5

Morning

Rainbow quickly gained the attention of five other pegasi. They hastily took Princess Luna to a medical tent across Canterlot. Rainbow couldn't help but quietly reassure both Luna and herself that she would be alright. Frazzled nurses and doctors nearly dropped other patients at the sight of her, and they whisked her away, yelling at one another. The group flew back to the tower slowly and somberly. Eveypony already knew of the other princess' fate.

The six pegasi stared at Celestia, too stunned to do anything. Several ponies were overcome with sobs. Rainbow would have cried too if she didn't feel so hollow. Wordlessly, following Rainbow's lead, they placed her back onto her bed and covered her with blankets. Rainbow wasn't prepared for how stiff and light she would be. Before her face was covered, somepony closed her eyes. Nopony spoke.

One by one, they returned to firefighting, not speaking to anypony else about the princesses. Rainbow, however, stayed with Celestia. She sat opposite of the bed on the floor. The dark, cold feeling returned. She stared at the heap, trying to internalize it all. A tear rolled down her cheek, then another. She sniffed, wiping away one of the tears. Her breathing grew funny as she tried to keep control over herself. Tears welled up her eyes, and she closed them, hanging her head. She sniffed again. After a short battle, a cry escaped her lips, and she was slowly overcome with sobs. She laid down and covered her head, her wings slack at her side and her shoulders heaving.

After an hour and a half, the wailing of the air raid sirens ceased, and the pegasi began having luck against the inferno. After three hours, the fire was contained, and after four, the last flames fizzled out. The pegasi had finally won, but they were exhausted. The ash and soot clung to their coats and manes, the smoke their lungs and eyes. Though some took to celebration in their conquest, others flowed down to the streets of the city, looking at the damage the attack had wrought upon it.

Many pegasi were spared from seeing nothing worse than charred stone structures. Most were not so fortunate. Scattered around Canterlot were dead ponies of all ages. Some merely had slit throats, while others bore torn chests. There were crimson splotches here and there along the cobblestone, some accompanied by bodies. Many buildings still retained their now charred occupants. A small few went to the north and west parts of the city, where neither death nor destruction were prevalent. Here were the injured, displaced, and disheartened. Many of the pegasi who came there stuck around and helped. No one went home to Ponyville that morning.

Rainbow was sitting again with her head cast down when the Royal Guard finally arrived. One guard escorted her out of the tower and onto the balcony. In somewhat of a stupor, she answered the questions he asked. She weakly flew up and away from the city until she came across a surviving cloud. She sat upon it, holding herself. Her heart feebly beat against her chest. She still coughed occasionally. Her stomach protested for food, and her throat longed for water. Her eyes ached and just wanted to close. She didn't know why she wanted to be alone, away from the tents and survivors.

She thought about returning to Ponyville, but she could not find the will to move again. Though the argument now felt to her as if it had occurred years ago, it again weighed heavily on her mind. She wanted to reconcile with the others, but she didn't know if they would, or could, forgive her. She didn't know how she could talk to them about much of anything now anyway.

She looked out across the other side of the city. It was completely dark, lifeless. Everypony who was still alive had fled the area hours before. The ground below Rainbow, conversely, was bustling. Ponies ran from tents which had sprung up everywhere to relatively untouched buildings. Reunions and mournings dotted the streets.

A question kept nagging at Rainbow. She didn't want to think about it. She didn't have an answer for it. But, the more she tried to ignore it, the more it persisted. It almost physically hurt her to try to answer it. What happens next? She just didn't know. No one knew. Who could have planned for this? Rainbow kept saying to herself one thing—this can't be happening. It simply could not be happening. She closed her eyes. "Just wake up," she muttered to herself. "C'mon. Wake up."

"Miss Dash?" Something cold touched her shoulder. Rainbow yelped, flying up and spinning to see who was there. Upon seeing a shocked guard retracting a hoof, she landed on the roof. The guard shook his head. "I'm sorry, Miss Dash, I didn't—"

"No, no," Rainbow interrupted, "y-you're okay. What is it?"

He gave a weak smile. "I just wanted to let you know that Princess Luna is going to be alright."

If she had the energy, she would've cheered. "She is?"

"She lost a lot of blood, but she'll live."

"Can I see her?"

He shook his head. "Afraid not. She isn't awake yet, and the doctors are keeping a tight seal on her room." He looked over his shoulder. "I guess I'd better be heading back now. Take care." He waved to her and flew back towards the city.

Rainbow still was in anxious wonder. Princess Luna somehow survived all of this. A huge weight disappeared from Rainbow's mind, but everything else came crashing down on her. Princess Celestia was still dead. She thought about Twilight and Luna and all of Equestria. Everything was going to be different now. What were they going to do now? What happens next?

