Chapters Pain. That was all he could feel. While he wasn’t blind, the world around him was spinning like a top. He tried to get up, and though it hurt, he was able to stand. He put a hoof to the side of his head that hurt the most as he tried to recall what happened. Lady Luck smiled upon the Earth Pony as his vision cleared, helping him remember what had happened.
His parents had won a state lottery, though coin and credit were not among the prizes. He had heard his classmates and his teacher talk about how the crown was expanding the nation’s spending on Airships, a necessity now that Equestria had allies and trading partners all over the world. However, private companies and travel agencies had developed a keen interest in Airships for their businesses, something the Crown wanted to invest in.
Ponies were concerned about what this could lead to. Non-Pegasi wouldn’t be able to escape if a commercial Airship crashed, the speculated damage to the environment or a city if an Airship did crash, and the eventual increase in taxes to fund these projects, were the most often used arguments by critics against the crown’s spending in these airborne goliaths.
To help ease the worries of the populace and to silence criticism, Princess Celestia had announced at the last Grand Equestria Pony Summit that the crown would be offering lottery tickets to willing participants. One in Twenty participants would win this lottery and get an all-expenses paid three-week cruise aboard the first ever Passenger Airlines. This was joint effort by the crown and aforementioned Airline companies in the hopes that Airship popularity would grow beyond the interest and hobbies of the rich and famous, and become a vast improvement in everyday life. Sun Strider’s parents had bought winning tickets had won a cruise aboard the TMV (Their Majesties’ Vessel) Angel Wing .
The nine-year-old Colt had a chilling realization, “My parents!”
Strider looked around frantically for his parents. Upon looking up, he realized that he was no longer on a passenger deck. Where the ceiling was, there was a gaping hole where the Angel Wing seemed to be ripped open. Strider recognized the stylized Equestrian flag that was on the ceiling of guest room where his family was sleeping. Deciding his parents had fallen somewhere nearby, he observed his immediate surrounds more closely.
Looking behind him, he saw the fancy bed he had been sleeping in. The bed had landed on its front and was standing up straight. Strider realized that he had fallen out of bed, but was unconscious for some time afterwards, “That thing is made out of steel. If it had fallen on me…” Strider stopped his current train of thought and continued looking for his parents.
Given all of the appliances and the cutlery, Strider had most likely landed in a kitchen. The doors leading to the hallways were opened, but didn’t look damaged, meaning that they weren’t closed when whatever happened happened, “Did we crash?”
Going out into the hallways Strider saw overturned dinning carts, broken sculptures of ice and glass, and crewponies either unconscious or dazed. But no sign of his parents. Doing his best to not step in the broken glass, he went into the next room over.
“Closet,” Strider the next room over and saw what looked like a ballroom. The wall on the other side was completely destroyed, leading out into Equestria’s idyllic grassland. Chandeliers had their chains snapped from what remained of the ceiling and had crashed into the floor, shattered much like the ruined sculptures in the hallway. Looking up, Strider could indeed confirm that this ballroom was directly below the many guest rooms by the numerous copies of the same stylized design of Equestria’s flag on the ceilings above.
Looking at the floor, Strider could see where the floors of the guest quarters had fallen into the ballroom in large chunks, along with the possessions of passengers and the furniture in the rooms they were given. It had seemed that the entire Passenger Deck had fallen into the one below it.
Everything else Strider saw chilled him to the bone. The other passengers, some more animated than others, were groaning in what was most likely pain and were in various states of injury. While some were fortunate to simply be shaken, others were wrapped up in covers salvaged from the dinning carts outside and blankets, all soaked with blood.
Sun Strider’s heart stopped as he looked towards the wall up against the closet he had passed by. Celestia’s sun was perfectly positioned to illuminate that wall and some of the floor on that side of the room. Strider saw blue and green with a slight shimmer in between the actual floor and the wreckage.
Strider galloped over, taking no heed of the broken glass from the chandeliers or the broken bits of metal he should have carefully navigated. Strider slipped on a blanket from an upturned bed and slid into the wreck he was rushing towards. Ignoring the pain in his hooves from stomping and the headache he got from hitting his head, he confirmed his fears.
His mother, an Earth-Pony Mare with a sky-blue coat and a forest green mane, complete with the earrings his father had gotten her for their anniversary last month, lay dead. The bed she was sharing with her husband was crushed between the ballroom and the guest room floors, Sun Strider’s parents wedged in between the masses of metal.
“MOM! DAD!” Sun Strider's yells got the attention of the passengers on the other side of the room. However, they didn’t even get close before something else got their attention.
A loud whistling noise got almost everypony’s attention. Looking out from the demolished wall of the Airship would reveal a Pegasus flying in tight circles with a strobing red and white flare with a thundercloud trail behind him or her. A member of the Wonderbolts loaned to the Search and Rescue Specialist-Group signaling that there were injured down below, equipped with a enchanted whistle and Mana-Flare.
The unfortunate Colt was in the midst of a panic attack, trying in vain to resuscitate his parents. All attempts to calm the despairing Colt by his fellow passengers failed spectacularly. It wasn’t until a SARS-G Unicorn forced his way through the small crowd was anything accomplished.
“Hey, buddy?” The Unicorn said in a low and calm voice, “Everything’s going to be okay,” the professional rescue worker used a sedation spell on Sun Strider and wrapped the poor Colt in a blanket.
“Mom. Dad,” Was all he could say before his world faded back to black.
Author's Note
Feel free to give constructive criticism, thoughts on the story so far, or to ask questions about the world. I'll do my best to reply, but with college my response times and and update rate will be sluggish. Also, if I don't answer something, the answer may just be something that involves spoilers. So try not to get too upset if I seem to ignore you.
“Move, move, MOVE!” A medic yelled as he guided his colleagues towards the wounded. It was almost drowned out in cacophony of the hustle and bustle of relieve work, compounded by the fact that there weren’t many disasters in Equestria, increasing confusion and stress. A purple Dragon with a green stomach was one of few things keeping everything from falling apart.
