//------------------------------//
// Public Speaking and Spelunking 
// Story: Ebon Wings 
// by Lanielan 
//------------------------------//


"Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional."
-Buddha


"The support pillars for the city were made invisible during the founding of the kingdom as a way to...beguile let's say, the other kingdoms. Have them question if it was wise to attack if a city as large as Canterlot could be supported only by magic; from their perspective anyway. Powerful magic meant powerful unicorns, let alone my sister and I. We have since moved away from times like those, however the pillars remained invisible, since nopony saw the need to undo the spell. At that point where we didn't need such measures, the city had become famous for seeming to "float" on air, and most ponies felt it better to leave it as is. The pillars are being repaired as we speak, and afterwards, I shall add more spells for extra stability and more powerful reinforcement. Next question."

As soon as Celestia finished answering, another cacophony of questions erupted in the press room. Public interviews were something Celestia loved and dreaded in equal measures. One the one hoof, she was able to get a good feel for the populace by from the questions asked. The papers had to cater to the moods of the populace in order to make them relevant enough to customers to buy. For the most part, the papers were very good at encapsulating the general concerns from the common ponies that she rarely got to speak with anymore.

The din died down just enough for one question to be heard over the others, "Princess Celestia, Hot Scoop from Fox Papers; do you think this is because of Discord and the free reign you've given him, despite his past?"

This was the part of public interviews Celestia dreaded. The more radical, less logical papers were allowed in as well. At only about 11:00 in the morning, she silently thought it was far too early for such questions.

Her face didn't falter from her warm, accepting smile as she responded, "We have no reason to believe Discord had anything to do with last night. His testimony, and that of Fluttershy, put him at her house for tea and biscuits at the time of the incident." 

"But Princess Celestia, he's the embodiment of Chaos, surely he could do something like this no matter where he was?"

A slight sigh managed to escape Celestia. This paper in particular never let her decision to reform Discord go. His betrayal with Tirek only gave them more fuel for the proverbial fire.

"Discord had nothing to do with this. This incident was too straightforward for Discord to have been part of it. There was a definitive goal in mind with this incident, and that was to attack Canterlot. Discord's plans have never involved just hurting anypony without some sort of irony or joke."

After the bombardment from the reporters died down, a new pony stood up from her seat. "Inquiring Mind here, Princess Celestia, from the Manehatten Times. Where was Princess Luna during all of this?"

Happy for the change of subject, Celestia's smile grew a bit wider. "My sister is currently resting in her room from the exhaustive efforts that she put forth protecting Canterlot last night. Holding up the entire city from falling off the mountain for three hours took a lot of energy, so she understandably needs some rest."

I still have to talk with her for making me worry like that.

Before Inquiring Mind could respond, Hot Scoop spoke up again, "How can Princess Luna be tired from holding up a city when she can move the moon?"

At this, everypony turned and looked with very expecting eyes, and some murmurs. However, she was prepared for this question. This particular question had come up fifty-four times in some form or another, since she began public interviews. A shame the papers seem to ironically forget it every couple decades.

"The answer is quiet simple. Luna's cutie mark is the moon and night sky; meaning her special talent is moving the moon and stars and keeping domain over the night. Her magic is specifically attuned to moving the moon and stars, almost as effortlessly as one would move a hoof. For all other applications of magic, she has no special affinity. She has to spend just as much energy as any other unicorn would be required to. The difference being Alicorns have far greater amounts of magic and control than normal Unicorns, in part due to our nature and long lives."

If nothing else, Lulu will get some great cover stories from these interviews. Mental note; she owes me some cake when we meet for our monthly favors party. 

"So what your saying is that Alicorns are not as special as we've been led to believe, and that Princess Luna doesn't have the energy to go on past a few hours of work?" Hot Scoop had one of the smuggest grins Celestia had seen in decades. 

At this point Celestia thought of a running river, to keep her mind calm enough to match her face. She would never show these questions irked her. She had to maintain the serene ruler image, if for no other reason than to deny the satisfaction to this reporter. "To answer your questions, no, that is not what I am saying at all. Please, Mr. Scoop, would you tell me how much weight you are able to lift?"

