Fall of the Princess

The journey back to Ponyville took twice as long as it should have. There were no roads to follow anymore. Everywhere Twilight looked she saw nothing but vast plains of smoking ruin beneath the light of the full moon. She wasn't sure how much more she could take. Her body ached and she was exhausted, but her only choice was to keep going.

Pinkie Pie was silent the whole way. The formerly upbeat pony's mane and tail had gone as flat as Twilight's. The look on her face was more than sadness. Her gaze was haunted. There was something buried there, something Twilight had never seen before. She didn't like it, but she wasn't going to press the matter now. She had enough concerns on her plate.

Twilight tried to organize her priorities. When she got to Ponyville there were two things she absolutely had to account for: her friends and the Elements of Harmony.

She decided that she would begin at her home. There she would search for Spike and the Elements. Once she found either or both, she would search for Rarity who was the only other pony in their group besides herself and Pinkie Pie who resided directly in Ponyville. After she found Rarity she would head for Sweet Apple Acres to find Applejack, then she would search the ruined forest for Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash would be the most difficult one to account for. Rainbow Dash lived in the clouds and Twilight could only assume that the hot air balloon they used to visit her had been destroyed. She supposed she would just have to send Fluttershy to look instead.

Having a plan helped to calm her. She took a deep breath.

Only one worry at a time. I can do this.

Ponyville looked like the aftermath of a war zone. The fires had died down and the surviving ponies wandered the town like ghosts. They picked through the wreckage looking for lost items and lost loved ones. They worked in groups to clear away debris from the roads.

"What are we going to do?" Pinkie asked as they made their way over a large chunk of drywall. The drywall was wallpapered with a pink floral print and still had a couple of picture frames nailed to it.

Twilight had been asking herself the same question over and over.

"We're going to find our friends first," she replied. "Then we'll worry about the more trivial matters like food and basic medical care."

Her dry attempt at humor fell flat. Pinkie Pie was thoroughly sobered.

They were climbing over a fallen house tree when a passing mare spotted them and stopped.

"Pinkie Pie!" the mare gasped.

She was an older peach-colored pony with a white mane and tail. Her mane was pulled up in a messy bun. The mark on her flank was that of a heart with stitches around the edges. On her back she carried saddle bags filled with what looked like medical supplies.

Pinkie Pie jumped down from the tree trunk and the mare rushed to throw arms around her neck.

"Thank Celestia you're alright," the mare cried. "I've been watching one good pony after another turn up dead and I was almost certain you'd be one of them, what with your house being close to the center of town all."

Pinkie returned the mare's hug but gently.

"We're ok," she said, stepping back. "Twilight, this is Surgical Precision. She used to have a cosmetic surgery clinic in Manehatten."

The mare turned to Twilight. "Oh, you're Twilight Sparkle? Aren't you the one who knows the Princess?"

"That's right," Twilight replied slowly.

Surgical Precision's blue eyes lit up. "Is that where you're coming from? Is the Princess coming here? Is she going to send help? Were any other cities attacked or was it just Ponyville?"

Pinkie opened her mouth to reply but Twilight spoke ahead of her. "We don't know."

The mare frowned. "The Princess hasn't said anything at all? We have ponies dying here, doesn't she know that? We need help!"

"I'm sure she's aware of what's happened," Twilight said, choosing her words carefully. "But we just don't have any information right now."

"Well isn't that a peach. Ponyville gets attacked by a horde of fire breathing alicorns and the Princess just leaves us all in the dark!" The doctor shook her head. "We don't have time to stand around waiting for her. We've set up a hospital in the middle of town and we need all the help we can get. You girls look like you're in pretty good shape. Can you spare your hooves to help?" She looked at the ponies hopefully.

"Oh," Pinkie started and then dropped her eyes to the ground. "Twilight here could help, but I don't know anything about how to care for injuries or anything like that."

The doctor's look softened. "Don't you worry about that. We already know we're not going to be able to save all the ponies who get to us. The ponies know it too. The kind of help those ponies need is the kind that you especially can provide."

