Standing on the cliffs in the Gardens, Celestia stared towards the horizon in fear, for she knew, it was not the sun that was rising. A moment later, the flash on the horizon died down and vanished from sight. After Celestia recovered from the shock, she made sure Banana, Caff, Harvest and Nox were being taken to the Medical Centre, and headed back to the Palace.
She hastily retreated back into the Castle, heading to the Royal Archives with dread in her heart, and looked for a map of the land. Connecting the dots in her mind, she could find only one place from whence it could have originated. She took command of a cohort of Pegasi Guards, and headed South, to find the source, hoping that everycreature was alright. Especially the one at the centre.
Many leagues away, far to the South of the land of Equestria, laid the Bone Dry Desert, a barren wasteland covered by sand as far as the eye can see. One could travel for hours, traversing many leagues, and yet not find any part of civilisation. To this place, here, in the centre of the desert, Nirik Light teleported themselves, and to understand what happened, let us freeze time.
Within a millisecond, a ball of fire appears, hotter and brighter than the surface of the sun, and grows to over a kilometer across. Within this area, everything is gone. Like water dropped onto a searing hot pan, any building, vehicle, tree or creature in the radius of the fireball evaporates and leaves no trace of its existence behind, whatsoever.
The brightness of the ball exceeds that of the sun. If you were facing the blast, the flash leaves you temporarily blind, for a number of hours. The flash released a wave of heat, so immensely hot, that nothing up to ten kilometres away is safe. In an area of over 300 square kilometres around the centre, anything that is able to burn, starts burning. Wood, plastic, fabric, hair and skin.
If you are in reach of the blast, one moment, you could be heading to class, eating at a café or talking a walk through the forest, and the very next moment, you're on fire.
After the fireball, the flash of light, and the wave of scorching heat, follows the shockwave. Faster than the speed of sound, it expands explosively all around the centre of the blast, and anything in its path is ground to dust. If you were somehow saved from the wave of heat, an instant later, you would be tossed away, like a speck of dust in a tornado.
Though the shockwave weakens as it grows, losing power and speed as it gets further and further from the centre of the last, it continues to be dangerous. Over one hundred square kilometres of burnt and scorched area, still smoldering from the heat moments before, is destroyed by the immense pressure from the shockwave.
And even though the shockwave is not strong enough to damage buildings or trees, it is still very dangerous. Even over fifteen kilometres away, creatures are still in peril, for the shockwave is still growing in size. At this distance, after a few eerie moments of silence, the blast rolls over the area, breaking windows and damaging the ears of every creature in the radius.
Had Light not managed to teleported away, the vision they had, the one that filled them with dread, would have come true.
Since a majority of the crowd that was present headed back inside when the first wave of heat flowed over the area, most were unharmed. The only seriously injured creatures were Harvest and Nox, who had tried to calm Light down, and Banana and Caff, who were concerned for their friend, running through the quickly intensifying heat, trying to reach them in time.
Fortunately, when the Nirik disappeared, the heat subsided, and it was safe for everyone to exit the Palace again, where the four who were closest to the Nirik were found. Celestia took a cohort of Pegasi Guards and headed out to the South to find the site of the detonation, while Luna took control of the situation at the Palace, and made sure the injured were taken to the Medical Centre.
Luna looked on as her sister flew Southwards, and quietly wished her the best. After this, she turned her attention upon other business, including reaching out to other areas that could have been affected by the blast. While the injured were brought to the Centre, and Celestia was away, Luna dispatched additional Guards throughout the area, and sent messengers to other cities.
As Celestia and her accompanying Guards went further South, they started coming across areas where it was clear that a terrible event had taken place. Trees uprooted, windows broken, and Ponies and other Creatures trying to help others as best they could. In some areas closer to the Bone Dry Desert, there were massive fires spreading throughout the old forests, causing more devastation.
