New Beginnings

by Black Alicorn

Chapter 44: Shot down

Fear. Dread. Terror. Panic.

Twilight felt all four at the same time as she raced down the castle halls, desperate to get to the nearest balcony. She had to see it. Maybe it wasn't him! But then again, who else could be flying one of those strange airships she saw in one of the Red Dawn's hangar bay? She knew it was him, but she didn't want to accept it. Maybe he would be alright! He's survived many things like this! He even survived an orbital reentry, and the ensuing crash! Diamond Dogs, Hydras, Ursa Majors, the bucking Griffon Army! To survive all that, just to be killed by friendly fire? It couldn't happen! It couldn't...He promised, no, he Pinkie Promised her he'd never leave her!

Twilight burst through the balcony doors. Once she took a few steps forward, she began scanning the skies hoping not to see it, hoping it wasn't real.
Unfortunately, it was.
The airship spun around itself continuously, spewing fire, smoke, and pieces of itself. She wanted to get a good look at the cockpit. To see his face, maybe for the last time. All she could see was an orange blaze behind the cockpit glass.

"Think Twilight, think!"

She got it! Her horn glowed as she tried to grip the falling airship with her magic.

"Come on, come on!"

She tried, but failed. She tried again, and failed once more. Twilight constantly tried and tried again, hoping to stop it's descent, hoping to save him. Every failure only served to terrify her even more. The fact that he might die was bad enough, but the knowledge that he might die because she couldn't save him was even worse. As the airship drew closer and closer to the ground, Twilight couldn't try anymore. She couldn't focus after bursting into tears. She collapsed to the ground, her regal dress stretching beneath the stone floor and Twilight's body. She could still hear the shriek of the airship as it fell further and further.

The shriek was cut short by a second, even larger explosion.

- - - - -

Surprise, anger, fear. The sequence was short and clear. Wolf was jostled in his seat as an explosion ripped his Guardian Angel open. The entire cockpit was a frantic mess. Alarms and red lights blaring and flashing all across the dashboard. Digits on the beeping altimeter changing like crazy. Wolf desperately tried to regain control of his falling aircraft, but to no avail. He was going down, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. The only remaining option was to bail out. He pulled on the ejection lever, expecting to be dropped from the falling craft. The ejection systems of the Guardian Angels...of ALL helicopters nowadays would open a hatch under the cockpit, letting the pilot and copilot (if any) fall to the ground. In this case, that might not make much of a difference considering the chopper might fall on him, but the alternative was to simply accept his fate.

The ejection lever clicked like it was supposed to, but nothing happened. He pulled on it again and again and again, but with no results. He frantically scanned the cockpit for another way out, even though he knew that one didn't exist. As the ground came closer and closer, only one panicked thought and realization crossed Wolf's mind.

I don't want to die!

As the flames crackled and the smoke rose from below, Twilight's heart almost stopped. He was probably dead, gone forever. Erased from the face of Equestria. She had lost him again! And the worst part was, she let it happen! He had a fighting chance, but thanks to Twilight, it was lost.

NO...

Twilight lifted herself up, finally regaining control of herself. She was stronger than this. Wolf was stronger than this. He could have survived. Twilight wasn't going to bury him without making sure first. She wiped the tears from her eyes, unfurled her wings, and lifted off the balcony.

Near the crash site...

Twilight pushed through the bushes in her way. Due to the searing heat and billowing smoke, she couldn't land directly at the crash site, so she had to set down at a fair distance. Her heart sank. She could feel the heat even from this far. And even if the heat didn't cook the flesh off his bones, the smoke would take away any possibility of breathing. She pushed away one final bush, and there it was. A mangled pile of metal. It was hard to believe that it once soared through the air. Her heart rate increased as she started to run towards it.

"Twilie! Get away from it!"

Her momentum was cut in half by a massive white blur crashing into her. Before she could fully realize what was going on, Shining Armor had pulled her behind a log just before six thousand explosive tip rounds finally gave in to the searing heat of the crash. The third explosion was easily the largest. Fueled by unknown explosive compounds, the shockwave nearly sent the log and all hiding behind it flying into oblivion. The following inferno almost burned it all to a crisp. Both Twilight and Shining Armor could feel the heat burning the hairs off their backs. If it wasn't for the log shielding them, they would be just a pile of ash right now. The sound was deafening though. After the heat died down, her ears still ringing, she poked her head out to see. All that was left was a wall of flame with a few chunks of metal at it's base. She looked at the opposite end of the log.

Without that log, even if by some miracle they had survived the shockwave and the heat, the sheer amount of shrapnel would have ended them. The log was in pieces. Chunks of wood hung from every side of it, ripped to shreds by shards of metal travelling at high velocity. The whole thing was ready to collapse onto itself at the molecular level. The fact that the log survived that onslaught was a miracle in it's own right.

Now all doubt had left her mind. He couldn't have survived all that. He simply couldn't. He was strong, but not that strong. Once more, Twilight collapsed to the ground, knowing that he was dead. Now she knew she had failed. How she couldn't save him from death.

"You can't leave me like this...you Pinkie Promised..." She barely managed to pronounce those few words.

Shining Armor's words of sympathy fell upon deaf ears. Twilight had simply blocked everything out. It was doubtful that she would hear him over her own crying anyway. After a few failed attempts, Shining Armor managed to get her on her hooves. He started to push her away from the crash site, and she grudgingly obeyed. They were leaving. There was nothing for them left here.

Thanks to Twilight's crying, Shining Armor's voice, and the crackling flames, they almost didn't hear the metal creaking. They almost didn't see the badly burned, bloody hand raise out of the debris and spasm about.

Almost...

Author's Note:

This one was a bit shorter than I would have liked, but next ones won't be. Thanks for holding on Fimfiction :).

Comments

[LunarWorshipper1]

you son of a bitch that cliffhanger is just too big

[Crimson Valor]

GODDAMN IT YOU BITCH, why tease us with a short chapter

[Zephyr]

This short chapter for a cliffhanger this big. -_-

[DarkHiro7]

You fuckmotherer hangcliffer.

[Sjogras]

It's hard to be infused about the story when it's so segmented, I suggest longer chapters to avoid the confusions brought on by having to continuously remind one's self of the previous chapters and having to remember what the Hell is going on.
The fact that you've changed so much in the previous few chapters, doesn't help much either.

Never-the-less, fine chapter but the attempted cliffhanger is quite ineffective due to my last comment (too segmented and not being as immersed). It leaves me feeling, "Well O.K. then: thanks for the update," as opposed to, "Shit is he dead? I'm immersed in the story right now as I've been reading, straight without extended pause, for a while now."

[Thesandman888]

*calls in for back up* get ready for a living hell sir