Volt could not sleep at all the following night after the fire, and the attack by that strange insect-like pony. Whoever she was, she reminded him of a chameleon, in the fact that she had impersonated a pony to get into Ponyville to set it on fire. Her plan... had actually been quite clever. But what shocked him was the fact that she could become anypony, well, that's what he assumed. The truth of the matter was, his mind was running wild with all kinds of likely scenarios about what kind of “invasion” that pony meant. Getting out of bed, he gripped his side as the pain shot out again. He coughed and quietly crept along, trying to make sure not to wake up Applejack or any of the others. He could not understand how they could sleep so soundly after a disaster like that. Anyone he knew would have had nightmares for weeks on end. Trotting out the front door of the Apple family house, he made his way along the road to Ponyville.
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When he arrived, he surveyed the repairs. The construction ponies were asleep, as he should be, but they had gone overboard with how fast they had completed repairs on the most damaged structures. Twilight's library, however, was not. There was paneling on the side, a stalwart attempt at repairs, but the truth of the matter was that the library had been all but destroyed. Sighing, he trotted slowly over, pushing away ash from the front door so he could enter.
“Twilight?” He looked up the stairs to the purple unicorn staring at the charred remains of what Volt could only assume had been a bed.
“Everything, gone. All the books, all my equipment, all of my research. Gone.” Volt slowly walked up the stairs and came up behind her, startling her.
“I know you're grieving – I would be too, if I were you – but I need your help. Specifically, your memory.” Volt sat her down on one of two chairs that had survived the fire. He sat on the other one, staring at her.
“Why do you want me to help you now? My library's in ruins-”
“And a lot more would have been in ruins had you and your friends not acted sooner. I'm here to figure out what exactly you will be up against.” He tore a piece of his bandage off and handed it to Twilight.
“Here. Your face is absolutely covered in soot.” As she wiped off some of the soot, he stared out the window. Turning back to him, she sighed, shaking her head.
“What I'll be up against?”
“Yeah. I guess I have to explain it a bit further before you'll get it. Listen, when the fires were still being fought, I came across what I thought was Shadow Wing, the black Pegasus filly, but it morphed – yes, don't look at me like I'm insane, morphed – into an insect-like pony. Reminded me of a chameleon.” Volt watched as Twilight hopped back upright, teetering a little as she approached the ledge that overlooked the remains of the library. He backed up as she concentrated, and a single solitary book, untouched by the fire, floated in front of her.
“This might help you.” She levitated it in front of Volt, opening the book to a page about creatures Volt had never heard of before.
“'Changelings. Ruled over by Queen Chrysalis, they feed... off love' – bizarre source of food – 'and are sworn enemies of the kingdom of Equestria.' Well – that's her!” Volt pointed to a picture of Queen Chrysalis. “That's the one I saw!” The book was pulled away from him as Twilight stared at the picture in fear.
“I thought we had banished her to the farthest place from Equestria.” Volt grabbed the book and sat down with it.
“Obviously, it didn't work. From what I can garner from what you just said, you, and those five friends of yours, fought against Chrysalis and won? She set fire to Ponyville!”
“Well, it wasn't really us... more my older brother and Cadence. Their love created a barrier that expelled the Changelings from Canterlot when they last tried to invade.” Volt slammed the book down, startling Twilight again.
“Uh huh. That plan seems like it was doomed to fail from the start.” He opened the book again and returned to the chapter on Changelings. He read through the various battles that had changelings present, including some he mentally noted to look up later. Whistling, he continued.
“Man, these Changelings really don't pull their punches, do they?” Volt looked up to see Twilight staring at him with a look of curiosity.
“'Pull their punches?' What does that even mean?” She looked down at the book, gawking at a timeline. Volt could surmise that she had never looked at the timeline before.
“They declared war on nation after nation, and brought each one low. Except. For. Equestria.” He tapped his hoof on the book's map for emphasis. Pointing at areas around the nation, he continued.
“That means that an initial assault was mounted before, but repelled. Another assault was beaten off by a barrier field – sounds like some pretty crazy stuff to me. But this assault, I don't think this 'Queen Chrysalis' is going to let up, even once. She seemed pretty determined during the fire.”
