Canterlot General Hospital - the finest hospital in all Canterlot. The hospital where those with horn, those with wing and those with neither (and, in rare instances, both) preferred to be treated. And the hospital where Princess Celestia's "consequences" would begin to be felt as the aftershocks of Operation Whirlwind began to reverberate throughout Canterlot...
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It was mid-morning, and a sleep-deprived Lieutenant Captain Fidelitas stumbled into the Canterlot General waiting room, surrounded by "gossip rag" journalists all too eager to get a piece of the juicy news story Operation Whirlwind was turning out to be.
The head of the afternoon guard shift swam as he tried to focus in all the buzz of activity - the result of being awakened at the break of dawn and given a warp-speed briefing by Captain of the Guard Gibraltar before he could even get a cup of coffee in his system. Snatches of the briefing's contents danced in his mind - Lieutenant Captain Aten and most of the other morning shift officers turning rebel over that night, Princess Celestia being obsessed with a certain statue in the castle statue garden that seemed undamaged, the captain leaving him in charge of the remaining morning shift temporarily, and most of all, to check for as-yet-undiscovered rebels as he proceeded with a special assignment.
Fidelitas, traveling alone but armored, did not find any rebels - it seemed that almost all of them had either been captured or escaped the city, reducing fears of wider damage to the city and its inhabitants. The Royal Guard would still have their hooves full, though, combing the city and trying to recover the artifacts the rebels had "seeded" the city with (a mostly fruitless effort, as it turned out - some would only be accounted for after Twilight Sparkle and her friends encountered enemies using them). The Lieutenant Captain was just beginning one of the longest days of his life, and even knowing what he carried he had no idea how long it would really be...
He stumbles up to the nurse busy trying to keep away the pressing journalists and uses grey unicorn magic to hold up a summary of where he was to deliver the missives he had been burdened with. The nurse only pauses a moment before wearily stating "One minute sir, I'll give you a room list..."
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Although the wait is not long, the press - both in physical presence and insistence in asking questions of him - of the journalists around him causes Fidelitas to lose his temper and shout at the top of his lungs to get them to back off: "I AM DOING BUSINESS OF PRINCESS CELESTIA, DO NOT INTERFERE WITH IT!"
The shout stops the entire buzz in its tracks, freezing all the others in the waiting room in place for a few moments, before the journalists slink away in nervous shame and the others inside slowly begin to pick up where they left off. Fidelitas feels his cheeks growing warm inside his helmet - the behavior was certainly crude and unprofessional, but at least it had been effective.
"Here's the list of rooms you're looking for, sir, and you may need to do that trick again to keep the journalists from following you in." the nurse comments, causing Fidelitas' expression to turn even more red.
"Thank you, ma'am." Fidelitas manages to reply as he levitates the list with his unicorn magic and looks it over briefly before proceeding toward the door, already guarded by a Lower Class Guard unicorn in order to keep the journalists flooding into the hospital uncontrolled, that would lead deeper into the hospital. He turns back to face the hopeful-again journalists with angry glares, actually backing his way through the door and into the hospital proper in order to keep from being followed.
"I hate journalists." the Lieutenant Captain sighs out once inside the hospital hallways and turned around in the proper orientation. The first stop on his list would be the guarded care rooms where the Wonderbolts had been assigned to after arriving at the hospital...
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As he travels through hallways busy with nurses and patients moving to and fro, he passes the "intensive care" section where he knew Lieutenant Captain Aten had ended up, and cannot help but satisfy the intense itch of curiousity by stopping to take a peek into the room where Aten had ultimately ended up.
Although Fidelitas knew Aten had quite a bit of surgery around his burned-off wings, even he could not help but be surprised at how pathetic the once-proud pegasus looked. The wings had been reduced to bandage-covered nubs, his partly-burned mane shaved off, and finally he was held down on his stomach by restraining rings both to keep him from trying to run away and to keep him from turning over on his back. An IV line was stuck into one of his forelegs, and he was kept sedated after the emergency surgery by the chemicals pumped through that IV line. There was steady breathing, and the heart monitor beeped in steady pace.
