Strange Bedfellows

by BRBrony9

Recovery

In the late morning, a commotion outside Twilight's door made her stir. She slowly opened her eyes. Pleasant sunlight was streaming in through the windows, illuminating the room and casting shadows across the floor. She had slept for...she did not know how long, but it had been a dreamless sleep, a black sleep through countless hours of sweet oblivion. She still felt tired, that muddle-headed condition common to most after waking from a long rest, the perverse and counter-intuitive feeling of being more tired after sleeping than before. But something had woken her up, and it was in the hallway outside.

She could hear voices and hooves, clamouring outside her door. For a moment she didn't realise where she was, until she remembered the events of the previous day. The rescue, the Hive collapsing behind her, Spitfire, the airship, the princess. She was in Canterlot once more, safe and sound.

The door unlocked and one of the two guards peeked his head inside the room. Seeing that she was awake, he addressed her. 'Ma'am. You, uh, have some visitors. Do you feel well enough to receive them?' he asked.

'Visitors? Oh...um, yes...yes, I suppose so...' Twilight mumbled, bleary-eyed. Had the princess returned? No, the guard said visitors plural...

From out of nowhere, a pink puffball bounced into the room. 'Twilight!' it squealed, quickly followed by an entire spectrum of colours; orange, white, blue, yellow. Though she had been away for almost two weeks, Twilight still remembered what her friends and family looked like, and she managed her first smile in some time.

Pinkie Pie, eagerest of the bunch, jumped onto the bed and pulled Twilight into a hug. 'You're ok!' she beamed, as Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow gathered around, with happy smiles plastered across their familiar faces. Behind them came Shining Armour, and her parents, all looking impossibly relieved to have her back and relatively unharmed.

Twilight was so happy to see her friends again that she ignored the old aches and pains that the string of hugs brought back to the surface as she embraced each of the other Elements in turn. They offered their heartfelt feelings of gladness to have her back among them.

'W-we thought we might never see you again...' Fluttershy mumbled.

'But we never lost hope,' Applejack pointed out, 'Had ta make sure of that.' Twilight smiled. She had no doubt that the tough and dependable farmpony had stepped up to the plate in her absence, being the de facto second in command of the team, and done her best in keeping the group together and keeping their spirits up. It seemed to have worked.

Her family came next, with more hugs and gentle words, especially from her mother. Shining showed a look of pride that his sister had not let herself be broken by the ordeal, and had not, as she made sure to alert everypony, told the Changelings anything. They had all encountered Chrysalis and her brood before, at her brother's wedding, and knew the kind of depths to which she might be prepared to sink for information. None of them asked Twilight what had been done to her, what depravity the Changelings might have unleashed upon her, but each of them knew that she had been through something terrible.

A happy half hour was spent in light-hearted discussion with her family and friends, before the palace doctor arrived and shooed them all away. Twilight needed a complete examination, and the doctor, a frazzled mare with tired eyes, insisted that they leave, under the proviso that they could return later. Food and water was brought in by the two handmaidens, and after Twilight had freshened up, her wheelchair from the night before was prepared and she was taken to the infirmary.

The doctor, evidently being kept busy by having to treat both Luna and now Twilight, ran a full battery of tests, drawing blood, urine and saliva, checking for any chemical or metabolic imbalances that may have resulted from her two weeks of deprivation. She checked Twilight's eyes, ears, mouth, heartbeat, blood pressure, reflexes. When Twilight complained of a nagging pain in her back, the doctor ordered a complete x-ray series to be taken, and her equally harried nurse scurried to obey. Not military, the medical professionals were full-time palace staff, the lucky few who had survived the invasion by virtue of being elsewhere, either on detachment to another hospital or with the military, or as one of the civilians who had taken to hiding in the hills and were now returning in increasing numbers. The medical team in the infirmary would normally be three times the size; the others had not been so lucky.

