//------------------------------// // The Calm before the Storm , Part One of Two // Story: Fallen Equestria; Shattered Silence // by Endless Nightmares //------------------------------// Chapter 7: The calm before the storm; Part One Celestia sat in her sisters chambers on a pillow, listening intently to her sisters idea. "Luna...while I agree with you this would have been a viable solution..it would simply take too long to gather the materials and form the potion. And even if we did, from what I know about the life water...it only works to reverse death up to several hours...It cannot revive the fallen this long after death." She says quietly, sadness laced in her voice. Luna appears crestfallen hearing this, visibly wilting before the regal elder alicorn. "What other options do we have mine sister...our kingdom is in ruins, our subjects tatters and our strength waivers. If we don't find some way to undo the damage that vile queen hath caused, our kingdom will fall.." Celestia sighs and yawns, looking at the fire place in Lunas chambers. The fire is lit and warming the room on the cold autumn night. "I just wish we knew why Queen Chrysalis attacked, and what she had meant when she had said she was betrayed.." Celestia trails off. The dark alicorn sinks in her spot and sighs tiredly, her mind exhausted from the events of the past several days. "Nopony would work together with such vile creatures, Tia. It may have simply been the deranged ramblings of an old mare. What I do know...is that we should have taken Talons advice and used his weapon right when we detected her, instead of waiting for the bug to buck us in the teeth, so to speak!" Luna said darkly. "That no longer matters, what's done is done lulu. While I agree with you now, that we could have avoided all of this had I of agreed and our troublesome nephew not creating more problems by sabotaging the commanders aircraft, simply dropping that abomination upon Equestria without so much as a second thought was not the right answer at the time. I'm amazed there were any humans to begin with since they had weapons of mass destruction like that for use against each other." Celestia calmly replied, yawning again from the late hour. Luna scowled at her. So was waiting worth it, Tia? Was Twilight worth it?" Luna bit back, anger seething in her voice. Even with the fire close by, the room darkens and becomes colder. Celestia shivers, her gaze fixed on her sister in sadness. "No...no it was not. The lives of anypony was not worth the wait. But...we cannot turn back time and correct our mistake. What we can do, is learn from them and move forward, dear sister." Celestia says softly, returning her gaze to the fire. "What we need to do now is rebuild, research ways to mend the lives of our subjects, and honor the dead.." Luna in her rage turns to Celestia, tears welling up in her eyes. "So that's it then? You get to nurse your filly back to health and live happily, and I get to bury mine in a grave?! It's not fair!" Celestia wilts, her ears folding back against her head. She sighs heavily. "Luna...I know it's not fair. And if you blame anypony for this, blame me for wanting to strive for a peaceful solution with the changelings. Blame me for the death of so many, and my inability to order an entire race slaughtered without provocation. If I had known what they were upto, I would have...I would have without a second thought." She looks up at the dark alicorn, tears running down her muzzle. "And if it was that our situations were reversed, I too would feel the same anger you have within you. He fought bravely, both in the sky and in close combat with the parasite. We watched him rush into a burning building and rescued one of the bearers of harmony. And for that, we should try and find a way to reverse this. There is another power at work here, I believe. It's been four years, sister. Four years since we've heard anything from the parasite, and they suddenly cropped up from mother knows where, and had new abilitys that blocked our magic..The dragons did too, if you remember correctly." Luna looks off into the fireplace, still fuming at her elder sister. "Of course I remember, I was the one in the sky with him that day." Her head lowers, looking at the floor. "I remember everything from then, and I remember the joy in your eyes when I told you what occured at our old palace. When you heard of his heroism against the creatures of old, his kindness.." "And when you had your first time." Celestia chuckled, earning a blushing glare from Luna. "What? You didn't shut up about it for a week." Celestia giggled lightly and sighed. "Lulu...get some rest, at daybreak we will continue to search the city and start rebuilding..Remember as well, we cannot confirm if he is indeed dead from the crash. We never did find his