Hours Loom 2: Electric Boogaloo

Twilight sat with a blanket covering her, holding a cup of hot coffee, and Gale Wind sat beside her. The pegasus was being checked over by the medic pony. She had plenty of bandages and a foreleg in a sling, but she fared better than Maud. Twilight had already spoken to Maud before she was wheeled off to the hospital, suffering from internal bleeding. She knew the earth pony would be alright, she was probably the strongest pony Twilight would ever know. The medic had said something about Twilight being the strongest, having survived three murderous ponies, but Twilight knew it wasn’t true.

She waited for Celestia to arrive, once she had Twilight knew she could break down and cry. Until then, she would be strong. This time was different from the last but the feeling was worse. Now she would have to go home to an empty house. There was no one she cared to be around now, except for her fellow princesses. Not even they, except Cadance, could know how she felt. She’d have to return to Ponyville to tell Applejack, she’d have to see Maud again and talk about her dead family. Would they hate her for her parents being murders?

She looked to Gale who stared into her own coffee cup. “Hey, Gale,” she said. Gale looked up with exhausted eyes. “Do you want to be my friend?”

“Friend?” Gale replied.

“Yeah. Having survived something like this, well, it changes you. I know that for a fact, perhaps too well. You shouldn’t go through it alone like I did the first time.”

Gale seemed to think about it for a long while. Twilight was worried she would say no, that she’d hate her. Instead, she said, “S-Sure. I’ve never been friends with a p-princess before.”

Twilight smiled. Princess of Friendship, that’s me, she sarcastically thought. As they sat in silence a pegasus pushed through the crowd. His blue hair waved above the other ponies and the guards attempted to prevent his entrance. “Let him through!” Twilight called out, recognizing the stallion’s voice. The guards moved and the pegasus passed through, rushing up to the alicorn.

“Twilight! I can’t believe you’re alright! D-Do you know where, um, Spitfire is?”

She looked at him and his sullen eyes. He had flown all night and hadn’t had a wink of sleep, just like her, just like the other survivors. “Soarin…” she whispered. “I-I’m sorry.”

He sucked in air through his nose, knowing what she was saying. He had prepared for it but the look in his eyes struck her heart. “I… I see,” he replied. “She knew what she was getting into. She knew that when she sent me away.”

Twilight wanted to reach out and wrap him in a hug. She couldn’t bear to see him so distraught while she remained desensitized. It wasn’t right, but then, having your own parents be murderers isn’t right either. She offered him a seat next to her, opposite Gale. He could wait until they carted her remains down and then go with the coroners. As they waited, a voice yelled from the ship. “We’ve got a live one!”

None of them could believe their eyes. The green, old mare was led down the steps by the detective, yawning as she reached the dock. “Granny Smith!?” Twilight yelled, waving to the earth pony. “How did you survive?”

The old mare was still too much asleep to answer, instead, she rocked back and forth with her eyes closed. “We found her in the captain’s quarters. She was asleep under the covers,” the detective answered. “She was really lucky, the door was unlocked and half opened.”

The detective led her away as Twilight sat there in disbelief. Gale let out a chuckle. “I guess y-you don’t live to that a-age without some sort of luck being on your side.”

Guards had begun wheeling out the corpses of the fallen. When Spitfire’s came, Soarin followed the guard off. A moment later and Twilight’s parents had come down the ramp. One was covered in blood and water, the other’s face completely destroyed. She couldn’t bear to look at them, so instead she stared out into the crowd.

For a moment she thought she saw her. Purple mane, white fur, blue eyes. She blinked and it was all gone except for the white fur. The crowd parted and the majestic mane blew as the princess strolled forward. “Twilight!” Celestia called as she rushed beside the wounded alicorn. “I came as quickly as I could. What happened!?”

Twilight looked up at her mentor. She couldn’t hold back any longer. Tears streamed down her face until it became full blown sobbing. She pushed her face into Celestia’s chest and the elder alicorn wrapped a foreleg around her student. “M-My ow-own…” she tried to speak.

“It’s okay, Twilight. We can talk about this later. Let’s get you a hotel.”

“C-Can I come w-with you? I, uh, I don’t really k-know anypony here in Manehattan,” Gale asked.

Celestia looked to the injured pegasus and smiled, only for it to falter as Twilight began to laugh. “Twilight?” she inquired, unsure of the alicorn’s mental state.

As her laughing subsided, Twilight replied, “Rarity loved Manehattan. Let’s go back to Canterlot.” She then wiped the tears from her eyes and gave a sniff. “Nothing bad seems to happen in Canterlot.”

Celestia stared at her with wide eyes. At first, Celestia thought to try and talk sense, but she knew that it wasn’t what Twilight needed to hear. She gave another smile and looked back and forth between Twilight and Gale. “Canterlot it is, then.”