//------------------------------// // 4. This Night was Going to be Perfect // Story: Planet Hell: The Redemption of Harmony // by solocitizen //------------------------------// Planet Hell Solocitizen 4. This Night Was Going to be Perfect 31st of Growing Season, 10,049 AC Thunder Gale distrusted easy moves. So much so that even as a gap to Hill Born’s queen opened up on the holographic chessboard, he held his rook back. Hiding his face behind his steepled hooves he plotted his next move, save for his eyes, which darted around the projection. “You gonna go already, or what?” Hill Born crossed his hooves over his chest and tipped back in his chair. “One second.” There was a knock at the door. “I said just a second.” Outside the open window, voices rose in laughter, and a gust carried sweet and exotic aromas into his room. It was the Fledgling Night of Thunder Gale, son of Storm Gale and crown prince of the Pegasus Empire. Fledgling was an ancient pegasus tradition that dated back before the Fall of the Equestria many thousands of years ago. When a pegasus colt was strong enough to leave his parent’s nest, they’d throw a feast and send him out on a journey across Equestria, and when he finally returned home he’d do so as a stallion, not a colt. Now it was just an elaborate birthday party only observed by the very wealthy. At midnight, Thunder Gale would turn sixteen and be an adult in the eyes of Imperial law, and would finally be old enough to enlist in His Majesty’s Navy, attend basic, and soon after the Marine Academy. He’d been following his father’s hoofsteps all the way to his own command and, one day, the throne of the Empire. He had a long and arduous road ahead of him, and he didn’t really want to think about it. So instead he focused on figuring out a way to beat Hill Born. He hated losing. The laughter and perfumes outside weren’t helping any. Somepony at his door knocked again. “Just a minute,” Thunder Gale said. “Your royal flank-ache, there’s about two hundred ponies out here waiting on you,” said his sister, Spring Gale, from beyond the door. “Let’s just go, we can finish this later.” Hill Born pushed himself away from the projector table and dropped out of his chair onto all fours. “No, we’re finishing this now.” Thunder spoke from behind his hooves and without taking his eyes off the hologram. “The party will still be there after I’ve figured out how to beat you.” The door flung open, and the scent of perfume and bubbly beverages flooded the room, but he didn’t let that distract him. “Really?” Spring Gale trotted in on her polished hooves and parked herself right next to the projector table. Her sparkling dress jingled and jangled. “Let me guess, Hill beat you at a game of Chess?” “Three in a row in a best of five, actually.” Hill Born fiddled with the buttons on his sports jacket. “That was his idea, see, cause I beat him the first round and he insisted on a bunch of rematches.” “I see.” She bit her painted lips and huffed. “You don’t support bad behavior, you just enable it. You couldn’t let him win, not even one game?” “No,” Thunder Gale said. “It wouldn’t count if he did.” Spring Gale and Hill Born turned to him. “I will win,” he said. “And I am not leaving this spot until I do.” Spring Gale stared at him as if at any moment she’d lunge at him and bite his head off. The whole season leading up to that night she’d been going on about how the Fledging celebration was just as much her night and the family’s as it was his, perhaps even more so given the amount of work she’d personally put into preparing the decorations, and rehearsal, and everything else. She never let Thunder Gale hear the end of it. Too bad for her; Thunder Gale wasn’t moving until he won. Her eye quivered and she raked her teeth on her lips. “You know what?” Hill Born cantered up to the holographic projector and tapped the reset button. “I quit. You win. You go out to the party now and I’ll catch up with you later.” The orange and blue chess pieces blinked out of the air, and Thunder Gale let out a little gasp and Hill Born nudged him out of the chair and down on his rump. He sprung back on his hooves and cursed, but before he could climb over the table and get at Hill to make him finish the game, Spring Gale wrapped her hoof around his and whisked him out into the hallway. The voices of hundreds of mingling ponies echoed up and down the hall, and as they neared the party, they drowned out the clicks of Thunder Gale’s and his sister’s hoof falls. They paused above the steps leading down to Royal Gardens while she checked him over in the holographic torchlight and adjusted the folds of his toga. He looked past her into the crowd, and scanned the tables and circles of conversations for his father. “Your toga needs to be redone.” Spring Gale started pulling at his clothes and tucking it back together. “There’s an art to wearing a toga. You should’ve come to see me a little earlier so I could have shown you the proper way to do this.” “Give me a break, I’ve never had to put one on until earlier today,” Thunder Gale said. “Nopony will care.” “Father and his generals will notice, and that’s all the reason you need.” Spring Gale motioned for him to stand up on his hind legs. He rolled