From the Shadows

Rarity ran as fast as she could through the burning town, the smoke and ash of the thick air burning her throat and lungs with each frantic breath. Her eyes were glossed over with tears, caused both by the stinging heat and the dire scene all around her.

She felt so alone as she sprinted in between the flames of homes, most of their residents being well known to her, trying desperately to save everything she held dear, still clinging to the splinters of hope that refused to forsake her heart. But, with each scorched corpse she passed, each burning doll, each shattered picture frame, each home, each life ruined by the fire, those slivers began to loosen their grip, and ever-so-slightly, she fell into a state of despair.

She bore no resemblance to her former self; her normally perfect mane was out of place, her ivory hide was stained black by the soot in the air, and her eyes, normally sparkling sapphire blue, were corrupted, and turned red by the burning air as well as her own sour tears.

It took what seemed like forever, and after passing an infinite number of destroyed homes, Rarity came to what she thought was home. The flames were higher here, alluding to the characteristic high-rising architecture of Carousel Boutique, despite being completely engulfed in a pillar of flame and smoke. Rarity stopped before the door of the building, looked up through the descending ash, falling all around her like flakes of snow, and confirmed this infernal structure was indeed home by the metallic mannequin on the roof's spire, which was slowly being melted by the flames dancing beneath it.

She ran the perimeter of the fires, a bit hesitant to enter them, and began screaming for her sister in hopes she would respond.

"Sweetie Belle!" she shouted over the roar of the fire, "Sweetie, can you hear me!"

The filly had to be here; there was no other place she could be. If not here, then somewhere out in the fire, but where else would se go in a time of distress, other than home? She simply had to be within the fire, undoubtedly in trouble by the lack of a response from within the radiant structure's walls.

She circumnavigated the home, stopping when she reached the front porch once again, and took a deep breath. She had to go in; she had to find Sweetie. She clung to her waning hope, and tried to conjure a smidgeon of courage to go along with it, took a deep breath, choked on the smoke that entered her lungs amidst the air, and ran for the door, only to have the wooden barrier hold her back.

Locked, just like Sugar Cube Corner. She began kicking at the door with all her might, rattling the weakening, crumbling structure all around her. Over and over again, she bucked the door, and with each kick, it gave a little bit more, as she and the fire worked together to reduce it to splinters. Her body was wet with sweat, and steam came off of her body as the liquid on her hide evaporated in the heat. She gritted her teeth as she prepared herself for another kick, and, to her own surprise, her blow knocked the door off its hinges.

Fire came spewing out of the opened structure, and miraculously, Rarity was not set ablaze, but it was enough to make her step back in fear, and fall from the porch into the ground, colored light grey with ash. She quickly rose back to her hooves, and without hesitation, ran inside her home, trying as hard as she could to stay low, as well as keep moving forward.

"Sweetie! It's Rarity! Don't be afraid! I'm coming! Where are you!" she yelled, using precious air to make herself known.

She made her way through the living room, most of her mannequins and all of her curtains ablaze, but found no sign of her sister.

She checked the closets, each and every one of them, as well as the kitchen, making sure to duck under the flames and avoid the singeing touch of the tongues of fire. Still, no Sweetie Belle.

She crawled up the stairs, once she found them, choking and stuttering with each inhale, which had grown more frequent with each passing moment. She checked her own bedroom first; the fire had claimed everything, and there was little left, least of all, her sister. Only one room left in the house to check; if Sweetie was not there, then...she tried not to think about it.

She inched her way out of her room, crawling now not on purpose, but because with her mounting weakness, she didn't have the strength to hold herself up. She needed air, a rare commodity in the inferno. She pulled herself across the floor of the second story; she could hear the house creaking and swaying with each movement she made, and knew she had to get out soon.

She found the entrance to Sweetie Belle's room, and saw an equine standing in its center, obscured by the smoke and the flames.

"Sweetie?" she sputtered, coughing when she should have been inhaling, but the figure remained silent.

"It's okay Sweetie," she managed to choke out, "We need to get out of here. Come with me."

