Troy's Fate

As thunder continued to rumble by and rain continued to pour, the Fire Brigade were trying their best to contain the fire. Their hoses had to be equipped with a special nozzle to create foam, which is useful for stopping fuel fires. The Equestrian Transportation Safety Board (ETSB) began their investigation into the crash. When they arrived on the scene, they were baffled. The aircraft was unlike anything they had ever seen before. Regardless, they felt they had to do their best to determine the cause. Due to the fire, they can rule out the possibly that the plane had run out of fuel.

The lead investigator, Air Marshall, was an experienced pilot and he realized that something was very wrong. “With the intense storm clouds, he should have turned around. All pilots should know to avoid storm clouds at all times. Why didn’t he turn around?”

After an hour, the fire was put out and the team were out of leads. The pieces of the aircraft were not providing enough clues. The team felt that the most likely cause was Pilot Error. After all, he wasn’t supposed to fly under a storm. Air Marshall however, felt that the pilot wasn’t the only cause. They knew that the pilot was taken to the hospital. Air and some of his team decided to pay him a visit.

***

Twilight continued to sob as she and Zecora were being led by the nurse. The nurse was taking them to the room the pilot rested in. When they entered the room, they saw the pilot, surrounded by machines. One machine was attached to his head to record brain activity. Another machine monitored his heart rate. He had an IV attached to its left foreleg and he had a third machine that helped him breathe. His torso and most of his head were bandaged up. All the while, beeping can be heard from all the machines.

The nurse spoke to them in a sad, quiet tone, “His injuries are quite severe. He has a skull fracture and he broke a few of his ribs. One of the ribs actually punctured a lung.”

Twilight gasped in shock. She didn’t realize just how bad it was.

“I’ll leave you two alone. I need to attend to other patients.”

With that, the nurse left as Zecora still held Twilight close. They looked at the pilot for quite some time. Twilight looked at the pilot’s face. His muzzle was not as square as the average stallion’s, giving him a youthful appearance. Twilight estimates that the stallion was around her age. She was saddened that somepony so young was involved in such a horrific accident. Despite the fact they had saved him from the fire and the timberwolves, his life was still on the line. The thoughts depressed Twilight greatly. She felt very guilty and felt that this was all her fault. She was so buried in her thoughts that she failed to notice that Zecora was calling her name.

“Twilight?” whispered Zecora. “Twilight?”

Twilight snapped back to reality and turned to face Zecora.

“Y-yes?” said Twilight in a depressed tone.

“Do not blame yourself, Twilight. This was beyond our might. If we put our hopes into the celestial light, this pony will be alright.”

Twilight hoped that Zecora was right. However, she had her doubts that the pony was ever going to pull through.

“Excuse me, Miss,” said a voice from behind.

Twilight and Zecora turned to see four male ponies, with neckties on, were standing in the hallway outside the room. The one in front adjusted his glasses and entered the room. The others follow suit.

“I’m sorry if we interrupted you two,” he continued. “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Air Marshall and these are my colleagues. We’re from the ETSB and we’re here to interview the pilot.”

Twilight shook her head. “I’m sorry, but the pilot is in a coma.”

The investigators stood disappointed. Air Marshall looked at the pilot and sighed deeply.

“I guess that we have to look elsewhere,” he stressed. “What’s your name, Miss?”

“My name?” replied Twilight. “My name is Twilight Sparkle and this is my friend Zecora.”

Air Marshall’s eyes widen. “So you’re Twilight Sparkle! I’ve heard of you. You and your friends have saved Equestria a couple of times. For that, I thank you. Were you the ones who saved this pilot?”

“Yes, we are. I was visiting Zecora in the forest earlier and we heard the plane above us. We went outside and saw the plane fly high above the trees. Suddenly, the plane just dropped from the sky.”

“Hold on. Did you say the plane dropped from the sky? Are you sure of that?”

“I’m certain of it. It looked like it was trying to climb, but it couldn’t do it. It was like it was being pushed down by an invisible force of some sort.”

Air Marshall remained silent for a while. Then, he looked at his colleagues.

“I think we have a microburst in our hooves,” he said firmly.

“A microburst?” questioned Twilight. “You mean…”

“Yes. I do mean the weather phenomenon. It’s an immense column of air that pushes objects down. Planes are vulnerable against them. That’s why we advise planes to steer away from storm clouds. Clearly, this pilot didn’t get the memo. It’s reckless to fly under those conditions if you ask me. With microbursts in mind, we have four possible leads: a microburst, a stall, mechanical failure or in the worst case scenario, a deliberate crash.”