There probably wasn’t a Pony in Equestria who didn’t hear the explosion, at least that’s what Spike and Twilight thought. Twilight had spent about five minutes teleporting around Equestria with her insane Alicorn magic, looking for the cause, before coming back to the palace and tasked her Number One Assistant with managing the relieve effort while she warped supplies and emergency workers from around the country to the crash site.
Years spent helping Twilight with school projects that made her school professors and, on occasion, Princess Celestia’s head spin added with years of helping Twilight with her ever expanding personal library had made Spike the perfect choice for tracking supplies, staff, and recovered passengers from the Angel Wing . Not to mention the insane amount of work the young Dragon had helped mother figure with in the twenty years since she became a Princess. Spike being a Dragon also gave him the ability to give out shouts that rivaled the Royal Canterlot Voice when he needed to.
“MEDICAL SUPPLIES TO INBOUND ZONE ONE IN THIRTY SECONDS! MEDICS: ROUTE PATIENTS TO OUTBOUND ZONE 5! FIRE CREWS: PRIORITIZE THE EASTERN SIDE OF THE SHIP, BUT KEEP THE PRESSURE ON THE SOUTH! ”
The years had allowed Spike to grow into more Pony like proportions, elongating his legs, tail, neck and snout. The latter taking on more of an arrow shape, similar to venomous snakes or older Dragons. Spike’s ears had also grown in length and ever so slightly in width, taking on the appearance of fish fins. He was a head shorter than an adult Mare on all fours but could hold himself steady on his hind legs, making him tower over even Celestia herself when he did stand up right. Regular exercise had given definition to his muscles that made them visible even through his countless scales, though he couldn’t hope to match the raw strength of Earth-Pony farmers like Applejack and especially not Big Macintosh.
Spike started coughing profusely. While he could indeed give Luna a run for her bits when it came to shouting, he had never had to be so loud for so long as he did today. He downed a whole bottle of water in a single sitting and put the empty plastic in a bag with all of the others. The Dragon was waiting on a Wonderbolt report on the fire that had spread into the dry grass when he saw a bright, almost pink, purple flash. Spike turned his head away just in time for the Princess of Friendship to bend space-time in a bright flash next to him.
Twilight’s ascension had made her grow roughly three inches taller and extended her magnificent horn by half an inch. Her slender wings had soft thick feathers that pillow companies would have killed for if they didn’t fade away into the ether minutes after molting, though the wings themselves weren’t much different in size to that of a regular Pegasus. Twilight had started cutting her mane to a third of the length she did when she first came to Ponyville and kept it in a Ponytail, curling it slightly so that pink stripe in blue-violet mane was dead center in the tail with the purple stripe parallel to it. She actually let her tail grow out a little more than she used too so that it just barely didn’t touch the ground, kept so well that it was similar to appearance of robes licking the floor as she walked.
“Do we need anything more?” Twilight asked with great concern. Any Unicorn would have fainted from Mana Exhaustion ten times over from the sheer amount of magic alone Twilight had used in the last hour, but Twilight herself wasn’t even phased by it.
“I don’t think so,” The diligent drake replied, “We don’t even have a whole one hundred passengers or crew MIA. With that payload you just brought in, we should have enough supplies to help anypony that isn’t dead. And we have more than enough staff to treat them.”
Spike was good at hiding, but he winced internally when he so causally mentioned the possible casualties. He had already written of almost two hundred and sixty casualties, but he knew he had to put his actual feelings on the matter aside or he wouldn’t be able to everypony that needed it.
A strong gust accompanied by a thud made the Dragon/Alicorn duo look over. A Pegasus Mare in a Wonderbolt uniform had just landed next to them. The uniform would have blended in perfectly with the Mare’s sky-blue coat if it weren’t for the yellow lightning bolt patterns on it. Even without the lightning bolts, the Mare’s rainbow-colored mane and tail would have made her stand out enough to not be mistaken for a part of the sky.
“We were able to put out the fires before they could even get close to the Galloping Gorge Nature Reserve. Spitfire is tasking the others with drenching the surround areas so that the heat from that massive firepit can’t spark any more fires.”
“Thank you, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said as she embraced her long-time friend, “Tell the captain that her unit did a good job and that she has the compliments of the crown for her initiative.” Rainbow nodded and flew back into the air with a rainbow trail close behind.
The duo was about to get into the logistics of the relieve effort again, when they heard a loud whistle. The two looked up into the sky above the Angel Wing to see a SARS-G Wonderbolt in the sky waving a strobing red and white Mana-Flare, reusable toys made for raves with customizable colors created by magic. It had actually been Sweetie Belle that sent the petition to the crown suggesting that emergency responders could use these in their jobs. Red and White strobes meant that there were injured nearby.
Twilight looked around quickly, “Manehatten Unit one-three-seven!” The medical team stopped in their tracks when Twilight called out their service number, “Form a circle around me now, no more than six inches away.”
The medical staff did as they were told, and Twilight teleported directly underneath the Wonderbolt and the medics rushed inside the crashed ship and to the injured. Twilight was about to head over to the passengers as well, when somepony called for her.
The lilac Alicorn looked over to see a tan Unicorn in a SARS-G uniform holding a swaddled Colt, “Princess, we have a situation here.”
Twilight never liked it when people, Pony or otherwise, called her Princess or any other honorific, but didn’t correct the Unicorn given that there were more important things to tend to, “Is the Colt injured?”
“No, but I found him crying over his parents,” Explained the relieve worker, “They’re both dead.”
