The Decision
The rapid-fire clopping sound of weather-hardened hoof against crystal flooring announced the last of the eight to arrive. Applejack slowed her approach to a trot after entering the throne room, and took her seat alongside her other six friends. The only pony without a throne of her own, Starlight Glimmer, stood awkwardly toward the rear wall and fidgeted with her mane.
"Sorry I'm late, y'all," said the farmhoof. "There's a lot goin' on down at Sweet Apple Acres this week, and crack o' dawn is workin' time."
"It's fine, Applejack," said Twilight Sparkle. "I'm just glad you're finally here! Starlight Glimmer hasn't even told me why she summoned us."
"Well, it better be important. I was having the best dream ever!" said Rainbow Dash, huffily crossing her forelimbs over her barrel.
"Oooooh! What was it?" said Pinkie Pie, punctuating the brief interlude with an excited gasp. "Was it about chocolate? Or marshmallows? Or ice cream? Or chocolate marshmallow ice cream!?"
"Pinkie Pie! Show some decorum, for goodness sake," chided Rarity. "You're sitting in a throne." Situated between Pinkie and Rarity, Fluttershy cringed as though she were the one being upbraided.
"Guys, be quiet and let Starlight talk already, okay?" grumbled a bored-looking little dragon, currently lounging sideways in his proportionately tinier seat.
"Whoa there, Spike," said Applejack, tipping her cowpony hat upward to reveal a stern look on her muzzle. "Sounds like those manners o' yours might need a tune-up."
Twilight cleared her throat noisily. "Spike's delivery could use some work," she said with a brief glare in his direction, "but I agree with the substance of what he said. Let's give Starlight our full attention." Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief, and a moment later all eyes were fixed on the presenter.
Starlight wore a forced smile. "Okay! Well, um. I'll just out and say it. I have a new spell I want to cast, but it's a little... controversial."
"Oh my," said Fluttershy, cowering in her throne.
"Define controversial," said Twilight. Her eyes were open wide, but the muscles in her jaw drew taut.
"I'm getting to that. Basically, I need you all here because I wanted to make this a group decision. This is a spell that could affect all of us," said Starlight. Then her eyes widened and she added, "For the better, I mean!"
"Hm. I detect a moral quandary on the horizon," said Rarity.
Applejack nodded slowly. "Same here. You asked all seven of us to come 'cause you knew Twi was gonna shoot you down, didn't you?" she added, narrowing her eyes in Starlight's direction.
"No! I mean, um, no," said Starlight Glimmer, as beads of perspiration appeared on her forehead. "It's actually the exact opposite of that. I think Twilight will say yes, because she's as curious about magic as I am, but I'm worried the two of us might not be, well..."
"Grounded in objective reality where the decisions you make can mean life or death for all the ponies around you and the entire future of Equestria could be at stake?" said Pinkie in a single breath, followed by a loud gasp as she inhaled sharply for a second round. Before Pinkie could speak again, Fluttershy placed a hoof in her mouth. She'd slipped out of her seat when nopony was looking.
"Let's take this one step at a time, okay Pinkie?" asked Fluttershy, with a gentle smile. Pinkie nodded through puffy cheeks, then gasped again with the hoof removed. Fluttershy returned to her throne.
"Do we even need the Element of Laughter here?" grumbled Rainbow Dash.
Fluttershy turned toward her other neighbor. "You're just grumpy because I woke you up."
"Ladies, please..." said Spike.
Starlight Glimmer coughed a few times, and everypony refocused on her. "To be honest, Pinkie Pie is dead on the mark."
"Well, duh," said Pinkie Pie, rolling her eyes.
"Goodness, then don't keep us in suspense," said Rarity. "What is this mysterious spell?"
Twilight Sparkle smiled. "You've certainly piqued our interest, Starlight. Go on," she said, offering a reassuring nod toward her former protégé.
"Thank you, Twilight. Here's the thing. There are some really old books in the library that we received from Canterlot, and neither Twilight nor I have had a chance to look through all of them yet," said Starlight. "Long story short, after an all-night binge through the magic section, I discovered a spell that can predict the future path of all the residents of Ponyville."
"Hold on for just a moment, Starlight," said Twilight. "If you thought I'd agree to this, you might have jumped to conclusions a little early. Time spells are proscribed for a reason, Star Swirl the Bearded notwithstanding. Don't you remember the last time we got caught up in a time travel mess? We nearly destroyed Equestria!"
"Yeah, that sounds bad," said Rainbow Dash. "Let's not do that." Applejack and the others nodded in response.
"This isn't a time travel spell, guys. It won't allow us to alter history in any way, or even to mess directly with the future. All it will do is let us see problems that might occur in the future unless we take steps to prevent them," said Starlight, turning to face her former mentor. "Twilight, think about all the good this could do. Instead of a monster overrunning the town and putting lives at risk a month from now, we could stop it before it ever reaches Ponyville!"
