The First Steps of the Rest of Your Life

by Rhino

Chapter 44: Debriefing

***Monday, Day 30, pre-dawn***

“Look, I’m just saying: the next time I tell you somepony needs to wake up gradually… Don’t dump a bucket of water on them!”

“Hey it worked didn’t it?”

I sigh at my earth pony friend, “Yes, it worked, but it could just have easily made it worse. I told you, Volt has magical exhaustion, he needed to be eased out of his comatose state,” I half-heartedly flip the empty bucket onto Hydro’s head, “I know you and he have your differences… but please, just cool it for a bit huh?”

The red stallion removes the bucket from his head and sighs at my killing his buzz, “Alright, alright, I get it.”

I turn to our electric friend currently wrapped in a towel with a bag of ice on the base of his horn, “How’re you feeling?”

Volt rasps out a few unintelligible noises.

Seeing the opportunity before him, Blue pounces, “What’s the matter Volt? Feeling a bit hoarse?”

Facehooves and groans go all around while Volt manages to chuckle before letting out a groan of his own, “Heh-ow… hurts to laugh…*cough*-ow…”

I hold up a cautionary hoof, “Careful Volt, between your lack of magic for the next few days due to using it all up, and the damage to your throat from Torchlight, you need to take it easy.”

As we converse in the middle of the throne room floor, the sound of a door opening off to the side gains our attention. In stroll four distinct figures, well, three stroll and one flies. Iroh seems to prefer to fly everywhere, given his size, an understandable decision. He flies in approximately head height with our Princess of the Night who is followed by the Captain of the Wonderbolts, and finally our resident Sun Goddess, who wraps up the parade while levitating a large cup of what smells like coffee in her magical grip, a compliment to her tired eyes.

As the group approaches the throne, Luna turns to Spitfire, “Thank you for your testimony Captain. If you would like, you may join your friends for the debriefing.”

The fiery pegasus bows, “Thank you, your highness.”

While the Wonderbolt makes her way over to us, Celestia and her caffeine rest themselves upon their golden throne while Luna summons a large fluffy blue cushion and Iroh lands on the unoccupied section of that same cushion.

Celestia takes one long last chug of her cup before setting it down beside her and clearing her throat, gaining our attention, “Well, my little ponies, from what my dear sister and yourselves have told me, it seems you’ve had quite a busy night.”

I tense up as I answer, “Yes, your highness.”

Celestia smiles gently, “Peace, you are not in trouble.”

Luna smiles in less gentle, but more proud manner, “Verily, your deeds this night have been momentous. We simply wished to call you before your departure to enlighten you so there are no questions.”

Celestia nods to her sister, “Indeed, now to the matter at hoof. First, a question I have for you: I understand Torchlight had quite the interesting set of armor during your fight, would you happen to know how he sustained so many cuts and bruises as he now sits muttering to himself in one of our best dungeon cells?”

Atom shrugs and says with a completely straight face, “He probably fell down some stairs, some ponies are clumsy.”

The rest of us echo his assessment.

“Gotta watch out for those stairs.”

“Yeah, they’ll sneak up on you.”

“Those stairs are crafty.”

Celestia doesn’t look quite convinced but moves past it, “Very well, to the matter of former Lieutenant Torchlight’s plan: It appears his goal was to infiltrate enough of his own ponies into the ranks of the guard to enable the Canterlot branch of a particularly troubling mob group to do whatever they pleased. Now that their inside ponies have been exposed and are being dealt with, their crime in this town should cease and this will likely deal a blow to their organization as a whole as well.”

Hydro whistles, impressed, “Wow, we go through all that and it turns out the whole thing was just so some ponies could get away with pretty much anything… amazing when you think about what brought us here.”

Luna nods, “That is another item we wish to address: the assassin you encountered.” Luna summons a note with her magic and looks it over before continuing, “Hospital records show a pony matching the injuries your assailant gained from your encounter checking in here in the capital, unfortunately he left the hospital not long after he was treated, but we still have a group dedicated to tracking him down and they have already left to go after him. He should be too busy to trouble you any further.”