Twilight paled. Orphaned Foals have been unheard of since the third century of Celestia’s sole reign. Twilight didn’t know of any orphanages and most towns and cities didn’t have a policy beyond sending the Foals to distant relatives. With the Earth-Pony being so young, he probably didn’t know how to contact his relatives, if he had them to start with. Twilight bite her lip. All of the passengers aboard the Angel Wing were Canterlot natives. Canterlot was entirely unique, making it difficult to adjust to and from it. Not to mention that the public mail service has to deliver so much information concerning matters of state, that they had to refuse taking mail to and from Canterlot sent by the average citizen. The private courier services that existed were expensive, as they mainly dealt with valuable gems or equipment. This meant that this Colt would be completely separated from his friends if he was made to leave Canterlot.
“Triage him with the others. I’ll talk with the others about him,” Twilight ordered. There has to be a way to keep him in Canterlot.
The Princess of the Sun sighed deeply. That was close the Diarch thought. Celestia had just finished an impromptu press conference with the citizens of Canterlot. The Royal Summit was about to begin when that explosion shattered windows in Northern Canterlot. Fearing another attack from something like Chrysalis or Tirek: Ponies, Griffons, and everything else that called Equestria’s capital home rushed to the palace to seek refuge. Canterlot was about to riot when Celestia herself flew to the top of the palace and used her Royal Canterlot Voice so that the whole city could hear her. While the people were calm, they were still afraid.
From her vantage point, Celestia tried to see if she could find the source of the noise. Her heart sank the second she lifted her gaze from the crowded streets around the palace. She saw the wreckage of what she knew to be the TMV Angel Wing . Of the ten cruises that the crown and airline companies founded, only the Angel Wing had a course Northward, set for the Crystal Empire. The Airship was also the single largest to ever be created, being founded by not only the crown and Fancy Flight Airlines but her wealthy nephew Prince Blueblood. The Angel Wing was designed to carry a quarter million passengers and a crew of one hundred thousand.
Given the lack of scorched fields or a roaring blaze, the Sun Princess surmised that the Wonderbolts and what other aid Twilight managed to warp to the crash site. Celestia couldn’t help but smile when thinking about her former student. While Luna and herself were stunned by the unexpected noise, Twilight had already recovered and teleported herself back to the palace to retrieve Spike and asked him to organize relief efforts. Her smile dropped drastically when thought of the relief efforts. Celestia knew that the loud noise, that she now knew for a fact was an explosion, wasn’t anything good, but had been hopeful that it didn’t involve one of the Airships.
While private Airships had been built in the past three hundred years, they were privately owned and used for personal use by their wealthy owners. These so called ‘Commercial Airlines’ were meant to revolutionize travel and trade, making it easier to commune with the distant countries Equestria were proud to call allies and friends. Twilight had pointed out the possibility of building Airships for other countries as signs of friendship and to boost the Equestrian economy. But with the single largest Airship suffering a catastrophic failure, who knows how long it will be before Equestria’s allies would trust Equestrian Airships. Not to mention how this incident will affect views on Equestrian manufacturing.
Celestia shook her head and scolded herself Damnit Tia, now is not the time to be thinking of politics. Your Ponies could be dying over there .
Celestia had to resist her knee jerk reaction to teleport to the crash site and do what she could. Luna’s popular opinion was still low from her decent into madness and a few minor incidents involving customs that her sister didn’t know had died and/or were now considered offensive. Rolling her eyes at the accusations that people had made about Luna since her return, Celestia warped back into the Royal Conference Hall.
The alabaster Alicorn found herself on a Teleportation Pad, a marvelous union of technology and magic developed by Ministry of Development and Research. The Teleportation Pads were made to make Teleportation safer, acting as beacons in the trans-dimensional rifts in the fabric of space time in order to prevent people from teleporting themselves into walls, floors, or fates forbid, each other.
Stepping off of the embellished block of metal, Celestia looked to see where her sister was. The Solar Sovereigness couldn’t help but notice that her sister had excused all of the guards and government officials that were in the room and was now sitting at one of two chairs at the head of the table, rubbing her temples.
“Don’t tell me you had another argument over how much authority you actual have,” While Celestia had publicly announced her sister as her equal in government upon her return, Luna didn’t actually assume any responsibilities aside from raising and lowering her Moon until after her first visit to Ponyville. Luna did need time to familiarize herself with new laws and what were considered manners. She did well for somepony that was isolated from civilization for a thousand years.
“Pfft,” Luna raised her and faced her older sister, “Somepony in the Ministry of Inquiry accused me of botching an assassination attempt.”
“Really?” Asked Celestia, “It usually takes a few hours before somepony is bold enough to say that to your face.”
The Eternal Sisters shared a laugh before Luna spoke again, “Deputy Director Fine Comb did actually accuse me of trying to kill you.”
Celestia’s widened, “Again? I thought that talk we had those years ago had moved him,” Said talk was actually Celestia ordering the stubborn Unicorn to her office and yelling at him for three and half hours when he was caught putting spies in Luna’s guard detail when she first came back. The orange bastard openly suspected Luna being involved in everything from Celestia accidentally ordering meals that had kumquats in them, the only thing Celestia is allergic to, to hexing her bathroom tiles that one-time Celestia had slipped onto the floor getting out of the tub.
“Do we know what that was?” Asked Luna, getting back to business.
Celestia nodded her head solemnly, “The Angel Wing has crash landed about a dozen miles East of Galloping Gorge.”
Luna put her knees on the table and grasped her head as she took a deep breath, “By the Fates,” The Lunar Diarch’s eyes widened at the implications, “How much of the ship is left?”
“Almost all of it, from what I could see atop the palace,” Celestia replied, “We can’t rule out sabotage or terrorism yet, but if it was attacked, it didn’t do much more damage than what was needed to make the Angel Wing crash.”
“All of those people…” Luna said to herself softly, “You should order the Ministry of Inquiry to go investigate everything that’s left of the ship.”
“Do you want to come with me? It will help remind people that you’re my equal if we make a joint command,” Celestia pointed out.
