Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Four
They had gotten everything settled and were relaxing, Twilight talking and enjoying the conversations with Sunset and the rest of the ponies in her redecorated apartment as each of them shared more about themselves in turn. She had been pleasantly surprised by how much she was liking Rarity's changes to the place and she could see herself keeping it up in the future, even with Shining's teasing her.
Of course, she'd gotten back at him by mentioning his flugelhorn recitals from before he and LP got together for their band, which had prompted no small amount of amusement from their guests asking for details, and a lot of embarrassed looks from her brother.
"Do any of you do music?" he asked, clearly trying to change the subject.
"Heh." Rainbow Dash grinned. "Pinkie can play at least ten instruments, sometimes all at once, and Applejack's good at a bunch too." She looked at Sunset. "You?"
"Well, I... did some practice when I was outside of Equestria," Sunset said. "The magic that took me there, it... it transformed me into something other than a pony." She looked nervous. "I had to get used to it in a hurry, so... one of the things I did, to get used to the new type of dexterity I had, was practice with a guitar. After Princess Celestia found me and brought me back, I kept it up, and I'd like to think I'm still pretty good at it."
"What'd you get turned into?" Shining Armor asked curiously.
"A species that doesn't exist on Equuis," Sunset said with a sigh. "But we walked on two legs and had hands shaped like a minotaur's, if that tells you anything." She studied her hooves. "It was not easy adapting to using fingers instead of magic. It took remembering how Spike did things with his hands before I really figured it out."
"I'd like to see how well you play, but as I know Twily doesn't have a guitar in her house, how about we hea..." Shining trailed off as he coughed and shook his head with a blush on his face. "Actually, I think Vinyl's family would have some that we could use instead."
"Your place is a mess too, eh Shining?" Rainbow Dash asked with a grin, with Shining grinning and rubbing the back of his head.
"Yeah," he said, leaning on the open windowsill. "I try to keep it up, but..." He blinked and frowned, leaning his head further out the window. "What the..."
Before he could finish, there was a massive shaking before an explosion rocked out and alarms began to sound.
"What just-" was what more than one pony present started to say, before Shining's PCA began to go off with him answering urgent calls.
Rainbow Dash's eyes narrowed. "I'm going out there," she said.
"Rainbow Dash, wait-" Twilight started to say, but before she could finish her sentence, Rainbow Dash had disappeared out the window. Groaning loudly, she shook her head as she began to call Vinyl and Braeburn to make sure Octavia and Applejack were okay.
A pair of holographic windows popped up, and both immediately looked out at her, their guests right behind them.
"What's going on?" Octavia asked, looking around nervously.
"I don't know," Twilight said. "But both of you, Stay. Put. It's too dangerous outside right now."
Octavia nodded, but Applejack looked distressed. "Shouldn't we be out there helpin'?" she asked.
"No offense intended, but you're both untrained civilians," Shining Armor said grimly as he marched over. "That blast was in one of the construction zones, where the Department of Transportation was working."
Twilight gasped, and her brother nodded. "It's bad," he said. "I have to go join the other officers now. Twilight, by the stars, stay here with the rest of Equestrians."
"No, I can't do that," Twilight said, shaking her head. "I know that area better than almost anypony else. They need me there and you know that."
"And I can help too," Sunset said, standing by her side. "My magic abilities are considered the best in Canterlot bar the princesses and if things are bad, then I couldn't live with myself if I let others suffer when I could have helped."
Twilight felt her heart skip a beat, before she shook her head. "Sunset, I can't let you go," she said. "It's too dangerous, and if you went out there and got hurt... I can't even begin to imagine what Princess Celestia's reaction would be, and I don't want to risk it. Bad enough that Rainbow Dash took off before I could stop her." She faced the mare she'd become so close to and her other new friends, seeing the looks on their faces, and sighed. "I'm sorry, but for your own protection, I'm going to have to ask you all to stay here. Moondancer, will you watch over them for me?"