But, the shadowy figure stayed still, and as Rarity implored her sister again to come, she realized she was not addressing her kin. On the ground just to her right, curled up, was another equine form, much smaller than the other, and much more familiar; it was her sister.

She turned her darkening vision back to the first figure, and suddenly, a pair of gleaming red eyes were visible, prominent even in the haze of the fire. She felt the floor give a bit suddenly, and she lurched two or three inches downward as she choked on another frightened gasp, and ever so subtly, a voice added its volume to the crackling of the fire.

"Just a tad too late," it said mockingly, and an ivory toothed smile joined the eyes on the shadow.

The floor gave again, and Rarity's scream was muffled as she fell through the crumbling floor, the rest of the house coming down with her.

****************

"Oh my," gasped Fluttershy as she skidded to a stop in the street, stopping as she crested the hill that separated her cottage from town; the separation had done little to stop the advance of the fire.

The home was in flames, and the green grass of the sod roofing was turned black as orange tongues leaped out of the shattered windows. She hated to admit it, but the home was lost, and she watched as the walls began to cave in, columns of smoke erupting from within as they crumbled.

Yet, within the blinding light of the flames, she spotted a glimmer of hope; a group of her animals, a few ferrets, a raccoon, and a very familiar rabbit, miraculously, had survived, and she observed through tear-covered eyes as they darted away from the smoldering wreckage of her home, only to run, panicked, straight into the death trap of the surrounding trees.

"No!" she called out, but she went unheard.

To her horror, her animals, perhaps some of her only surviving friends, entered the trees, made into giant torches by the relentless heat of the fire.

She had to do something; she couldn't abandon them. She needed to help, so, perhaps foolishly, she did.

She ran as fast as she could to where her animals had disappeared into the flames, acting on maternal instinct rather than rationale, and without hesitation, she ducked into the inferno.

"Angel!" she cried out into the smoke and flame, "Angel Don't hide!"

She pushed deeper into the trees, many of them bursting from the heat.

"Angel! Where are you!" she called out desperately, praying for the animals to come to her on their own; if not that, then at least some kind of an answer.

It was getting harder to breathe, and she ducked lower to descend below the smoke. She was crying now, all out of desperation, horror, and the blinding sting of the ashy air, and violently, she began coughing.

"Angel!" she choked, her voice growing weaker as each second passed.

She fell to her knees as she stopped moving forward, coughing profusely, and a tree crashed to the ground in front of her to block her path. She spun around, kicking against the ground as she tried to back away from the embers and smoke kicked up by the crumbling trunk. She struggled back to her hooves, only to fall again, coughing and choking on air, unable to breathe.

"Angel!" she yelled, her voice barely audible over the hum of the fire.

She scanned the fire around her, but found nothing alive, and, again, tried to move on, but fell back to the scalding ground, unable to inhale clean air. She tried, but was unable to bring herself up again, and again, called out to find herself utterly alone.

"Angel!" she yelled, a whisper more than a shout, and her head fell weakly into the ash-covered ground.

The orange of the fire began to fade to black, and lazily, she felt her eyelids shutting on their own. She tried again to breathe, but oxygen failed to reach her lungs. The light of the world faded slowly away, and the roar of the fire turned to a gentle purr, and gently, Fluttershy felt an allure, not unlike that of a dream, take her over.

****************

"This can't be happening," Twilight repeated over and over again to herself as she dejectedly ran across the cobbles of the road, making her way home, and praying that, somehow, the oak had not suffered the same fate as the rest of Ponyville.

She could hear Applejack just behind her, running and breathing heavily, just as she was. Her mind was on the present. There was no seed of thought regarding anything other than saving what may be left of her home in her mind; she was trying not to think of the fire's cause, as she knew the truth of the matter to be something to tear her down, and right now, she had to be strong. She didn't allow her brain to embrace that, maybe, this whole thing was her fault; at least, she tried not to embrace it.

Her ambling thoughts snapped back to the present as she neared the hill, separating her home from the rest of town, and crested its peak still clinging  to tidbits of hope that all was not lost. However, that hope was futile.