remains in..." Luna cuts her off, tears streaming down her muzzle, her eyes showing fury from hell. "I felt him die, Tia! I felt our link sever the moment his heart stopped...I felt...I felt the pain, the terror he experienced!" Celestia scoots close to her sister and drapes her in her large elegant wings, holding Luna as she begins to sob. She strokes her sisters mane with her hoof, and holds her tightly. Her own mind wandering to the crash, and twilight. Most of all though, Chrysalis' final words before she retreated, only to have Celestia send the pilot to give her a gift with one hell of a bang. Celestia glances about the dark room, shadows dancing on the walls from the flames before them. Her gaze falls on a small wooden model hoof carved by an excited filly, and given to the pilot as a gift for coming to Canterlots defense and saving the city. She stares at the crudely carved figurine of the warbird, and thinks about that day, when things became complicated and mysterious all in the same day. The days leading to the war. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.........................................~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Celestia and the bearers of Harmony all sat at the table with Luna, some wide eyed and blushing, others giggling. Celestias eyes were wide and astonished about her sisters confession. Luna sat dreamy eyed in a daze, somewhat in a trance. Her mouth had a small glimmer of drool coming off one side; a look that Celestia had whenever she had just eaten an entire Manehatten cheesecake all to herself. She giggled softly at the sight. "Lulu...while we love to hear about your first experience flying in the aircraft, and the 'vacation' you had at our old castle...you didn't need to go into detail about that." Celestia blushed lightly. "You should have left that part of the conversation just between us.." Her eyes shift off, a small grin on the alicorns muzzle. "Weeelll shoot sugarcube, Ah hafta admit, it sounded like a hooey of a time! Sounds like you had one heck of a ho down there! Minus the wolves ah guess.." Applejack says, covering her blush with her stetson hat. Rarity shakes her head and sighs, drinking deep from her mug of hard cider. "I simply just don't understand why all of the good ones are taken! Twilight is with the princess, Rainbow is with Applejack, and somehow pinkie and Fluttershy!" Rarity sighs in defeat, laying her head on the table. "And now you with that fabulous stallion you have...pity, I had hoped that little ensemble I put together for him would at least earn a mare a drink." Rarity muttered and lets out a small drunken burp. The group looks at Rarity and laughs, Celestia included. Luna still sits there in her daze, just nodding slowly. Fluttershy speaks up softly. "Oh..it's alright Rarity..maybe you should consider a mare like we did? It's uhm..nice." The butter yellow pegasus says quietly with a soft smile. "Oh my gosh girls! You know what this calls for? A super mega ultra awesome thank you party for those two!" The pink menace says jubilantly, bouncing on her hooves. The others look at her and raise an eyebrow, when Celestia speaks up after clearing her throat. "That will have to wait for now, little one. Our pilot is busy repairing his craft in the hangar. I'm afraid he is quite busy so he cannot enjoy a party at the time." Celestia says with a smile. "And if lulus look is any indication, it seems like he already has a form of a party in store for him." She adds in a giggle whisper. This snaps Luna out of her trance and makes her blush furiously, her cheeks becoming hot. "Tiiiaaa!" She whines. "Heh heh! It's ok PL, we know that you're going to go back for more. We're all grown mares here, no sense in hiding it." Rainbow dash says dismissively. "Rainbow! You need to show a bit more tact!" Rarity hiccups out, her head still on the table after finishing her third cup of cider. "Can't you be a little ladylike now and again?" The white unicorn says with an annoyed tone. Twilight is quiet throughout all of this staring out the window at the ballroom. She can see the pilot struggling with a panel on top of the aircraft, trying to open it to expose the damaged engine. She stands up and folds her wings at her sides. "You ponys can keep talking...I'm going to go and see if perhaps the commander would care for some help." She says as she's cantering out of the room. Lunas eyes go wide as she looks out the window and sees the same, she scrambles to her hooves after Twilight. Every pony else looks at each other, and does the same. In the hangar Talon is undoing the panels on top of the starboard canard to free up the engine. It's dented down from the fire bomb impact, pinning down the top of the scram jet and binding it in place. He backs up and steps off to the side when he