CANTERLOT

Spike paced on the steps outside of the Canterlot Academy of Sciences, the results of what he and his assistants and students had compiled clutched to his chest. He was waiting for one of the greatest scientific minds to date to make her way out so he could convince her to confirm what he had discovered.

He’d been pacing their for over an hour but waiting had payed off because the doors opened and out she came followed by some reporters and her fans asking for an autograph She looked to be in her late thirties with two toned green hair, lavender eyes and white skin. Taking a cigarette from her pocket she lit it before starting to walk.

“Dr. Clever… Dr. Clever.” The reporters called trying to get an interview or ask questions. Dr Clover Clever ignored them as she slowly descended the steps pausing only to tell her secretary something or autograph one of her books for a fan.

Spike quickly made his way over to her. She smiled as he handed her his portfolio.

“Dr. Clever.” He confirmed and she nodded.

“Yes. what’s your name?” She asked getting her pen ready.

“Uh, Spike Dragnus. “ He said. She nodded and started to sign the front page.

“Spike..” She started but Spike quickly stopped her.

“No, ma’am I don’t need you to sigh it. I need you to read that..” Spike explained making Clover stare at him confused before she chuckled slightly.

“I’m sorry, I don’t have time. I’m late for the White House.” She said handing Spike the binder back and started to walk off. But Spike wasn’t so easily dissuaded

“Ma’am, Pease. I need you to confirm my results, ma’am.” He pushed as he walked beside her toward the street. Clover sighed, turned and gave Spike a long-suffering look.

“Young man, do you have any idea who I am?” She asked him. Spike ignore the slightly snobby attitude she was giving off.

“Yes, I do ma’am. Please read this.” He said and handed her the folder again, all but out right begging her to just take a look. Clover saw the man was serious. The White House thing had been a lie to just brush him off, but something about how serious he was gave her pause. After glancing at his eyes and seeing the desperation she sighed in defeat.

“I’m to kind for my own good sometimes.” She thought as she grabbed the folder and flipped it open.

“What’s it about?” She asked with a slightly annoyed tone. Spike was so relieved he didn’t even care.

“It’s the end of the world.” he said getting a raised eyebrow for his trouble. With a sigh Clover motion for him to follow and they took the car to her office.

THREE HOURS LATER

Clover was standing over her desk not believing what she was reading. The charts and graphs of Spikes findings littered her desk as she poured over his work. This couldn’t be right… it was to insane to be real. Flipping rapidly through the page looking for some kind of mistake or error but she wasn’t coming up with one.

She shook her head, not wanting to believe this was right. Spike walked over to her, waiting for her answer. She looked at him with a uncertain smile. Spike just let out a defeated sigh and grabbed his coat.

“No, I… this is impossible. I’m sorry.” She she tried to explain but spike just put his coat on.

“I-i-i can’t have missed this. You-you have to be wrong.” She sounded more like she was trying to convince herself then Spike. Spike just stood there with a blank face listening to her.

“I mean, look, I’m sure with careful comparison to my own work, we’ll find that you are mistaken.” She flinched slightly at how that sounded.

“No offense, but…” Spike just shook his head and zipped up his coat with a rueful laugh.

“Well, I mean, we’ll know soon enough.” He said his tone wasn’t hopeful.

“The bigger effects will start up any day now.” He said with a humorless smile before making his way out of Clovers office leaving a slightly shaken Clover behind him. Clover leaned on her desk, staring at the evidence Spike had presented to her. The more she thought about it the more it made sense and the greater the dread became.

Biting the inside of her cheek in thought she made up her mind. Pushing herself up she quickly strode to the other door in her office where she stored her files. Making a beeline to the one of the drawers that had a combination lock on it she entered in the code and pulled it open.

She immediately reached for two black and red files that had the word SECRET printed on the top and gazed at them before pulling them out and closing the drawer with a sigh. She had work to do.

ELSEWHERE IN CANTERLOT

In white marble halls, military personnel briskly walked about on their own tasks. All save Major Lightning Dust who was dressed in her dress blues and gripping her cap tightly as she rocked back and forth on her feet. She was waiting for someone to show up and she was nervous as hell.

She kept peering around the corner every few second like he would just pop out of thin air. With a sigh she took a deep breath to try and calm her nerves. She looked again and saw him making his way down the hall and with a small smile she walked out to meet him.

