//------------------------------// // Shattered Silence // Story: Fallen Equestria; Shattered Silence // by Endless Nightmares //------------------------------// Chapter 6: Shattered Silence Luna finally comes to a rest on her belly, panting and sweating. The night air is chilly, the wind flowing over her sweat soaked coat and mane makes her shiver. "That's...that's the last of it!" She says with a weak smile, looking at the pilot. She's finally finished filling both fuel tanks on the downed aircraft with her liquid moonlight. It's been a little over two hours since their discovery after their intimate moment together, leading upto the alicorn working tirelessly on her spell of forming moonlight into the powerful drink, now made fuel for the warbird. Talon has been pacing around this whole time, rifle in hand as he keeps watch for movement. In the shadows he's been hearing sounds creeping closer. Sounds of sticks or leaves breaking, sounds of scraping, clawing. His search of the area however, always turned up nothing but piles of timber and stone scattered aimlessly about. "Good work, Luna." He says out loud, his gaze still fixed on the darkness in the distance. He turns around finally, coming face to muzzle with the alicorn, who crept up behind him. She's blushing furiously and looking at him, a weak grin on her face. She gazes into his eyes half lidded, obviously exhausted. "Talon..I just...I wanted to say that.." She looks down and paws at the ground softly with her right fore hoof, looking downward and blushing. "I'm glad...that we got to do this..I don't regret anything..." She trails off. The pilot smiles, looking at his alicorn in the pale moonlight, and embraces her. He kisses her neck and hugs her tight, then backs away and kisses her lips. "I don't either, Luna." He smiles and yawns, then runs his hand over her head and strokes her mane. "I have to admit, not quite how I pictured things...being in the ruins and all. But I'm happy we did." Luna kisses him and nuzzles his chest, enjoying the contact. She looks up at the moon nearing its resting point, and sighs wistfully. "When we get back to the palace, I need a bath...I could also use a good preening.." She says, extending a wing and looking at the damaged and misaligned feathers. Her wings itch and are uncomfortable, from being dirty after laying on them during their lovers embrace. Her hind legs and her nether regions are still damp from it, and the thoughts of it occurring only makes her become hotter and wetter even more. She can still feel his seed warming her insides, enjoying the pleasant feeling and relishing in the sensation. "Would you...like to help?" She says hopeful. "Sure, I'd love to.." Talon says quietly, ex hailing a soft sigh. "I've always been curious about your wi--" He stops when they hear a loud howl. Both Luna and Talon turn their gaze slowly to the direction of the sound, being greeted by a dozen sets of glowing green orbs just outside of the dome. Luna gasps in horror, knowing what they are. "Ti--ti--Timberwolves!" She shrieks in terror, turning and galloping to the aircraft, Talon right behind her. She pumps her wings furiously and bounds into the cockpit from the ground, landing hard into the copilots seat. The wolves gather and pace at the domes edge, snarling and growling, clawing and barking at the magical field. The pair see cracks forming in the wall like glass. He scrambles up the fuselage steps and jumps into the pilots seat, flipping switches as quickly as his fingers would allow. "Initiate scramjet sequence!" He shouts, the engines beginning to power up and whine as the turbofans spin up and come to life. "The glass! Close it quick! Close it!!" Luna shrieks in fright. "Wah ha aah!" She stares wide eyed in terror at the monsters. The dome is cracking more and more. Talon hits the switch for the canopy, it begins to close. He throttles up the engines, to begin to taxi out. The aircraft doesn't move. "Shit! The rocks! I forgot to pull them away!!" He shouts, looking back at the alicorn. She is pawing at the sides of the canopy trying to escape and get away from the oncoming threat in pure terror. "Luna! Levitate the bird! Get us airborne!!!" He shouts, returning his focus to the creatures. The dome shatters like glass, falling and breaking away. More and more wolves join in now, rushing to the aircraft. He switches the flight weapons control on the flight stick to guns, and pulls the trigger. The hail of bullets rain down upon the wolves, cutting their first row down. The others seem unphased as they trot in slowly, moving in for their next kill. Luna is in pure panic, her mind screaming in fear. She can't focus enough to maintain a field, the aircraft bouncing on the ground. Pain ripping through her horn and chest from the magic exhaustion and over use today. "I caaan't!" She cries out, squeezing her eyes shut. He flips the switch for the weapons bay doors, loading a throat ripper missile. "If you don't, we die princess!" He fires another burst from the forward guns, throttling up the engines more to try and rock free from its bindings. Luna squeezes her eyes shut and forces her magic, tears streaming down her cheeks. Pain rips through her again, and she screams. She finally makes a field and begins to lift the craft. "Not today.." He says angrily under his breath, switching the control to missiles. He pulls the trigger, the rack coming down out of