//-------------------------------------------------------// The Tragedy -by Evictus- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// The Attack //-------------------------------------------------------// The Attack Twilight Sparkle was getting dressed for the day as she had just woken up before Starlight and Spike. She was in her bedroom as she was trying to make herself presentable for the public. As soon as she prepared herself she went downstairs and saw that it was still dark outside. She got breakfast started for her other two friends. As she cooked she made sure not to make to much noise as it was still early yet. While she made breakfast Spike came downstairs already dressed as he walked downstairs. He yawned as he sat down and saw that his space was all set for him. Twilight smiled. "So you were the one making all the noise....well at least your making breakfast that saves me the trouble of doing it. It still seems uncommon though for a princess to make breakfast. What is today's anyway might I ask." Spike said. "It's an omelette Spike it was the only thing I could make. We're all out of food. While I'm at Canterlot please for the love of Equestria buy more pancake batter." Twilight complained. Spike laughed. "Don't worry it's the second trip on my list I have to go to that meeting today anyway. Are you coming along Twilight?" Spike asked. Twilight shrugged. "I'll go if Celestia says at I have to go but I don't she will need me. Go along without me I'll be safe here." Twilight said with a smile. Spike nodded and ate his food with deep satisfaction. He soon finished and put his plate in the sink. He hugged Twilight goodbye and left. He took a long walk to where he was going and soon he made it to the royal castle. He was checked by security and was allowed in. He walked past several advisors and officials making conversation he saw Princess Cadence talking to several mayors from around Equestria which really surprised him as Cadence didn't usually come to Canterlot as she was princess of the Crystal Empire. He decided to get some answers and went up to her. She told him to wait for two minutes so he stood there impatiently as he just couldn't help himself. Cadence then finished and turned to Spike. "What is it Spike I have to be at a meeting with mayor from Saddle Arabia and your here tugging at my dress. As you can see we are very busy here you can't just go around and interrupt people. What is it?" Cadence asked. "Are you going to the security briefing today? I'm asking because several people are guessing at you'll be there." Spike asked. Cadence sighed. "No Spike I can't make it. I have a daughter to attend to if you may remember so whatever Celestia says I can get a memo about it or she can send something to me. What about you?" Cadence asked. "I'm heading over there now. I saw you so that made me guess you were going as well so I'm sorry if I guessed wrong. I had to maneuver around everybody to get to you. Why is it always so packed in here?" Spike asked. Cadence shrugged. "We are busy everyday in case if you didn't notice. No I'm not going I'm sorry, I've just been to a recent meeting so i think I'll be fine. Celestia isn't going either she's up in her castle hiding away from the regular nonsense that goes on in Canterlot." Cadence said. "Well I know I should of guessed that but thanks anyway. I'll see you for lunch after the meeting if you want I mean after when you pass the new budget law we can celebrate." Spike suggested. Cadence smiled and spoke. "Sure thing. I'll see you later." Cadence said as she headed off to go to meet several other advisors, Spike realized that the briefing was in four minutes so he rushed down to the room, when he got there he apologized for being late. Shining Armor was there along with several other official advisors and members of the press. Spike sat down along with a few other people as a spokesperson for the Royal family walked up and greeted them all before they got started with the news. "As you all know Celestia is very busy today so I'll be quick with all of you, there can be questions but you can't shout but I think you all know that now so that doesn't need to be stated. As you know Celestia will be going on her next international trip to Manehattan to meet with the mayor there for a new tax cut and she will make a speech there about the economy. Princess Twilight Sparkle will also be heading over to the Crystal Empire school where she will speak about improving the education and food standards for students. Also today we have national park day where we will be celebrating the anniversary of Manehattan Park and that's about it for now. Questions?" The person asked. People shouted questions but he only picked a couple. Soon the meeting ended so Spike left to go to his office to do some paperwork. As he worked on some papers he heard another meeting taking place between several security advisors. He knew that he didn't have much to do so he got to work. Meanwhile Rarity was at home tending to her sister as she was watching the news which was talking about Princess Twilight and her new proposals for several community projects. "Alright your parents are going to be picking you up for school and you'll go home with them but you can come back home here okay?" Rarity asked. Sweetie Belle giggled as Rarity helped get her coat on. She kissed her on the head and helped her go to school. As she dropped Sweetie Belle off she heard her phone ring but ignored it as she knew that it probably was important when she got home she realized that the broadcast of the meetings at Canterlot have been cut off and alls there was now was static. Rarity was weirded out as she flipped through the channels and saw that all of them were working but one. She started to get weirded out as the channel was just working. She got another phone call she picked it up and heard Twilight's voice coming through the phone. "Twilight is everything okay?" Twilight continued to panic and ramble on about the Royal palace and something that happened there. Rarity couldn't understand her so she calmed her. "Twilight slow down! Just tell me what happened in a clear manner okay? Now tell me what happened." Rarity said. "There's been an explosion in the Royal