Twilight looked at Pinkie Pie who toed at the ground. She didn't know whether to encourage Pinkie to go with Surgical Precision or not. Pinkie already looked so miserable, but one of the things that had always cheered the laughter pony in the past was her ability to make others smile. Perhaps it would be good for her. Surgical Precision was right. They needed smiles and laughter as badly as they needed bandages and gauze right now.

"Maybe you should go with her," Twilight said. "I can keep looking for the others."

Pinkie looked at Twilight and then at Surgical Precision. Twilight could see her shoulders visibly slump.

"Alright. I can go," Pinkie said.

"Wonderful," the doctor replied, smiling. "Follow me, and quickly now!" She turned and trotted off down a narrow trail between a giant pile of splintered wooden beams and the remains of another toppled tree home.

Twilight hugged Pinkie Pie. "Be careful, ok? I'll meet you at the hospital later."

"I don't feel like smiling at all," said Pinkie. "How am I supposed to get others to do it when I can't even do it myself?"

"You'll be ok. You're a familiar face to every pony in Ponyville. They'll be happy to see you."

Pinkie nodded. She turned to catch up with the doctor but Twilight stopped her with a hoof to her shoulder.

"And Pinkie Pie," Twilight said.

Pinkie paused and looked.

Twilight glanced around and then in a low voice she said, "Don't say anything about what happened to the Princess. We don't need widespread panic on top of all this."

Pinkie Pie nodded. "Ok."

Twilight continued through the town alone. The going was not easy because ponies kept approaching her to ask the same questions about what had happened and what Princess Celestia planned to do about this mess.

Every pony in Ponyville knew that Twilight was the Princess's student, and they assumed that meant Twilight was privy to all kinds of information. The truth was that the Princess only ever conferred with Twilight over matters of friendship, magic, and the Elements of Harmony when it was important. Twilight didn't know anything about the things she was most commonly asked about like proposed laws, tax rates, or some pony's current legal proceedings, and she didn't know anything about what had happened tonight.

At one point a group of five ponies formed a circle around her and wouldn't let her move until they had thoroughly interrogated her. Around the circle the ponies went, firing their questions.

"Our homes are gone," one pony shouted. "What are we going to do?"

"When is the princess going to send help?" asked the next pony.

"What if those things come back? Where are we supposed to go?"

"Was it Discord again?"

"Was it Nightmare Moon?"

"You're good with magic. Can you fix any of this?"

"Do you know any healing spells at all?"

Twilight had never felt so useless as she looked at the angry faces around her.

"I don't...uh...I wasn't...I don't know," she stammered. She was so physically and mentally drained that she couldn't think of anything else to say. "I don't know." Her ears fell back in shame. She was supposed to be the smart pony who always had an answer. She was supposed to be a leader, but she was just as lost and uncertain as all of them.

Her uncertainty only angered the ponies further. They began to shout all at once and finally Twilight had to force her way through them. The ponies followed her for a short distance and then gave up. She could not help them and they had more urgent matters to attend to.

Eventually Twilight made it back to the tree that had once been her home.

There was nothing left of the tree but a big charred stump laid on its side. The entire block was unrecognizable under all the wreckage. Her personal effects littered the area. Ruined books were strewn everywhere, their pages fluttering like broken bird wings.

Twilight picked up a few of the better looking books and stacked them.

"Spike," she called softly.

No reply.

She tried to think back to when the fireball had hit her home. She had been fast asleep and then there had been that explosion. She had rolled out of bed and seen fire all around her. Spike should have been right there. She should have seen him then, but she hadn't.

From the remains of her home Twilight recovered a few books that were still readable. There were also some photos she'd kept in a metal box, and her saddle bags. The leather bags were stiff and slightly blackened from the fire but they could still hold things.

Twilight donned the saddle bags and tucked in the photos she'd found. She continued to search the area for the Elements of Harmony. They shouldn't have been difficult to find. She had kept the Elements locked in a large golden chest on the first level of her home. When the tree had been knocked over, the chest likely would have been dumped out along with most everything else.