Out of the corner of her eye, a group of pegasi approached from the east. Spearheading them was a yellow mare with orange hair. Rainbow recognized the group immediately: the Wonderbolts. Anger surged in Rainbow at the sight of them. She flew directly to Spitfire, who was busy taking in the sights. She and the rest of the team were looking at the tents, the tower, the charred remains of the city, gasping in horror and whispering in disbelief.

Spitfire noticed Rainbow and flew over towards her. "Is everypony alri—"

"Where were you?!" Rainbow yelled at her captain, straining her throat. "Where the hell were you?!"

"Hey!" Spitfire spat back. "We weren't sitting on our hooves! We—"

"You wanna know what happened, Spitfire?! Princess Celestia is dead! Half of Canterlot is dead! Where the hell were you?!" Rainbow started coughing violently, her throat on fire.

"Princess Celestia is dead?" Spitfire, her eyes wide and darting between Rainbow and Canterlot, looked as if she were about to cry.

Her eyes watering, Rainbow's anger quickly subsided upon seeing her captain's reaction. The Wonderbolts dove down towards the city, each to a different section, fear in their eyes. Rainbow and Spitfire were left alone near the lone cloud.

"Sorry, ma'am," Rainbow said hoarsely. "I just... Where were you?"

"We saw the fire from Cloudsdale," Spitfire began. Her voice was quivering. "As soon as we saw it, we scrambled, but when we were flying here, we saw a bunch of griffons flying away, and we chased after them."

"Griffons? They did this?"

Spitfire nodded. "I..." She looked at Canterlot. "I didn't think it was this bad. I didn't think it could ever be this bad."

They hovered in silence for a moment. Rainbow remembered the one good bit of news she heard all night. "Princess Luna—"

"Is she okay?" Spitfire's eyes pleaded with Rainbow.

"Yeah," Rainbow said, "from what I've been told." She slowly descended onto the cloud. "She lost a lot of blood, but a guard told me she'll live."

Spitfire landed next to Rainbow and looked at her, tears now running freely down her face. "Half of Canterlot?" she croaked. "And Princess Celestia?" Rainbow nodded, her heart heavy. Spitfire looked out at the blackened city. "This can't be happening," Rainbow heard her mutter. "This can't be happening."

The map finally relented. The five remaining cutie marks floated toward Canterlot. Starlight, who had been staring at it on and off again, blinked away her exhaustion.

"Girls? Uh, your cutie marks moved to Canterlot."

Pinkie came running, nearly bowling over Starlight. The others followed, all with an eerie sense of excitement. Sure enough, five glowing marks now orbited the center mountain on the map. They all started chattering away, mostly in relief of now being able to go.

Rarity glanced at the map then did a double take. "Does anypony see Rainbow's cutie mark anywhere?"

Applejack looked at Canterlot again. "Maybe her's is gone 'cause she's there already."

"So, what," Pinkie said, "she solved the problem, but we still need to?"

"Well," Applejack said, "what else coulda happened?" Everypony winced, and Applejack shook her head. "Never mind," she muttered.

"Um," Spike said, "I-I'll go get Twilight." No one acknowledged him, so he awkwardly and silently left the room. He went down this hallway and down that. He came upon her bedroom door and timidly knocked.

"Go away..." he heard a muffled voice say. He opened the door and saw Twilight next to a window, looking up at Canterlot. "I said—" she began, but upon seeing Spike, she softened. "Oh, it's you Spike." She sighed. "How's everypony?"

"Well," he said, "they're worried, Twilight. Uh, but there's good news. The cutie marks are over Canterlot now, so I guess that means we're okay to go, right?"

"What do you mean by they're worried? Obviously, they're worried."

"Well," he danced around the subject a bit, "one cutie mark is missing."

"Oh. Her." She shook her head. "I'm sure she's fine. You said the cutie marks are at Canterlot now?"

"Yeah, so do we—" He was cut off by Twilight magicking him onto her back. "H-hey, what's the big idea—" He was again interrupted by her rocketing out of the window, straight for Canterlot. "Whoa! What about the oth—"

"They can take the train. We have to be there, now."

"Luna. This was not thy doing. I will be fine. We shall meet again someday. Do not be discouraged, for thou shalt have strength. I love thee."

"No, Tia, wait! Do not leave me again! Tia! Tia!"

Luna snapped open her eyes. All she could see was white. Eventually her eyes focused, and she could make out white cloth and metal bars. A plastic tube filled her nose with stale air. Her left hoof and side felt completely numb. She felt something attached to her right hoof. A fuzzy, dull, but consistent beep rang in her head.

