palace. Although the actual balcony from which the law was defined was, in truth, three stories down; the principle remained.

Of course it wasn’t a clear day. As much to the contrary as possible, it was a heavily overcast night. Standing upon the balcony, Celestia, princess of the sun, let out a weary sigh and drooped; letting her wingtips brush against the floor after having finally wrestled down the restive sun and dimming out the last traces of sunset. Although she wasn’t bothered by rain and mist in themselves, Celestia didn’t care much for cloudy weather. This was due, in no small part, to the fact that her solar regimen was always more difficult when she couldn’t actually see the sun.

Much like a foal whose mother was out of sight, the mischievous orb would take the opportunity to play; dawdling as long as it could before setting to bed or pretending to sink down while in fact creeping north. However, unlike a foal, it was made of pure elemental energy and playing with it was no way to relax.

In the interim, Celestia was able to silently reflect upon the day’s events. Hearing the rumors of strange events occurring near the settlement of Hollow Shades, she had authorized a task force to investigate and take care of the problem. Although she didn’t know the details, Celestia could only hope they would succeed considering several special individuals were among them. Despite the risk the human’s presence caused, Celestia was pleasantly surprised that the boy had managed to exceed all expectations.

Whatever happened Celestia knew that the construct ‘Selena’ would look after ‘Jaden’ and her second favorite alicorn ‘Tess’ considering how often it updated her on how they were doing. That thought in turn brought a small smile to her face. Celestia was snapped out of her reverie by the soft tap of silver-shod hooves. Turning, she smiled and stepped down from her tiled platform. Rather than greeting her sister as intended, though, to her embarrassment Celestia found herself yawning cavernously in the younger Princess’s face.

“Oh goodness, do excuse me, sister…” she said sheepishly.

“I’m just so much more tired than usual tonight.”

Luna’s lips twitched around a smirk, then she too burst into a yawn, covering her mouth and shooting Celestia a dirty look as she finished.

“I too feel rested less than I would like. I blame this heavy air, it fosters sloth.” she grumbled.

Luna looked up to the dull canvas of the sky and sniffed. Fond of flying far and wide over the
kingdom by night, she took even less delight in low-visibility wet weather than Celestia did.

“At least the stars need no great art tonight.”

“No, I suppose not… I didn’t put on the most elegant sunset either. A copy from yesterday, to be honest.” Celestia replied.

She fought back another yawn, but it powered through her defenses.

“Oh, my, I really am exhausted.”

“Ye filly, get to bed before ye drop; so doth the throne of Canterlot decree!”

Luna swept her hoof imperiously toward the tower’s door; the impish bright crescent of her grin robbing the gesture of offense.

Celestia rolled her eyes and bowed her head with a slight quiet smile.

“Well, as my liege commands.” she replied.

Before she could walk away however, Luna paused at the platform’s edge and called out.

“Oh, sister, wait… if I could trouble you…”

“Trouble away, my sweet, so long as you don’t need any great feats of wakefulness.”

Luna gave a hasty nod.

“Of course. I only ask that if should see a kitchen steward as you’re passing through, to have a coffee service sent up here?”

“Poor tired Lulu. Shall I have them bring up a carton of vanilla oat swirl as well?” Celestia teased.

Luna tossed a narrow glare toward Celestia’s overly innocent smile; recognizing another move in the long-running debate concerning who ate how much, of what, and when; and whose cutie mark region was of greater disproportion in consequence.

In tones of great and costly concession, she said, “…why yes, that would be lovely, sister dear.”

“My pleasure.” Celestia replied, not quite chuckling.

With their backs to one another, the royal sisters both paused at the same moment for another deep yawn, with identical curves of their necks and the same soft squeak on the exhale, before Celestia descended into the tower and Luna took a stance on the platform, raising her head to breath deep the chilly air as she extended her senses out toward the sleeping moon.

***************

Equestria, Ponyville; Various Locations, 7:05 pm, 8th July 20xx, Night, Weather: Stormy

Standing within the kitchen at Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack added the final touches to some deserts she’d been working on in an attempt to keep busy despite the weather. It was almost a shame that little Apple Bloom wasn’t around to assist; or take part in tasting the delightful treats. If she recalled correctly, her little sister was attending a sleepover with her friends. Applejack grinned impishly as she wondered how Rarity was handling the sleepover.