Later that day, while she was back in her bed resting, Twilight's tests came back clear. Other than the fading symptoms of dehydration and short term malnourishment, some strained muscles, and general fatigue, the doctor could find nothing seriously wrong with her. A byproduct, perhaps, of the fact that Chrysalis had not used overtly physical torture, instead relying strongly on psychological techniques. When she did resort to pain, she induced it through the use of magic, rather than physical beatings, which stimulated the nerve endings without causing any lasting or visible damage to the body. The doctor made sure to stress to her that she should take it easy, rest up as much as possible, and get plenty to eat and drink to build her strength back up gradually.

Her friends returned to sit and talk with her again later that day, spending some time with their companion after being without her for so long. After they left, she had some more time to rest, listening to the drone of airship engines as some of the combat forces returned from the barren north. Twilight was fed once again, and as evening descended, there came another knock at the door. This time, it was another convalescent.

'Princess Luna!' Twilight smiled, relieved to see the younger royal sibling up and about. 'I'm so glad you're alright! I saw what happened...'

'I am fine, Twilight,' the princess replied, though the large swathe of bandages covering her flank suggested otherwise. 'It is most heartening to see you back safely with us.'

'I wouldn't be here if not for you,' Twilight sighed, as Luna trotted over and sat upon the bed. 'When you talked to me in my dream...it let me know that I wasn't alone, that you were still out there, you and your sister and my friends were all still hoping to find me.'

'We had no intention of ever stopping the search,' Luna assured her, wincing slightly as her sore body rested upon the soft bed. 'It is a matter of deep regret to both myself and my sister that we did not find you sooner.'

'How did you find me?' Twilight questioned her. 'I know I wasn't of any help...I just didn't know where I was.'

'In hindsight, your comment about the temperature was rather prescient,' Luna pointed out. 'But it was not us who found the Hive. It was the humans. Their spaceships apparently possess cameras of great precision and clarity that were able to detect what they suspected could be a pattern of artificial tunnels around the base of the volcano. They relayed the information to us, and so it proved to be.'

'You're still working with them?' Twilight asked, cocking her head slightly. 'They're still here?'

'Yes, Twilight. Our alliance is potentially fragile, but it still holds,' Luna replied. 'They are still on the planet, and they are helping us retake it. Manehattan is already back under our control.'

'Manehattan? Oh, that's amazing. A city of that size...' Twilight mused. Having visited Manehattan a few times, she knew very well how expansive it was, and how complex an operation must be required to capture it from an entrenched military force.

'They have also recaptured Ponyville,' Luna added. 'However...'

'However? However what?' Twilight blinked, eager to hear news of her adopted home.

'Ponyville was already heavily damaged from the initial invasion,' Luna reminded her. 'An operation was launched to capture both the town and the Hoofer Dam. However...it seems the human enemy managed to plant explosives within the dam and breach it as the Imperium forces arrived. The town was...washed away.'

Having felt only relative happiness and peace since her return to Canterlot, Twilight felt her heart drop. Ponyville was gone? Mentally, she had already braced herself for just such a possibility. After all, as Luna had pointed out, the town had come under siege during the initial attack some weeks ago. Damage was considerable, and under enemy occupation it was highly likely that there would not be much left of Ponyville anyway. But to hear that it was essentially wiped out, completely gone, all of her memories there swept away with the floodwaters, was a sharp blow for her to bear.

'I-it's gone?' she mumbled. Luna nodded sadly.

'I am afraid so. Only the strongest buildings were able to survive. I am sorry, Twilight.'

The destruction of the town but paid to the chances of survival for anypony living there, even if the Chaos occupation had not done that already. Applejack's family, Cheerilee, Derpy, Roseluck, Octavia, Vinyl, Lyra, BonBon, Mayor Mare, the Cakes...no definite proof, but probably all dead and gone, along with the rest of the town's residents. All of her old haunts; the library, Sugarcube Corner, Sweet Apple Acres, the Carousel Boutique, the town hall...all gone and lost forever.

'A-at least Canterlot is...mostly ok...' Twilight replied slowly.

