//------------------------------// // Afterwards // Story: A Certain Happening. // by Sasquatch1812 //------------------------------// I nearly cried as I saw the ruin that Ponyville had become. There was hardly a house or building left recognisable as such. There were remains; broken beams; bits of brightly coloured walls; a flower here and there from various gardens. A couple of houses leaned drunkenly on shifted foundations, but that was about it. It was deserted. Ominously so. The growing light of day only served to make more plain the destruction that had occurred. That several ponies had died, soon became obvious; but where were the others? Two, especially, I wanted to see. Needed to see. A pony came into view over a small ridge. Then another, then another. The three of us started moving in that direction. The others saw us and headed towards us, their pace quickening. I heard the cries as they came close. "Princess Luna!" They still sounded somewhat scared and, to tell the truth, I didn't blame them a bit. Ponies crowded around and I went to move away a little. Then I heard somepony ask who the other alicorn was. "This is my sister, Celestia." Luna told them. "She used to rule beside me, controlling the sun which you now see rising. We worked in harmony until..." She trailed off, unsure of what to say next. "There was a falling out over an issue of timing. Then there was an accident." Celestia said with a twinkle in her eyes. "And I was removed from here and, somehow, even from your memories. We argued and we fought, but what we both failed to realise was that our disharmony was also destroying Equestria." "That is," Luna picked it up, "until someone I will forever regard as a friend helped us see what we were doing." Here she nodded in my direction. Well, I felt rather embarrassed. I hadn't exactly been nice to them back there. I'd been rather rude. Very rude, in fact. I'd apologise later but... I just grinned. “I'm sure you would have worked it out.” Ponies then noticed the wounds and blood on the two princesses and the attention they bestowed allowed me to slip away a little. Then I saw her. Her eyes were fixed on me and there was an expression on that little face that made me nervous. I hurried towards her, dropping to my knees in front of her. She raised up on her hind legs and clumped her forehooves over my shoulders. No words were spoken, I just held her for some moments. “It's good to see you made it.” I told her, eventually. “I was worried.” There was a long silence and I looked around. “Aura?” Splash was silent for so long that I nearly repeated my question. “She's hurt, Gerry. Hurt badly.” I cringed. “What happened?” “She... she was trying to pull another foal to safety from a house when a beam fell on her.” “Oh, God.” “I... I thought I'd lost her. I really did. The soft earth softened the impact, but she's still very badly hurt. And even after that she was still trying to save the other foal. She did, too. It lives today because of Aura.” “It must have been terrible for you.” I murmured, running my hand up and down her neck. “And then I thought I'd lost you.” “I'm here.” I said, simply, not knowing what else to say. “Thank you.” “Can I see her?” She pulled free of me and nodded. She was filthy, I noticed. Her lovely coat covered in dirt and mud. She hadn't had it easy, either. She led the way to where the wounded were. The ground, I noticed, was surprisingly smooth. I wondered at it until I saw Discord. He looked worn and haggard; not just tired, but totally spent. His eyes met mine and he smiled wanly. I merely nodded. “Thank you, friend.” His head reared back slightly as if shocked. “Friend?” “What else? You've been a good friend to these ones. I can see it hasn't been easy.” “No.” he said softly, looking over towards one corner where someone had draped a blanket over a pony. I couldn't see who it was but I took a guess. “Fluttershy?” He looked at me. “With my power depleted as it is, I don'... I don't know.” It was strange. True, I hadn't seen a lot of Discord, but he'd seemed to be the typical insufferable ass. Arrogance personified. Yet... yet here he was, as broken as anyone. I went over to her and lifted the blanket. I felt Discord beside me. "My friend." he murmured softly, his words thickly coated with anguish. Fluttershy was not in a good way. "What happened?" I asked. "She was hurt in the fight, and then the clock tower fell on her. She'd be dead if it weren't for Pinky." "Pinky saved her?" "Got hurt doing it, too. Badly hurt." DAMMIT! I felt desperately like hitting something. Or breaking something. Or... something. Yes, even the overly effervescent