He glanced at a chest. It was scorched on the outside, but appeared relatively untouched.
“Hey, what's inside of that chest?”
He backed away as Twilight protected it.
“The books I deemed most important that I locked up for safety.” She pushed the chest into a corner and sat on it, glaring at Volt.
“As I stated, the fire was caused by Queen Chrysalis. Focus on that, and stop glaring at me like you're going to kill me. It's starting to freak me out.” Twilight reluctantly got off the chest and slowly plodded towards Volt.
“Good. Now-” Twilight zipped back over to the chest, glaring daggers at Volt. Shaking his head, he looked out towards the ruins of Ponyville.
“Twilight, if this is going to happen every single time I say something, then I'll be better off trying to talk to a wall. At least I might have a chance of cooperation... maybe.”
He left the library, letting Twilight cower with an angry stare on top of her “personal” chest. Volt shook his head. It's like she doesn't want to help figure this out. Sheesh. I'd better talk to Pinkie Pie, if she is awake.
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And awake she was. She stared at the charred ruins of what Volt could only assume had been her home. The previous day, Volt had to help pull four corpses from the smoking wreckage, handing them off to another rescue team. Pinkie had watched it the entire time, staring at him with tears. He shook his head to dispel the memories.
“Pinkie, I did say I was-”
“Go away. Nopony can help me anymore.” Volt sat down beside her and stared at the wreckage. Volt felt compelled to say something, a memory of something that did not feel bad to him at all, but a little humorous.
“There was a fire, like this one, but much worse. A brush fire that got out of control where I once lived. Small town, great residents, good food. The place I was staying in was burned to the ground, most of my things that I had brought along destroyed, and the one thing I could think of was that I had a half-eaten veggie sandwich sitting on my bed, and I wouldn't be able to finish it.” He looked down at Pinkie Pie, who stared up at him with tears. A small smile crept across her sooty face.
“All you were worried about was the sandwich?”
“A lot of the stuff I had lost could be replaced. I mean, I had lost work for a chapter of a book I had been working on, but that was no biggie. That sandwich I had made myself, and that was all I cared about.” A voice behind them startled Volt out of his little tale for cheering Pinkie up.
“Most of that stuff... really happened to you, didn't it?” Another unicorn approached, cerulean, with a white mane. She was... interesting, to say the least. She did not hold herself up high like some of the other unicorns he had met did.
“You bet.” He walked away from Pinkie as her smile grew back to its full Cheshire Cat glory, and she started bouncing around again.
“The sandwich too?”
“Yeah... I didn't care about the sandwich that much. The brush fires they had... they didn't really affect me all that much. It was like a minor annoyance in my way than a full on problem.” He trotted over to a nearby untouched bench and sat down, motioning for the other unicorn to sit down.
“I'm Dawn Aurora, by the way.” Volt stared at her flank. It looked like a star with the Northern Lights surrounding it, Aurora Borealis.
“Fitting name. I'm Volt Ward.” She sat down and stared at the darkened sky. The clouds had billowed larger with the addition of the smoke. It'll take weeks for that to clear. That's going to cause a few problems.
“You helped organize rescue teams, right? Even while injured?” She poked tenderly at his bandages, to which he grunted in pain.
“Please don't do that. No, I didn't. I organized the fire-fighting effort, but Twilight Sparkle organized the rescue effort. We had to pull a lot of bodies from the burned out buildings. I don't think I've ever seen so many dead in, well... ever. It's not something you generally witness on a daily basis. I mean that truthfully.” He kicked at a small pile of ash near his hoof.
“That must have been horrible. I was supposed to move in to one of the vacant houses today, but there's nowhere to live, now. I only heard about what you did from hearsay, some of the ponies that fled the fire.” She glanced at Volt, who looked away.
“You don't know the half of it.” Why does she keep looking at me? Why does she find me so freaking interesting? It's making me feel weird. Volt stared at the ground, deliberately trying not to make eye contact with the mare beside him. He could feel something lightly bump into his side, sending a shooting pain through him. Looking to his side, he saw that Dawn had sidled up next to him, and was now cuddling next to him.