Luna nodded her head, “Fine Comb and his minions need time to settle down before they see me in Pony again. But I would appreciate it if you could yell at that maniac in public this time.
“And you’re certain that there’s no one left aboard the Angel Wing ?” Asked Twilight Sparkle.
It had been five hours after the crash landing of the Angel Wing . Both SARS-G and MOI: DCI (Ministry of Inquiry: Department of Criminal Investigation) had been ordered to go through the wreckage to look for survivors within the Airship and to determine the cause of the crash. SARS-G naturally finished their search first, only having to look for warm bodies whereas MOI: DCI had to investigate every room in the downed vessel for forensic evidence. Both gathering and analyzing potential evidence would take several days.
“Yes ma’am,” Replied the SARS-G commander, “Between our Unicorns using their magic to scan the ship for survivors and the rest of our units searching the ship manually, I am confident that there are no more Fancy Flights personnel or passengers aboard the Angel Wing .”
Twilight nodded her head, “Thank you commander, I will be heading back to Canterlot with my seneschal. That will put you and Chief Inquisitor Big Picture in joint command over the relief efforts.” Knowing Twilight’s aversion to formalities, the SARS-G commander merely nodded before leaving.
Content that the wounded were in safe hooves, the Princess of Friendship began preparations for leaving, “Spike! Do you have copies of the records you took?”
The young Dragon held up a huge mass of papers, “Right here, but there’s someone else we need to talk to before we go,” Spike gestured to the Mare next to him.
Examining the Pegasus; Twilight realized that the uniform the gray Pony was wearing did not belong to any government organization but was a Fancy Flights officer uniform.
“Hello Princess Twilight,” Started the Pony with a voice much too deep to be a Mare, “I was the captain of the TMV Angel Wing .”
Wait a second. Effeminate appearance, light gray coat, black mane and tail, purple eyes. Twilight realized that she knew this Pony, “Rumble!? Is that you.”
Rumble smiled at her, “I’m glad that you remember me Twilight, though I wish we were speaking under better circumstances.”
“No kidding,” Said Twilight, thanking her lucky stars that her coat hid her blush from Apple Bloom’s fiancé, “Spike and I need to get back to Canterlot, what was it you wanted to talk about.”
The young Stallion adopted a serious expression, “I think I know what caused the Angel Wing to crash.”
After assuring Spike that she wasn’t tired from teleporting supplies and Ponies all over the country and into the Crystal Empire, Equestria did only have so many ER’s equipped to deal with severed limbs and broken spines, Twilight warped her assistant and Rumble to Canterlot Palace.
Rumble stumbled off of the Teleportation Pad in a haze, “Uuurgh, sweet Celestia,” Before loosing his footing and falling on his stomach.
Twilight blushed, “Sorry Rumble, I always forget how disorienting teleportation is the first time around.”
Spike helped the dizzy Pegasus to his hooves and looked around the Throne Room, “Hey Twilight, no one’s here.”
“I know,” Twilight replied as she stepped off the T-Pad, “I figured that Luna and Celestia would cancel court sessions for a while and I wanted us to come in some place where we wouldn’t be in the way.”
“So, all we need to do is track down two Ponies in the largest building in the whole country, no problem,” Rumble replied sarcastically.
Twilight smiled at him, “There’s only so many places they would be during a crisis like this. I’m going to guess that they’re either in the Royal Conference Hall, outside giving a public statement, or in the dining hall stress eating while they discuss this fiasco.”
Rumble chuckled as he remembered Gabby Gums’ article on Celestia. Fortunately for the Sun Princess, Ponyville wouldn’t even be on maps until after Princess Cadence and Shining Armor married. The local librarian suddenly becoming royalty got plenty of attention from the press.
Opening the doors out of the Conference Hall negated the Two-Way Silence enchantment on the walls and doors, a necessity for anyplace where affairs of state were discussed, letting in the sounds of palace staff and media Ponies rushing to where they needed go, arguing, or demanding answers to their questions.
Barely a whole second had passed after Spike closed the doors when the media amassed on the trio.
“Princess Twilight! Is it true that the Angel Wing crashed?”Angel Wing ?”
Twilight covered her eyes to prevent camera flashes from blinding her as she tried to accomplish the impossible feat of answering all of the questions being asked at once. She felt pressure from the inside of her horn, a telltale sign that magic was being used nearby, as a kaleidoscope shield was raised around the Princess and her companions. Uncovering her eyes and looking past the media mob revealed several Royal Guard Unicorns with their horns ignited and a Pegasus Stallion in a Royal Guard Captain uniform.
“MAKE WAY FOR THE PRINCESS AND HER ENTOURAGE AT ONCE!” Cpt. High Sky managed to scream over the media Ponies, “FAILURE TO COMPLY WILL RESULT IN PROSECUTION ON THE GROUNDS OF IMPEDING BUSINESS OF THE CROWN AND HARASSMENT OF ROYALTY!”
While the mob did move aside with surprisingly few exceptions, they still yelled their questions at Twilight as she and the others rushed past the line of Royal Guard Ponies and through the open doors Cpt. High Sky was standing next to. The doors to Throne Lobby closed behind Cpt. High Sky and the trio let out a collective sigh of relief.
Now that the lens of the mixed shield was no longer present, Rumble and Spike and were able to take a closer look at the current Captain of the Royal Guard. High Sky was a well-built Pegasus Stallion, standing somewhere between the average Stallion and Big Macintosh, with a Royal Blue coat a gold colored mane and tail. His eyes were a unique pale gray color that neither of the two guys had ever seen on a Pony before.
“Thank you for your quick response,” Twilight said to the Captain, “But I am issuing pardons for those three media Ponies that the Royal Guard arrested.”
Twilight having issued a universal and indefinite ‘At Ease’ order when speaking with her, Cpt. High Sky simply nodded before speaking, “That’s nice of you Twilight, but Celestia herself issued that command for anyone who got in the way.”
