(I) 1:34 AM, Tuesday Morning
1:34 AM, Tuesday Morning
Celestia strode down the hallway, her usual motherly expression gone, with Equestria’s strong and serious leader showing through. Even though her billowy mane was half-stuck to the side of her face, her fur was messy and pointing in all different directions, and she’d clearly rushed putting on her royal regalia –one of her slippers was missing and another was on backwards, her chest plate had been haphazardly placed around her neck like a poorly-adjusted tie, and her crown was placed at a decidedly precarious angle- nopony even noticed, let alone laughed. Her face, grave and determined, had a way of making all those details irrelevant. If Princess Celestia was treating the event, whatever it was, as serious business, then the situation really was dire.
“We don’t really know what’s going on, to be honest,” Shining Armor admitted. He was in a better state at the moment than Celestia, but compared to the guard’s usual standards, he was also clearly struggling just to keep up with the situation. “I’ve had some of our unicorn regiment contact ponies from the towns up north, but even they’re reporting that the light came from even further north. The analysists are guessing this happened somewhere south of but still fairly close to the Arctic Circle, but everypony is still clueless as to exactly what occurred.”
“I trust your judgment, Captain; give me an educated guess.” Celestia didn’t spare him a glance as they rounded a corner, descending a sudden flight of steps without missing a beat. All along the hallways, the palace staff were rushing to and fro, doing an admirable job of fighting back any remaining grogginess as rumors were traded or quashed, everypony feeling like they should be hard at work doing something, though most were at a loss as to what that might be.
Shining Armor frowned, mulling over what little he did know even as a lanky colt in a bellhop’s uniform dodged around him. Celestia trusted his judgment, but he himself didn’t right now. Despite how the palace had become as busy as a disturbed ant nest in the space of about fifteen minutes, the heavy fog of sleep still pervaded his mind. Regardless, he had to give it his best shot.
Fifteen minutes ago. It had only been about fifteen minutes ago that he’d been asleep, curled up with Cadence and so very warm. Then, out of nowhere, a light literally as bright as the sun shone through Canterlot from the far north, waking most of the palace’s inhabitants. Those who had miraculously managed to stay asleep through that were woken shortly after by everypony else.
The light had endured for several minutes before finally fading away, the dark of night rushing back in to fill the void. But by that time, the palace was lit up like a candle, everypony in too much of a tizzy over the light to even consider sleep.
Well, not Shining Armor; his thoughts kept wandering back to the warm bed with Cadence, but duty compelled him to see this whole mess through; he wouldn’t forgive himself if this turned out to be bad news and he'd crawled off to take a nap. But he was getting off-topic.
At length, he began vocalizing his thoughts, though still trying to organize them in his head. “Well, as I mentioned, this happened pretty far north of us; since we could still see it from down here, I’d be inclined to think that whatever happened, there was a positively massive release of magical energy. A surge of that degree could either be a whole huge group of spell-casters, or only one or two, but in that case, they’d have to be on par with you or Luna.”
Celestia nodded. “I’m personally inclined to believe the former; while there are a number of entities that can rival my sister and I for power, most of them are... accounted for, in one fashion or another.” As she said this, they passed a window overlooking the statue garden, and she couldn’t help but nod at the dimly-lit figure of Discord.
Shining Armor didn’t like that they’d put the statue right back out there; even though his return was mainly a result of the Elements changing hooves, the Captain of the Guard was uncomfortable with the nation’s –perhaps even the world’s- most dangerous enemy being out in the open, with nothing but his petrification acting as a barrier between the villain and all of Equestria. The princesses assured him that the chances of the god of chaos escaping anytime soon were astronomical, but wasn’t Discord all about toying with the odds? Still, the decision was out of his hooves, so he’d had to grin and bear it. He’d definitely been putting more focus on defending from magic during training sessions from the guard, either way.
And there he went off topic again; he really was exhausted. The duo turned as one, now almost to the throne room. Marshalling his thoughts once more, Shining finished his report. “One other thing I think we should attempt to be cautious of… if we could see that from so far away, other countries may as well, and there’s no telling how they’ll react. I’m hoping things will work out, but I think we should be prepared for anything.”
Celestia nodded, her usual warm smile briefly gracing her features; that was an angle she hadn’t even considered. Then she had to set it once more, making a halfhearted effort to unstick her mane from the side of her face and otherwise look presentable; they were at the entrance to the throne room.
Raising an ironic eyebrow at Shining, Celestia muttered “Showtime” before pushing open the doors. The dull roar bleeding through the walls became a full on torrent of noise, and she stepped forward into it.
It was absolutely packed inside, with many of Canterlot’s residents having come in search of answers. Though ponies tried to clear a path for Celestia, the throng was thick enough that she still had to squeeze to pass through, and she vaguely imagined she was wading through a whole sea of ponies. That thought was somewhat amusing, but this wasn’t the time for distractions. She banished the flight of fancy into the back of her head for later.