All was going well when she was suddenly struck by a strange sensation that left her feeling light-headed and woozy. Blinking, Applejack shook her head as a mildly puzzled frown crossed her face. ‘What in the hay just happened?’ She didn’t hear anything but the steady sound of rain falling on the roof as she turned her head back and forth while thoughtfully staring into space but Applejack couldn’t shake the feeling that something was out of place any more than she could suppress the sudden unusual urge to ingest large amounts of pills. Applejack had no idea why.

Eventually, she shrugged and returned to work.

***************

A rainy day, Rarity reflected, was just what the little over her boutique door needed. The recent surge of orders that had come in had been working the poor bell to exhaustion and fraying at silver nerves. With the rain keeping ponies at home, the bell could take a well-deserved break. In the ensuing silence, Rarity herself could find time to finish taking care of business and accomplish some work.

With the sky outside dark and the lamps inside lit, the day had passed in a timeless trance of full-steam creativity. It wasn’t until her stomach began to complain of missing both lunch and dinner that she looked up and realized that it wasn’t just the doorbell being silent, but Sweetie Bell also. Rarity frowned. Sweetie was supposed to be staying with her tonight, yes? The wall calendar confirmed it; not only were their parents out of town for another three days but the Cutie Mark Crusaders were supposed to be having a sleepover. As such, her dearest little sister and darling friends should have been filling the boutique with noise and calamity for hours now.

“Girls?” she called twice, moving up the staircase toward the guest bedroom.

She supposed the Crusaders could have come in quietly, uncharacteristic as that might be, but Rarity already knew that it wasn’t so; the boutique felt empty. There was no sign of the hyperactive fillies anywhere.

She returned downstairs and looked out a nearby window at the clouds hanging low and ominous outside; although the rain itself had subsided to a moderate sprinkle. Unable to spot the hyperactive trio, her dramatic side helpfully presented a half-baked array of dreaded misfortunes that could befall a trio of fillies out in foul weather. As a result, she decided that positive action would be the best way to avert panic.

“I’ll just have to brave the elements and go looking for them!” she declared aloud, squaring her shoulders courageously.

A snap of thunder replied, making her jump and give a high-pitched whinny of surprise.

Her shoulders and courage slumped a bit.

“I do wish they could have chosen a day when the elements didn’t need quite so much braving.”

Rarity was snapped out of her reverie as she heard the unmistakable sound of filly voices, several of them, raised in laughter from somewhere on the other side of the boutique. Quickly making her way to a window on the boutique’s opposite side, Rarity let out a deep breath of tension relieved as she spotted a flash of cheerful color against the rapidly darkening sky. Naturally, the color was that of three familiar fillies dressed in, despite the mud that coated them, yellow rain slickers. Said ponies appeared to be playing in a nearby mud puddle.

Fortunately, it appeared the fillies were safe and well and with a sigh, Rarity made her way toward a nearby doorway to call them inside. It seemed ‘cleaning fillies’ would just have to be added to the ‘to-do’ list. Just as she reached the door, Rarity was suddenly struck by a strange sensation that left her feeling light-headed and nauseous. Blinking, Rarity shook her head as a mildly puzzled frown crossed her face.

‘What was that?’

She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off any more than she could suppress
the sudden unusual urge to filch whatever she could get a hold of. Rarity had no idea why.

Rarity took a moment to compose herself before opening the door and making her way toward the Crusaders.

“Come along girls, it’s time to go inside and get cleaned up.” she called cheerily.

The Crusaders continued to play, unimpeded by Rarity’s request. Soon after, Rarity found herself sidestepping a wad of mud that flew past as Scootaloo dived into the puddle with a delighted squeal.

“Girls, it’s time to go.” she tried again.

The Crusaders continued to ignore Rarity as they enjoyed themselves.

“Girls!” Rarity screamed; stamping a hoof impatiently.

***************

Standing upon a tuffet of mist high above the grumbling clouds that showered Ponyville, Rainbow Dash eyed the lower-hanging rainclouds. They were nicely spaced but not, she thought, well deployed. Too many were raining on buildings and pavement that didn’t need watering. Raising her head defiantly into the gale, Dash spread her wings wide and flexed them to test the wind before leaping from her perch in a graceful arc.