Rumble adopted a confused expression, “Isn’t Twilight her equal?”
High Sky completely lost his composure as he stared at Rumble wide eyed, “Damn lady! You know they put cigarettes in packages so you don’t smoke all of them at once, right?”
Twilight and Spike couldn’t help but chuckle at the Captain’s reaction to Rumble’s voice, “First off,” Rumble started, “I am a Stallion. Second, I have asthma. And Third, that did not answer my question.”
While Rumble usually laughed with the many people, Pony or otherwise, who mistook him for a Mare, he was sensitive about smoking. A natural attitude given the attempts at peer pressure he faced in high school.
“I didn’t want nepotism to be an issue,” Twilight explained, “So I purposefully declined most of the authority and rights that came with becoming a Princess.”
“Accusations of nepotism or the possibility of having to choose between your friends’ interests and the interests of the nation itself?” Rumble asked.
“Both,” Twilight replied happily, “I’m happily surprised that you thought of both possibilities!”
“Er, I’m sorry to interrupt,” Said High Sky, still trying to wrap his head around the fact that Rumble was a Stallion, “But the Diarchs want to speak with you immediately,” He glanced at Rumble, “Is he actually with you, or did we make a mistake in bringing him in with you and Spike?”
Twilight nodded her head, “No, the others will want to speak with him. They will probably want to hear what he has to say before me.”
High Sky raised a brow at that last remark, “Very well, please follow me.”
The hallways leading to the Diarchs’ private meeting room were polished to a shine like the rest of the castle. But even Twilight and Spike, who were both raised in within the walls of the palace, were unnerved by the stagnancy and quiet. Silence was indeed deafening to the trio. While Twilight and Spike spent much of their childhood enjoying the peace and quiet the halls not open to the public provided, they had both spent the last two decades attending meetings, press conferences, and a great number of social gatherings. The two of them were used to the noise of the palace coming short on causing hearing damage, to be so far inside the castle with no noise save for their hooffalls and the stationed guards offering salutes to their Captain and Princess was unnerving and eerie.
Though no more than ten minutes had past, it had felt like hours to the three Ponies being escorted, and all three let out simultaneous sighs of relief when the last pair of doors being opened revealed the Divine Duo.
Never even having been within Canterlot Palace before, Rumble couldn’t help but try to take in the sights provided by the room that he would most likely never see again. While Princess Celestia and Princess Luna far and away outshined everything in the room, Rumble couldn’t help but be underwhelmed by the room he was led to.
The platinum chandelier was easily the most impressive piece of furniture in the room, and it was the first thing that caught Rumble’s eye. It was constructed so that, when lit, the candles it held caused it to take on an enchanting glow as the polished metal reflected the lights of the flames. Someone who was educated in the arcane arts would note that, from directly beneath it, the parts of the chandelier formed an eight-pointed, the universal symbol of magic, when assembled. Aside from the fancy chandelier, the room just looked like a fancy living room. Though the marble and obsidian tiles on the floor did mesh nicely.
Cpt. High Sky cleared his throat to get the attention of his Princesses, “Princess Twilight Sparkle has arrived your majesties, and she brought guests with her.”
“Twilight, Spike!” Princess Celestia exclaimed, “How goes the recovery of the Angel Wing ?”
Spike stepped forward taking out a stack of papers from his satchel, “Everything has gone better than we could have hoped for,” Spike placed the papers on the table in front of them, “These have the specifics, but everything is under control.”
Celestia gave a sigh of relief, “Thank the Fates,” She then realized a failing on her part, “Where are my manners? Please sit down.”
When everyone was seated, the Princess of the Sun noticed that the Pegasus was an unfamiliar face to her, “I do not believe we have meet before,” Celestia extended a hoof to Rumble, “What is your name madame?”
Rumble took the Princess’s hoof and kissed her pastern with a subtle grin, “I am Rumble, Your Highness.”
Celestia’s eyes went wide and she blushed as the others, including Luna, chuckled, “Oh! Please forgive me Rumble, I did not mean to-”
Rumble lifted a hoof, “It happens all the time milady. Though, if it’s any constellation, that shade of pink does look good on you.”
Twilight and Spike both had to cover their mouths to keep themselves from laughing as Princess Celestia, the perfect model of composure and grace, went completely red in the face. Luna laughed freely at her sister’s expense.
High Sky glared at Rumble from his place at the side of the door How dare he talk to her like that .
Luna spoke when she managed to get ahold of herself, “As happy as I am to see you, what are you doing here Rumble?”
Rumble adopted a series expression, “Your Majesties, I was the Captain of the TMV Angel Wing . And I believe that I am wholly responsible for its crash landing.”
Sun Strider awoke slowly. Yawning and rubbing the sleep sand in his eyes, he groggily got out his bed. He was about to head to the bathroom when all of the commotion outside got his attention. What’s going on?
Giving one last yawn he looked to where the door out of the room should have been, only to see that he was in a tent. Confused, he undid the zipper and looked outside to see all kinds of Ponies running about, most of them in uniforms that Strider didn’t recognize. His heart stopped when he saw the wreckage of the Angel Wing . His breathing became labored as he remembered the body of his mother, his father presumably having been completely crushed under the broken metal that claimed both of their lives.
Strider fell to his haunches and put his forehooves over his heart as he slowly descended into another panic attack. The distressed Colt didn’t even notice the Mare galloping towards him. The Mare in question had a white coat with a soft pink mane and tail, her white coat making the red cross outline and red hearts on her flanks very noticeable. The only article of clothing she wore was nurse cap.
Nurse Redheart had just walked into the lobby of the hospital and was about to clock in when none other than Twilight Sparkle appeared in a blinding flash of light, using her limited authority as Princess to draft medical Ponies with specialties in treating broken bones and burns. She had also recruited Nurse Redheart for her ability in pacifying patients suffering from mental breakdowns, a vital skill for working medicine in a town where borderline apocalyptic events happened at least every two weeks.
