Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Frost M

More ponies did arrive, and more hugs were exchanged. Shining Armor, Cadence, Starlight, and even Lyra, though it was Twilight who looked for her and hugged her, not the other way around. After a short while, a brief while before Twilight had to be called away to look after other matters, her and her friends and Celestia found themselves looking over those three ponies still unconscious. There were evident signs of something different in two of them, though.

Fluttershy's miscoloured parts were receding, but it was actually Applejack who moved first. Not quite awake yet, she kicked weakly, mumbled something. Rainbow, who'd meanwhile cast off her armour, stepped closer and put a hoof on her, and gently rocked her back and forth. After a few seconds, Applejack opened her eyes. She opened and closed her mouth, and it sounded like she had trouble speaking, like that portion of her anatomy was still asleep. Looking briefly around she eventually managed to ask, "Is it over?"

Rainbow nodded at that. Applejack weakly pulled herself up, and once she was stably on her hooves she too was treated to a group hug. She didn't say anything at that, maybe because talking was still hard, maybe because there was nothing to say. They all knew they'd have to look into what had happened to her, and she knew it better than everyone else, but that was not the time for it.

The hug ended just in time for the participants to hear sounds coming from Fluttershy. Some high pitched squeals, and then a sigh. They turned, and saw her opening her eyes as well. The colours of her body had gone back to being almost like they were before the battle, and still getting closer to that state. She stood herself up and the first thing she did was check that all five other Elements were there. "Is everyone okay?" she asked then, speaking less weakly than Applejack had.

"Yes," Twilight answered her. It was true, as far as she knew. Surprisingly so. She had not yet heard of a single casualty, and she had asked about it. Not a pony seemed to be missing, and while more proper assessments would follow even a brief look at all the ones who'd gathered back in the heart of the Empire gave the impression that if anyone was missing, it was a matter of a few ponies only, and as such their absence would have been noted.

Fluttershy gave a small nod. That was all the acknowledgement needed, and seeing her expecting expression the other mares quickly followed with another, proper group hug. They let go of it eventually, and Rainbow pulled Fluttershy aside after a quick look around, having something to talk about with her in relative privacy.

That left one pony unconscious. Sadly, though she breathed regularly and showed no signs of being unwell, Luna simply did not wake up. Twilight walked up to Celestia's side, looking over her sister. "Thank you," she said quietly, but Celestia didn't answer.

Comments

[Speckle]

"hugs everyone"
There's gonna be a lot of talking about a lot of things now, I take it? And rebuilding, of course.