Chapter One
My bones ached, but not as much as my heart. Seeing her die in my arms was far more painful than any of the wounds that spread across my skin. I barely felt the absence of my left wing compared to how badly my heart hurt.
She was gone.
The attack on Ponyville occurred just four moons after Twilight Sparkle's coronation. I never saw it coming--I can't say any of us did. The neighborhood ponies were still imprinted in my mind cheering and clapping their hooves as Twilight waved at them. She's a princess now, we all cheered, she's really found her way!
But now I see one of her dearest friends--one of our dearest friends-- lying in my arms and I shake once again as another sob racks my chest.
"Why!?" I shriek, pulling a strand of long silky mane from over her eyes. My head slams into her neck and the purple curl falls over my back.
"Why Rarity....." I sob, "Why our dear friend Rarity?" The words fight to escape my throat which is already so raw. I straighten. What my eyes take in is worse than a nightmare. Fire blazes from atop the finest crystal buildings, sending bellows of smoke to cover the city.
I carefully look at Rarity and rest my hoof on her forehead, and after one more look into her hazy blue eyes, I close them.
"Goodbye, pal," I weep, kissing her muzzle just below her closed eyes.
"Rainbow..."
My shoulders tense as I look up. Apple Jack's eyes are leaking heavily as she inches closer to me.
"She's gone, AJ..." I say, breaking into another sob. Apple Jack's strong hoof rests on my back as she leans close to my ear. She sniffs, looking over the holes in Rarity's neck, and her eyes lock onto mine.
"Come on, Rainbow. We gotta let her go. It's for the best-"
"NO!" My voice creaks and I shove her away, wrapping the lifeless white corpse in my arms.
"Come on, Rainbow Dash," AJ's voice soothes me. Her hoof finds mine and slowly pries it off of Rarity's body, "I'm worried about you wounds more than I probably should be. They look bad, Sugarcube."
I look up at her again and sigh, leaving the corpse of my dear friend behind me as I follow her through the smoke and into the remains of Twilight's tree house.
"Fluttershy? Twilight? Pinkie?" Apple Jack called through the rubble, stomping her hooves loudly against the floor to get their attention.
"What's the verdict on the others?" I ask, limping clumsily behind her. It was then that I noticed my wing dangling limply at my side and the tears began to flow again.
Apple Jack slowed her step to allow me to catch up. "Fluttershy's muzzle is mangled pretty bad. Twily's fine.... But Pinkie Pie paid the price of protecting the princess. "
I cringe. I see a large laceration on her right flank, splitting her apple cutie mark right in half.
"Not Pinkie...." I whimper, tripping over the tip of my wing. I fall hard and Apple Jack has to carry me the rest of the way.
"Don't worry, Dash," she whispers softly to me as a tunnel makes it's way through my line of sight. Blackness rises, and I begin to feel dizzy. "Everything will work itself out."
I sigh deeply. "AJ, who would do such a thing to Ponyville? I can't imagine-"
"Rainbow, it's best you rest for now. Twi will find answers, you know she will," she replies, gently nudging me onto a stretcher waiting in the grass.
A nice looking pair of nurses lift me and carry me away from my friend. Her smiling face made my eyes water as the tunnels got bigger, her sweet voice in my head whispering, "Stay strong, Sugarcube. I'll see you on the other side."
"Apple Bloom? Macintosh!"
Apple Jack trotted desperately through Sweet Apple Acres, searching for signs of life. The barn was no more; the lightning storm had caused a terrible fire that ruined the home AJ grew up in. Tears came to her eyes as she approached the front door, which was now leaning half charred on a big metal bucket used for harvesting.
"Granny Smith? Mac?"
No answer to her pleas. Debris was everywhere. AJ watched her footing carefully and kept low to the ground. Her family could be anywhere underneath the ruins. Thinking it through, she couldn't decide if she's rather find them here dead or not find them at all. A flash of Big Macintosh buried under the fallen shingles from the roof caused her to loose her footing.
