Princess Luna's Dream

The three alicorns stared out across Canterlot from the room in the palace, or what was left of it. The palace had been destroyed by the shaking. All throughout Canterlot there was havoc. Ponies were running in terror, but had nowhere to run to. The pegasai tried to fly ponies out of the city but the falling debris had them grounded. Canterlot was in ruins. Princess Celestia stepped forward only to have to jump back to dodge a piece of debris. She stared at what remained of her castle and city.

"Sister, what should we do" Luna questioned her sister, but Celestia did not hear her sister for she was too tramatised by what she saw. Luna turned to Twilight."We need to get out word to Cadence in the Crystal Empire and make sure everything is okay there. I want you to go Twilight".

Twilight nodded at Luna."Of course". She then went to find a way down from the castle. Luna turned back to her sister.

"Tia" she spoke softly."We need to egt everypony to safety, there could be ponies injured. We need to move away from the city incase the shaking starts again". She got no response from her sister, not even a sign to show she had heard her. Luna tapped Celestia on the shoulder."Tia". Celestia turned around to face her sister like she was just snapped out of a trance.

"Your right Luna, get the guards to start evacuating the city, have the wonderbolts get and aerial view of the city to check for ponies in distress". Celestia turned back to face Canterlot."Also find out how far the shaking has affected, I need to know what cities are safe to evacuate ponies too. Also have the army on stand by, if all of our cities lay in ruins we are at our most vulnerable".

"Of course sister". Luna flew off to carry out her sisters orders.

Twilight arrived at the Crystal Empire just before Celestia had lowered the sun. There had been a few minor shakes on her travel north but nothing like what they felt in Canterlot. She headed straight for the caslte at the centre of the city. She found Cadence and her brother in the throne room.

"Twilight" Cadence said greeting her sister in law with a hug.

"Cadence, it's great to see you".

"As it is to you, we heard what happened in Canterlot. As you can see it wasn't as bad here".

"Celestia has started to evacuate the city. Luna sent me here to do a damage report".

This time Twilight's brother spoke."There isin't to much damage, once we felt the shaking I cast a spell to stop the buildings from collapsing. I've also set up patrols to the north of the city in case there is any activity from the Yaks".

"Why" Twilight asked."Are we in danger of an attack".

"Not that we know of" Cadence said answering Twilight's question. "We recieved a special letter from Celestia saying to put all soldiers on high alert incase of any attack. Equestria is vulnerable now Twilight we need to be ready for anything".

"Well I'm glad the two of you are alright, I wouldn't be able to live if anything happened to either of you" Twilight said.

"Celestia also metioned that she wants all of the princesses to headed to Cloudsale for an emergency summit to deal with the crisis at hoof" Cadence said."All three of us are to head there at dawn. I would recommend you get some sleep Twi".

"Okay, I'll see you two in the morning" Twilight said and headed off for the bed chambers. A few minutes after Twilight had left a guard ran into the throne room.

"Your Majesties, I have news from the northern patrol".

"Are we under attack" Shining Armour asked.

"No sir, but there has been movement from a Yak Legion. They have posted themsleves right on the border. I think they are waiting to see if we are weak enough to attack".

"Thank you for the news soldier, head to the barracks and get some rest. I will deal with the Yaks".

"Of course your Majesty". The soldier left to go to the barracks.

"What are we going to do Shining" Cadence asked worried.

"I'll have patrols placed at the border all day and night. If we are attacked, we'll be ready. We should get some rest if we are leaving at dawn". The Two of them went to their chambers.

Celestia and Luna arrived at Cloudsdale a few hours after Twilight had departed for the Crystal Empire. They did not experience any more shaking on their journey to Cloudsdale. They guess Cloudsdale had not been affected by the shaking due to the fact it was in the sky. The city in the sky glistened in Celestia's sun. Upon arriving at Cloudsdale they were given a warm welcome by all the pegasai. News had spread fast of what had happened in Canterlot as the ponies were being sent all over Equestria as part of the evacuation protocol. The two alicorns headed for the military base on the outskirts of Cloudsdale. It was called Fort Hurricane, after Commander Hurricane the great pegasus general. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna entered the base to be greeted by a large group of soldiers who slauted as they passed by. They then went on to the control room.

"What are the status' of the other cities" Celestia asked one of the commanders.

"Vanhoover and Las Pegasus did not take any damae from the shaking as they were outside of it's radius. Manehatten, Fillydelphia and Baltimare took minor damage with a few cracked buildings but no casualties. finally AppleLoosa, Dodge City and Ponyville took quite alot of damage with a few injured ponies. And Canterlot, well Canterlot has many casualties" The commander said finishing his report.

"I see, have we had any attacks from other lands" Celestia asked.

"The dragons have not stirred as far as we know, the girffons have not moved any armies nearer our borders and we have been offered help by the Zebras and the ponies of Saddle Arabia".

"We will have to accept all the help we can get. Send a letter to the Zebra King and the ponies of Saddle Arabia that we will gladly accept their help" Celestia said."Now we move on to the matter of where to move all the ponies that were evacuated from Cantrlot".

