We Stopped Checking for Monsters in the Everfree...

By Princess Celestia's decree, there were 43 different ponies sent to the Joker's suspected hideout. 33 were "the Fielders", three platoons of ponies for if the Joker miraculously managed to exit his house.

Another 11 ponies of the Night Gaurd were sent as "the Infiltration Team". These were the most battle-hardened ponies in Equestria. Their families had spent generations living in the darkest parts of the Everfree Forest until Princess Luna's return. These ponies were likely the only ponies in the group who had seen corpses before the Joker had appeared.

6 of these ponies were social workers. They were the brave ponies who, despite lacking much experience in seeing such a grim place as Flimflam Chatuea, had helped ponies through traumatic experiences (though those experiences usually involved wild animals or sick parents, as opposed to torture). They were counselors, comforters, and were among the most compassionate ponies in Equestria.

The last 4 were for transporting the victims and a few gaurds.

***

After 4 hours, they had arrived back at the castle. Apparently, the Joker had disappeared. There were clear signs that the Joker had been there just hours before. The Joker had even left a note that apparently proved somehow knew they were coming.

That note, as well as a detailed report, was now on Celestia's desk (she was in her study. Luna was still having court). She looked down at it, and dreaded reading it. She thought back to the terrible week, and the memorize took her.

She still had to remind herself not to be angry at the police for not telling her about the bun theft when this had all began. It was, after all, a bun theft. That is not the kind of thing a Princess should normally be worried about. However, since Tuesday, all crimes were reported directly to her as well to the proper police co-ordinaters.

She had previously learned to forgive her own mistakes. Sometimes, you can't help it. But there were a grand total of four times in her entire 2,500 year long life that she truly wished she could have known better, and one of those times was when she was coordinating the fire teams (every Level-3 threat to Canterlot was directly brought to her for orders, and the fire were one of those threats). She would trade the castle just for her past self to know that, when that Mining Explosive's factory exploded, that fire would pale in comparison to the fires caused by the Firework's Factory's explosion.

But, she didn't know, and so she sent most of the Fire-squad to deal with the very-much-smaller-than-expected fire caused by the Mining Factory's explosions. Meanwhile, on the other side of town, the much bigger fires started from the Firework's explosions, but the Fire-Squad were already across town, and busy. It took valuable minutes to re-coordinate that many ponies to work on the other side of the city, especially with communication limited in the chaos. Of course, the Princess knew immediately of the consequences of having to re-organizing the force. She could see the East Canterlot burning from the castle.

So, that night, she'd known it was an attack. Every magical and mechanical safety system, all failing in the exact most spectacular and dangerous way? On two seperate buildings? With stolen buns left in the smoldering wreckage? Not possible. Not coincidence.

So, now, she was co-ordinating bomb squads to check factories for explosives, and urging everypony to be very careful. That's when a hospital exploded.

That was quite shocking for her. It just seemed different. At that point, she suspected that the criminal was a sad pyromaniac, maybe a teenager, feeling guilty for indirectly causing 50 deaths. She never considered (not seriously, at least. After all, most villains prefered long speeches and invasions) that the murders had been intentional.

But, a hospital gone, several dead. This wasn't some sad, troubled kid. This was a full-blown terrorist attack. She had silently wished Chrysalis invaded instead. Sure, people were kidnapped and somewhat traumitized, but the Changelings were civilized (if less-so that Equestrians). Their Queen had a sadistic streak, but even she wouldn't go this far.

So then, bomb-squads from all over Equestria had come to help search every establishment they legally could for bombs. They did not check for strange chemicals in hooficure healing gels. After all, all other attacks had been explosions. Because the killer had switched MOs, no one expected for such an attack.

Then Friday came. I should have known by then. I should have known better than to keep looking for explosives. The killer had moved on from that method. I should have declared martial law then. The citizens would have been unhappy, but they would forgive it, surely.. But no, martial law was not declared, and schools were not temporarily suspended. And, seeing as the schools were still in session, the criminal was given a prime target. What does it take to kill a child in cold blood? How could anyone do that?

Fun fact: the amount of premeditated murders in Equestria per decade is almost exactly 1. The amount of accidental, repentent murders is not much higher.

And then, after she had announced the memorial service, there was the bomb threat to stop that from happening. There were also riots in a small backwoods town. There was also a riot in Canterlot (The rioters blamed Her's Day Spa for the poisoning). She was running out of options, and she called martial law.

It had been a stressful decision, not because she doubted it was the best idea, but because she was furious at herself and the circumstances. She had made one mistake, and it had cost her the lives of a school. If she had just suspended school, if she had just declared martial law earlier, those children would be alive, and many ponies angrily pointed that out again and again.

Then there was a prison escape. Truth be told, she was not hugely worried about that in-and-of-itself; it was the reaction she feared. The people would constantly be on the look out for some terrible monsters that really only existed in their minds.

Fun fact: 20% of all Equestrian prisoners were convicted for commiting grand (but not violent) theft. 72% of all Equestrian prisoners were convicted for tax evasion or espionage. 8% were there for other (non-violent) crimes. 86% of prisoners spend less than 2 years incarcerated.

So there she was, trying to spread the word that nopony was out to prey on the innocent, that the prisoners were not violent, and that there was absolutely no danger. And, while most ponies believed her, a small-but-vocal minority claimed that the opposite was true. They claimed that innocent civilians were, in fact, sitting ducks for homicidal madponies and even rapists to attack. She couldn't even refute their claims, because they claimed that she was doctoring the evidence to further her "totalitarian agenda"! She would have arrested them for disturbing the peace (some were calling for total insurrections, assassinations, riots, etc.), but that would just cause an underground movement that would be much harder to control. It was best to just let them prove their own lack of logic and hope it doesn't catch on.

