Friendship's Touch

Chapter 4

“Wait, Luna?” said a dumbfounded Gaia, who looked happily over at the Princess, completely forgetting the others.  She quickly bounded over to Luna, shoving Twilight and Rarity aside in the process before leaping up and wrapping her forelegs around her. “Luna!” she cried as she buried her face in the Princess’ chest.

“It is good to see you again Gaia.” Luna said, returning Gaia’s hug with her own tight embrace, tears forming in her eyes.

She let the unicorn down to the ground, then turned to the stallion as the others looked on with confusion.

“Atlas,” Luna said, stepping up and throwing her forelegs around him tightly.

“My dear, sweet Luna,” he said, nuzzling the side of her neck. “It is good to see you again my love.”

“Love?” the girls with the exception of Zecora and Twilight all said with collective shock and confusion.

“In the age when the world was new, tales were told of the earth’s love for the moon.  It was in this time that the Shaper formed Luna’s Peak, so that the moon’s love, the earth could seek.” Twilight said with a smile, as she watched the two larger ponies.

Atlas released Luna and walked over to smile down at Twilight. “Well, well, I didn’t think anyone knew that old legend anymore.” He chuckled.

Twilight flushed with pride and smiled up at him. “Well, when I was a filly, Princess Celestia used to tell me that tale all the time, it was kind of my favorite.” she said, shyly scraping her hoof across the ground as she saw Luna looking at her with surprise, feeling like she and Celestia shared some secret that she was not meant to know.

Atlas nodded with an amused grin, then turned back to Luna. “You have surrounded yourself with wise friends Luna, and brave too,” he said, looking over his shoulder at the other girls. “I think you can release them now Gaia.”

Gaia nodded and focused her magic on the girls. Within seconds, the cage around Zecora and Fluttershy disappeared, as well as the vines and chains securing Rainbow Dash and Applejack.

“Thank you,” Fluttershy said shyly.

“Whatever,” Gaia huffed, before heading back over to her brother and Luna, causing Fluttershy to withdraw back behind her hair a bit.

“That wasn’t very nice,” Pinkie Pie said as she came up and put a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder, getting an indifferent shrug from Gaia.

Twilight stepped up with a smile and reached out with her hoof. “Well, it’s nice to meet you two. I’m...”

“Twilight Sparkle.” Gaia chimed in. “And the rest of you are Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash, the Elements of Harmony.” She said before looking to Zecora. “And you are Zecora, the Life Element of Wisdom.” She added, reciting everypony’s names and titles with indifference.

“Huh?” Everypony said, looking to Zecora, who looked quite confused herself.

“I do not know what you think you see, but there is nothing special about me,” Zecora said, waving a hoof in the air.

“Quite the opposite, Miss Zecora, though I suppose an explanation is in order. If you’d like, we can discuss everything over tea, after we gather the other Elements,” Atlas said holding up a hoof to head off any kind of interjection.

“The other Elements?” Rarity asked, taking a step forward.

Gaia cleared her throat a bit. “The Elements of Strength, Courage, Humility, and Love; two of these four are here in Ponyville.”

“Well I suppose the best thing to do would be to find these other two.  Shall we meet at the library?” Twilight suggested.

Atlas nodded his head. “That would be wise.  A more relaxing atmosphere would be good to tell the others about their gift, and the reason we have been searching them out.”

“Ok then, just who are we looking for?” Rainbow asked, sitting back and crossing her forelegs.

“I’m guessing Derpy and Big Mac.” Twilight said, receiving a nod from Atlas.

“Big Mac!” Applejack scoffed.  “Pardon me, Big Mac is strong but he isn’t much of the ‘mighty hero’ type.”

“Sometimes the greatest of heroes is found amongst the humblest of ponies,” Luna interjected.

“Do you have any idea what’s going on, Luna?” Twilight asked.

“No I can’t say that I do, but hopefully all will be made clear once we gather at the library,” She said with a shrug.

“I assure you, all will be revealed,” Atlas said with a nod. “And I think, perhaps, Celest should be present,” He added, looking to Luna.

“Tia? Why?” Luna asked him, raising a brow.

“This matter concerns the very fate of Equestria,” He replied.