The say General Cross Swords was pleasantly surprised was an understatement.

“Blitz?” He asked, using her childhood nickname, with a small smile, he had not been expecting to see her. She held out her hand and he clasped it with both of his as they shook. Lightning chuckle slightly.

“Only you and Dad ever call me that.” She smiled warmly getting a chuckle out of Cross.

“Well, Lightning. So what brings you to sunny Canterlot?” He asked as they both started walking down the hall. The slightly grim look she had on her face gave him a hint asher answer and he wasn’t looking forward to it.

“The Board of Review is next week.” She said as they started down a set of stairs. Cross sighed sadly. He knew her chances of getting through this unscatched were next to none and he hated it.

“I’m just trying to get a sense of the mood upstairs… How bad is it?” She continued. Cross wished he could say she’d be fine but he knew lying to her would only hurt her more in the long run.

“Your crew crashed the space shuttle. Now, how good do you think it could be?” He answered her question with his own. This was the part of the job he always hated, having to kill people's dreams.

“Sir this is my life.” Lightning pleaded. Cross kept his face neutral as they walked down the stairs but inside he was hating himself for not having the ability to change things.

“I was studying for the academy when I was thirteen. It still is and has always been my life.” She just barely short of begging him. As they reached the ground floor put a hand on her shoulder trying to give what comfort he was able before he spoke two words that might as well have been shit for how they tasted.

“It’s over.” He said and felt his heart gain a new crack at the completely crushed look on his little”Blitz’s” Face.

“I’m sorry Blitz, I’m sorry.” He said getting a small nod from Lightning that did little to ease the pain in his heart. They were soon jostled by the large crowd making its way toward the door temporally taking their minds off the subject.

“What the hell’s the hurry here?” Cross said out loud. Lightning was off in her own world when his phone rang. Pulling it out and seeing the number he hit the talk button.

“Blitz, would you excuse me please?” He said sadly and walked off to take the call leaving a distraught looking Lightning Dust behind. She wasn’t mad at him, she knew he had no real control over this. Lighting took a deep breathe, squared her shoulder and made her way to the front door. She wouldn’t let this set back stop her from doing what she loved.

“General Sword.” Cross said into the phone speaker.

“Cross, um, look…” The voice of Dr Clever crackled on the phone making Cross blink. Why was she calling him? Whatever he thought she’d say was quickly blown to kingdom come by the bomb she dropped.

“It seems that Destiny may have caught up with us.” She said making his blood chill slightly.

“What do you suggest we do?” he asked her.

“Gather everyone for a meeting, this is bigger then just you and I.” She said Cross hum in agreement.

“I’ll get them together. Anything else?” he asked. There was a slight pause on the other side as Clover thought it over.

“Can you have someone pick up a young a man by the name of Spike Dragnus please?”

Lightning Dust looked at the large crowd of people outside by the street. They had all gathered there and were looking and pointing at the sky. Following their gaze she tilted her head up… and her mouth dropped.

Flashing thought eh sky were ribbons of rainbow colors that dance to and fro under that stars. She had heard of an aurora borealis before but never seen one and never this far south. That small voice in the back of her mind, that told her something was going to happen was nearly screaming at her. While she didn’t know what was going on, she would keep her eyes open.

“Did Clever really try to give you her autograph?” Turner asked as Spike knocked back his fifth shot of liquor and tried to not spew it out from laughter as the scene played in his mind. He swallowed and nodded his head and he and turner started laughing. Snorts and giggles bubbled around them

With a deep breath Turner sighed.

“Ah, mademoiselle Clever. Clover Clever. Herr Clever. Superstar.” He exclaimed and they both lost it all over again. Turner drank his own shot as Spike blinked then grabbed his head with a groan

“I think I skipped drunk.” he said with a moan.

“Went right to hangover.” Turner sighed, as he set his drink down.

“I spoke with the kids. They don’t sleep at night.” He said with a small smile taking out a picture of his wife and two girls from his pocket. Spike looked and saw the smiling faces of Turners wife Ditzy and his two girls Dinky and Amethyst. He gave Turner a kind smile.

“They look at the sky at night, and… and they think it’s pretty.” He chuckle slightly. Both grew serious for a moment.

“Is there any chance you’re wrong?” Turner asked Spike, hoping for something. Spike had to disappoint his good friend as he shook his head.

“No. The sky, man.” Spike said playing with a shot glass.

