For a United Equestria

by lulii999

Chapter 2: The Task At Hoof

Twilight reached Canterlot Castle and headed for the throne room, her friends close behind her. She had received a letter from her mentor at dawn (much to Spike’s annoyance); an urgent request for her and her friends to report to the throne room at noon. Rainbow Dash was also annoyed (although she tried to hide it as best she could), for she had her final tryout for the Wonderbolts later that day and in her opinion, this time would be better spent practicing her routine – but her loyal heart told her to come with her friends to the Princess in person.
They reached the throne room, where they found Princess Celestia awaiting them, with Princess Luna and Discord on either side of her.
“Princess! You sent for us?” Twilight ran forwards and embraced her mentor.
“Indeed I did Twilight,” said Celestia, “There is a matter of great importance to be discussed today. I am sorry Rainbow about interrupting your training, but I’m sure you’ll do fine at the tryouts” she added. Rainbow Dash felt her cheeks flush with warmth “Aw, Princess it’s fine. Don’t worry about it”
Twilight stepped forward, her head tilted, like her friends listening intently for incoming instruction. Celestia glanced at Luna, who gave a slight nod: “Twilight, I hope you’ll forgive me. Initially I did not wish to burden you with such information, but there have been disappearances towards the Eastern parts of Equestria. Patrols of guards have gone to inspect and none have returned…that is however, until we found a sole survivor last night; Brego. He was badly wounded and he spoke with fear, and when he described his attack, it only confirmed our suspicions that something evil is spawning in the darkness that lies in the East. Brego also told us the rough location of where his patrol was attacked, which was just past the Dragon nest –”
“So what are we going to do? Send an army?” Twilight asked, her mind racing, “I can lead, I’ve read books on battle strategy and –”
“I’m getting to that Twilight, and I’ve notified Princess Cadence and Shining Armor of this as well. We; that is to say Luna, Discord, and myself will go –”
“But I –” started Twilight.
“Luna, Discord, and myself will depart for the East at midnight. I cannot let you come because we don’t know what we’re up against. Instead, we will need someone to watch over the happenings here. We need you here, Twilight. And we need your friends here, because if things go sour and this evil just so happens to attack Equestria, the Elements of Harmony are your best bets for the protection of our subjects, and as a Princess of Equestria, it is up to you to fulfill such a task.”
“And we’ll help her in any way we can” said Rarity gently, putting a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. The rest of the group gave a firm “mhmm” at her comment.
“You want me to take charge over the rule of Equestria?” Twilight whispered in bewilderment.
“I know that this may seem as a daunting task Twilight Sparkle, but it must be done, for we cannot leave Equestria unprotected,” said Luna.
“And we have complete faith in you” said Celestia.
“Just make sure you know what to do if Equestria is under attack” said Discord.
“But I – um – uh – wow – but where do we evacuate to if Equestria were to be attacked?” asked Twilight
“The Crystal Empire: The power of the Crystal Heart will be magnified as more ponies enter its vicinity, as long as their hearts are filled with love of course. And the power of the Heart combined with that of the Elements of Harmony should be sufficient” said Celestia.
“Should events go sour, Princess Cadence and Shining Armor will expect your arrival” said Luna
“Just remember to keep your friendships strong, and never lose hope” said Discord. At this, everyone just gave him astonished looks, as he wasn’t the type of character to give such deep advice.
“What?” he asked, “Weren’t you the one (he gestured towards Luna) who told me to adjust my mood and tone to the situation? Well, here you have it; serious situation, serious tone.” He crossed his arms.
Luna simply rolled her eyes.
“So Twilight? Are you and your friends up to the task?” asked Celestia.
Twilight looked back at her friends to find an array of comforting smiles, determined looks, and the occasional nod of agreement at the task ahead. She turned back towards her superiors: “We are”

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As Celestia, Luna, and Discord prepared for their midnight migration, the hour of Rainbow’s tryout had come. As her friends, it was Twilight and the rest’s obligation to attend. As they took their seats in the VIP box of the stadium, Twilight kept all her senses wide open for any sign of suspicious behaviours or events, and she remained like so throughout the trials, even when they announced Rainbow’s turn and her friends cheered. Twilight supported her multicoloured-maned friend alongside them, but she still had eyes and ears on her surroundings for any sign of trouble.
Rainbow entered the stadium looking confident. She glided ever so smoothly towards the judges’ table, who were themselves three members of the Wonderbolts themselves: Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and Soarin’. Twilight thought she could see Spitfire’s mouth say: “Whenever you’re ready!”
And then Rainbow shot into the air, she did a backflip over a large cloud, and the rest of her movements were represented by a multicolored blur zooming in, around, over and under the cloud. In no time it was formed to read “RAINBOW DASH”. She did a couple of flips as she finished her cloud carving, then smoothly transitioned onto the next step of her routine. She gathered several grey clouds, condensed them into a whole, dove into it, and seemed to have spun around inside until it took on the shape of an upside down funnel. As she shot out from the uppermost tip, a Sonic Rainboom occurred, as if a volcano had erupted a beautiful spectrum of colours instead of terrifying lava. As the colours shone through her name carved from cloud, she zoomed down back to the judges, who just sat there with their mouths gaping wide open.
Soarin’ was the first to rise and start a standing ovation, in which the rest of the judges and the Mane 6 gladly participated. But who would’ve known, that after such beauty could soon follow complete and utter desctruction?

Author's Note:

This was more of a filler chapter. The real action begins in Chapter 3 I promise, which I will hopefully have up and readable tomorrow.
As I post stuff like this on, the more I realise the magnitude of my love for writing.

Hope you guys enjoy it. I promise great things for Chapter 3. :)