Chapter Eleven: Crashed
Celestia felt her head throb as she opened her eyes. The only lights that were on were dim and red.
“What?” she uttered as she tried to climb to her hooves.
"Are you alright?" A voice called out to her, peeking through rubble. It was Hunter. Celestia looked up at him slightly before saying. “Other than a headache. I’m more worried about the others.”
"I can't get to you right now ma'am, but there's a path behind me I could take to locate other survivors. You should check on Captain Rex." Hunter instructed. Celestia took a breath before lifting the debris with her magic. She moved it out of her way before moving down the hallway.
“Commander Rex!” Celestia called out as she cast a light spell to move beside her. Movement ahead of her was heard as Rex crawled out of some rubble.
"I-I'm alright, just a scratch." Rex said as he was wincing, holding onto his left leg. Celestia moved over to him quickly teleporting bandages to her side. She looked at the wound before wrapping the bandage cloth around the wound making sure it was secured.
“Can you walk?” Celestia asked, trying to keep herself calm as she helped steady Rex. Rex coughed and attempted to stand but fell back on his rear.
"I guess not." Rex replied, coughing some more. "But don't worry about me, you should see if there's any more that survived."
Celestia glances at the rubble lifting it into the air. Using her magic fueled by the sun to merge them together in a sleigh of sorts saying. “Get on. I will not let you remain behind.”
Rex had an amazed look on his face as he struggled to get on. "Appreciate it ma'am, I wish I could be of more help."
“Just being here gives me strength.” Celestia told him as she strapped herself to the sled and began to rush forward teleporting the blocked rubble out of her way. Her ears twitched listening for any sounds of trapped beings.
"If I may, I am concerned about...miss Dash was it? Last I heard Echo went to check on her because she was getting some cybernetics attached." Rex mentioned as he looked at Celestia still with the same expression. Celestia turned a corner using her magic to keep the sleigh from jostling too much. She came to a halt when she saw that the hallway came to a drop. She swallowed and she walked closely seeing grass in front of them.
“No.” she breathed seeing the ship spread out, the major parts in the distance. She looked around her pupils dilated before looking down.
"The ship really took a beating...hopefully we didn't lose anyone to the crash." Rex told her. Celestia took a deep breath before saying. “Hold on.”
She ran forward quickly, her light gold magical aura surrounding the sleigh as she spread her wings taking off into the air. Rex held on tightly, his face with even more amazement than before. "This is quite the ability miss!"
“Simple telekinesis.” Celestia replied as she looked at the pieces of the ship. She was thankful that the sections were mostly intact. She spotted the section that housed the medbay and flew towards it quickly.
"Hey! Anyone out there?" A voice cried out from the medbay, the entrance had caved in.
"That must be Echo! Echo, can you hear me? It's Rex! Is the patient alright?" Rex yelled in response.
"Rex it's great to hear you're alright! Miss Dash is breathing but she hit her head and hasn't woken up yet." Echo responded. Celestia set down before moving the debris asking. “Are the nurse ponies in there?”
"No, it was just us in here when the ship crashed." Echo answered her respectfully. Celestia cleared out the entrance before hearing a groan. She spotted the small form of Nurse Rhyme. She was pinned under some rubble and struggling to get out.
“Or, I guess there was. I thought we were alone at the time.” Echo responded rubbing the back of his head.
“I was on my way to check on you.” Nursery Rhyme piped up as Celestia finishes clearing the door. “Princess Celestia what happened?”
“I’m not sure. Hold still.” Celestia told her transporting the rock away. Nursery Rhyme climbed to her hooves moving to help keep the door open allowing Echo out.
Echo grabbed the unconscious Rainbow Dash and laid her next to Rex as he got out the door.
“Where are the other nurses?” Celestia asked, Nursery Rhyme looked around before saying. “Nearby, since Rainbow Dash is the only patient still in recovery we stay close just in case. I know where they are, follow me!”
Nursery Rhyme ran forward despite her leg and Celestia followed keeping a careful eye on the small nurse pony. Echo kept an eye on the unconscious Rainbow Dash, wishing deep down he did a better job keeping her safe during the crash. Celestia glanced back at them before saying. “You did what you could. Nursery Rhyme once we get there, move to the sleigh and keep an eye on Rainbow Dash.”
“Yes Princess.” Nursery Rhyme responded before halting at a door. “In there.”
Celestia heard movement inside moving what sounded like debris. Nursery Rhyme moved in the back checking what she could. Celestia focused, using her magic to pull the doors apart seeing rocks falling in.
“Princess?” one of the nurses asked and Celestia replied. “Yes, move back, I will have you out of there soon.”
“Don’t over exhaust yourself Princess.” warned the nurse, Celestia waited a little bit before pushing the rocks forward and split them apart. Echo moved to help move some of the rubble so Celestia wouldn’t do everything herself. Two ponies walked out, Nurse Snowheart and Nurse Tenderheart. Both moved forward to check on the group.
“The ship crashed, there are different sections.” panted Celestia and the nurses nodded their heads. “We have to find who we can.”
“We understand.” Nurse Tenderheart told her as Celestia looked around. “We have to move quickly How was the medical bay?”
Tenderheart looked at Echo with her purple eyes. Echo looked at Tenderheart in return, while saying. “The medical bay isn’t operational in the slightest, a lot of the equipment is damaged.”
