It was 7:46 AM. The doors to the throne room burst open. A pale horse walked inside.
"Princess Cel—Celestia?" Princess Twilight Sparkle, ruler of Equestria uttered as she beheld the unkempt figure of her once-mentor. Celestia’s mane flowed at an odd pace, and the expression upon her face was grim.
"Twilight," she said, "there isn't much time. Come with me."
It was 8:32, and Beauty Brass was reading the Canterlot Times. She was sitting on her favourite sofa, mug of coffee with milk and three sugars sitting on the little table in front of her.
She didn't know that in three minutes, she was going to die.
8:33. Beauty got to the funny pages before setting the thing down. She never read the funny pages; they never seemed all that funny to her. Silly little comics for foals. That wasn't her style.
Groaning, she drank the last of her coffee and rolled off the couch to her hooves. She eyed her sousaphone, sitting on a chair in the corner next to a music stand. She had an event coming up, some noble or another's latest inane party, and she was expected to play.
She needed to rehearse her pieces. It’d been harder and harder, lately, to get herself to do so. But she was a professional; she didn't have time to go into a slump. So she forced herself to walk over to the instrument that was her everything.
8:34. She'd slipped the instrument around her barrel. It was heavy, but she'd grown accustomed to its weight as a child. She flipped the pages of sheet music around to the first piece in her set.
8:35.
The world went white.
It was 7:51. Princess Twilight Sparkle marched through the halls of Canterlot Castle at a brisk pace, led by Celestia.
"Tell me what's going on," Twilight asked.
"I had a vision in my dreams this morning," Celestia said, never breaking her stride. "Canterlot is going to burn today."
"What?"
"At 8:35 this morning," Celestia said, "the city will be annihilated. No one will survive."
"I don't understand," Twilight said. "There's no way—"
"Twilight you need to listen to me," Celestia said, cutting her off. The tone in her voice made Twilight shiver. She'd never heard Celestia sound so panicked. "We don't have time. You need to follow me if we're going to stop this."
"Of course," Twilight said, picking up her pace. "I'd follow you anywhere."
They kept moving.
It was 8:32, and Jet Set was just getting out of bed.
"Mmph," his wife, Upper Crust, said, rolling over to look at him. "You woke me up, dear."
"Sorry," Jet Set replied. "I didn't mean to."
"It's okay."
She stretched out her legs and grimaced.
"I'm awfully stiff today."
"Must be all that tennis," Jet Set replied. "You should take a warm bath. That always helps ease my muscles when I come back from polo."
8:33.
"You and your polo," Upper Crust said. "Maybe I will. Have the servants run a bath for me."
"Of course," Jet Set said. He leaned over and kissed his wife of twelve years on the forehead. She smiled, then closed her eyes.
8:34.
Jet Set turned and headed out of the bedroom. His butler was waiting for him.
"Good morning, sir," he said. "Your breakfast is waiting for you in the dining room."
"Good man, Jeeves," Jet Set replied. "Oh, have someone run a hot bath for Upper Crust."
"Of course sir."
8:35. Jet Set turned to look out the window of his mansion, only for the light to blind him.
"What on Equus—"
And then he was gone.
It was 8:02.
"Is it an attack?" Twilight asked. "Is someone going to attack us?"
They had reached one of the castle's balconies. Celestia spread her wings, and Twilight did the same. They took to the air together, propelled skyward by feathers and magic.
"No," Celestia replied. "No one's attacking us."
"Then what's going on?" Twilight asked. "Why won't you tell me?"
"You'll understand when we get there," Celestia said, not looking back at Twilight as she did so. She beat her wings and pulled ahead. Twilight could only follow, mind spinning through the possibilities.
It was 8:32, and Saffron Masala was hard at work in the kitchen of the Tasty Treat. The pots of curry on the stove bubbled, releasing their sweet and spicy scents into the air. Saffron wouldn't trade that smell for anything in the world.
"Naan is done," her father, Coriander Cumin, said. "How is the curry?"
"Wonderful," Saffron replied.
She looked at her father. The years were starting to take their toll on him, and the grey in his hair was starting to become more prominent. Not that he'd admit it of course; her father was as stubborn as a rock.
8:33.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Nothing," she said, smiling.
"Well now you have me worried," Coriander said. "Let me have a taste."
"Dad!" Saffron whined, as her father came over and grabbed a ladle in his magic. "You still don't trust me to make the curry?"
"It's not that I don't trust you," he said, dipping the spoon into one of the pots. "It's just that I want to make sure you're doing it like I taught you."
He brought the ladle up to his lips. Saffron pouted.
8:34.
Coriander smacked his lips. "Perfect. As always."
Saffron grinned.
"But could use a little more cumin."