"Tia?" Her throat felt full of cotton. She looked ahead and saw doctors and nurses talking. "Where... Tia?" She could hardly speak. She needed their attention. She tried to sit upright, but was immediately met with pain from her left side. She yelled, gaining the doctors' and nurses' attention. She slowly laid herself back down. Tears welled up in her eyes as she bit back the burning throughout her body.

One of the nurses hurried over. "Princess! Oh thank goodness. We feared—"

Luna looked over. "W-where..." she said with shaky breath, "is C-Celestia?"

The nurse looked down, saying nothing. Luna grew worried. "W-where is my sister?" she said more firmly. She thought remembered seeing her sister dead but was now unsure if wasn't just some twisted dream. She saw the nurse look towards her, tears welling up. No reply. Nothing. Luna softly shook her head. "N-no..."

"I'm so sorry, Princess. I'm so, so sorry..." The nurse hid her face with a hoof.

"Tia!" Luna cried, gazing upwards. "Tia!" She grabbed her pillow and curled up into a ball, screwing her eyes shut. "TIA!"

"Must've been some fire, taking that long to put out."

Spike rode on Twilight's back as she sped along towards the gaunt remains of Canterlot. The smoke was still prevalent even a few miles out. Some flakes of ash started to fall on the surrounding landscape in a mockery of winter.

Twilight squinted in the dim light. "I just hope most ponies got out safely."

"Me too."

"I wonder what caused it..."

"Wait," Spike said, sounding worried, "isn't Canterlot mostly marble and stone anyway?"

"Yes, but..." She hadn't thought of that. Rocks can't burn. "Are you saying it could've been planned?" she asked.

"No, I was just saying it was weird. But," he looked at the ruins, "do you think it was?"

"I... I don't think so." She scanned the skies around Canterlot for Rainbow.

"What're you looking for? I could help."

"No, Spike. I'm... I'm just seeing if anypony was leaving."

"Huh. Okay then."

They arrived at the airspace above the city. She again looked for Rainbow, looking around ashen buildings and columns of lingering smoke.

"Uh..." Spike said, looking down, "it sure seems like a lot of medical tents are set up."

"Why wouldn't there be?" Twilight replied. "This whole place was on fire for the last few hours."

He scoffed and crossed his arms. "Well, are all the ponies in Canterlot that stupid?"

"Spike!"

"I'm just saying that these can't all have been from the fire."

Twilight shook her head. She couldn't find Rainbow anywhere. She reluctantly dropped her search, hoping Rainbow could take care of herself. "Come on. Let's go find the princesses."

Spike sighed in exasperation. "Then what were we just doing?"

She didn't want to let Spike know, but she was getting more and more fearful with each minute. She had noticed the tents and the injured ponies too but hoped Spike wouldn't. She had a growing fear this wasn't an accident, but she tried to rationalize the thought away. Maybe there were more ponies in Canterlot than she remembered. Maybe there were more wooden structures than she realized. She got worried again. Nothing she could come up with sat right with her. Her worry only mounted when she couldn't see either princess anywhere around the city. She stopped, scanned the ruined cityscape in desperation, spotted Celestia's tower, and flew towards it.

"Hah, that's cool," Spike said. "It's not all charred like the others."

"Yeah," Twilight said distractedly, "I suppose that's a good sign." But as they drew nearer, she knew something was terribly wrong. There were dozens pegasus guards surrounding the place, and the stairs leading to the tower were blocked by more guards. Why would a normal fire necessitate roping off Celestia's tower? She flew closer, and was momentarily stopped by a guard, who, upon realizing who the newcomer was, let her pass.

"What happened?" Twilight asked. The guard said nothing, just motioning towards the tower. Twilight's eyes widened. "Did something happen to Celestia?"

It was now eight in the morning. All those who were lucky enough to escape injury and death were called to meet in an unscathed park beneath a tower, the very same tower Twilight had addressed from during her coronation. Most ponies on the east coast of Equestria had awoken to alarms which were seemingly incorrect, some wondering if Celestia had a late night, others thinking perhaps their clocks were off. Those on the west coast were still blissfully unaware of the recent events, and most wouldn't know for several more hours. It seemed as though most of Equestria was only slightly inconvenienced from the developments of the previous night.

Up inside the tower, Twilight had finally ran out of tears. She lay on the floor, silently shaking. She noticed Spike had grown quiet next to her. He had fallen into a fitful sleep, twitching occasionally. She kissed his forehead and levitated him to a pile of pillows in the corner. Twilight started to pace the room, muttering to herself.