sees the panel in question alight with a purple magic shimmer, the panel coming undone and floating off slowly. "Need some help?" Twilight Sparkle asks him with a cheerful tone. Luna falls in behind her, panting and out of breath. "I do actually, you're just in time!" He says, climbing down onto the ground and turning to face the two. "I don't have a crash cart or a cradle for the engine, so I can't pull it out to examine it. If you could float it out and set it down, that would be a big help." He says as he's wiping his hands with a rag. He's still wearing his old flight suit, now more worn from scrubbing too hard on it and wearing a hole in the chest piece. There's some oil on the flight suit sleeves and chest, and spots of hydraulic fluid on the leggings and cuffs. Twilight nods happily and canters to the back of the warbird, examining the opening for the engine. She closes her eyes and casts her magic forward, feeling it and all of the components with her mind. The engine is engulfed in her magic, and carefully floats out of its position. Luna thinking quickly levitates some nearby stands against the wall to under the engine, so it's off the floor for him to work on. Twilight releases the engine gently, then walks up to it and looks. "Wow...this is pretty bad." She says tilting her head. The engine is badly scorched and burned from the impact, some of the metal melted. Oil begins to drip from the bottom and several of the turbine blades from the front fall to the ground with a clatter. He sighs in defeat while looking at the engine. "Worse than bad...without a replacement this bird will never fly again. If we were on my ship the mechanics would simply put in a fresh one." He says, looking it over. "I'm a pilot...not a mechanic. I can only fix so much." Twilight looks over the engine, examining the components. "Hmm...well we do have very good engineers here in equestria, and it looks like most of the materials to make one of these are available right here in canterlot." She says to the pilot. Her fore hoof comes to her chin and she thinks. "If the other one is still intact, they could make a duplicate of it and build a new one." " While they're at it, get them to build more missiles and reload the guns. That fight wiped out most of the weapons. There's no way I can get into another furball and pull it off like last time." The pilot says, motioning to the F/A-37. Luna nods quickly. "I'll get as many on it as I can!" She says with a resolute smile. She turns her head when she hears hoof steps behind her. Celestia and the others walk slowly into the hangar, eyes on the damaged engine. "You'll get what on it, lulu?" Celestia asks, eyes glued onto the engine and the oil drips on the floor. "So this is what powers your machine? It's not what I expected!" The alicorn says with a surprised look and some confusion on her features. Luna looks at Celestia while moving closer to Talon, taking position at his side. "The aircraft is in need of a new engine and replacement ammunition. Since he used it to protect us, it's only fair we repay it and replace the items in question!" Celestia raises an eyebrow and considers Lunas statement. "Yes...but we may not have the same materials available on Equestria, that he has on his world lulu. We may not be able to replace all of it. Though after seeing this in action during the attack, I'm tempted to invest in a program to make more of these for our ace pilot." She says with a hint of pride behind her regal voice and calmness. Twilights eyes went wide with excitement, at the prospect, a thought in her mind of hundreds of these soaring in the skies above Equestria. The thought bubble was soon popped so to speak, when Luna had spoken up with irritation in her voice. She turned her focus back to the group, seeing Luna standing in between Pinkie and the pilot, Lunas wings opened wide and her posture defensive. "Pinkie! This machine and its pilot are not toys--hey get down from there!" Luna called out to Pinkie who was poking her head in the cockpit. "Ooh! What does this button do?!" Pinkie said loudly as she started touching the controls with her hooves, punching buttons and switches randomly. The aircrafts weapons bay doors flew open and the rack for the nuke rolls out under its belly, then rolls back up. ♪" "Get paranoid! See vultures circling. One step then, down comes the final curtain. Until you come into your soul again- we'll be the worst of best friends!" ♪ The warbirds on board engine begins to spin up, the turbofans engaging and whining loudly. A sidewinder missile rolls down the rack next. ♪Burn baby burn! Strung out on a wire! Heart in a cage- your soul I desire you need, fast hands--Bullet proof skin! To keep you alive♪ All of the ponies minus pinkie cover their ears from the music loudly playing from the aircraft. Talon