The universe is a very large expanse, and we are just little specks of dust in the large world that we know as our universe. Though we’ve never been to any other planet, or even been to our very own moon, we know that there are other worlds out there, even if they may be void of all life as we know it. We’ve been searching for answers about our planet and all of the planets around us, but most of our searches have come up with nothing of interest. Our hunger for knowledge has led us to new highs and some very disturbing lows, but the search for knowledge still continues.

The sun is said to be raised by Celestia, and the moon to be raised by Luna. This is what we’ve all been told, but given the proof, this seems improbable for any type of being to accomplish, even being the strongest alicorns in existence. I respect the leaders with every ounce of my being, but with proof I’ve been given in all of my studies, I’m starting to doubt just how truthful our leaders have been to everypony. Call me crazy, call me the biggest loon in all of Equestria, but with all of this proof I’ve been given, I no longer will fall for such deceiving lies.

Misunderstanding, it’s one of the easiest things to find in this world, yet one of the most difficult things to distinguish away. They say to never judge a book by its cover, but unfortunately in this world, that’s a feat that has now nearly become next to impossible. Nopony understands each other anymore, the world is beginning to fall apart just as it were before Equestria was founded, and nopony can do a thing about it. According to my calculations, the world of Equestria will end in the year 1212, and the entire world will be engulfed in natural disasters and the land will purge itself of the intruding species and start itself over.

The forces of nature will take over the planet, and everypony will die, and those whom may survive will be trapped in a desolate wasteland with land unfit for planting, and an environment unfit for survival. My theory has been tested over and over again, but there is no way to test this hypothesis without having a bias about what will happen. But according to the way things are turning, Equestria will come to its end, and there’s absolutely no possible way to prevent the upcoming destruction. The only thing that I can say is that we must all be prepared for when it happens.

Don’t get anything that you aren’t prepared to lose, and don’t start close relations with anypony that you aren’t prepared to see die right before your very eyes. 1212 comes from the old Equestrian calendar, it’s the very year that that calendar ended on, signifying that they knew something back then, that we have lost sight of now. They didn’t have any fancy machines like we do now or anything else that may help them figure out such a complicated equation as to when the world will end, but they did it back then, and it will most likely happen. I warn everypony to be weary, but this being written nearly a century before the event is set to unfold, most of you will likely not believe me.

I’m using the old ancient algorithms for days that all of the ponies before us used, if they worked back then, they can apply to all of us now. But with some other proof, I can tell that when the event begins to unfold, the rays from the sun will become so great that it will melt the core of this world and leave the world’s crust free to shift. This will release cracks in the earth below us, and cause free-flowing lava to engulf the land around us and take many countless lives. Heed my warnings Equestria, if we do not do something about this soon, this event will happen, and all of us shall die.

Dr. Charles Hoofgood. 1178 - Earth Crust Displacement Theory

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1209

Hoofen Deng Copper Mine

The pitter patter of rain is all that can be really distinguished out of the dark world, Twilight sparkle was sent by Princess Celestia to a small country outside of Equestria to have a meeting with another bright scientist. The guard pegasi aren’t permitted outside of Equestria, so she picked up a cab carriage when she got into the limits of the country. The carriage was rickety and seeming to wobble uncontrollably with every hoofbeat of the stallion pulling it. A strange type of music was playing, it consisted of sitars, guitars, and some other instruments, and had ponies singing in another language which Twilight had never heard before.

She was in the back of the carriage, lost in her thoughts when they came upon a rather large estate. Twilight took off her reading glasses and put down the book that she was reading, as a couple of stallions came and opened up the gates to the estate, letting them inside. Upon entering they came upon a small colt who was playing with a small model ship in a puddle, which snapped Twilight from her thoughts. “Hey, hey! Look out, look out!” she yelled as the cab swerved only slightly missing the colt, but making his toy ship topple and float upside down in the puddle. Twilight Sparkle exited the cab and was greeted by Applejack whom had gone there to work a while back with her family. But having lived there for about two years now, she had picked up the accent of the local populace.

“Twilight my friend, it’s very good to see you!” Applejack said, approaching her friend in a hug smiling happily as they approached each other.

“Applejack, it’s been too long my friend.” Twilight said, embracing the hug from her friend who she’d not seen since she moved out here. Twilight turned to the colt whom was now picking up the small ship with his teeth, “This can’t be Ray, he’s a little stallion already!” Twilight said watching the colt carry his toy away.

Applejack’s husband, Soarin’, came out to greet them as well, “I hope you’re hungry Twilight!” he yelled out to her, making her crack a small smile right back at him.

Twilight chuckled slightly, “I’m famished, how are you Soarin’?” she asked making Soarin’ smile the happiest looking smile in the world, as if he’d just gotten some of the best news ever.

“I made that Spicy wheat curry that you love.” He yelled back, his smile increasing now from cheek to cheek.

Twilight chuckled, “I can’t wait!” Twilight said sharing a nice laugh with her friend, “He gets more handsome every time I see him, why is that?” Twilight said jokingly getting an eye roll from her orange coated friend.

