NoPony:Chapter 1 Part A
20120827Terl
"The sampler probe shows nominal conditions within, Princess, although we would prefer to be sure of your safety through further tests, especially microbial and chemical." X-Ray, the high energy Bay Earth Pony scientist bowed his head to Celestia as his group of students, workers, guards and support ponies worked at a half melted lead sealed doorway deep in the dungeons of Canterlot. The Princess bowed her head lightly to her experts statement, and looked sadly back to the doorway. "I believe I can safely say that there will be little if nothing left within, little equipment, nothing alive, and the remains of nopony. May I enquire as to when access may be available?" X-Ray nodded, and waved his hoof towards a bright golden yellow young pegasus filly, who approached the pair apprehensively. "This is my brightest upcoming student Princess, Neutron Dance, who has been collating and analyzing the data between the various science and work parties. Dance? what have you so far?" Dance smiled, worridly, and ducked her head down to the clipboard held by a hoof.
"After Princess Luna came to the laboratories a week ago enquiring if we would care to try out our equipment and methods on less than laboratory conditions, as she had a little puzzle for us, we assembled a team, equipment, supplies and assitance, and made our way to this location. Other teams were already here including archeologists, archivists and historians. Preliminary attempts by the construction ponies to gain access were thwarted by the excessive resistance of the material to mechanical attacks. Thus the scientific contingent was requested to utelise more powerful, while still accurate, energies and methods." Dance nervously licked her lips. "Our suprise was further compounded by the news that the construction forepony was none other than Drill Bit the unicorn, who had only slightly more success than the heavy mechanical drills. From this we suspect that the material has somehow been infused with magic, or a magic resisting substance."
Dance paused, looked around carefully, then bit her lower lip. "Please dont think less of me for another possibility my Princess, but even with both magic and science working together, and the strange effects that are occuring, I have to beg forgiveness for having to consider the near impossibility that progress is slow, because the material itself is slow." X-Ray spluttered in indignation for such presumption for but a moment before Celestia raised her hoof in front of him. "Its perfectly allright Dance, please continue, we have reason to accept your proposal, which will hopefully be made clearer given time." Dance looked thankfull for a moment, then looked puzzled at Celestia, her mouth moving in thought, before she ducked her head down to the clipboard, flustered. "Ahem, er, thankyou Princess. Um, with the combination used, we managed to finally penetrate the barrier earlier today, and look inside the void beyond." As Dance said the words, void beyond, Celestias head arched up, eyes closed, and gave a light sigh. Dance and X-Ray looked worriedly at her, as did several other ponies now surrounding the breifing. Celestia smiled wanly as she lowered her head back down to gaze at her responsibilities, then at the slow barrier ahead. "Im very sorry for worrying you, you just reminded me of the loss of a good freind, a long, long time ago. I believe Luna decided it was about time that we tried to discover what actually happened that thousand years ago. Please, continue with your efforts. If, as Dance here has suggested you might be facing slow material, a most unusual substance indeed, you can alter your experiments to investigate the interaction of materials and magic with time itself?"
Celestia moved over to the tables covered with drawings, graphs and measurements, then gazed for a strangely long time through the eyepiece of the optical tube passed through the wall. "As was expected, nopony there", she sighed quietly, then looked round at her eager ponies. "You are all doing an excellent job in new and difficult circumstances. I have to go and talk with Luna about rearranging our schedules and other duties, as this room has interest for both of us. Please, continue with your efforts, you have our gratitude for everything you have done, even if there is nothing else at all to discover at this time." The Princess spent a short while longer chatting to various ponies about their efforts, location, supplies and other problems, then bowed her head, before turning and walking back up the twisting passageways back to Canterlots light, her mane and tail flowing and rippling in the light breeze caused by her graceful movements. Behind her, various groups bent to their tasks, following the science ponies new collection of graphs and measurements, moving more slowly but steadily, trying to match the speed of the equipment to the calculated speed of the material.
