//------------------------------// // The Accident // Story: Princess Twilight Takes A Walk // by Jake The Army Guy //------------------------------// FIFTEEN YEARS POST-ASCENSION “Okay, here we go! I got it this time! Are you watching, Twi?” “Mmm-hmm,” Twilight said, eyes still buried in a piece of parchment on the ground before her. She and Cadance sat on a blanket, a spread of sandwiches set out before them intermixed with dozens of scrolls containing the plans for the upcoming Grand Galloping Gala. Spike took a deep breath and tensed his shoulders. A high-pitched buzzing filled the field as his new wings—comically undersized on his adolescent body—flapped furiously. With a grunt, he bent his squat legs and leaped high into the air, and for a few moments, actually managed to hover. “Hah! Twilight, Cadance, look! I—whoa!” His lanky body twisted and spun in the air and he fell to the grass with an “Omph!” Looking up, Twilight stifled a giggle at the dragon-shaped heap before her. She lit her horn and righted him. “Sorry, Spike. I told you, you’re just going to have to wait a few years until they'd grow in properly.” “Ugh, no way!” Spike stood and dusted himself off. “Scootaloo’s first performance is in Cloudsdale this Tuesday, and I’m gonna fly there to watch her, with Celestia”—He smirked in her direction—”with Twilight as my witness.” “Hmph.” Twilight frowned up at him. “I told you not to say that, Spike! I’m not comfortable with ponies praying to me.” “Heh!” Cadance grinned at the nonplussed grimace on Twilight’s face. “You get used to it after a while, Twilight.” Spike opened his mouth to reply when his eyes suddenly screwed shut. His cry of protest turned into a mighty burp, a scroll landing on the grass from the stream of fire. Clearing his throat, he glanced at the two princesses. “That hasn’t happened in a while.” Wordlessly, the alicorns crowded around Spike as he opened the scroll: Twilight and Cadance, Please come to the throne room at once. There’s been an accident. ~Celestia “Accident?” Spike said. “What could—” He never got the chance to finish as a bright purple flash left the field empty. The trio flashed into existence just outside the large double doors to the main throne room. The guards who stood outside both gasped at their sudden entrance, but as soon as their eyes locked on Cadance, their eyes went wide with an emotion Twilight couldn't place. "Princess Celestia just sent for us," Twilight said. "What happened?" The guards looked at each other, but said nothing, simply lighting their horns and swinging the doors open. Twilight eyed them for just a moment before stepping inside. A muted chaos encompassed the large throne room. Before the throne, Luna was conversing with several haggard looking Crystal ponies. Even from across the room, Twilight could see their coats were dulled by a thin veil of what looked to be dust and ash, and their crystalline tails were twitching furiously, despite Luna’s apparent attempts to calm them. As Spike groaned beside her, shaking off the effects of the harried teleport, Twilight and Cadance rushed to the far corner of the room, where Celestia was speaking to somepony laying on the ground. Several ponies obscured Twilight’s view of him, each wearing the red sun marking of the Royal Guard’s Medic Corps. “Captain, please do not make me order you. Let these gentlecolts take you to the hospital. You may have—” “With all"—the pony hissed through his teeth as one of the medics tightened a bandage around his broken wing— "all due respect, Your Highness, I don't take my orders from you anymore. I have to tell them. It's my duty." "Captain," one of the medics said, "if we don't set this wing, you may nev—" "Buck the wing! I'm not leaving until they get here." As he yelled, Twilight and Cadance shared a look of recognition at the pony's voice and rushed towards him. Cadance reached them first. “Flash, what happened to you?!" At her voice, Imperial Guard Captain Flash Sentry jumped to his hooves, only to wince in pain and shift his weight off of his left forehoof. The young Captain looked like he just came out of a war zone: what parts of his orange coat that weren't covered in dust were marred by scratches and abrasions. His left wing was awkwardly bandaged to his side. The fluorescent mane he was so proud of was soaked with mud from the dust mixing with sweat, and a trickle of blood ran down his