his eyes and obliged. “Don’t blame me, it’s your fault we have to take the time now.” She grabbed one end of the cloth with her mouth, walked it around his chest, and tucked it into one of the folds. “You shouldn’t let that Hill Born character goad you into things like that. One day, he’ll call you up and convince you take part in something that’ll get you into more trouble than you'll know what to do with.” Spring Gale put her hooves down and backed away from him. “Not the best I’ve ever done, but it will work. See, wasn’t that worth the little extra time?” “If you say so.” Thunder Gale looked himself up and down. “Believe me, they’ll notice this kind of thing,” she said. “Now, I have a little something special for you I’ve got to go prepare, so you’re on your own from here.” “Wait!” Thunder Gale’s wings flexed and nearly undid the toga. He glanced over at the crowd, then back to his sister. “You’re not coming with me? What am I supposed to do?” “You look the part of the prince and that’s ninety percent of the work. All you have to do now is smile and look majestic. You’ll do fine.” She gave him a quick hug, then cantered down the hallway with her nose held high. Thunder Gale stood there watching her until she was out of sight, and then crept up to the edge of the stairs. The partygoers were so caught up in stuffing themselves with food and drink and words that he bet if he was really careful, he could sneak down the stairs without getting noticed. Unfortunately, he didn’t make it three steps down before a guard clad in ceremonial plated armor caught sight of him. The guard tapped the butt of his spear against the ground three times, and the crowd went silent. All two hundred some pegasi gathered across the lawn and throughout the garden turned their eyes and ears up toward Thunder Gale; even the unicorn and earth pony staff paused in their tasks and looked. “Now presenting his Royal Highness, Thunder Gale of Hellas!” The guard bellowed out to the crowd. “Son of Storm Gale and Autumn, heir apparent of the Imperial Throne, and Crown Prince of the Pegasus Tribe.” For a long moment Thunder Gale just stared back at them. Then he raised a hoof, waved, and smiled with all the grace of an awkward teenager. He wasn’t sure what else to do. In truth, he’d been rethinking the whole emperor thing in the back of his mind for awhile, and right then as he stood before that crowd of very important ponies he wanted nothing to do with it if the title meant more of that. At once the partygoers stomped their hooves in applause. Those who were seated around the tables stood up and joined the others and the applause rose. As Thunder Gale’s eyes passed over countless faces full of elation and respect, he wasn’t afraid any more. If he decided to speak, they’d listen to him. If he told them to raise their voices, they’d roar. He savored the moment as the applause trickled to a stop, and the party once again bloomed with conversation and clinking dishes. With that, he descended into the gardens in search for his father. The night sky was empty and black. The palace grounds were packed with generals, praetors, nobles, and all their servants. He didn’t recognize a single one of them but they all wanted to talk to him. He spoke with each of them, posed for the photos, then slipped away to resume his search, only to get cornered by more partygoers a few seconds later. He pressed onward, maneuvering away from the palace itself toward a cluster of tables set up on the lawn near the garden’s center. Luckily for him, the flowers were out that time of year, and as he delved deeper into the garden, the guests grew less interested in him and more so with the fragrances and colors in bloom. When he reached the heart of the festivities, he caught sight of a cyan mare standing beside a buffet table underneath a cherry tree. Her dress was understated, and she hardly said a word to the mare in plated armor next to her, but she kept her engaged by leaning forward into every word she said and nodding infrequently. “Mom!” Thunder Gale leapt up and waved at her above the crowd. She beamed at him, and he rushed up to meet her. They exchanged a quick hug before she turned him toward the soldier. “Lightning Fire, allow me to introduce you to my son, Thunder Gale,” his mother said. “Thunder, this is General Fire of the Imperial Marines. She’s by far the bravest and fiercest soldier in our armed forces. She’s also one of your father’s most trusted military advisors.” And Thunder Gale didn’t doubt that for a second. Her mane and coat was the color of fire. Like a true tactician, she held herself with a calculated, disciplined calm. “It’s an honor to make your acquaintance, your Highness.” Lightning Fire bowed her head. “No, the honor is all mine.” He meant it, and grinned as he said it. “I also get the feeling that the next time we run into each other I’ll be saluting you.” “Thunder Gale is planning on enlisting in the marines a few days from now,” his mother said. “Soonest I can, actually.” “Really?” Lightning Fire’s wings shot up, and her one good eye popped so wide open that it caught the fire of the holographic torches around her. “You do the marines an honor by joining us. They’ll probably put you in command of