Though Celestia's priority was finding the epicentre of the blast, she couldn't bring herself to abandon those in need, those she had sworn to protect. While she continued Southwards, whenever she flew over an area in need of help, she ordered a number of Guards to descend and assist in any way they could, and the group of Guards escorting her grew smaller and smaller as she flew on.
When the light reached over the horizon, Celestia knew it was not her doing, for the sun had only just set, shortly before the Orchestra began their performance. After the light vanished again, the dark of night returned, and over time, her eyes re-adjusted to the darkness, which helped her survey the Desert more easily while she flew over it.
Celestia figured that since a number of creatures were burnt from short exposure to the Nirik's flames, the blast that followed shortly after must have been even more intense. Fortunately, yet unfortunately, the fireball came to be in the desert, which prevented the intense heat from inflicting further damage, yet made it more difficult to find from whence it came.
Hours Celestia spent flying around, until a small glint caught her eye. When she landed and looked, she found it was rough glass, sand turned to glass by intense heat. She knew she was getting closer, and continued her search, as she found increasingly more clumps of glass, which continued to grow in size. Eventually, she found the crater, the site of impact.
Though the desert was enormous, stretching from East to West over the continent, the crater was easy to find. When she reached the edge, she found that the entire area was covered by a layer of glass, which was, in some parts, still red hot, and she made sure to be very careful, lest she injures herself again. Gently floating down, they found a single figure laying at the centre.
Celestia approached Light, who had turned back to their Kirin form, and noticed they were breathing. But when Celestia tried to wake them, they would not respond. Neither gently lifting their head nor using magic awoke the Kirin. Tears formed in her eyes as she gently embraced the Kirin, and held them close. In the distance, she heard a Guard call out to her, and she thought:
"What could they have gone through for so much pain and power to have built up inside of them?"
Running through the vast cave system underneath the city, where he landed after breaking through the floor of the cell he had been placed in, Boom's thoughts kept racing as he tried to figure out what had happened and what to do next. Not only would he have to evade the Guards that were patrolling the area, but he would have to be careful to not be spotted by either of the Princesses.
After what felt like an eternity, he finally reached the end of the cave system, and found a metal grate leading to an alley in the streets of the city. A master of explosives, both big and small, Boom managed to break away the grate, and climbed out of the underground area. Strangely enough, he recognised this specific alley, but he put those thoughts aside.
Carefully maneuvering from alley to alley, he kept himself hidden in the darkness. In one of the alleys, he managed to find an old cloak, and continued heading back to the Palace where he would look for the Princesses and try to help in whatever way he can - if they allow him to, after his chaotic and destructive antics.
At one moment, just a few streets away from the Palace, he remembered the forest outside of the city, which was connected to the Gardens of the Palace, and would allow him to approach the Castle from a more discreet path. He sharply turned the corner, and, after almost falling over and running into a box, he headed towards the woods. Fortunately, were very few Guards around.
A little while later, he reached the cliffs on the edge of the forest, and, while carefully leaning over the fence, he could see the plateau where the Gardens were. He had used the same path to reach to Gardens just about an hour beforehand, where he gave the dagger to Light. As he was carefully scaling the cliff, he wondered about his friend, and if they were alright.
Finally, he reached the edge of the Gardens, and could see Luna stand on the edge of the cliffs, looking towards the South, where the flash of light had come from, before she headed back inside with great haste. Boom breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that at least one of those he cared about was alright, "and now", he thought to himself, "where are Light and Celestia?".
He snuck his way to the cliffs where Luna looked to the South, and saw, a group of silhouettes, flying in the distance, lit up by the moonlight shining down. Remembering the lack of Guards in the city, he reckoned that these silhouettes were a cohort of them, escorting Celestia, most likely to head South to investigate the flash.
Boom managed to calm his nerves and took a deep breath, and as tears formed in his eyes, a weak smile grew upon his face, until it quickly turned sour again, for there was still one he had not found yet. He looked back towards the Palace, where he noticed Luna giving commands to a small group of Guards, while the crowd he noticed before was scattered around, unsure as to what to do.