The grin didn't budge. "Two-hundred pounds with my wings alone." 

I'd have to rate that grin at about number thirty-five; better than Rainbow Dash, but not quiet as good as Gold Bricks. Which reminds me. Mental note; check in on Bricks when my meetings are done today.

Celestia nodded in acknowledgement. "Do you think you would be able to hold that weight for three hours with no breaks and the weight distribution is constantly shifting? Or if you also had to organize a city's reaction to an emergency? Even if the effort did exhaust her, Princess Luna's actions bought enough time to save the city as a whole, and get the citizens to the emergency bunker. It is not the shortcomings or mistakes of the individual that should ever be focused on; rather what they do despite them that should be how we judge their character. The Elements of Harmony have demonstrated this for all of Equestria many times over, and my sister did the same last night."

The hall erupted into cheers, with most every pony stomping their hooves. Hot Scoop was scratching out a few lines on his notepad. Celestia allowed the cheers to continue for a few moments before she gestured for quiet. "Next question."

The reporters began again in earnest from the most recent exchange. Some ponies questioned why she didn't have a system where reporters asked her questions in an organized list. While there were many official reasons, the one that Celestia cared most about was that she loved watching her ponies get so animated about asking questions. It kept things interesting, and these meetings more animated than the rest of them. Celestia's smile grew a few degrees warmer and several centimeters wider, while the sunlight's intensity went up by several lumens.

I certainly hope Twilight is having as much fun as I am.

"Princess, Princess! I hate to be the one to ask this, but how many were injured from last night, and were there any...deaths?"

The hall dropped to dead silence. What joy Celestia had been feeling was cut down by the question. The sun lost some of its shine, and the hall grew a little cooler.

Somberly, the sun princess answered the question she had been dreading the most. "There were many injuries last night, yes. We still don't have the exact numbers, but there are several hundred injured at least. As far as death tolls, we will need more time while we account for all the citizens. I hope you all understand..." Celestia politely coughed into her hoof. "We have time for one more question."

For once, no one in the hall seemed to have any question. After a minute, Celestia was about to call the meeting when a high-pitched "I have a question!" was heard from the back of the room.

A little blue filly with a ocean-green mane ran up the side of the aisle to get closer, followed closely by a grey stallion with a rusty red mane.

The filly stopped in front of Celestia's dais, panting out her question. "Ha...ha...are you...still going to...go to the Canterlot Elementary Talent...Contest?" 

The stallion had caught up with the errant child, and started bowing and apologizing profusely.

Celestia's mood was lifted once again. The Talent Contest was a great city-wide event. Everypony in Canterlot attended, both for joy of seeing the young growing into their own, and to potentially scout out new workers for when they graduated. Celestia rarely got to go, but she made sure that she and Luna could go this year. Luna always did love children, and Celestia always loved going.

Her tone much brighter than before, Celestia silenced the stallion's apologies with a motion of her hoof. "I would love to attend, little one, but it is my understanding that the sports field and stage was damaged from the...event last night."

The little filly's eyes practically sparkled when Celestia talked to her. "Yea it was, but me and my friends went exploring around the bunker, and we found an old...umm what was it Bookworm called it again? Ampi- umphi...uhh..."

"I think you mean amphitheater, little one. What is your name?"

The filly jumped up and down in place, reminding Celestia of a certain pink party pony. "That's what it was called! Oh, uh I'm Happy Days. Everyone in our school was really excited that you and Princess Luna were coming to the show, and when our school got damaged everyone was really sad. So my friends and I went looking around for a solution until we found the amphitheater. I know you must be really busy, Princess, but everypony worked really hard to make this the best show ever, and we still have our props. Please can you come? Pleeeease?"

Happy Days eyes somehow grew even bigger than they already were.

This is adorable. I had almost forgotten about that amphitheater. The show was scheduled to begin this week, but under the circumstances, I think a little more time is in order. I know I've seen these two somewhere before though...

"I'll tell you what. If you can get your teachers to agree, and help get everything ready by next Saturday, I'll make sure that we will attend. Does that sound fair?"