Knowing it was unwise to give Ponies bear hugs while they were having a panic attack or any other kind of episode, Redheart stopped at ten paces from the Colt before getting on her stomach, “Hey, Sweetie? Can you hear me?”
Having spent most of her professional life dealing with Ponies who were uncooperative at the best of times for various reasons, Redheart was able to give an authoritative yet loving tone to her voice. Redheart felt relieve when Sun Strider turned his head to look at her. He was still breathing hard and his body was shaking, but the experienced nurse was able to get some of his attention. This was a first and crucial step to getting his mind off of his trauma. It wasn’t like anypony could help him while he was breaking down.
“Sweetie, can you take a few deep breaths for me?” While Redheart wanted to help in any meaningful way that she could, keeping him from hyperventilating was more important than his feelings.
Redheart wasn’t sure if the poor Colt nodded was shaking but either way, he started taking deep breaths. Redheart smiled as the Colt went from shaking to wobbling, “Good job sweetie. My name is Redheart, what’s yours?”
“S-Sun Strider,” He managed to choke out.
“That’s a nice name for a nice Colt,” Redheart replied.
Redheart had been appraising the Sun Strider’s body since she approached him. There were no bandages or braces on his body, he was either incredibly dirty or he simply had a dirt brown coat, though she thought his pale-yellow mane needed a trim. So, while Sun Strider wasn’t hurt, Redheart could tell that he was hurting on the inside whenever she looked into his fiery orange eyes.
“You’re not hurt, are you?” Asked Redheart. While he didn’t seem to be injured, he was in an area designated for people with medical needs. Of course, the unconscious needed to be sent to a medical ward for treatment and examination. And if his parents had been warped to an E.R., then there would be no one to tell the medical staff that he had something like Diabetes or a Seizure disorder, so he needed to kept here just in case.
The Colt sniffed before he spoke again, “No, but my parents,” He sobbed and hiccupped some before he continued, “My parents got cr-cru-CRUSHED!”
Redheart gasped and dropped her jaw in horror as Sun Strider broke out into tears again. She lifted her body slightly and stretched out her forelegs. The young Earth-Pony rushed into Redheart’s waiting embrace and she picked up and raised the orphan.
“I’m sorry. I’m so, so, sorry,” Was all Redheart could say. A lot of people would try telling him he would be okay. But Redheart wasn’t going to lie to him. He didn’t have his Cutie Mark and now he was without parents. He was not going to be okay.
The room was deathly silent. Nopony could believe what was just said, even Rumble was surprised that he admitted to it. The looks of shock on his Princesses face was devastating to him, and he did not want to look behind him and see Twilight and Spike’s reactions. Luna down the rest of her drink in a single gulp in a desperate attempt to stall for time while she thought of how to respond to this Stallion’s confession.
Luna had kept in touch of each of the original Cutie Mark Crusaders, knowing that they’d go to high places with or without guidance. That being said, Luna was more than happy to help them reach their full potential. Her contact with Apple Bloom was how she knew Rumble, though they had only ever meet in the Dreamscape. Luna liked to think she was quick to read Ponies, but she never would have thought that anypony like Rumble would ever knowingly cause all of the damage that the crashing of the Angel Wing caused.
“Rumble,” Twilight said in a soft voice, “You told Spike and me that you thought you knew what happened, why do you think that it’s your fault.”
“Because it is,” Rumble replied, not being able to face a Pony he respected and considered friend.
Rumble’s composure was breaking as tears leaked from his eyes, “I don’t know if R&D messed up or if something was wrong with the engines, but the Angel Wing was consuming fuel twice as quickly as it should have.”
Celestia used her magic to levitate a tissue box over to the young Stallion as he sobbed, “I-I knew how bad it would look for Equestria if we had to make an emergency landing. So, I gave the order to get fuel from storage and refuel midflight. These ships were only meant to refuel at dock, and the fuel storage was put on the far side of the ship away from the engines to prevent a catastrophe if a fire broke out or something.”
Rumble coughed and wiped tears out of his eyes, “The Deck Stabilizers died before the actual engines did, so it would have been impossible to keep balance and carry even a single fuel container. I couldn’t tell you if the crewpony lost his or her balance or banged the tank on something, but it wouldn’t be as secured as it should it have been if it was being moved mid-flight. I think the tank exploded and damaged one of the engines, the remaining fuel in the engine would have blown up with it.”
Rumble squeezed a few last tears out of his eyes before giving the Diarchs a determined, but fearful look, “It was my orders that caused the Angel Wing to crash, my orders that got so many Ponies hurt, my-my orders that… That...”
Rumble was interrupted by his own crying, unable to hold back the tears anymore. Rumble’s explanation made a disturbing amount of since. These passenger carriers were made for luxury cruises, not military missions. They would be less sturdy or armored than even scouting ships, not to mention that the fuel had Alchemical Agents in it, making it more volatile if proper care was not taken. Rumble could have kept this to himself and the Ponies under probably wouldn’t even think about it like this. And yet, here Rumble was, trying to take responsibility for something horrible he thought was his fault.
Twilight and Spike got on either side of the broken Stallion and hugged him. Rumble flinched for a moment, thinking it was an attack of some kind, but gladly welcomed the friendly embrace. Celestia and Luna looked at each other for moment and nodded at each other. Though Luna was gone a long time, she and Celestia had been Alicorns for centuries before Nightmare Moon. Their bond further strengthened by helping each other and Equestria through the disasters and monsters that attacked in the years following her return. The Diarchs’ ancient bound and magic allowed them to understand each the feelings behind each other’s immediate thoughts, almost like telepathy. And they both had just passed judgement on Rumble.
“Rumble, look at us,” Celestia ordered softly.
Rumble was able to look at the Princesses of Night and Day in the eye, but could not stop crying or keep the look of fear off of his face.
