Preparations:

“I hope Celestia gets here soon.” Twilight said, though nopony was around to hear her. Moonjumper had gotten back a few minutes ago, her friends not far behind. While everypony was intent to hear what was going on, Moonjumper insisted that they wait for word from Celestia.

Not long after her friends had arrived, Twilight had gone to her room. She wanted to make sure that she could concisely explain what was currently going on when Celestia finally arrived, and she needed things to be quiet for a while.

“Twilight?” Moonjumper called up the stairs.

“I hear you, is Celestia here?” Twilight asked.

“Not quite, but we can see her chariot approaching. Are you ready to come down?” Moonjumper explained.

“Alright, I’ll be right down.” Twilight stepped away from her desk, taking the small note card she had written, just in case. As she walked down the stairs and entered the main room on the lower floor, six pairs of eyes locked onto her. All of her friends had expectant looks on their faces.

“I know you girls must be getting antsy, but It’ll be easier for all of us if I don’t have to go over things multiple times. Celestia is almost here, please just try and stay calm until then.” Twilight told them.

“A little easier said than done, Twi. Moonjumper didn’t stick around long enough to give much details, just that this had to do with Nightmare Moon.” Rainbow Dash said, slightly irritated at how long she had to wait.

“I’m sorry for that, I would have thought my sister would be here sooner.” Moonjumper apologized, hanging her head slightly.

“Now that you mention it, I’ve seen Celestia Teleport into the middle of town just when Twilight had a breakdown, why does Nightmare Moon get a slower response?” Rarity asked.

“She must have her reasons, we will just have to ask her when she gets here.” Twilight said.

“Hey, you guys look! There are even more chariots are coming with Celestia!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, pointing out the window toward Canterlot.

“What!?” Twilight yelled, running over to the window, the other assembled ponies (plus one dragon) following immediately.

Approaching the town, Princess Celestia’s personal chariot was in the front, followed by a procession of other chariots all carrying royal guards. As they got closer, Twilight could barely make out a chariot that looked different.

“I think I see Cadence and Shining Armor!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, stealing the words from Twilight’s mouth. Looking out at the amount of soldiers, it was clear to see what Celestia’s intentions were.

“She intends to crush Nightmare Moon, the only times sister would gather so many guards would be to go to war.” Moonjumper said, her mind going back over a thousand years ago.

Twilight could not believe what she was seeing. What would the townsponies be saying looking at this army coming right for the town. She knew that dealing with Nightmare Moon was important, but couldn’t stop herself from thinking that her former instructor was going a bit too far.

The group continued to watch, they saw Celestia and Shining’s chariots break from the formation, the others flying over the town and to a large field past it. Celestia’s chariot landed in front of the library, and soon enough the front door opened, revealing Celestia, her face in the most serious expression that Twilight had ever seen.

Celestia walked into the room, followed by Shining Armor and Cadence. Celestia looked at everypony gathered in the room.

“Alright, I’m here. Now let’s get to discussing what we are going to do about Nightmare Moon.” Celestia said, her voice containing none of the warmth that it usually held. Twilight shivered a bit, looking over at Moonjumper and seeing that the same thing had happened with her.

“Alright,” Twilight began, trying to sound as confident as she could. “First I should explain the situation to everyone, my letter had to leave out a bit of information because it had to be sent fast.” Celestia nodded at this, motioning for Twilight to begin her in-depth explanation.

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A few minutes later, Twilight finished explaining what had happened. Celestia had a thoughtful look on her face, and the rest of her friends just looked highly disturbed by what they had heard.

Celestia opened her eyes and looked between Twilight and Moonjumper.

“Have you come up with any plans in the time between when you sent that letter and when I arrived with the royal guards?” Celestia asked. Twilight nodded her head. Celestia motioned for her to speak.