Moondancer nodded. "I'll do what I have to, Twilight," she said.
Twilight nodded back, before looking at the projections from her PCA. "Braeburn, Vinyl, keep Applejack and Octavia safe," she said. "I have to go now." She disconnected, then looked at Shining Armor. "Let's go."
Shining Armor nodded, and then the two siblings crossed glowing horns, before disappearing.
Rainbow Dash could see the trail of explosions coming from where Twi said the sixth dome was, so she trimmed her altitude so she could fly through the tunnel over the surge of ponies coming and going.
She thought she could see a hint of a mach cone forming but she had to slow herself down as a sonic rainboom was the last thing anypony needed right now. As she entered the dome, she could see the entire place was even larger than the dome she had just been in, and there were a lot of ponies in need of help. Thankfully, there was a medical/triage place set up for all of the survivors with more pegasus and unicorn rescue teams bringing back others who still needed it.
She heard a few of the officials squawking at her but she ignored them and started to reach for ponies, picking them up as her training taught her and bringing them back as fast as she could. She was so thankful that the Weathertime management had forced her to go through so many rescue drills and she was able to help so many ponies.
As she was bringing the next ponies in, one of the security officers stopped her.
"Okay, okay we are grateful-wait, you're one of the Equestrians," the officer said, doing a double-take before shaking his head. "Look, take one of these; it will allow us to direct you to others and keep track of you if something goes wrong."
Rainbow Dash looked at the gizmo he was holding out and recognized it as the same thing Twilight had been wearing. "Thanks," she said, strapping it on before taking off again.
She knew what she was doing, and she wasn't going to stop until there was nopony else for her to help.
Twilight and Shining Armor rematerialized in the middle of a scene best be described as utter chaos, and instantly split up.
A moment later, there was a flash that drew Twilight's attention, and she turned back just in time to see Sunset rematerializing just inches away from where they'd been standing. She stared at her friend, aghast, and all she could say was "What-how-" before shaking her head to try and calm herself. Once she could speak rationally again, she asked, "Sunset, how did you get here?"
"I traced your teleport and followed it," Sunset said, already using her magic to douse several fires as well as help move ponies away from the dangerous looking areas. "I told you I could help."
If there'd been time, Twilight would have expressed her considerable surprise and how impressive it was that Sunset could pull off such a feat. Instead, she merely nodded. "All right... but be careful, Sunset." She looked around. "The others didn't come with you, did they?"
"Not unless one of them can do what I did to follow you," Sunset said, before she went back to work.
Twilight followed her example, though she couldn't help but wonder what had caused the blasts. For now, protecting the ponies here was more important.
"Come on, I think the explosions are near the Orion," she said, racing towards her workplace.
"The what?" Sunset asked as she followed after. "Is that one of those experimental projects you said they do here?"
"Not just one project, but the biggest," Twilight said as they continued moving, using her magic to put out as many fires as she could but Sunset was able to do far more. "It's going to revolutionize space travel when it's -"
She jumped as a large piece of a wall started to come down towards them. Twilight and Sunset both used their magic to try and hold back the wall, with more unicorns doing their best to help but they were struggling.
"Twilight, do you trust me?" Sunset asked, clearly struggling as much as she was. "I can perform a spell here but I need you to pour your magic into mine."
Twilight blinked and hesitated for a moment before she broke off her magic holding up the wall and began to pour it into Sunset's. Instantly, the mare's horn glowed brighter and she began to break the wall up into much smaller pieces that fell with very little impact onto the ground. Everypony let out sighs of relief and gave out thanks to her, which she accepted before looking at Twilight.
"Let's keep going," she said.
Twilight nodded, and led the way as they headed onward.
"I don't think I need," she said as they reached their destination, "To tell you that what you're about to see here is highly classified, and cannot be shared with anypony who isn't one of our citizens without permission, at least not yet."
Sunset nodded. "I figured," she said.
