Case File Three: Twilight Sparkle

I finally manage to gain access past the elite security teams at the Cloudsdale Presidium. The new seat of power after the fall of Canterlot, Cloudsdale played its crowning moment in history as the sanctuary for Equestrians everywhere. My journey to find interviewees hasn’t escaped the attention of one very prominent member of the United Equestrian Democracy, who sent me an express letter by pegasus to come to her for an exclusive interview. Naturally, given her status, I leapt at the chance for a once in a lifetime talk with her.

I find my subject at her desk, the interior of the room hoof-crafted from clouds as all buildings in Cloudsdale are. The Cloudwalker band on my foreleg is still slightly uncomfortable, but definitely beats an express trip to the Equestrian soil.

Twilight regards me over her spectacles as I enter, a pile of paperwork resting on top of the plush, cloudy desk. Said paperwork is rapidly riffled and stacked away by an aura of violet magic, while another similar aura draws a clouch forward for me to sit on. I graciously take the offered seat, and thank my host. She smiles, settling her specs on her desk before leaning towards me.

“Good evening, Quill Stroke. I was told by your superiors about your little quest. I must say, as the pony that deals with the statistics, I’d like to be remembered by more than a signature on a damage report and some comments on Infected anatomy. It’s an interesting, but more than necessary, path you are taking. In my opinion at least, to the moon with your old bosses’ wishes.”

I nod as politely as possible, in honesty expecting more disappointment for abandoning the UED. However, Vice President Twilight is as benevolent as my sources had led me to believe. I smile, feeling more comfortable in the environment, no doubt aided by the plush seating of the clouch.

“It’s nothing short of an honour, ma’am. Your name kept appearing in conversations while I was looking for interviewees. I never imagined you would have the time, much less openly invite me.”

Twilight giggles, unbecoming for a figure of power, but it shows a young filly hiding behind a wizened mare. “Ah, well I have little time spare on my hooves, and I’d rather spend my time discussing matters with you, rather than with ponies at the water cooler. Is there anything in particular you’d like me to talk with you about?”

Not even a second’s hesitation passes, I had explicitly hoped for this openness in my questioning. There was only one, crowning moment in the lifetime of Twilight Sparkle that appealed to me at that point, though many others were jockeying for second place.

“The evacuation to Cloudsdale, ma’am. Where you oversaw it all, I’m told it was you who chose it in the first place.”

Twilight muses over the question, I’m sure many facts and opinions are swirling in her head. Memories begging to be relived first. She strokes a small photo frame to her side with a tentative hoof. I can’t see the photo within, and feel it would be rude to interrupt her to ask about the pony within it.

“Ponyville...it was only the start. Sure, Haltergate...happened beforehoof. Keen Eye’s son was a General Custer the second if ever there was one. Celestia told me all she knew about the Infected. Their likely vectors of attack, the importance of preventing bites and...removing their victims. Ponyville, itself, was a last-moment thing, I got everypony I could...but not everypony I wanted.”

Twilight’s voice catches in her throat, a ripple in her composure appearing like a crack in a pair of curtains. The gap is rapidly closed, and she re-asserts herself.

“We escaped with half the population of the town still alive, although some only just. Celestia and Luna were still administering the evacuation of Canterlot...but to where? We circled Ponyville for a few hours in the aircarts, until the fire consumed most of the town. I felt it necessary to remove that from ponies’ views...the last thing they needed was to see their homes burning beneath them. I gave the order to land at Cloudsdale.”

“Surely, with the large earth and unicorn pony population in your aircarts, Cloudsdale was the last possible place on Equestria you could land?”

Twilight smirks with an almost haughty grin. “Who do you think designed the Cloudwalker band you’re currently wearing? At first I used a Cloudwalker spell instead, the idea to invest its properties into a wearable object came later. I managed to disembark the population onto Cirrus Square, it caused quite a stir amongst the local pegasus population. My trusty assistant, Spike, sent off a letter to Celestia, telling her of our new destination.”

“Did Celestia send the Canterlot ponies to you afterwards?”