Her grin turned to a frown.
"I added plenty of—"
8:35.
The restaurant, and everyone in it, ceased to be in an instant.
It was 8:22. Celestia touched down on the pavement, and Twilight did the same. Their flight had been wordless, Celestia grimly flying onwards and Twilight worriedly following.
Twilight looked up at the building they'd arrived at.
"Canterlot General Hospital?" she said. "Why are we here?"
"Come on," Celestia said, already walking. "We don't have much time."
Twilight glanced at the clock on the front of the building.
Celestia was right. They didn't have much time.
They passed through the lobby. Ponies stared. Twilight did her best to smile at them. Celestia did not.
Deeper into the building they went.
It was 8:32, and Night Light was giving a lecture on celestial mechanics to his first class of the day.
"And so the Roche limit," he said, gesturing to the diagram of two celestial bodies he'd drawn on the whiteboard, "is the distance between two bodies at which the second body will disintegrate from the tidal forces of the first body exceeding the second's self-gravitation."
He looked out at his students to gauge how well they were absorbing this piece of information. The prognosis: not well. Half of them were dozing off, and the other half looked disinterested. Understandably, he thought; it was the first lecture period of the day.
8:33.
"Come on, everypony," he said, speaking a little louder than usual, which got some of their attentions. "I know it's early, but this is going to be on the exam! Try to get a little excited, okay? I mean, we are talking about the destruction of celestial bodies, here! This is exciting stuff!"
That got a few of them to perk up. Oh well, he thought. Better than none of them.
8:34.
"Now, does anyone remember what tidal forces are?" he asked. "We covered this last class, and it's also going to be on the test, so you'd better have it in your notes."
A few hooves went up. Night Light picked one in the third row. "You there."
"Is it the gravitational force that stretches a body along the line with another body?"
Night light nodded. "That's it. Well, it's a little more complicated than that, but—"
8:35.
Night Light, his students, the lecture hall, the university, Canterlot, everyone in it, and half of the Canterhorn went up in smoke.
It was 8:30.
"The maternity ward?" Twilight asked, still following Celestia through the hospital. "Why...?"
"Just follow me."
They passed through a door and found themselves outside of the nursery. Twilight could see the foals through the glass, swaddled in their little beds, sleeping with their eyes closed.
There was a doctor outside the door. She turned. "Hey, you can't—"
Then she saw who she was talking to.
8:31.
Celestia brushed past her and into the nursery, Twilight following behind her. Celestia walked up to one bed in particular.
"This is her," she said.
"Who?"
"The filly who annihilates Canterlot."
Twilight blinked. "W-what?"
Celestia sat down. She lit her horn and lifted the child into her hooves.
"In four minutes," she said, "this filly will have a magical surge. An unprecedentedly large one. It will wipe out her, us, and all of Canterlot. Gone in an instant."
The filly opened her eyes. Looked up at Celestia questioningly. Clestia gave her a comforting smile, then looked up at Twilight.
"You need to banish her to the moon."
"I—" Twilight's words caught in her throat. "That's... No!"
"There's no time, Twilight. There's nothing else we can do. It's the only way we can save thousands. Including her."
Twilight's hooves began to shake. She fell to her haunches.
8:32.
"No," she said. "I won't—"
"You must. She'll be safe there. It'll be like she's sleeping."
"Forever?" Twilight asked. "That's the same as murder."
"You have no choice. Not if you want to save Canterlot."
Twilight looked into Celestia's eyes. They were old and grim and determined.
8:33.
Twilight began to cry. "Why do I have to…?"
"You're the only one who can. I would do it for you if I could, but my connection with Harmony was severed when I used the Elements on Luna. I never would have wanted to put this upon you, but you must, Twilight."
"I—"
Celestia reached out and put a hoof on Twilight's shoulders. "You're the ruler of Equestria now. This is the job. It's not a happy one. It's a burden, sometimes, Twilight, but you need to carry it. For their sake. For your little ponies."
8:34. The filly's eyes began to glow, and she began to cry. Light began to shine from her horn.
"Twilight. You must."
Twilight squeezed her eyes shut. When she re-opened them, they were glowing too.
"I'm sorry, little one," she said. Tears still fell from her eyes. "Goodbye. Luna will give you sweet dreams, I promise."
Her horn flashed...
...and the filly was gone.
8:35. Canterlot did not burn. The city went on, not knowing what had almost happened. Beauty Brass practiced her set. Jet Set had his toast; Upper Crust had her bath. The Tasty Treat opened for the day. Night Light's students got out four minutes early.
Death can come at any moment. Without warning, without reason. It is easy to forget this when you live in Canterlot.
Celestia never could forget.
And now, neither will Twilight Sparkle.