“You have confessed to a terrible crime,” Stated Luna, “But we do not find you guilty.”
Rumble had a complete look of shock on his face. So stunned was he that he could not talk, though his eyes conveyed his confusion.
Celestia took over again, “You were faced with a situation you could not have anticipated, gave orders despite whatever panic you felt, come here when and took responsibility when you did not have to. But most importantly: you did everything you could to save the lives of everypony aboard the Angel Wing .”
Luna nodded in agreement, “This was a tragedy, not a malicious attack on Equestria. We cannot even find you guilty of incompetence, we most certainly do not see as responsible for this disaster.”
“But if it wasn’t for my orders-”
Celestia interrupted Rumble, “The Angel Wing would still have crash landed in Northern Equestria.”
Rumble looked down at his hooves, not convinced this wasn’t his fault, “There would have been less damage and less death if I hadn’t done something so stupid.”
“My sister wouldn’t have been driven mad and banished to her own Moon if I hadn’t been too busy soaking up all of the praise I was getting, to see that she was being ignored,” Stated Celestia, “I alone took all of the credit for the things we did together and not even I, her own sister , showed her enough love back then.”
Celestia used one of her hooves to make Rumble look her in the eye, “I coined the phrase ‘Hindsight is Twenty-Twenty,’ because I realized how horrible the What-If game is to play. The only person who blames you here is yourself, anypony reasonable will not blame you for this.”
Luna sent for more refreshments as the small group tried to make Rumble feel better. Even Cpt. High Sky felt for the other Pegasus. Celestia knows how many things he blamed himself for. After a half hour of helping Rumble regain his composure, a Royal Guard Pony entered the room and whispered something in the Captain’s ear.
“Pardon your Highnesses, but there is a Mare here demanding to see a Pony of our guest’s description,” The Captain announced.
“Oh no,” Rumble said, “Does she have a yellow coat, and a red mane tied up in a ponytail with a pink ribbon by her ear?”
“That’s the one,” Confirmed High Sky, “Is she your marefriend?
“Fiancé,” Rumble corrected, “What am I supposed to tell her?”
“May I suggest something?” Asked Twilight, “For now, tell her nothing. But you need to tell her how you feel about this at some point, and you should probably tell her soon.”
“How can I face her after this?” Rumble asked with despair written on his face.
“You just had the Heralds of Night and Day tell you that you have done nothing wrong, and I’ve known Apple Bloom long enough to know that she really loves you,” Affirmed Twilight, “She won’t think it’s your fault.” Rumble nodded nervously and left the room with the guard.
“You did well consoling him Twilight,” Celestia stated, “But are you sure it was wise to tell him his Fiancé will be so understanding?”
“This is the Apple Bloom that started the Cutie Mark Crusaders,” Explained Twilight.
A look of understanding came to the Sun Princess’s face. Ever since she gifted the Apple family the land to start their first orchard, the whole family had started sending her letters of appreciation and thanks every Apple Family Reunion. There were only so many names relating to apples one could use, and at least a dozen Apple Blooms in particular. But she knew well the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
Luna gave a chuckle, “They are involved with so many property damage related accidents, that I almost sent myself back to the Moon when they opened their Canterlot chapter last year.”
Twilight remembered something important after a shared laugh, “There are some things we need to talk about.”
Celestia gave an inquisitive look, “Like what?”
“The guards outside the Throne Room said you had sent warrants of arrest,” Twilight clarified, “I want the Ponies who were arrested to be pardoned.”
“I will see to that,” Said Luna.
“Oooh,” Twilight said as she adopted a look of realization.
Spike caught it, but was still confused, “Can somepony explain?”
Luna nodded, “There are still Ponies who either don’t realize how much authority I actually have or don’t respect it. We have tried simply having me handle various political and governmental issues, but a lot of Ponies assume that Celestia is simply speaking through me when she can’t be there herself. But having me overturn one of her decisions should quell the notion that I am anything but Tia’s equal.”
“That reminds me,” Said Luna. She then proceeded to hit Celestia in the back of the head with her wing, “Stop telling people that Nightmare Moon was your fault. I thought we had agreed that we shared guilt over that.”
High Sky had to reign in the instinct to defend his Princess. Celestia and Luna were sisters, it was natural that they would argue or playfully hit each other in private. However, logic paled in the face of Basic and years of looking out for anything that dared not face Celestia directly.
“Sorry. It’s a force of habit from moping over you for the last millennia or so,” Admitted Celestia.
“There’s something else,” Twilight stated, “It’s about one of the survivors.”
That got the attention of both Diarchs and the Captain of the Royal Guard, “What’s wrong?” Asked Celestia.
“He’s a Foal, no older than ten,” Explained Twilight, “And both of his parents died in the crash.”
Both Diarchs gasped, “All of the passengers aboard the Angel Wing were residents Canterlot,” Pointed out High Sky, “It shouldn’t be too difficult to find out if he has family elsewhere.”
“I looked into it before the three of us came here,” Said Twilight, “Both Light Ray and Side Step were only children and the Colt’s only living grandparent resides in the Canterlot Retirement District. She has severe Alzheimer’s Disease.”
Luna and Celestia looked at each with deep concern, “That is troubling,” Said Luna.
“And there are no other relatives?” Asked High Sky.
“Not within Canterlot,” Replied the Princess of Friendship, “And the only Pony who could tell us about any outside of Canterlot has trouble remembering her own name.”
“What is the Colt’s name?” Asked Celestia.
“Sun Strider,” Twilight answered.
Luna gave her sister a discreet look as Twilight went on to describe Sun Strider’s appearance and answer the other questions Celestia had about him. This was undoubtably a horrible thing that has happened, especially to somepony so young, but Celestia’s interest was unusual. They both gave genuine sympathy in the few instances when something like this did happen, but Celestia had never launched an interrogation about the specifics of one of the victims like this.
What are you planning Tia?
