Scarlet opened her eyes to the sky above her, clouds lazily drifted across in a peaceful manner. Scarlet closed her eyes and tried to drift back asleep, but the hard ground and her aches wouldn't let her. Slowly she rolled over and stood, her body protesting the whole time. When she stood she noticed the weight of her armor had changed somehow, it felt lighter and seemed to hug her tighter. She looked to the side and saw a sword stabbing out of the ground, the red blade with a black dragon guard, and dragon tail etched into it seemed to jog her hazy memories of yesterday.

She reached for the hilt of the sword with her magic and immediately a pain seared through her horn, filling her body with a burning sensation and the words of the wyvern rang through her head. Take up arms.. Then as swiftly as the pain had came it left and the blade let out a soft red glow and the etched dragon pulsed white. Seek me when you are stronger.

Scarlet placed the sword in her empty sheath and began a search for any survivors, fighting her aches the whole way. She searched through various smoldering buildings and burned remains and so far had very negative results. Twenty three bodies and no survivors. As her search continued the list kept extending but there were no survivors.

Scarlet was ready to give up her search and move to something else, but she couldn't think of what she should do. What could you do in this situation. Move somewhere else and try to live normal? Should she try and find out what the wyvern meant by get stronger? In the end she decided to simply go back and see what was left of her house then head to canterlot, she'd need to warn the princesses if no one else had already. When she made it to where her house stood, there was little left. A few walls stood, and parts of the roof where still there, but for the most part it was ruined.

There was little to do with the remains but sort through and see if there was anything to save. So she set to work and began going through. When she got to her room there were two things that were odd, a mirror that was unblemished, the other was a strange package on what was left of her bed. Scarlet decided to check in the mirror first, not sure why but it seemed like the thing to do. What she saw was a shocker to even her. First off her armor had been warped and melted into an alien form on her body, no wonder it felt different. The other thing was a new scar she wore, cutting down over her right eye. Her vision was fine and her eye seemed normal but the jagged cut had a faint white pulse, similar to the etches in the now sheathed blade.

After giving the strange new scar a careful look over Scarlet turned her attention to the package. It wasn't really a package per Se, more of some object barely wrapped and covered. It was fairly heavy, large, and hard, similar in size and shape to mid-sized armor. And when Scarlet unwrapped it, sure enough, it was armor. She unstrapped her old armor and strapped on this new armor. It fit perfectly for Scarlet and balanced perfectly for her to. The moment she buckled the last strap though, the same searing pain as before surged through her, and just like before it vanished just as fast. The armor now was a deep red that matched the color of her sword and the same pulsing white dragon etching was on the pauldron of the armor.

Scarlet turned her attention back to the mirror and examined herself. She looked similar to the way she did yesterday before the attack, only now with her scar and her armor now red and sword faintly glowing in the sheath. She couldn't help but feel sadden at the loss of everything, her friends, her house, even her armor and sword. There was nothing left for her in this town, in this life even. Yet here she was, armed, armored, and very much alive. Why her? Why now? What was the wyvern doing here? these question plagued her mind when a soft shuffling came from the room nearby.

Scarlet drew her sword and began to slowly advance to the room she heard the sound, caution making her every move slow and silent. Then just outside the room she heard the shuffling outside the door. She rushed in and tackled someone to the ground, sword at the ready. When Scarlet looked down she saw a young man, barely even that. He looked like he would have issues buying a drink, let alone survive an attack like this.

"Please don't hurt me!" He squeaked his voice cracking from stress. "Please! I didn't intend to do anything! honest!" his amber eyes were on the verge of tears. He held up a gray foreleg, trying to protect himself.

"What are you doing here?" Scarlet put away her sword and stepped back, letting the stallion up. "In case you can't tell, kinda not the best place to be."

"I know, but that ting killed everyone else, i was just looking if anyone else made it," the pegasus stretched his wings and shook his head, making his short black mane shake with it. "I'm Ashwing. Who are you?"

"Scarlet Sword," She said it without even looking at him as she scanned for a few provisions for the journey. "I'm going to head to Canterlot, you can come if you want, but i wouldn't stay here." Scarlet went and started looking for a few things to bring.

"I guess there isn't much else for me to do." He looked in some other cupboards trying to help Scarlet. His voice was wrought with sadness at the loss of everything.

"Yeah well i guess-"

"Is anyone here? Hello?" Scarlet was interrupted by a deep voice from outside. "We are with the royal guard. Any survivors are to report to the princesses. Hello, we are here to help." Scarlet's ears perked at the sound of guards and she immediately ran outside.

"Hello I'm Scarlet, town guard, There is another one with me." She saw the two white pegasi in golden armor, a cart was behind them.

"Get in the cart, we are here to take you to Canterlot immediately." The guard seemed shocked that anyone was alive, clearly the reports of the destruction were accurate. Scarlet knew she needed to go so she called for Ashwing then climbed in the cart. The royal guards hooked to the cart and began the long flight to Canterlot.

Author's Note

Just a little filler to introduce Ashwing and get to the meeting. hope you like it tell me what you think in the comments.