“Is it okay if I do this? My sister... she was in that house when it burned down, wasn't she?”
“I didn't know any of the dead. You'd have to ask the Mayor about that... if there is one now. With all the dead, I wouldn't be surprised if this town became a ghost town.” He watched her eyes as she started to cry. “Hey, don't feel like that. I'm here, don't worry.” Volt stared at her as she cried. He felt a little pang of pain for her, but just a little. He put his hoof on her back, patting her gently. “They all lost something. I never had anything here anyways.” He stood up, letting Dawn fall on her side.
“Where are you going?”
“I've got to check on the rest of them. See how they are holding up.” Volt stared straight up at the dark sky again. No Pegasus ponies flew through the air. He sighed, shaking his head and continuing his walk.
Ponyville had taken a heavier beating from the fire than he had first assumed. Dawn was just one of many who had lost something. Twilight was one who had lost everything. Passing burnt-out husk after burnt-out husk, he saw that the damage was far more extensive. Even more ponies were sitting in front of their former homes, just staring at the ground in shock. It's like a ghost town already. There's still so much damage. So much that cannot be fixed. Lives that will never return to normal.
He put his head down as he plodded along, staring at the path ahead. The remains of a vendor's cart sat in the middle of the path in a heap of ash. Skirting around it, Volt kept walking, surveying the damage. He came to a building he had never been to before. It was barely touched. Reading the lettering on the sign, he barely made it out.
“'Carousel Boutique.' Hmm, interesting. I'd best check this out.”
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Opening the door of the Carousel Boutique was quite hard, as several large trees had collapsed against the door. Volt tried pushing them out of the way, to no avail. Sighing, he looked around the sides, hoping for a back door. On the exact opposite side, he came across what seemed like a rarely-used door.
“Better than nothing, I guess.” Pushing it hard, it swung open to reveal another unicorn, staring at him with fear.
“G-go away!”
“Hey, relax! I'm here trying to see how everypony is holding up after the fire. Your building was barely touched at all, asides from several trees across your front door, but nothing that can't be rectified easily.” She seemed to calm down when he said that, and let him in. As he entered, several candles lit up, showing something that Volt had not expected. Many ponies who had tried to escape the fire had gone to Carousel Boutique, and he was now staring at them.
“Wow. I never knew- I mean, I didn't expect this. Are there any Pegasus ponies here?” No pony raised their hoof.
“Well, that messes with that. It's good that you're doing well, Miss?”
“My name is Rarity. It would do you good to remember it.” She pushed him against a wall and kept her voice low.
“But please, could you get them out of here? Fashion does not work well with a large crowd.” She stared at Volt as he chuckled a little bit.
“All right, I'll see what I can do.” He moved to stand in the centre of the room, staring around at the various Earth Ponies and Unicorns.
“Okay, everypony. The fire was dealt with, so you're free to move out. Now, we will definitely need some help with the repairs, so anypony who wishes to stay in Ponyville, raise your hoof now.” Only seven ponies raised their hooves. Volt sighed.
“All right. Those of you who wanted to stay, you need to find a place for you to temporarily live in. Unfortunately, the Carousel Boutique is not such a place. Everypony else, you can get going to wherever you were headed before.” Volt was going to mention that they should move out orderly, but was met with a stampede of ponies leaving, the seven who wanted to stay sitting in front of him.
“All right, then. You heard what I said before. You should probably get on that. It will be a while before Ponyville is back to normal. Well, as normal as it can get after a disaster like this.” Volt left the Boutique, moving around to the front to look back at the devastated Ponyville.
“I have to figure out how to fight Chrysalis. I can't be milling about, gawking at her when the time comes. I'll have to be ready. I guess I'll have to go to Canterlot.” Leaving the Boutique behind, Volt began his short trip to what he assumed was the train station.
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Volt came upon what he assumed was a train station. It was far enough from the town that the fire had not 'hopped' from a nearby house to it.
“Well, at least some basic infrastructure survived. Now, if there was a train...” He trailed off, looking around. No pony was around, not even a stationmaster. Sighing, he trotted inside to be met with the ponies he had said that they should get going. “Well, isn't this a surprise? When is the next train coming?” He turned around and came face-to-face with Dawn.
