#prompt 571

[creativepromptsforwriting]

Prompt #571

“I wanted to take your hand. I wanted to take it so badly.”

[notyouraveragewritingprompts]

Prompt #571

I heard they actually have some decent pancakes, but don't get the hot chocolate, cause it's not hot and it's definitely not chocolate. Also, if you have to use the restroom, don't go in the third stall on the right. Apparently someone was murdered in there.

[wonderful-prompts]

Prompt #571

“I mean, you can try to kill me. You just probably shouldn’t slice me open while you do.”

Or, an immortal with toxic blood finds themself in the clutches of a serial killer.

[thirtyminuteponies]

Prompt #571: 'Above' by CHeighlund

Her hooves clicked.

It was always a bit of a disappointment for Twilight Sparkle to walk down this hallway because of that.  Some part of her insisted that the sound her hooves made should be a grand metallic echo, not just a gentle click as if she were walking on ordinary stone.  In the end, though, it was only a minor detail, and one Twilight was quite willing to overlook in exchange for what else this hallway represented.

“Royalty on the deck!”

All motion in the giant chamber ceased at the cry.  (Well, almost all. Twilight noted with a grin that one gangly pegasus stallion was still trying to extract himself from under the piece of equipment he’d been working on.)  In the silence, the speaker, a dull grey unicorn stallion with a blindingly white mane, stepped forward.  “Princess Sparkle.  We are honored by your presence.”  He then turned, bowing before Twilight’s griffon companion.  “Prince Lionel.”

Twilight coughed, drawing the stallion’s attention back to her.  “Commander Moonstone.  All goes well with the project, then?”

“It does, your highness.”  Moonstone turned, bowing before the griffon prince, before speaking again.  “The ships are almost ready.  Only a few more weeks, then we begin the trial runs.  Is there anything in particular you’d care to inspect, your highness?”

Twilight shook her head.  “No, this isn’t a technical visit, it’s a diplomatic one.  Considering it was griffon engineering that made this place possible, I thought it would be a friendly gesture to show his highness what we’ve been doing.”

Moonstone glanced over to where the young prince stood gawking at the scene before him.  “I understand.  Do you need a guide, or will you be staying with him the entire time?”

At the question, Lionel broke out of his shock long enough to turn to Twilight.  “Um, stay, please?”  At her quizzical look, he waved a wing out over the open space beyond.  “If I got lost out there, I don’t think anybody’d find me for a week!”

Twilight turned, looking out again, and smiled.  The cavernous room was large, true, but there was so much equipment in it that it would be difficult to be truly hidden - anyone wandering around could be seen from the command deck.  “I don’t think you have to worry about that, but you’re welcome to stay with me if you like.”  A slight grin crossed over her face, and she stretched a hoof out to the young prince.  “You want to see something beautiful?”

“What’s that?”

“Just follow me and hang close.”  With those words, Twilight snapped her wings and took to the air, carefully maneuvering through the open spaces above her until she came to rest on a small platform set into the wall high above.  Were it not for the massive drop-off to one side, the area would have almost felt like a cozy alcove.  Twilight waited until Lionel caught up with her, then pulled open the door the platform led to, motioning for Lionel to go through before her.

As Twilight stepped inside and pulled the door shut, she felt the impact against the wall beside her, and turned to catch the griffon prince.  “It’s okay, Lionel,” she said.  “It’s just a window.  A massive one, I admit, but still a window.  You won’t be able to fall out.”

Lionel turned back to the window in question, an enormous bubble of transparency covering the floor, ceiling, and walls of the ‘room’.  Below lay the bleak emptiness of space, with a shining blue-green expanse filling most of the area above.  “Is that really…?”

Twilight nodded.  “Yes.  That’s the Earth above us.”  She thought for a moment, then nodded and formed a pointer of light, aiming it at a specific location.  “Given the time, if you watch here for a moment, you should see–”

“I can see it already,” Lionel said.  “It’s the edge of Altai.  Kestrel’s already in view.”

Twilight glanced up.  “So it is.  Huh.  I must have miscalculated something.”  She shook her head, then turned back.  “I know you’ve probably been in the air since infancy, but how does it feel to look down on your homeland from this far up?”

“Strange.  Especially since I’m having to crane my neck up to see it.”  He turned his head back, watching the world above move by.