'That is so, and most fortunate,' Luna agreed. 'But to lose an entire town is a grave blow to all of Equestria. No doubt dozens of similar towns have been lost, but Ponyville holds a place in my heart, even as I know it must engulf yours. I understand your pain, to lose that which you have known for so long, and which you hold so dear.'

Twilight nodded. Luna, during her exile to the moon, had suffered unimaginable hardships, being separated from all that she had ever known, from her dear sister who had been forced to banish her, from her home and family, for a thousand years. In the shadow of such monumental suffering, Twilight's paltry imprisonment of less than a fortnight made her feel ashamed to even consider wallowing in an ounce of self pity.

'It became my home,' she added plaintively. 'I know I lived here first, but...Ponyville was my real home. I found my friends there. I found my place there.'

'I know,' Luna nodded. 'I understand how difficult it is to find your place in this world, to find out what and who you really are. But what you are, Twilight, is not defined by Ponyville. You merely discovered the facts while you were there. You are a leader, the leader of the Elements. Your friends are still here, and you are still here to help lead them. The loss of Ponyville will not change that. I know you are stronger than you realise. This past two weeks has proven that beyond any question. You are here, and you are still yourself.'

There was wisdom in Luna's words, a wisdom borne of experience. Twilight could tell that she was speaking from experience, having no doubt suffered a similar crisis when she returned from her banishment on the moon. She had come back to face an uncertain future, with a distrustful populace and a sister with whom she had to make amends for her former barbaric acts. Twilight had none of those problems to deal with, merely a sense of disassociation with the loss of her adopted home town, and the lives of all those who had perished trying to rescue her. It didn't make things easier to bear, but it did at least let Twilight know that somepony else understood the kind of feelings she was having.

'I know, princess, and thank you...but...it's not just Ponyville. Ponies died trying to get to me,' Twilight explained. 'I can't just...airbrush that from my mind. I saw the bodies, I-i saw them suffer...'

'And I understand that feeling as well,' Luna reminded her. 'Ponies died because of my actions as well, but unlike in your case, my actions back then were deliberate. I knew what I was doing, and looking back I can see that I had no excuse for those actions. But you did not choose any of this, Twilight. You were not responsible for being captured, and you were not responsible for the rescue mission. That responsibility lies on my shoulders, and the shoulders of my sister. We are both here for you. If you need somepony to talk to about what you have experienced, then we will both be more than willing to lend you an ear, Twilight. Always remember you are not alone. If you feel that your friends would not understand what you have suffered or seen, then try your brother. He is a military pony and he knows what it is like to bear some of the weight that you carry.'

Twilight nodded a little. 'I don't want to bother my brother, he has other responsibilities to take care of.'

'But one of his responsibilities is to be your brother, is it not? It is a responsibility he takes very seriously, I know. Perhaps more seriously than his actual job,' Luna replied, which made Twilight smile softly.

'I guess you're right. But...' She glanced at the bandages that adorned Luna's flank. 'It wasn't just ponies I didn't know who got hurt because of me. You got hurt because of me...'

'I got hurt because of Queen Chrysalis,' Luna replied. 'Because my sister and I decided to lead the operation. Because I was weak. Not because of you. Do you understand, Twilight?'

Twilight nodded again slowly. The repetition was helping her, but she could not entirely shake her malaise, or those dark feelings at the back of her mind. No matter how much Luna or Celestia or Spitfire or anyone else told her otherwise, it was still her fault.

'I-i understand...' she muttered. 'I do understand, princess. I just...feel like it's not that simple.'

'Nothing is ever simple, Twilight,' Luna responded with a nod. 'And sometimes, the most simple explanation, the one that seems the most glaring to you, is not necessarily the right one. I am sure you will come to see what I mean with time, but consider this. We went into battle to rescue you and recover your Element, so that, if it becomes necessary, you will be able to use the Elements to defend all of Equestria. Some ponies died, yes. But ponies have always died to defend our land. That is a fundamental precept of our continued existence. If Equestria does not have ponies willing to fight and die for its ideals and for its security, then it will soon crumble to dust. I know you are one of those ponies, you and your friends have shown that willingness time and again. So had those stallions and mares who died on that battlefield.'