The reaction of Fidelitas wouldn't have been seen due to Aten's unconsciousness, but it alternated between stunned shock at what had happened to him and contempt over Aten's actions that lead to the state he was in now. He was reminded of something Princess Celestia had once told him: "But like one thousand years ago, I will do what must be done."; it certainly was not easy to deal with those you knew for a very long time suddenly turning traitor, but it was something you did to protect yourself and others you cared about.
The afternoon shift Lieutenant Captain flushes again - he realizes he's lingered there too long and needs to keep moving, particularly as other ponies are staring at him now. Glad he was alone and without others that might stop to jeer at the former rebel leader, he proceeded on to the guarded care section of Canterlot General...
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"Right this way, sir." the nurse on duty in the guarded care section says as she escorts Fidelitas toward the rooms where the Wonderbolts were waiting. "They took quite a beating, but nothing broken thank goodness. Still, they've decided to stay in here and not being discharged until the media buzz dies off somewhat."
Fidelitas was puzzled by the statement until he actually saw the Wonderbolts themselves, bandaged and stitched up as they were, and recoiled briefly in shock at the sight. They were lined up in a row along the back wall of a large room, and all of them except two looked up as if foals awaiting punishment when Fidelitas stepped into the room. The two exceptions were Captain Spitfire, who was quietly sobbing in the corner, and Lead Wingpony Soarin', who as the only one completely innocent of any animosity the enemy exploited was able to stare Fidelitas in the eye.
"Who... who's in charge here?" Fidelitas asks as he looks around at the Wonderbolts injured more in spirit than in body, the deep concern apparent on the unicorn's face over what he was seeing.
"I am, Lieutenant Captain." Soarin' answers. "I've assumed operational authority of the Wonderbolts for the time being, considering Captain Spitfire is in no condition to make any significant leadership decisions."
"Understood." Fidelitas acknowledges, having heard from the briefing of Aten's "violation" of Spitfire that had occurred the previous night. Doubtless this extremely traumatizing event, coupled with the knowledge that she and her subordinates had been so easily manipulated by the Agents of Chaos for their own ends, had broken her confidence completely and made it easy for Soarin' to assume authority. The entire roster of Wonderbolts knew that the rebellion could have destroyed their organization and killed them all off, and that at least some of them had helped unleash that rebellion, so in end they knew that they dared do nothing but submit to whatever punishment Princess Celestia was going to give out now.
"We know why you are here, Fidelitas. Do what the princess wants of you, we will not resist." Soarin speaks again, channeling the mood of the entire organization's membership as he talks.
Soarin's words make it easier for Fidelitas, but his heart still sinks as he pulls out his special delivery via unicorn magic and floats it over to Soarin. This special delivery, a scroll containing a series of orders, is carefully opened by Soarin, the rest of the Wonderbolts looking over in morbid curiousity. Fidelitas sighs quietly as the scroll is unrolled, vaguely knowing what it contained.
Soarin stares down with a stunned expression at the text, and Spitfire looking over beside Soarin only manages to get through some of the scroll before breaking down crying again. This was Celestia's consequences, and as promised they were harsh - the Wonderbolts would be "cast out" of the Royal Guard, removing even a semblance of being involved in the military defense of Equestria and becoming merely an "affiliated" civilian organization. All ranks in the Royal Guard would be immediately stripped from Wonderbolt members, the nominal division colors were to be destroyed and some other reforms would be forced to be immediately carried out. Finally, it immediately cancelled all further Wonderbolt airshows until the reforms were implemented - essentially already a foregone conclusion due to the injuries the Wonderbolts had recently experienced - and promised all debts to the Equestrian state would be forgiven if the reforms were implemented without resistance or delay.
The grim scroll was passed around between the Wonderbolts, and soon there were no dry eyes left in the room. Captain Spitfire was weeping openly and the rest of the Wonderbolts hung their heads down in shame - their previous actions had left them no choice but to submit unconditionally to Princess Celestia's will, else she would probably destroy the organization completely. The athletes had already failed in being good role models due to the enemy goading them into indulging in their worst instincts, now they were suffering the consequences of being so easily manipulated by the forces seeking chaos and not trying to take a moral high road.
Fidelitas quietly slips away from the scene, not even giving a good-bye - his heart bled for the agony the Wonderbolts were suffering, but knew he was merely the messenger delivering deserved punishment to ponies that had failed so badly to do what they should have in maintaining harmony and order. It wasn't easy to play this part, certainly not, but it was a part he had to play...