Time Limit

After several minutes, Twilight aimed her pointer at another portion of the sky.  “It’s not quite as beautiful, but that’s what this is all about.”

Lionel turned, spotting instantly what she meant.  Three long tubes, mottled gray, hung in space, their names emblazoned on them in some kind of bronze alloy.  “The exploratory task force, I take it?”  He looked closer.  “Unusual names.”

“Yeah, but I think they would have wanted it that way.  Hard to believe this whole station began with them.  Just a simple earth pony with a knack for tools, a pegasus who wanted to reach the stars, and a unicorn who managed to hold the two together as a dream took shape.”  Twilight brushed her eye, sweeping away the forming tear.  “It’s too bad it took this long to get here.  Four hundred years was a bit longer than they could afford to wait.  Still, I know they’re with us in spirit.”  She turned back, looking out the window again.

Lionel may have been young and (he’d be the first to admit) inexperienced, but there were some things even he couldn’t mistake. And so, he simply stood there in silence, allowing Twilight’s grief, joy, and pride to flow from her eyes as they gazed down on the space-suited workers putting finishing touches on the ships of Task Force Crusade.

Krizak Comments!

Ponies... in... space! I like having the griffon ambassador along to give us the sense of amazement this space station should inspire, with Twilight along as the guide. And the revelation at the end, that the Cutie Mark Crusaders were the ones who reached space first so long before the rest of pony kind... it brings a tear to my eye, just like it does for Twilight.

[thirtyminuteponies]

Prompt #571: "...And More LIke It Is" by KwirkyJ

Life here began out there.

These are the seminal words each and every pony knows. These words define our existence. As well they should, for it is the truth.

The hows and whys have been forgotten. I've seen to it. They aren't important, not really. I could spend my life obsessing over the accuracies of living history, but I content myself to merely guide the legends along the track of sufficient honesty.

We have made for ourselves a happy existence on Harmony. The first centuries were hard, shaping the planet into a world fit for ponies. Yet, we relented, and now we thrive.

It was harder for us all when we set hoof onto our ship - our ark - as we departed a dying Sun and Moon. The next set of words, now: All things must end. I can remember my certainty in the perpetual destiny of things, and how desperately I clung to the idea, even as all things I knew began to fall apart around me.

But Sun and Moon, in their last gift to us all, showed us the way to a new home. So, on a column of flame and tears, we fled.

Into space, into the void, we cast ourselves. The horror was like nothing we have ever known before or since. A planet can be tamed. Space, however, is a great, hostile nothingness. How Moon endured for so long in such a place even I cannot fathom.

I miss them, sometimes. Even with so many ponies to surround me, who love and honour me, whom I protect with all that I am, there is no hope of forgetting.

And neither, I have come to decide, should we ever.

Life here began out there.

It is not the same life, but it is whole. We lost something, but gained something else.

After all, the end is just another road.

As I watch my student grow, I reflect on what Sun must have felt, watching me.

When the time comes, she will undo my own ending.

Krizak Comments!

There are two ways to read this story, and I think this is actually a strength of this story, its ambiguity. The first way is that it is from the viewpoint of Princess Celestia, describing how Equestria was made: that ponies came from the stars after disaster struck their original home. The other way, spurred on by reference to the Moon and its long time in space, is that these are Twilight Sparkle's words, in a time after calamity has come to Equestria. Either way, it is a very powerful piece.

[thirtyminuteponies]

Prompt #571: "In Her Wake" by Hoof and Quill

Vice Principal Luna walked away, and Sunset Shimmer looked down to the floor and picked up a stone, setting it aside into the cart for Snips and Snails to haul away later.

She looked up to where Princess Twilight Sparkle was standing with her friends.  They spoke for a few moments, and then Twilight Sparkle went through the portal.  A beat passed, and all the magical additions to her friends disappeared.  Pinkie Pie ran forward and slammed into the statue.

Sunset Shimmer didn't bother to suppress a smile at the image.  She picked up another rock, and set it in the bin.

It was over.

She had spent nearly three years here, now.  From the beginning of her freshman year until the fall of her senior, she had spent her time researching, planning, scheming.  She had returned to Equestria in secret, learning of what had happened and then planning for the theft of Twilight's crown.  She had stolen it, held it, and for a brief few minutes, known true power here in this magicless hell of a world, and now it was all over.

