Burn
It was 7:46 AM. The doors to the throne room burst open. A pale horse walked inside.
"Princess Cel—Celestia?" Princess Twilight Sparkle, ruler of Equestria uttered as she beheld the unkempt figure of her once-mentor. Celestia’s mane flowed at an odd pace, and the expression upon her face was grim.
"Twilight," she said, "there isn't much time. Come with me."
It was 8:32, and Beauty Brass was reading the Canterlot Times. She was sitting on her favourite sofa, mug of coffee with milk and three sugars sitting on the little table in front of her.
She didn't know that in three minutes, she was going to die.
8:33. Beauty got to the funny pages before setting the thing down. She never read the funny pages; they never seemed all that funny to her. Silly little comics for foals. That wasn't her style.
Groaning, she drank the last of her coffee and rolled off the couch to her hooves. She eyed her sousaphone, sitting on a chair in the corner next to a music stand. She had an event coming up, some noble or another's latest inane party, and she was expected to play.
She needed to rehearse her pieces. It’d been harder and harder, lately, to get herself to do so. But she was a professional; she didn't have time to go into a slump. So she forced herself to walk over to the instrument that was her everything.
8:34. She'd slipped the instrument around her barrel. It was heavy, but she'd grown accustomed to its weight as a child. She flipped the pages of sheet music around to the first piece in her set.
8:35.
The world went white.
It was 7:51. Princess Twilight Sparkle marched through the halls of Canterlot Castle at a brisk pace, led by Celestia.
"Tell me what's going on," Twilight asked.
"I had a vision in my dreams this morning," Celestia said, never breaking her stride. "Canterlot is going to burn today."
"What?"
"At 8:35 this morning," Celestia said, "the city will be annihilated. No one will survive."
"I don't understand," Twilight said. "There's no way—"
"Twilight you need to listen to me," Celestia said, cutting her off. The tone in her voice made Twilight shiver. She'd never heard Celestia sound so panicked. "We don't have time. You need to follow me if we're going to stop this."
"Of course," Twilight said, picking up her pace. "I'd follow you anywhere."
They kept moving.
It was 8:32, and Jet Set was just getting out of bed.
"Mmph," his wife, Upper Crust, said, rolling over to look at him. "You woke me up, dear."
"Sorry," Jet Set replied. "I didn't mean to."
"It's okay."
She stretched out her legs and grimaced.
"I'm awfully stiff today."
"Must be all that tennis," Jet Set replied. "You should take a warm bath. That always helps ease my muscles when I come back from polo."
8:33.
"You and your polo," Upper Crust said. "Maybe I will. Have the servants run a bath for me."
"Of course," Jet Set said. He leaned over and kissed his wife of twelve years on the forehead. She smiled, then closed her eyes.
8:34.
Jet Set turned and headed out of the bedroom. His butler was waiting for him.
"Good morning, sir," he said. "Your breakfast is waiting for you in the dining room."
"Good man, Jeeves," Jet Set replied. "Oh, have someone run a hot bath for Upper Crust."
"Of course sir."
8:35. Jet Set turned to look out the window of his mansion, only for the light to blind him.
"What on Equus—"
And then he was gone.
It was 8:02.
"Is it an attack?" Twilight asked. "Is someone going to attack us?"
They had reached one of the castle's balconies. Celestia spread her wings, and Twilight did the same. They took to the air together, propelled skyward by feathers and magic.
"No," Celestia replied. "No one's attacking us."
"Then what's going on?" Twilight asked. "Why won't you tell me?"
"You'll understand when we get there," Celestia said, not looking back at Twilight as she did so. She beat her wings and pulled ahead. Twilight could only follow, mind spinning through the possibilities.
It was 8:32, and Saffron Masala was hard at work in the kitchen of the Tasty Treat. The pots of curry on the stove bubbled, releasing their sweet and spicy scents into the air. Saffron wouldn't trade that smell for anything in the world.
"Naan is done," her father, Coriander Cumin, said. "How is the curry?"
"Wonderful," Saffron replied.
She looked at her father. The years were starting to take their toll on him, and the grey in his hair was starting to become more prominent. Not that he'd admit it of course; her father was as stubborn as a rock.
8:33.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Nothing," she said, smiling.
"Well now you have me worried," Coriander said. "Let me have a taste."
"Dad!" Saffron whined, as her father came over and grabbed a ladle in his magic. "You still don't trust me to make the curry?"