Though she was still far from presentable, at least she didn’t stand out; many of the nobles were still in their ridiculously expensive silk pajamas, and even the ones that had bothered to change were still decidedly shaggy around the edges. The only exception was Prince Blueblood, who had evidently just arrived, immaculate as always, and judging by the expressions of the ponies closest to him, obnoxious as always. Some things never changed.
Luna stood on the steps to the throne’s dais, looking like she was taking refuge from a flood. Though she’d already been awake at the time of the blast, she looked worse for wear; her mane somehow fraying at the edges despite its ethereal nature, ears twitching, and a dangerous look in her eyes. Thankfully that expression abated somewhat once she caught sight of her elder sister, but Celestia still found herself hoping she wouldn’t have to prevent any murders tonight, on top of everything else.
Finally reaching the dais, she waited a few more moments to allow Shining Armor to join them before speaking. “Hello, everypony.”
The hall instantly quieted down; even Prince Blueblood shut up and listened. “Now, I’m sure you’ve all witnessed the mysterious light that occurred just recently. Though it’s only been about a quarter of an hour, we’re already investigating. We do know that whatever this was, it’s almost as far north as the Arctic Circle, and that it is almost certainly magical in nature, but I’ll be frank with you all; we don’t really know what’s going on yet.” If she were addressing any other crowd, Shining thought to himself, admitting something like that would have been a risky gamble, hoping the blatant honesty would make up for the show of weakness and lack of any solid information. Even as it was, everypony began muttering worriedly, casting nervous looks out the north-facing windows.
“Whatever this phenomenon was,” Celestia began again, the crowd once more silencing to hear her, “It may mean something bad for the future,” another round of murmurs swept through the hall, “or it may not. It could be a good sign, or it may not even have anything to do with us.” She let this sink in for a moment. “But until we know more, I don’t want to jump to conclusions. I promise you my sister and I, along with the royal guard and our top mages, will thoroughly investigate this and tell you what we find out, one way or another. But this will take time, so I suggest you all get some sleep while you can; we’ll have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. Good night, my little ponies.” Celestia typically didn’t like to order her people around, but there was a certain tone to the last sentence that hinted her suggestion was not actually a suggestion.
Having finished her speech, she waited patiently as the crowd began to filter out the door, palace staff returning to their duties as a large clump of nobles moved across the palace lawns back toward Canterlot. There were more than a few grumbles here and there; most ponies were still not quite appeased. But as much as they wanted to believe otherwise, Celestia wasn’t a goddess, and could only do so much in the space of fifteen or twenty minutes.
Soon enough, the hall was once more empty, with only Celestia, Luna, and Shining standing there awkwardly. “...Well, I could have handled that better.” Celestia said at length, with a self-depreciating little chuckle. Luna just raised an eyebrow.
“You could have handled it much worse,” Shining said loyally, though he was inclined to agree with her. “So now what?”
“Now we figure out what’s going on.” Luna answered this time. “But first…” Her horn glowed, and with a flash of teleportation, two ponies appeared at the foot of the steps. “I thought you might want to be here for this as well.” On the left was Notary, head of staff and one of the princess’s chief advisors. To the earth pony’s credit, she was already ready, primly dressed in her dark blue vest, pale hair in a neat bun. Though she did look mildly disoriented at the sudden teleporting, she regained her bearings quickly, grabbing a spare clipboard and quill stashed behind the throne (in case of clipboard emergencies) and taking up position as though nothing unusual had happened.
On the right was Cadence, still wrapped in a bed sheet and looking like she was having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that she wouldn’t get to go back to sleep for a while yet. She glared blearily at the other two princesses assembled above her before sighing, making a show of standing up and collecting herself. Shining tried to hide behind Notary, a task made difficult by their height difference; He loved Cadence dearly, but she was most definitely not a morning pony, let alone the middle of the night like now.
Still, she seemed to be handling things surprisingly well as she joined them on the dais. “So this is actually something important, I take it?” Though her tone was businesslike, there was an undercurrent of 'we’ll discuss this one later' that made even Luna and Celestia shift nervously. Nopony responded, more focused on her poorly-hidden anger than on the issue at hand, until Notary broke the silence.
“It would seem so. Though from what I’ve been able to tell, our knowledge of events at the moment is far from ideal, it seems that this is something worth investigating.” The other two princesses and the captain of the guard finally overcame their trepidation and filled Cadenza in on what little they’d learned so far.
“Shining?” She asked once they finished, “isn’t one of your Pegasi, Storm Wing, on leave, visiting family up in that direction?” Shining nodded, grateful that she could remember a detail like that. “Why don’t you contact him and see if he’ll agree to fly up and check out what’s going on? He’s a guard, so he can handle himself if things get sketchy, and we can decide, based on his report, whether or not this whole thing is even worth investigating. To be honest, I think everypony’s jumping the sword a bit here.”