Princess Luna quietly approached the morning shift as she steadily digested the tea and muffins she had shared with Celestia at their own change over scant minutes before. Ahead of her, cables, magical items and ponies of all forms snaked in and out of a steadily deepening passageway that marked the multiple layers of the previously sealed door. As she looked around at the bustle, Luna noticed XRay approaching from one side with a pale white unicorn intern trailing after, levitating a display with him. "Princess Luna, we would like to thank you for giving us this unique chance to study what until now has been considered totally impossible. This fine colt here is Quark Soup, who I believe started off in his families resteraunt making the finest wonton soup in Canterlot, but discovered his knack lead to amazing insights when applied at Princess Celestias School For Gifted Unicorns. Quark? Your analysis to date please?" The unicorn colt indicated gulped, and paled even further, before manipulating the display to show Luna a cross section of the passageway being excavated. "Well, uh, your highness, we hope to reach the final layer, the door itself to the room, within the next few days, but I have worries about what could possibly happen upon opening it." Luna narrowed her eyes at the hesitant unicorn. "What do you mean, you have worries." Quark gulped several more times, and backed up slightly, "Well, we cant actually be sure, but, um, its possible that because of how time itself has apparently been affected within the room, the light that enters it is also coming to a stop. The trouble being, light has been entering the room for an unknown length of time, certainly as long as the room has been sealed." Luna looked from Quark, to Xray, to the passage. "And just how long has this been?" The young unicorn nodded his head rapidly. "From what Princess Celestia has told us, and from various castle records, the room was known to have been sealed no later than seven days after, ah, your pardon highness, Nightmare moon, was exiled. It has been filling with light ever since. We believe there is a theoretical chance that if that door was opened without the proper technomagical restrictions and safeties in place, the time field within would collapse, and the light would be released. A Thousand years of pure concentrated sunlight in an instant. Canterlot would cease to exist." Luna leaned forward and glared into the unicorns cowering face. "And the good news?" Quark squeaked in terror. "Yu, your hi, highness, that Is the good news. We gave up trying to work out just how bad things could get when we exceeded the borders of Equestria itself." Luna snorted in disgust and started to turn away, but paused when XRay carefully cleared his throat. "Um, Im very sorry to bring such news Your Highness, but our groups have gone over the numbers and measurements and models several times. We have here the energies of creation itself, beyond which only yourself and Princess Celestia hold sway." Xray stepped back to just in front of Quark, and angled his body to somewhat hide the shivering unicorn from offending Princess Luna any further. Luna looked long and hard at XRay, then snorted heavily, causing a light shock to shiver the castles foundations. "Very well, I will talk with Celestia, and she will have further words with you. I want that room opened. I will not be denied." With a flourish of her mane, Luna majestically swept up the passageway away from the work groups, pausing for a long moment to gaze at the far wall, on which was embossed two alicorn forms, one that looked just like her, impressed in a far deeper embeded form of her larger sister. As she cntinued on round the far corner, Xray was sure he heard Luna quietly mutter to herself, "You have much to explain dear sister."
"Ohhh, my head." Twilight half opened her bleary eyes and tried to lift her head towards the steady repetative Thud, Thud, Thud, Pause, of somepony at the door demanding notice, while not quite breaking the obstruction down at this moment. "Spike, SPIKE, where is oooohh good grief." Twilight slowly placed her hoof to her face and dragged it down letting it not so sprightly spring back. Spike was flat on his back, against one of the now half empty library shelves, with an enormous gem stuffed between his wide open drooling jaws, totally and completely asleep. "Pinkie Pie! What in Equestria was in that punch, because it certainly had one." Once again the Thud, Thud, Thud, echoed through the after midnight library, and Twilights pounding head, slightly more insistant still, making it known in no uncertain terms that time was growing short for a voluntary response. Grumbling loudly to herself, Twilight staggered to her hooves, tripped over herself in a spectacular forward flip, grunted, then lifted herself up by horn levitation, gliding through the air towards the door, only to impact into teh wall next to it, dropping back to the floor with a heavy thud. Groaning, Twilight staggered back to her hooves, biting onto the door frame before her back legs finally straightened up enough to