She picked up another brick, setting it into the bin.

But, that was when she felt it.  It felt wrong.  Subtly off, in some indescribable way.  Her forehead almost itched, the hairs on her arms stood on end, and her fingertips tingled.  But it was gone as soon as it started.  She glanced over toward Snips and Snails, but they were still dutifully cleaning up the rubble from the school entrance.

A moment passed, and a little movement caught her eye.  She turned to look, and saw Twilight's five new friends walking toward her.  They looked cautious, uncertain.  They might have even been a little scared.  This time, Sunset Shimmer fought the urge to smile.

She adopted the appropriate look of contrite shame from her defeat, and greeted them all humbly, as she supposed she was expected to.

--

The dance was over, the police were gone, all the students had dispersed, and the school was empty.

Save for one girl.

Sunset Shimmer stood at the ruined entrance of Canterlot High School.  She looked up into the night sky.  It was a clear, beautiful, starry evening.  At three in the morning, give or take, the Canterlot of this world was nearly completely silent.  No one would expect her to be here.

She ran her fingertips along the shoddy masonry she'd been required to do as punishment.  It was terrible work, of course.  She had no knowledge of construction, and they'd just have to tear it down before proper repairs started.  But apparently it was Principal Celestia's intent to simply humiliate and punish Sunset by making her do pointless work.  Not that the Principal had directly said so, but it could only be assumed.

Sunset Shimmer walked slowly along the wall, keeping her eyes and ears open, for what it was worth.  Here.  Right here was where her attack had landed.  She lingered a moment, but there was nothing there.  The rainbow had passed through here to dispel her control on the other students... but there was nothing here either.

She paced carefully along the ruin, but it wasn't there.  Sunset Shimmer grit her teeth in frustration, but then turned and walked toward the crater.  It was marked off with police tape, for the safety of the students, but she simply knelt to go under it.  There... there it was.  Her skin prickled just slightly.

Sunset Shimmer crawled down the side of the crater, ignoring the mud and dirt getting on her clothing.  Each step made her more sure of it.  By the time she stood at the bottom of the crater, she felt a twinge in her forehead that she hadn't felt properly in what seemed like forever.

But now that she had confirmed it, it occurred to her that she wasn't equipped to use it.

She had no horn.  She could feel it, the wisps of magic left behind after Twilight's little tantrum, but without a horn, she couldn't focus it.  She furrowed her brows, and tried to use the same techniques she would have in Equestria.  Glowing strands of power flashed through her vision, but all it resulted in was a growing pain just behind her eyes.

Sunset Shimmer slammed her fist into the ground angrily.  It was there!  It was just there, just under the surface, and she couldn't use it!

Her hand glowed as she removed it from the ground.  Sunset stared down at her fingers, and flexed them outward, then back in.  She tried again, with the Equestrian techniques, but modifying them a little.  Her fingers shone along the sides, and then a familiar blue-green aura arced from finger to finger, before coruscating over her hand in bright flames.  She opened her other hand, and smiled as the power spread to it as well.

Magic.

Sunset Shimmer's smile turned to a malicious grin.  The blue magical aura on her hands sparked, and long, twisting strands of remnant power shone in the air.  She pulled the power into herself, drawing from the well until the air ran dry and the colors of the area seemed muted.  The she drank in more.

The Sunset Shimmer who had first crawled into that pit was not the same one that levitated herself up from it.  She had suffered a defeat, yes, but in her defeat she had been granted all the power she would ever need.  Who could stand against her, when no other person in this world had what she had?

Sunset Shimmer raised her arms, and felt the power flow through her.  It was three AM, the sun was down, and the stars shone brightly.  This was the perfect time to test herself.  She looked to the east.  She held her hands out in front of her, and then slowly raised them, straining against the unfamiliar focusing method.

A faint shimmering light appeared on the horizon.  Sunset Shimmer smiled, and refocused herself.  At her will, the sun rose on her new empire.

Krizak Comments!

"After the end of Equestria Girls," you said, and given what we learned today, I thought it might have something to do with that... but it seems you foresee a much darker future for the human world than colourful rock bands. Sunset Shimmer still holding onto her anger and ambition after her defeat comes through well here, and her discovery that Twilight Sparkle has inadvertently given her the magic she needs is frightening as well.