“It wasn’t much, but we did decide that we needed to cease all activity between Moonjumper and myself across our mental link, we can’t give Nightmare Moon any information about what we are planning. We also decided that we would need to reveal Moonjumper’s identity to the town, we can’t keep the townspeople in the dark about what could heavily impact their lives.” Twilight told Her former mentor. Celestia nodded her head.

“Alright, those seem like good starting points. I suggest that we gather the townsponies directly after we are done here.” Celestia said, everypony nodded. “Alright, now as you can see, Shining Armor and Cadence are with me, I thought an expert on shield spells could prove useful, and Cadence couldn’t just sit around while everypony else was potentially risking their lives.” Celestia explained, motioning to the two of them who had so far kept quiet.

“You don’t have to worry about the shield spell. I was planning on putting one up after we got out of the library.” Shining Armor said, looking over at Twilight and giving her a nod.

“I’ll try and help keep the townsponies calm, if they start freaking out then we won’t be able to get anything done.” Cadence chimed in.

“Thank you for your assistance at this time.” Moonjumper said, giving the two of them a slight bow, which Shining and Cadence both returned.

“Now, let us move to the other matters that need to be discussed. Aside from erecting a shield wall and revealing Luna’s identity, what else needs to be done?” Celestia asked. Twilight thought for a few seconds on this.

“We don’t know what she will be capable of when she comes back to town. We should try to fortify the border between the Everfree forest and the town, that way if she comes we will be ready.” Twilight offered.

“That is a good start,” Celestia said, looking down at the ground. “I would also say that we should ask the townsponies to evacuate the town until the threat of Nightmare Moon is over. I could send some guards with them to escort them to Canterlot.” Celestia suggested. Twilight looked at her friends behind her.

“What do you girls think?” Twilight asked. Applejack nodded her approval.

“I think it would be for the best, but if they want to stay and help, I say we let ‘em.” Applejack said.

“Yeah, that sounds good to me.” Rainbow Dash put in. The others all nodded.

“Alright then, we will issue the order after we reveal Luna’s identity. Is there anything we could do to buy time for the fortifications and the evacuation?” Celestia asked. Everypony thought for a few moments. Finally, Rainbow Dash offered an idea.

“I could try and ask the Cloudsdale weather factory if they could produce some storm clouds. Then we could put them over the Everfree forest and let them go. I think it would at least slow her down.” Rainbow Dash explained. Celestia thought for a second.

“That sounds good for now, I will write a formal letter explaining the situation that you can take with you. They should comply when they see it.” Celestia said, picking up some parchment and a quill with her magic.

“Is that everything for now?” Moonjumper asked, looking around at the assembled ponies. Everypony thought for a second, and then shook their heads.

“It seems that for now we have our plan of action figured out, we will figure out the rest of the essential stuff after we have let the public know what is going on, we should have a good grasp on what will need to be done from there.” Celestia said. “Now then, it is time to gather the townsponies. Twilight, Luna, you come with me to town hall, we will need the both of you there to explain things to Mayor Mare. The rest of you, if you would spread the word that an emergency town meeting is being held in front of town hall, that would be appreciated.” Celestia told them.

Rainbow Dash gave a salute and flew off through one of Twilight’s open windows. When Twilight looked over to where Pinkie Pie had been standing, she saw just a pink cloud. The rest of her friends all walked out of the library and then split up to find ponies to notify.

Twilight looked down at the ground for a few seconds, the weight of the situation they were in starting to crash down on her. She felt a wing over her back, and looked up to see Moonjumper standing right beside her.

“We will find a way to get through this, I know we will.” Moonjumper assured her. Twilight just leaned into her, trying to keep herself calm.

Celestia looked over at the two of them after she finished giving directions to Shining Armor and Cadence.

“Alright, we must get going.” Celestia said. Turning around and walking toward the door to the library. Twilight and Moonjumper followed her, steeling themselves for what they would have to do next.

Author's Notes:

Well, this is the first chapter after the hiatus, and it is a bit short. that is because I started writing it before the hiatus and was basically finishing this one. The next chapters will hopefully be longer.