Luna nodded her head slightly. “Very well, I shall retrieve her.  Twilight, I’ll leave them in your hooves,” she said, smiling at the purple unicorn.

“You can count on me.” Twilight smiled.

“Luna, can’t I come with you?” Gaia asked.

“No Gaia, we have to stay together, that way it’ll be easier to track the Elements if Twilight and her friends can’t find them,” Atlas interjected with a hoof on her shoulder.

Gaia splayed her ears and crossed her forelegs. “Fine, let’s go then.” She huffed before getting up and making her way towards the edge of the camp.

“Don’t worry dear; this will give all of us a chance to get to know each other.” Rarity smiled, placing a hoof on Gaia’s shoulder.

“Don’t bother.” Gaia sneered, shrugging off Rarity’s hoof, before making her way out of the camp to wait on them.

“Well I’ll be, what’s got her bridle in a bunch? You sure she’s your sister, Atlas?” Applejack asked him.

“Gaia isn’t really the easiest pony to befriend. In fact, I think Luna and Celestia are the only real friends she’s ever had. Well, aside from Pandora and Argos.” He frowned.

“Pandora and Argos?” Twilight asked.

Atlas smiled and shook his head. “I will explain everything in the library, that way everypony gets the information.”

Luna turned to Atlas and placed a kiss upon his cheek. “I’ll see you at the library.  Try to make sure Gaia and the others don’t kill each other.”

“Well I can’t really promise anything, but I’ll try.” He grinned, nuzzling her nose with his own.

With a final smile between the two, Luna took to the sky and headed in the direction of Canterlot, before disappearing in a dark flash of light. After watching her go, the group made their way out of the camp and headed into town. Big Mac was easy enough to find, since he was in town buying some supplies to repair the roof of the family home. With some reluctance, he agreed to meet them at the library after dropping off the supplies at home and checking on Granny Smith. Derpy was a bit harder to find at first, and they even thought of having Gaia use her magic to locate her, before Twilight remembered that she went to the school at this time of day to pick up Dinky.  After making their way across town, with the strangers now visible in broad daylight receiving a few interested looks from the townsponies, they reached the school just in time to see Dinky bound out of the schoolhouse and into Derpy’s waiting hooves.

“Hi mom!” Dinky squealed, nuzzling against Derpy’s chest.

“Hello Dinky, did you have a good day?” Derpy asked as she set her back down on the ground.

“I did, Miss Cheerilee is taking us on a field trip to the Canterlot Zoo on Friday. She needs the parents’ permission, though.” Dinky explained, falling into step beside her mother as they made their way towards home.

“Well of course you can go,” Derpy said before stopping, noticing that her eye had gone out of focus. Like before, she closed her eyes and gently tapped on the side of her head, before opening them with a bit of surprise to see Twilight and her friends smiling at her. “Oh, hi girls.” She smiled.

“Hello Ditzy, hello Dinky. How are you two doing?” Twilight asked her as she turned her smile to Dinky, who smiled back.

“Oh we’re doing fine. I finished my route and I’m picking Dinky here up from school.” Derpy said, drawing her daughter close to her side and running her hoof over the top of her head, eliciting a giggle from her.  “Is there something I can help you guys with?” she asked as she brought her attention back to the others.

“Mommy didn’t accidentally deliver the wrong mail to you again did she? It was just an accident!” Dinky blurted out as she hugged her mother protectively.

“No sweetie, no, we’re not mad at her.  We just needed to talk to her about something,”  Twilight assured her.

“Talk to me about what?” Derpy asked, cocking her head.

Twilight waved a hoof “We should discuss it at the library; Big Mac is waiting for us there for the same thing.”

Derpy looked down at her daughter, sharing a shrug and a look of confusion. “Um, ok.  Is it ok if Dinky comes along?”

The girls looked to Atlas and Gaia, who then looked to each other. Atlas cocked his head at Gaia with a questioning expression, who in turn shrugged her shoulders in indifference with a sour expression.  Atlas shook his head again, at Derpy this time, and stepped forward.

“It would probably be best if Dinky goes home. The story I have to tell is, perhaps, not fit for the ears of a filly.” He said.