hold her weight, then took a couple of tries before her horn magically and physically unlocked and unlatched the door, allowing it to swing slowly open. "Oh my head, have you any idea what tiEEeeeeeeppp..." Twilights eyes opened wide, more in shock than awake, as her back legs collapsed under her, letting her fall over backwards, trying to scrabble away from the nightmare outside. Even as she was falling, the Dark Guard Sargent pegasus entered the library, standing behind her so she faced him on righting herself, his three subordinants silently entering also, surrounding Twilight. The Sargent sneered down at Twilight. "You have an appointment with Princess Luna, and she is upset. It is not wise to keep her waiting any longer." Twilight looked round at the various members of the Dark Guard, "but, my notes, my travel cloak, my breakfast, ohh my head." At each plaintive cry, Twilight looked round, only to see the various guards were holding items in question, even a small picnic basket, returning to Sargents glare. "Time, is running out miss, now, if you please, we are going to have to Move. Right lads, you know the drill. This Blackbird has got to Fly. Keem em lit, open the canopy, engage harnesses, inform Thunderbolt and Lightning I want a full Overdrive cycle." The other guards nodded and slowly started to flex their wings even as they filed silently back out the front door, leaving the Seargent to lightly nudge Twilight even as she stared in total confusion after them. "Right this way miss, the sooner Princess Luna gets to see you, the sooner you will be able to find out answers to questions. Now, be careful of the step, your things are already stowed safely, Id suggest you wrap up and hold on tight, we are going to be moving a little more rapidly than usual to try and make up time." Twilight nodded shakily, and stumbled a little as she stepped outside, and looked round rapidly as she couldnt see where they were going at first. As her eyes ajusted to the dimness, she could just make out the shape of a carriage unlike anything she had seen or heard of before, a deep blue teardrop shape, with the guard pegasi already latching in in front, but in single file instead of the more usual paired arrangement, their wings already flexing up and down, but in a wave pattern instead of the more regular together. Standing either side of the teardrop, holding it up in harness instead of the expected wheels were two of the largest pegasi Twilight had ever seen, their wings synchronising with those ahead, overlapping above the carriage top, their legs bending as they lowered the bottom of the teardrop to the ground. She tripped over the bottom lip of the tear drop and came to a halt against the front wall as the sargent lifted into the air just enough to press down on the upper half, lowering it until it clicked shut, then clunked quietly as a handle was moved to seal it. At the moment the handle clunked, Twilight was thrown to the back of the teardrop as it suddenly accelerated hard but steadily, the two large pegasi throwing the entire vehicle horizontally into the air by the simple act of flexing their legs and jumping. Dragging herself slowly back to the front of the tear drop, through a small window there, she saw the sargent literally run to the front of the harness, his wings held only slightly out, over the backs of the guards, who even more strangely had their heads held down as if to follow Rainbow Dash through one of her speed runs. Twilights eyes opened wide in realisation as the sargent snapped his wings open wide, then angled them backwards as he jumped off the front of the pegasus line, dropping just enough to have the special harness connect up with a series of clicks and clunks, and she scrabbled to the back of the teardrop, spreading herself accross the carriage as the acceleration and speed built horribly. Outside, the structure started to give off small flashes of rainbow light as it started to shake, then became dark once more as the shaking stopped, the speed continuing to increase. Twilight wondered just how long these pegasi could possibly continue to fly like this, when with a mounting feeling of horror, her eyes opening wide, she could just make out the sudden loss of colour from dark blue, to an absolute black, starting at the front, progressing down the line of pegasi, forming an ever growing halo as it got closer to her. She barely had time to register the wave of loss of colour passing through the teardrop, through her, before the shock of being forced through the Sonic Greyboom knocked her unconcious, making her miss overtaking the moon in its course, the moon itself dissapearing from view as the Greyboom covered it, hiding the flight from any possibility of being seen from anypony, reappearing once the pegasi were past, then the slow down, and the near silent arrival at Canterlot Castle, leaving her on the observation balcony, the dark carriage and its equally dark pegasi who flew like nopony else fading into the night, leaving Princess Luna, ruler of the night, to slowly appear, gazing down at the slumped Twilight.