Pinky Pie had grown on me. She was as much a part of Ponyville as any of them and she'd tried to keep us all in good spirits, despite the doom and gloom that was going on. I closed my eyes and sighed. Yes, I hoped that mass of pink laughter that was Pinkie Pie would recover. I'd miss every pony that had died in this tragedy and I didn't want to add another to the list. Yeah. A few weeks ago, I couldn't have cared less. Now? I could only wonder if I could have done something different, better, saved more.... "Hopefully now that harmony is restored, she'll recover quickly." I told him. "I hope so." he murmured, his voice a mere whisper. "If she dies I shall go mad." there was a pause. "...der." "She'll make it, you watch." I told him, with more confidence than I felt I left him there and went over to see Aura. Splash was beside her and I could see that Aura's condition wasn't good. Her chest was strapped and her skin was pale beneath her fur. A bandage also covered her head. I knelt down beside her and looked, unwilling to touch in case I damaged something else. I lifted my eyes and saw Splash looking at me somewhat desperately and wished I had more medical knowledge. "She'll make it." I said, in what I hoped was an encouraging voice. "She's a tough little cookie." Inside I was boiling. I'd saved her from the Dogs. Had I only accomplished that to now watch her die here? I was more reassured when, a few minutes later, a nurse came by and checked her. “It looks bad.” she told Splash. “But she should be alright in a day or so. She seems to be sleeping normally now.” I didn't question the nurse further. She looked pretty worn and exhausted. I watched as Splash positively sagged with relief. She bent down to nuzzle her foal while I looked around. I was surprised, pleasantly surprised, to see that we hadn't lost as many as I thought we might. We had lost a few, that was obvious but, considering what we'd just been through I was somewhat amazed that there were any left at all. "Splash, how many do you think we've lost?" I aske quietly. "I'm not sure." she replied, slightly happier now that her worst fears regarding Aura had been dispelled. "We lost a few. Not everyone remembered the plans we'd made and it was a lot, lot worse than anyone expected. A pegasus swooped overhead and landed near Luna and Celestia. I heaved myself to my feet and went over. He'd brought news from other areas and it seemed the whole of Equestria had gotten off very lightly. Yes, there had been fatalities but they were, considering the situation, extremely few. Damage was extensive in all places but casualties had been far lighter than I'd dared hope for. Celestia came over to me, with Luna following behind. Splash saw her coming and bowed. I merely nodded politely. "Thank you." she said quietly. "I didn't do that much, Princess." I told her. "You cared." "I...." We were suddenly interrupted by several cries of "A Dragon! A Dragon!" I turned and, sure enough, there was a dragon approaching, winging its way towards us. Pegasi rose into the air; unicorns stood ready, despite their weakened state. "He's carrying something." One of the pegasi reported. "It looks like a pony." We all stared as the giant dragon touched down and released a pony from its claws. It seemed the two had a brief conversation before the dragon took wing again. Everyone stared, stunned as the pony walked forwards. Suddenly it was as if Applejack teleported. One moment she was near us, the next she was beside her brother. I don't think Rainbow Dash at her fastest could have beaten her. For, yes, it was the large and laconic Big McIntosh. Applebloom wasn't far behind her sister and even Granny Smith achieved something close to a sprint. The rest of Ponyville surged forward to surround the big stallion. I just looked on for a moment and then went back to where Splash was tending Aura. This, I reasoned, was a time for them. Especially Applejack, Applebloom and Granny. The others also knew Mac, I didn't know him at all. After checking on Aura and Splash, I went on to talk to Discord. "Your doing?" I asked, indicating the crowd around Big Mac. He just stared at me for a moment and then looked pointedly at Fluttershy. "Ah. I guess not." "No. If I'd had enough to do that, I would have healed her." he told me. I talked with him for a while, telling him what I'd worked out, about it being the lack of harmony. We discussed this and I found him fascinating to talk to. He'd been changed by what he went through. There was still a spark in him, but it was more subdued than it had been. "You trusted me." he said to me, sounding rather amazed. "Was I wrong to