a starship the first chance they get. So I imagine you’ll need an XO.” “What’s an XO?” Thunder Gale asked. “Your executive officer will be your righthoof. She’ll make whatever course you decide upon happen.” “So the captain decides what to shoot, if something needs shooting, but the XO decides how to shoot,” Thunder Gale’s mother said. “Or at least that’s the impression I’m getting. I never really understood all the nuances of the military. Did I get it right?” “More or less, Lady Gale.” Lightning Fire turned her attention back to Thunder Gale. “I imagine that you’ll need somepony experienced who can act as a mentor figure. Somepony respected, seasoned, and who is both a soldier’s general and politician, but more importantly somepony who can keep her head cool in any situation.” “Somepony not unlike yourself, I imagine?” Thunder Gale’s mother said playfully. She picked out a grape from the parade of fruit beside her and chomped down. “I have to admit, my opinion is biased,” she said. “But objectively speaking, yes, I am your best choice.” Thunder Gale cocked his head. Right then, Lightning Fire’s communicator buzzed. “Excuse me, duty calls.” She bowed and cantered away. Glancing over the fruit, Thunder Gale’s mother chuckled under her breath and popped another grape into her mouth. He joined her at the table and inspected the pineapples and grapes before him. He tried a slice of pineapple, and it was like biting into a sour rock. “I like her,” Thunder Gale told his mother. “She’s ambitious, confident, and hates losing.” “Remind you of anypony else you might know?” “I can think of a few, don’t worry.” Thunder Gale’s mother chuckled under her breath and turned to him. “So are you enjoying yourself? From what Spring was telling me, you were pretty nervous.” “At first, yeah, I was kinda scared about making an appearance in front of all these VIPs and screwing something up,” he said. “But now, I’m really glad that I did.” “I’m happy to hear it, as it is your night after all.” His mother brushed her wing over the purse slung over her shoulder, and stopped. “Before I forget, I have something to give you. I know it’s hardly the time or place, but it’s something I want to make sure you have.” She dug a wing through her purse and retrieved a long, silver chain, at the end of which hung a pendant: a shield with a nova in the center and smaller three stars above it. The entire pendant was jagged as if pounded, beaten, and bent into shape; it twinkled in the artificial torchlight. “This is a pendant of Shining Armor.” His mother held it out to him in her hoof. “It’s been in our family for generations, dating all the way back to your great grandfather, who took it from a unicorn general after his opponent surrendered unconditionally. Shining Armor is a patron to soldiers and those who champion a noble cause. He was also married to one of the most important pegasi to ever live.” She passed it to Thunder Gale, and he cradled it in his two front hooves. "It looks like it’s seen better days.” “That’s because it’s made out of something called 'Cold Silver',” his mother replied. “That means that it wasn’t crafted by tools, or ripped out of the earth using machinery. A unicorn bucked at a rock until a chunk of silver fell out, then used his horn to carve out the design. It’s supposed to be toxic to unseelie creatures and ward off evil spirits. I doubt you’ll ever need protection from those kinds of things, but anything to keep you safe. Celestia only knows what you’ll encounter out there.” “Thank you, mom.” He curled his hoof around the pendant and leapt to embrace her with his free leg. “This really means a lot. I’ll keep it around my neck until I’m safe at home again.” “You grew up so fast.” She wrapped her wing over him. “It seems like just yesterday you were running through the halls with your friends playing soldier. Now you’re about to do the real thing. You know, we start military and vocational training early compared to the rest of the galaxy? If this were anywhere other than the empire you’d be going off to prom next, not war.” “I’ll be fine, I promise.” She sighed and said: “I know it’s the way things are, but part of me still can’t get over it.” They held each other tightly for a moment. Then, Thunder Gale pulled himself away and slipped the pendant over his neck. His mother’s eyes trickled, but she wiped them with her hoof, cleared her throat, and gave no more tears. Not once had he ever seen his mother cry before. The cacophony of the crowd built around them, and scents of the perfumes in the air mixed continuously, but somehow they were alone for that moment. Cool air swept the fragrances aside and brought relief from the heat of the ponies around them. The conversations to their left and right lulled, and reached a relative quiet. Then a yellow pegasus with a peacock’s tail for a headdress barged in between Thunder Gale and his mother. The mare reached into the crowd and dragged a stallion wrapped in a toga along with her. “I must say, these flowers are magnificent! I’ve never seen anything like them on Hellas,” she said. “Thank you.” Thunder Gale’s mother put on a happy face. “They’re a family treasure.” “Excuse me.” He scooted them aside with a flex of his wing and