With a nod, Derpy turned to face her daughter, crouching down face to face with her. “I’ll be along soon, Dinky.  Why don’t you go home and get started on your homework?” she said, smiling to the filly who stared at her with disappointed eyes.

“Aw, mom!” Dinky pleaded.

“No arguing. Go on.” Derpy said firmly, giving Dinky a loving nuzzle on the top of her head, before lightly shooing her along when Dinky turned for home, causing the filly to giggle as she bounded away. “Ok, ready.” Depry said as she looked back to the others.

“OK then, let’s go,” Twilight said, leading everypony to the library.

*   *   *   *

In the throne room of the decrepit castle, the dark figure sat upon his throne with the light of the sun shining upon him.  He was a dark blue alicorn, with a sea green mane and tail, as well as a long, identically colored beard and a hurricane for a cutie mark. He wore a long black cape upon his back, which was clasped around his neck with a jewel that contained a swirling tornado within it and a crown of black coral upon his head. His fierce red eyes stared off into the empty room, before they looked over at a figure shrouded in the shadows.

“What is it, Daru?” he rumbled, his deep, gravelly voice echoing through the room.

“Forgive me, my king, but the preparations are complete,” came the calm reply of the shrouded figure, his own voice as deep and menacing as his master.

“Very well, and what of the condition of my daughter?” he asked with curiosity.

Daru nodded his head, the sunlight glinting from the horn on his forehead. “She is coping quite well, despite the amount of energy we tapped from her. Though, we couldn’t manufacture much with what we got, and we didn’t want to attempt too much without knowing her limit. Following this initial attempt, we’ll have to switch to a smaller scale if we wish to remain constant.”

“That will do. All we need to do is send Celestia and Luna a message. And what of the army?” the king asked.

“The army is at fifty percent, those that are already complete are stationed and ready.” Daru smiled.

“Very well.  I will be in the tower; it is time we sent the dear Princesses their message.” The king said before taking off in a brisk sweep of wings, flying up to the large tower that stood above the castle.

Landing on the platform of the tower, the king turned his attention to the northwest, where the peaceful land of Equestria lay, its unsuspecting inhabitants going about their daily lives. The king stood on his back hooves, raising his fore hooves to the sky.

“Great winds of Amuk’thar, your master commands you; come forth and bring destruction to our enemies.” He shouted as a great wind whipped through his mane.

The wind began to increase, swirling about the tower until it wrapped around the king’s body and rose high above him, and began to blow in the direction of Equestria. It continued to magnify until it reached hurricane force strength, before a series of fireballs rose up from the castle and were caught by the wind to be sent hurtling towards the unsuspecting land of Equestria.

“Let’s see if you two have lost your touch.” He sneered with malice.

*   *   *   *

The gang had gathered at the library to hear Atlas’ tale, only to find that neither Big Mac, nor Luna had arrived yet.  The girls contemplated searching for him, before the bell at the door jingled as Big Mac arrived with his normally carefree expression.

“Big Mac, where’n the hay’ve you been?  We should’ve been meetin’ YOU here.” Applejack said with a cross look at her big brother.

“I’m sorry AJ,  I had some problems with Applebloom and her friends trying to parachute from the barn.” He explained as he walked up to his sister, unfazed by her expression.

Applejack quickly readied another question, before her expression switched to one of first, realization, and then anger, before finally shifting to exasperation.

“Parachute from the...Wait. Were those silly little fillies tryin’ out more of their hair brained cutie mark shenanigans?” she asked, recoiling in shock.

“Eeyep.” came her brother’s reply, causing Applejack to put a forehoof on her face with a sigh and a shake of her head.

“So where are they now?” she asked, looking at him around her hoof with one open eye.

“Cheerilee is keeping them busy,” He said, taking a seat beside her and looking to the strange ponies that had been watching the exchange with some interest, well, Atlas seemed interested, while Gaia seemed annoyed.

“Those fillies, I swear,” Applejack muttered, before turning her attention back to Atlas and Gaia. “I apologize.” Applejack said with a shaky grin

“No apology neccessary.” Atlas nodded, returning Applejack’s smile.

“Yes, no need to apologize for wasting everypony’s time.” Gaia murmered, looking off a bit to the side.