"Apple Bloom! Where are you?!"
Her tail snagged as she went down. She looked up to see a lock of her beautiful blonde hair wound around a bent nail. She moaned.
"Big sister?"
The sound came from above her. Apple Jack snapped out of her pain induced delirium and met her sister's gaze.
"Apple Bloom! Oh, thank Celestia you're alright!" She struggled to her feet and nuzzled into her baby sister's blonde fur.
"Apple Jack, you scared me! I was hidin' in the cellar waitin' for the storm to pass and Big Macintosh went-a lookin' for ya. He saw the 'splosion! Aw, man, I thought you're fer sure a gonner!"
Apple Jack smiled, pulling the filly close. "I'm okay, lil' sis. Everything's alright now."
Apple Bloom looked over her big sister and noticed her wounds. She grimaced. "Are ya sure it's over?"
"Can't be to sure, Sugarcube," she shook her head, "but it's over for now. Everypony is gettin' all bandaged up now, and we're together again."
"Granny Smith and Big Macintosh were found earlier and are on their way to the Crystal Empire. A rescue team was sent by Princess Cadence as soon as the storm started."
Apple Jack nodded grimly. "Let's hope we can all make it there soon."
She turned around and led her precious little sister towards the hospital tent set up in the middle of the town. Her other half was safe; she would be able to rest easy knowing that her baby sister was alright.
For now.
"A spectacular performance, little filly! I'm surprised you did that all by yourself. Applause, applause!"
King Sombre, the king of all evils, clapped his powerful hooves together loudly and leaned back against his boulder throne.
“She didn’t do it alone, Sombre.” Out of the shadows, a pair of dazzling blue eyes made their way towards the king.
“Ah, yes. Sunset Shimmer, what a beautiful lightning storm, I presume?”
Sunset Shimmer slid beside the orange filly and hooked her hoof around her neck. “Me? Oh, no. That was all this one’s glory. I just had to give her a little push is all.”
The filly grimaced and shied away from the yellow unicorn.
“I didn’t do anything. I was-”
A sharp hoof in the side sent her to the ground.
“My darling, you should’ve seen yourself out there. Wonderful work. You should be proud.”
“What’s your name again, filly.”
Sunset Shimmer stared at the pony and smirked. The filly shook her head and glared back, unwillingly. Sun’s horn then began to glow a sickly green color and the pegasus filly stood, her eyes matching.
“My name is Scootaloo, my king.”
Scootaloo bowed, causing King Sombre to laugh out loud.
“Haha! Oh, that’s great. It’s great! Keep doing that; it’s got a nice ring to it.”
He turned to Sunset Shimmer, “I see what you mean. Did it take you long to learn that spell?”
“Oh, not at all. I used to use it on my mentor to learn about dark magic.”
Sombre laughed again, his strong hooves slamming together.
“There’s only one flaw,” she said hesitantly.
“And what is that?”
“THe spell seems to be disturbed whenever she hears the voice of one of her friends.”
“Huh. Is that so?”
She nodded. “Happened this morning during the storm. I had to step in and make it stronger. Thank goodness for Queen Chrysalis or we wouldn’t have been able to pull it of.”
King Sombre nodded solemnly. “Well, we will just have to fix that problem, won’t we? How many are there that affect her?”
Shimmer straightened, “There seems to be only two so far. They’re fillies in her class; Apple Bloom and..”
“Sweetiebelle?” Scootaloo’s eyes snapped alert. That earned another swift kick in the knee.
“We were able to capture the one called Sweetiebelle. She is being imprisoned as we speak.
“Excellent. And Apple Bloom?”
“She got away. We will find her soon.”
Scootaloo lie weak on the stone floor of the Changeling’s castle, pain shooting through her back legs. She watched as the dark king motioned for her to be sent away. Sunset Shimmer locked eyes with her and she was gone again.