Applejack chuckled lightly, “It’s very strange isn’t it? But his wheat curry is still dreadful.” She said both of the girls sharing a good laugh as they walked away into the compound.

The tone started to change between them as they started top talk more serious as they walked down a dim-lit hallway. Twilight looked around then back to her friend, “You sounded mysterious in your message, why didn’t you attend the conference in Canterlot?” She asked as Applejack looked back at her with a slightly worried face, looking as if she were hesitant to answer.

“I’ll show you Dr. Sparkle Ma’am.” She replied to Twilight, making the light lavender mare sigh lowly in response.

“Applejack, I’ve told you countless times to quit ‘ma’aming’ me. You’ve known me for the longest time, there’s no need for that.” Twilight Replied as Applejack nodded her head and moved into a large crude elevator that was supposed to lead down to the research lab. Twilight was hesitant to get in the crudely made elevator, but got in anyways behind her friend curious as to what was so dreadfully important of her to see. The elevator began to squeak and shake slightly as it took off for the lower levels of the institute, the old rickety wiring and gears making a loud noise as they descended. Water was leaking from the top metal bars of the elevator and was dripping onto both of the mares heads. Twilight looked around in the small elevator and finally found the courage to speak to her friend again who was standing in the adjacent corner of the elevator starting to now sweat profusely from the intense heat, “How deep do we need to go,” she asked as Applejack lowered her head slightly.

“Eleven thousand feet… We searched all over the country for this place. It used to be the deepest copper mine in the entire world.” Applejack replied as the stallion who was controlling the elevator’s brake pulled a lever on the wall causing the elevator to spark at the sides and let out a very large squeaking noise as the elevator’s brakes brought it to a slow stop. Just then another large-built stallion came up to the elevator to release the latches that kept the elevator door closed, then lifted the door and turned to the two mares inside.

Applejack turned to Twilight with a slightly happy smile on her face, “Do you remember my brother Big Macintosh? He’s a student now.” Applejack said with a happy tone in her voice.

Big Mac opened up the elevator door fully to let the mares out as he bowed lowly to Twilight, “Hello Dr. Sparkle ma’am,” he said with a slightly thicker accent than his sister. Twilight shot up a dismissive hoof to the large red stallion signaling him to not call her that anymore.

“It’s just Twilight,” she replied as Big Macintosh nodded, as Twilight started trotting down the crude hallway with large, thick, black electrical wires that were attached to the wall, leaving Applejack and her brother behind her as they discussed something amongst themselves.

Big Macintosh spoke in a local dialect in a voice that sounded like he was asking his sister a question, Applejack ducked her head and sighed, “Just don’t pour too much okay?” Applejack said as Big Macintosh rolled his eyes dismissively and picked up buckets of ice and started to carry them into the room at the end of the hallway.

Applejack began approaching her friend once again, Twilight turned around to Applejack once again with a confused look on her face. “How do you work in this heat?” Twilight inquired as Apllejack came closer to her friend with a small smile on her face.

Applejack chuckled lowly, “You’ve come on a good day my friend, some days it can reach one-hundred and twenty degrees.” She said as she patted Twilight on the back and moved her inside of the room. They pushed open the doors and went inside the room which was crowded with large monitors and wires. “I want you to meet Dr. Blueblood from the University of Quantum Physics in Canterlot, I believe you’ve met briefly before.” Applejack said as Twilight bowed her head slightly to the scientist, “This is Dr. Sparkle,” she said as Blueblood smiled and went silently back to his work. Applejack approached a large computer and then proceeded to start typing into it as Twilight looked at her as she did.

Twilight stared at the screen which had the sun and lines that spread across from it, “So what are we looking at here?” Twilight asked as Applejack looked back to the screen.

Applejack started pointing out the motions from the lines originating from the sun, “These are the neutrinos acting normally, minuscule mass, no electrical charge. They pass through all ordinary matter, almost undisturbed.” Applejack said, getting a slightly confused look when she finished.

“Your message said the count doubled after the last solar eruptions…” Twilight said as she got a grim look from her friend beside her.

Applejack turned to her friend who still was wearing a confused look on her face, “That was last week.” She said with a slight grim tone as she moved to an adjacent computer, “But this happened two days ago.” She said as she brought up a large picture showing the sun releasing more neutrinos than it usually did. “The biggest sun eruptions in pony history, causing the highest neutrino count that we’ve ever recorded.” Applejack said as she turned to her friend.

“Dear Celestia…” Twilight said in shock as she stared with wide eyes at the monitor watching the animation play over again.

Applejack sighed slightly, seeming to curse under her breath, “That’s not what worries me Twilight…” she said as Twilight turned back to her. “For the first time ever, these neutrinos are causing a physical reaction…” Applejack finished grimly, the sweat on her brow signifying that she was nervous about her findings.