closed the gap between himself and his mother. “I’ve been meaning to ask you: have you seen father anywhere?” “No, I haven’t even seen him since last week,” she said. “I know he’s here, but I’m not sure where.” “I’m going to look around and see if I can find him,” Thunder Gale said. “I’ll catch up with you later.” Unfurling his wings out from the tangle of his toga, he cleared a path through the crowd and forged his way back. He didn’t get very far before a speaker flipped on in the garden. “Fillies and gentlecolts, if I may have your attention, please,” Spring Gale said over every speaker in the garden. “My friends and I have something very special we’d like to share with you all. Happy birthday, little brother! This one’s for you.” “Wait!” Thunder Gale’s mother pushed her way through the wall of ponies and grabbed his hoof and pulled him along. “You have to see this!” “What about dad?” “He can wait,” she said. “Your sister and her friends have spent the last month getting this ready for you.” Violins hummed throughout the garden, and hooves plucked on strings. At first he didn’t recognize the song, but then they played through a bar and moved onto the next and his whole face lit up. “Is this?” “Yes! Come on or we’ll miss the show.” The song was none other than “All These Things That I’ve Done”. He knew the words so well that he heard the lyrics behind the hum of the strings as easily as he could his own heartbeat. They only got as far as the verse, “I want to shine on in the hearts of stallions, I want to mean it from the back of my broken hoof,” when the music cut out and the party was left with silence. After a few seconds and the song did not return, he crowd started murmuring amongst themselves. Thunder Gale turned to his mother, and she was just as confused as he was. “What’s going on?” he asked her. “I don’t know, something isn’t right.” A siren wailed, and everypony went silent. Thunder Gale looked to the ponies around him, but everypony—guards and nobility alike—were now focused entirely on the black sky above. “We need to get to the panic room.” His mother squeezed his hoof and nudged him into the crowd. “What about dad?” “We have to go. Your father can take care of himself. Go!” “And Spring?” “She has her guards and her entourage,” his mother said. “We don’t have time for this! At this point if we go looking for her we’ll just get in the way!” Adrenaline coursed through him in a hot wave. His legs shook. “There are panic rooms located throughout the palace and the grounds!” his mother shouted to the crowd. “Emergency lighting will guide you! Everypony, remain calm and we will get through this.” As soon as she finished speaking, panic spread throughout the garden and soon screaming erupted. The mare beside Thunder Gale flung out her front legs and shrieked, and smacked him across the face. He kept on his hooves by extending his wings for balance. Good thing too, as otherwise the ponies swarming around him from behind would have trampled him. He reached out with a free hoof and latched onto his mother’s as the tide swept past them. He led her through the as they forged ahead with the current. Thunder Gale watched the tide of bodies knock a pegasus beside him over and swallow her under hoof. About halfway back to the palace, his mother stopped. When Thunder Gale turned to her to urge her on, there was anger in her eyes. A pegasus—the yellow one from before—slammed into his mother from the side, but she kept on her hooves and regained her balance in a step. She turned on the ponies behind her and gave them that a hard stare, and though stupefied by fear, it worked and they backed off long enough for her to stand on her hind legs and shout above the noise: “Everypony stop!” And they all did. “You are pegasi! Exemplars of responsibility and loyalty!” She dropped back down on all fours but still commanded the crowd’s attention. “Start acting like it, or so help me, I will have each of you stripped of your titles and landholdings! Do you understand me? There is no place for this behavior in the Empire. I will not tolerate it! Not here in my garden, and most certainly not in the Congress of Nobles. Remain calm, stay orderly, and we will make it through this together. I promise.” Murmurs and whispering spread throughout the crowd after she finished talking, but their voices never rose as they did before. He swiped the sweat off his brow and glanced around to those beside him. “I can’t believe that worked,” he said to his mother. “For ponies, fear is as virulent as it is bedlam inducing.” She let out a controlled breath as she followed the flow of the partygoers and staff toward the palace. “Luckily, fear isn’t the only emotion that can propagate itself in the hearts of others. Let this be a lesson to you: whatever emotions sprout within yourself are projected onto others and may take root there. A leader who projects piece and calm can bring about harmony, but one consumed by fear or hate will only bring discord.” “Yes, mom.” There was a boom from the palace, and a wave of heat followed. Thunder Gale flinched against the blast and shut his eyes. The crowd wavered against the blow and knocked him about. When he opened his eyes, a plume of smoke ascended out from a