Celestia next question concerned Luna for reasons she did not know, “Where is Sun Strider now?”
Even Twilight seemed to think that this was a strange question, “He should be in one of the camps surrounding the wreckage.”
Celestia nodded her head, “Have preparations been made to return the passengers to Canterlot?”
Twilight shook her head, “Originally, I was thinking we could just use SARS-G and Royal Guard Airships. But with how low capacity their Airships all have, it would take several hours even if we requisitioned all of them. And then I realized that nopony would want to set hoof on an Airship so soon after crash landing.”
“And yet,” Luna started, “If these maps are accurate, the closest railroad is over fifteen miles away,” Luna turned her head to the Captain of the Royal Guard, “Do we have enough chariots to make using them practical?”
Even while debating how best to get the survivors of the Angel Wing back home, Celestia could not stop thinking about the only Foal to be orphaned by the crash. There has to be something I can do for him, but what?
It was decided that the quickest way to get all of the passengers back to their home would be for the three Princesses to mass teleport whole families at a time. While each one of the Alicorn Princesses could, in theory, teleport dozens of Ponies with them at once, it was incredibly dangerous. Each additional person was another variable that needed to be accounted for to prevent Ponies being fused together in gruesome ways. This method still took a few hours to get everypony back home, especially after Twilight found she had exhausted her mana reserves before even half of the passengers were returned, but everypony was brought back to Canterlot without incident.
Fortunately, the panic of not knowing what the explosion earlier in the day was set in motion some of Canterlot’s emergency procedures. With the exception of select few media Ponies and city/government officials, city ordinance demanded that the citizenry hunker down in their homes until the government declared it safe to be outside. This meant that there was ample space to warp the passengers of the ruined Airship without needing to go through the hassle of closing roads and disrupting businesses.
The Royal Guard and officers of the Canterlot Police Department escorted Ponies to their houses, apartments, or anywhere else the survivors called home. A great deal of Ponies were being escorted to the Canterlot Palace, as having the option to live within its gilded halls was a benefit to working in the Royal Guard or the Palace Staff. In addition to the Ponies that lived and worked within the Canterlot Palace, Foals and elder Ponies who didn’t know how to get home from where they were teleported to and didn’t know their addresses were also being brought to the palace where their families and caretakers could find them. It was within this large group of Ponies that Sun Strider found himself, for reasons unknown.
The smaller Foals and Ponies with physical disabilities were either being carried by older members of their families or members of the Royal Guard and Canterlot Police. The brown Colt had his forelegs wrapped around the neck of the kind Royal Guard Pony who had offered to carry him.
Great Wall was more than happy to volunteer to help the survivors in any way he could, especially the Foals. It wasn’t fair for any creature as young as the Colt riding on his back to go through something so horrible. He winced as the more selfish part of him reminded him that getting to do something other than stand around all day might have been the best part of this. While that was nice, he would have done anything he was able for them, regardless of any ulterior motives his subconscious leaped at the chance to realize.
Great Wall had done his best to be friendly to the traumatized Colt, but he had yet to say a word to him. Great Wall couldn’t help but feel for the poor Colt. He was obviously still scared from the crash, but to be separated from his parents at same time? It was no wonder the Colt was holding onto his neck for dear life and shaking like a leaf in the wind.
Great Wall hoped that the powdered chalk rubbed into his coat wouldn’t rub off on the Colt’s own coat, by far everypony’s least favorite part of the Royal Guard uniform. But the smeared chalk would show clearly on the Colt’s dark brown coat, and he would have to wait for his coat to shed or to have it cut if the chalk set. While Great Wall understood the importance of uniform, he thought the use of magical chalk dust making all Royal Guard Ponies look like clones of each other was going a bit far. He most certainly didn’t like how it felt when it was coated on his horn. Some of his fellows in the Guard didn’t like how one of the enchantments in the helmets changed their eye color to baby-blue, but Great Wall personally thought it well with the rest of the uniform.
The naturally Autumn red Unicorn had relayed all of this to the Colt on his back in the hopes of getting him to talk, or at least to get his mind off of the Angel Wing . A lot of young Ponies did look up to the Royal Guard, but Great Wall suspected that his slapdash plan didn’t work on the Colt.
Sun Strider still hadn’t said anything to Great Wall by the time they had entered the palace. While the Foals and elder Ponies separated from their families counted for less than half of the survivors, there still was not enough room in the foyer alone to house all of them for even a short time. Foals and elders alike were being directed to different parts of the ground floor by Royal Guard Ponies. Great Wall was about to go into a hallway when a very familiar voice called for him.
“Guardspony with the brown Foal on his back!” Exclaimed the voice of the Sun Princess.
Great Wall turned around with a clear expression of surprise on his face. While protocol demanded that he salute his Princess, Great Wall could not. A proper salute required him to sit on his haunches and Great Wall wasn’t sure if the Colt on his back could hold on to him with how he was shaking should he suddenly find himself on a slope. The Royal Guard knew for certain that he wouldn’t be able to keep his balance if he saluted while standing, gilded armor and Foals being heavier than one would think.
Celestia approached the Royal Guard and the Colt. “Are you Sun Strider?” The Colt certainly matched the description Twilight had given her.
“Uh-huh,” The Colt replied, his eyes filled with wonder at meeting the Solar Sovereigness for the first time.
“Take him to one of the break rooms on the second floor,” Celestia ordered. She offered the Colt a soft smile before she turned and left to deal with the madness festering in the palace.
Great Wall turned to the nearest staircase and began walking again. While he was the picture of calm on the outside, he was troubled by his Princess’s orders. These survivors were supposed to be massed in the same place so it would be easier to track them down when their families came for them. Great Wall also suspected that Princess Celestia wanted them in the same place so she could apologize to everypony affect by the Angel Wing ’s crash landing personally. Great Wall doubted the Colt on his back had anything to do with the crash, but then why keep him separate from the rest of the survivors?