Happy Days was living up to her name. Her head bobbed up and down so fast she was a little dizzy when she stopped. "Yes, Princess Celestia, that's perfect! Come on Daddy, we gotta to go tell Mom!"

Pulling the stallion along down the aisle and right out the door, he barely got out a thank you and goodbye and an apology for his daughter before the doors closed. The hall still heard a high-pitched squeal from outside; the hall let out a collective "D'aaawww" as everypony started packing up for their return trip. Gossip started, as it tends to with any gathering. Celestia always waited before leaving to catch some words, a practice that helped her many time before in any social event.

"That filly was adorable!"
"Yea she was. Did ya see ole Country Mile? Thought the poor fella would have a heart attack from how his little girl was actin'."
"Well she certainly was eager. Do you know why she was so excited to tell her mother?"
"What, don'cha know? Her mam is principle of the school 'round here. Oh yea, really nice lady, very passionate."

Ah, I thought those two seemed familiar. Yes, I've seen them a few times when I met with Principle Horizons. I'm glad that the questions could end on a happy note.

As soon as most of the reporters had left the hall, Celestia rose from her spot and started walking towards the royal library. She could teleport, of course, but there was no real rush. Her next meeting wasn't for a whole twenty minutes, practically an eternity to her. It was also the meeting about the damages and injuries, which she wasn't looking forward to one bit.

Time to check in on Twilight.



"Spike, SPIIIIIIIKE! Do you have those astronomical charts that I asked for?"

The Princess of Friendship, Lady of Ponyville, leader of the Elements of Harmony, bearer of the Element of Magic. Just to name a few of Twilight's official titles that were called out by the heralds at every event she now attended.

"Right here, Twi. They were in- WHOA!"

A crash was the company to Spike's stumble from carrying a large stack of papers and charts of the stars. While Spike did crash into the floor, the papers were all enveloped in a purple glow, and brought over to the desk that Twilight had turned into what could only be described as a war-zone for papyrus. Books were opened on top of books, scrolls overlapped other scrolls, with there being no clear distinction where the actual "top" of the pile was anymore. 

The aerial battle above was even more chaotic. All manner of academic papers and books were constantly moving in an intricate dance that only the caster knew the steps to. On a chalkboard nearby, one could claim that a mad-pony had scribbled over every usable square centimeter of its surface, and one would be hard pressed to offer a convincing argument otherwise. In the middle of this small patch of madness was Twilight, glancing over papers, jotting down notes, and having thoughts run faster than a Sonic Rainboom. A hoof was constantly raised to help her with the royal breathing technique. That meant she was constantly turning on only three legs. The manic look in her eyes was at what her brother referred to as "the study fever."

All-in-all, even with the new charts, she was at wit's end.

Spike picked himself up and dusted his scales. Looking at the small island of whirling madness, he promptly turned around and walked away. As he was returning to his desk with some gems on it, he sat down and continued reading the comic book he had found. 

"Ya know Twi, Celestia wanted you to figure out what the disaster yesterday was, not to make a new one."

"I know Spike, but this is really important to Celestia and all of Equestria. Something came out of the sky last night, and Luna didn't do it, and Discord didn't do it, and if they didn't do it, then that means something else did it, and-if-I-don't-find-out-what-did-it-then-we-may-never-know-what-happened-or-how-to-stop-it-next-time-or-what-it-means-and-then-society-as-we-know-it-may-collapse-and-"

A book smacked into her face lightly before going back to it's place in the vortex. "Remember to breath there, Twilight. Don't want a repeat of last time do we?"

Gasping for air for a few breaths,and shaking her head, Twilight managed to regain a semblance of calm.

"Thank you for that, Discord. Now as I was saying Spike, if I- DISCORD!"

The offending book had gained the eyes of the spirit of chaos, as his body came out of the floorboards, his limbs from the chandelier overhead, and some of Spike's gems became his mismatched wings. The book started flipping through all of the pages quickly, throwing out a part of his head onto the rest of him as it progressed. Discord, now as one body, stood with a giggle and grin, waving Twilight on.

"Don't mind me, number one student, carry on. I have to say, I'm not usually a fan of 'organized' chaos, but I will admit, you pull it of with flying colors. Well, mostly purple, but you get the idea."