cheek. What really bother Twilight, however, was his right eye, covered by a thick layer of gauze, dark crimson seeping into the white bandage from what was likely a permanent injury. His good eye stared back at Cadance with an empty, hollow gaze. "Princess! I..." "Flash, what happened? Wha..." Cadance's eyes scanned his haggard appearance, then to the rest of the crystal ponies. All their conversations had died out the instant she spoke, and all were staring at her. One mare began to openly sob, rushing into the grasp of another, who gently stroked her mane. Cadance kept looking around the room, taking in the sights of everypony, but she suddenly froze. Twilight noticed it, too. Amidst the several dozen ponies that filled the room, there was one pony conspicuously missing. Slowly, Cadance turned back to Flash, her lips moving silently for a time, as if her brain didn't want to say what she was thinking. "Flash..." She gulped, "where... where is Shining Armor?" Flash's mouth worked up and down, as if his voice refused to speak. "Captain Sentry, where is my husband?" "Princess, I... I-I'm..." At once, it was as if the weight of the entire world fell in Cadance's shoulders. Her legs simply stopped working and she fell to the floor with a thump that echoed in the now deathly silent throne room. "No," she whispered. "Please... please, no..." Spike rushed to her side, but Twilight stepped past her to square with the injured Captain. "Flash, what's going on? What happened?" Her words seems to snap Flash out of his daze. "Twi, there... there was an accident." "We know that," she said. "What exactly happened?" Flash gulped. "We... It was an award ceremony, in the courtyard beneath the palace. Lots of civilians, family members. We're still trying to…” He swallowed. “A truck carrying a shipment of fresh mana batteries went out of control and hit one of the support struts. The whole castle was coming down, but..." "But what?" "This can't..." Cadance gasped, her eyes already bloodshot from tears. "W-we were supposed to have more time. More time." Not even Spike's firm embrace could stop her shuddering body. "Shin—Prince Armor threw up a shield." Despite his own tears, Flash smiled, looking a bit like an awestruck colt even beneath the blood and dirt marring his once-vibrant coat. "I, I've never seen magic in that level before! It's must have been a thousand tons of rock and crystal, but he held it! Long enough for us to evacuate the crowd. He... h-he saved us, Twilight." Twilight felt a swell of pride. Her BBBFF's magic was strong, but this was impressive even to her. "Okay, so where is he?" The smile on his face died, replaced by a brief look of confusion before settling on deep sadness. "I'm... I-I-I'm sorry, Twi. We tried, tried to go back for him, but he... he wouldn't let us. Kept the shield up until..." He gulpped and then stood as straight as possible, grimacing as the act shifted his improperly bandaged wing. "He's gone, your highness." Nopony dared move. The only sign of life in the cavernous room was the fall of tears and the wracking, pitiful whimpers from Princess Cadance. "No." Flash blinked his good eye. "Twilight?" "No," Twilight repeated firmly. "That's impossible." From behind Flash, Princess Celestia slowly approached. "Twilight, I am so sor—" "No," she repeated, this time even louder. "You don't understand, it's impossible." A mixture of whimpers and murmurs spread through the ponies in the room. Celestia knelt down and placed a gentle wing over her former student. "Twilight, I know how hard this must be, but—" "No," Twilight said yet again, shrugging off the comforting wing. "When I ascended, my brother officially became the most powerful unicorn on the planet. He taught me everything I know about rapid fire casting! He wouldn't, couldn't..." "Princess..." Flash began. "He had to have teleported away before the shield fell." Twilight strode over to a mare she recognized as the Prime Minister. "Minister Gleam, you need to contact the Imperial Guard and start a search at once." "Twilight, please—" Twilight rounded on Flash, cutting him off. "Captain, why aren't you heading a search party?! Wherever he is, Shining is probably in a lot of pain from mana feedback!" "Twi, you don't—" "Luna," Twilight said, moving towards the alicorn, "would you mind letting the sun stay up a few extra hours tonight? The search party will need—" "He was already