palace. A huge fireball engulfed the place Me and Spike were rushed outside you can see the smoke from here! Just stay safe! We had been We don't know where Luna and Celestia are, stay away from the Capitol!" Twilight said. Rarity told her that she would and ran to the tv and changed the channel and when she found the news station she was horrified by the footage of the castle on fire. "We do not know at this point what exactly happened but we will tell you what we do know, a few seconds ago a huge explosion just took place at the Capitol of Equestria. We have no idea how many have been killed and we don't know if Celestia is still alive...we have just had a tragedy at Canterlot." The newscaster said as she droned on about the tragedy with the other anchor that also helped her by her side. She went to a reporter who was live at the scene as they replayed the footage of the explosion. "As you can see a big fireball just engulfed the Capitol. The explosion just took place while Celestia was meeting with foreign officials at Canterlot. Several eyewitnesses say that debris from the explosion has covered the ground. We have no idea what just happened but from past attacks we can assume that the Capitol of Equestria has just been attacked by some organization or somebody else. We will now continue the footage with..." The newscaster droned on. Rarity immediately picked up her phone and tried to call Spike but he wasn't answering. She got really upset as she feared that he got killed. She watched the news in shock all day and she didn't stop even when Sweetie Belle came back home. Rarity made sure to keep Sweetie Belle away from the television as the scenes were to horrifying. Rarity was so upset she tried calling Twilight but it had no use. She just continued watching the footage, she couldn't look away no matter how disturbing the images were. Soon the news announced that there were over 3,000 people who were killed in the attack making it the worst terror attack on Equestria's soil. As the news went on about it the reports came in how the leaders all over Equestria and beyond expressed their condolences for the tragedy that happened in Canterlot. Reports were saying that the smoke was visible all the way to Ponyville and even outside of Ponyville. And then the worst report came. Rarity feared that the worst and soon she heard the worst thing imaginable. She turned up the news report. "It has been confirmed that the longest reigning monarch, Princess Celestia has been confirmed to be killed in the explosion along Luna and Cadence. They are all dead among everybody else. This is the most saddest day in Equestria's history. The successor of Princess Cadence Princess Flurry Heart who is now seventeen years old will be crowned the youngest princess ever and Twilight will also take Celestia's place as the main princess. The reporter said. As the news about the explosion went on Rarity let out a loud wail of despair as she cried. She sunk to the floor as she rocked back and forth as tears ran down her cheeks as she cried hysterically while the news droned on. She was devastated. This was the most horrible thing that has happened in her life. She continued to watch the news all day when Sweetie Belle came home she made sure that Sweetie Belle didn't see the disturbing images on television but she did tell her what happened as carefully as she could as she didn't want to upset her sister. As the news droned on Sweetie Belle kept her promise to Rarity of not upsetting herself as she stayed in her room while Rarity watched the news but Rarity did allow her to come out sometimes when ghe news wasnt that graphic. They soon listed all who were dead. Flurry Heart was crowned the next main princess of Equestria in Canterlot and she made a speech about how she would bring Equestria together. Flurry Heart knew that if she died she would need another successor that was related to her but she didn't have a daughter so she knew she would have to get married in order to continue the line of succession. Flurry Heart immediately took action as she closed off Canterlot and put it in lockdown and she issued an immediate curfew. She expressed her desire to find whoever did this attack and sentence them to death. She hired official investigators to start a probe into the Canterlot bombing which they did. The crystal empire was put on immediate lockdown. Twilight's castle was also put on shut down. Twilight was soon crowned as princess and she looked over the investigation into the bombing while Flurry Heart tried to calm people down and keep everybody safe. The fire burned all morning and all day. By nighttime the fire had been put out. The smoke could still be seen rising from the Capitol. Rarity stayed up all night watching the news while Sweetie Belle slept at her parents place so that she be kept from getting upset by watching the news. Rarity continued to stay up all night by watching the news. The next morning she slept in late and woke up in the afternoon to Rarity watched the news all day that day. Newspapers all over Equestria had news articles about the bombing. Twilight went down to the still burning Capitol and made a statement about the attack. It was broadcast across every news station. "My fellow citizens the other day our nations capitol was attacked. We do not know who did it. But I assure you we will avenge all those who died here. We will bring swift justice to the evil masterminds who brought this upon us. We will not back down in fear. No instead we will rise up and defeat these demented people who did this to us! Equestria will always remain strong! They tried to bring the fight to us but I promise all of you that we will bring the fight to them and we will remain as one united Equestria!!, Twilight declared. The crowd applauded for her and as a result of her speech the nation got together and donated to blood banks as reports of survivors of the bombing were sent to the local hospital and were treated. Twilight worked to bring the nation together and it slowly did. Twilight went to the funeral of those killed and gave a speech at the funeral. The mane six attended along with Starlight and Flurry Heart. Flurry Heart gave a long speech and a pastor who was very close to Celestia read a