[thirtyminuteponies]

Krizak Comments!

I like how the teleporter, though the focus of a few bits of conversation, is just the post around which this fun little story of the Mane Six's children going to Twilight's birthday is built. I liked how well each child was characterized with only a few lines, like how Diamond Dazzle is perfectly willing to deal with problems in a practical manner her mother would never approve of. Shining Armour also not liking teleportation due to an incident in the past is also great.

[thirtyminuteponies]

Prompt #571: "Way of Life" by Hoof and Quill

(I've had this idea banging around a bit for a while, so thanks for providing a prompt for it.)

Princess Twilight Sparkle stepped into the small meeting chamber, and bowed respectfully before her mentor and former teacher, Princess Celestia.  It wasn't needed anymore, of course, but Twilight still did it almost on instinct.

When she raised her eyes again, Princess Celestia was smiling, but with a slight tension behind it that set Twilight's nerves on edge.  "Princess Twilight, it's so good to see you."

Twilight Sparkle smiled, and trotted over to give Celestia a hug.  Celestia's smile seemed a lot more genuine after that.  "Princess Celestia, you issued a royal summons, I couldn't just ignore it.  Is this about my latest letter?"

There was a momentary pause that spoke volumes.  "... Yes, Princess Twilight.  Please, come with me."

Celestia turned and began walking.  Princess Twilight followed after a momentary hesitation.  She tried to keep a smile on her lips despite the strange feeling she was getting from Celestia.  "It's an automatic loom, isn't it great?  I had a little trouble with, you know, running out of spooled thread, but once I found a way to eject and reload the pirn-"

"How many weavers are there in Ponyville?"

Princess Celestia nodded, and pressed her horn to a small indention in the wall of the hallway, one Twilight had never even noticed.  The wall slid open with a grating sound, and Princess Celestia stepped through.  Twilight took a moment to look at the secret door, but then trotted past a bit more quickly, to catch up with the Princess.  The door grated shut a few moments later.

Princess Celestia spoke quietly.  "Your letter mentions that your loom does the work of... how did you phrase it?  Ten horsepower?"

Twilight nodded, trying not to look too proud.  For some reason, she felt like it wasn't really a compliment.  "I know it's a strange term, I heard it in that other world; in Canterlot High.  But yes, it works ten times as quickly."

"One of your machines, operating in Ponyville, would put quite nearly all of the weavers there out of work."

Twilight actually stopped walking for a moment.  She sped up to catch up again.  "Well... yes, but not really.  There's demand for cloth, and Ponyville could produce so much more.  It would bring a lot of money in."

Princess Celestia's horn lit, and Twilight saw a few magical fields down the hallway blink away.  Was this place trapped?  Celestia continued down the hall, and then tapped her horn against the metal door at the end.  It opened to her will, and Twilight's eyes widened as she stepped inside.

The room was full of strange objects, both large and small.  Twilight recognized next to none of them, all manners of weird mechanical and pseudo-magical shapes filled the room.  Her eyes finally stopped on something more familiar, something she could hold on to.  "Is that the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy Six Thousand?"

Princess Celestia actually smiled again, though still a bit tightly.  "Yes.  You remember that it quite nearly resulted in your friend losing her farm and livelihood."

"Well, yes, but-"

Princess Celestia set her hoof gently on top of another machine, full of cogs and magic-to-motion transducers.  "This is an automatic harvester.  It only works for ground crops: carrots, potatoes, that sort of thing.  But it can do in a day what would take Applejack a week."

Princess Twilight's eyes darted from object to object, noticing now the grips and movements that the arms and apparatus would make.  It was hard to tell what each could do, but she was starting to see a pattern.  She could almost imagine a place in the crowded vault already being cleared for her loom.  "But... why do you keep these things secret?"

Celestia walked slowly across the room, her eyes moving across the objects scattered about, as though looking for something.  "I found, long ago, that my subjects are happiest in a certain... way of life.  The machines in this room, each and any of them, would threaten that way of life."

There was a certain ire building in Twilight, as they passed device after ingenious device.  "But this could feel everypony for almost no effort!  Look, this thing is some kind of forging tool, isn't it?  It could make horseshoes cheaper than apples!"