Celestia takes up the narrative again, “Speaking of the hospital,” she nods towards Spitfire, “Thanks to Ms. Spitfire, all the ponies you liberated from the dungeon are now receiving treatment and are on their way to recovery. In a few weeks, all of them should be back to their daily lives, hopefully no worse for wear.”

An audible exhale of relief comes from both myself and the others as we smile knowing we helped out those we could.

Luna lets out a small laugh, “And it appears your writer friend has already started an article to submit to the local news about this little excursion of yours. Names will not be mentioned, but it should be out fairly soon seeing as he continues to write even as he continues to rest in his hospital bed.”

Atom chuckles, “Navy never did let anything stop him when he had something good to write.”

I work up the courage to ask something that is bothering me, “Umm, your majesties? If I may ask… given the results of some of what occurred last night… Should we expect any consequences for some of the damage we caused?”

Celestia looks up in thought before returning her gaze to us, “Given the testimonies of both Captain Spitfire and my good friend Iroh,” she nods to the nimbat in question, “as well as uncovering many double agents in my own guards, I believe you get a pass for any damages caused.”

Atom steps forward, “Princess Celestia, you said earlier that all the prisoners, some of which were guards, would be able to go back to their lives. Does that include me?”

For the first time in our conversation, the Princess of the Day looks regretful, “I am sorry Atomic Vortex, but no. Yours is an unfortunate case. Before you, all the guards replaced were considered either MIA or AWOL. You were the first to be framed and because of how far this went before it was discovered, you were discharged out of the Royal Guard yesterday morning. As you know, once discharged, nopony may rejoin the Guard due to the measures against returning guards having become traitors. It is an old rule, but one that still counts.”

Atom’s ears flatten as he looks to the ground and says softly, “Oh…”

Luna’s voice attempts to perk up our friend, “Fear not, for all is not lost. Though you may not be able to serve us, your experience does qualify you for another profession, one many of our guards take after their retirements.” She floats a small card over to Atom. “We thought this might serve as a small consolation.”

He takes the card in a hoof and reads it out loud, “Atomic Vortex, Private Investigator?” He blinks for a moment before a smile starts working its way across his face, “I like it.”

Luna continues, “Also, if you wish to accept it, we have started the paperwork for you to gain a residence in Ponyville, though you will need to find a place to stay until it is ready. As you know, the talk of Canterlot is still of your trial, false though it may be, and thus it may not be wise for you to linger here. In addition, we thought you might enjoy being close to those who helped you prove your innocence.”

Brohoofs are given all around to congratulate Atom on his newly licensed job.

Celestia begins again, “And on that note, I figure you boys might want to start making your way back home now. You probably need to rest after all this.”

Iroh speaks up for the first time, “And, I’ll be coming with you.” He continues in response to our questioning looks, “I believe I did promise to tell you about nimbats when you rescued me from the dungeon, and it would hardly do to break a promise to those who helped me. Plus, from what Celestia tells me during our chess games, she has quite the student down in Ponyville, and I’d very much like to meet this “Twilight Sparkle” I’ve heard so much about.”

The Sun Princess turns to her friend, “Be sure to come back say goodbye this time once you’re done down in Ponyville before you head back to the rest of your people.”

Iroh makes a midair bow, “Of course.”

Celestia rises from her throne, “Once again, thank you all for what you have done here. I sent a letter to Twilight explaining the basics of what happened, but you’ll need to fill in the details yourselves.”

We thank the princess and begin making our way out of the throne room, as Luna yawns as she makes her way out as well.

Just before he exits the door, Celestia calls to Volt, “Voltage Surge, there is one more thing I wanted to tell you.”

Volt scampers back in and approaches Celestia with a questioning look on his face.

“Now, I’ve heard quite a bit about you from my student’s letters.”

The questioning look remains as he rasps out an answer, “She’s a good… friend.”