From the arc’s apex, she let herself drop into a smooth curve; swooping under a particular bed-sized cloud then up again to loop around and land atop it. Dash waved to get the attention of Flitter and Cloudchaser, who were trimming the edges of a nearby cloud bank and hoof-signed what she wanted done with the misplaced clouds. After they’d signaled agreement and set about the new task, Dash dug her hooves into the cloud she stood upon. With big steady power-sweeps of her wings, she began to push it away from the center of town toward greener areas beyond the library tree.

Passing over the library tree, Rainbow Dash glanced down. Twilight, she mused, was probably inside reading her precious books and drinking tea while good old Rainbow Dash was out shoving clouds in the lightning and rain. Dash grinned; poor egghead just didn’t know what she was missing. Moments later, Dash was suddenly struck by a strange sensation that left her feeling light-headed and unsteady. In fact, if it hadn’t been for the cloud, Dash would likely have crashed into the ground. Blinking, Rainbow Dash shook her head as a mildly puzzled frown crossed her face.

‘What the hay was that!?’

She didn’t see anything unusual as she turned her head back and forth while thoughtfully staring into space but Dash couldn’t shake the feeling that something was up any more than she could suppress the sudden unusual urge to demolish something. Rainbow Dash had no idea why. Eventually, she let the thought go and continued moving the cloud; glancing down occasionally as she did so. Soon after, she spotted Derpy lying in the back of an apple cart. Frowning, Dash pushed the cloud to a more suitable position than glided back to the cart to check on the dazed pegasus.

“Are you alright?” Dash asked, helping Derpy sit up.

“I just don’t know what went wrong.”

“What happened?”

“I was flying among the clouds when this weird feeling struck me… and…”

Dash blinked.

Something Derpy just said reminded her of her own unique experience.

“And?” Dash prodded lightly.

“Muffin?”

As she hovered in front of the gray pegasus, Dash let out a sigh before replying in a perfect deadpan “Uh, no. No muffins.”

Derpy let out a sad sigh as she climbed out of the cart.

“Hey Derpy, there are a couple of clouds near Sweet Apple Acres that still need to be moved. Do you think you can take care of those?” Dash asked.

Derpy responded with a bright cheerful smile and a nod as she took to the air and headed off… toward Sugarcube Corner. Dash plastered her face in a hoof and groaned. As fond as she was of Derpy, there were times when she had to wonder about that mare. Scowling, Dash took to the air and darted after the wayward pegasus.

***************

Sitting comfortably on her couch by the fireplace, Twilight Sparkle was engrossed in an ancient magic book written by none other than Star Swirl the bearded. Her eyes darted quickly across the written lines, literally soaking up information from it. Nearby, Spike was busy reading one of his comic books on another cushion. Twilight rather liked a rainy day, now and then as wet weather and the rumble of rain could be strangely more peaceful then silence; just as long as she had no plans to be spoiled and the weather pegasi didn’t stack too many of them in a row.

After a few minutes of reading, she closed the book and submersed herself in her thoughts. It had been a fascinating lecture, detailing many aspects about parallel universes, time travel and long-range teleportation. Of course, much of Star Swirl's notes talked about fantastic worlds with strange creatures and foreign technology and magic’s. It all made Twilight felt as giddy as a school filly as she imagined what she could learn from the civilizations, study their artifacts and societies, perhaps even bring them along to Equestria!

With a contented sigh, the librarian opened her book again at one chapter dedicated to some extraequestrians called "humans". Star Swirl had written in his observations that provided these humans could set aside their differences, they could conquer their solar system. Much of the information corroborated what Jaden had told her about his home world when they’d first met and Twilight could easily understand how excited Lyra had been when the green unicorn had borrowed the book; a race completely devoid of magic, and yet had achieved marvelous technological advances, such as sending manned vehicles to the moon, or harnessing the very power of fission.

Come to think of it, she hadn’t heard from Jaden or Tess in a while and wondered how they were doing. Letting the thought go, she continued reading.

Those notes were scribbled down 500 years ago the purple alicorn pondered wistfully.

Imagine how advanced they could be now!

As she continued to read, Twilight was suddenly struck by a strange sensation that left her feeling light-headed and dizzy. Blinking, Twilight shook her head as a mildly puzzled frown crossed her face. ‘What… just happened?’ She didn’t hear anything but the steady sound of rain falling on the roof as she turned her head back and forth while thoughtfully staring into space but Twilight couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong any more than she could suppress the sudden unusual urges to be spiteful and nasty and to play with sharp pointy objects. Twilight had no idea why.