"The evacuation protocal has already been put in place your majesty. Ponies are being sent to live with relatives, while those without relatives are being sent to Vanhoover and Las Pegasus so as not to overcrowd any cities".

"Thank you for the report commander" Celestia said."Princess Cadence, Princess Twilight and Captain Shining Armour will be here in the morning with enws of the Crystal Empire. Until they arrive we must hope foe the best. This meeting will resume tomorrow with all princesses present". Princess Celestia got up from the table and left the room followed by Princess Luna.

"Sister I shall go and lower the sun so you may raise the moon".

"Of course sister" Luna said. The two sisters went to the balcony in their chambers and Celestia lowered the sun and Luna raised the moon.

"Goodnight Luna" Celestia said.

"Goodnight sister, I will keep an eye on the land during the night". With that she flew off into the night.

The convoy left the Crystal Empire at dawn as planned the night before. There was a total of 20 guards escorting the convoy.

"Is it really nessessary to have all these guards with us. I doubt we have any real threat" Twilight said looking out the window of the carriage.

"It's just a procaution Twilight, the guards are for show more than anything" Cadence said hoping it would settle Twilight's worries.

"I don't think your going to enjoy Cloudsdale much then Twily. We'll be staying in Fort Hurricane where we will be under protection all day and night" Shining Armour said to his sister. The carriage progressed through the sky on it's way to Cloudsdale."At least you will be able to see your friends again. Princess Celestia had them brought to Cloudsdale as they are bearers of the elements of harmony".

"Yeah it will be good to see them all again. It's been a while".

The convoy arrived in Cloudsdale safely. The two princesses and the captain of the guard disembarked the carriage.

"This way your majesties to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna" a guard said. They followed him into a room in the main building. Celestia and Luna were busy talking to other ponies about pieces of paper. Luna looked up and noticed their guests.

"You made it" she said."Did you notice any shaking on your way here".

"Not from the air" Cadence said as she took a seat at the table in the centre of the room. Twilight and Shining Armour sat down beside her. All the other ponies took their seats and Celestia stood up to speak.

"As you all know yesterday Equestria was hit by terriffic shaking which has some cities in ruins. Help has been sent to each of these cities and ponies are being moved to safer locations. We know what caused the shaking and we are working to see if it will happen again or not. Princess Twilight will breif you on the cause of the shaking. Twilight stood up sheepishly.

"A few days ago we discovered a giant rock under the plains north of Canterlot. We beleive it to be the source of Equestria's magic. It appeared to have been dorment for thousands of years, but recently it has become active again. We do not know what has caused this and we don't know if it will stop. What we do know is that it has started to expel magic again. We have a hunch on how it is doing this. We beleive it is draining back the magic it gave out when it first arrived here. To test this theory I have sent ponies to examine the Crystal Heart in the Crystal Empire and the Tree of Harmony near Ponyville. If we find that their magic levels are weakening we can confirm that the rock is retracting it's magic".

One of the other ponies stood up."Do we know what will happen if it does retract all of it's magic".

"No, but I assume Equestria would lose it's magical feel which would cause things like enviromental change and land shifts". All the ponies around the table started chatting amongst themselves trying to make sense of what they were hearing.

"Settle down everypony, we have more pressing matters to discuss" Celestia boomed across the table."As of now we are at our most vulnerable. We have been offered aid by the Zebras and the ponies of Saddle Arabia, but that will not stop another nation from attacking us. I have placed our armies on high alert at our borders to the east and south. Cadence, Shining Armour what news of our northern borders".

Shinging Armour stood up to speak."We have seen movement from a Yak legion and we have placed units on high alert. There has been no actual attack, but I think one could be imminent". All the ponies around the table broke into wild conversation again.

"Do not panic anypony, if we are under threat we will deal with it" Celestia said, trying to reassure all the ponies around the table."Our main priorities now are keeping our citizens safe and making sure there is no more shaking. This meeting is adjourned". Celestia got up from her seat and left the room followed by her sister.

"We best go find our chambers while we are here" Shining Armour said to his wife and sister.

Two days passed since the meeting and things had seemed to have gone back to normal. There had been no activity on any of the borders and all the citizens had been moved to safety with the help of the zebras and ponies of Saddle Arabia. Twilight was in the Cloudsdale library looking through maps and books to see if she could find out anything more about the rock. While she was doing so one of the ponies sent to check the magic levels of the Tree of Harmony burst through the door.

"Twilight" he called getting stern looks from others who were studying."Twilight you were right the rock is retracting it's magic from sources around Equestria. I just got a letter from the Crystal Empire saying the smae thing is happening with the heart".

"This is excellent news. With this information we will be able to track how the rock is reabsorbing it's magic. But there's one problem with that" Twilight said with a worrying look forming on her face.

"What's that" her colleague asked.

"We will have to go back to the cave in Canterlot" she said.

"Well that's not too bad, the shaking has stopped and Canterlot was declared safe a couple of hours ago".

"Well if the rock is reabsorbing magic then there's more shaking to come. And this time there would be any Canterlot left".