On Sunday, it was time to comfort the ponies with a speech. And an apology. They'd trusted her with their childrens' lives, and she'd let a madpony take them. She found that the sad part was that they'd probably forgive her. And during that speech, she got shot in the chest with some metal scrap. As she fell to the ground, there was screaming and chaos. Throughout it all, though, one thought stayed in her mind: Nopony's came to help me. Oh, her, guards were there, but no one from the crowd was. The civilians... they'd just ran. She felt both sad and oddly comforted by the lack of help from the crowd.

She was admitted into a medical wing of the Castle (she was certain she'd never been in that room in her life). She'd insisted to be taken to a normal hospital, but the gaurds insisted that they couldn't do that. They'd claimed that "both Princess Luna and the Council of Nobles ordered that you be brought back here, and to deny any requests to be admitted into a normal hospital". Celestia didn't remember much of that night because she was on so much medication (they stuck the IV in as soon as she got to the castle. She was impressed by the efficiency, despite the circumstances).

She awoke early to bright rays of light pouring through the window. Most normal ponies would have just rolled over and went back to sleep, but Celestia ony had one urgent thought going through her head: But I didn't raise the sun yet! She shot up, but immediately regretted it when her middle shot pain back at her. "OW!"

"Celestia!" a mare exclaimed. Her voice was too loud it went right to the center of Celestia's headache. The mare, wearing nurse uniform, trotted to her, gently pushing Celestia back onto her back. "You're injured! Be careful!" As she layed back down, Celestia noticed the medical decour and that her own chest was wrapped in bandages From the surgery! Everything came together.

The nurse closed the curtains, then turned back to Celestia nervously. She stood near her bed, an uneasy smile on her face. Celestia took a breath to calm down. "Oh, yes. I'm sorry for worrying you. I was shot, wasn't I?"

The nurse nodded slightly. She was almost shaking. The mare was obviously nervous, but not in a good way. "Y-yes, Princess," her voice was now very quiet. "But we operated on you last night. D-do you feel OK?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Did Luna raise the sun?"

"Y-yes, Princess." The mare was almost crying.

"I knew she could do it." Celestia smiled, then looked at the shaking mare in front of her. "Are you OK, miss...?"

The mare jumped when Celestia adressed her. "I-I'm fine, it's just... I'm sorry for calling you 'Celestia', and I shouldn't have spoken like that to you."

Celestia nearly chuckled. "But my name is Celestia. Why shouldn't you call me that? And besides. You were worried for my condition. Thank you."

The mare didn't seem comforted (she had her head down), and she didn't answer. Celestia broke the silence. "What's your name?"

The mare looked up. "M-my name?"

"Of course."

"I-I'm Mendy. W-why?"

"I just wanted to know your name. So, while I was on whatever you guys put me on, did I say anything embarrassing?" Celestia smiled, hoping the question would ease the tension. It seemed to work as Mendy visibly relaxed and almost stopped shaking. "I've heard that people on anesthesia often say hilarious things."

"I-it wasn't that kind of anesthesia..." Mendy gave a nervous chuckle, and then stiffened as if startled. "H-how much do you remember from last night?"

Celestia thought. "Hmm... I don't remember much of anything... Last night was a blurr, really. There's..." She remembered being shot. "Not much I can remember after I was shot. Why?"

Mendy kept her eyes to the floor. "W-well..." Uncertainty was in her voice.

"Whatever is wrong? You can tell me." Celestia's motherly voice was on now.

"When... When we were rushing you here, and you were on the---the medicine... You said..." Mendy bit her lip, almost crying.

"What is it?" Celestia used a gentle voice, trying to comfort this pony.

"You... You said,"----Mendy through on a Celestia impression----"'It's my fault. I couldn't save them, and now it's my turn. Let me take the risk! let me take the risk!'... A-are you OK? D-do you want to talk about it?"

Celestia vaguely remembered that. She looked up to the nurse, who was staring at her through concerned eyes. She considered telling Mendy how she was feeling, but she immediately recoilled against that thought. This isn't Mendy's burden to bear. But then Celestia immediately recoilled against not telling Mendy, because, if she didn't tell Mendy, she'd end up telling everything to Twilight. It was just so easy to dump all her problems on Twilight; Twilight was very intelligent, strong, and she was the best student she could have wished for. A true friend, and sometimes a friend is easier to talk to than a sister.

And so, with reluctance she felt every time she decided to trust her friend with all her problems, and yet always ignored, Celestia thought something thought up. She chuckled as best she could, and the deception came regretfully easily.

"Oh, it was just the medicine. I'm fine." Celestia explained. Mendy didn't look convinced. "I am very old, and I've made many mistakes in my lifetime. But I've learned a long time ago that I have to forgive myself. I made a mistake when handling this fiasco, but I did the best I could. I wasn't prepared for this kind of attack, and I could have never been prepared for it. I made a mistake, and I'll fix it by catching anyone responsible."

The logic was good. Celestia knew that she should forgive herself, but that was awful hard given her recent failure.

Mendy seemed to buy the explanation. "O-oh. OK. That's good. I-I'm sorry if I overstepped my bounds by asking---I know you have Luna and the Bearers---"

"Don't worry. There's nothing wrong with feeling concern for someone else. Thank you very much." Celestia was sincere about that. With the explanation, the nurse nodded, and then hesitantly trotted off to do who knows what.

I really should forgive myself Celestia thought. But she resolved to go to sleep for now.