Then Twilight led her in and Sunset's jaw dropped.
What lay before them was a simply massive object. It was an engine bigger than any Sunset had ever seen in person, as she would tell Twilight later, and it was mounted on a frame designed to hold it for testing work until it was confirmed ready, at which point it would be installed on the superstructure of the Orion itself.
And this was just one of a dozen that would be required to move the biggest ship they'd ever built.
Twilight quickly hurried over, her horn lighting up as she did a quick scan, then sighed. "Nothing in the engine itself," she said, clearly relieved. "And believe me, I know every inch of each of these engines, I'd know if something had been added. Come on, we'd better go check the rest."
"Just what are these for, anyway?" Sunset asked, still awed.
Twilight looked at her, and saw genuine curiosity on her face. She felt the emotions rising from Sunset, and decided this was safe.
"They're the engines of the Orion," she said. "Our first colony ship. We're getting ready to leave the moon, a lot of us anyway, and set out for a new solar system."
Sunset looked at her in awe. "To explore strange new worlds," she whispered. "To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no pony has gone before."
Twilight nodded. "That's pretty much it," she said. "Where'd you..."
"Opening narration from that entertainment program I mentioned before," Sunset said. "With one word changed to fit our species. But it fits."
"It certainly does," Twilight agreed. She sighed. "We're still several months away from finishing work on the engines, and there's a lot more to do before we're ready to launch. And that's even before this... whatever it was happened. But it's what we've been building towards for longer than I've been alive."
She led Sunset onward, towards the next building over where the second engine was waiting.
"And you... you helped build these?" Sunset asked.
Twilight nodded. "These, and more," she said. "I love working with machinery; it's one of the reasons I have my own workshop at home, so I can tinker and put things together in new and exciting ways whenever I'm in the mood." She looked at Sunset. "Don't get me wrong, I love magic too, but there's just something... special about creating and improving the tech I have access to."
Sunset chuckled. "As long as you don't overpower it until it breaks down or breaks something else," she said. "One of the guys in shop class had that problem when I was in that other world."
"A good engineer is always a little conservative in her estimates," Twilight said with a completely straight face. "I know how to keep it from going too far, so it'll always have a little extra room to keep going in case of emergencies."
Any chance for more levity was dashed when she saw the row of rescue workers working to control the raging inferno in the room where the Orion was being stored during its construction, the room and the massive ship completely destroyed.
Falling to her rump, Twilight stared in horror at the dream of all her friends and people burning up before her, with tears running down her face.
Sunset was staring in equal horror. "Who would..." Then she wrapped her arms around Twilight, holding her closely.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, nuzzling her comfortingly. "I'm so sorry."
Twilight just buried her face in Sunset's shoulder, still crying, barely noticing the world around her anymore.
As Twilight wept, Sunset held the mare she'd come to care for so deeply, then looked at one of the ponies who'd approached. "Any casualties?" she asked quietly.
"Fortunately, no," the worker said. "Everypony was off duty today, so when the bombs went off there wasn't anypony inside the Orion to get caught in the blasts. Everypony who got hurt did so because they got hit by the building debris going outward." He sighed. "This is going to be such a mess..."
Sunset nodded. "Can... can you rebuild it?" she asked.
The worker sighed. "I don't know," he said. "We have backups of backups for the plans, but it's taken us a lot of resources just to get this far, and I don't know if we've got enough to make another one. Not without external help, at least."
Sunset nodded, still holding Twilight and looking down at her for a moment before she turned back to the worker. "I'll do what I can," she said. "I'm Princess Celestia's personal student, and I promise you now that as soon as I'm able to, I'll talk to her and ask her to send all the supplies you need to rebuild your ship."
The worker looked at her almost suspiciously now. "You'd do that?" he asked. "Why?"
"Because Twilight is my friend," Sunset said. "And this project means so much to her. I'll do everything I can to get it back on track, to help her dream come true."