Discord snapped his fingers. A folding beach chair, popcorn, a pair of old 3-D glasses, and a tropical patterned shirt appeared in a flash. He sat down and with another snap, made a coconut with a little umbrella and a bendy straw. He then started drinking the popcorn with the straw.

Twilight, for her part, was only annoyed for the time it took Discord to settle down, before she went back to her vortex and calculations, which Discord helped along by snapping up a new chalkboard for her to write on. Three sticks of chalk and five minutes later, the second board was full, and Discord snapped up a third one. The show managed to keep him thoroughly entertained, especially since every conceivable parchment in the room was never at rest for more than twenty seconds as Twilight was constantly checking and comparing her chalkboard statistics and formulas to any number of papers. 

Discord took a photo with a camera that he conjured up, and put the picture in a book labeled "Purple-Smart Memories". Spike saw this and laughed, Twilight was too engrossed in her mad research to notice.

Then the library doors opened and Celestia walked in with an amused grin. "I see you are hard at work, my old faithful student."

Every paper promptly fell to the floor and Twilight jumped two feet into the air from the interruption of her mentor. "Princess Celestia, I didn't think you'd be done so soon, I haven't even written up a report yet, or a rough draft, or an outline-"

"Oh Celestia, why did you have to ruin the show? It was just getting to the good part!" Discord promptly threw the coconut over his shoulder out the window. It landed in the castle gardens and turned into a tree that grew pink lemons.

Celestia only sighed at Discord's antics. Looking at the all of the data that Twilight was processing was a reassurance. The more information that could be known, the better, especially since the next meeting was with the nobles. That was when Celestia had a wonderful idea.

"Discord, Twilight, will you both please walk with me? There is something I wish to discuss with the both of you."

The two in the room only shot each other a questioning look before Discord snapped away the getup, and Twilight gathered her notes on the most important of the information, which was a measly three-hundred pages. Spike followed behind Twilight, making sure to bring the extra papers and flashcards. Celestia led them down the hall with the trademark smile on her face.

I think this will work out very well for all parties involved. All that will need to be done after this is wait for the cave team to report back anything significant.


 
"This is starting to feel like an effort in futility. I mean, why are we down here again, when those Lunar freaks practically live in caves? They seem far better suited to the task."

"Hey, Ray, I just want you to know that I do this out of duty. Though I will enjoy it."

*THWACK*

"AHH, what the Tartarus, Breeze?"

"One: don't be a bucking racist you dope. The Nocturne have only been helpful since they got here. Two: they are called the Night Guard. As in, the hours that the sun ain't shining. Sound familiar?"

The pair of Solar Guards continued their little debate with each other as they continued walking down one of the tunnels of the old city within Canterhorn. They were part of the team of the Royal Guards to try to locate the object within the mountain. It was proving to be a difficult task. The maps of old Canterlot were mostly useless, in part due to time collapsing some tunnels, and the last night's event damaging even more. It was slow going, with multiple pairs of guards each trying to scout out a passable route to the lower levels of the mountain. 

Ray and Breeze, a unicorn and pegasus respectively, were sent to an Eastern portion of the old city. The map said that it was once the section of the city where the nobles lived. The light from Ray's horn was enough to light up the section of the cavern they were walking in. Unlike most other parts of the city, which was lit using crystals in a fairly efficient and cheap way, the nobles had opted for the far more expensive oil based lamps. The empty posts stretched along down the entire length of the cavern, placed at regular intervals. The buildings were crumbling, but mostly intact. Time had eroded away most of the excess that they were known for, but one could still see some remains of impractical aesthetics, like the statue made entirely out of mithril, or the mirror made out of silver covered in cobwebs. All in all, it was a little creepy, especially given the reason why they were down here in the first place.

Ignoring most of what Ray was complaining about, Breeze made a mental note to be sure to suggest to his CO to quietly remove the statue to melt it down into something useful.

No need to tip off some snooty bigwig and start a whole "family heirloom" debacle. Why would you ever even waste that many bits for  a mithril statue? While I'm thinking about it, why a silver mirror? That would need constant polish just to be used as its form intends. Bah, nobles. I'll never understand how so many can just throw practicality out the window. Least we'll be able to make a new set of heavy duty armor or two for cheap with that statue.