Celestia nodded, turning to Shining Armor. “Contact him now; see if you can have him ready to fly by sunrise. Better safe than sorry; we want to be ahead of events if everything goes wrong.” To Cadence, she added “Perhaps we are, but after what happened at your wedding, I don’t want to take any chances.”
It had been a good five months ago now since the changeling attack, and while the general fervor and paranoia had finally died down, it was clear that Equestria’s royalty had become more vigilant. Celestia had been preparing for Nightmare Moon’s return for some time, and even Discord’s escape hadn’t been entirely unexpected. Nopony had really seen the changelings coming, even with the anonymous threat made beforehand, and the whole incident had given them a new sense of wariness.
“Anything else?” It was clear the younger Alicorn wanted to get back to sleep. “Until Storm Wing can give us more information, I for one, don’t see the point in staying awake.” Though it seemed abrupt, almost too easy, the meeting adjourned and Notary left to tell the rest of the staff to go back to bed. Luna, nocturnal as she was, wouldn’t normally have slept until sunrise, but she decided, as there hadn’t been anything worthwhile going on in the Night Court anyway, a small early-morning nap to pass the time couldn’t hurt.
Storm Wing was thankfully already up when Shining used the communicator spell; being even closer to the blast, he had definitely been awoken by it. He quickly agreed to start preparing, and then that was that. Shining would contact him again at sunup, then all there would be left was to wait.
The Canterlot palace slowly but surely closed down again for the night, lights flicking off and ponies returning to their rooms. But despite everything, only Cadence and a few others actually managed to get back to sleep that night; most were too busy thinking about the strange occurrence. Would it mean good or ill for the future, or would it turn out to be something minor that would blow over in a few days and leave them feeling sheepish for overreacting?
Only time would tell.
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Yes, there's a Lunaverse reference in there. Because I like making Lunaverse references.
1499181
I like your avatar picture.
Spike is in the cover art but not listed as a character? Riiight.
Well, good so far.
1499854 Thank you! It's from a pretty decent Tumblr ask blog I follow.
1499859 Well, I count him as Mane 6, but fixed anyway.
Thank you!
A story about the next season's pilot before it even comes out?? THIS IS MADNESS!
Gonna read it anyway.
Later.
THE SEA PONIES HAVE RISEN THEIR CITY SIZED WARSHIP FROM THE DEEP AND SEEK THE DEATH OF ALL AIR BREATHERS! EVERYPONY FOR THEMSELVES!
1500190 Yay theories!
Yay!
Awww...
1500193 Lolwhut? Did you even read the description?
That is pretty funny, though.
1499181 Is it Notary? Because that was a nice moment.
1500213
What I described is what happens if you lose the computer game X-Com: Terror From the Deep. I just felt like throwing it out there.
Incase of clip board emergencies.
LOL "i think everyone is jumping the sword..." I see what you did there.
Continue.
1500306 Yes, it is.
And thanks!
1500600 Ach so. Sorry the reference was lost on me, but it does sound funny.
1501151 Glad someone noticed that one! And I shall, oh I shall...
interesting...
1502598 How so?
1502758 it looks like a good read, this prologue has me interested...i wonder if it leads up to the first 2 episodes of season 3 that's due to play on the 10th?
1502878 Thank you! And it's more my inane take on how it could go, based just on the teaser clips we were shown + my own crazy headcanon.
1502891 niiice. i look forward to read it. if you are interested i have tons of ideas. i'm an idea person. if you need help. i can,if wanted
1502932 Hope you enjoy it! And I appreciate the offer, but I already have my ideas sorted out and such; I just need to write them down.
When this story was posted in the TVTropes folder, I eagerly dove in. It was a fresh new take on the Crystal Empire, and I when I finished, I followed and eagerly awaited more.
Than I saw that it's been 40 months since it's been posted.
...Now I'm sad.
2966354 TVTropes? I don't recall it being posted there.
Well, not that long, but I still see what you mean. I'm working on the second chapter; it's just been going slowly. Sorry!
browsing profiles of people I follow on here, find this story.
"Interesting..."
read it,
3237055 Glad you like it so far! And I've been meaning to take a look at your story, too. Sounded interesting from the description you gave me.
3237628 I would definetly apreciate it, you might want to read it soon though, in two weeks I'm doing a huge reveal, and if you can accurately predict what happens in one way or another you get the password for early access to content on that story.
3237860 oh dear, I'm kind of advertising aren't I
3237860 Hmm.
3237861 Yes, I'm afraid you are. Don't worry about it too much, though.
When will King Sombra make his appearance?
3598296 That would be spoiling.
That being said... Soon, though you may not realize it until later.
Have you ever considered submitting this story to Equestria Daily? You can find out how to do so here.
When will the next chapter come out?
3623549 I think I might when it's finished, which is still a ways off. I have a total of fifteen installments planned, of which this is the first. The problem is finding the time and focus to actually write it all out.
3623552 So I'm hoping to work on and maybe complete the next chapter during winter break, but given that I already have extensive holiday plans, I don't know if I'll be able to.
3811067 Cool.