Just then, there was an alert from Twilight's wrist, and Sunset looked at the worker, who came a little closer and hit the answer button on it. "Hello?"
"Twilight?" Shining Armor's voice asked.
"Twilight's not available right now," Sunset said. "This is Sunset Shimmer, what's happening?"
There was a moment of silence, and then Shining's voice returned. "You'd better get out here," he said. "It's Rainbow Dash, she's hurt bad."
"We'll be there as soon as we can," Sunset said. Looking to the worker, who ended the call for her, she then nuzzled Twilight. "We need to go," she said quietly.
Twilight lifted her head. "I heard," she said, still sniffling. "And... thank you, Sunset. For what you promised."
Sunset smiled. "I meant every word of it," she said.
Slowly, Twilight got to her hooves, and Sunset led her back outside and to the triage tent where their skimmers were taking ponies that were more injured away to be properly treated. She could see Shining pacing back and forth, barking into his communication device at other ponies before he spotted them and ran over to them, looking over Twilight before turning to face Sunset.
"She's in shock," she told him which seemed to satisfy him. "How is Rainbow Dash?"
"Not good," Shining said. "She took a bad hit, and..." He took a deep breath. "She'll live, but she might lose that wing."
Both mares gasped in horror, and Shining nodded. "She's on the list to go to the hospital, and they'll do everything they can to save her wing, but it doesn't look good. Beyond the blunt force trauma, there's burn damage and some concern about circulation issues when they get to her." He tilted his head to the side, before pushing them off to a direction. "She's about to go; you two will go with her. I can't work to my best here if I have to worry about either of your safety."
Sunset nodded. "I'll keep an eye on Twilight for you," she said. "She had a... nasty surprise back there."
Shining Armor nodded. "And I can guess why," he said, giving her a smile. "Thank you, for watching over her."
Then he sighed. "Stars, this is such a mess..."
Sunset nodded. "But we'll do everything we can to help fix it," she said.
For the next few minutes, there wasn't much else she could do, besides keep Twilight company, until finally they'd been evacuated to the hospital with Rainbow Dash. She really didn't look that good; she was clearly unconscious but she was squirming in pain with sweat on her face. She was covered with minor nicks and cuts, with some burn marks on her but the worst had to be her right wing. It had a strange device clamped over it, and there was a lot of blood around it with the medics hovering over her.
"How'd this happen to her?" she asked one of them once Rainbow Dash was settled into a waiting room in the trauma unit to wait until she could be taken into surgery.
"From what we were told, she threw herself between another pony and some flying debris from one of the last few explosions," the medic said. "Saved their life, but..." He shook his head. "It's going to be a rough recovery, whether we can save the wing or not."
"She saved a lot of lives," another one of the medics said, looking at her. "She brought a lot of ponies back to the triage area and she isn't even from here. She's a true hero and I hope we can save her wing for her."
Sunset didn't know what to say to that; instead she held Twilight tighter, doing her best to comfort her friend who was still clearly in shock.
When the medics noticed, one of them immediately asked, "What happened to her?" in a concerned tone.
"She..." Sunset sighed. "She saw what happened to the Orion, and she didn't take it well," she said. "It looks like it was the main target, and she was one of the ponies who'd been working on the engines and other parts."
The medic's eyes went wide, then immediately began calling for assistance.
Together, they ushered Twilight into another room and got her into a bed to rest and recover, and when one of the medics tried to encourage Sunset to do the same, she shook her head. "She needs me," she said. "As a source of stability or comfort."
The medic nodded reluctantly, but insisted on checking her out anyway, "Just in case," which Sunset agreed to. The medics finally declared her unharmed, and then urged her to at least take it easy until somepony came for them. Once she'd agreed, they left her and Twilight be, and went to tend other ponies who needed their help more.
Watching her friend lay in bed, Sunset's thoughts wandered, wondering who could have done this, why, and when she'd be allowed to contact their other friends to tell them about the situation.
