Prologue * * *
It had been done. Ponyville was the last straw . Celestia closed her eyes. She didn't want the image of all that death in her mind.She could see it, all the dead carcases scattered around the town. She shook her head. She didn't want to look scared in front of the guards. That would only make everypony nervous.
He only bombed unoccupied places. The moon was a bit bizarre. Poor Luna was so upset. But why did he bo-...Oh no,she thought.The prophesy. She stood up and raced out of the Battle Plans room.
"Luna! Luna! Where are you?" she called.
A Pegasus guard cleared his throat
"Your Majesty," he said. "Her Highness Princess Luna was heading to Ponyville this afternoon. You were in the Battle Plans room so she didn't want to disturb you. She told me to tell you this when you came out."
Celestia paled, but remained calm.
"Thank you," she said. "Where is Shining Armour? I would like to speak to both him and Cadence. Would you notify them that i require there presence? Twilight too please."
"Yes your Majesty," the guard said and trotted off.
Princess Celestia walked to her room. The fireplace set off a soft glow on everything. It was so peaceful. She loved it. And then she hated it.
"Why am i thinking about how nice my room feels at a time like this?" she scolded herself. She walked over to a stack of scrolls she had piled into a corner. With the help of her horn, she found the scroll she was looking for. Seisehporp fo Llorcs Eht, by Dleifecal Nonnaihr.
She unraveled the scroll with her magic. A scent of mildew and ancient times and pony gods danced out of the scroll and right up the princess's nostrils. But she didn't sneeze. There wasn't time for sneezing. She scanned the old lettering of the scroll until she found the paragraph she needed.
Raw Citsag eht fo rovivrus a. Emoc ot tey si gnieb taerg a rof, live ey lla, eraweb. Rewop s'ti erofeb wob lliw Sdog eht lla taht dnarg os, ynop a fo gnimoc eht tciderp I, erutuf tnatsid a ni.
It translated:
In a distant future, I predict the coming of a pony, so great that all the gods will bow before it's power. Beware, all ye evil, for a great being is yet to come. A survivor of the Gastic War.
It was true. This was a Gastic war. Bombs...everywhere. But never inhabited place, like Ponyville. Celestia sighed. If the prophesy of the Gastic War was true, then the rest wouldn't be good. There was a knock at her door and she shouted,"Enter!"
Princess Cadense and Shining Armour walked in. It was clear to Celestia that Cadense and Twilight had been crying. Shining Armour didn't look much better. Ponyville was Cadense's favorite town in all of Equestria. Shining Armour and Twilight had both grown up there. Twilight...
"Where is Twilight?" Celestia asked.
"She doesn't wish to come your Highness," said the guard.
Poor Twilight. I don't blame her. All her best friends were there. From the letters the ponies had been writing to Celestia, everyone, including Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy, were in Ponyville for the annual Summer Sun Celebration. Just a few hours before the rising of the sun, a bomb blew. The sun they would never see again.
It took all she could give to keep from crying out loud. Celestia nodded.
"Tell her to do what she wants. I won't force her to come," she said. The guard bowed and shut the door. Then Cadense exploded.
"W-why d-did it ha-ave to be P-Ponyville?!" she cried. Shining Armour wrapped an arm around his wife, trying to calm her down and prevent himself from bursting too.
"It couldn't be stopped," said Celestia gloomily.
"It w-was a-all my faaaauult," Cadense sobbed. "I could have warned them. I could have set up an e-emergency evacuation p-plan. I could have...have..."
"Cadense," said Shining Armour softly. "How could you have known it would happen there? And as for an emergency evacuation plan, well...everything happened too quickly. With the Celebration and Twilight's Coronation, we've all been busy."
"If it was anypony's fault, it was mine," said Celestia, on the brink of a total meltdown. "I should have thought about the safety of my people before the Celebration. I was stupid to think otherwise."
The sound of darkness filled the room before Shining Armour spoke again.
"Celestia, you can't take it out on yourself," he said.
"Why not?" the princess snapped, louder than she meant to.
Shining Armour didn't have a good reason. He just sighed and kissed Cadense on the forehead, whispering comforting words to her.
Celestia shut her eyes and sat down, lowering her head. After a while,her eyes still closed, she said," I need you to look for survivors Shining. Cadense, I need you to tell the other towns what's happened. I'll have Twilight make an evacuation plan."
Silently, the couple exited the room.
When the door shut, Celestia let her tears flow. She was unfit to serve her world any longer. She knew what she must do next.
