Tsar Bomba II

Countess Coloratura
Lower Manehattan Medical Center

Rara had never been more exhausted in all of her life. For hours, the Royal Guard were bringing in ponies that had been blinded by the Big Bombing, as the event was being called. The news that many more ponies were coming in, and the fact that patients clogged every hospital in the city, both depressed and exhausted the singer, who volunteered to work at the hospital and help as much as she could.

Her supervisor, Green Bow, looked down at his clipboard. "Rara, you've worked here harder than any of the other doctors here, and that's saying a lot." he commended her. "But you should take a break, or you'll wear yourself out."

She looked at him in shock. "Leave? I can't do that! There's still so many ponies that need taken care of, and there's still more coming in!" she exclaimed.

He nodded. "Yes, I know, but if you don't rest at all, you won't be a very effective doctor, now will you?" he asked her.

She almost started to argue back, but then thought better of it. Finally, she said, "I see what you mean. However, if I may, can I at least help one more patient? I feel I still need to help where I can.". She gave him a pleading look, knowing it usually won over many ponies.

Sure enough, her boss sighed. "Alright, one more patient can't be too much." he looked through his files. "You can check down room 102. They need some more pain relieving spells." he gestured toward the direction of the room. Rara hugged him and squealed, "Thank you so much!"

She walked down to room 102 ready to give her spell. Most of the ponies in most of the hospitals had just been unlucky enough to be looking towards Canterlot when it was destroyed, so she knew most likely that she would see more of the same. Sure enough, when she walked in, the stallion had a large strip of gauze over his eyes. Rara soon realized, completely shocked, who the stallion was.

"Svengallop?!" she exclaimed. Svengallop turned his head in her direction, and was equally shocked. "Countess Coloratura?!" he exclaimed.

Rara walked up to him, tentatively. "Alright, Svengallop, I'm going to give you a pain relieving spell. Is that all right?" she asked him. Svengallop muttered, "Whatever."

The spell was quick and easy. Svengallop soon drifted to sleep, one of the side effects of it. Rara rushed out of the room. Green Bow noticed the look of surprise lingering on her face. He quietly asked, "Did you know that patient?"

She looked at him, startled. "How did you know?". He chuckled. "When you get to be my age, you just know."

She smiled, then the smile disappeared as she said, "Yes. That was my old manager. Svengallop."

Green Bow nodded. "I know who that is. He quit, or was fired, or something. I never really followed you, but my grandfoals love you to death." he smiled, remembering. "Perhaps you should go now. You saw your patient, now you can go get some rest." he said.

She nodded, "Yes, I better. Thank you.". She turned around, and walked right out of the hospital, to her hotel room.

Spitfire
Wonderbolt Academy

"Do you think you have what it takes to be a Wonderbolt? I don't think so." Spitfire growled out to the group of privates being trained. She was not normally a very kind mare when she worked at this job, but today she was unpredictable. At one point, several Wonderbolts had had to pull Spitfire off a young private who had fallen out of place in line.

"You all here, you're just worthless scum. Understood?" she shouted angrily. The privates stood up straight. "Yes, ma'am." they chorused.

"Dismissed." she muttered. The other ponies trotted away, relieved their torture session had ended. Spitfire herself chose to return to her office, where a nice bottle of punch stood waiting for her. As she walked, the events of the past week continued to haunt her.

So far, every pegasi sent out over Canterlot continue to report that the area is still unsafe to walk in. What little was left of the infamous Everfree Forest was a smoking ruin, Canterlot and it's mountain were a pile of glowing rubble, and the only surviving structure was the Rainbow Friendship Castle, and even then it was a bare shadow of what it had been pre-Bomb.

Spitfire trotted into her office and locked the door. She turned around, and flew to her chair. She had been contemplating this decision ever since yesterday's conference, and she would finally carry it out.

She opened a drawer and pulled out a pencil, paper, and an envelope. When she had what she needed, she started writing a letter. The letter was relatively short, but it had all the important points scribbled onto it.

Once she had finished, she set in on the table in front of her. She wrote out SOARIN' in big, noticeable letters on the front of the envelope. Fully satisfied with her work, her eyes glanced to a small framed picture. In it was a picture of her mother, smiling back at her and tormenting Spitfire, knowing her mother, and most of her relatives, died in Canterlot.

Spitfire didn't even notice she was crying until her tears started rolling down her furry cheeks. As she cried, she finally decided to stop procrastinating, and do what she came in here to do.

Opening a drawer, Spitfire pulled out a gleaming knife. It was very prized in her collection, having been worth over 10,000 bits and never being used. Until now.

Within two minutes, Spitfire, Commander of the Wonderbolts, was dead by her own hoof.