Equestria Aflame.

     Applejack had difficulty sleeping, her dreams were plagued with nightmares. She finally rose in the middle of the night to take a break from the tossing and turning. She shivered lightly from leaving her warm bed. Her ruffled, blonde hair covered her vision but was immediatly pushed aside. The house was silent and dark, the slightest noise felt like it would wake up the world. She slowly crept to her bedroom door, careful not to make any noise. The door creeked quietly when it was slowly pulled open. The hall she entered was dark as night and it seemed to stretch into a black void, but she knew it was only a few feet. She stood at the end of the hall next to the stairs and glanced at each closed door of her sleeping friends' rooms. She squinted hard to see in blackness. Applejack strode down the hall, past all the doors, and came upon a door she rarely opened. A much strongrer creek came from its hinges, it was the door to the attic. She quietly made her way up the rough, wooden staircase until her eyes were level with the dusty, attic floor. She scanned the room until she found what she was looking for: Big Mac, perched at the only window in the room surveying the farm and road to Ponyville. Applejack took another step up, creaking the wood. Big Mac turned his head to see his sister. He was keeping watch through the night at the highest window he could get.

      "Ah can't sleep." Applejack whispered as she walked towards him.

      Big Mac gave a light nod and turned back towards the window. His stern expression in the moonlight gave away that he was not happy. Applejack neared her brother and quietly sat next to him. She never took her eyes off him, she could tell anger was rising in him.

      "What's wrong?" Applejack asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

      Big Mac slowly looked at Applejack, his stone complexion gave her a slight shiver. He glanced back towards the window and nodded his head, which signaled her to look as well.

      Applejack's mouth fell agape and her eyes widened. She saw billows of smoke and the orange glow of her town burning in the distance. The entire horizon burned a bright orange and yellow, and black pillars of smoke stretched towards the sky as if they were trying to brush the stars themselves.

      Applejack gulped and took a deep breath. "Nothing will be left." Applejack shakily whispered. "Nothing but... ashes." Images surfaced in her mind of what the aftermath would be like, and of where the soldiers would go next.

      Big Mac looked back at his sister, understanding in his eyes. He silently agreed with her and gazed back outside. He scooted a few inches closer to her and she took the hint. She rested her head on his shoulder and sighed. Mac only exhaled more air than usual. The moonlight bathed them in a silver shine and the night breeze brushed their fur. The hopeless sight before them soaked the two with gloom, but they had each other; and that was enough for them.

      Applejack yawned and made herself more comfortable by leaning more on her brother. He, in turn, rested on his stomach and tucked his forelegs under his chest. She used his flank as a pillow and layed down, her eyes slowly shutting from exhaustion.

      Big Mac was getting pretty comfortable in his spot. He kept watch. The sight of destruction greatly disheartened him, yet he never showed how much it really affected him. He was never one to share his emotions with anypony. Why bother them? There were more important things for them to pay attention to.

      He then looked down at his sister who was now slipping into sleep. Her frizzy blonde hair half covered her face and slightly glistened with the moonlight. She was now taking the deep, consistant breaths that one takes when asleep. He knew she felt safe around him and that cheered him up a little bit. He was also growing tired. He slid his body into a more comfortable position and felt his eyes shut. Maybe a little nap wouldn't hurt.

      Everypony had trouble sleeping throught that night.

      "Maybe it was just what I fear would happen!" Twilight stammered.

      "We can't be sure of that." Luna replied, anxiety in her voice.

     Twilight Sparkle and Princess Luna were debating on the meaning of Twilight's nightmare.

"I have never had a nightmare like that before, but what I just dreamed can't possibly happen. Right?" Twilight paced around her room.

      "We can never truly know what the future holds, Twilight." Luna answered, "That dream was more vivid than ones even I have had. It has to mean something."

      "That monstrous alicorn, what could he mean?" twilight asked.

      "There was death on a massive scale in your dream, maybe your mind was trying to conjure a representation of it in the form of another pony? From the words he spoke to you, you must've or will make a decision that will decide all of our fates and your premonition must've shown you what the outcome would be if you made the wrong one." Luna hypothosized. If Luna was good at anything, it was dream interrpreting.

      Twilight thought about Luna's theory, it was the best interrpretation she could figure. "I so hope you're wrong, princess."