Golden Oaks was no longer ablaze, to match the surrounding landscape; it had already burned through, and now, toppled, it lay in the smoldering grass, crumbling into embers and coals. Stray pages of books devoured by the fire blew around in the intense wind, and smoke rose into the night sky, birthed by the blackened bark of her home.

She stood there, frozen and unable to move, until an orange blur blew past her.

"Twilight, I need your help!" Applejack called over her shoulder, not breaking pace as she ran further down the road.

The alicorn, reluctantly, followed, swallowing her welling tears for the time being. She knew that any hope of saving what was hers was gone, but to Applejack, hope still lived. Her home, her family, her life, perhaps, could still be saved. And, even so, if Spike had gotten out of the home, like she tried to tell herself he did, he would have definitely gone to Sweet Apple Acres. At least, she tried to tell herself he would, despite their arranged meeting place being Sugar Cube Corner, but never mind that. Spike would have definitely gone to Sweet Apple Acres if he'd gotten out...probably.

Twilight put her head down, and, her heart weighing her down like a sorrowful burden, she chased after her friend.

Seconds felt like hours as they sprinted out of town, but as they realized that the orange glow of the fire was not confined to Ponyville, the burning orchards came into view. Twilight, without thinking, caught up to Appplejack, who had stopped mid-sprint in the middle of the road, gaping with a silent mouth and weeping eyes at her livelihood, the red fruit of her entire existence, ablaze on the hillsides.

Twilight matched her expression at her side, but after what felt like a half hour of horror, a new level of fear was added to the scene.

"Look!" shouted Twilight, pointing downhill and through the burning trees.

The barn and farmhouse, to match the rest of the entire property, were crumbling under the heat of the merciless fire.

"Come on!" yelled Applejack, her voice cracking under the weight of her shock and despair, before she sprinted through the burning orchards in the direction of her home.

Trees toppled around them as they galloped across the blackened grass, traversing a land of recently broken dreams, and after a seemingly endless race against time, they vacated the inferno for the farmhouse yard, stained grey by ash. Without hesitating, Applejack sprinted up to her front porch; after hesitating, Twilight followed.

"Check the barn!" yelled Applejack as she bucked the front door in, and turned to confidently enter the burning home.

"Applejack, wait!" called Twilight, but her friend had already disappeared into the belly of the burning home.

Twilight ran to go in after her, but in a split second, the wind picked up, and the fires were fanned. Twilight had to step back from the heat; it burned her eyes and stung as it taunted her hide, and in a moment, her waning courage departed all together.

She stood staring into the face of despair as she hoped, then prayed, if not this second, then the next, that Applejack would emerge from the home; she never did.

"Applejack!" yelled Twilight as she tried not to accept what she was beginning to assume.

She took a step closer to the home, but again, the fire picked up with a gust of wind, and the whole house creaked as it swayed. She heard the wood beginning to splinter before the embers began rising into the black, starless sky, knocked free by some force within, and, to her horror, the house crumbled down around itself. It fell into a massive heap of blazing wood and soaring ash, and the smoke that blew out from its weight blinded the alicorn.

She began coughing, unable to breathe in the black haze, and fell to the ground, trying desperately to breathe air that had seemingly forsaken her. Her breath eventually came back, with it, her strength of body, but not of mind.

She began to sob into the brittle, harsh grass, but as she heaved in sorrow guilt, she saw movement within the smoldering remnants of the home.

She stood up suddenly, turning to the silhouette coming forth from the smoke and fire, praying it was who she hoped it was. But, as the shadow came out from the embrace of the fire, unscathed, somehow, it grew darker. When she saw red eyes, her heart fell, but regardless, she tried to stand on her trembling knees.

Twilight tried desperately to do something, anything, but she remained motionless, frozen by despair and fear.

The dying fire danced behind Sombra as he approached her, his black mane whipping in the vicious wind. The light at his back made his already ebony face obscured by an even darker shadow, but, his ivory smile lit up in the darkness. He kept coming, his piercing eyes, coupled with fear, decaying at the courage of the young alicorn as each step brought him closer.

