1 - Out of the Frying Pan
There's a stillness in time
You wouldn't have known the end of the world was coming from the way the sun hung warm in the sky, or the bustling of the streets below, or the cool breeze that flitted between the densely packed buildings of the metropolis.
I didn't see any of that, though. I was too busy drooling on my desk, sleeping off yet another late night of precision levitation practice. My body had begged for me to rest, and when I refused, it, of course, decided it didn't actually need my permission anyway. Normally, I'd have been playing around with more advanced spells, but an unfortunate accident involving a rabbit, a very large donut and a celery stalk had left my horn without a tip. I could still do levitation, but I'd been warned that more powerful magic might backfire into my skull. Sometimes I built little models and sometimes I tried picking locks. Anything that required accuracy, really. It made it seem like I was less crippled while my horn was laid up.
I stayed up way too late pretty often. I guess my crescent moon cutie mark fit me well. I'd learned to keep an alarm clock at my desk, but that didn't make the process of waking up any more pleasant. As always, I woke up pretty slowly. I yawned and went to rub my eyes, but my glasses were in the way. Forgoing that step of the ritual, I felt around for the snooze button and accidentally pressed button that stopped alarm. A simple "fuck" described the situation nicely, because now I had to stay awake. I raised my head blearily and tried to look around. No light, of course. I liked to keep it pretty dark in here, so all the curtains were closed. Breaking a time-honored tradition, I decided to open them. I hissed, the sunlight hurting my still-sensitive eyes. Princess Celestia was really going at it today.
The disheveled mess of books and bits of junk that was the floor of my apartment came into plain view. I was the only pony who'd set hoof in that apartment since I'd moved in, and it showed. Stumbling and cursing through the quagmire, I made my way to the kitchen. Maybe some goodies had appeared in the fridge last night? A buck can dream. Just some carrots left. I crunched my way through breakfast as I flipped through today's edition of Crystal Press. Apparently, a zebra-allied dragon had strayed into Empire airspace yesterday. Boring war stuff, some propaganda stories... yeah, no thanks.
Shower time. I lived in the largest city in the world, and they couldn't figure out how to keep the water temperature stable. Hot, cold, hot. You had to time when to jump in and out of the water. I'm sure I missed a few spots that morning, but it's not like it was going to matter after a few hours. After toweling off, I navigated back through the mess to what would be my bedroom if I actually slept in it. I'm no Rarity, but my work uniform was absolutely hideous. I worked for G.E.M. Industries, which seemed to be the number one supplier of paper cups and pencils in the entire city. Nopony actually cared if I was at work, but I still had to wear that stupid neon green shirt.
I left the safe-haven of my apartment one more time and rode the elevator down 7 floors. The music in there was always infuriatingly calm. I miss it sometimes. I passed the homeless buck in the lobby for what had to be the thousandth time and went out into the street. I lived about 3 miles away from the center of the city, in one of the rings of buildings devoted to habitation. There was an overhead monorail system that served the entire city, and I always took the Heart Line train to the city center. I worked at G.E.M.'s headquarters, about 3 blocks from the Crystal Castle itself, stamping sheets of paper for 8 hours a day, 6 days a week. The pay was ok, but the boredom and monotony tended to get to me, so I kept a radio on low volume in my cubicle. I'd tried messing around with G.E.M.'s network from my terminal a few times, but I never really delved in too far. G.E.M., for an office supply corporation, had some serious security.
You could gradually see the city get busier the closer you got to the center as you drifted by on the train, until just outside Administration Circuit, when the traffic entered a gridlock and the sidewalk became way too narrow for the amount of hoof traffic. Getting off at my usual station, I approached the saddeningly gray G.E.M. corporate tower, feeling the weight of another day pressing on my shoulders. Immediately, I noticed the military convoy outside attempting to navigate the city center traffic. Military vehicles weren't that rare a sight in the Crystal City, but they usually confined themselves to the defense and research sectors. Putting this out of my mind, I settled in for the musical elevator ride to my floor. For some reason, they were really strict about not going to the wrong floor, which was punishable by termination. They had security turrets around, so nopony was sure if that meant they were firing you or firing on you.
I got to my gray desk in the gray cubicle in that gray-walled office with the gray window blinds that were always closed and turned on my gray terminal and my little radio. It immediately started chirping about unseasonably cold weather on a contested island, which I didn't really care about. It was just there to distract me from my own thoughts. I grabbed my stack of product orders to enter into the system. Tap-tap-tap-enter, stamp order with "RECEIVED" in bright red letters and repeat. But today was going to be different; the dawn of a new age!
About an hour in, the radio announcer suddenly changed. "Breaking news," he began. "We're getting reports of megaspell detonations in Cloudsdayle and Canterlot." This caught my attention. I knew right then, I was hearing the end of the war with my own ears. I turned up the volume.