the bay and deploying the weapon. It screams through the air into the cluster directly ahead, tearing them apart as it makes its way to a nearby wall. The wall explodes with stone, dust, debris and fire, killing all but one of the monsters. The wolf bounds now, leaping into the air with an obsidian claw coming down over the canopy, aimed right at the pilot. Luna lifts the bird as high as she can, screaming in pain from her magic beginning to burn her. Her horn begins to spark and crackle from the sheer exertion she's putting into it. The afterburners ignite and rocket the aircraft into the sky. The timberwolf falls short and lands under the warbirds twin afterburners, incinerating it instantly as the aircraft climbs higher and higher into the sky. Pain. She's in so much pain. Her breaths are shallow and ragged, sobs wracking her body as tears flow freely. She's sobbing and wailing loudly from the agony. The aircraft continues to climb high into the sky, well above the clouds before Talon lets go of the throttle and backs down to cruising speed. He can hear the alicorns cries. "Shh...it's over now.." he says into his headset, and switches the warbird to auto pilot. The computer takes control of the craft, leveling and flying at a slow gentle pace straight ahead. He turns his head and looks back at her, then reaches back and strokes her mane. Luna sobs and sniffles for a few minutes more, before finally calming down from his ministrations through her mane. She looks at him with her puffy and red eyes, her fur soaked from the tears. She nods her head slowly, shaken and exhausted. "Luna...just calm down and relax, it's over now." He says into the radio, after helping her put hers on her head. "We'll land back at the palace, and get you in a nice hot bath, I promise..for now just rest, study the flight controls and panels in front of you. Try and relax..." He says, stroking her mane gently. "Look outside, we're high above the clouds where the monsters can't get to us now." The alicorn sniffles and looks out the canopy, seeing the stars above and all around her in her night sky. The plane rocks gently in the air as she looks around, the sound of the engines calming her down more. Her heart rate slows as she breathes deeply, controlling her breaths as much as she can. She looks over the horizon, far off in the distance she can see the moon beginning to set. They've been in flight for twenty minutes now, the alicorn exhausted and finally calm. She tiredly looks at the consoles and the screens, tapping the buttons with her hoof. Talon takes back over of the flying, and resumes a slow gentle course back to Canterlot. "Hey Luna?" He asks her. "Yes?" She responds after a soft sigh, looking up at him with a weak smile. "What were those things? Why were you so afraid of them?" He asks, concern in his voice. He turns and glances to her. "Timberwolves...dark creatures spawned during the reign of Discord about two thousand years ago...They aren't affected by alicorn or unicorn magic. I'm completely defenseless against them, and considered their favorite meal.." She explains and swallows hard. She continues to look through the aircrafts menus, learning more and more of the pilots language. She reads the screens the best she can, getting bits and pieces of what its saying as she looks at the various pictures and information in the aircrafts vast database. "Huh...well don't worry my princess. You will always have me to protect you from them. I'd bet that they think twice now after going up against the two of us." He says with a tired chuckle. Over the horizon before him, he can see the sun beginning to peak over the far off mountains. He smiles at the sight, slowing the aircraft more to give the alicorn a longer, restful flight; high above the clouds where nothing can harm her. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~..................................................~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Shouting and alarms are heard all over the castle, rousing the sun princess from her chambers. Celestia peeks her head out of her door, her crown and regalia still off. She catches a passing solar guard rushing down the hallway and flags him down as she steps out. "My friend..what troubles everypony?" She says to the guard, tiredly and yawning. The guard is frantic and looks at his princess. "We're under attack, princess! Dragons have appeared over the south industrial district of the city, and are attacking! You must get to safety with Princess Twilight!" He replies, urgency in his voice. Celestias eyes go wide. "What? But we've been allies with the dragon nation for two hundred twenty three years..are you certain they are not simply visiting? She asks quietly, her regal and calm mask still on. "They've set fire to several buildings, princess! Fire teams have responded, and we have pegasus and unicorn patrols on their way to intercept the dragons. Reports are there are a total of eight attacking at this time, princess!" The guard responds. Celestias eyes flash with shock and anger. "I'll come too." She replies quickly, returning to her room for her crown and regalia, as well as her bracers for her hooves. She follows the guard to the observatory and looks off the balcony, indeed there are several dragons in the distance. Her eyes go wide in shock as she watches one breathe a jet of fire upon a building. Anger wells up within her and her eyes flash bright pink, the heat in the room rising with her anger. "Pull back the guards and save as many as you can. I'll deal with them!" She hastily replies, hostility thick in her voice. Her face is a mask of rage as she glances and sees a small silver dragon rip a pony from a window and devour it. She spreads her wings and gallops out the to the edge of the balcony, where she leaps into the air. She is missed by another small dragon that flies by, missing her by mere inches. The dragon was so close that she could see the details on its scales as it flew by. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~..........................................................~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Talon...what are those dots?" She says as she looks at the circular screen with a sweeping needle on it. She sees a cluster of the dots changing positions on a grid. The pilot changes to his radar, and sees it too. 'That looks to be the city by the distance...and I doubt those are more human aircraft like mine..' He thinks. He hits a button on his communication controls and pings for an IFF. Nothing. He tries again, and the same response. the screen simply reads 'Unknown.' He looks up at the rising sun in the distance, and begins to throttle up. "Nothing we want to deal with...Going Hypersonic!" The canards close and the scramjets ignite the burners again, sending the aircraft racing as fast as it could go to Canterlot. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~........................................................~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Celestia watches in horror as the display continues. Fireballs scream past her, hitting the towers of the palace. She traces the line of fire back to its source, a fat black dragon circling the castle. She pumps her wings furiously and positions herself in its path. "Dragon!" She shouts out to it, rage in her voice. "Stop this attack at once! Cease fire, this is an act of war against equestira!" The gigantic dragon turns its attention to the alicorn and changes direction in flight. It roars at her, baring its sharp fangs and rows of jagged teeth. Fire builds in its throat. Celestia lights her horn, preparing an attack spell of high power. Sparks dance off of her horn as the air shimmers, growing hotter and hotter around her as her blood begins to boil with hatred. "LAST CHANCE! STOP THIS AT ONCE! LEAVE THIS KINGDOM NOW!" She shouts her last warning. When the dragon maintains course, she fires off her spell. It impacts the dragon center of mast, but completely unaffected it. The dragon is unphased by her magic, and keeps coming, a loud guttural laugh heard from it as it opens its jaws wider. The alicorns eyes go wide as it approaches, and she fires again with the same results. The dragon is almost to her, and she's frozen in fear, about to be eaten! She hears a high pitched scream like a banshee, as well as a flash of light and an object flying faster than anything she's ever seen before. A blink of an eye later, the dragon is suddenly thrown from its path when an explosion rocks it. The dragons side is torn open, spraying blood everywhere and splashing the sun princess with it. The blood stains her coat on her chest and muzzle. Its wing and arm fly away from the rest of the body, as another explosion smacks it, sending it into the courtyard below. She looks wide eyed into the distance, and sees a blur of black fire screaming her way. Before she could blink, she hears the familiar sound of the jets twin pulse detonation engines scream by, the aircraft zipping past her head in a steep climb and a roll. "About bucking time!" Celestia shouts, grinning at the sight. Her sister and her warrior have come to Canterlots defense. She turns her gaze back to the city and flies down to start assisting with the evacuations. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~..................................~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Splash one lizard!" Talon shouts with a cheer. Luna looks forward, a determined but exhausted look on her features. "Turn back and shoot down the other ones quickly!" She shouts into the radio, looking around for more targets for the warbird. "Rodger that, Talon one engaging hostile targets." He replies as he banks hard, igniting the afterburners again and pursuing another dragon that he sees. It's a smaller red one now laying waste to the historical district of Canterlot, breathing a jet of fire against rooftops. He loads a sidewinder missile. "Missile locked. Missile Locked." The computer chirps. He pulls the trigger, firing the missile. It rockets to its target, impacting with an explosion and severing its neck and head from its body. The dead dragon falls limp in two pieces, more blood pouring from its torso onto the building it landed on and down its walls. "Warning. Hostile six o'clock. Hostile six o'clock." The siren screams in the cockpit, as two dragons fall in behind the aircraft. Despite it going full afterburner, they're keeping up. Talon looks back as he rolls the plane into a dive. The dragons blow fireballs randomly at it, one glancing the port canard. The sirens blare now. "Warning, missile locked on. Missile locked on." The computer mistakes the firebolts for incoming missiles. "Releasing chaff and flares!" Talon calls out to Luna as he rolls the plane into a sharp dive, casting out