"It's not that I don't trust you," he said, dipping the spoon into one of the pots. "It's just that I want to make sure you're doing it like I taught you."
He brought the ladle up to his lips. Saffron pouted.
8:34.
Coriander smacked his lips. "Perfect. As always."
Saffron grinned.
"But could use a little more cumin."
Her grin turned to a frown.
"I added plenty of—"
8:35.
The restaurant, and everyone in it, ceased to be in an instant.
It was 8:22. Celestia touched down on the pavement, and Twilight did the same. Their flight had been wordless, Celestia grimly flying onwards and Twilight worriedly following.
Twilight looked up at the building they'd arrived at.
"Canterlot General Hospital?" she said. "Why are we here?"
"Come on," Celestia said, already walking. "We don't have much time."
Twilight glanced at the clock on the front of the building.
Celestia was right. They didn't have much time.
They passed through the lobby. Ponies stared. Twilight did her best to smile at them. Celestia did not.
Deeper into the building they went.
It was 8:32, and Night Light was giving a lecture on celestial mechanics to his first class of the day.
"And so the Roche limit," he said, gesturing to the diagram of two celestial bodies he'd drawn on the whiteboard, "is the distance between two bodies at which the second body will disintegrate from the tidal forces of the first body exceeding the second's self-gravitation."
He looked out at his students to gauge how well they were absorbing this piece of information. The prognosis: not well. Half of them were dozing off, and the other half looked disinterested. Understandably, he thought; it was the first lecture period of the day.
8:33.
"Come on, everypony," he said, speaking a little louder than usual, which got some of their attentions. "I know it's early, but this is going to be on the exam! Try to get a little excited, okay? I mean, we are talking about the destruction of celestial bodies, here! This is exciting stuff!"
That got a few of them to perk up. Oh well, he thought. Better than none of them.
8:34.
"Now, does anyone remember what tidal forces are?" he asked. "We covered this last class, and it's also going to be on the test, so you'd better have it in your notes."
A few hooves went up. Night Light picked one in the third row. "You there."
"Is it the gravitational force that stretches a body along the line with another body?"
Night light nodded. "That's it. Well, it's a little more complicated than that, but—"
8:35.
Night Light, his students, the lecture hall, the university, Canterlot, everyone in it, and half of the Canterhorn went up in smoke.
It was 8:30.
"The maternity ward?" Twilight asked, still following Celestia through the hospital. "Why...?"
"Just follow me."
They passed through a door and found themselves outside of the nursery. Twilight could see the foals through the glass, swaddled in their little beds, sleeping with their eyes closed.
There was a doctor outside the door. She turned. "Hey, you can't—"
Then she saw who she was talking to.
8:31.
Celestia brushed past her and into the nursery, Twilight following behind her. Celestia walked up to one bed in particular.
"This is her," she said.
"Who?"
"The filly who annihilates Canterlot."
Twilight blinked. "W-what?"
Celestia sat down. She lit her horn and lifted the child into her hooves.
"In four minutes," she said, "this filly will have a magical surge. An unprecedentedly large one. It will wipe out her, us, and all of Canterlot. Gone in an instant."
The filly opened her eyes. Looked up at Celestia questioningly. Clestia gave her a comforting smile, then looked up at Twilight.
"You need to banish her to the moon."
"I—" Twilight's words caught in her throat. "That's... No!"
"There's no time, Twilight. There's nothing else we can do. It's the only way we can save thousands. Including her."
Twilight's hooves began to shake. She fell to her haunches.
8:32.
"No," she said. "I won't—"
"You must. She'll be safe there. It'll be like she's sleeping."
"Forever?" Twilight asked. "That's the same as murder."
"You have no choice. Not if you want to save Canterlot."
Twilight looked into Celestia's eyes. They were old and grim and determined.
8:33.
Twilight began to cry. "Why do I have to…?"
"You're the only one who can. I would do it for you if I could, but my connection with Harmony was severed when I used the Elements on Luna. I never would have wanted to put this upon you, but you must, Twilight."
"I—"
Celestia reached out and put a hoof on Twilight's shoulders. "You're the ruler of Equestria now. This is the job. It's not a happy one. It's a burden, sometimes, Twilight, but you need to carry it. For their sake. For your little ponies."
8:34. The filly's eyes began to glow, and she began to cry. Light began to shine from her horn.
"Twilight. You must."
Twilight squeezed her eyes shut. When she re-opened them, they were glowing too.