“The sky-- I mean that’s just the beginning. That's high altitude static discharge..” He said his tone one of defeat. Turner sighed, even though he knew it was true he still want to make sure.

“I know.” Turner said softly.

“Dr. Dragnus…” A voice said directly behind Spike, drawing Turner’s attention as well. Spike leaned back in his chair and looked behind him upside down. The two agents that had picked him up at his class where standing there with the same blank expressions.

“Your presence is required at the Pentagon.” The guy said plainly. Spike smiled, the alcohol still affecting his system some.

“Ah…. it’s my best buddies. Hey!” He said with a goofy grin plaster on his face.

“Why don’t you join us for a drink?” He asked as he sat back upright, though not really serious.

“We’d be grateful if you could join us for a ride, sir.” The agent said calmly

“And if I were to say no?” Spike gave a mischievous look at Turner who grinned in return.

“Just asking.” Turner nodded in understanding.

“Well, we have no sense of humor.” The agent said making Turner snort as he tried to keep from laughing.

“That is true.” Spike said with a giggle, not expecting what was coming next.

“And we’re armed.” The agent said, still with a straight face but with a slight twinkle in his eyes.

Spike did his best to tuck in his shirt but it was being a pain and going down his underwear instead. The Sergeant first class escorting him opened a door for him to go through. He gave his thanks and walked into the big room with a large horseshoe shaped table with many officers sitting on the outside of it.

“Dr, Dragnus, welcome.” Cross Sword greeted Spike from where he sat in the middle of the table. Spike was still confused as to why he was here so he just nodded his thanks. Spike also so Noticed Dr. Clever sitting only a few seats down on the generals right side. Putting two and two together he had a suspicion as to why he was here now.

“Dr. Clever informs us that you made a useful contribution to her investigations, so she wanted you to assist her with the briefing.” Cross explained. Spike was a bit miffed that Clover had kinda used him as a springboard but given the seriousness of the situation he let it go.

“That’s very generous of you Dr. Clever.” He said. He’d let it go but he’d still let her know he wasn’t happy about it. Like the pro she was, Clover took the hit and rolled with the punch.

“Science is a selfless business, dear boy.” She said. Spike had to admit, grudgingly, he was slightly impressed.

“Now, why don’t you begin and I’ll fill in all the difficult bits.” She said, offering a kind of olive branch which he took. Spike nodded as he stood in the center of the group. Taking a deep breath he began.

“All right, I’ll put this a simply as I can.” He said, There was no easy way to say this.

“Everybody on Equis is dead in a year.” He said plainly getting startled looks and low murmurs from the panel.

“And let me explain why.” getting their attention back to him.

“Wrapped around Equis is and invisible field of energy. It’s made up of… Electricity and magnetism, so it’s called, creatively enough, the electromagnetic field. It’s were we get out magnetic north pole and south pole, and it protects us from cosmic radiation. So this EM field is out friend.” Spike said, trying to act like he was in front of a class of freshmen at the university.

“But now…?” Cross prompted getting Spike to nod but Dr. clover answered.

“But now, that field is falling apart."

“Why?” Asked one of the officers making spike exhale hard and scratch his head trying to think of a way to show them. Turning around he notice a few bowls of different fruits and saw one of them had a few peaches, an idea sparked in his brain and he grabbed one of the knives and started cutting the peach in half.

“Does somebody have a can of air freshener?” he asked the room getting quite a few odd looks. Cross gestured for one of the aids to go and get one and the aid quickly left the room. After spike finished cutting he held the cross section of the peach up for the room to see.

“Quick and dirty. The thin skin, that’s Equis’s crust. That’s what we live on. It’s thirty miles think.” He next pointed to the peaches flesh.

“The meat here, call it the mantle, and forgetting all the funky transitions, it’s two thousand mile thick.” He then pointed to the pit of the peach.

“The core, the peach pit in the center, that’s a tricky one. There’s two parts-- The inner core and the outer core, are you following me?” He asked them getting nods and ‘yes’ all around.

“The inner core is, uh… Well, It’s a big, solid chunk of iron, we think, and that’s surrounded by the outer core, and that is liquid.” Spike paused for a second to collect his thoughts and Clover took this moment to speak.

“Yes, but, most importantly, this liquid is constantly spinning in one direction. So a trillion trillion tons of hot metal spinning at a thousand mile an hour, so… “ She let it hang for Spike to pick up.