“Not for a long time, I would say.” She stopped speaking when Volt motioned for her to follow him outside.
“Dawn, now is not the time for that. You need to give them hope, not despair. With despair comes dissent, and with dissent comes a division.” Volt decided to sit down on the edge of the platform. “So, what's going on with the train? Problems?” He turned to see Dawn shaking her head.
“I don't know. I just know that the train hasn't come in a while, and... well, it's starting to worry a lot more than those inside the station. The stationmaster galloped off last night in a panic. Wherever he is, I hope he's safe.”
“So, the stationmaster basically lost his mind and ran off?”
“Pretty much.” Dawn stared down at the ground as she joined Volt at the edge of the platform. “It's kind of peaceful, if you don't think about all the dead bodies.”
“It won't be peaceful. Whatever peace there was in this town is now gone. This town would need residents willing to rebuild, not run. All I see now is a broken place with a broken population.” Murmuring voices from behind startled him. He turned around to see Twilight, along with Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie standing there. “What are you doing here? You should be making sure you didn't lose everything.” In response, Twilight levitated a chest in front of her.
“You're going to go to Canterlot, right? We're coming too. This is as much your problem as it is ours.” They stepped forward, determination in their step. Volt chuckled and shook his head.
“All right, then. I won't stop you. But, according to Dawn here, train's not coming for a while.”
“Ya mean that there train, pardner?” A whistle made Volt back up from the edge in surprise. Sure enough, there was the train. As it stopped, several ponies got off and began unloading what appeared to be large crates of supplies. Volt approached them to see for himself.
“Assisting with rebuilding?”
“You know it. As soon as we heard 'bout the fire, we got as much as we could together. We'll try and get this place ship-shape as soon as we can.” Volt left them to their unpacking, and was about to get on when Rarity grabbed him and pulled him out. Before he could object, she forced a kind of shirt, a dark red one, over him, covering up the bandages.
“That way, you won't get hurt as much.” She smiled sheepishly and boarded, followed by the other three. Volt looked towards the end of the platform, where a small dragon stood waving at them. Volt waved back and stepped inside. He had never been inside of a train, and he did not consider the subway the same as the train he found himself on. That train was very strange for him. Sitting down in a seat near the back of the car he entered, Volt stared down at his hooves in thought. So, word travels fast, huh? That's better than the city, where you'd have to do your own research without someone telling you. That makes things easier.
He looked up to see Dawn sit in the seat directly in front of him. She smiled with closed eyes as she sat down.
“Dawn, I don't want to hear it.”
“But-”
“No. I don't. Don't even pretend to understand what I've been through. I should be dead, and yet I am not.” Volt stared out the window. The 'refugees' - really, the ponies who were too cowardly to stay back and rebuild... well, some were - began piling on, filling up other cars but leaving the one Volt Ward was in alone. When the boarding was done, he could hear the conductor yelling for late boarders. A light tug, and he felt the train start moving. As the outside scenery moved past, he slowly began drifting into sleep. Before nodding off, he saw Dawn staring at him with worry.
“Volt? Volt, are you okay?”
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He was most definitely not okay. He stared around at his surroundings, trying to make sense of it when it hit him: he was in the week before what he felt had been the worst day of his life. He was at home, sitting at the table, typing away a new story. His father came over and started reading over his shoulder. Smiling, his father patted him on the back.
“That story should do it. Whoever doesn't take that is a fool.” His father pulled a knife out of the drawer and was about to start chopping up some lettuce for a salad for dinner when the power went out. Erik saved his data and shut down his laptop when he heard the faucet break, and a scream from his father.
“Dad? Dad?!” He scrambled around, trying to find the flashlight that his father kept hanging on the wall for such emergencies. He eventually found it. Pressing the switch, it flickered on, illuminating everything, including his unconscious father lying on the floor. “Dad!” He knelt down, feeling his father's pulse. It was very, very weak. Looking down, he saw what looked like a piece of the faucet stuck in his ribs. He could feel the tears stinging his eyes as he fished around in his pocket, pulled out his cellphone, and phoned the hospital.
