//------------------------------// // Agonized in Ponyville // Story: Consequences // by GJT_Productions //------------------------------// For all the drama in Canterlot, Ponyville itself and the Element Bearers residing there was relatively drama free during the aftermath of Operation Whirlwind. The morning after the rebellion was defeated, Twilight Sparkle received an "unscheduled" letter from Princess Celestia explaining that all was well there and whatever had happened the previous night was not a sign that the Elements of Harmony needed to be used again. The letter did not satisfy her suspicions, or those of her fellow Element Bearers, so Twilight actively sought more information over the next few days about what was happening in Canterlot from the stallions that commuted there to work in the Royal Guard. Through this exchange of information, Twilight was gradually able to build up a more complete picture of what had happened: the two stallions that had abducted Rainbow Dash and were later killed in battle when Rainbow "nuked" their hideout were indeed part of the Agents of Chaos, sent by their leader to deliberately cause trouble in Ponyville. The bodies of those two stallions were now laying in temporary caskets in a funeral home, already prepared for burial and pending the arrival of the families to allow them to say proper goodbyes. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight Sparkle's patience tended to wear very thin while waiting in the town square for news from the rotating Guards, and this would become evident with the increasingly messed-up mane and tail as the wait grew longer. Spike, therefore, had no choice but to stay close to Twilight, and provide combs as necessary when a stallion in Guard service finally showed up with the news. "Spike, comb!" Twilight exclaims as she sees a Guard stallion - Cherry Fizzy in this case - approaching from the other side of the square. Spike sighs as he holds out a comb that Twilight takes using her unicorn magic, having just enough time to straighten out her mane and tail again before Cherry Fizzy stops in front of her and Spike. Twilight could tell the stallion was quite tired from the trip and time serving on duty, but he had promised her to bring whatever news he had heard while in the city of Canterlot. Cherry Fizzy chuckles at seeing Twilight hastily straightening out her mane and tail - having served at Canterlot Castle during some of Twilight's time residing there as Celestia's student, he had some understanding of her personality quirks. This, plus his relatively high ranking (he was an Aide, the "non-com" equivalent of a Lieutenant in the E.U.P. Guard) currently made him the unoffical senior Guard officer in Ponyville. Nominally he was outranked by Lieutenant Crispin in actual operational authority, but Crispin had been in Canterlot since the morning after Operation Whirlwind, and rumor was he was going to be transferred permanently there instead of being allowed to retain the de facto independant command in Ponyville. "What news do you have, sir?" Twilight eagerly asks with a huge grin, Spike giving an annoyed glare in Twilight's direction as he takes back the comb before it is dropped onto the town square's cobbles. "Please Twilight, just call me Cherry." Cherry Fizzy replies with an amused smile. "Got two scrolls today - one about the two stallions waiting burial and the other about the Wonderbolts you said Rainbow Dash wanted so badly." "Right, I'll pass along the second one but I'd like to see the first one myself." Twilight states. "Sure, just let me get them out..." Cherry Fizzy returns, rummaging through a saddlebag pack with a forehoof before pulling out a pair of scrolls. One scroll has an Wonderbolt logo drawn on the seal, which Twilight levitates over for Spike to hold onto for the moment. The other scroll had an E.U.P. Guard logo on it, and this one Twilight levitated up and opened. Her reading of the scroll was eager at first, but slowed as she kept on going, as if not quite understanding what she was reading. Finally, she lets the scroll roll back up and looks at Cherry Fizzy in confusion: "I don't understand. There aren't any immediate family to attend the common funeral for both of them?" "The only immediate family those stallions have are foals. Both of their mates are dead, and the foals have been in protective services for some time." Cherry Fizzy answers in a sad tone. "Both of the mates seemed to have died in apparent robberies gone wrong, at about the same time, shortly after the two stallions were assigned to Ponyville permanently." "...Somehow I don't believe that's coincedence." Twilight comments suspiciously. "Neither does the Captain of the Guard. During the rebellion, the Guard captured a pair of batpony mercenaries, and they've said under interrogation that the Agents of Chaos employed many different ponies as mercenary assassins. Probably 'hits' were made on both of those mares so that the stallions wouldn't have a home to come back to should they have wanted out. Now those foals don't have either of their parents alive." Cherry Fizzy continues in the sad tone. "When are those foals coming here?" Twilight asks again. "On the way already, I think, so sometime in the next few days." "...Alright, thank you Cherry. I'll take this second scroll over to Rainbow Dash. You're good to go." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rainbow Dash was quite eager to receive the "inside information" scroll from Twilight. However, her eagerness began to deflate as soon as began reading the scroll Twilight had provided her, the mood following the deflationary trajectory downward. The first sign of trouble Twilight noticed was Rainbow's puzzled contortions of her expression, eyebrows going up and down at seemingly random intervals. Next, the rainbow-maned pegasus began turning the scroll in various different ways - sideways, upside-down, flipping it over, etc. - as if she wasn't able to quite process what she was reading. Finally, she puts the scroll down on the cloud next to where she was sitting and gives Twilight a completely blank expression. "...There must be a punchline I'm missing. This is some kind of elaborate joke, right?" Rainbow asks, prompting Twilight and Spike to exchange concerned looks. "Rainbow, I wouldn't be sharing this scroll with you if it was supposed to be a joke." Twilight replies with sad honesty. "But... I don't...how... how could any of that happened? Why would they have let it happen to them?" Rainbow replies in total bewilderment, obviously not believing a word of what she was being told about the Wonderbolts. "Rainbow, I don't know what they teach you up in Cloudsdale about the Wonderbolts, but those ponies are not as white as the freshly made snow. If you go into their Academy thinking of them this way, all you're going to end up with is sorely disappointed." Twilight states, shaking her head sadly as she does so. "That's stupid! And you're being stupid! Take your scroll and go away!" Rainbow snaps out, knocking off the rolled-up scroll to land in the dirt of the ground below. Twilight recoils from Rainbow's sudden anger, but also realizes that she can do nothing more to change Rainbow's mind about the Wonderbolts. She looks over at Spike, who gives a shrug in response as he picks up the scroll off the ground. She then looks at Rainbow again, who is still giving an irritated scowl in Twilight's direction - at this point, Rainbow simply turns around and gives a "harrumph" that clearly indicated the conversation was over. Twilight gives a sigh - already having prophetic knowledge about the troubles Rainbow Dash would have in the future with the Wonderbolts - and turns away, reasoning that Rainbow would need space to process the news she had been just given. It still hurt she wasn't believed however. "And this is why reading is undeniably, unquestionably, uncool." Rainbow mutters out in irritation as soon as Twilight and Spike were out of earshot. Her attitude about reading would change on its own without causing too much trouble in the future. Alas, the same would not be true about her opinion about the Wonderbolts...