Twilight searched through the piles of burned rubbish but found no trace of the golden chest, or Spike for that matter

After nearly an hour of searching, she had to sit down.

Breathe.

She was so weary. She couldn't handle the thought of Spike being dead, or the Elements being lost.

What do I do? What CAN I do?

"Spike is alive," she whispered. "He is alive until I see him dead."

Spike was a smart dragon. He would have found a way to get out of the tree before it collapsed.

But it collapsed so fast. I should have looked for him then. I should have made sure he was alright, but instead I ran to save my own skin.

She forced herself to stop thinking about it. She could not change what she had done, but neither could she change the feeling of guilt in her heart.

The Elements of Harmony were another concern. What if the Elements were gone? No, that was silly. They couldn't be gone. They were lost but they had to be SOMEWHERE. Things don't just disappear into thin air.

The memory of Princess Celestia's terrified scream made Twilight gasp. She shuddered.

"The Elements are not right here," she told herself. "But they are somewhere. I will find them, but first I will find my friends."

She had made a plan. Sticking to that plan was the only thing that could keep her together right now.

Rarity's boutique looked like it had taken a direct hit from a fire ball. The building was still standing but had been thoroughly burned. Half of the roof had caved in.

In front of the boutique there was a mare gathering shards of broken pottery into a crate.

Twilight approached the pony and said, "Excuse me. I'm looking for a pony named Rarity. Have you seen her? She lived in this boutique."

The pony stopped what she was doing and looked at Twilight. She was a raspberry red pony with a silver mane and tail. The mark on her flank was a pitcher pot. She wore a broken pair of glasses with small rectangular lenses.

"Rarity?" the pony asked. "She's outside of town that way. Just follow those two." She pointed at a couple of large stallions dragging a canvas tarp behind them. Piled on the tarp were the dusty, mangled bodies of three ponies. One of the ponies was missing both of his hind legs. Another one was missing an eye. The remaining eye stared at Twilight as the stallions passed.

Twilight's mouth went dry and she swallowed reflexively.

"Are you telling me...I mean, she's not..."

The red pony blinked at Twilight, then her eyes widened.

"Oh, no! No, no. Rarity's alive." She chuckled nervously. "When they first started pulling bodies out they were piling them here in this intersection because it was the most open area. I guess Rarity couldn't stand the sight of it anymore. She went ballistic and took charge of the whole operation! The last pony to set a body down here got his ass zapped by a thousand volt blast from her horn."

Twilight didn't know whether to feel relief at knowing Rarity was alive, or concern over what she was apparently doing. She stared at the pony in disbelief. "Rarity? Taking charge of body disposal?"

The pony shrugged. "I didn't question it. I'm just glad she did it. They were talking about burning the bodies right here in a bon fire to save time."

"Oh." Twilight cringed. "Well, thank you."

"Anytime."

Twilight trotted to catch up with the stallions who wearily pulled their load through one of the narrow trails that had been made through the town. She followed them out of Ponyville to a field a little over a mile away.

In the middle of the field, moonlight shined pale blue on the backs of three ponies who were busy digging a long trench. Adjacent to the trench were rows upon rows of dead ponies. The bodies had all been laid carefully on their right sides. There was enough space between the rows to allow ponies to move along them and search for loved ones. Near the flank of each body was a little floating ball of light to illuminate the pony's mark.

The stallions stopped at the end of the bottom row and unhooked their pull ropes from the tarp. Twilight stood back and watched them. Both stallions took a corner of the tarp in their mouths and together they heaved upward to roll the three dead bodies off.

"I say," shouted a distinctly proper voice. "You two!"

Twilight looked and saw Rarity ambling their way from the other end of the long row. Rarity's left hind leg was wrapped from hoof to hock with a bloody bandage. Her white coat was grey with dust and half of her tail had been burned off.  Her mane was dirty and unkempt and there were dark circles under her eyes. A paper and quill floated along behind her.