Twilight Sparkle pursed her lips. "I'm starting to see your point. If we have access to this knowledge, it seems like it'd be wrong not to use it."
"Let's try it!" said Pinkie Pie, grinning from ear to ear. "What could possibly go wrong?"
"Twilight, I ain't gonna sugarcoat it. I don't like the sound of lookin' into the future," said Applejack. "The most valuable thing about tomorrow comin' is we ain't seen it come yet, if you follow. Ponies gotta live for today."
"But, um, if we could prevent even one tragedy, wouldn't it be wrong not to at least try?" asked Fluttershy.
"Sure, but what if we can't prevent it?" said Rainbow Dash. "Then it's just twenty times worse! We already know we're hosed, like, a hoofball game in the fourth quarter when you're down by a hundred baskets. That is not a fun time to be on the losing team."
"Rainbow has a point too, and I've had personal experience with Neighvikov's self-consistency principle. So I'll need to see the spell before I can volunteer my opinion," said Twilight Sparkle. Before she could finish her sentence, the spellbook appeared in her hooves with an accompanying cyan-colored flash of light, already opened to the correct page.
"As best I can determine, the casting provides future sight to give us knowledge of imminent death in the local area. Pretty straightforward," said Starlight.
"Wow. This is really old, and my Late Middle Cornese is rusty..." said Twilight as she pored over the pages of the book with a wide, unblinking stare.
"Mine too. I've been trying to translate with dictionaries, but a few of these words don't appear in any of the authoritative texts. It must be an offshoot, maybe from another tribal group of unicorns, like the umbrum," said Starlight, pointing at the book. "See, this rune implies knowledge and future."
"Right, and this part of the spell gives the area of effect, and the duration," said Twilight. "It's clearly a twenty-four hour spell, there's no mistaking that. I'm not sure exactly who gets to see the future, though, because with this radius the spell should cover all of Ponyville, Sweet Apple Acres, and most of the Everfree and Ghastly Gorge. I'm also not clear on the kind of knowledge. Does this symbol imply darkness? Blood? Maybe it's ancestry-related..."
"Oh no. M-maybe this isn't such a good idea after all," whimpered Fluttershy, wrapping her wings about herself.
"Well, there is this," said Starlight, pointing at the book. "I didn't know if anypony here might object to the idea—the dark thing, I mean."
"That won't be a problem. It should be safe as long as I help you cast it," said Twilight.
"Um, I hate to intrude on the egghead party, but do you mind clueing in the rest of us?" asked Rainbow Dash. Several ponies exchanged looks of agreement.
Twilight took a deep breath and pulled her nose out of the book. "Starlight has discovered an ancient spell written in an obscure language. It's really hard to cast, but with her and my powers combined, we should be able to manage with virtually no chance of error," she said. "The spell will only last for a day and a night, and it will affect all of Ponyville. Starlight and I are fairly certain it will allow us to see into the possible future, and use that knowledge to help prevent disasters from occurring."
"That sounds amazing! Do it!" squealed Pinkie Pie.
"Are you certain you wish to do this, Twilight?" said Rarity. "Including yours truly, none of the rest of us have the background to understand the spell, let alone the ramifications of casting it. In general, I would advise caution."
"Absolutely," said Applejack. "Measure twice and cut once, as Rarity might say." Rarity briefly smirked in her friend's direction.
"Um, what was that thing you said about us objecting to something...?" asked Spike.
"Ah, yes. Well, the only potentially dangerous thing about the spell is it uses a tiny bit of dark magic—" said Starlight Glimmer. Fluttershy immediately interrupted with a high-pitched squeak.
The look on Pinkie Pie's face flipped like a switch. "No, wait. Now this sounds bad. Like, really crazy bad. I think 'dark' means 'bad'. Doesn't 'dark' mean 'bad'? I mean, not in a racist or speciesist way or anything."
"I've used dark magic before, Pinkie. There's nothing dangerous about it. I've been able to control it without any side effects, and this is just one spell," said Twilight. "Most high-level alicorn magic is dark magic, like when I unlocked Zecora's memory potion."
"I, too, have used dark magic, as has Starlight's friend Trixie," Rarity piped up. "Those situations were not exactly problem-free."
"You were both using cursed artifacts, Rarity," said Twilight Sparkle. "This is just a spell. There won't be any effect on either of our minds, not even in the short term."
"It's entirely external," added Starlight. "That's the main reason I'm confused about where the knowledge comes from, but there isn't any way it can harm us."
Applejack cleared her throat. "That depends on what you mean by harm, sugarcube," she said. "Now, we're gonna do this all democratic-like, I presume. If that's the case, based on what little of this I can follow, I'm against."