“I'm sorry, but your call cannot be completed.” He lowered the cellphone as he stared at the wall. He lifted his father slowly, watching the blood trickle over his hands as he moved towards the carport of the house. As he made it outside, the power came back on, and one of his neighbors came running towards him.
“Erik, what happened?” Through tears and occasional sobs, Erik tried to explain.
“T-The f-faucet exploded. A-A piece of it hit him in the ribs. Please, help me!”
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Volt could feel the tears stinging his eyes as he woke up. Twilight, her friends, and Dawn were staring at him with worried looks.
“What's going on?” Dawn sat down beside him, putting her hoof around him.
“You were crying in your sleep. And you repeatedly said 'Help me, please! Please help me!' You had us worried, Volt.” She was shocked when Volt pushed her away.
“A nightmare. They've been getting progressively worse, and they show no signs of going away.” I remember... something. Something, but I can't tell what. Pain, an explosion. Blood. He remembered the nightmare, but it had been a nightmare. He stared down at his hooves. It had... felt real. He reassured himself, saying that it could not have happened to him. Dawn glared at him.
“It was most certainly not just a nightmare, Volt! You were crying in your sleep, for Celestia's sake!” Dawn stared at him with increasingly worried eyes.
“It was just a nightmare, so leave it at that. I do not wish to have this go any further.” He turned and stared out the window. They passed through another town, with the train not even stopping. It had been burned completely to the ground They didn't have enough time to save themselves. Revenge tactics. Low, but this 'Chrysalis' seems to know terror tactics well enough. While the authorities are too busy with-
“Those poor ponies.” Volt turned to watch Fluttershy stare out the window as several ponies dragged charred corpses out of many of the ruined homes.
“They never had time to react. They were hit when they least expected it.” He saw very few survivors, but they were shivering, shaking. They're shell-shocked. Traumatized. I don't think they ever expected somepony to do this to them. He felt the train begin to slow down. Watching the survivors, he followed them as they galloped for the train.
“They've lost everything. I hope they're able to find a new life.” He got up and trotted towards the back of the car he was in. Staring out the back, he could see various plumes of smoke trailing into the sky. Several were far away, but Volt knew what they entailed. He gritted his teeth in anger.
“I hate her! I hate Queen Chrysalis! She is going to pay for what she's done!” Though he did not notice, his horn charged up and blasted a bolt of lighting at the window, shattering it. He panted, trying to get it under control. He turned around to see all the ponies in the car with him reared up against the back wall.
“P-Please calm down, Volt!” Volt ignored Dawn as he sat down in the closest seat.
“I won't calm down until I see Chrysalis, dead and buried in an unmarked grave.” He growled as he stared at the floor. The others sat down in the seats far from him. She's caused so much pain and suffering. I won't let this happen again! I won't, I just won't! He fumed in his rage as he sat there, absolutely silent. He could hear somepony swallow, then come up to him. Looking up, he saw that Twilight had sat down in the seat across from him.
“What do you want, Twilight?”
“I've never seen a pony get this angry before. Are you sure you're okay?”
“From where I'm from, this would be a minor footnote in the history of anger. There were others that had to be held down by several others. I'm okay, I just needed to vent.” He pulled the shade down and stared at the ground. The images flitted through his mind, catalogued and filed like a computer.
“Just seeing... so much destruction, it really makes me angry. When I meet Chrysalis again, so help me, I will tear her apart.” Well, I hope it doesn't come to that. Remember, you haven't killed, you're just getting really angry. Remember that, and you'll be fine.
“You don't mean you'll tear her apart, literally?”
“No, Twilight. It's just, if this happened where I come from, the one responsible would be tried for genocide, the mass murder of a single group. At least, I think that was the definition.” He lifted up the shade to see in the distance a grand walled city on a mountain. “What's that?” Twilight trotted over to the window and smiled.
“That's Canterlot. I hope they're okay, especially the Princesses.” She turned to a confused look on Volt's face.
“Princesses, plural? There's more than one?”
“Only two. One is the ruler of the night, while the other is the ruler of the day.” Twilight removed herself and went back to her original seat as Volt watched Canterlot grow slowly bigger as they drew closer.
“I'll talk with the Princesses. I hope to the high heavens that they know what to do.”