“Yes, well...Luna did. Celestia had already left at that point. Where...nopony knows, even after all this time. But I digress, she sent everypony. Canterlot, Haltergate, Fillydelphia, Manehatten. Within an hour they had disembarked all over the city, and we were packed to the rafters. We managed to round them up, most had simply landed the first place they could find in panic. Some...some were still too scared, they tried to run out onto the clouds...most of the time, it was little fillies and colts.”

Twilight stops for breath, levitating and sipping from a small glass of a sharp-smelling, brown liquid. I suppose everypony has their coping measures for a job as stressful as this. She finishes the glass, panting for breath, slightly, before continuing.

“Celestia gave me command of the Royal Guards left over from Haltergate. They were split into groups, and stationed around the city. We funnelled refugees towards the base camp at Cirrus Square, while those with magic amongst the Ponyville refugees helped cast the Cloudwalker spells on the new arrivals. We managed to find and deal with all the new arrivals quickly and efficiently. Thankfully, at least some of the local pegasi helped.”

“Only some? Surely they would have all tried to help?”

“Pegasi don’t like having their space encroached on. Remember, earth ponies and unicorns had never visited Cloudsdale in large numbers beforehoof. When this happened, they were suddenly swamped in the sick and the wounded. Some helped, others simply demanded the refugees go elsewhere. A lot of cloud homes were damaged by crash-landing aircarts. Some of which landed with Infected on board...but the guards dealt with those swiftly.”

Another glass of the liquid is poured and consumed, Twilight offers a glassful to me, and I decline. I never was a single-malt pony.

“If you’re in my profession, you need it, pony.” Twilight chuckles, swirling the glass around thoughtfully. “Where was I?”

“You were describing the organisation of the refugees; just got to the part with Cirrus Square.”

Twilight’s eyes dull over, and her tone drops an octave. “Ah, yes, I remember. I was on wide patrol, helping the guards mobilise to counter Infected crashes, and gather survivors. Medical ponies were at the Square, treating who they could. Most were minor injuries, a cut, grazes from tripping while running. Some were serious. I made my way through the Square, Spike in tow with my clipboard. So many ponies, all colours. All breeds. All frightened, and angry. Some glared at me as I passed, others simply stared sadly. Some didn’t even respond at all...there were so many that simply gave up before the doctors could get to them...not...not even half of them were...of age.”

Twilight stops again, holding her ankle against her mouth, eyes glistening with barely-restrained tears. I feel the interview may be having a worse effect on her than I’d feel comfortable with.

“Ms Sparkle.”

“Please, Quill Stroke...call me Twilight.”

Yes...Twilight. If you feel unable to continue, I am more than happy to stop. I don’t want to inflict any unnecessary trauma.”

Twilight waves a slightly irritated hoof at me, eyes slowly coming under control. “No. I brought you here for the story, and I will tell you it, even if I break down doing so. Ponies need to know...I need to get this off my chest.”

I nod, understanding her resolve. “When you’re ready to continue, Twilight.”

“Cirrus...Cirrus Square was undoubtedly the most horrific place I had ever been in. No infected, just teams of doctors sifting through piles of ponies to separate the dead from the unconscious. We had so few medics, we failed so many ponies waiting for treatment. Thank Celestia they weren’t Infected, some were exhibiting signs of simple normal infected wounds. A cut that had been dirtied in the panic, for example. A single treatment of antibiotics, and those ponies would have been saved. I should have organised it better, separated ponies by their wounds, those who needed it most get it first.”

“You did all you could, and managed to stop a worse fate falling on these ponies. Infected in Cloudsdale would have caused a massacre, you prevented that.”

Twilight rocks a hoof side to side like a metronome, in an almost playful chiding manner.

“Even Infected pegasi can’t walk on clouds. We believe it may be a passive magic pegasi have that the Infected lose...but we know so little about the Infected. I managed to find my friend, Fluttershy...she was helping the fillies and colts find their parents. There were some happy moments, some frantic embraces that made the whole thing worthwhile; as mother, father and young colt shared a joyous moment of reunion. Some...some little fillies were in Fluttershy’s care that whole day. So hopeful, so unaware of the events that unfolded around them.”