“A deliberate crash?!” fumed Twilight. “Are you trying to tell me that this stallion crashed the plane on purpose?!”

“I’m sorry if I’m trying to say he did. Look, we’re trying our best to solve the mystery. We’re thinking of all possibilities at this moment.”

Twilight kept an angered look on Air Marshall. His colleagues were taking notes on their pads.

Air Marshall adjusted his glasses once more as he continued to speak, “If he wakes up, please give us a call. Thank you for your time. Again, we’re sorry for the interruption.”

They then left the room. Twilight was relieved.

“Those guys are jerks!” she told Zecora. “Suggesting that he crashed the plane on purpose!”

Zecora turned to Twilight and asked her, “Twilight, sorry if this sounds insane, but what exactly is an airplane?”

Twilight sighs and she began to explain, “Airplanes are machines designed to fly in the air. See, Pegasi and Alicorns have wings and can fly in the air all the time. Earth ponies and Unicorns have always wished for that same kind of freedom. Usually, we use a hot air balloon or in Pinkie Pie’s case, that weird flying bicycle thing. In recent times however, scientists and engineers have been working hard to invent a more efficient machine for flight. However, many of them only exist in the concept stages and some of the early machines have crashed. There are so few working prototypes that exist. The plane that crashed in the forest was far advanced than ours. The prototypes are made of wood, but that plane was made from metal! It’s so sleek looking and has things I’ve never seen on any plane! I-I don’t know how this is all possible!”

Twilight was conflicted by all this. Many questions spawned in her head: Where does he live? Why does he have such an advanced plane? Is he from the future? Is he from another universe? Did he invent it himself? Is he from an advanced society? Why did he come here? Why was he flying below the clouds? Did he try to maintain control of his plane? Who is he?!

She did not have a proper answer for anything and she wanted it now. A nurse entered the room.

“We need to take him for more tests,” she told them. “I’m sorry, but you must leave.”

Twilight didn’t want to leave, but she realized that Spike was wondering where she was. Her trip at Zecora’s was supposed to be short. More than four hours had passed since she left the library.

“Okay,” sighed Twilight. “We’ll go.”

She was trying her hardest to fight back tears as they left the room.

***

In the library, Spike was staring out the window for any signs of Twilight. He was getting more and more concerned as the rain continued to pound the earth.

“Oh, Twilight!” he cried. “Where are you?”

He wanted to go out and look for her, but Twilight insisted that he stays in the library. Spike had never been so scared for her before. He had a rather dark thought: What would happen if Twilight died? Who would take care of him? Spike tried to keep his mind off of it and tried to think positively. As hours passed by, the positive thoughts were diminishing and the dark thought arose again. Spike sat on the ground and began to cry.

“Please Twilight! Come back! Please come back! I-I don’t want to lose you!”

*Knock Knock!*

Spike’s head sprung up. Spike looked out the window and he saw…Twilight. She was soaking wet from the rain and she looked so sad. Spike opened the door right away and gave her the biggest hug.

“Twilight! Where have you been?!”

Twilight didn’t say a word.

“Twilight?”

She stood completely silent.  Her face was frozen on a sad, depressed look. Her eyes were staring into nothingness.

“Twilight!”

She moved her head towards Spike in a slow pace.

“Spike…” she whispered at last. “I-I…”

“What’s wrong, Twilight? You don’t look so good.”

“Of course I don’t!” she yelled.

Spike jumped back at her sudden outburst and shook in fear. Twilight then became aware that she scared Spike. Now, she had more guilt.

“Spike, I’m so sorry. It’s just…that I saw hopelessness face-to-face.”

Spike was puzzled. What did she mean by that?

“Spike, did you hear about the plane crash?”

“Of course I did, Twilight. Somepony told me about it earlier. Why?”

“The plane crashed in front of me.  We-we went to check out the crash site and we found the pilot.”

“Is-is he okay?”

Twilight simply shook her head. Spike placed a hand in front of his face in shock.

“He’s in a coma, Spike,” she resumed. “His skull is fractured and he broke some of his ribs. One of his lungs is punctured. Spike…I don’t think he’ll make it.”

Twilight broke down and hugged Spike hard.

“I’m sorry, Twilight.”

“I’m sorry too, Spike.”

Later that night, Twilight had trouble sleeping. She remembered what Zecora had told her.

“If we put our hopes into the celestial light, this pony will be alright.”

“I hope you’re right,” thought Twilight.

Twilight also remembered what Zecora had foretold about her fate.

“That is something I do not know.  I do know that your future will soon show.”

“Does my future involve him?”

Twilight hoped that it was a positive future, not a bad one. She yawned and tried to sleep, but to no avail.