Twilight shook her head lightly at the orange mare, “That’s impossible…” Twilight replied, as a large scraping sound bombarded them cutting off the two’s conversation. They quickly shot around to look at where the sound was originating from, finding out quickly that it was big Macintosh pouring a bucket of ice into a large clothes washing tin that Blueblood had his hind-hooves in.

“Aaah, that feels very good.” Blueblood remarked as Twilight and Applejack turned back to each other and sighed slightly having been startled by the noise.

“Please, follow me.” Applejack remarked and made her way to a large metal door with a lock that was similar to what you would find in a submersible vehicle. Big Macintosh opened the door still holding the flashlight in his mouth as everypony came into the room, the sound of the metal door still schoeing throughout the mostly empty room. “You won’t believe this,” Applejack said, her hoofsteps on the metal walkway adding to the door’s echo from earlier before, and then called her brother to open up a small locked well at the end of the pathway. “This water tank goes down six thousand feet,” Applejack said as her brother approached the opening to the well and started to twist the wheel that was locking it in place. “It appears the neutrinos coming from the sun, have mutated into a new kind of nuclear particle.” Applejack said as the well made a hissing noise as the pressure was released and steam came from the small cracks on the sides. “They’re heating up the planet’s core, and suddenly acting like microwaves…” Applejack said grimly as her brother opened the well and Twilight peered inside in a mix of horror and shock seeing boiling hot water bubbling up from inside it…

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1209

Celestian Plaza, Canterlot City Limits

Twilight pulled up to a large building in a cab pulled by two slim-framed stallions, when they stopped she shot out of the car and up to the building. She got through the doors only to be stopped by two guards that were dressed in fancy suits, that wouldn’t let her through into the building. “Don’t worry, I work for the castle.” Twilight said as the guards looked at her with a bemused face.

“I don’t care who you work for, this is a black tie event.” The guards remarked as Twilight groaned and started looking around in the medium sized ballroom.

Twilight spotted a familiar face and her ears immediately perked up as she called out to the ballroom for her friend, a pink mare who was mingling amongst the other well-dressed ponies. “Pinkie!” Twilight yelled as the pink mare turned around, her glasses nearly falling off of her face as she turned.

“Hey, Twilight! I thought that you were in that… one… country…” Pinkie said as Twilight started chuckling lightly.

“I need your coat…” Twilight said as Pinkie stood back now wearing a dumbfounded look on her face.

“Wha--?” Pinkie muttered as Twilight began to get more forceful with her friend.

“Let me borrow your coat,” Twilight retorted back before Pinkie could finish her thoughts.

“I don’t wanna give you my…”

“GIVE ME YOUR DAMN JACKET! Please…” Twilight said as Pinkie took a step back as she started to take off her top coat and hand it to Twilight as she walked through the two guards posted at the front door. “Thank you…” Twilight said as she gave her pink friend her geologist bag and violently grabbed out a small booklet and shoved it into her mouth, then took Pinkie’s coat and shook it violently into the air making Pinkie jolt back slightly with a worried face.

“Hey! Easy! That’s a six-hundred bit coat!” Pinkie exclaimed as Twilight put on the coat and entered the ball room.

Twilight approached a light-coated stallion that was wearing a large black suit, “Mr. Braeburn! Mr. Breaburn, I need to talk to you.”

Braeburn turned around slowly and stood staring dumbfounded in disbelief, her turned back to the ponies he was taking to then leaned in closer to Twilight, “You know that this is a fundraiser, not a frat party right?” He asked cockily, giving an arrogant chuckle

Twilight straightened her face, “I can assure you it’s very important sir.” Twilight replied getting an eye roll and another arrogant chuckle from the large stallion.

“All right, how about you call my secretary—Actually, have your boss bring it up at the quarterly science briefing, that sounds like a plan.” Braeburn said as he started to turn back to the stuck-up ponies he was just conversing with.

Twilight lowered her head as her face turned to a look of agitation, “I just traveled twenty straight hours to get here, I haven’t slept in two days. You have to read this, and you have to read it now!” Twilight finished as the whole room went quiet, now only the music that was playing in the background was filling the room.

Braeburn chuckled nervously, “Let me guess, national geology crisis?” he said turning around and getting laughs from the other ponies around him. “Excuse me fellas,” he said as he put on a pair of reading glasses and started reading the booklet that Twilight had handed to him. After a little while of reading and flipping through the pages his face changed completely to a face of concern. “Who do you report to?” he inquired.

“Lee Cavasos.” Twilight replied ad Braeburn shook his head.

“Not anymore,” He gestured his head to the side signaling Twilight to follow him, he then started dialing into his phone. “Guys, bring the car around.” He then hung up his phone and started walking away, “You’re going to wish you’d taken a shower.” He said as Twilight looked baffled at him, “You’re about to meet with the princess.” Twilight’s eyes lit up when he said that, as Pinkie walked up beside her and cut her from her thoughts.

“What’s going on here?” Pinkie said as Twilight turned to her.

Twilight patted her geology bag and told Pinkie, “Uh, get that back to the office.” As Twilight left the building with Braeburn.