1.
Fleur Di Lis looked upon the scenery from two thousand feet up. She had been invited by Fancy Pants to float gently above the town of Ponyville. Small dots that were the townsponies cantered up and down Main Street. She looked to the east and was blinded by the glare that Celestia’s sun brought to light. The steeple of the one church in town rose sharply enough to hug the sky with friendship. She looked down at the stream that ran slowly through the township and she smiled as the airship ran full steam ahead in the calm breeze.
“Fancy, I see a few ponies swimming in the river!” Her ringing laugh rippled through the breeze until she had got under control again. She wished she had a vacation home in this town. It seemed so peaceful- as if nothing could go wrong. That whole messy Discord affair had been fixed a few months ago and the entire nation had a party that stretched from sea to sea. Se just let the wind rush through her mane as the airship glided towards the end of the town.
Fancy Pants, the pilot, spun the wheel and pushed a few buttons with his aura. “Yes, I believe that they are enjoying the beauty of nature. But let’s keep this flying machine away from the ground.”
“Oops.” The noblepony blushed as she realized they had been losing altitude for almost a minute. She quickly grabbed the wheel from the stallion.
“Not a problem.” Fancy held back a laugh as he looked at the beauty that was absolutely radiant. He knew she was going to cost him sooner or later. She had talked his ear off for hours about getting her own pilot’s license so she could travel around the wide world on swashbuckling adventures. She had even dressed up as a pirate. It had made him feel twenty years younger. Oh Celestia, that was why he married the mare.
Fancy secretly loved days like this: lots of visibility, a gentle breeze, perfect conditions to just let the wind take you to where you wanted to go. But, he felt the airship rock ever so slightly and he corrected the mistake.
“Happy thoughts, dear. Let’s speed up and take the road to that Sweet Apple Acres place that we had circled around for a while. You were staring at those rainbow apples in childlike wonder. And cut down to eight hundred feet.”
Fleur did and Fancy took a sigh of relief.
They passed above the Ponyville Bank, which proudly exclaimed that it was owned by the Rich family, and the town proper was behind them. They could see the rolling fields of the farms stretch onwards toward the horizon. Ponyville was surrounded on one side by the Everfree forest and the other three sides were pristine farms. It was idyllic. The fields were awash with colors that said in their own way that fall was upon the Equestrian landscape. The airship’s bloated shadow was quickly flying on the dirt road, it passed over a small winged pony that was calmly walking on the road. The pony waved; Fancy waved back, though he knew that the pony couldn’t see his response.
“This is the best day of my life!” Fleur practically yelled. Fancy laughed at his wife’s glee/
Their lives had forty more seconds til impact.
2.
Angel happily hopped along the road, headed towards Fluttershy’s cottage. He still had a long way to go and the day shone its rays on the stubborn rabbit. He planned to stick near the shoulder of the road and dodge all the carts that rolled towards the farmer’s market that was housed on Main. Angel had ventured farther than he expected but his master’s idea of sending him off on a fun romp through the woods involved her friend’s evil cat. That cat had chased him all the way over here until it tired and left him alone.
The rabbit’s ears twitched and he squinted to fix his worsening eyesight. Master had been a young pony when she found him in the woods. That was years ago and he was now an older and wiser rabbit. His blurry vision cleared and he saw an orange pegasus stallion trudging down the road with a large sack on his back. The clanging of metal reached his ears. The stallion was a soldier. Angel hopped a little further. He knew that soldiers were weak to cute fluffy things and he was, of course, a cute fluffy thing. He would eat well tonight.
Angel was old and had connections throughout the town with the animals that lurked in the night. When he was a younger and more virile rabbit, he went with his friends to raid trash cans. He knew the way to the landfill as well as he knew the pillowy softness of his master’s fur. He watched the pony walk towards town. He didn’t look familiar.
The soldier stopped. Angel tried to run for cover. He noticed a little hole that was his size. He readied his legs to hide and try to scrounge tasty morsels from carts and passing ponies. Master always lectured him about such things and he just let it happen. There wasn’t much he could do when she Stared at him and-
Angel got a few more seconds of euphoric joy as he relived his life with his master. He began to feel wetness. Tears? No, something much more metallic. Blood. Angel tried to whine for help as he lost the feeling in his legs. He shut his eyes and drifted off to sleep. His last thought before the white was who kept him fed and happy for years. Fluttershy?
3.
The engine that supplied the lighter-than-air spell to the airship failed all at once.
“What’s going on? I don’t-” Fleur Di Lis said while spinning on one leg to her husband. She couldn’t feel panic anymore. It died once she saw what Fancy had been silently staring at. Her mind didn’t even have the chance to scream out in fear.
Fancy never saw the wheel or the engine failure. He just saw the balloon that held their metal coffin up hit an invisible wall. Then he felt the heat. The air spell’s extra magic had sparked the balloon on fire. He grasped his wife’s foreleg in his own and they consummated their death together the same way their did their marriage: they kissed until they hit the wall.