and Lunas eyes go wide when they see the weapons systems arming weapons, then loading back inside the bay. Celestia in a panic, grabs Pinkie from the aircraft in her magic, while the pilot scrambles up the fuselage side steps and dives into the cockpit as the aircraft begins to power up its remaining engine further. After a few seconds, the music stops and the warbird begins to power down, the missile bay closing. He huffs loudly, his head bumping against the HUD with a thump. Pinkie is being held up in the air by her tail, dangling above the cockpit. Talons eye twitches, as he seriously contemplates putting his pistol to her head. Luna shakes her head and sighs, turning to Twilight. "Your friend almost wiped out all of Canterlot, you know this right?" She says with obvious annoyance in her voice. Twilight only gulps, smiling nervously. "Eh heh...I uhm...I think I hear my laundry calling!" She turns away, trying to get out of the hangar quickly. She's stopped however, by a fully grown white alicorn in front of her path. "Twilight...I believe we should perhaps move your friends and us to a less...destructive..location. And let the commander work in peace." Celestia looks to Luna "Call in whatever engineers you believe are needed, and spare no expense at repairing his machine. Oh and lulu? There are some school fillies and colts coming from the school later tomorrow, who wished to see the aircraft and the pilot. Please see to them, and only let them look from outside of the ball room." Celestia says with a smile as she turns away, the pink menace still floating lazily in the air by her tail, who seems to enjoy being strung up like a pinata. With the other ponys gone, Luna finally lets out a breath she's been holding unknowingly and huffs loudly. "Well..that could have gone better." She mutters. Talon shakes his head and turns back to the engine on the stands and strokes his chin, thinking. "If I had access to the Enterprise again, it wouldn't take much to get the replacement." He said while still gazeing at the burned scramjet. He turned to Luna who was looking down at the ground, pawing the floor with an ashamed look on her features. "What's wrong? He asks slowly. "About that...you mean if you could go back.." She says, disheartened. The pilot shakes his head. "No, I said I would stay and defend you, princess. Until the day you ask me to leave, I'll always keep you on my wing." He replies softly, stepping closer to her and stroking her mane. Luna perks her ears up with a smile and nuzzles him, nickering softly. She's enjoying the contact, and dreamily stands by as she's being tended to. Her wings twitch slightly as they're hanging loose by her sides. Once he stops, she gives a soft whinney and flicks her tail, swishing slowly. Looking up to him, she speaks. "I'll call for the engineer ponys to come before sunset. They're very good, and I imagine they could come up with some way to make this work..." He sighs and smiles, then nods. "Sounds good. That sounds very good indeed." Turning to look at his warbird, he shakes his head and folds his arms. "The onboard computer would have the engine specifications, and likely the missile schematics as well. It's just getting ahold of comparable materials that could be the problem." Luna shakes her head with a small smile, eyes on the pilot. "It'll work out, it always does!" She says with hope in her voice, nudging the pilot. "Come on, lets go to mine study, we will write up the scroll for the summons." She says as she turns to walk out, Talon following in stride. They pass a Solar guard on the way out, who salutes as the princess walks past. The couple don't notice the eyes flash green.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.................................~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the darkness of the cavern, the queen sits on her throne made of pony bones, stone and skulls. She looks off into the shadow at the red orbs and the cheshire grin before her, a look of disgust on her face. "You never mentioned that Celessstia had that kind of protection.." She says in her silken dual voice. Chrysalis narrows her eyes at the figure in the shadow, her green eyes trained on its movements. "Now now...You know that I couldn't simply let you have it so easy. Remember, I'm in this for my prize as well.." The shadow replies, sounding bored. "It seems to me...that the deal seems unfair. You're simply handing me all of the world on a platter, and all you want is a single pony? What's your real angle..?" Chrysalis replies, venom within her voice to the shadow. The shadowed figure turns its attention to her, its glowing red orbs focused on her with a sardonic grin. "Oh no my dear...It's not a pony I want, it's a part of one. I want the alicorns horn. Do what you will with the other...eat