“Right, so physics 101-- hot metal moving fast makes electromagnetic field. This spinning outer core is the engine that drive the EM field. And that’s where we have our problem.” Spike looked around and saw a few confused faces before Clover spoke up again.

“This engine had stalled.” She said gaining all eyes in the room to stare at her.

“The core of Equis has stopped spinning.” Murmurs and questions flew around the table as they tried to comprehend what they had been told. No one saw the look shared between Cross and Clover.

“How could this have happened?” Cross said out loud but his eyes locked onto clover for a second who refused to meet his gaze.

“We don’t know.” Spike said, having missed their whole exchange. Cross leaned forward and narrowed his eyes in thought.

“What’s the timeline here?” He asked Spike.

“As the EM field becomes more and more unstable, we’ll start seeing isolated incidents. One plane will fall from the sky, and then two, and then… in a few months, anything… everything electronic will be fried.” Spike saw the grim expressions of the people in the room.

“Static discharges in the atmosphere will create “Super-storms” with hundreds of lightning strikes per square mile.” Clover added getting all the people to lean forward and pay close attention to what was being said.

“After that it gets bad.” Spike said, make the group go deathly quiet. What they had said wasn’t the worst part? Clover took over again.

“Equis’s EM field shields us from the solar winds, which are a lethal blend of radioactive particles and microwaves.” She paused when the aid came back and walked to Spike to hand him the can of air freshener before continuing.

“When the shield collapses, microwave radiation, will literally cook our planet.” While Clover explained Spike had picked up a large fork and spiked another peach on it. The can of air freshener in his left hand and the fork in his right he called Clover over to him for help. As she got up he explained what he was doing.

“This is the sun…” He held up the air freshener.

“This is Equis without the EM field.” He held up the peach on the fork. He held them both up and asked Clover if she would hold up her lighter. She did so and lit it with a flick of her finger. The long flame burned bright and Spike pushed the release on the can sending a hot flame of burning gas onto the peach.

If pictures can speak a thousand words, no body in that room doubted what one thousand words were being said as they watched with horror as the peach was engulfed in flames. After ten seconds Spike stopped and held up the still flaming peach to the group. Clover’s words were grave when she spoke.

“Three months, gentleman, and we’re back in the Stone Age. A full year, the field collapses…” She paused to nodded at the peach.

“And that.” She said with finality as she walked back to her seat. Spike walked over to one of the pitcher of water on the conference table and dropped the peach in it. As soon as it was inside it was encased in a shell of ice.

“Feel free to throw up. I know I did.” Spike said as he walked back to the center.

“So…” Cross said as he wrapped his head around the situation.

“How do we fix it.” Spike scoffed.

“We can’t.”

“Not in my vocabulary.” Cross said making Spike roll his eyes.

“Then you might want to get one of those word a day calendars General, because it’s impossible.” Spike said. Cross tried to retort but Spike didn’t let him.

“The core is the size of mars. You're talking about jump starting a planet.” Spike said hotly letting some of the stress that had been building up that week out.

“This is a superheated hyper-fluid of molten nickel and iron at nine thousand degrees fahrenheit, two thousand miles down, a thousand mile thick.” he argued making the Cross actually squirm a bit.

“And the deepest we’ve ever been is… seven miles, with a two inch drill bit.” Cross was a bit annoy he was being talked down to, even if the boy was right. As the two continued to argue neither saw Clover frown in thought before sighing. She had made a decision.

“If we can go into space, we certainly…” Cross tried to argue but was again interrupted by an annoyed Spike.

“Well Space is easy. It’s empty.” Spike said running his hands through his hair as he ranted on.

“We’re talking about millions of pounds per square inch. Even if we somehow came up with a brilliant plan to fix the core, we just can’t get there.” Spike said and he felt his shoulder slump as it finally set in what they were discussing.

Cross wasn’t doing any better. He was a do or die kind of person but this was way over his head, he had no idea what to do. Both Cross and Spike were pulled from their musing by clover speaking.

“Yes, but…” She paused for effect, with a slight smirk on her face.

“...What if we could?” she asked. She had an answer even though she was loathe to admit it. The reason she didn’t like it is they would have to go and see… him. She suppressed a grimace.

Author's Note

The plot gets thicker... maybe Celestia should lay off the cake, eh?