Celestia nods, “Indeed, you would never do anything to hurt her, right?”

“No.”

Celestia smiles, “Good, because doing so would make you a liar. And a liar of that caliber would have to burn under the intensity of a thousand suns."

Volt’s face, a mixture of confusion and trepidation, nods rapidly before he exits quickly after his friends.

Celestia waits a moment before continuing in a quiet voice, “Oh, she also has an over protective brother who is Captain of the entire Royal Guard who could easily break every bone in your body… oh no, it appears he didn’t hear me… oh well.” She shrugs and heads towards her room to raise the sun as she does every day.

***

I idly wonder what took Volt so long as he catches up to us just outside the castle gates as Spitfire is making her goodbyes.

“Well, it was nice meeting you all, but I need to get back to the other Bolts.” She looks at Atom, “Don’t be a stranger alright? We don’t see each other nearly as often as we should. Plus you should have a bit more free time now.”

Atom grins as they hug, “Hey, you know where I live now, feel free to visit any time.”

A small twinkle appears in the mare’s eyes as she prepares to take off, “Careful Atom, I might just take you up on that.”

A gust of wind and Spitfire is nothing more than an orange blur in a barely dawn sky. As we look back down and make our way down the street towards Atom’s place to pick up his stuff, a familiar duo hails us from across the street.

A yellow pegasus stallion stands happily next to a familiar purple shade wearing DJ who is waving us over, “Hey guys! Over here!”

I hail the mare as we close in, “Good morning Vinyl.”

The DJ has on her signature smirk, “You’re lucky I decided that you guys were worth staying up for before I go home and sleep. I just wanted to say thanks for getting this lug of mine back,” she pats Glare who stands with a content smile beside her, “Don’t know how you guys did it, but I’m sure I’ll hear about it later. What happened to Navy?”

Atom answers, “He’s holed up in the hospital for now on account of some injuries he got during a fight, could you tell him sorry we can’t see him before we leave? We’re kind of in a hurry.”

She waves it off, “Sure, I suppose staying up a little longer won’t be bad.” She turns to the stallion next to her, “As long as somepony agrees to carry me home-Woah!”

Glare chuckles as he adjusts the mare he had unceremoniously slipped onto his back, “Thanks again you guys. Atom, I’ll see you around alright?”

Atom smiles, looking back at us then to his friend and nods, “Look for me down in Ponyville, looks like I might be staying there for a long while.”

Comments

[(I*R) Surge]

All Atom needs now is a trench coat and a hat. Atomic Vortex Ponyville PI

[Lucky Alchemist]

Uncovered a crime cindacate, free falsely accused ponies, new friends, met both rulers, and found a new creature/ambassador, good trip in my opinion!

[Desert Storm]

1620203 PHOTOSHOP POWERS, ACTIVATE!!!!!! and by photoshop powers, i mean my brother...

[Atomic Vortex]

Atom shrugs and says with a completely straight face, “He probably fell down some stairs, some ponies are clumsy.”
The rest of us echo his assessment.
“Gotta watch out for those stairs.”
“Yeah, they’ll sneak up on you.”
“Those stairs are crafty.”

I TOLD YOU ABOUT DEM STAIRS BRO!!!

[darkironpony]

Those cursed stairs! Hehe evil Celestia!

[RLYoshi]

Oh those stairs.

[Fragment12]

darn sneaky stairs.

[blazikenking]

I imagine Celestia has a coffee cup like this one.
blog.highridgegraphics.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Custom-Giant-Mug.jpg

[Snowstreak]

Ouch. The "don't you dare hurt my daughter" bit. Only this time it's the sun goddess ruler of Equestria and the captain of the Royal Guard who'll kill you, then throw you into the depths of the sun, then bring you back just so they can kill you again.

Be mindful, Volt. Else you're royally bucked.

[Sea Pony]

It's seem Atom have read on the history of the Crystal Empire and their worst ennemies, the stairs