"May one enquire just how long you are hoping to rest on your laurels?" Twilight groaned, and tried to to pull her head together with her hooves, only to miss several times, then misjudge and slap herself first one side, then the other. Grabbing hold of her head in both hooves, Twilight prised her swirling eyes open, and tried to look in the general of the royal demand. At the sight of six rather annoyed princess Lunas faces slowly rotating around a central very annoyed princess Lunas face, Twilight let her head fall back with a thud to the balcony floor. "Mamma Mia, let me go." Slowly trying to turn round so she get back up, Twilight found her body twitching, then spinning rapidly round, first front legs, then back legs, then several artistic poses, before landing on all fours, and collapsing flat to the ground. "Pinkie Pi, what did you put in that punch, because it sure has one." Twilight paused, then looked up slowly, "Im getting an awful feeling of deja vu all over again." Princess Luna gazed stolidly down at Twilight, "If you are quite sure you have caught up with yourself, we would be most appreciating of your assitance. We would have prefered to give you more time, but it is almost midnight. Come, we have milk and cookies." Twilight slowly staggered to her hooves, and took a few unsteady steps after Luna, then stopped, even more confused, "but, the Dark Guard picked me up After midnight." Princess Luna smiled widely, "Really my dear, you must be far more tired than you thought. Since only Nightmare Moon had the Dark Guard, nopony has the Dark Guard these days, they do not exist, they are merely a pigment of your strained imagination. After all, how could they possibly get you here before you set off. Nopony can do that, as you well know. Come."
Twilight shook her head to try and refocus her thoughts, then paused a few more moments while her eyes stopped spinning round and round, before taking a hesitant step after the slowly dissapearing Princess Lunas swirling starnight tail. Once within the cupola, in sight of the princesses handover meal table, Twilight looked suspiciously at the array of foodstuffs thereon. Black coffee, hot chocolate drinks, Black Forest Gateaux, dark chocolate blocks, chocolate muffins, wholemeal bread, blackcurrent jam and other such delectables were arrayed in rank and file. She slumped as Luna lifted her magically into the chair on one side, with Celestias emblem embossed on the back, before Luna took her own place on the other side of the table, lifting a cup of hot chocolate to her muzzle with her magic, gazing at Twilight. "I have much to catch up on from the time when I was unfortunately otherwise disposed, and not that much time, relative to the ponies my duty to protect covers. As such I apologise for the abruptness, but I have need of your unique insights to my, our problem. I want to ask you about your experience with the time travel spell of Cloudswirl the bearded." Twilight blinked, looked up at Luna, "Bph wph thth uth zth uth," she tried to mumble around the giant slice of double choc gateaux with chocolate cream, choc chips and choc sprinkles, then swallowed hard, her eyes crossing for the few moments the slice took to move from mouth to stomach, forming a visible bulge accross her neck as it proceeded, then tried again, "But that spell was no use. It only alowed me to go back for a few seconds, and that caused me all the worry that gave me all the minor injuries that made me even more determined to solve the problem, find the spell, and use it at all." Princess Luna nodded slowly, "But, if you had not gone back in the first place, you would not have been so worried enough as to research the spell, enter the archives, find it, and use it. Cloudswirl himself said he could not think of too many opportunities for the use of such a spell, and that he really only completed his research and wrote the scroll due to the insistance of a student at the time, who, although not the best in class, had the most increadible flashes of insight in problems occasionally. The strangest were in those areas in which he had had no previous experience. I digress. If you only wanted to observe, could you go back for a longer period of time?" Twilight blinked slowly, her eyes blurry, and tried to take a sip from a hovering cup of dark black coffee. "It feels like Ive been here for hours,a nd its only a few minutes. Thats it, the spell only works for a few seconds, but it doesnt say how long those seconds have to be, if you sit there and do nothing, those few moments can feel like forever. Or am I babbling mindlessly." "You sure aint babbling brook," said Pinkie Pie as she waggled her Groucho Marx disguise and walked off down the castle wall. Twilight looked from Pinkie to Luna, who seemed not have seen anything out of the ordinary at all, sighed deeply, and slowly collapsed on the chair, before slipping off, almost hitting the ground before Lunas magic caught her, hovering her easily in the air, then floating her further into the castle, to slip her gently into her old bed, pulling the cover over. "You have done a great service to us. We thank you. Sleep deeply dear." Luna silently walked out of the room back to her night duties, closing the door behind.