"What am I going to do? They're all just w-waiting down there." She glanced out through the glass balcony doors. "What do I say? What do I tell them? H-how do I tell them?" She glanced out again, seeing a faint orange hue. She froze, and her eyes widened. "It's almost morning?! Wh... I hadn't even thought... o-o-oh..." She began pacing again. "D-do I raise the sun? Can I—no, should I even raise it? How do I—" She shook her head and took a deep breath.

Twilight went over her notecards for what must have been the tenth time before throwing them aside in frustration onto a pile of others. She hung her head. There was simply no way to prepare for this. She turned and walked slowly to the balcony door. Opening it, the sounds and smells of the outside overwhelmed her. She walked outside, looked to the crowd, who had all hushed as soon as they noticed their sole princess, took a deep breath, and started her address, speaking deliberately.

"Early this morning, Canterlot was attacked by forces of the Griffon Kingdom. They came as thieves—swiftly, cowardly, without remorse, without mercy—and left just the same. We do not know the cause for this aggression, nor of how they managed to sneak this far into Equestria." She paused, looking at the crowd, noting the stark difference in size between now and her coronation so long ago.

Her friends had finally found her, but they stopped short of the door upon realizing Twilight was speaking. They opened the door quietly and stood a ways behind her. Spike stirred a bit. Twilight continued, more slowly.

"We lost a great many things over the span of a few hours: we fear half of the citizens of Canterlot have been lost; well over half of our once magnificent buildings now act as sepulchers instead of homes; all of the banks and treasuries in the city lay empty." She was shaking, and she held onto the rail with her hoof to stop. Spike awoke and saw the other ponies, clambering over to them. Fluttershy stepped forward to attempt to comfort her friend, but Rarity held her back.

Twilight took a deep breath and looked back at the crowd. "And..." She took a quivering breath. "P-Princess Celestia..." Several gasps were barely audible behind her. "... during the attack, lost—" Twilight could not stop her tears. She closed her eyes, trying to continue her speech. Her voice broke. The stress of the last several hours—the argument, the worry, the death—all slammed Twilight at once and broke over her dams. Every fiber of her being was in agony. She broke down on the balcony, kneeling, reeling, holding onto the railing for support.

Pinkie immediately leapt onto Twilight unopposed, startling her momentarily. Rarity, Spike, and Applejack followed, each adding their sorrow and hugs to the group. Fluttershy came slowly after, almost too shocked to move, and Starlight went to help her along. Fluttershy began to cry soflty at her touch, hugging Starlight. Starlight guided her to the group, pawned her off, and then stepped back as though she were intruding on something private.

Their shared moment of grief didn't last long. The crowd below erupted into a hotbed of both grief and hatred. Their cries soon pulled Twilight out of her own woes. She pried herself from the hug and looked down over the balcony's rail. Her heart ached for them. She looked over at the orange sky again, and an idea sprung to her mind.

"Attention, everypony, attention!" The crowd, with little encouragement, eventually fell silent. "In honor of our fallen and Princess Celestia, I invite any and all unicorns in the crowd to join with me in raising the sun. All those who wish to participate, please join me in facing east." Around half of the crowd made their way to the eastern edge of the park. Rarity and Starlight also turned. "I will start raising the sun," Twilight continued, "and as soon as you see the edge of it peak over the mountains, you start trying your best to raise it with me."

Twilight now turned to face east. The sky just above the mountain range was still just a dim orange. She focused all of her will to move that which she couldn't see. The sun slowly edged its way upward. Rarity and Starlight saw it first, and they each poured all the magic they could into making the sun climb. Slowly, unicorns in the crowd below saw the sun, and they too worked with their princess to raise the sun. The sky grew more and more blue as the sun ascended into its proper place. Eventually, the sun cleared the mountains, and it was officially morning. The crowd whooped and hollered and cheered.

"H-heh..." said Twilight weakly. She turned to the others. "I t-think it's the spring equinox today."

As everypony watched the sunrise, Luna had snuck onto a balcony on the other side of the park. She hobbled to the rail and looked at her dark moon. Disgusted, she hid it away quickly. Images of her nightmare and the previous evening continually peppered her mind, and she whimpered. In spite of herself, she glanced behind her.

She saw the sun rising, its orange and yellow rays illuminating the deep blue sky. She scolded herself for even daring to hope again. She finished lowering the moon and peeked over the balcony. Everypony still gazed east.

"I guess that is it then," she muttered to herself. She hobbled to the doors, trying not to think about what was going to happen to her and everypony in Equestria now. She chuckled weakly in a vain attempt to cheer herself. "Those doctors are surely all fretting about me."