Half the Day is Night

by AugieDog

Chapter 6

"Twilight!" Applejack yelled. She lurched sideways, shoved Twilight Sparkle bodily around, and pointed at the huge metal beam tumbling from the ceiling toward the crowd filling the Day Palace's throne room. "Lift it! Now!

Leaping forward, she heard Twilight gasp, but Applejack couldn't do anything except trust her friend would do what she could. "Clear the floor!" She pitched her voice like she was calling Big Mackintosh in from the back forty. "Y'all can exit to each side and at the back! Nice and orderly, now, but move!"

Rainbow Dash burst into the air and streaked to hover above the center of the crowd. "Folks on my left through that door, folks on my right through that one, and folks behind me out the back! Let's go!" She jabbed her hoofs at the nearest three pegasi in golden armor standing along the walls. "You, you, and you! Help 'em out!

The soldiers jumped, their wings unfurling to sail them over the crowd, and that was apparently the first time anypony in the audience looked up, the first time they saw what was glowing and hovering in the air above Rainbow Dash. Applejack heard gasps and shrieks, spared just enough of a glance to see the beam was holding steady halfway between the ceiling and the floor, the thing big as the windmill back home but solid metal and weighing who knew how much! Long as it kept floating, though--

"Ev'rything's under control, folks!" she called, sprinting into the crowd to nudge some ponies gently to the right and others to the left. "We just needs to clear the floor so we's got somewhere to set the dang thing down!" Another glance back at the throne showed her Twilight standing wide-eyed, her horn glowing fitfully--and Princess Luna beside her, the light from her horn so bright, Applejack had to look away. The anger hard and plain on the princess's face wasn't too pleasant to look at, either...

Whether it was the early hour or that the Canterlot folks were just naturally tractable, Applejack was happy to find she didn't have herself a stampede to deal with. Everypony moved quick and easy toward the exits, the other soldiers stirring themselves to help out, and in not too many minutes, they'd cleared the area underneath the beam. "Look like it'll fit, Dash?" Applejack called to her friend.

Dash looked up, looked down, looked up again, then nodded. "Lower away!"

"You're certain?" came Princess Luna's voice, and Applejack couldn't help folding her ears at the fury behind her words. "I could vaporize the thing easily enough..."

Which made her ears fold even further. "Really wish you wouldn't, ma'am! I've a mind to give it a little lookin' over, if'n it's all the same to you!"

"As you wish, Minister," the princess said, and Applejack started to wonder who she was speaking to, but Princess Luna was going on: "Gently, now, Minister Sparkle."

"I'll take your lead, your Highness." Twilight sounded more than a little shaky, but when she looked up at the beam, it was gliding down light as a feather to settle on the floor of the Day Palace between the foot of the throne and the desks along the walls.

Up close, the thing made Applejack sweat even more: a fluted cylinder a little bigger around than an apple barrel, probably more decorative than structural, but solid and shiny and one hundred percent spun steel, she figured, so long, its ends would've stuck out the front and back doors of the barn back home. If this thing had fallen into the crowd--

"Yow." Rainbow Dash glided to a stop on the other side of the beam. "Not what I'd call up to code."

"Indeed, Miss Dash," said somepony Applejack had never heard before, and looking over, she watched an amber and orange pegasus land beside Rainbow Dash, his white and gold uniform jacket a lot like her blue one, his cutie mark a couple crossed swords. "Well done with the crowd, by the way."

Dash's eyes went wider than Applejack had ever seen. "Oh my gosh! Captain Destrier! You...you remember me??"

"Of course." The stallion nodded with a slight smile. "We'd be honored if you'd stop by the Citadel while you're in town to discuss your Sonic Rainboom techniques with us."

"Oh my gosh!"

Applejack cleared her throat. "You in charge 'round here, captain?"

"He is." Princess Luna strode up, Twilight right behind her, and Applejack had to force herself not to shy away, a little too much Nightmare Moon in the princess's face. "For now."

A little gasp from Dash, but Applejack couldn't look away from Princess Luna, the slightly larger pony's eyes dark and fixed on hers. "I will have answers, Minister Applejack."

Swallowing, Applejack could only shrug. "All I gots is questions, ma'am. F'rinstance--" She trotted toward the narrowest end of the beam. "Anypony else see this thing flash 'fore it started to fall?"

"Flash?" Frowning, Twilight moved into step alongside her. "I...I wasn't looking at the ceiling, I guess."

No one else answered, though Applejack could hear hoofs clattering behind her despite the rising mutter of the crowd around the exits, the soldiers forming a rough perimeter to keep folks away. "Well," she said, coming around the end of the beam, "maybe you can tell me how powerful a unicorn'd hafta be to melt through a whole messa metal as thick as this?"

"A unicorn?" The shock in Twilight's voice made Applejack sigh. "Why do you think--?"

"Somepony had to--" But she stopped, the actual end of the beam rough and scratched. "Huh." Raising her head, she found Princess Luna standing with Dash and Captain Destrier, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rarity just behind them; continuing to tip her head back, she focused on the domed ceiling above them. "Who cleans that dome up there?"

"Captain?" The way Princess Luna growled the word sent a shiver down Applejack back.

The captain sounded nothing but uncomfortable. "Why, the maintenance staff, I assume."

"They earth ponies?"

"Unicorns, I should think." The puzzled glance he gave the ceiling made Applejack wonder if he'd ever even looked at it before. "Possibly pegasi, though, as I imagine only magic or wings could get a pony up among those girders."