“Um… Twilight? Are you… okay?” came a soft, hesitant voice from across the couch.

Looking up, Twilight saw that Spike was staring at her in concern.

“I think so.” she replied uncertainly.

“It’s just that I had this really weird feeling pass over me… and…”

“What kind of feeling?”

“That’s just it, Spike…” Twilight admitted; a troubled look crossing her features.

“I’ve never felt anything like it before and it’s hard to describe.”

“Well, don't stress over it.” Spike cautioned.

He then stretched and returned to reading his comic book.
Looking on, Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Sometimes I wish I had your lack of concern.” she said to her assistant before returning to her own book.

***************

Rainy days didn’t make Fluttershy’s routine any less busy, just damper. The outside animals still needed feeding; some of her wild friends still needed check-up and therapy visits; and there were still all the chores to do indoors as the rain made some animals huddled and lazy while others were restless and troublesome. Although the mud was inconvenient, on the whole she barely noticed the weather as she went about her work.

Now that evening had come, with all the work done, the hearth fire crackling softly and dinner warm in her belly, Fluttershy found that curling up under a quilt with a mug of cocoa was nice enough in itself but the gentle hiss of rain outside made everything just perfect. With the soft continual chorus of small animals fidgeting and chirping throughout the house combined with the sweet steam of the cocoa Fluttershy began to feel her eyelids grow heavy and her mind grow foggy. It only added to her pleasure to have Angel Bunny snuggling beside her as most of the critters settled in themselves; the nocturnal ones polite enough to start up their routines quietly.

Just as she began to doze off, Fluttershy was suddenly struck by a strange sensation that left her feeling light-headed and woozy. Blinking, Fluttershy shook her head as a mildly puzzled frown crossed her face.

‘What was that?’

Climbing out of bed, Fluttershy sighed and set her mug down before quietly heading over to the window. She didn’t see anything outside nor did she hear anything but the steady sound of falling rain as she turned her head back and forth while thoughtfully staring into space but Fluttershy couldn’t quite put her hoof on why the odd sensation she’d felt was rising a deep blossom of worry in her stomach any more than she could suppress the sudden unusual urges to be spiteful and nasty and to scream loudly.

Fluttershy had no idea why this was but the little alarm bells in the back of her mind rang a bit louder. Unnatural was the word that echoed through her thoughts. Her musing was interrupted as she felt something nudge her leg. Glancing down, Fluttershy saw Angel looking up at her in concern.

“I’m okay.” she said, trying to sound more reassuring than she felt.

Eventually, she shrugged and returned to bed.

***************

Sweeping the dust off the floor of Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie Pie hummed lightly to herself as she attempted to stay busy. Although rainy days, like this one, could often be bad for business, no to mention sooo boring, Pinkie was rather glad that it had come later in the day when things usually died down anyway. Plus they really needed the rain anyhow.

In the ensuing silence, Pinkie thought about all the fun things that awaited her tomorrow. She hadn’t heard from Jaden or Tess in a while and wondered how they were doing. Pinkie also hopped that Jaden had received and enjoyed the little gift she’d made for him. Although it was true that Jaden was a boy, Pinkie figured he would still be able to get some pleasure out of the souvenirs she’d made. In fact, it had been a sudden bout of inspiration that had led her to create the souvenirs; unusual as they were. Wouldn’t Rarity be surprised to learn that she wasn’t the only one who could be inspired to create amazing works of art?

Pinkie’s mussing was interrupted when she was suddenly struck by a strange sensation that left her feeling light-headed and woozy. Blinking, Pinkie shook her head as a mildly puzzled frown crossed her face.

‘How did that even happen?’

She didn’t hear anything but the steady sound of falling rain as she turned her head back and forth while thoughtfully staring into space but Pinkie couldn’t shake the feeling that something unusual had just happened any more than she could suppress the sudden strange urge to stuff her face with food and the feeling that wherever Jaden and Tess were they’d received her little gift and that a part of Pinkie would always be with them.

Although Pinkie had no idea why; the second sensation negated any feelings of unease she might have had about the other urge and made her feel incredibly happy. After a brief pause, Pinkie resumed cleaning while humming her "Not-Evil Enchantress Zecora" song.