“I’m afraid we must wait for Luna and Celestia,” Atlas said, clearing his throat and glaring at his sister, who looked back at him with annoyance. “In the meantime, perhaps we can acquaint ourselves.”

“Yes, let’s waste some more time, Atlas.” Gaia huffed, ignoring her brother.

“Well ah’ll be sugarcube, what’s got the burr under your saddle? You’ve been meaner than a rattler ever since we met,.” Applejack said, furrowing her brows at the unicorn.

“It’s none of your business,” Gaia said curtly, turning to face her back to them.

“How rude. We’re only trying to be your friends.” Rarity huffed.

“Come on Gaia-waia.  Everypony needs a friend!” Pinkie said, bounding up in front of Gaia with the biggest grin she could fit onto her face.

When Twilight opened the package, Pinkie Pie’s smiling face looked back at her. She stuck her head out of the box and shook her head a bit to get her mane, which had compressed a bit, back to it’s poofy state.

“Not me.” She said, shutting Pinkie Pie in a box and floating her over to Twilight, who immediately opened it with some worry on her face.

“I always wondered what it was like from a present’s perspective.” Pinkie giggled wildly as the package disappeared, leaving her lying on her back.

“Maybe I should add a little thunder and lighting to that gloomy little cloud of yours.” Rainbow said as she rose into the air, her fur bristled a bit as she made a motion of rolling up her nonexistant sleeves.

Gaia looked back at her with an expression that made the cocky pegasus pause for a second, before returning her own intense glare at the unicorn.

“That’s enough, Rainbow Dash.” Twilight interjected, stopping Rainbow from doing something rash, like she’d done countless times; she knew how a repeat of the previous two times would end. Twilight swore sometimes that if she wasn’t there to stop the pegasus, she’d find herself in much worse trouble than she normally got into.

Atlas put a hoof on Gaia’s shoulder and looked warmly at his sister, receiving one in return that looked out of place on the cranky unicorn. Suddenly, an explosion was heard outside that rocked the library.

“What was that?” Twilight said as she ran to a window.

“It came from somewhere outside,” Rainbow Dash said as she zipped out the door with the others close behind.

At first they couldn’t see anything, but as they turned to look towards the smell of smoke, they soon saw it rising up from the center of town. Everypony stared in shock as they looked up at a looming shadow, to see multiple, large, fireballs streaking towards the direction of Canterlot, Manehatten, and Fillydelphia; though they paid more attention to the large number of fireballs that were heading straight for town.

“Everypony, take cover!” Atlas shouted as he took off away from the fireball that was about to land where they were standing, with his sister and the others close behind.

They dodged left and right as small fireballs broke off from the large one when it impacted, which in turn began to rain on the city, setting fire to many homes and businesses.  The group made their way past screaming ponies as they ran from the fireballs, chaos quickly taking hold of the town.  They saw the mayor frantically trying to calm some of the ponies that passed by her, a siren beginning to sound as the only two tankers for the fire department made their way to the most intense fires.

“Miss Mayor!” Twilight shouted as the group skidded to a halt in front of her.

“Twilight!  This is bad. It’s chaos out here! We’re getting reports of fires all over town, and the fire brigade can’t handle them all!” The Mayor exclaimed with despair.

The group looked around as a group of townsponies began to gather around them, a little voice suddenly erupting from the crowd.

“Mom!” shouted Dinky, who threw her forelegs around her mother and held her tightly.

“Are you ok, Dinky?” Derpy asked as she looked her daughter over for injuries.

“Uh-huh,” the filly replied, before looking at her mother with worry. “What’s going on?” she asked

“What’s the plan, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked the purple unicorn, who had been deep in thought. After a few seconds of silence, she finally raised a hoof in the air.

“I’ve got it! Don’t worry, we can get through this. Applejack, Big Mac; can the townsponies fit in your new cellar?” she asked, turning to the farmponies.

“It’ll be tight but ah’ think we can manage it,” Applejack said, getting a nod of agreement from her brother.

“Ok. Miss Mayor, get on the PA system and tell everypony to head for Sweet Apple Acres,” Twilight told her, before turning to the sound of a familiar voice.