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. This is Princess Twilight Sparkle we're talking about! She's awesome," she argued. "And Starlight Glimmer is also kind of inexplicably awesome for some reason nopony seems to understand. If the spell actually lets us prevent disasters like Twilight says, we'll be fine. And even if we aren't, the eight of us can handle pretty much anything. I'm in."
Rarity took a deep breath. "Despite being a unicorn versed in magic herself, I'm certain I don't know enough about the details to accurately opine—nor could I likely learn much more without weeks of study at a minimum. I'd normally defer to our two experts, but I have a bad gut feeling about this due to my own experiences with dark magic," she said. "Therefore, I must abstain."
"Yeah, well... I hate to be the party pooper, but I vote no," said Pinkie Pie. "At least not until we know more."
"Wow. Pinkie being extra cautious," said Spike. "Weird."
"I'm not sure how much more we could learn without casting the spell, Pinkie," said Twilight. "I don't even know where to begin decomposing it if I can't figure out what it does in the first place. But it sounds like the overwhelming consensus is against, so—"
"Um, I vote in favor," said Fluttershy, interrupting with a very soft voice. "If that's okay."
"And that's weird too," said Spike.
Fluttershy shook her head. "I feel the potential for good here outweighs the potential for harm," she explained. "Of course I'm afraid of the consequences, but well, sometimes it's worth it to take a risk, in the name of helping others."
"Huh. Well, the two of us are obviously in favor," said Starlight Glimmer. "But we're both more than a little biased toward wacky magical experimentation, and the whole point of getting your reaction was to provide Twilight and I with more grounding. I'd prefer it if the six of you could come to a consensus, or else we should shelve the idea until we complete more research."
Twilight nodded. "I agree. So, with Starlight and me removed from the equation, that makes it two and two. It looks like the deciding vote falls to Spike."
Suddenly, Spike felt seven ponies staring at him, and his eyes widened in shock. "Me?" he said, inadvertently coughing up a green flame in the process. The little dragon paused for a moment in thought. "Well, listen, everypony. I know Twilight Sparkle really well. I've seen her make some pretty big mistakes before, but never after consulting with her friends like we're doing now. She's a princess for a reason, and I think she can handle this. I say we let them try it."
"Yesss," said Rainbow Dash with a large hoofpump, as Applejack scowled at her. "Now that that's settled, I can go back to sleep. Right?"
"Not yet," said Starlight Glimmer. "It's probably best if you're all here when we cast the spell, just in case something does go wrong. Which it won't."
"Yes. Of course it won't," said Rarity, flatly.
"Wait, right now?" asked Pinkie, leaning forward across the Crystal Map. "How long will it take for you to get ready?"
"I think we're ready now, actually," said Twilight. "There's nothing to learn since we have the instructions right in front of us. The directions are very clear—it's only the semantic annotations we can't parse."
Applejack removed her hat and placed it on the Map. "Twi, I hope you realize just how much we care about you," she said, with a wry smile. "It ain't just anypony whose messes I actually look forward to cleanin' up."
Pinkie giggled, and the rest of the crowd put on brave-looking faces.
"Here goes everything," said Twilight Sparkle, standing up next to Starlight Glimmer. The book lifted into the air with a mixture of magenta and cyan auras, shimmering with iridescent blue sparkles. Both mages blushed momentarily as their auras mingled, then focused on the book. Starlight didn't appear to change, but the sclera of Twilight's eyes glowed a bright green as purple flames licked at the edges of her eyes and her aura shifted from magenta to black. There was a momentary flash of bright red light, followed by a brief squeezing sensation gripping everypony's foreheads.
The sounds of raw magic faded out, and all present looked around the room at the aftermath.
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Starlight does have a tendency to come up with insanely-radical solutions to problems.
Twilight had just opened up a portal to TSJ and was 'busy'.
The thrones of course being the only known chairs in Equestria. Seriously, someone should at least get her a stool.
Clearly Rainbow Dash is the most enlightened of all present. She doesn't need stallions, she doesn't need the Element of Laughter. Clearly she has ascended beyond petty mortal things such as 'needs'.
Then you can brace for impact and minimize the damage of the oncoming disaster?
Ummm, Twilight? Hun? Sweetheart? Dear? Like 35 percent of pony fanfics revolve around you botching a spell. Add in Starlight 'magical disaster incoming' Glimmer...
orig06.deviantart.net/ce75/f/2010/143/5/0/code_geass_demotivational_by_tootiredtomakename.jpg
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Rainbow + Fluttershy + Twilight + Starlight = 4
Applejack + Pinkie Pie = 2
Neither 2 nor 4 equals 3. Your math is suspect, Twilight.
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Pbbt! Go ahead and ruin my simple arithmetic, why don't you.
(I'll fix that in a bit, thanks. It isn't like many ponies will see it, though, I'm already off the front page lists.)
Ms. Sparkle, you are a princess. A princess does not get "summoned," especially not by a squatter.
Quite.
8317161
What about Rarity?
9539753
Rarity abstained.