Tears streamed down Twilight's face, her heart was heavy, her stomach was inside out, and, in her moment of need, her courage and strength gave out. Her knees gave, and she fell lightly to the ground, trying with every ounce of her strength to maintain her gaze with the crimson eyes of the king.

Sombra stopped when she hit the ground, and his smile disappeared as he reached into a black saddlebag on his back, keeping his scarlet stare locked on her. He pulled his hoof free when he found what he was apparently digging for, and threw the objects onto the ground in front of the alicorn. They displaced the ash on the grass as they landed, and the fire weakly illuminated the faces of five all too familiar necklaces. A jeweled pink butterfly, a blue tinted diamond, an orange gem, carved in the shape of an apple...

Twilight choked as she tried to speak, the king looking down on her uncaringly as she tried to force simple words.

"My friends..." she managed, sobbing, "What did you do to them? Where are they?"

The king pawed at the soot in the grass, and looked up into the air, seeing the ash that now fell like snow.

"They are all around you," he crooned, his smile beginning to return, "what's left of them."

"You..." she choked, sputtering as she struggled to muster the will power just to speak, "you killed them."

"Yes," the king said nonchalantly, "But not only them."

He reached back into his saddlebags, and threw another object into the white grass before Twilight. This object was long, white and slender...a unicorn's horn.

"I killed your brother,"

Another object hit the ash; a purple scale, slightly blackened and scorched.

"I killed your dragon,"

Twilight looked away from the king, and her sobbing, somehow, grew more intense as she choked on the acceptance of this horrible reality. But, the king's gaze remained on her, uncaring and cold.

"Everything you've ever known," he said as he threw his hooves towards the fires all around them, "I've taken from you."

He bent down to whisper into her ear as her tears drenched her cheeks.

"Your home is ash, as are your friends, each and every one of them, and I am the one that gladly bears the guilt. I've raised hell, and all of its desolation, all of its pain, in your backyard..."

Sombra paused, and his voice grew hate-filled and harsh in an instant.

"and you do nothing about it, but sit here, and cry."

Twilight turned her red tainted eyes up to him, and he glared back down at her.

"Do you know why you are unable to do anything about it? Because you know you had a chance to stop all this from happening. Had you only accepted my offer, your friends would be alive, and you would be powerful enough to stand by my side, instead of cowering before me."

He paused as he stood up from the ground, inhaling deeply, relishing in some unseen sensation.

"I can feel your rage, your wrath. Use it."

He backed away from her, gesturing towards his exposed chest as if it were a target.

"Punish me with it," he hissed, "Avenge your friends. Kill me. Strike me down, and do the world a justice."

The king stared at her coldly, waiting patiently while the fires all around him burned themselves out. It took nearly ten minutes before Twilight was able to rise to her hooves, and answer.

"So I can what?" she said, challenging and harsh as she gagged on her own agony, "Be like you?"

"It's not as bad as it seems," he cooed, "imagine the power to do anything, to conquer everything."

"I will never be anything like you!" she screamed, trying to rise from the ground, "You're a monster, and I HATE you!"

As the words left her mouth, Twilight's glare softened into an expression of sadness as she realized what she'd just said. But, the king's alabaster smile only grew wider.

Slowly, articulately, Sombra spoke, feeding the fire within the alicorn as it brought her back to the ground.

"You are already more like me than you know."

The king walked past her, going away from his smoldering work, and over his shoulder, spoke parting words to the princess.

"As soon as you deny the lie that good is more powerful than evil, you and you alone will be able to stand to me, and perhaps, your friends' deaths will be justified."

He turned a crimson eye to her as he opened a spinning black portal in front of him, and said, "Think about it."

He stepped through the void, and disappeared, leaving Twilight alone, with only the burning remains of a life she once loved all around her. She fell closer to the ground, all of the agony and despair welling up within, and when she looked back down to the five elements of harmony, null with the deaths of her closest friends, she buried her head in her hooves, and cried.