“Twilight!” came the voice of Princess Celestia. Twilight looked up to see the sisters swooping down from the sky to land in front of her. Celestia immediately brought her attention to Atlas and Gaia. “I thought maybe Luna had gone delusional when she said you two were here, Atlas,” she began.

“Now’s probably not the best time Celest,” Atlas said, cutting her off with a hoof.

“Is there anything we can do about those?” Rarity said, as she and the others kept a constant eye on the rapidly falling fireballs.

“The same thing is happening all over Equestria. Luna is heading to Fillydelphia, and I’m going to Manehatten. All we can hope to do is cast a barrier over as much of the cities as we can until the fireballs stop,” Celestia said as the mayor began to address everypony over the PA system.

“What about Canterlot?” Twilight asked, worry for her parents and brother beginning to fill her mind.

“Your brother and the Mages’ College will take care of Canterlot; their combined power should be enough,” Celestia replied.

“And what about Ponyville?” Fluttershy asked nervously.

“I’ll do it,” Gaia said as she took off towards the center of town.

“Is she powerful enough to do that?” Celestia worriedly looked to Atlas.

“She is, but I don’t know how long she can sustain it through such a powerful attack,” He said with a shake of his head.

Rarity looked to Twilight with a nod. “Then we’ll help her,” she said, looking to the Princess.

“Are you sure you’re up for it Rarity? I only just started teaching the barrier spell to you a few weeks ago.” Twilight asked Rarity, cocking her head to the side.

“Well, granted I’m not as powerful as you, Twilight. But I shant stand idly by while my town is destroyed.” Rarity said with a determined stomp of her hoof.

“That’s very brave of you Rarity, I know it won’t be easy,” Celestia said, giving her a smile. “Good luck to you all. I shall see you again if this ends,” she said, before looking to Luna with a nod. The Princesses took off as a barrier of green began to form over the town, stretching to cover Sweet Apple Acres foremost and then continued out to it’s max, to just outside of Fluttershy’s home.

“My animals!” Fluttershy shouted as she quickly flew towards her home.

“Fluttershy, wait!” Rainbow Dash called, before taking off after her.

“Applejack, you, Pinkie Pie, and Big Mac take care of the evacuation.” Twilight said, receiving a nod from them before they took off for the farm. “Derpy, you and Zecora, see if you can help the medical ponies with any injuries.”

“What do I do?” Dinky suddenly asked from Derpy’s side.

“You need to be in the shelter,” Derpy immediately answered her.

“But I want to be with you, mommy!” she cried.

“No arguments, Dinky!” Derpy said sternly.

Atlas looked to the mailmare and nodded his head. “I’ll keep her safe until I get her to the shelter.”

“Thank you,” Derpy said, before hugging her daughter tightly. “I’ll see you at the shelter sweetie.”

“You be careful mommy.” Her daughter commanded, giving her a stern look.

“Of course.” Derpy smiled, before setting off in the direction of the hospital with Zecora.

“Let’s go Rarity,” Twilight said with a nod as the two unicorns ran off to join Gaia.

Atlas lowered himself to the ground so that Dinky could climb on. Once she was securely on his back, with her hooves holding onto his neck the best they could, he looked back with a smile. “Well, miss, shall I escort you to the Gala?” he chuckled, before flying off in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres, with a giggling Dinky on his back. The mood was shattered, however, as he suddenly felt something hit the back of his head and saw blackness.

Dinky clung to the stallion’s neck as he dropped from the sky, screaming fearfully as Town Hall rushed up to meet them.

*  *  *  *

Twilight and Rarity found Gaia standing on the balcony of the clock tower, channeling all of her magic into the barrier, which they had seen begin to waver and break up in spots, letting a few of the fireballs in.

“Looks like she needs some help,” Twilight said, before rushing up to Gaia’s side.

Gaia had been focusing every ounce of her magic into the barrier, but the constant assault of the fireballs was starting to wear on her. She readjusted her shaky hooves and put the last bit of her energy into focusing on the barrier before she felt the strength of her barrier increase, causing her to open her eyes and see the other two unicorns next to her.