"Yeah." Applejack gestured with a hoof. "I'da thought that, too, but I sees a whole mess of catwalks and crawlways up there 'less'n my eyes're goin'." She brought the hoof down and aimed it at the end of the beam. "And the scratches here tell me somepony took a hacksaw to it. Cut through 'bout three-quarters of the way, I reckon, then left their unicorn accomplice to give it that last little push."

"A hacksaw?" Captain Destrier was blinking.

Applejack shrugged. "'Swhat made me thinka earth ponies. Begging y'all's pardon, but I ain't never met a pegasus nor a unicorn as could handle any real sorta construction work." She frowned at the jagged end of the beam. "Or destruction work, I s'pose. Oh, and ma'am?" She looked up at the scowling Princess Luna and shook her head so her pony tail flopped over her shoulder, tapped the ribbon there. "Might be you wanna remember a few things."

Princess Luna's eyes widened and rolled to her own ribbon, still tied at the base of her horn. "Yes, I..." She closed her eyes, took a breath, swallowed, and when she opened her eyes again, they were about half as scary as they'd been the last several minutes. "Thank you, Minister. And see? You do have some answers after all." She turned a strained smile toward Captain Destrier. "Captain, I'll ask you and the guard to give Minister Applejack your full cooperation." She tapped the beam with a front hoof. "Will you be needing this object any longer, Minister?"

Applejack's ears still twitched at the title, but it looked like the princess had gotten fond of it all of a sudden. "Yes'm, if you don't mind. Any saws we find, we can check their marks to these."

"Very well." Dark energy flowed from her horn, wrapped around the beam, and with a shimmer, it vanished, the muttering from the onlookers pausing for a moment, then getting even louder. "I've sent it to one of the empty rooms upstairs at the Night Palace; if you have need of it, let me or Minister Sparkle know. But for now, we've the business of the day to get on with." She nodded to Captain Destrier. "The Day Ministers may return to their places, captain."

Bowing his head, he touched a hoof to his chest and gave a trilling sort of whistle. The guard ponies all perked their ears, stomped a front hoof in unison, and marched to retake their positions along the walls. Princess Luna cocked her right front foreleg and took a stance, her mane almost flowing the way Princess Celestia's did, and her voice took on the same depths it had earlier. "All those with appointments for today, I shall be keeping Sister Celestia's usual schedule, and I thank Canterlot--I thank all of Equestria--for giving me this chance to redeem myself."

More muttering from the ponies at the doors, some stepping back inside, their gazes darting upwards as they settled at their desks, but most heading away into the rest of the city in groups small and large; Applejack couldn't help scowling at that, knowing one of those ponies had triggered this whole thing, but, well, nothing she could do about that here and now. What she could do, though-- She turned to Captain Destrier. "I reckon y'all can search out any hacksaw in the palace, captain?"

He nodded, gave a different sort of whistle, and two pegasi winged over, a uniformed unicorn flashing in beside them as they landed. "Commanders?" he said to the three. "We'll need a top to bottom search of--"

"Forget it." Rainbow Dash's voice; Applejack turned to see her shaking her head. "Whoever did this planned it real careful. They wouldn'ta left that saw anywhere near here." She shrugged. "At least, I wouldn'ta if it'd been me."

Applejack blew out a breath. "Reckon you're right, but we still gotta look." She pointed her snout at the four guard ponies. "If'n you was a earth pony wantin' to lay low in this town, where would you go?"

"Ground Town," one of the pegasi said so quickly, it was out before Captain Destrier's scowl could make her clench her mouth tight as a fist.

"Ground Town?" Applejack asked.

The captain's scowl softened into a look of regular annoyance. "There are agricultural fields carved on the flatlands in the middle of Canterlot, Minister. Most of the laborers there are, of course, earth ponies."

She nodded and turned to Dash. "You got any plans fer the next couple hours?"

Dash gave a wicked grin. "Can't say as how I do."

Applejack felt a tingle of excitement. "Then how 'bout you an' me head on out to this Ground Town and--"

Princess Luna clearing her throat made Applejack stop. "If you would, Minister, might I ask that you coordinate the investigation from here?" She lowered her head to Applejack's ear. "Please. I...I'd feel much better if my Minister of Honesty was nearby when ponies start lying to me about what happened here today."

Minister of Honesty? Applejack squinted down at her Element of Harmony necklace, blew out a breath, and nodded. "Well, I reckon I can go over the lista whoever was here this mornin' with Twilight and Captain Destrier, see if'n any names jump out as a suspect for our inside pony." She looked at Rainbow Dash. "Guess yer on yer own with that saw, gal."

"Naw." Rainbow Dash laughed, then called out, "Hey, Pinkie! You wanna take a walk?"

Comments

[q97randomguy]

And the day was saved thanks to Luna being OP.

[Feo Takahari]

I just finished reading a fic by a different author in which Applejack screwed up several times over, nearly got all the Elements killed, and ultimately allowed the villain's victory through her own shortsightedness. It's jarring to compare her portrayal in that fic to her competence in this one. (I'm not going to judge which version is more accurate to canon, but for what it's worth, this version is much more fun to read about.)

[Kita Aldrin]

Ok... after how all that was handled... you had my curiosity, but now you have my attention. Keep it up.

[AugieDog]

4014242

Here's hoping:

You enjoy the rest of it as well!

Mike

[Xanni]

"I thank Canterlot--I think all of Equestria" - is that "think" a typo for another "thank"?