her if you so desire. But the horn is mine to keep. That's the deal. Either go with it...or I'll happily rain down a little...chaos on your day." The changeling queen glares, narrowing her glowing green eyes. She then smiles, her tongue tracing her fangs. "Then let us begin the attack...my drones are in place. Once we have enough forces within Canterlot, we shall strike..my children will have all the food they can consume, I will have an alicorn to feast upon for generations...and you get your silly little toy. Every pony wins." She gives a dark chuckle, her drones in the cavern also chatter in delight as they buzz around the cave. Soon indeed, the queen will no longer dwell within the badlands feeding off of animals and the nearby town, but residing upon the throne of equestria, with a goddess as her meal. This was turning into a lucrative venture indeed. "But..." she stops, holding her hoof up to silence the chatter. The shadowed figure turns to face her again, its wicked eyes glow a deep red, its cheshire grin dancing in the shadows. "You must deal with the banshee...if it could decimate eight dragons...it could prove a problem for us.." The figure only smiles wider. "So...do something about it yourself. Or does the mighty bug queen fear a little noisy toy?" She hisses at the shadow, a wicked grin upon her features. "Tell me its weakness.." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~..............................~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In Lunas study, the dark alicorn has finally completed drawing up the proper forms for the engineers, as well as allocating the bits from the royal coffers. She rolls up the scroll, seals it and sends it off with her magic. The scroll disappears in a wisp of smoke. "If only the mail service worked as fast as that on Earth. I might have finally gotten those books I ordered." Talon says, relaxing in one of the study chairs. His eyes are closed and he has his head back, laying in the chair in a resting position. Luna watches him resting, and silently walks to him, coming to a rest on her haunches. She looks out the window, after feeling the familiar tug on her senses. Dusk is fast approaching, the time for her to raise the moon in just under an hour. "The engineers should arrive tomorrow...I would imagine they will have a new one made most likely within a few days.." She says with a sigh. "I really was looking forward to flying again soon too.." She says, turning her attention to Talon. He nods, his eyes still closed as he rests. "You have wings...so go for a flight." The alicorn appears crestfallen, seeing the pilot of her affections didn't quite get the hint. She sighs and paws at the ground, her ears pinned back. She nickers softly, her wings twitching somewhat. "That's...not what I meant.." She's about to speak, when her study door opens. It's one of her royal guards from the Lunar Stallions. He enters and salutes, at attention. "At ease, Dark Fury." The princess says with a smile. Dark Fury, a Pegasus Lunar Stallion returns to his at ease position and clears his throat. His golden eyes focused ahead with an iron clad look of fierce determination that only the Lunar Stallions possessed. His expression was emotionless and his wings held tightly against his armor. "Princess, I was to inform you that your Captian and First Officer have returned from their deployment in Las Pegasus as ordered. They have just arrived and are at the barracks, and will be returning to full duty tomorrow eve." Lunas eyes light up and a smile crosses her features. "Aegis Shield and Stalwart Hide have returned? Excellent!" She says with glee in her voice. She nods to the guard with her expression soft and relaxed. "Well done Dark Fury, thank you for relaying the message." The guard smiles slightly, salutes and turns to walk out of the study. Luna turns her attention back to the pilot, now standing up and stretching. She tilts her head to him and blinks, watching him start to exit the chambers. "Talon...where are you going?" "Back to the bird, Luna. I need to try and repair what I can, and get an ammo count. We need to figure out where we stand, so I know what to put in an order for. We used a lot of missiles yesterday." Luna nods in agreement and sighs. "Very well, I'll go raise the moon, then await you in mine chambers. There isn't night court this evening, so I have no further duties to perform." She says, her voice somewhat saddened. She watches Talon walk out of the room, shaking her head in defeat. Turning herself, she exits to her study to go and raise the moon. Once she gets to her chambers and completes the task, she gets a wild idea, reflecting on her conversation with the others earlier. This makes the alicorn grin, as she plans her best plan yet. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~..................................................~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Talon is sitting in the cockpit, overlooking the controls before him and doing an inventory check. He sighs when he sees the remaining weapons onboard, cringing at the idea of going up again nearly unarmed. It's been two hours since he parted ways with Luna in her study, and him getting to work in peace for once. He yawns tiredly, looking at the moon high in the sky. He's alone, minus the four Lunar Stallions standing at the hangar doors to guard the warbird. They simply stare straight ahead with their stoic faces, unflinching. He knows speaking with them is pointless, as they likely won't respond. He climbs out of the cockpit with another yawn, and starts to walk out. "Good night, guys." He says on his way out, the guards nodding acknowledging him. He makes his way to the chambers after getting lost a few times in the large palace, finally finding the tall wooden doors with intricate carvings of moons and stars on them. With a good push, he opens the heavy door. The room is dark, and the window wide open. He looks about the dark room, seeing the curtain swaying in the breeze, and no visible light source anywhere. 'Either she went out for that flight, or she's already asleep..' He thinks to himself. He remembers when he first arrived, the alicorn was always a night owl. Sleep during the day, awake at night. She changed her routine when he started sleeping during the night however, much to his surprise. It took some getting used to for her, but she didn't complain too much. Entering the room quietly, he tiredly fumbles with his boots and flight suit, making a note to wash it in the morning. He finally reaches the bed and finds a lump, possibly a leg under a sheet. 'She's already asleep...I figured as much. Poor girl must still be exhausted from the last few days.' He smiles at this, and climbs into bed next to the alicorn. He begins to close his eyes and yawns again, when he hears a silken voice from behind him. "I was wondering when you would retire to mine chambers.." Luna says seductively. She lights her horn and ignites nearby candles with her magic, bringing light into the room. She's laying on the bed with a sultry look...wearing socks. The pilot somewhat confused laughs lightly at the sight. "Well I guess space ponys get cold hoofs after all." He says with a hearty laugh. It's when he sees the alicorn not laughing, but maintaining her half lidded gaze and sultry smile he realizes...her hooves aren't cold. "Ha..heh..." He coughs. "Dare I ask..?" Luna leans forward, her muzzle bumping his nose as she nuzzles him lightly. "Not quite...I was thinking we could take mine sisters advice and...party? Perhaps double the fun?" The key word here, was party. The nightstand drawer flies open, and out pops the pink menace from earlier. She contorts in an awkward bend, getting her muzzle right above the pilots face. Her eyes wide and sparkling. "Did some pony say party?!?!?!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~................................................~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Walking down the hall, the two Lunar Stallions make their way to their respective quarters, in the wing close to the night princesses chambers. Luna placed them there a year ago, feeling that she would have a stronger force working with her if she maintained high morality and communication with its senior officers. Aeigis shield walks next to his Co-Captain, Stalwart Hide. "Ya know...that trip to Las Pegasus was fun...why do you think the princess ordered us to investigate the local night life?" Stalwart Hide says with a grin. "Does it matter? When the boss lady says go soak in the sights and watch some mares dance, and she covers the tab? I'm not going to complain!" Aegis Shield says with a laugh, nudging his first officer. "It's funny...I always had a thing for the princess you know. Strange that she choose the weird guy over a stallion.. Now I've seen it all." Stalwart Hide stops in his tracks, laughing. His golden eyes focus in on his Co-Captain. "Aegis, the day Luna asks one of us, or you out, is the day that Princess Celestia becomes a fire breathing beast and torches half of Canterlot!" He says between breaths and laughs. The two perk up their ears and turn their attention as they hear fast galloping and yelling behind them. What they see next makes even their jaws drop. Talon is racing down the hallway running as fast as he can, wearing only his underwear and socks, with a pink earth pony bouncing closely behind him. Behind her is a very angry moon princess, wearing black and blue striped socks that cover past her knees. The trio rush past the two guards in a blur. "PINKIE YOU GET YOUR FURRY FLANK BACK HERE THIS SECOND!!" Luna screams angrily, as she's chasing down the pink menace and trying to rescue her very terrorfied pilot, who is running away as fast as he can. The two stallions look at eachother with shock, eyes wide. "Now...we really have seen it all!" They say in unison, their jaws still hanging open at the spectacle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.......................................