speech about Celestia. The eulogy was given and the funeral ended. As Twilight and Flurry Heart went home they both worked together to to try to bring the nation back together. She also continued the investigation into the attack as several agents around the clock worked on the bombing. She was going to find who ever did this and make them pay. The citizens of Equestria knew that nothing would ever be the same again. //-------------------------------------------------------// Aftermath //-------------------------------------------------------// Aftermath After the tragedy that happened in Canterlot construction of a memorial was underway as the builders thought that it would be a nice memorial to those who died. The smoke and fumes were cleared away from the site and Canterlot castle was slowly rebuilt over a few months while the memorial was built at the same time. The builders took their times as they didn't want to rush anything. Twilight and Flurry Heart tried to comfort their country together as well as sending medical supplies to the victims as people were saved from the rubble. Meanwhile the dead bodies were medically examined and were sent to their families so that their families had a chance to say goodbye to them and bury them. Many people who were families of the victims took extensive therapy as they were all depressed. There was a surge in suicides among the families that lost people in the attacks while other families learned to deal with it through therapy. Flurry Heart passed a survivors funding bill and a victims families funding bill which would sent money to the people that survived and the second sent money to the families of those that died. The funding bill was renewed each year annually with major support for the bill. Support for the funding never stopped. Meanwhile numerous investigations were launched as they looked into who could have done the bombing. They worked to get a copy of everybody who was a guest at the castle and they also got a copy of the people that had worked their the day before and the day of the bombing. They looked into the backgrounds of each person that was on the guest list but they couldn't find anybody yet but yet the kept looking as they were not going to give up on trying to find out who the bomber was. They worked day and night to find out who the perpetrator who had caused the bombing in Canterlot was. People mourned and cried about the tragedy for several weeks. Schools reopened and kids began to go back to school to learn. Security was tightened near locations of royalty as the crystal empire's castle got more guards. New alarms were also put into buildings that didn't have them and old alarms were upgraded so that they would sound louder so that people who were far away could hear them so that if any bombs or weapons were detected or used the alarms would go off and the people who brought them to try more terrorist attacks would be arrested. Twilight helped the citizens remain calm during the crisis as well as lend resources to the families of the victims. She also communicated with investigators that were trying to find out who bombed the royal palace. After they Royal palace was officially rebuilt Flurry Heart started to use that castle while she also used her parents castle. The mane six donated food and money to all the victims of the horrific tragedy that took place in Canterlot. Twilight sent a team to try and scavenge for the materials of the now detonated bomb that were hidden among the scrap pile that were pieces of the castle that were destroyed during the bombing. Soon they had found suspicious looking materials so they informed the investigators and the investigators took the materials back to their headquarters and examined the pieces for their investigation. They were so close to finding out who did that they could feel it. Twilight was so thrilled to hear the news that they had found pieces to investigate. She gave the investigators any money that they needed for additional resources. Twilight met with the investigators numerous times as the investigators briefed her on what progress had been made in the investigations. Twilight urged them to keep investigating each week and soon the luck for investigators took off when they found evidence of finger prints that belonged to a man named Jonathan Rice. The investigators investigated some more and they found where the man was hiding. Twilight ordered a raid on the place the man was hiding and the raid was carried out. The raid was carried out on an apartment that Jonathan was presumed to be living in. The raid was a success as Rice was arrested and locked up. Jonathan Rice was interrogated about the bombing and they found out that his motives for doing the bombing was racial extremism, the man had hated Celestia and the Royal family for being so accepting of disabled and minority people. He thought that his kind was the supreme kind. After the interrogation Jonathan Rice was charged for being a terrorist and was charged with the deaths of the main princesses. He was also charged with the deaths he had caused. He was tried in Equestria's national court and was found guilty on all three counts and was given the death sentence. People cheered when the decision was announced thoughout Equestria. The man was put to death a few months later for his crimes against Equestria. People cheered as justice was finally served while others just remained quiet as they were just happy that closure had been brought to them. Over time more memorials were dedicated to the victims of those who died in the explosion. The victims families grew stronger with their resolve as therapy helped them out. Numerous books were written about the tragedy. Sweetie Belle learned more about the terrorist attack when she was way older as well and she even went to the memorial to pay her respects to the victims of the tragedy. The tragedy was written down in history books and Flurry Heart made the day of the attacks an official day of observation and rememberance of the attack each year. People were finally moving passed what had happened in Canterlot even if their was still a lot of work to be done. They all stuck together as they showed that Equestria would always stay united in times of tragedy.