Princess Celestia stopped at a small table, sitting in front of a dozen yards of empty hall.  Her horn lit, and she moved something that looked like one of Rarity's dress forms over to the end of the hall.  She spoke quietly.  "Twilight, you have always been a very intelligent pony."

Princess Twilight fought down her boastful smile, but also felt her indignation fade a little.  It was a compliment, but at the moment it didn't sound like one.  "Thank you, Princess, but-"

"You are aware that there is some knowledge that is dangerous."

Twilight nodded again.  "Yes, that's why we keep certain spellbooks hidden.  Like the Necrosombracon, and--- These aren't the same thing, Princess.  These machines would... change things, yes, but they would help ponies.  Everypony could have more.  More food, more possessions, clothing would be cheap, everything could be."

Princess Celestia poured what looked like some fine sand into the end of the object on the table, and then rolled a steel ball down the tube.  She very carefully lifted the device to her shoulder, and set her hoof near a small switch.  "Princess Twilight, I understand you value knowledge, and science.  But Equestria can not begin on this path without following it through."

Celestia nodded to the dress form sitting at the end of the hallway.  "Imagine, for a moment, that the ponyquin there is a friend of yours, or any pony.  Keep in mind that I have used no magic on this device."  Celestia glanced down at Twilight.  "And do cover your ears."

Twlight folded her ears back, and looked at the ponyquin.  Celestia's hoof moved just slightly, and a resounding crack of thunder shook through the room.  The end of the object lit into fire, and the dress form toppled over backwards in a spray of stuffing and burnt thread.  Princess Celestia lowered the item carefully to the table, and her horn lit as she levitated the dress form closer to Twilight.

Twilight rubbed her ears, and scrunched up her nose at the strangely acrid smoke in the room.  She looked at the ponyquin, and her eyes widened.  There was a hole torn clear through the center of the body, near the heart, or where a real pony would have a heart.  The white fabric of the ponyquin and Celestia's previous words brought to mind the image of Rarity having a wound like this.  Twilight squeezed her eyes shut.

A few moments of silence passed, and Princess Celestia spoke again, quietly and apologetically.  "This is a Windchaser musket, one of nearly a hundred that were produced.  It was the basis of a rebellion, four centuries ago.  Twilight Sparkle, I would have simply taken your loom, were you any other pony.  But you are my closest friend, and I wanted you to see why.  Do you understand why I do not allow these things?"

Twilight nodded slowly, opening her eyes again to look at the destroyed dress form.  "Yes, Princess Celestia.  I understand."

--

Twilight Sparkle looked up at the ceiling of her darkened room, back home in her library.  She couldn't sleep.

She turned her head over to her small work area, where up until this afternoon she had kept her magically driven loom.  It was empty aside from a few scraps of cloth and discarded mechanics.  She stood up, walking quietly as to avoid disturbing Spike, and looked over her old diagrams, the few that hadn't been removed by the guards.

Ponyville had thirteen weavers.  They all did their best, they worked every day, like every pony.  But many ponies in Ponyville had to stay indoors most of the winter, because they couldn't afford to buy expensive warm clothing.  Everypony could eat, of course, but many ate less than they'd like, simply because of the effort and cost of producing food.  Some fillies and colts didn't have horseshoes, or they did, but their parents didn't.

In the middle of the night, the secret vault in Canterlot was lit by a flash of purple light.  Princess Twilight Sparkle appeared from her teleportation, and then lit her horn, just enough to see.  She pulled out her sheaf of paper, and began studying the devices there, and taking notes.  As she worked, her mind took in new principles of motion, and new ideas of automation.

After all, Princess Celestia had been wrong before, and Twilight knew that everypony would be happier this way.  She just had to prove it.

Krizak Comments!

For the record, I'm on Twilight's side here; while I do not doubt that Princess Celestia has nothing but the best intentions for her ponies, stifling the creative and technological advancement of her subjects in the name of peace and stability is still a bit tyrannical for my liking. I'm a bit amused that Twilight took the term "horsepower" from the human world, and I liked the flow of the story, how Celestia kept talking even as she prepared the musket. The ending left me wanting to see how this inevitable conflict will play out.