Rarity trotted straight up to the two stallions. The stallions were so tall that she had to crane her head back to look them in the eyes.

"What did I tell you about dumping bodies like that?" she snapped. "You bring them here and you WAIT for me to lay them in line with the others. Do you understand? It's wretched enough that this is a mass grave. We don't have to treat these ponies like the fallout of a prison camp!"

One of the stallions flattened his ears.

"If you wanna move these bodies then maybe you should make it a point to be ready when we get here," he said. "We don't have time to wait on you. Have you even been to the hospital? There were twelve bodies waiting when we left and it'll double by the time we get back."

"I beg your pardon, sir, but these ponies had names and families. If you're too tired to take the time to do this right then don't even bother! I'll find someone else to help."

The stallion glared. "You're taking way too long with this, Rarity. You're treating this like it's some fancy dinner table you're setting. These are dead, rotting bodies! We need to get them in the ground!"

Rarity slapped the stallion so hard she knocked his head into the other stallion.

"I'll bury every single one of these ponies myself if I have to," she cried. "But I'll be damned before I stand by and watch you treat them like sacks of garbage. Now take your tarp and leave!"

The stallion lowered his face to Rarity's level. "You better watch yourself."

Rarity's horn began to glow.

"Keep looking at me like that and I'll have your eyes out," she hissed.

The second stallion put an arm in front of his friend. "Come on, Luck. Leave her alone. We need to get back."

The stallions gathered their tarp and headed back toward the town.

Rarity turned to the three dumped bodies and used her magic to lift the one off the top of the pile. The body was that of a young cream colored stallion with a green and black mane. Rarity turned the body onto its right side in the air and then gently lowered it into position at the end of the row. She closed the pony's eyes and tucked his front hooves together. At last she sparked a little blue ball of light to hover by his flank.

"Let's see here," she muttered. "A comb and a pair of scissors." She brought around the paper and quill that had been hovering behind her and made a note of the mark.

Twilight stepped forward slowly. "Rarity?"

Rarity looked at Twilight and was silent for a moment. Then her eyes went wide.

"Twilight!" The quill and paper dropped. Rarity rushed at Twilight and threw her arms around her neck. "Oh thank Celestia you're alright! I was so worried!"

Twilight returned the hug. "I'm alright. Pinkie Pie's ok too. We fled the town as soon as...things started happening. I'm sorry we didn't look for you. There wasn’t any time to do anything but run."

Rarity laid her head against Twilight's neck and Twilight could feel her shaking.

"Don't give that a second thought,” Rarity said. “I can't tell you how relieved I am to see you. Every time those brute stallions came back with their tarps I would think to myself 'Who is it going to be this time? Is it going to be another one of my friends?' There have been too many already. But oh, here you are!" She pawed over Twilight's face as though reassuring herself that she was not dreaming.

Twilight managed a small grin. "Is Sweetie Belle ok?"

"Yes, she's fine and so is that little friend of hers, Scootaloo. I don't know about Apple Bloom, or Applejack for that matter." Rarity dropped back. She gazed out over the rows of bodies with their hovering balls of light. "I haven't had a chance to go look for anyone. I mean everything happened so fast. One minute I'm wrapped up in my fine satin sheets. Then the town is burning and I'm being chased by some awful alicorn. And then when I think it's over, I'm watching bodies pile up on my doorstep. I just..." She looked at Twilight, her eyes beginning to glisten with tears. "Is this really happening? Am I really here doing this? There's just so much that I don't know what to feel. I don't know what to do! Has the Princess contacted you yet? What were those monsters that attacked us? Why is this happening?"

Those same questions again. Twilight wanted to tell Rarity about what had happened to Princess Celestia, but there would've been no point to it. Rarity couldn't do anything about it and she was shouldering too many emotional burdens already.