"You listening to me, Breeze?"

Shaking his head out of his reverie, Breeze looked over at his partner. "Nope, I tend to channel out stupid crap unconsciously. For you though, I'll make an effort to listen to audible garbage."

"Wow, OK. What the tartarus is eating you?"

Sighing, Breeze let his head hang a bit lower as he stopped walking. "I'm sorry Ray. Its just that my little sister got hurt last night, and you know she's a Nocturne. My shift just ended when that thing struck, so I haven't gotten any sleep, and as icing, our apartment building collapsed with most of our stuff inside it. Then we got tasked with trying to map out these caves. I don't mean to take it out on you...well except for the racist crap."

Ray, with a look of sympathy in his eyes, put a hoof on Breeze's shoulder. "Hey, I get it. My older cousin got hurt too, but ya know that the Princesses are having everyone treated, courtesy of the crown, along with repair costs. Also, you know I don't mean anything by what I say about the bat-ponies. Just making a joke."

Resuming their walk after that maximum amount of male bonding allowed in one day, they both felt a little better about their current job of mapping out the caves. While they didn't find many ways going down, they did continue to find a number of precious relics that they both made notes of. They kept walking for another hour, before they came to the point on the direct opposite of the mountain where they started with a fresh cave collapse.

Ray marked off the map they had been given for one last time, when both of them heard something.  Ears pivoting to find the noise, their eyes opened wide at the realization that it was a high pitched voice. "Hello? Is someone there? Please, can anything hear me?"

Breeze and Ray began looking around to try to locate the source of the voice, but echoes made the task difficult. Ray tried to keep some of the panic from his voice. "Where are you? Are you behind the collapsed tunnel?"

"Yes, I am. Thank the cosmos I found someone to help me."

Breeze looked at the rock wall and the surrounding cave and support structures, trying to figure out exactly how safe it was to start digging. "Hang on, we'll be back as soon as we can with some help to dig you out."

"But I'm not the one in trouble."

Both of the Solar Guard raised their eyebrows at that, sharing a glance, before Breeze called out to the voice again. "Uh, you just said that your on the other side of this collapsed cave. How are you not in trouble?"

"Well, its pretty easy to not worry about that when you can crawl in between the rocks. Hold on, I'll be right over to explain."

Two sets of eyes grew wider as the pair of ponies waited for their mysterious guest to show up. It didn't take long until they saw something moving from out of the space between the rocks. Casting the lamplight on it, they saw a little spider about the size of a bit. It had a dirt brown color that blended with the walls and rocks of the cave seamlessly if on wasn't looking hard enough. 

"Hello. Its nice to meet you. I'm so happy to have finally found something that can help."

Breeze was the first to recover from his amazement at a talking, tiny spider. "Uh...hello. I'm Private Breeze, and this is Private Ray, of Celestia's Solar Guard. Forgive us, but we haven't ever heard of talking spiders before."

"Not really surprising. Spiders like to keep to themselves if they can help it. I can't help it though. One of my friends is trapped underneath some rubble from the earthquake last night. He's alive, but he needs help to get out. Do you two think you can help?"

Ray was still having some trouble wrapping his head around the situation that him and his buddy were in. "Well, we'd love to...its just that we're on a mission to find a way to the bottom of the mountain from these passages and-"

"Oh, are you looking for that weird thing that crashed in here earlier and caused the earthquake? My friend and I were really close to it when it hit, and that's part of the reason why he got trapped under rubble. I can't move the rocks, but I know the way to the crash site. What do you say?"

Breeze raised an eyebrow at the all-to-easy solution to their mission. "Can't your friend just crawl through the rocks like you?"

"No, he's not a spider. He's bigger, about as big as you two, actually. Said he's a bat. He's the only one down here, so that means I have a one-of-a-kind friend!"

The two ponies looked at each other and nodded. Breeze stepped forward and knelt down to be on eye level with the spider. "We would be happy to help your friend if you could show us the way. How would you feel about meeting with our commanding officers to talk about all the details?"