Rarity struggled a bit, since her magic wasn’t normally used for things like this. She had originally asked Twilight to teach her the barrier spell because she thought it would be handy to keep important orders protected from stains and whatnot. She never thought in a million years that she would be using it to keep Ponyville from being destroyed.

“I don’t need your help.” Gaia glared at them.

“From the looks of it, you need all the help you can get missy.  Now’s not the time to be stubborn,” Rarity said.

Gaia had to admit that Rarity was right, and actually found herself thankful for the help.  She hoped, though, that that brief weakness in the barrier didn’t cause too much trouble as she and the girls sustained the barrier through the relentless onslaught.

“Sorry about that, we had to save Fluttershy’s animals.” Rainbow Dash said, shooting a glare to the yellow Pegasus.

“I’m sorry, but I just had to make sure they were safe in their shelter,” she said, getting a shake of Rainbow’s head in return.

“Can you girls…look for anyone that…didn’t make it to the shelter?” Twilight said, trying to speak while she held the barrier.

“Can do!” Rainbow Dash said with a salute, before grabbing a surprised Fluttershy by the hoof and taking off like a flash.

*  *  *  *

Dinky awoke with a groan, standing up slowly until she was fully on her hooves.  She opened her eyes and slowly looked around, attempting to get her bearings; she was in an office, from the looks of it.  She saw that she had ended up under a heavy desk, which had probably saved her from the pieces of collapsed roof she saw laying on top of it. As she studied the room she caught sight of sunlight shining on a pony’s back end laying underneath a few boards and pieces of plaster ceiling. She recognized the markings as the stallion, Atlas and rushed over with a gasp.

“Mister, Mister!” she shouted, moving the rubble off of of him that she could until she uncovered the rest of him. She sighed with relief as she saw that he was still breathing.

She shook him a bit more but still got no response; he was alive though, and that was the important part. Now, though, she had to figure out how to get out of this room. Quickly, she looked around for an escape, checking every corner of the room, but was met with disappointment. As she leaned against the wall with a frown, she heard it creak and give way a little. She turned and looked at the wall for a few seconds, pushing on it a little to confirm what she’d heard; the wall had been weakened by the fire.

“Maybe I can break through to the other side.” she thought, looking for something she could use to break it. She finally looked to her right to see a large bust of the mayor sitting atop a stone pedestal.

Quickly, she climbed up the bookcase that stood beside the statue until she was above it. With a gulp and a second to gather her nerves, she leapt from the bookcase to land on the head of the statue, using her momentum and her little bit of weight to tip the statue over, riding it down and bouncing off as it hit the wall, sending her rolling across the room until she stopped a few feet away. She slowly stood on unsteady hooves and shook her head a bit until she got her bearings, then looked to the wall to see that the statue had knocked a hole large enough for her to crawl through.

She looked to Atlas for a second, she had figured out a long time ago that she couldn’t drag him out, so she would have to be brave and crawl out to look for help. As she passed by the unconscious stallion, she thought about covering him to protect him from any embers that fell from the ceiling, and set to work finding something. She looked down at her feet to see a small, oval rug, large enough to cover most of him. With some effort she dragged the rug over him and then looked around again; she would have to wet the rug to make it effective. She scanned the room again until she noticed a water cooler that had tipped over in the corner. Most of the water had leaked out, but enough remained inside for her to adequately wet the rug. She ran over to the jug, avoiding falling pieces of ceiling in the process. Carefully, she rolled the jug over to Atlas, taking care not to spill any more water and thoroughly soaked the rug with the water, kicking the empty jug away so that it wouldn’t melt and hurt him.

Content that she had done the best for Atlas’ safety, she walked over to the hole in the wall and poked her head through. The next room appeared to be the lobby of city hall. Most of the room seemed destroyed and impassable, until she noticed that there was a place to crawl behind the receptionist’s desk and make her way outside through the wall that had a huge chunk torn out of it. With a deep, calming breath, she wriggled through the hole and popped out onto the floor. She made her way towards the desk, holding her tail close to keep it away from the flames as she passed by them. As she approached the desk, the floor creaked a bit beneath her before he left hind hoof fell through. With a gasp she quickly worked to free her hoof, stopping for a second as she heard a groaning and splintering sound that caused her to looked up at the bulging ceiling. She gasped again before trying with even more determination to free her hoof. After a bit more struggling, she managed to pop her hoof free and dive under the desk, covering her head and closing her eyes with a prayer to Celestia and Lunar as a large chunk of ceiling collapsed on top of the desk. When she was sure everything had settled, she opened her eyes, seeing that the way was still clear. She quickly got to a crouch, crawled the rest of the way to the hole,and quickly slipped through to the outside, taking a moment to fill her lungs with fresh air, before dropping to her rump and crying.

