"In *each** action we must look beyond the action at our past, present, and future state, and at others whom it affects, and see the relations of all those things. And then we shall be very cautious."*
Blaise Pascal
It was a cold winter evening when the Impact occurred.
It was right past the time most would have fallen asleep, drifting off to the realm of dreams. Excluding a very small minority of the ponies in Canterlot, all had delved into their minds, enjoying the contentment of their own imagination.
Lord Lime Twist of Trottingham, however, was not one of these ponies. Tucked away in one of the more luxurious towers of the city, Lord Twist was quietly relaxing with some stargazing, enjoying one of the last quiet nights of his vacation in Canterlot.
"Chamomile," the Lord called, glancing over his shoulder and away from his telescope, his voice tinged with a distinctive accent, "Could you bring me another cup of tea?"
"Right away, Master Twist." A voice answered. A minute later, a light yellow-orange earth pony emerged from the doorway, a small tray held in her mouth. On it rested a steaming teapot, the odors of the sweet tea inside filling the small room.
"There's no need to refer to me as Master, Chamomile." The Lord chided with a small smile, levitating the teapot off the tray, "Simply 'Lime' shall suffice." As he spoke, Chamomile quietly placed the tray on a nearby table.
"Yes, Mast- er, Lime." She replied, blushing faintly at using the Lord's name.
Lime Twist chuckled, pouring himself another cup of tea. The servants provided to him in Canterlot were very rigid, he noted, nothing compared to the ones he had at his estate in Trottingham. His servants there knew the Lord personally, and knew that he preferred to be considered a "normal" pony, rather than a "noble." While he was a member of the Canterlot House of Lords, the unicorn Lord was not a Canterlot native, preferring the down-home qualities of his hometown, Trottingham.
Levitating the cup to his lips, he blew the wafts of steam away, watching them drift off into the darkness of the small room. He heard the quiet, calculated steps of Chamomile leaving the room as he took a slow sip of the tea, enjoying the lingering sweetness of the liquid. With a small frown, he set the cup down, idly wondering why every servant in Canterlot was so fearful of the "upper-crust," as it were.
The Lord reached out with his magic, grasping his telescope once more as he adjusted its sights, aiming towards the city below. One by one, Lord Twist watched as the lights of the buildings winked out, until barely any remained. Turning his attention back towards the sky, the Lord noticed something peculiar.
He saw movement through the sky, just faint enough for him to see. Adjusting his telescope's focus once more, he spotted a lone yellow pegasus leisurely gliding through the air.
The Trottingham native was confused, wondering why a lone pegasus would be flying at night. He followed her flight path with his telescope for a bit, and was about to turn his gaze when he noticed something else that was out of place.
On top of the Celestial Tower, one of the city's major landmarks, stood a solitary pony, silhouetted by the rising moon. With his curiosity peaked once more, Lime Twist deftly flared his magic, fine tuning the telescope to zoom in on the pony. It appeared to be a mare, the Lord observed, with a horn and a distinct lack of the armor of the Royal Guard.
How on Terra did she get up there, Lord Twist mused, tapping his chin with a hoof, I thought only guards could enter the Tower.
His confusion only increased as he saw the yellow pegasus from before land on the tower behind the figure. Twist turned to the side slightly, keeping his eye in the telescope's eyepiece.
"Chamomile," The Lord called, knitting his brows together, "Chamomile! Come here for a moment!"
He heard her hoofsteps louder this time, as she rushed into the room on his command.
"Yes, Lord Twist?" Chamomile asked, panting slightly, "What is it? Is the tea made wrong? Is there-"
"No, no." Twist replied, raising a hoof behind him to silence her. "Come here for a moment."
As she approached, the unicorn stepped away from the telescope, allowing his servant to look through the eyepiece. He turned to the Tower himself, squinting, barely able to see the two figures as they had some kind of exchange.
"Who are they?" Chamomile asked from her position behind the telescope. "And why are they on top of the Tower?"
"That's what I would like to know, Chamomile." The Lord stated, staring out the window as he continued "Could you alert the Guard of this? I believe they would be interested in hearing about this..."
"Why of course, sir." The mare replied, nodding slightly as she continued to watch the pair on the Tower. She backed away from the device, and her master stepped up to the eyepiece.