"I'm sorry, little one," she said. Tears still fell from her eyes. "Goodbye. Luna will give you sweet dreams, I promise."
Her horn flashed...
...and the filly was gone.
8:35. Canterlot did not burn. The city went on, not knowing what had almost happened. Beauty Brass practiced her set. Jet Set had his toast; Upper Crust had her bath. The Tasty Treat opened for the day. Night Light's students got out four minutes early.
Death can come at any moment. Without warning, without reason. It is easy to forget this when you live in Canterlot.
Celestia never could forget.
And now, neither will Twilight Sparkle.
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Welp. Time to murder Celestia and Twilight as well. Because they don't really deserve anything else after this. No matter the reason.
11726355
I'm assuming the Filly wouldn't have survived either. They saved her from dying as thaumic forces ripped her to shreds and taking everyone else with here. An horrendous thing to do, but easy to justify. If someone gave you a gun and told you to kill a stranger or else He will kill 5 others, than who are you to decide those five are worth more? But if he would have you kill a stranger or He will kill four people and the stranger as well, then the calculus changes. The fate of the stranger is no longer in your hands. Only the others. And so their death becomes fixed.
Twilight will have studied philosophy. She knows this to be true. Celestia has ruled for years. She knows this to true. The moral choice is clear. All that is needed it the willpower to enact it. That won't even be the hardest day of her life.
Right up until the day where Celestia urges they do something heinous to prevent a vision And they cannot act. And the vision fails to manifest. Right up until her premonition is shown to be falliable. Only showing an outcome. Not that which will be.
That will be the hardest day.
11726367
Or do the smart thing and, oh I don't know. Teleport her to a place far away from everyone, and let the surge just destroy the surrounding Equestrian landscape. Then teleport there and hope she survived.
But nope. Because fuck good common sense.
11726382
It’s stated in the story that she wouldn’t have survived.
11726388
Then my other point still stands. Equestria has plenty of empty spaces where the surge wouldn't have hurt anyone else. Use them, Celestia. But nope. Because fuck good thinking apparently on her part.
11726397
Why is letting her die better than banishing her to the moon? Putting her to sleep seems more humane to me.
11726409
You're the one who wrote all this. You tell us why you didn't.
11726410
I just did. I had them banish the filly to the moon because it would be better than killing her or letting her kill herself. As stated in the fic, it’ll be like she’s sleeping. I do not understand what your issue is with this.
11726416
Because whatever the reasoning, it still isn't right. Neither is letting Canterlot be destroyed. This is one of those stories where no one comes out looking good to me.
"The Ones Who Walk Away From
OmelasCanterlot"11726514
"This is one of those stories where no one comes out looking good"
I believe that is much the point. Either Twilight damned a child to eternal sleep by banishment to the moon, or damned countless men, women, and children to destruction by her inaction. For what it's worth I think banishment was the right play. Both because the destruction of Canterlot and the countless innocent lives therein is a much greater tragedy than the loss of one life, but also because banishment to the moon is reversible. The child can be retrieved. The dreams that Luna provides are highly lucid, someone could learn in such a state. The child can learn how to restrain her magic. She may eventually be able to return and live her life. It is still an injustice to the child, but banishing her was the least evil thing Twilight could have done here.
I know you're just trying to put Twilight into a morally impossible situation, but so many questions.
Why would the filly be stuck on the moon? Why not just bring her right back after the surge?
Why is being on the moon 'like sleeping'? Nightmare Moon wasn't 'asleep' while she was on moon, was she?
Also, i honestly cannot remember if dispersion rings are canon or neigh.
Also, also, Twilight could just send Celestia along (after the powersurge) to take care of the filly.
interesting story but what kind of weird cosmic shenanigans are happening where a newborn detonates with the force of nuclear blast?
11726759
We don't know. It's entirely possible that yes, she was.
11726367 I would use the gun to shoot the guy who gave me the gun.
You see, you cannot trap Alondro in a FALSE DICHOTOMY, because life ain't chess, AND ALONDRO EXCELS AT FLIPPIN' TABLES!!
11726355 Pfft, it's just one filly. But I'll bet you'd be ok with ponies getting eaten by GRIFFONS! Since you're clearly a... GRIFFON CULT MEMBER!! I SEE THE SECRET ARMBAND! YOU CAN'T FOOL ME!! You work fer dem dang beakies! Git em, boys!
