A Trip to Remember

by Allegrano_Melody

Interlude: Celestia’s Day Off

Author's Note:

Next Chapter decided by the comments

Aetherdal, Solomon, and Angel are my OC characters. I wanted to know if the readers wanted the chapters to focus on one of the OC and there interactions with the Main six that they know or keep using the same format and showing all three OC in each chapter with there separate POV.

Also, this story may seem Chaotic, but it will make sense later down the road.

Somewhere in the sky

2000 hooves above ground level, en route to Ponyville

The smart ponies hid at the sight of flames trailing from the royal sky chariot. Blinders kept the enchanted horse's armor pegasi blissfully ignorant of the living fire that the mane and tail of their passenger had become. There were stories of Celestia's wrath, generally mentioned only in whispered tones as cautionary tales to misbehaving foals. The truth was far more frightening. Celestia was so angry that she did not care who knew it. The only thing holding together the hot mess her chariot had become a shell of magic that had been cast for just such an occasion.

She had hoped to never again have such egregious cases of foal abuse. The colt in the garden, Aetherdal, had been suffering from the loss of both blood and magic. It seemed as if somepony had drained every last thaum from the poor thing. The pegasus colt, Solomon, was only marginally better. His pegasus physiology would heal his broken bones in a few weeks.
The worst part about the incidents was that the two refused to give any details about their assailants. The patterns of their injuries showed that some of the blows had come from the front. As tempting as it had been to simply read their memories, she refused to become the sort of monster that had abused the colts. Given time, she was sure the information could be coaxed from them.

By all accounts, the third foal was in good shape, suffering only from exhaustion and minor, superficial injuries. The filly was sure to be more cooperative.

The stench of burning hair broke her out of her reverie. A pegasus messenger flew beside her and said, "Your highness, there has been an incident near the palace."

Celestia looked back. There was a plume of smoke cheerily dancing around the southern tower. Celestia turned to the messenger and said, "Have the Royal Guard stabilize things and bring me a damage report. If anything requires my immediate attention, I will be in Ponyville."

Ponyvillie

A scorched trail marked the chariot's landing in Ponyville Square. With great effort, Celestia calmed herself enough to extinguish her mane and tail. As she looked around, she found that the town was eerily quiet. She frowned. At this hour, the square should have been filled with a bustling market. Now, however, there wasn't a town pony anywhere in sight.
Turning to the charioteer, she said, "Go to the hospital and see if you can find anypony. I'll go to Town Hall."
Celestia frowned as she entered the building. Scattered papers spoke of a hasty exit. "Hello!" she shouted. "Is anypony here?" Cautiously, she walked from office to office. Everyone told the same story.
When she returned to the square, the charioteer rushed up and saluted. He said, "Hospital is empty, your majesty. It looks like everypony ran away."
Suddenly, the messenger dropped in front of them. He saluted and said, "Your highness, you are needed in Canterlot."
With that, she and her charioteer rushed to the chariot.

One hour later

From the sky, Celestia could see that the scene below was one of sheer chaos. Squinting, she spotted a red galea amid the confusion. She leaped from the chariot and glided down. She grabbed the tail of the soldier and yelled, "Guard Commander! Report!"

The guard stopped and saluted. "Your highness, Little Hooves Orphanage has burned to the ground. There have been reports of feral foals from every quarter."

"How many of the orphans have you recovered?"

"Zero, your majesty. They are too elusive."

The messenger dropped in. Saluting, he said, "Your highness, the railyard reports that foals stole a train. It was last seen heading for Yakyakistan."

Another messenger dropped in. "Your highness, there are reports of pegasus foal disintegrating the buildings of Cloudsdale."

Turning to the second messenger, Celestia said, "Order the Wonderbolts to secure Cloudsdale." She then turned to the first messenger. "Tell the stationmasters along the route to sidetrack any suspicious traffic." Turning back to the guard commander, she said, "Rally the troops. Have them do a coordinated search." With that, she returned to the palace.
At the gates of the palace, Celestia stopped, shocked. The walls were no longer a pristine white. Muddy little hoofprints covered every surface. Walking to the pantry, she opened the door. A dozen foals with dirty faces stared at her a moment before darting away. Celestia looked at the bare shelves they left behind. Her precious cake collection was gone. She screamed, "No!!!"

Waking Up
Celestia woke with a start. She rushed to her balcony and looked out over the city. The morning had broken, but the city looked completely normal. She turned when she heard a knock at the door. "Please come in."

An elderly butler entered with her morning coffee, rolls, and newspaper. As he set it on the table, a senior advisor came and waited beside the table. Once Celestia had taken her seat, her advisor did the same. The old mare said, "There are rumors around the castle that you are planning a trip to Ponyville today."

"Really?" asked Celestia. "Why should I go to such a small town?"

"There's been news of a miracle filly. She single-hoofed, defeated a pack of timberwolves. Also, she has no parents, so that makes three mysterious orphans that have cropped up in one day."

"You're quite correct," said Celestia. "I shall visit the orphan in the hospital wing later today before I look for the filly." She sighed. "Please station extra guards around the Little Hooves Orphanage today."

"Of course, your majesty. May I ask why?"

"Call it a hunch."

Comments

[badninja]

Ouch, I feel sorry for Celestia in this chapter. Getting one of those must never be fun. Then again I am surprised that she didn't think Discord was responsible in the first place.