And how everypony would take it when they found out about everything that had happened.
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Ok, so who the hell did it? It's not one of the Mane 6. No other Equestrians can get up to the Moon. Lightning Dust doesn't seem the type, and even then it's not likely. I haven't seen anything about any other Lunar ponies being vehemently against the project. Discord isn't free yet.
I'm legitimately stumped.
Doggone when it rains it pours, I really wanted to hug Twilight after she saw what happened to the Orion! Course the other bombshell was Rainbow been hurt & in danger of losing her wing??!!!!
Gotta wonder who did this dirty deed cause he/she needs to pay, in spades!!!!
Good stuff. Not the bomb part though.
Anyone else suspicious of Moondancer in all this..?
What did you see?
Well, at least now we know what the probable target was... either that or it's one hell of a distraction
So I have a theory about what's up: It's possible that the explosion was Neighsay's doing, and he is attempting to force the Lunar Republic back to the planet or at least to force them to open up trade relation.
And the reason he asked if their guests had any relatives on the moon was to make sure that members of the Republic had somewhere to go afterwards.
Again this is just a theory, and while most of it is just guess work I do believe that Neighsay was responsible for the explosion, his motives are still unclear to me though
Luna should have known better. Any one would have seen that dealing with Equestria alone was doomed. Only having a foot hold in other countries would give the lunar republic an even footing. As it stands now, there is almost no chance for anything but war with Equestria.
No one with any knowledge of history comes back from isolation on such a badly weak footing and expect anything other than being strong armed into becoming a protectorate or Colony.
As it stands now, really, it would require the assassination of Celestia for any other real alternative. Celestia is too evil and certain of her divine right to rule, to simply allow Luna anything other than temporary puppet status. She has always seen the pony race as hers by right. Phasing Luna out slowly over time, taking her control little by little, until a forced retirement where Celesta could safely watch her. Harmless, leashed and under supervision.
Celestia in my opinion has always been the ponies biggest handicap.
Okay, initial guess: the fuel tanks blew or the reactor cooked off in proper sci-fi style ...
The entire superstructure is gone?!
So we're going to have Cyber-Dash from the Sombra timeline ....
Bombs. That raises all sorts of additional questions:
A) If resources are so tight, how were bombs strong enough to destroy the Orion built without anypony noticing?
B) How did multiple bombs get into the Orion without anypony noticing?
C) Why? The NLR has existed completely independent of Equis for a thousand years; Luna (and the rest of the NLR ponies we've met) have all made a big deal about how there is no real crime, no fringe groups, everypony lives in harmony for the good of all; so why destroy the colonization project?
And if there is some fringe group that wants to conquer Equis with the NLR's vastly superior tech from their "unassailable fortress" on the moon, or, hell, just a group that was this opposed to the colonization plan, why didn't Onyx or Shining (the two heads of planetary security) know about them?
10866887 As Blueblood pointed out, legally the NLR is an Equestrian colony. And the other nations are not going to welcome the NLR with open arms ("Oh, look, another country that can just fuck with the Sun and Moon whenever they want to, and, unlike Equestria, we cannot use the threat of trade sanctions and invasion to make them not do so.")
Huh, somepony CLEARLY doesn't wanna leave the Equus system at all and is willing to go to extreme lengths to ensure it. And I suppose having the heads of government distracted and some absent due to this potential alliance with Equestria would make this both the best and worst time to act against the Orion. How interesting...
Terrorism on the moon. To blow shit up where no one has before.
Since Orion is a massive project, the security must've been very tight and strict thus lowering the chances of infiltration and much less sabotage. I dunno how a rogue group(or individual) managed to sneak in and even bring bombs in there. Bribery is out of the question since NLR haven't adopted currency, either the perpetrators coerced the staff or someone from the directorate itself is involved in this or it's just an accident but it's very unlikely for an accident that large to happen on such a large scale project unless the staff works at Chernobyl.