Luna and Celestia were safe, but where was Light? Boom thought long and hard, until he got the idea to locate Light with his magic.
*He focused his magic, and opened a portal, looking down at a familiar sight...*
Boom jumped through the portal and landed hard on the ground, the sand all around Light having turned to glass, still cooling from the intense heat only moments before. Some shards broke off and seriously wounded the green Unicorn, as he moved towards the fainted Kirin. Every step, more glass broke beneath his feet, and he flinched with each step.
When he reached Light, he grabbed a vial of medicine, nearly identical to one he had given them to give to Celestia, and took a big swig of the tonic. Immediately, energy emanated off of him as he started to glow and hover. Moments later, as quickly as it had appeared, the brightness toned down, and all of his wounds were healed.
He put aside the remainder of the tonic and focused his attention on Light, and was beyond relieved to find they were still breathing, albeit very weakly. When he tried to wake them, they would not respond, and he was getting increasingly more worried for his friend. He carefully covered his hooves and pushed away an area of glass, and rolled Light onto the softer sand.
Since Light did not wake, Boom tried to find any injuries, planning to use the tonic to help them heal. However, he could not find any wounds, which both confused and relieved him. He continued to make sure there was nothing else around, and was prepared to defend his friend if the need arose. At that moment, he heard the sound of wings, and turned away to look around.
In the distance, Boom noticed a group of figures flying through the air, led by a larger figure, with flowing hair. He took cover in the crater and was torn between many thoughts: Should he stay to help Light, and risk facing Celestia? Should he take Light along, and worry everyone, not knowing where Light had gone? Or what he thought was best, help Celestia find Light, and leave.
He carefully grabbed a pile of glass shards and put up his cloak, and, with winged speed, he ran across the area, dropping shards as he ran to leave as a trail for Celestia to find. He kept one small piece of glass, which he fashioned into a lens, and using a small flame, focused the Light toward Celestia, shining in her direction from behind cover, using his dark cloak as cover.
When Celestia finally noticed, Boom took one last look at Light, promising them he'd find another way to help, and left the crater. As Celestia approached and focused on Light, Boom weakly smiled and held back tears as best he could, before creating another portal to jump through, heading out of the desert and back towards the North.
He arrived back in the forest in Canterlot, and took a deep breath, and calmed his racing heart and tensed nerves. He did all he could to help Light, for now, at least, and made sure to keep an eye out for whenever Celestia returned with Light. She would probably bring them to the Medical Centre, and planned to head there when they arrived.
For now, he planned to head home, for he was exhausted. Escaping the cell he was put in, running through the caves under the city, using strong magic to teleport to and from the city, and leaving a trail for others to find really tired him, both physically and mentally. His tonic would help, but his mental exhaustion got the best of him.
As he headed home, he kept his hood up, and did not care much about staying hidden. The streets were empty, the night dark, and after a short walk, he was back at home. He grabbed a glass of water before heading to bed, for his body was close to giving up on him. Boom went to bed, and as he drifted to sleep, he thought:
"I hope I helped. I hope they're alright."
As Boom headed to sleep, in the Bone Dry Desert, a number of Guards found Celestia and Light in the crater the explosion created. A couple of Guards carefully took over the duty of carrying Light from Celestia, who stood and began to focus her magic on herself and the group. A bright flash once again illuminated the Desert, and a moment later, the group was back in Canterlot.
Celestia bade the Guards, who were carrying Light, to carry them to the Medical Centre, which she had just left herself earlier that day. As the Guards headed out, Celestia headed back to the Palace and sought Luna, whom had taken command of the garrisons for the time Celestia was away. When Celestia entered the Palace, it was very calm and quiet, as everyone else had left already.
Hoping they would find her there, Celestia headed to the barracks where she found Luna and the Captain of the Guards, who were discussing the best course of action for the following period of time. When Celestia walked into the room and cleared her throat, startling the two, Luna embraced Celestia, and expressed her joy seeing her sister again, as Celestia hugged her little sister back.