      "As do I, but I fear that I am not." Luna placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. She then gave Twilight a very stern expression, "Think extremely carefully about every decision you make, big or small. Your decision on what to have for breakfast in the morning could be that very decision that dooms us all."

      "I will princess," Twilight gave the bravest look she could, she looked away away from Luna, "Pray I make the right decisions."

      Luna only nodded in response, she then said, "Get some rest. Do not speak of this to Celestia or anypony else, we don't want to set off a panic." Twilight nodded and Luna vanished in a flash of dark blue magic.

      Princess Celestia awoke and performed her daily duty of raising the sun. She loved the dawn much more than dusk, the colors seemed...brighter. She strode down a palace hallway towards the royal dining hall where her breakfast awaited her. A slight smile on her face as she walked. She looked forward to feasting on the most succulent fruits and vegetables that Equestria had to offer. She could already smell the oats. When the doors to the hall opened, she was both pleased and dissapointed. It was a slight clash of emotions that she didn't know how to feel about.

      She saw her breakfast at the head of the table, just begging to be devoured. This pleased her. What didn't was the messenger pony standing next to it with a somber expression on his face, he looked like he did not want to give the message he had. Celestia herself, did not want to hear it either. She walked slowly to her spot at the table and sat down in a dignified manner.

      "Let's get this over with." Celestia sighed as she levitated a cup of hot tea to her lips, "Which city rioted this time?"

      The messenger waited a few seconds before he spoke, he was building enough courage to tell her. "Umm, it was more than a riot, your highness."

      Through a, for lack of a better term, game of telephone the story of what exactly happened at Ponyville changed from a pony sneaking into the garrison and sabotaging the artillery powder, to the citizens of the town organizing a revolt and storming the garrison in a surprise attack, killing some of the soldiers and burning the garrison to the ground in an act of defiance.

      Celestia was completely shocked at the messenger's story. Her mouth lay agape at what she heard, she regained her composure and asked, "What happened after?"

       "They sent me to tell you while our captain was reorganizing the soldiers. Anything could've happened in my journey here."

       Celestia then closed her eyes in concentration, trying very hard to not let her anger out. "I want the nearest base to send every available soldier to Ponyville, I want every citizen arrested and the entire town razed."

       The messanger bowed and said, "I will relay your orders, your majesty." and then took off out the door.

       Celestia still couldn't believe what she heard, she called to one of her guards, "Summon my military advisors!"

       "Yes, your majesty." the gurad replied.

       Celestia looked down at her breakfast, she grimaced and pushed the plate a few inches away from her. 'I'm not hungry' she thought.

       Big Mac awoke from the sound of a hoof slamming on wood repeatedly.

       "Open up!" was heard from below.

       Mac stirred and slowly got up, yawning. Doing that involuntarily woke Applejack and she groggily said, "What's goin on?" The dawn was just rising.

       "Open this door or we will burn it down along with the rest of the house!" an angry shout was heard.

       Mac and Applejack's eyes widened in panic and they both bolted towards the stairs. They barreled down, waking everypony up in the clatter.

      Applejack made it down first, followed by Big Mac who rumbled down the stairs like a crimson tank. She flung the door open, "What's goin on out here!?"

      The soldier, who was a white coated earth pony, cut right to the chase. He pushed his way in and barked, "You are all under arrest!"  he then turned to his comrades, there were about a half a dozen, "Torch the barns, raze the fields."

      "What!?" Applejack yelled, "Y-You can't do that! This is our home!"

      "And those were my friends who died in the explosion!" The soldier snapped back, shoving her onto the floor. "How do we know that you're not the one who-!" he never finished his sentance. A well placed hoof against the side of his armored head prevented that.

      He careened back in a pained yelp as his helmet flew off and clattered against the floor some feet away.

      He looked back and came face to face with a furious and a much bigger than he Big Mac. Mac spun around and delivered an applebucking kick straight at his face. The soldier couldn't avoid it and Mac's back hooves connected, crushing the bones in his snout and propelling him back and out the door.

      The soldier landed on the dirt with a thud and spat out a few teeth through a bleeding mouth, "Light 'em up!" he painfully yelled, choking on his own blood.

      The other soldiers obeyed very eagerly and chucked torches through the windows. The unicorns in the group fired blasts throught the walls. Applejack and Big Mac took cover in the kitchen when they heard panicked screams of everypony else upstairs who had no idea what was going on.