It had only been a moment, but a moment was enough. They had no time more to say goodbye. The airship exploded over the road and fire rained down on the landscape. The peaceful times had ended. A new day dawned.
1.
Flash Sentry felt a lot better after he passed the Feeding Trough and left the downtown of this happy little town. He saw a sign that said: Ponyville, the happiest place in Equestria. He felt as if he was floating on air. Celestia had sent him on a mission to tell the Element Bearers to get their flanks in line. She had felt a disturbance when she contacted some Eternal Herd. She said it was of utmost importance and to get Twilight and her friends out of town. All he got to show for his epic quest was getting beat up by a gang of kids. He moaned about his troubles to himself.
“So what about a coming evil, the Crystal Empire appearing in the Frozen North, Celestia’s former student popping out of nowhere, and a confusing message from the Princess herself that Ponyville is the center of it all. I say that the whole town can go have its annual bigotry picnic for all I care. . .” Flash just dreamed of his nice pad in Canterlot. His own bachelor pad where he could court all the pretty mares with tales of grand fighting. He shivered as he had flashbacks to real conflict. This was nothing compared to that.
He heard an approaching cart and he turned around to see the pony’s face. What he saw was nothing of the sort. He was met with a light clone of Celestia. The Sun Princess used these sunlight clones to have distant conversations with her field agents. Celestia had been casting the information spells for so long, it was almost part of her natural font by now. He bowed towards the diarch. She acknowledged his presence but nothing more. Flash remembered Celestia’s one and only time talking about how her reflections react in regards to her schedule. Flash shrugged; it must be a really boring Day Court today. And he noticed that Celestia was toying with him. Usually the reflection spoke but now it was playing mute. Flash groaned.
The Princess was in one of her moods again. Just like that time where she turned all the party goers into silverware or that time when she tried to hide away in her sister’s chambers by transforming into Luna’s favorite pair of slippers. He just wanted to get out of here and he was not in the mood for a playful Princess on the loose. He just walked up and booped her on the nose.
“What do you want to tell me now? That I left my stove on and I need to turn it off?”
Celestia’s voice crackled through the reflection. “No, I feel that the Eternal Herd is making its move. You need to get out of there.”
“Yeah, yeah. I am. What does it look like-” Flash Sentry turned and saw the light reflection shatter. That was not good. Magical disruption only happened when there was high enough magical pressure in the air. He flapped his wings experimentally. The air felt fine it wasn’t like he could feel the increased pressure. He hadn’t paid much attention in Guard training when they had covered that.
Flash began breathing exercises. There wasn’t much he could do and the Alicorn Princesses probably had it all under control. They beat Discord- what’s the worst that could happen with a spike in magical pressure? Nothing was going to happen. He saw the townsponies go about their business as if nothing new had happened.
He glimpsed from the corner of his eye an unfamiliar pegasus zoom across the sky. He wanted to tell her to fly as fast as she could away from the coming thing. But she had already become a colorful dot on the horizon.During the next few days, as Ponyville became even less friendly to him, he thought of that unknown pegasus. Flash tried to reason with himself: With how fast she was going she might have made it out alive. But if she didn’t. . .then she was just another smear on the Dome. He could have had the chance to get out of the Dome.
Then he remembered that pegasi can fly faster than the airships. And she was going quick. That was when he remebered the airship and the Dome.
2.
The airship zoomed over him after he passed the Ponyville bank. Flash Sentry wasn’t happy about the Riches. He hadn’t used the bank in months since Celestia just gave him a monthly salary at the beginning of each month. Not that he didn’t need to use the bank. He just didn't like that his daughter had attacked him with her friends in front of The Flower Shop. She reminded him of an angsty teenager that had anger issues and way too much time on her hooves.
That was behind him now. Filthy Rich, Diamond Tiara, The Neverending Tap (Visitors welcome! Have a drink on the house!), Berry Pinch, Mayor Mare, what his life had become since entering this town only a few months ago, the fight in the Flower Shop. All he wanted was a few months off and enough alcohol to forget about this crazy place. Canterlot was going to be a blast.
Or maybe he’d go to Appleloosa again. He had liked the desert air and warm climate. That place in Equestria was as far away from winter that he would never see snow again. Flash felt sad when he thought that since pegasi were taught, since birth, that the weather patrols were one of the most honorable jobs known to ponykind. Cutie marks backed up the whole idea. His mark made him suited for guard duty than anything else. It was a blue shield covered by a lightning bolt and he got it one day when he was little.
He looked at the airship and was so happy that he waved at the machine. He was bummed that the pilot at least didn’t show some movement to acknowledge the gesture. The airship was going at full speed so maybe they didn’t notice him fast enough.It migt have been some rich unicorns flying over the town on vacation and spending as much money as possible to show how rich they were. It might have been their son on his first flight. Either way he prayed to Celestia that they would stay safe and have a happy day. It was a nice fall day and he was leaving the town of Ponyville. Travel was his favorite pastime.