“Help! Somepony! Anypony!” she shouted, her little voice straining as she tried to shout over the sound of the destruction and chaos taking place around her.

*  *  *  *

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew over the town, scanning for any sign of any remaining ponies, flying by windows and doors making sure that no one was inside any of the buildings. They turned right to head down the street, past the now partially leveled town hall, when they heard a voice.

“Help! Anypony!” came the frightened voice from below.

“Down there.” Rainbow pointed before rapidly descending.

“Ohmygoodness.” Fluttershy stammered as she quickly followed behind her.

They both gasped as they saw Dinky sitting in the street, covered in soot and grime and crying her eyes out. They quickly landed and Fluttershy scooped her up into her hooves, comforting her and wiping the tears away.

“It’s ok, Dinky. You’re safe now, we have you.” Fluttershy cooed to the girl like she always did with one of her animals.

“P...Please help! Atlas is still inside!" Dinky said, sniffling a bit and quickly regained her composure.

“Where is he?” Rainbow Dash asked, turning her head to the filly.

“He’s in an office, there on other side of that wall.” She replied, jumping from Fluttershy’s hooves to point to the hole she had made in the far wall.

“Ok, stand back!” Rainbow Dash said as she rose up into the air a few feet.

With a determined look, Rainbow Dash backed up a bit, before rushing through the flames. As she punched through the wall, making the hole Dinky had made bigger. She looked down to see Atlas laying under the rug, which now had a few singe marks where some embers had fallen on it. She took his forehooves in her own and began to drag him, with some effort, across the room to the opposite wall, which she hoped would lead outside. After placing the stallion near the wall, she backed up to where she had entered the room and took a deep breath.

“Here goes nothing.” she said, before putting all her strength into her wings and flew into the wall, knocking a hole in it and appearing outside in a back alley, to her relief. With a sigh of relief, she quickly went back into the hole and dragged Atlas out as Fluttershy entered the alley with Dinky in tow.

“Oh, goodness. Is he ok, Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked as she set Dinky down on the ground and landed beside Atlas to check on him.

“He’s out cold, but he’s still alive.” Rainbow Dash said just as Atlas let out a small groan now that his lungs got a taste of fresh air, confirming her novice diagnosis.

“I’ll go get help!”Fluttershy said, quickly taking off towards the direction of the hospital to retrieve Zecora or a doctor, leaving Dinky in Rainbow Dash’s hooves.

As Rainbow Dash and Dinky waited for Fluttershy’s return, the barrage stopped, and an eerie silence filled the air. Rainbow Dash flew slowly out of the alley to see what had happened.  She looked in every direction, but saw nothing but blue sky behind the green and purple barrier.

“They, stopped?” Rainbow Dash said with some confusion.

“Rainbow!” came Twilight’s voice through the deafening silence.

“Twilight?” she called back, raising her ear a bit towards the sound of Twilight’s voice.

“You and the pegasi need to get a downpour going to put out these fires!” Twilight called back.

“Got it!” Rainbow replied, looking to the filly she held in her hooves. “Think you can look after Atlas until Fluttershy gets back?” she asked Dinky as she set her next to the stallion.

“Sure.” Dinky nodded with a mixture of fear and confidence on her grime covered face.

Rainbow Dash gave her a smile and took off to the shelter to gather any uninjured pegasus to bring in some rain clouds as the barrier dissipated. Back at the clock tower, the unicorns slid to the ground, exhausted and panting for breath.

Twilight leaned against a sleeping Rarity, before looking over at Gaia, who could barely lift her head off of the ground. “I think, you guys owe us that explanation now, right after a quick nap.”