      "I'll go!" Applejack shouted and bolted upstairs. The torches flames had already caught some of the furniture and it was spreading fast. She felt the heat as she rounded the corner up the stairs. The soldiers just sat outside and watched the house burn like it was their favorite show.

      "Fluttershy!"she yelled as she reached the top. Everypony was out in the hall confused and scared. "Fluttershy, fly the foals out the window to the backyard."

      "Bu-But but..." Fluttershy stammered.

      "Just do it!" Applejack yelled. Fluttershy immediately herded the foals to a window.

      "Rarity!" Applejack yelled again.

      "Yes?!" Rarity answered, scared out of her mind.

      "Follow me."Applejack darted downstairs again. The flames had spread and were licking the bottom steps. The heat was blasting the pair and orange shimmering light made their shadows dance.

      A splash of water soaked the steps and Big Mac shouted, "Come on!"

      Applejack and Rarity sprinted into the kitchen with Big Mac who has holding a now empty bucket in his teeth. Applejack's mind raced. What was she going to do? She then came up with a plan. "Rarity, go down in the cellar get as many saddlebags as you can and stuff 'em with as much food as you can and whatever you think we'll need."

      Rarity nodded and bolted to a nearby door.

      "Mac, go outside and make sure Fluttershy and the kids are safe." Applejack ordered. Mac nodded and went out the back door.

      Applejack's mind was still racing she was on the verge of breaking and panicking, 'That's everything' she thought. And ran downstairs to help Rarity.

       She ran down to find a very confused Rarity stuffing saddlebags. Applejack became confused as well because spread all over the cellar was confetti and half deflated party balloons. They never go down to the cellar that often so that's why they never noticed this earlier. "Just ignore it!" Applejack snapped. She began stuffing saddlebags with dried, prepackaged food that the apple family always kept stored. "That's enough! Let's go!" she snapped again after they filled half a dozen saddlebags with food. They sprinted upstairs and narrowly avoided the rising inferno. The heat and smoke was unbearable as they passed and they sighed heavily at the sweet release of the outside air.

       The flames had now completely engulfed the first floor and they were climbing fast to the second. Fire was shooting out the windows, hungry for something else to consume. The sight of her own home burning was almost too much for Applejack but what made her break wasn't the flames or the soldiers laughing at the atrocity it was a mistake she made. She looked at everyone gathered around her and realized one was missing.

        "W-Where's granny?" Applejack choked out. She panicked and her face showed it, she spun around and ran back to the house shouting, "Granny! Where are you!"

       Before she could make it back inside, Mac tackled her and pinned her down, "It's too late." He said, voice quivering.

       Applejack was now sobbing. She struggled as hard as she could to get to the house, but her brother held her down. She was crying harder than she ever had before and was now embracing her brother and sobbing in his coat. Mac felt it incredibly hard to hold back his own tears. He saw his home burning and his family in pieces, and that sadness quickly turned to rage.

       He turned towards the soldiers who were about seventy-five yards away. His face contorted in severe anger, his teeth grinded against each other in a deep snarl. His held back emotions were now gushing out in pure rage. He howled at the soldiers in anger who only replied with jeers and laughter. His sister still clutched to him, tears flowing into his fur. He didn't want to leave his sister, but he also wanted to tear apart every soldier sitting there. His hate for the soldiers and love for his sister clashed and fought in his mind.

       Then a small object flew towards the soldiers, they didn't see it coming and it connected with the center of the group. That object then burst and engulfed five of them in the fires of Hell. They scattered like roaches and rolled on the ground in agony. The ones that weren't on fire were fallen upon by a black cloaked mare armed with deadly hooks on her hooves. She tackled one and dug the hooks in his neck, she ripped up and sprayed blood all over herself. Her frayed tail twitched wildly and she jumped high into the air, avoiding the last soldier who was charging at her back. He didn't expect her to do that and he tripped and fell where she had been. She then landed on his back and brought the hooks around his face and pulled back. The tips buried themselves into his eyes, blood spurted from them and he screamed and screamed, wishing that he had been set on fire and forced to cook alive instead. The hooks went deeper until they hit grey matter, ending the soldier's misery. She appeared to be completely calm and turned towards the group huddled outside the burning house. She calmly moseied towards them and removed her hood.

      Big Mac stared in shock at what just happened and was even more shocked when he saw that the one who brutally killed those soldiers... was Pinkie Pie.