He had only a moment to adjust the sights when he saw it happen.
"Chamomile! Follow me!" He yelled suddenly, ripping himself from the telescope. His servant, confused by his outburst, turned and met his pace.
"Sir, what's going on? Why are we running?" Chamomile questioned, turning her head to look at the Lord.
"We're heading to the Teleportation Room. When we teleport, I need you to head inside and find Doctor Marrow," the Lord explained, turning a corner, "If you can't find him, get someone to find him!"
"But sir, why are we teleporting?!" The servant replied, stumbling over a fold in the carpet.
"My apologizes, must have forgot to explain in my rush," He babbled, throwing open the door to the Teleportation Room. "One of those ponies fell from the Tower."
The room was plain, built from wood, but had been modified by carving various magical runes into every surface of the room. Lighting his horn with pale green light, Lime hopped over a few of the runes on the floor, landing in front of one carved into the wall.
"Oh Goddess... the rumors are coming true..." She mumbled fearfully, before joining the Lord next to the rune. "You want me to get medical help, then?"
"Exactly, miss Chamomile." He answered, "Now, hold onto me. This rune will take us straight to the hospital."
As Chamomile grabbed onto his neck with her front legs, the rune lit up, glowing with the light of magic. Within seconds, the pair was gone.
The teleportation rune left Lord Twist and Chamomile at the parking lot to New Dawn Hospital, where the Lord took off in the direction of the Tower.
"Wha- wait!" Chamomile called to him, but the Lord had already rounded a corner and disappeared out of her sight. Glancing in his direction one final time with a desperate expression, she turned and galloped through the front doors of the hospital.
Lime had dashed across the empty street after rounding the first corner, turning again at the end of it and running down another street to reach a large, circular plaza. He glanced upward at the plaza's centerpiece, the Celestial Tower.
"Oh Celestia..." the unicorn said, seeing the yellow pegasus hunched over the bloody corpse, the warm sticky liquid seeping into the buttery fur. Hearing the pegasus' cries of agony, he rushed over to the sobbing pegasus. The Lord wrapped his hooves around her, pulling her back, whispering a quiet apology as he wrenched the traumatized mare from the wounded one.
His gaze looked down, drifting over the broken form of the victim, taking in her injuries. Her front left leg was obviously broken, bent at an unnatural angle, while the right seemed to be fine. His eyes traveled farther downward, looking for more injuries, but then he froze, eyes locked on her back.
The Lord's mouth dropped open slightly, but he still did not move. He was utterly astounded.
There was no way it could be possible. He thought, She- she can't be...
He was interrupted by another loud wail from the pegasus.
Shaking his head, Lime steadied himself and continued examining the body. As his gaze reached her back legs, he had to keep himself from vomiting at the sight of her bone jutting out from the skin of her right leg. The left leg, in contrast, was just bent unnaturally.
Swallowing hard, Lord Twist summoned his magic and began mentally preparing a weak healing spell he knew. Something to just keep the mare alive while he waited for Chamomile's return. The green of his magic enveloped the mare, and a light hum could be heard.
A few minutes passed, and the Lord was starting to worry if he could hold up the spell for much longer. On the edge of his hearing, just above the cries of the pegasus, he heard the sounds of the Response Team arriving in the plaza.
He turned and saw a group of them, some unicorns and pegasi, rush over to the mare to begin their work. Releasing the spell, Lime let out a sigh of relief.
"Sir?" One of the EMT's asked, trotting up to Lime, "We'll need to question you on what happened. Could you come with us to the hospital?"
"Yes, yes of course..." Lime began, numbly, "I have one request, however, and then I will cooperate fully."
"What is it?"
"There's a doctor named Marrow who works at your hospital. I want him to treat her."
Sparing a glance at the injured mare, the EMT turned back to the Lord with a grim look.
"With her condition and his skills, I was thinking the same thing."
The pegasi had quickly rushed the mare to the hospital after she had been stabilized as best as she could be by the unicorns on hand. Lime and the yellow pegasus had followed after them, meeting Chamomile at the hospital itself. The Lord sent Chamomile back home, explaining that he would make sure everything was alright. He attempted to do the same with the pegasus, but she adamantly refused. As she wasn't budging, Lime relented and allowed her to stay.