“Weren’t we all, Twilight.” I try my best to console her, to stop her self-deprecating streak from bringing her down. She was my colthood hero, after all. “Nopony I’ve talked to expected this...how could they?”

Twilight nods, defeated, rather than boosted, I notice to my disdain.

“Indeed, Quill Stroke. But so much, so many tiny errors that exploded into massive losses. All avoidable, none more so than Haltergate. Had I the Princesses’ full regiments left alive under my control, I would have had the whole thing sorted from muzzle to tail. I tried to help Fluttershy as long as I could, she was my rock that day. All the horrors unfolding around us, the foals, weeping for their mothers, following her. She simply spoke in that calming voice she had, ‘everything was going to get better.’ I wonder if she believed it herself, if maybe it was getting to her, and she was just putting on a brave face. I don’t envy her that job, I regret giving a friend such a harrowing task to undertake.”

“Are you still in contact with Fluttershy?”

“Yes, we try and organise meetups. It’s been a long time since I saw all my friends together...working for the species’ benefit has us all so far apart.”

She pauses for an airy second, playing idly with a piece of her desk.

“It was in the medical tent where I really lost my control. It was one tent, twenty beds, two medics. Two inside, two outside, that’s the medical team we had to deal with the greatest disaster in Equestrian history. They were frantically tending to patients, and I could only watch. Patient to patient, a blur of injections, chest pumps, medication, and other medical techniques. When a patient gave up, a pair of stallions simply brought another in their place. No time or means to sterilise the beds in between...so many foalish errors.”

“There was one filly...in a corner, strapped down. She was gone. Howling at the bodies around her. Nopony had time to watch her, treatment may have been possible, but none of the doctors were available to administer it. She had been turned for at least an hour. The guards didn’t want to approach her...but I did.”

I gasp, surprised at her actions. “You just walked up to the Zed?”

“I did, and she was beyond help...to save her life at least. Celestia had told me there could be no cure, only prevention. It was so hard to imagine it as a monster, even as it writhed and howled. Completely tied down, even its head. I simply blanked out, reached for its neck...and...crack.”

Twilight mimes the action, cracking a young filly’s neck. I can see the trauma laid bare in her eyes, distant as she considers the repercussions of her actions.

“Five years on, still no cure. I wake up every night, I tell myself it was a mercy...she wasn’t a filly anymore. But I’m a pony, and I can’t stop imagining her playing in the street. A mother, father and happy life. When Celestia returns, there’s a special place on the Moon for me. I did what was necessary...but I’m still a killer. It fades, as you realise there really was no hope. But it’s a ghost, always haunting the back of your mind. Funny, I find the ponity in such an inpony monster. I suppose I’m a sentimentalist more than a scientist at heart.”

“A lot of ponies had to do similar things, you’re no monster. You just did what was right.”

“Cold. Emotionally dead. Simply fulfilling a need. Remind you of anything familiar?” Twilight shoots me a dark look, and I’m lost for words at the implied description of herself.

“Thank you for the effort, but your forgiveness can’t make me forgive myself. A pony can never forgive themselves. At least...all this will help offset it.”

She waves a leg around the room, but I feel she is stretching her reach to indicate Equestria, and her hoof in the rebuilding of it.

“But thank you for your time, and your rapid response, Quill Stroke. I’m sorry it was on such short notice, but I needed this story off my chest. Ponies in the years that will come need to know what sacrifices need to be made sometimes. Even if your morals vilify it.”

I rise from my clouch, shaking Twilight by her offered hoof. She smiles and nods, settling back down and burying herself back into the paperwork. As I lean over, I glance at the photo frame on her desk. Within it is a charred, aged photo, of a small filly, a light pink unicorn with a blonde mane, all smiles and bright eyes. I pull back, and Twilight stares at me, knowing what I saw. She simply nods slowly, answering my unasked question. I bid my farewell, taking my troubled thoughts with me, and departing the office block for my next interview.