"GOOD MORNING MYMANEMARE. Its a Bee Yout Eye Full day here in the Castle today." Twilight shot vertically out of the bed, stil on her back, all four limbs thrashing to and fro trying to keep her airborne, but failing miserably as a few moments later she plummeted back down into the centre of the bed, whereupon the sheet wrapped itself tightly around her. Working her head to and fro, she finally poked her nose out of a gap in the covering, and tried to glare, bleary eyed, at the source of irritation and announcement, her older brother, the Captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armour. "What do you mean, here in the castle, and what are you doing in the library this time of the morning. For that matter what am I doing in the library this time of the morning." Twilight paused, then squinted carefully at Shining. "Im not in the library at all, am I. Im in the castle, am I, and if this is one of your practical jokes, I want to know how you talked Pinkie Pie into it." Shining stepped back, reared up and waved his front legs frantically in front of him. "Woah, whoa Twili, I aint done no jokes on you today, and I definitely havent been talking to Pinkie. Anyway, you know its Dash who does the best pranks in your group. As for Pink, you know theres only one Pink Pony in my life." He stepped forward, gripped a corner of the bed sheet in his teeth, and pulled hard. Twilight went spinning like a top off the side of the bed, and bounced at high speed around the room like a pinball machine, before her brothers forehoof caught her and pulled her close, leaving her draped backwards over his foreleg, gazing into his loving eyes. "Ahem. Practising the Tango again without me Shining Armour?" came a sweet voice from the doorway, along with the quiet sound of tap, tap of hoof on floor. Shinings eyes opened wide, he gulped, and dropped Twilight backwards with a thud to the floor as he turned round to face his accuser. Whatever excuse he was attempting to make died before it even left his throat at the sight of his wife, Candace, leaning against the door frame, forlegs crossed, a dissaproving look on her face, one of her rear hooves tapping on the floor. He frantically looked round as he tried to work out what he had done wrong now, what little colour he had paling even further as Candace started to step forward from the door frame slowly, when almost with a sigh of relief, the Royal Voice of Princess Luna echoed throughout the castle. "SHINING ARMOUR. FRONT AND CENTRE IMMEDIATELY." Shining took a hurried step forward, only to get caught up in Twilights prone outstretched legs, causing him to fall flat on his face on the floor. Then, trying too hard to get moving, he tripped over his front legs while his back legs were starting to run, sliding him face first accross the floor into the wall next to the door, leaving him slide down the wall head first, before scrabbling in a crawling position past Candaces hooves, looking back at her so worridly he forgot about the stair, anding up going down with crashes clatters and bangs far faster than he expected. Twilight picked herself up as Candace approached, to the background noise of her tumbling brother, then paused as everythign went quiet, and Candace held her hoof up, then moved it as to knock on the air once, twice, three times, then stomped on the floor on the count of four, just as a loud GONG sound echoed up the stairs. Twilight looked at Candace, who giggled, which made Twilight gigle, which made Candace laugh, which made Twilight laugh, which rapidly intensified between the pair, until within moments both were laid on their backs on the floor laughing hilariously. "Oh, oh, oh dear. The look on his face. Oh the poor dear is going to be in soooo much trouble." Candace managed to get out between laughs and giggles as she slowly recovered, Twilight toppling onto her side until she calmed down to the giggles, then slowly twisted round, and carefully stood up, still giggling occasionally. Candace took a few moments longer, but eventually stood up also, and moved with Twilight to the door. "You had better go and see Celestia dear. She and Luna have had all sorts of ponies working on a pet project of theirs down in the dungeons, they said to hopefully solve a thousand year old problem once and for all. Twilight moved as she listened, and paused at the door. "A thousand years? But thats how long Lun, I mean Nightmare Moon was exiled." Candace noddd softly, and gently pushed Twilight out the door. "Maybe the Dark Pony needs help to take one more step along the path home. Go now dear. Ill, wait, for Mr Indescretion Pony here. I suspect he wont be long." Candace giggled once more, and waved Twilight off, also giggling, as she followed the trail of bits of metal and plant pot and other fragments down the stairs, pausing at the bottom to gaze at the gong on the far side of the cross hall, with its more than one dent in it. "Explains why she could time it so well." Twilight grinned to herself, and set off towards the throne room.