One of the nurses came to them soon enough and explained that it would most likely be hours before the patient was out of surgery. Lime nodded and thanked her, the nurse leaving without a word soon afterward.
It was not an exaggeration. During the hours that they waited, Lime started up a conversation with his companion and was able to learn her name, Fluttershy, as well as a little about the pegasus. Apparently she was flying after a fight with her father, and happened upon the mare attempting to commit suicide by leaping from the Tower. The two continued talking as time slowly passed.
It was nearly morning when the Lord was finally called in by the surgeon to discuss the surgery and its patient. Lime was half asleep, while Fluttershy was asleep, when one of the aids came up to him with a small slip of paper.
'My office. Now. - M' was all that it had said.
Entering the small office near the back of the practice, Lord Twist saw a small, off-white stallion leafing through the contents of a small folder. The white stallion shut the folder and glanced up as Lime entered the room, an old, wooden desk separating the two unicorns.
"Twist." The doctor greeted the Lord, gazing at the noble from behind a desk.
"Marrow. I'm so glad you were able to come on such short notice." Lime began, the fatigue in his voice evident. "I... I just wanted to apologize for-
"Don't try to bullshit me, Twist." The doctor, Bone Marrow, replied, glaring at the lime unicorn. "Now, I want to know exactly what the fuck you were thinking when you asked for me specifically for this operation."
"W-What?!" Lime asked, taken aback at Marrow's language, "I don't understand what in Tartarus you mean!"
"You know exactly what I mean!" Marrow growled, pulling a folder off the top of the desk with his magic, "What the fuck is this load of horseshit?!"
Taking the folder in his own magic, Lime began shuffling through its contents, a medical report on the mare he had found wounded. There was a detailed list of injuries that included what had been done to treat them and a "profile" on the patient that included information such as height, weight, and blood type. Most of which was empty, save for one listing up top. Race.
"You must have realized, at some point, Twist, that your little 'patient' is a damn alicorn!" Marrow spat, his words seeped in anger.
"Of course I did, Marrow." The Lord answered, looking over the top of the folder to meet the doctor's glare.
"Only three alicorns in existence. Princess Celestia, her sister, and her niece Cadence. And then you go and find another one..." Marrow stated, watching as Lime set down the folder, "Did you ever stop to think about why we might not have heard of her before?"
The Lord grit his teeth and looked down at his front hooves.
"...I thought so." Marrow continued with a sigh, subtly shaking his head, "Just wonderful, Twist. Dragging me into this shit when you don't even understand what you've gotten yourself into."
"I couldn't just leave her there!" Lime countered, looking back up to glare at the doctor.
"But you could've called someone else! Gotten somepony else to clean up your shit!"
"You're the only one I could trust with this, Marrow!" Lime explained, exasperated.
"Well thanks for the trust, Twist, I really appreciate it." Marrow sneered sarcastically, "Now, would you kindly get the fuck out of my office? I've got to sort this damn thing out."
Seeing that he was getting nowhere, the Lord turned and stormed out. Kicking the door open with a hoof, he very nearly bowled over one of the nurses in his rush. Lime quickly stammered out an apology, his face warm with his rage, and continued his way back to the hospital's waiting room.
He was about to leave the building and head back to his tower for some sleep when he stopped, remembering his companion over the night. Sighing, he quietly berated his rage-clouded mind and returned to the sleeping pegasus.
"Fluttershy. Fluttershy!" Lime stated, rousing the mare by shaking her lightly with a hoof.
Fluttershy groaned, her eyes opening slightly.
"Wha-" She began, before being cut off by a yawn, "What's going on?"
"I just spoke with the Doctor. Our friend probably won't be let out for another few weeks at least." He explained, already regretting his half-truth, "We should probably head home and get some sleep."
The mare looked torn, looking down at the floor for a moment. Reluctantly, she rose to her hooves and nodded. As Lime walked out of the hospital, she followed him, a depressed look on her face.
As they walked, Lime Twist silently thought over his meeting with Marrow and began making plans for later. Likewise, Fluttershy was reviewing the events of the previous night.
They both made up their minds, unknowingly deciding on the same thing.
They would be back. This wasn't over quite yet.
The Impact had already affected them. Why should they let it be just when it was beginning?