As Celestia finished her tale, she exhaled a long pent-up breath. She wiped away a tear from the corner of her eye whilst Twilight stared ahead wordlessly.
"We scoured the surrounding area and remnants of the ship for other survivors, though the rest of the story after that is not very interesting. I flew back to Equestria in secret, taking the few who were able to fly with me," Celestia continued flatly. "There was not much we could do with the burnt wreck. Our only luck, ironically enough, was that the Windigos had blown us far off course and we'd touched down in the wilderness, far from the griffish border. I tasked a team of pegasi to covertly return the other survivors and any bodies they could find. While we searched restlessly, finding some alive, many more dead, there were sadly some we never managed to locate. We retrieved the figurehead as a way to remember all of the fallen, but perhaps it's a little more for those we never brought back home, they never got a final resting place," she added with a sigh as the duo reached the gates of the graveyard. "Widows had to be informed, orphanages opened, lineages redrawn, and industries reorganised. The incident completely halted all public interest in bigger airships too, the ones you see today use a far less powerful and greatly more stable engine with no batteries."
Twilight frowned. "Princess, how come I’ve never heard of this before?"
Celestia's ear flicked. "I suppose ponies rather focus on positive things. But make no mistake, the silence is one of respect, not ignorance. The tragedy was a heavy shadow on our nation for a decade after it happened."
"So then why tell me about it now?"
"I trust that you will grow up to be a strong and important pony, Twilight. And with strength and importance come important choices to make, some of which will inevitably result in outcomes you could never foresee, even if your intentions were pure and you tried your best."
Twilight nodded silently, swallowing the lump in her throat.
“What happened to Heavy Wrench?”
“Well, despite her experience that day, she could not be kept on the ground. She continued to fly, and pioneered the new, safer airships currently used.” For a moment a hint of a smile flashed across Celestia’s face. ”Who knows, maybe I could introduce you to her one day? She remains to date one of the most respected sources of information about hazard-proofing magical crystals.”
Twilight matched Celestia’s quivering smile. “I think I’d like that.”
The two continued to walk in silence for a few more seconds, before one final question bubbled up from her. "But I still don’t understand. What happened to the griffons? How did you avoid war without the ship?"
Celestia chuckled mirthlessly. "Oh, thankfully they never found the wreck to put two and two together. With a little sleight of hoof, I had numerous weather teams create a flurry of patterns to cover the ship's crash whilst we worked to fully remove the wreckage. Of course, we couldn’t exactly silence the entire nation about a tragedy of this extent, but the tireless work of our diplomats helped us evade scrutiny for a while. By the time the news officially broke out and crossed into the Kingdom, the common opinion was that I had called them on their bluff and made them look weak. By that time, the king had also been assassinated for his inability to come through with his promises of conquest. His successor knew better than to throw out wild claims about going against Equestria and then delaying them for two years, and is in general a far more agreeable griffon than his predecessor had ever been. Another win for us, I suppose." She shrugged a little. "Since his ascension our two nations have fostered something of a friendship. If you ever visit Cloudsdale, and I have a feeling you might, you will surely run into one or two griffon exchange students. It's foal-steps and far more tenuous than I’d like, I admit, but still a far cry from the previous threats of pointlessly murdering each other."
Celestia suddenly stopped and looked away, causing Twilight to miss a step and almost stumble on her own hooves.
"And yet, to think that Equestria paid the price of almost five hundred ponies for something we could have gotten simply if I had played it more carefully." Her words were scratchy and far quieter than usual. Twilight trotted in front of her. As much as Celestia was trying to look to the side, Twilight could still see her tears.
“Now you understand, I hope. Patience isn’t a sign of weakness. It is a virtue and a means of avoiding tragedy.” Celestia turned to look back at the figurehead, standing tall over the many gravestones in the back of the cemetery. “These ponies may have died, but the lesson their loss has taught us lives on. After so many centuries of relative peace and growth, the moment war was on the horizon I acted rashly rather than with careful consideration. It was a harsh reminder that came at too great a cost. Twilight, promise me that you will learn from my folly and not make the same mistake.”
Twilight followed her teacher’s gaze and looked at the figurehead, just as a great cloud passed through the sky, obscuring the Sun.
“I promise.”