Once again, Luna spoke nothing but sense. Twilight knew that she was right, that she had not asked to be rescued, and that those ponies who had died had done so fighting under orders from the princesses. That was all. It was no different to those who had died during the flight from Canterlot in an attempt to protect the Elements. Yet somehow, this still felt different to her, more personal, more...visceral. It was not just the grizzly entrapment and death of Skybolt that was causing her grief, though his panic-stricken face continued to stick in her mind. She had seen a dozen bodies, perhaps, in the Hive, but she knew, though she had not seen them up close, that hundreds, perhaps thousands, must have died outside on the field of battle. Surely nopony except for the princesses themselves was worth such sacrifice?

Luna stood up from the bed, slightly unsteady on her rear right leg which was tightly bandaged up. 'I shall leave you to rest, Twilight. Please, try not to let your mind dwell too much on unhealthy thoughts,' she urged. 'And remember, I am always willing to speak with you, if you think it might help.'

'Thank you, princess...' Twilight nodded. 'I will...I will do my best. You speak from wisdom and experience, and I speak from curiosity and fear. I hope you do not think any less of me for it.'

'Less? Twilight, your courage is an example to us all,' Luna replied. 'Rest well, and ease your mind. I shall watch over you in your dreams.'

'Thank you...goodnight, Princess Luna.' Twilight watched her go as she left the room, closing the door behind her. She had some time to mull over Luna's words as she lay in her bed, the last embers of Celestia's sun fading in the western sky, Luna's moon rising clear and bright to replace it. With sound advice from both princesses swirling in her mind, she drifted away into the land of dreams and peace.

The moonlight shone down with a particular brilliance over Canterlot that night. The city on a hill slumbered, safe in the knowledge that the human enemy was far away to the south, and the news, brought back by the crews of the airships that now hung at their moorings, that the Changelings had fled their Hive. Good news had been hard to come by ever since the invasion, and it was greatly welcomed by the garrison and the citizenry alike, shouted around town by those with suitably loud voices as evening fell since there would be no morning paper to give further details.

In the time since the capital city had been recaptured, much work had been done to try and return it to a livable state. While there was still rubble in the streets and many damaged buildings, as Commissar Birbeck had noticed during his visit, many buildings had been made habitable by the continued work of military engineers and civilian volunteers. Apartments that used to house one or two ponies now housed six or more, in cramped conditions but in the dry and in the warm. Such places were spartan, with many fancy fixtures having been stripped out and destroyed by the occupying Chaos forces, but they were better than living out on the street. As more civilians returned from the hills, so more buildings were repaired and put into service as emergency housing.

Other buildings had been adapted for military needs, both as barracks in a similar fashion to the civilian housing, and for other purposes. A citywide command centre had been set up in the public library, while the overall strategic command of Equestrian operations remained centered in the palace, even more so now that Celestia was in sole command, her subordinate Chiefs of Staff being presumed lost after the invasion. Another building, a concert hall and theatre in brighter days, was now a storehouse and armoury.

It was this building that Corporal Breeze patrolled. The young stallion, a member of the Royal Guard, had signed on a year ago for adventure, but not for the madness and confusion that had resulted from the attack. With no chance of standing against the enemy that had poured into the city, his unit had retreated, escorting civilians out beyond the walls and to the relative safety of the hills. There they had lived in squalor until one morning when gunfire had echoed around the valley. Breeze had been on patrol then, too; he had awoken his squad leader and then hurried to a plateau overlooking the city to watch the most wonderful sight.

Airships and human flyers alike had been pushing their way through the enemy air defences in a brilliant firework display in the pre-dawn light. His squad and their civilian charges, some one hundred and fifty or so in total, had watched from the hills as the fight unfolded below, and soon enough, the city seemed to be back under friendly control, with the airships in position above. The next day, cautiously, a scout had been sent down towards the city walls to investigate, and she had reported back gleefully that the city was indeed liberated. A party of infantry came up to meet them later that day, and the squad and civilians returned home, never more glad to see the inside of those glorious, thick walls.