“We’ll have to set up a triage.” muttered Snowheart as they climbed on the sled. “We will have to find Princess Luna and the rest of the humans. It should allow for the search to go quicker. I just hope everyone is alright.”
Rarity huffed as she tried to pry the doors open with both her magic and hooves to no avail. “Oh this is just impossible!”
Crosshair moved next to Rarity and pushed her out of the way. He placed a small device on the door and moved a distance away from it. “You better move.”
Rarity backs away before telling the other ponies in the air. “Move back.”
“What is he going to do?” a pony asked stubbornly and Rarity looked at him asking. “Do you want to ignore his orders and find out up close?”
The stallion swallowed before backing away his daughter and son clinging to him.
Crosshair took aim with his rifle and shot the device, causing the door to explode outwards creating an opening. The stallion hid an impressed look as Rarity said to Crosshair. “Thank you, darling.”
Rarity focused creating a small light as she moved forward. The group of ponies muttered a quiet thanks feeling guilty for their attitude towards the humans. They were realizing just how much they would have been in trouble if it wasn’t for Crosshair and the other humans.
Crosshair couldn't help but say something in return. "You're...welcome." His head turned to the side away from the ponies. One of the fillies ran up to him and hugged his leg looking up with her big green eyes. Rarity hid a chuckle as she moved onwards. You could hear a muffled "Ugh" from Crosshair as he followed them out.
“Crosshair, darling, you aren’t really going to be disgusted at the simple sight of gratitude, now are you?” Rarity called back thoroughly enjoying this, it wasn’t much but it was making up for the shove from earlier.
Crosshair started to feel guilty as he eyed the scene surrounding them in the hallway they were in. "Rarity I…"
Rarity banished the light hiding the sight from the young ones, her shoulders shaking as she whispered. “You should take the lead Crosshair. I… I can’t.”
Crosshair nodded as he stepped ahead of her taking the lead.
In another portion of the ship, Wrecker was struggling to hold a piece of the ceiling up in order for Fluttershy to get to safety. "Can't...hold it...much longer…!"
Fluttershy moved quickly saying. “Don’t hurt yourself, Wrecker!”
She was trembling, but her worry for her new found friend was stronger. Wrecker started inching himself closer to the safe area as he quickly let go. The ceiling portion crashed into the ground, the part of the room no longer visible.
“Are you alright?” Fluttershy questioned looking up at him placing a hoof on his calf.
Wrecker panted as he sat on the ground saying. "Yeah, never better!"
Fluttershy glanced around her lip quivering. “I hope everyone else is.”
Wrecker placed a hand on her head. "Well, there's only one way to find out."
Nodding her head Fluttershy began to walk forward unsteadily hearing the hall creak. She swallowed looking at Wrecker again.
"Wanna ride on my shoulders?" Wrecker offered. Fluttershy nodded her head flapping her wings until she curled around Wrecker’s neck and shoulders. "Whoa! You're heavier than ya look! Hold on tightly now Flutter."
“I’m heavy?” Fluttershy squeaked her mane falling in front of her face.
"Uh sorry, I meant no offense." Replied Wrecker as he stepped forward out of the room. He followed the first hallway down when he tripped on Pinkie Pie.
“Ow.” Pinkie Pie said before pushing herself up to her hooves. “TECH! DISCORD!”
She flew back towards the room right behind her. "Okay, what was that all about?" Asked Wrecker as he gave chase.
“Pinkie’s very fast.” Fluttershy warned Wrecker as Pinkie Pie’s mane turned into a drill and she began to tunnel through the debris.
"Well now I've seen it all." Wrecker responded watching Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy muttered something really quietly. “....Pie don’t question it.” Wrecker just shrugged as he kept watching. Pinkie Pie walked backwards out of the hole she just made dragging Tech using her teeth. Once he was out of the way she ran back in.
"Oi Tech! Not like you to be sleeping on the floor like that." Wrecker mocked.
"Ah shut up Wrecker, you have a wicked sense of humor you know that?" Tech said back as he rose to his feet. Pinkie Pie walked out of the room again dragging a strange creature out her hooves hooked under his arms.
Tech tilted his head. "What have we here?" He asked. "Don't remember seeing him."
“Discord!” Fluttershy flew down as Pinkie Pie explained. “Well of course not! He needed to be connected to all areas of the ship! He was inside of the computer!”
"Oh right, we met him before the ship crashed. My apologies." Tech told Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie jumped up and patted Tech on the head before landing on the floor saying. “It’s alright! We were crashing, details are always fuzzy!”
"Is he alive?" Wrecker asked. Fluttershy nodded her head saying. “He is, he’s just really weak.”
"Unfortunately, the medical bay is probably completely destroyed." Tech mentioned looking at Discord. Fluttershy bit her lip before looking around. “We need to do something chaotic. Discord is a being of pure chaos!”
Tech gave a stare at Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie began to dash around faster and faster. At one point she was dancing on top of a beach ball juggling with a clown face on as Fluttershy began to stack the debris together to make a strange statue.
Wrecker started scratching his head. "Keeps getting weirder and weirder."
Pinkie jumped over Wrecker, placing a party hat on his head. Discord’s form began to solidify as he began to chuckle weakly. “Oh you two, you’re spoiling me.”
“Discord!” Fluttershy flew forward hugging him.
Tech walked over to Discord and asked. "So, you want to explain what happened?"