"Waiting for confirmation, stand by..." the announcer continued. A short pause, and then: "Confirmed. We have confirmed reports of megaspell hits in Cloudsdayle and Canterlot. My god..."
The broadcast cut out and was replaced by a level female voice repeating "All Stable 83 reservation holders, report to the Crystal Castle immediately. This is not a drill. Message courtesy of Stable-Tec. Have a nice day!"
Lucky me! I'd decided to shell out the bits for a reservation a few months ago using my inheritance from my grandfather's will, just in case. It was just about equal to the cost of the reservation. Did Grampa know something? Never could tell with that old grump.
That was all pushed out of my mind. My entire focus shrank down to galloping as fast as I could for the elevator. The irony of the elevator's calm music in the face of impending doom haunts me even now. A few panicked others joined me in the elevator, probably other Stable reservation holders. As the doors opened and closed, I saw the chaos on each floor increasing, like frames in a movie, until, on the second floor, a stampede of neon green was barreling toward the elevator. I mashed at the door-close button with everything I had and sighed in relief when doors finally hissed closed before they reached us. The elevator, calm and collected as ever, deposited us in the lobby, where chaos reigned supreme as well.
I'd never run so hard in my life. Ponies were pouring out of buildings into the street, thronging together and trampling each other. Most were rushing for the city center, which was bad because that was where I needed to go. Steeling my resolve, I formed a light blue telekinetic field in front of me and charged into the crowd, pushing ponies out of my way left and right. Celestia knew when megaspells would fall! Would I survive, or would I be incinerated where I stood? Or fried by the radiation? The fear of that thought coursing through me gave me strength I didn't even know I had.
The castle came into view ahead of me. There was a tall barricade around the perimeter of the square and it looked like the Stable was directly under the Crystal Castle, in the exact center of the city. Then, the sky grew dimmed as a dragon passed in front of the Sun. Then two more. Everypony stopped and looked upward. Flashes came from the rooftops as laser turrets opened fire, hoping to bring the dragons down before they could release their payloads.
I redoubled my efforts and managed to force my way to the checkpoint for the Stable. "Let me in!" I screamed at the dazed-looking guard as I galloped at full speed toward him. "I'm on the list!"
"Identification," he shouted, quickly focusing back on me. I managed to skid to a stop and whipped out my citizen ID card for him to see. "You're good!" he said while standing aside. "Proceed to the elevator platform." A mare tried to force her way in past the guard, but backed down when a power armor-clad pony spun his minigun rotor threateningly.
Galloping in, I saw that the stones under the Crystal Castle had been lifted away, revealing a large gear-shaped elevator emblazoned with the number 83. Several dozen other ponies were already there, shivering and hugging each other. Ponies in battle saddles started firing warning shots over the crowd, who were attacking the barricade around the castle.
"Is there anypony else who isn't here?" an officer shouted as he approached the guard.
"A few. But time's nearly up! We need to send them into the Stable now!"
"We can wait a couple minutes! They'll be here."
The city's laser turrets seemed to have had no effect on the dragons, who began circling the city in a triangle before releasing two barely visible objects each. The guard's eyes grew wider and he pointed behind his superior. "Look! They've released their megaspells! Send them in!" The dragons immediately began to flee the area, turning away from the city.
The officer turned to a pony at the elevator controls and gave a sharp nod. I felt a jolt as the pony flipped the switch and started our descent into our salvation.
The last thing I saw was pink-tinted flashes. Then the blue sky flickered out, leaving a blanket of black clouds.
Author's Note
Level up!
Agility +1
The Great War wasn't just a conflict between two great powers. It involved every pony, zebra, changeling, dragon and every single creature whose ears heard the sounds of battle, saw the flashes on the horizon, and, ultimately, felt their strength drain as they were slowly reduced to nothing by the radiation of the bombs.
And among those affected was the Crystal Empire. Neutral as it was, it never had any true hope of remaining uninvolved. It accepted refugees and refused emoluments from both sides until, in the wake of his wife's assassination at the hands of rogue zebra soldiers, Shining Armor called upon his government to help end this war for good.
The city grew exponentially. Factories, labs, and military bases all sprung up like weeds in a garden. The Crystal Empire secretly gave Equestria their weapons and resources, hoping it would end the war sooner.
And end the war it did. When the zebras learned of the Crystal ponies' complicity, they targeted their city, too. Some were able to make it to the great underground Stable in the exact center of the city, Stable 83. Most others were not so lucky.
Welcome to the Crystal Wastes, my friends. Long time, no see...
Author's Note
Hello, and welcome to my story. I'm hoping to expand this to at least 52,000 words by the end of November, so chances are I'll be updating this pretty regularly.
Feel free to drop a rate or a comment. Every little bit of feedback helps. Enjoy!