11726397
Use them... and let the filly die, rather than sending her somewhere that, hypothetically, she can be retrieved from once a better solution is found?
it's like saying that someone carrying a horrifying new disease should be quarantined until they die rather than using your convenient cryopod until a cure can be found.
The solution here isn't "mass death or one death that you caused," it's "mass death or an unpleasant solution that lets everyone live in the best case, or leaves one unaware of what's happening in the worst one."
Unless Twi is wrong about this preventing the surge, in which case it's no different from teleporting her somewhere distant and hoping for the best.
Creepy, yet amazingly well written. For something so short, it really is thrilling.
I truly donʼt understand any of 11726355ʼs comments. Twilightʼs choice here isnʼt “Save one life or save thousands”. Her choice here is “Save everyone or save nobody.” The surge is going the kill the filly; banishing her to the moon ensure everyoneʼs survival, including her own. And, as 11726640 has stated, banishment to the moon is reversible; death isnʼt.
11726933
Let’s not get into that, please.
It's generally kinda hard for me to care about fics under 2,000 words but this story benefits from that length. It's curt, snappy, and communicates the situation in a way that's more effective than something drawn further out. Great fic!
(PS: I'm sorry on behalf of the entire website that you have to deal with this comment section)
I think a subtle point here is that even the filly banished to the moon could potentially be rescued and brought back, someday. I know Twilight said that the banishment is "forever", but that was a comment in the heat of the moment. Where there's life there's hope, and with magic all things are possible.
11726382
equus has a lot of sapient species, so teleporting her somewhere random wouldnt help, as shed just blow up whatever culture is native to the area. and thats not even taking non-sapient life into account. animals, plants, fungi, bacteria, everything would be killed. every single thing. the moon is entirely devoid of all life
(except for those little fuzzy guys from the comics, but those are dubiously canon).the multiple 'interesting' discussions here aside:
11726790
the best kind! who doesnt love a bit of impending cosmic annihilation?
What 11726355 wanted to say, I believe, is that the narrative do not address the other possible solutions of the problem. Twilight banishes the filly only because the authority figure says so, and that too diminishes the takeaway of the message in my opinion.
But I guess it at least would be in-character for Celestia to receive the premonition and then act on it in the best way she can
11727163
That's it. Not that it matters, since I'm done with this comment section.
The story is certainly interesting, and present a common moral dilemma - a) banish the filly and POTENTIALLY let one person die or b) do nothing and let everyone die. The way I see it, Twilight made the right choice - only one life was put at risk, and given what she knew, the situation, and the timeframe she had, she almost certainly did the "right" thing, even if she has to live with the consequences (which we'll all have to at some point in our lives, let's be frank). And as we know, banishment to the moon is reversible, so perhaps they can work on it in the future.
(Unless this is another test from Celestia, which is a cruel possibility. But the story doesn't say, so it's impossible to tell.)
But what's REALLY interesting here, though, is this comments section, and the failure of some, in my eyes, to consider the evaluation above. Some had the right idea and saw the story for what it was - a tough moral quandary that inadvertently asks you what you would do in Twilight's hooves. But others... did they even read the story to begin with? Because one person here is showing that they not only clearly did not evaluate and analyse the text, but did not even consider how to phrase their criticism properly before word-vomiting all over the comments section (thereby needing another person with a cooler head to waste their time and explain their thoughts for everyone else).
Either way, story was thought-provoking, engaging, and got to the point concisely. 8/10.
couldn't they just do a one day banishment, foal on moon, has magical surge. they bring foal back use precautions to prevent such nuke scale surges until foal old enough to control it, then make her next student of the princess with such potential happy ending achieved
I feel like this story suffers badly from having a setup that is entirely arbitrary, but at the same time not arbitrary enough to make it hard to think of alternatives to the given resolution. The result is something that feels like it's only a few steps over from being a parody of itself. For example, imagine things as-is without the "would have happened" flashes and with a more manic, wacky Celestia—the comedy angle practically writes itself.
11727639
What makes it arbitrary? And what are the better solutions?
To tell you the truth, I’m starting to wish I’d come up with a different reason for the disaster. The moral dilemma wasn’t even the point of the fic for me, but it’s all anyone seems to be focusing on. I tried to make it pretty absolute, but apparently that wasn’t enough for people. Oh well.