hundreds of flares behind him. The dragons are pelted with them, one being sent of course and crashes into the ground below, breaking its neck with the impact. Its wings and body flops and flails around, causing the building to collapse on top of it. Luna looks out the canopy of the upside down plane, and sees blood pooling on the street below it. He pulls the aircraft into a sharp turn and begins to climb again, the dragon hot on his tail. "Warning. Hostile six o'clock. Warning. Hostile six o'clock." The computer chimes again. As they climb higher above Canterlot, he throttles back and pulls the flightstick hard back to him. The aircraft tumbles and flips in air, as the assaulting dragon continues its path forward, blazing ahead as it breathes fire. Talon re-ignites the afterburners and chases the dragon now, switching to guns and fires, cutting off its wing and splitting its side open. The dragon plummets fast to the ground, impaling itself on a large clocktower below. Its body slides deeper onto the tower and gets jammed, with its steeple protruding out of its chest, its heart at the very tip of the steeple. The aircraft is suddenly knocked hard and spirals out of control as another dragon peppers its back with a fire bomb, the small particles puncturing the skin of the aircraft and flaming out an engine. The engine explodes in a trail of smoke, fire rising from it. "We're hit! Luna, pull the red handle on your panel! It'll use the fire bottle!" He shouts over the alarms. Luna lunges forward with her mouth, and rips at the small knob with her teeth, pulling it hard back. The fire alarm silences as the flames are put out. "Luna, we've lost power in our starboard engine! Keep an eye on the screens and make sure it doesn't catch again!" He shouts, bringing the aircraft into a hard bank to re engage in the fight. He spots the other dragons flying away, attempting to abandon the charge. He hits the afterburner, powering to them with one engine and smoke continuing to billow out from the tail section. He flies by in a quick pass, strafing two more with the forward guns. Flames licking the sides of the canopy from the extended gunfire. Lunas mind is reeling from all of this, the sudden turns and dives causing her to feel sick. In the quick pulls and pushes against her body, she knocks herself against the cockpits walls. In a roll, she fidgets her best with her hooves to strap herself to the seat, tying a knot with the harness. "Don't let them get away!" She shouts angrily with a mouthfull of the harness. He pulls back hard into a vertical climb and looks out the canopy, seeing the dragons remaining diving into a cave. He grins at this. "Stupid stupid lizards.." He returns the aircraft into a steep climb and continues screaming as fast as he can, the canards closed again. Once he reaches the clouds again, he pulls into a dive and arms his next weapon. The rack rolls out from the aircraft's belly, and readys. He races into the dive, and pulls the trigger. The truncation implosion bomb releases, diving hard and fast into the cave roof. He pulls back again hard, righting the aircraft. As the bird screams forward, a massive explosion, then implosion occurs behind it, the plume of smoke and ash left in its wake. The remaining dragons who went in, wont be coming out. He turns into another hard bank, circling the cave to make sure of it. "All Hostile Targets Eliminated. All Hostile Targets Eliminated. Fire suppressions system malfunction. Starboard engine inoperable." The computer begins to chime. He changes direction and starts to circle Canterlot as a whole, looking at the devastation. Luna covers her mouth with her forehoof in shock and sorrow. She whimpers as she sees the destruction left in the attacks wake. "Luna...Luna calm yourself...This isn't your fault." He says over the radio, looking down over the city. He spots Celestia with a swarm of ponys on the castle grounds, and pegasi guards in the air near the runway. "Land...Please land now.." She says between sobs, pain and exhaustion in her voice. The warbird corrects its course for the runway and lowers its landing gear, on approach to land. He approaches the runway, flying overhead of the cheering ponys and princesses below in the castle grounds. The rear wheels and tailhook touch the runway, the tailhook catching the catch cables. The nose gear touches with a soft bump, and the bird comes to a quick stop. He throttles down the engine and raises the tailhook, taxing to a safe flat area, before he powers down. "Luna...It's ok, we got them." He says without looking at her. He sits still, his head hanging low. He hears Luna behind him sniffling quietly. He undoes his harness and reaches back to her, stroking her mane and her neck. "C'mon..lets get you out of here.." He says, as he opens the canopy. Guards ponies from both Solar and Lunar surrounded the warbird, luna and the pilot, as the princesses and heard of ponys behind them all come close. Cheering and shouts are heard from the groups as Luna and Talon exit the aircraft. Luna raises her head to this and tilts it, surprised. "Wha...why are they cheering?" She says to Talon, looking at him in confusion. He turns to her and shakes his head, not responding verbally. She blinks in confusion. Celestia rushes up to Luna and embraces her tightly, tears of joy streaming down her face for being reunited by her sister, then saved by her and her pilot. "You