"I don't have answers for any of this right now, but I will soon," Twilight said. She slipped an arm around Rarity's shoulders. "In the meantime we just need to focus on getting this mess cleaned up. You're doing great work here. You really are the Element of Generosity."

Rarity wiped at her eyes and pushed Twilight's arm off of her. "Oh, don't give me that, Twilight Sparkle. Admit it! You're amazed to find me out here doing this. I know it." She began to pace, hobbling awkwardly with her injured leg. "And don't go thinking I'm not disgusted by all this, because I AM disgusted. I HATE these bodies! I think they're the nastiest things I've ever had to deal with in my life. I hate blood and dirt and grime and foul smells and everything else about this. I swear I'm going to have nightmares for the rest of my life."

"If it bothers you so much, why are you out here doing this? Are you sure you're alright?"

Rarity lifted another one of the bodies that had been dumped. This was the body missing both of its hind legs. Frayed flaps of skin hung over what remained of the fat and muscle. She laid the body like the others.

"I'm not alright, Twilight," she said. Her mouth was drawn up as tight as a draw string purse as she sparked a light to try and make out the pony's cutie mark. Half of the mark was on a portion of the torn skin. She had to use the tip of her hoof to straighten the skin enough to make out what the mark was. It was a honeybee in a bee hive. "I'm doing this because it's important to consider how we proceed going forward. There's a certain procedure to these sorts of things, you know? That stallion was right. I'm treating this like it's some fancy dinner party. You know why? Because without procedure or ceremony, death is just death."

"I understand," Twilight said softly. "It's nice of you to take the time to do something like this for so many ponies you don't even know."

Rarity scoffed as she arranged the corpse of the pony with the missing eye. The pony was a speckled blue and white unicorn mare with a mark of a corkscrew.

"You would think," she replied. "I mean, what I said to those stallions about all these ponies having names and families...It was the right thing to say but the truth is that it's going to be impossible to avoid stacking them like lumber in that grave when the time comes."

She rolled up her paper and tucked the quill inside of it. Twilight followed her as she walked down the row. "These ponies all deserved so much better! They deserved to be mourned individually, but if we did that we'd be having funerals until next year. There are over two hundred bodies here now, and there will probably be at LEAST two hundred more before it’s all over. And the worst part about all this..." She stopped and looked at Twilight, her face taut with frustration. "There is simply no time to grieve! All I want to do is run off and cry myself into exhaustion but I can't. I can't leave these ponies, Twilight. There are whole families laying dead here and no one else is going to take the time to give them a dignified send off. Why is that? Why am I the only one who ever cares about doing things the nice and proper way? If Applejack were in charge of burying these bodies she would've happily dumped them straight into the hole and been done with it three hours ago."

Twilight leaned against her.

"You're not the only one who cares. You're just one of the few who are strong enough to do it."

Rarity laughed weakly. "I don't feel strong at all. Every minute I'm wishing for another pony to come along say 'I can take it from here, Rarity. I have everything under control.' But you know even if that did happen, I wouldn't leave because I wouldn't trust any other pony to do things right."

"I still need to account for Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash. When I'm finished I'll come back and help you, ok? You shouldn’t have to do all this by yourself."

"That would mean a lot to me. Oh! And before I forget..." Rarity handed Twilight her rolled up paper. "This is only one of the pages I have, but do you think you could take it to Pinkie Pie? She knows every pony in Ponyville and I need to match these marks with the names that go with them."

Twilight took the paper and slipped it into one of her saddle bags.

"I'll hold onto it,” she said. “But I don't think it would be a good idea to ask Pinkie Pie to do that just yet. She's going through a lot right now."

"We all are, darling. None of us are going to be the same after this. The world isn't going to be the same. Didn't you see that enormous tornado of fire? Ponies are saying all the rivers and forests in Equestria are probably gone!"

Twilight didn’t want to think about the rest of Equestria right now. Ponyville alone had overwhelmed her. She turned and waved a hoof to Rarity.

“I’ll be back soon,” she said.

Rarity picked up her quill and trotted back across the field of bodies.