After their embrace, Celestia explained that she and the Guards found increasingly more devastation as they approached the site of impact. On the way there, she dispatched some of the Guard that had joined her, to help the surrounding areas that had been affected by the blast as best they could, and bade them they send for support should they need it.
Hearing about the destruction, Luna took a deep breath to calm her nerves. She asked Celestia if there was anything else she should know, to which Celestia replied that she managed to find the Kirin, Light, but they could not wake them. When they arrived back in Canterlot, she asked the Guards to bring them to the Medical Centre, while she headed back to the Castle.
In turn, Celestia asked Luna what business had occurred in the city after she left. Luna replied that she had sent out messengers to other cities to ask for reports on any issues they had experienced, yet so far, she had not heard back from any. She continued, saying that as Celestia headed out, Luna ordered the Guard to lead the injured to the Medical Centre to be treated.
Adding to this, Luna explained that she had an odd feeling while Celestia was away. Whatever it may have been, she said it felt familiar and very powerful, a feeling she claims she had not felt in a very long time. Even now, she felt a strange disturbance, and warned Celestia that something was amiss in the city, asking her to be careful, and to keep an eye out.
Meanwhile in the Centre, in the Emergency Room, a couple of nurses were walking around, treating the burn wounds of Banana, Caff, Harvest and Nox, as they were closest to Nirik Light's flames. The Nirik burnt so hot, and the flames were so intense, that even Nox's scales and Harvest's general fire resistance were overpowered. Fortunately, even they had sustained only minor burns.
Elsewhere in the Centre, the group of Guards that escorted Light arrived at the Medical Centre, meeting another couple of Guards who were still dispatched there, and Light was carefully moved to be examinated. After Light was taken away, of the Guards, the older Guard with whom Light had spoken before, headed out at great speed, heading back towards the Palace.
As the nurses were treating the four, Light was brought in, and was hurried past the Emergency Room, to the surprise of some, and the horror of one. Caff took a deep breath, as she felt unusually tense after seeing Light, and asked the nurse if her sister, who was in the waiting room, could enter and help her calm down. The nurse obliged, and moments later, Decaf arrived.
Decaf noticed her sister was not well, and asked her what happened. Caff replied with a quivering voice:
"I-I'm not sure. I s-saw Light j-just now, and I-I-I..."
After hearing her Caff's distress, Decaf gently grabbed her sisters hooves, and gave her a caring hug, hoping it would ease her fears.
A couple of rooms down the hall, Light was placed in bed, but it would take a while before a Doctor could come to check up on them. The Canterlot Centre was the largest in the land, and held the greatest number of Doctors, but now, it was eerily silent. Many Doctors who were stationed here were sent out to the South where fewer Doctors practiced, to assist the injured.
Back at the Palace, Celestia and Luna were busy keeping business in order when a messenger came in, bringing news from the Medical Centre. The old Guard told the Princesses that Light had arrived and was taken in to be treated. The Princesses thanked the Guard, who returned to his post. Celestia was debating whether or not to go to the Centre, to visit the injured creatures.
Luna saw her sister was pondering, and swiftly realised what she was thinking about. She promised her sister she would keep the business at the Palace in order, as it was Night, when Luna flourished, while Celestia flew out to the Centre. Since very few creatures knew Light was the cause of the blast, she needed to keep quiet about it.
If this news were to spread, it could put Light in grave danger.
A little while later, Celestia reached the Centre and was greeted by the Guards that had escorted Light, as well as the old Guard who had brought her the message. She walked into the Centre and found the room where the injured were being treated, and she was glad to see they were doing better than before.
After speaking with Nox a bit, thanking her and Harvest for helping Light as best they could, Celestia turned to Caff and Banana, and noticed Decaf was comforting her sister, who was visibly distressed. She approached the young mare and asked her if she was alright, to which Caff replied in a shaky voice that she was alright, but she would need a moment of peace.