dead!" Every pony, Twilight included, cringed at Flash's yell. She turned and made to speak, but he never gave her the chance. "You weren't there, you didn't... didn't see..." Flash's good eye jerked back and forth, his lips trembling. "There was so much... blood. It... in his eyes, his ears, his nose! It must have been sheer force of will that kept the shield up, but he..." He once more fixed a hard glare at Twilight. "He was dead before the shield even fell." Every pony in the room shivered as the ambient temperature physically dropped several degrees. Twilight stared at Flash for a moment more, pinion feathers twitching. Why were her pinioned twitching? It wasn't like Shining Armor was d—hurt. He was hurt. Yes. Injured.  “No. No, you’re wrong. He teleported away. He did. He did. Let’s see...” Flash limped to her side. Their failed relationship be damned, he put his injured hoof on her shoulder. Her eyes were furiously moving back and forth. “Twilight, I know this is hard to accept.” “Shut up,” she hissed. “I’m doing math.” “Twi, ple—” “I said I’m doing math!” She threw his hoof off, scuttling back several steps. A deep groan reverberated in the room from somewhere, but Twilight paid it no heed. Her mind was racing, almost as much as her heart. “Given the ambient temperature of the Crystal Empire this time of year, factor in the weight of 400 tons of crystal and stonework, a shield of 4.5 megajoules per second would be required.” Her voice was strong, but tears had already begun to stream down her cheeks. “Holding for three minutes, the farthest he could have teleported would have been...” A tremor passed through the throne room. Five feet? No, that couldn't be right. Of course not. Emotional distress distorted logic in extreme cases. She read that in a book. No. “No,” Twilight mumbled aloud. “No, no, no, no, no, I must have m-misplaced a decimal. Five hundred feet. Five hundred feet. Math never lies, never lies. We have to find him, have to, come on, come on!” She shrieked at the ponies sobbing and whimpering around her. “Why are you all just sitting there?!” The amassed crystal ponies shied away, whimpering at her scream. It made no sense! How could they just be doing nothing? Simply sit there and cry like foals when Shining was... A deep cringe ran through her body. No. Just no. “Your prince is hurt! In pain! After all he did for you, don't you even care?!” “Princess Twilight Sparkle.” Luna’s voice was like a shock of cold air, dry and empty. Her eyes were misty, yet firm. “Compose yourself. Your brother is gone, and his citizens mourn.” The words pounded like a sledgehammer into Twilight’s ears. She rounded on Luna and fixed her a deathly glare. “No one cares?! Fine, I'll go myself.” A bright corona of shimmering power gathered at her horn, bathing the scene in eerie light. “Twi, what are you doing?” Spike left Cadance's side and approached her. “You can't teleport that far without an array! It could kill you!” A deep, shuddering breath. “No, it won't.” “Twiley...” The whisper came clear even over the deep thrumming of Twilight’s horn. She blinked, and turned to see Cadance, still sobbing and broken, looking at her. “Please, just... j-just stay with me?” “Don't!” she sneered, glaring at the sniveling pony before her. Just sitting there, like all the rest. Like she had been the last time Shining was in danger. A wave of sickly revulsion hit Twilight. “Your husband is suffering, and you're just sitting there, wallowing.” Her gaze narrowed. “Did you ever even love him?” “Twilight!” Spike wiped a steaming tear from his cheek. “Please, stop this.” She regarded him with an icy glare. By this point, sparks were dancing around her horn. A deep groan echoed through the air at the immense power emanating from her. Several stained glass windows shuddered in their placements. “Twilight, please calm down.” Despite his calming tone, he took a measured step back from the glowing princess. “Shining... h-he meant a lot to me, too. But he's g-gone. We need to—” “NO!”  Spike suddenly found himself sprawled on the ground a few feet away. The air around Twilight hissed and cracked with energy as her horn built to a blinding glow. “My brother is not dead, do you hear me?! He's not!” And with a release of energy that broke several of the storied stained-glass windows and knocked nearly every pony off their hooves, Princess Twilight Sparkle teleported away.