room near the east wing of the place. Glass and splintered wood sprinkled down from overhead. Shortly after, the acrid scent of smoke washed away the perfumes in the air. Thunder Gale watched transfixed as orange fire shone out the windows of his home. Before the crowd dissolved into panic and screaming again, his mother spoke up and addressed them once more: “We are the elite and the noble. If we can help those less fortunate, we can help each other! We will all make it through this together. Just stay calm. The panic rooms will keep us safe and there’s plenty room for us all.” As Thunder Gale and his mother filed forward with the crowd, a pony pushed past them in the other direction. It was Lightning Fire. Her teeth were gritted together and her mane was covered in glass. If anypony knew where his father was, it’d be her. “Mom, I’m going to find dad, okay?” Thunder Gale pulled his mother close to him. “I,” she started to say. She swallowed and held back tears, and said with a dry face, “I know you’ve already made up your mind, so there’s very little I can say to stop you. Stay safe, okay?” “I will,” he said. “I promise.” Thunder Gale kissed his mother on the cheek, and let go. Then, he shoved and pushed toward the darkness looming over the hedge mazes at the garden’s edge. He aimed for Lightning Fire, and followed her path through the crowd. Once they were clear of the crowd and where the cool winds flowed openly another explosion blossomed. That time closer, and probably on the grounds and not the building itself. As Thunder Gale turned to watch the flames lap at the sky, so did Lightning Fire. “You!” Lightning Fire marched up and yanked him around by the scruff of his neck to about an inch away from her face. “Just what in the name of Celestia do you think you’re doing? You’re supposed to be in a panic room!” “I’m looking for my father.” Thunder Gale shoved her off and looked her in the eye. “That’s what you’re doing out here, so I’m coming with you. Don’t try to stop me.” “Colt, I could think of over ten dozen ways to land you on your ass so fast you’d never even see it coming. Don’t think I wouldn’t slap you around just because you’re nobility. Now get back to the panic room! I have something important to do and this is wasting my time.” She spun around and took off toward the hedges, but Thunder Gale darted around in front of her and matched her move for move when she tried to side step him. “I’m not a colt,” he said to her. “I’m turning sixteen at midnight, remember? I’m basically an adult.” “Adult or not, you’re about to get a flank whoopin’ unless you get out of my way.” “Let’s say you do, alright? You kick my ass, then what? I’d get right back on my hooves and keep following you and getting in your way until you’d agree to take me to my dad. Unless you’ve got some rope on you, and I don’t see any, you’re not going to stop me without hold me down or dragging me all the way back to the palace. Now, do you have time for that?” She glanced over her shoulder at some point just beyond the hedges, then at the palace, and back at him. Ponies cried in the night. “Okay, fine, you can come with me,” she said. “But only because I don’t have time to argue with you. Your father’s transponder is only about three hundred feet away. Let’s move!” Into the darkness of the hedges at the edge of the garden they galloped. Her hooves kicked up the gravel of the path. The fires in the palace and the LED screen on Lightning Fire’s forehoof were the only lights around. “Father!” Thunder Gale shouted at the bramble in front of him. “Where are you?” “Look at this,” Lightning Fire said. She held her LED aimed at slick patch of crimson splattered across the ground. As Thunder Gale approached the spot he noticed a small, blinking, chip in the center of it all. “Is that what I think it is?” he asked. “That’s your father’s transponder implant.” She lowered her hoof and craned her head up at the sky. “Where’s the royal guard? They should’ve landed troops here by now.” “I am here,” said a voice from just beyond the next hedge. “Father!” Thunder Gale dove through the twigs and thorns to the other side and spun around toward the sound of his voice, and there he found him. His father stood, perfectly still, with his back to him and facing a dead end in the hedge trail. Thunder Gale tucked his wings away and stared into the back of his head and kept his distance. The folds of his father’s toga were secure and neat, and his mane was combed and styled perfectly, unlike Thunder Gale, who wore the catastrophes of the night on his clothes and on his body in scrapes and sweat and tears. His father was fair and immaculate. Lightning Fire wasn’t more than a second behind, and once she broke through as Thunder Gale had, she stayed beside him rather than approach the pony facing the bush. “There was an explosion, we didn’t know what happened to you,” Thunder Gale said. “I had to leave mother and Spring to come find you. We need to get back to them.” “Sir, are you okay?” Lightning Fire asked. “Everything is fine.” His father twirled away from the corner to face them. “Everything will certainly be fine.” Green light flickered in the pupils of his father’s eyes, and he said: “Yes, everything is just fine.”