saved the city...that's why they cheer for you, dear sister." Celestia says with a tear filled smile. In the crowd, Talon sees the five other ponys he met earlier the other day in the hangar, including the scary pink one. He quietly stands next to Luna, exhausted, now out of energy and on the verge of collapse. "Sister, Commander...please take some time to rest, You look exhausted, and you did quite the battle up in the sky. We will manage things from here and survey the damage. I will also dispatch ambassadors at once to the Dragon Nation, to find out why we were attacked. For now, please return to the castle." Celestia says in her calm regal tone, despite her face obviously betraying worry and confusion on her features. Luna nods slowly, exhausted and drained. She turns her head down and nips Talons hand, grasping it in her mouth softly as she leads him to the castle. Unicorn guards work as a team as they're leaving, and carefully roll the damaged war plane back to its resting place; the ballroom. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.............................................~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Two hours later Talon and Luna are in her chambers, the doors locked from the outside by Celestia herself. Luna despite being so tired had protested and pleaded to help, only earning them both a forced rest. She sits on her rump irritated, too tired and too tense to go to sleep. Talon is pacing around on the balcony, his eyes constantly turned on the aircraft in the hangar, and the countless guards from both sides now protecting it like it's the worlds biggest secret. "We should try and rest...my sister can be a real pain if she doesn't get her way." Luna says, mid yawn and annoyed. She stands up and walks over to his side, nuzzeling his arm. She bites his sleeve and drags the annoyed pilot away from the balcony and into her washroom with her. The two bathe together, wading into the water side by side. The pilot sits on a step, while the alicorn stands in the center. She's allowing the hot water to penetrate her achy muscles and her tired, pained wings, slowly nodding off from the comforting warmth and the steam. She perks up when she feels a rush of water splash her softly, finding Talon holding her right wing and checking the feathers carefully. She smiles at him and cranes her neck to kiss, then resumes her quiet enjoyment of being tended to... He works in silence examining her wings, going feather by feather along their sleek beautiful form. If he finds a broken feather, he simply plucks it gently and casts it to the side on the deck. If it's misaligned, he tries to smooth it back into place. This goes on for about fifteen minutes per wing, as he watches the alicorn visibly relax and begin to get comfortable. He stops preening her and stands beside her, stroking her visage softly with his hand, helping rinse off and clean her since she doesn't have use of her magic. It's then he finally speaks up. "You did great, in your first dogfight." He smiled reassuringly at her. Luna quietly nods, listening to him. "And you helped make more than five kills today...That makes you an ace pilot. Or co pilot in this case." Luna perks up her ears hearing that, but continues quietly listening, a small smile forming on her lips. "Once we repair the bird...I'd be happy to give you flight lessons. Hopefully this time without dragons in the mix...that was a hell of a furball." He says to her. Luna nods slowly, her mind and body still exhausted. after a few more minutes of talking, he helps her climb out of the wade pool and dries her with a towel, then they walk into her chambers. For the first time, they sleep in the comfort of each others arms, cradled one another in an embrace for a night of peace. The sun begins to set over Canterlot now, Celestia managing the moon and night sky for Luna. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.......................................~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Luna awakens with a start in the ruins of the castle, hearing the familiar howls of her nightmares in the distance. She quietly gets up and flys off back to Canterlot, watching the moon trek its path in the night sky. She sadly glides alone under the pale moon light, her heart craving for just one more chance to hear his voice..one more chance to listen to the sound of the banshees cry thundering overhead. It's when she lands on her balcony to her lonely room that she remembers something...something important. The pilot that night spoke of something...she connects the dots. 'Red...Red water...what was it? What did you tell me, my love?' She ponders while looking at the night sky from the safety of her balcony. The answer dawns on her as she sees a shooting star streak the sky. 'Lazarus...That's it...Lazarus water!' She whispers out loud, a faint smile crossing her lips. She calls out to the guard in the hallway. "Yes, Princess? You called?" The Lunar Stallion answers carefully, looking to the dark alicorn. "Awaken and summon mine sister at once. Tell her I have a plan to make everything right once more." She says, hope filling her features and a warm smile upon her muzzle. 'I'll remember, and I'll find it...I promise I will.' She whispers after the guard leaves. She sits on the balcony again, thinking hard, remembering that day on their trip to Horseshoe Bay, a week before the invasion.