Maybe it was just a Pegasi race trait. Every pegasi he knew seemed worried around wintertime. Maybe it should be an Equestrian Law. All pegasi should fly south for the winter. Sounds like a law Commander Hurricane would have made in the Hearths Warming play.
He came to a stop when he saw his new visitor. An angry looking rabbit peered at him through the underbrush. It was a smart looking one. It wasn’t a runt that had just learned how the world worked. It was a white one that wasn’t afraid of him. He noticed that it began to turn towards a hidey hole and it probably was going to hide there until he passed. It seemed to be heading towards the town, while he was heading south.
This was an instantaneous thought. The airship was zooming past him towards the south and the rabbit was on the other side of the road. Then his life changed in a second. The first omen was the rabbit. One moment it was a living rabbit. The next it was breathing its last breaths as something cut the white rabbit cleanly in half. Its coat became pink as blood escaped its cage. Flash was dumbfounded. He could only wonder what caused it. Then he came back to reality when the airship exploded above him.
3.
Flash stared up. Falling from the pristine sky was a fireball that used to be the small airship that made his day so different than the rest. Now it was a twisted mess of chaos that Discord would be proud of. For a moment, the stallion though that Discord was at fault for whatever had just happened but this wasn’t his style. For what the Spirit was worth, he wasn’t malevolent. He just wanted to spread his fun around.
Something hit the road hard and created a large crater before laying still in its silence. A mana battery. It still glowed a faint green with the spell that let the airship fly. If I had been a few feet closer-
The orange pegasus had a vision of being cut in half- like that rabbit- and readied himself for flight. Something landed right in front of him and he swerved away. It was a white foreleg with no owner in sight.
Flash slowly rose into the air while dodging falling debris. He heard another large boom and his feathers were on fire. He couldn’t maintain altitude and he braced for impact with the ground.Pain lanced through his wing as he hit and he ran on instinct. Flash rolled his body up and tried to aim for something soft. After a few disorientating seconds he landed in the nearby grass.
4.
Flash picked himself up and winced when he tried to check his wing. Alright then. No noticeable branches stabbing me, no bones sticking out of my wings, no blood. Must be a sprain. He tried to fill his lungs with air as he slowly limped to the wreckage. He felt tired. It wasn’t that he was out of shape. Shining Armor had seen to that. The Prince was a hard taskmaster when it came to military protocol. Must have been the Changeling Invasion that caused him to realize how unprepared the military was for international threats.That’s what happens when you rely on six mares for everything. The Element Bearers were ponies too. The military had other plans: talks of duplicating the Elements, weaponizing them, and taking over the world were some ideas. Flash was happy that Celestia had veto power. If she didn’t. . .Equestria would not be the happy place it was.
He turned back to the accident and gasped. The road was covered in wreckage. He thanked Celestia that he only seemed to have a wing sprain. On his right lay the carcass of the airship. Near that lay yet another leg. This one was different than the last one because it was clothed in a suit. Its owned must have been one of those Canterlot nobles that wore clothes all the time. The leg was pointing at a head. That had belonged to a beautiful mare, for even in death, she held a serene calm that most ponies could only hope to know. Flash noticed that some of the trees had been cut in half.
He found part of the name of the airship after a quick search. The Messenger. He paled when he realized who it belonged to. “Celestia is not going to be happy when one of her personal knights doesn’t report in.” Fancy Pants’ title was well earned. He personally ran Celestia’s School For Gifted Unicorns and had participated in some duels that had Celestia surprised. His prowess with magic was the reason why Celestia knighted him. Yet the thing about the stallion was that he did everything without hope for profit or standing. Celestia had tried to make him more well known outside of his school, but he refused. Flash wondered if Twilight even knew that Fancy had been a high mage. Probably not. He never wrote down his theories to be published. And Twilight never got her face out of books.
He looked up to see if could figure out what caused the crash. And he saw fire in the sky. That was definitely weird. A blemish of green was in the sky and it was surrounded by fire. That was running down the air. Flash could see the surrounding countryside just fine. The view was shimmering, as if he was looking through a window.
5.
Flash wanted to cover the bodies to show deference to the dead, but his sack only had his Royal Guard outfit and a few meals. He had nothing that could be used. He did the next best thing. He prayed to Luna to lead them to the Elysian Fields.
A pony came walking towards him from the other side of whatever this was. The pony must have seen the explosion and heard the crash. Yes, thank Celestia for help. Flash waved at the new pony and tried to talk to him. The pony slowed down and came to a stop. He was an earth pony. Just a pony that just got out of the town in time. “What happened?”
Then the pony ran into something. Flash could only watch as the pony’s nose broke and blood ran down the front of the air. Both stallions stared at each other.