~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The sun rises, light invading the night princesses chambers as she snuggles next to her pilot. It took a full hour to finally run him out of breath, before he slowed down. Once she got her hooves on the pink earth pony however...all hell broke loose. Pinkie Pie is now spending some quality time bound and gagged, hanging by her tail in a magical bubble in Fluttershys room. The princess didn't take kindly to her antics, and ruining her best laid plans for the evening. Luna nuzzles her bed warmer and breathes deep, not wanting to move. Sadly for the alicorn however, the fates had conspired against her and forced her out of bed...nature called. She roused herself and slowly slumped into her washroom, annoyed. Talon had heard her awaken and felt the weight shift, which also caused him to awaken. A short greeting and part of their morning routine, the two bathed and cleaned up together, in preparation to go greet Celestia for breakfast. Luna placed on her normal regalia, while the navy pilot now adorned his new flight suit provided by Rarity. It was a very sleek looking black jumpsuit, with perfect replicas of his patches and rank insignias, complete with the American Flag embroidered on the arm. He smiled at the craftsmanship, and wore it proud. Along with this gift, was several new pairs of military issue fatigues, and even a new pair of boots. "I must say...for a pony, she can sew pretty good!" He says with a smile, looking over his new replacement uniforms. Luna eyed him with curious wonder, her eyes falling on the flag. She had seen this symbol on the warbird in several areas, and now on him. "Praytell...what is that symbol on your sleeve?" She asks. "That is my nations flag, ma'am." He replies with a proud smile. "The greatest country on Earth if I may say so." She looks over its design slowly, making a mental note. It's an easy pattern to remember, so replicating one on a larger scale shouldn't be too difficult...right? She mulls over the idea as the two walk to Celestias study to greet Twilight and her sister for morning breakfast and conversation. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~........................................................~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The princesses as well as the pilot all stand outside the ballroom doors with a smile, greeted by a hoof full of excited fillies from Celestias school for the gifted. They've been speaking with the foals now for about an hour, Talon telling them about his Navy career and answering questions about his world and the mighty warbird resting peacefully in the room behind him. He was holding in his hands a gift given to him at the start of the tour, by a small white unicorn with a red mane and ice blue eyes named Liberty Dream, with a silver bell for a cutie mark.. In his hands was a crudely carved replica of the aircraft, that has been called by many the banshee of Canterlot. He smiled at the nickname given, and even got into the spirit of telling the children all about why it makes that noise. They were confused however, so the night princess supplied a ghostly story about how the aircraft protected fillies and colts by the scary sound. This made the gaggle of foals cheer wildly, and the teachers very happy by the story. It wasn't long after they left that the first of the engineers arrived, and began to dismantle and document everything about the torched engine. They also wrote down information the pilot dictated to them from the aircrafts computer, so they could set to work on rebuilding a new one. With a nod, the ponys scooted off to the palace lab and garages, to start work on crafting a replacement, the old engine in tow behind them by unicorn magic. Talon finally turns to luna, who is smiling gleefully. "Yes, what is it?" He asks, smiling contently from the day thus far. Celestia, Twilight Sparkle and Luna all stand before him now, also happy. Luna is the first to speak. "And you're good with foals too? it seems mine soldier hath many talents." She finishes with an approving whinny. Twilight and Celestia also nod in agreement, as they make their way to the throne room. Today is day court, and Celestia decided it would be best if the pilot met her subjects first hand. So off to the throne room for what will either be the most interesting day, or the most dreary day of the pilots life to date.