//------------------------------//
// Static and Noise 
// Story: Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot 
// by Equimorto 
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Gold and amber rays of sunlight painted the fields of white clouds stretching in front of them in tinges of pink and orange, as the sky began to shift from the clear light blue of day to the darker purplish and reddish tints of late afternoon. Perched on a puffy milk-white cloud situated slightly above the rest, Celestia looked down, at the sky around them and at what little she could make out of Equestria's ground where the clouds were more scarce. The wind had moved a few of them, and the ruins immediately below were hidden from view. 
To her right, Firecracker sat contemplating the feathers on the tip of one of their wings, and the way electricity crackled and arched between them. They both were silent for a while, the only sounds the light wind blowing occasionally past their manes and the tiny discharges going off at the pegasus' wingtip. They both seemed to be waiting for the other to say something. Finally, as the Sun began to dip past the mountains on the horizon, it was Firecracker who broke the silence. "How dangerous are we talking?"
Celestia seemed almost startled, not having expected the sudden shift to a different topic. What felt like a shift, at least. The pegasus surely wasn't asking about the previous matter of discussion, and that meant they were probably talking about the reason they were there in the first place. But in her slight uncertainty, Celestia still saw it right to confirm that was the case. "Coming to the Empire, you mean? What will happen there?"
Firecracker nodded, and affirmatively hummed. "Twilight never has me called unless it's something she particularly needs me for, and it's a very rare thing. If it was just that, I'd assume this isn't any different." They turned their head. "But you're there to. It's not about me specifically, then, it's about getting all the help possible. And if I have to come while you and Twilight are both there, then it really must be something bad." The electricity along their feathers went away, while the sky began to darken around them and the air to grow a little colder.
Celestia looked at them for a few seconds, studying their expression. There was worry in it. Determination too. A kind of understanding of the kind of situation they could be in, their acceptance of it wasn't foolish or ignorant. It was far from the kind of expression she would have worn in their place, but it was still something she could respect. "Maybe I am getting too old for this." There was no malice in it, after all. "It's bad. You remember the assault on Canterlot?"
"I wasn't there during either, but I've heard," Firecracker said.
"Worse," said Celestia. "Potentially, a lot worse. You are not being called because you might be of use if things go wrong. You are expected to fight. I'm sure Twilight would have filled you in on it soon, and I'll leave the details to her, but I figured there was no point not giving you some confirmation after you figured it out yourself."
Firecracker smiled. "Well, thank you." They looked towards the distance again, and their feathers started to crackle one more time. "It'll come out, you know?" A pause, filled only with Celestia's unspoken but palpable, if subdued, disapproval. "I know you'd rather not talk about it now, but these are dangerous times, apparently. You could say they have been since the Behemoth got here. It's annoying, but sometimes you need to deal with what life throws at you. If you have to fight too, and if you have to fight something that really needs you to be serious about it, by the way you talk about it it's probably gonna come out."
"I don't want to fight," Celestia said. "Not just for that reason." She said no more, and Firecracker turned to her again, slightly confused.
"You wouldn't abandon your ponies." It wasn't a question. It was more like an axiom to batter her statement against.
Celestia couldn't fault them for saying as much. It was true, after all. "There are other ways I can help. Just as much, if not more. I wouldn't do less than the most I can, especially not in a situation like this, so I hope you won't see my withdrawal from the battlefield as an act of betrayal." She studied the pegasus' expression again. "Cowardice, maybe, I'll give you that. But I'd never not give all I can. I'm not one to wait for consequences, even if I played that part so long." That she hadn't liked it, she felt was a superfluous detail to add. Already she'd talked about more than she'd wanted to.
Firecracker's face morphed into a smirk of some kind. Not an angry or bothered one. Amused, perhaps, but not in a condescending or antagonistic way. They were, largely, a good pony, Celestia had come to believe. A little arc of lightning shot barely forward from their wing, illuminating the air around them. "It's not so hard, once you get the hang of it," they said. "I'm sure you'll find it's the same for you. I've had more time for it, sure, but you'll get there. Whatever it is. Ask anyone else, I'm sure Twilight can confirm it's like that for everyone."
"I'm not anyone," Celestia said. There was something to her voice halfway between pride and melancholy. It could be either, and it was probably both. "And I certainly can't go messing around with myself in the middle of a city, in the middle of danger."
Firecracker moved a wing towards Celestia. Bolts like miniature lightnings slithered from it and around the alicorn's neck, barely over her skin, crawling across her shoulders and chest. Never quite touching her, never leaving any sort of mark. Finally, the pegasus pulled their wing back. "Find a desert, or a mountain, or something. The middle of the ocean. The Moon, if you're that worried. Just let it out."
"One glassed desert or an ocean boiled is enough for a lifetime," said Celestia. "And I am several times past my quota. And I am several years past my time. I'll pass." She tilted her head towards Firecracker and smiled. "But thank you nonetheless."