I really don't see or understand the debate here, cause there isn't one to be had. Send a filly to the moon who can barely understand what's going on around her cause she's a baby, and her death is instantaneous. No suffering or anything. One second she's there, next second she's not. Or you let thousands of people die, all of the royalty die, and an entire city engulfed in flames.
I may sound like a psychopath to this entire comment section, but it's just the way it is. One life versus thousands. It's simple.
But otherwise, I love this fic. And I love how the different mini-stories of people narrows down to Twilight's father and the little hint that it might be the celestial thing he was teaching. I dig it. You earned a follow.
11726913 Well, the IS a magical fairy tale land... death MIGHT be reversible.
I mean, if it was typical comics or manga, death is super-easy to deal with! Barely an inconvenience!
11726382 I am bang alongside this.
The problem with trolley problems is that they artificially restrict options in order to force an unacceptable choice on people. "No, you can't do Y or Z, you can ONLY do X or not do it." Except in real life there are always other options.
In this case you have two of the most powerful and educated magic users in the world and not less than three minutes for them to prepare for the event. One of them in particular, in addition to having a thousand years of experience dealing with magic surges, is the avatar of the sun itself and thus, it can be reasonably expected, can probably tank a rain of fire with little effort. And that character is the one desperately telling the other to commit the sin she never forgave herself for of banishing a problem to the moon.
This story requires us to accept that the two main characters have entirely turned off their own brains and consciences, to say nothing of everything that defines themselves, just so we can have an arbitrary sad trolley-problem ending. And the sad ending could still have happened- after both Celestia and Twilight actually trying to find a way out, or (as would be in character for both) sacrificing themselves in the attempt.
But nope. "Twilight, this baby is a problem. Throw her in the space trash." "Aw, I don't wanna." "But Thou Must." "Aw, okay."
Heroic characters will ALWAYS refuse to accept the Trolley Problem. Having them embrace it instead is lazy writing.
11728587
What’s your solution then? Clearly I was just too lazy of a writer to think of anything.
As I’ve stated previously, teleporting the filly away kills her.
Edit: sorry, I’m just very frustrated. The “trolley problem” wasn’t meant to even be a trolley problem, nor was it the point of the fic. I might take this story down.
For some reason I had it stuck in my head that Celestia was trying to prevent the end of the story. Without the story, there is no Canterlot. I thought that the white light and everything ending was literally just going to be the end of the story.
A story that only exists to end.
11728593
I wouldn't take the story down. I thought it was just fine. Sometimes you will find people who will just enjoy the story. Sometimes you will find people who will nitpick the story. You can correct me if im wrong but it seems to me you had an idea and you wrote a story with it and a couple of people are stressing you out over what I see as a minor detail. Celestia, to me, only works on the experiences of her long life. I have seen no reason to believe that Celestia is a good 'planner' She had a couple but most of the decisions we've seen her make ( i think ) were relatively bad ones. In canon stories.
Are there other things she could have done. Maybe. Are there things they can do afterwards? don't know, the story is over so it doesn't matter.
If I had 30 min to acquire Twilight and rush to a hospital and have a decision ready on what to do with a nuke baby I couldn't tell you what I'd come up with. It's easy as a watcher to know what to do but it an actual stress situation you might not be making the best choices. Your critics seem to be assuming that all characters in a story or maybe even in real life will be able to make the best and most rational choices that their knowledge and experience can provide them and thats just not how it works. Sure some people can but for every one that can there are two who would just hesitate and let the town be nuked.
11728593
I agree a lot with 11728685 and I hope you don't take the story down. I think the characters work and the setup is good, hell it's open ended technically so if someone wants to think about a happier ending to it they can do that. Maybe they save the baby later, maybe the magic surge discharges in space and they magic her back good as new, they can pick whatever they want, you wrote what you wanted of the concept. Personally, I don't know if there's a way you could've written this to make everyone happy while also getting what you wanted out of it. You said you wrote it to vent and if it works for that, that's what I'd say is more important.
11728593 At the very least you should show more effort to solve the conflict than Celestia saying, "No, you can't," and Twilight acquiescing. In fact, do a better job of demonstrating (not explaining) why Celestia involves Twilight at all, when the chosen solution- sending someone to the moon- is something Celestia regarded as her greatest regret and crime against her sister. You should also explain better why this threat is more destructive than other forces both characters have taken straight to the face and survived with little to no injury. (Thinking battle v. Tirek here in particular.) Develop the situation more so it doesn't come across as nothing more than the arbitrary setup to a fully predetermined conclusion.
I personally like this story