Breeze had remained part of the garrison ever since. With the human enemy cleared out of the city, hopefully for good, there tended to not be much to do other than patrol, patrol, and patrol- and occasionally stay in the same spot, when on sentry duty. Patrolling was the Guardsponies' most common task in peacetime, and, it seemed, in wartime as well. Breeze did not mind too much. Canterlot was both his home city and quite the most beautiful he had ever seen, especially, in his opinion, at night. When the stars and the moon glinted from the golden domes and spires, the cobbled stones were lit by reflections and the trees rustled gently with the cool breeze, there was nothing and nowhere else quite like it.

Breeze was happy to patrol the capital, as he had been before the war began. Then he had been on the lookout for vandals, drunkards, graffiti artists and drug dealers, not Changelings and humans from beyond the stars. Times had a habit of changing fast in Equestria, it seemed, but the constant chore of the Guardspony remained, as it always had been, patrolling.

His rounds took Breeze and his rifle to many varied locations throughout the city, depending on where his unit had been assigned on any given day or night. To his pleasure, they had been detailed for the night shift today, as it was not only a clear moon, but a full moon, and the city was aglow from above, just the way he liked it best. One of his fondest foalhood memories was on the early morning of Hearth's Warming Day, when he had woken in the darkness in his bedroom. After stumbling to the bathroom and back, resisting the urge to go downstairs and peek at his presents, he instead opted for a peek out of the window, and beheld the city in its absolute majesty as he had never seen before, nor since. Some time in the night, snow had fallen, a thick blanket covering the streets and rooftops, but the clouds had drifted on, and the skies were clear. Luna's full moon was shining down across the city, and such a glorious sight it had never been his privilege to see. What was special was that it was he, and he alone, in that moment. He had considered running to wake his parents, so that they might partake and not miss out on the beauty of the snow-covered city under a full moon, shining and glimmering and glistering, but he hadn't. He had stayed and watched for what seemed like hours. Whenever his warm breath would fog up the cold window, he would wipe it clean and peer out again, as if viewing it for the first time. The crisp snow lay undisturbed in the streets below; not a soul was stirring at such an hour, not even the mailmare or a Guardspony or the garbage collectors. It was perfection.

Canterlot was a truly beautiful city, and it saddened Breeze to have seen his home take such punishment from the invading humans. But most of its majesty remained, including the real jewel, the palace itself. The theatre around which he was patrolling was another gem. One of the older buildings in the city, located in the royal quarter not far from the palace walls, it had long been a favourite of those in the Canterlot 'scene,' those high-society types to which Breeze and his family had never belonged. Great plays had been put on there, including the traditional Hearth's Warming Eve pageant which he and his parents had attended on the evening before that wonderful snowbound night.

While tonight there was a full moon, there was no snow to be found. There was a little fog seemingly forming up ahead, but...

Breeze frowned. Fog? He looked around. Everything was clear, except for up ahead of him. Could fog be so incredibly localised? Something assailed his nostrils, and he sniffed, starting to trot. The fog was coming from around the corner, and he knew instinctively from the smell that it wasn't fog, it was smoke. Something was wrong. Something was burning. He trotted quickly to the corner of the building and turned. There was an alleyway to the rear of the theatre, used as a loading area. A bunch of garbage had built up, evidently in the days between the initial invasion alert and the actual occupation of the city. It had not been cleared up since, and now, it was ablaze. What was more concerning was that it was backed up right against the theatre wall, and flames were licking at the wooden cornice and windowsills of the floor above.

Breeze galloped back into the street and shouted as loud as he could. 'Fire!' he called. 'Fire!'

Comments

[OneAmongOthers]

Not good. The theater is where the arms and armor is being stored. I smell eminent disaster brewing. Seems like death is again not that far away.

[BRBrony9]

9942672
Your sense of smell is most accurate.