Decaf interjected, saying that whatever it was that she had seen from that Kirin, it had severely distressed her sister. After hearing this, Banana's gaze dropped to the floor and he turned away, as if he was ashamed of something. Celestia turned to the young Unicorn and asked him if he knew what happened. Before he could start, Decaf cleared her throat and gestured to her sister.
Celestia silently and solemnly nodded, and told Banana she'd wait outside for him, until all his burns were properly treated. After she left, Decaf asked the nurse for a glass of water, and turned back to comforting her sister. Fortunately. her caring words and calm attitude helped put Caff's mind at ease. She took a few deep breaths, and slowed her breathing down.
Still in the gentle embrace of Decaf, Caff smiled and thanked her sister, who squeezed her sister ever so slightly more tightly after hearing her sweet words. The others nearby were worried for Caff. While Harvest and Nox were in the midst of the Nirik's flames, and Banana was blasted away, they realised Caff was the only one who wasn't knocked unconscious after Nirik Light flared up.
How horrible must the sight of the Nirik have been for Caff to be as terrified as she is?
Caff managed to calm down in her sister's embrace. Decaf, on the other hoof, was clearly holding back anger towards Light, not wishing to startle anyone else in the room, least of all, her sister. Banana, Nox and Harvest all looked at each other, and shook their heads. They all thought it was best to leave Decaf be, for now, before they would try to help her overcome her anger.
Outside, Celestia waited in the cool dark of night for Banana to appear, so she could ask him what happened. She wrapped her wings around herself to grant herself a bit of comfort, and closed her eyes, remembering the polite and courteous conversations she had had with the Kirin. She truly hoped they were alright, and that they would wake soon.
Looking up at the stars, she was reminded of Luna and of the celebrations the evening before, and she remembered the overwhelming horror she felt when seeing the flash appear to the South. It was only a matter of time before the rest of the land knew what happened too. She never could have thought that a being so kind, caring and selfless could react so strongly.
A chill ran down her spine, for knowing that Light held such incredible, uncontrollable destructive power made her shudder. In a way, she might not ever feel comfortable around them again, if strong outburst of emotions had such a horrible effect. If it was just a small dagger that made them react like that, what would they be like when faced with more painful experiences and memories?
A small voice in the back of their mind seemed to respond to her thoughts, to not judge Light for this moment. Something had clearly upset them, and in response, their Nirik form lashed out to protect them. Adding to that, the fact that they teleported themselves far away, even in their despair, to where the majority of the possible damage could be averted, saved countless lives.
She'd have to talk this over with Luna, since she and Light had spoken a number of times before and after the incident at the Gala, and she might have a better view of the Kirin. Still finishing her thoughts, she was interrupted by Banana, who had say down right next to her, and was gently tapping her wings, which were still wrapped around Celestia's body.
Banana appeared to be alright, with only a few bandages on his arms and legs, while other spots only required some soothing ointment to be alright. She unfurled one of her wings and wrapped it around the small Unicorn, to help him feel more comfortable in the cool night as well. She asked him very politely if he knew anything, and said she would ask the others later.
Since the events only happened a couple of hours ago, everything was still clear in Banana's mind, and he started his side of the story. After the first heatwave, he and Caff ran into the Gardens, where they found Harvest and Nox trying to restrain Light. Through the intense heat, Banana tried to reach the trio, but he was blasted backwards and knocked unconscious before he could reach them.
When the heatwave subsided, he found he was behind cover next to Caff, who had apparently dragged him to safety after he fainted. Afterwards, they were all brought to the Medical Centre where their burns took increasingly longer to treat, for many Doctors were summoned elsewhere, for a, to him, still unknown and strange reason.
Celestia closed her eyes, moved her head down, and took a deep sigh. She would have to tell him, but not now. The two looked at each other, each with tears forming in their eyes over their concern for Light, and Celestia took Banana in her arms for a gentle, caring embrace. Together, they looked back up at the stars and the moon, and as they did, an idea raced into Celestia's mind:
"Luna..."