do so?" I asked. "Nopony's done that before." "You might have noticed I'm not a pony." I said with a grin. "And you wanted to bash my face in when we first met? What was it? Something about sucking cakes through a straw." "True.” I admitted. “But you know the reason for that." "I did, even when you were doing it. Yet..." "Yet when the crunch came, I turned to the one being who could do something. I trusted them with the lives of my friends." He didn't say anything to that and I heaved myself to my feet and went back over to see Big Mac. He saw me coming and pushed his way through the surrounding throng and came towards me. "I heard," he told me, "that a large two-legs was helping my folks. I'm guessin' that's you." I squatted down to his height. "I did what I could." "Thank you." he said simply. "So, you didn't get eaten, I see." He grinned. "nnn-nope." And that, apparently, was about as much as anyone could get out of him for a while. He was scratched and had a couple of holes in his hide but, considering he'd been taken off by a dragon, he wasn't too bad. Fortunately for me, the pain was easing a little by now and I was able to help in erecting temporary shelters from the ruins of houses. Rainbow Dash, looking a little battered but still in working order, and determined to do her part, kept the clouds at bay. Twilight was mourning the loss of her library, and I hoped we might be able to unearth some of her books later but, for now, there were more pressing things to do. Rarity was filthy but too busy to care. She and Applejack were both obviously hurt, but not too badly and both going strong. I was glad to see that all of them had survived and hoped Fluttershy and Pinky would come good. If this had been just a localised thing it wouldn't have been so bad, but the destruction extended to all parts of Equestria. The towers of Canterlot were gone; confirmed during a visit by Celestia and Luna. The rest of the palace was heavily damaged but, along with many other areas, the death toll had been light. Incredibly light, I thought, for what we'd just been through. I looked at the decimated remains of Ponyville and could only think that, if I'd done something differently, something better, there might not have been such destruction, or any deaths. The day was lengthening and Celestia went to lower the sun. "No." Luna told her. "Leave it up for a while. We need the light." The two sisters exchanged looks. Luna didn't say anything more and Celestia just nodded before moving the sun back a little higher. There were numerous injured ponies and the doctors were being kept rather busy; the nurses even more so. At one point the two princesses returned. I walked over to where they were. "Celestia, Luna. I'd like to apologise." I told them. "I... I said some rather nasty things about you earlier." Celestia looked at me, then looked to Luna. "We understand." Luna told me. "But thank you." "Just don't do it too often, understand?" Celestia seemed to glare at me from under lowered brows but then a smile tugged at her mouth. She looked around. "We were stupid, weren't we. I don't really blame you for saying what you did when you knew what you knew." They told me that they'd been to Manehattan and other places. The damage had been incredible but, by some miracle, the death toll was amazingly light. Just as it had been in Ponyville. "I just wish I'd thought things out sooner. I might have been able to prevent everything." "I don't know." Luna replied. "We probably would not have listened anyway." We talked a little more, then they left again. I helped wherever I could. As the sun was finally allowed to set, there were some a lot of exhausted ponies who lay down on nothing but the grass beneath their hooves and settled down to sleep. We'd managed to erect some shelters in the form of crude tents, but there was very limited bedding. Despite the conditions, it seemed far more peaceful and relaxed than it had been before the earthquake. I took this as a sign that harmony was gradually reasserting itself within the world. Big Mac, after much pestering, finally admitted that he and the dragon had 'gone around and around for a bit'. "Well, you know I only use one hoof for applebuckin'. On the dragon I used two." He told us. How he'd managed to survive for as long as he had or how he'd persuaded the dragon to bring him home again, he didn't tell us. I lay down, looked up at the stars and fell asleep. The last thing I recall was seeing Celestia and Luna watching me. I woke to find a light grey-green wall filling my vision. A fibro wall. It actually took me several seconds to recognise what it was. I was home.