Laughter Lost In The Darkby SiyuanChaptersBeggining of The DarkFinding FriendsFlame in the SkyFalling ApartNeed for AdviceBeggining of The DarkIt was another normal summer morning in Ponyville. The sky was blue, no clouds on it at all. The sun shined and the air was warm. A perfect day. Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes. She was woken up by a loud thud. She looked around to find the source of the noise. She didn't have to search for long: her number one assistant, Spike, fell out of his bed. The purple unicorn smiled, and gently placed the baby dragon back in his bed. She put the blanket back on him, and silently walked downstairs. She read a book until she could hear the yawn of Spike. She waited for him to go downstairs too. When he finally stood by her side, she asked for the to-do list for that day. The first task was to go to Sugar Cube Corner and buy some cupcakes for Spike. She smiled, and opened the door. As she stepped outside, a soft breeze caught her mane. She looked up at the beautiful sky above her head and started trotting towards her destination. Fluttershy woke up to the beautiful voice of her little feathered friends. Still half asleep she smiled, and turned on her side in her bed. Then she yawned, stretched all four of her legs and got up. She made her bed neatly, and walked outside into the fresh morning air. She smiled at the bunnies who looked around in the sunshine with sleepy eyes. Fluttershy greeted all the little critters she could see, and smelled the blooming flowers scattered in the grass. She felt perfectly happy and peaceful. She flapped her wings, and rose about one meter above the ground. Then fluttered back inside, humming a sweet song. She prepared breakfast for Angel and for herself. She ate in quiet together with her little furry friend, then she went outside once again. She fed the chicken, she sang with the birds and enjoyed her simple life. Rainbow Dash tossed and turned. She couldn't sleep any longer, the sun was shining in her eyes. She got onto her four hooves, and stretched her wings. She looked around, but there were no clouds to take off from the sky. It seemed she would not have any work to do that day. She would have a lot of time for flying around and having fun. She sped off into the sky like a rainbow rocket and did a few loops. She felt adrenalin rise in her as she flew with an unbelievable speed and the wind picked up her mane. Oh how amazing it was to fly. She never got bored of it. She did a few more circles, then she dove down towards Ponyville. She stopped her falling just an inch above the ground. A group of fillies clapped their hooves and asked the blue pegasus to do more tricks. She did gladly as they wished, she never missed a chance to show off her talent at flying. Rarity woke from her beauty sleep with a delicate little yawn. She slipped out of bed, and walked to her mirror. She jumped in horror seeing the reflection looking at her. She would never get used to her morning self. Her mane was a mess and dried drool was in the corners of her mouth. She combed her hair urgently, washed her face and brushed her teeth. Now that she was her real self again, she looked out of the window. Oh, it was such a lovely day. She trotted into the kitchen, made some breakfast, and called Sweetie Belle downstairs. The ate together in peace, talking about everyday things. Rarity sent off her little sister to school, and went back to her room to finish her work that day. She half hummed and half sang a song as she continued the dress she started last evening. Applejack woke up to the laugh of her little sister, Applebloom. Soon she could hear Granny Smith scolding the little filly, and telling her that her big sister was still asleep, and she shouldn't wake her up. Applejack jumped out of bed and trotted to Granny Smith. "No need to scold lil' Applebloom, Ah would've stayed in bed all day if she wouldn't have woken me up." She smiled at her sister, and walked outside. She could see BigMac already working on the farm. She waved at him and smiled. He waved back. Then Applejack picked up few bags of apples and ran off to Ponyville to sell them, being a little late already. Pinkie Pie opened her eyes, and jumped out of her bed quickly. She was full of energy. So full of energy that she had to bounce around her bed a few times. She ran out of her room, and greeted Mrs. Cake, who was cooking some cupcakes while humming an old pony song. The pink pony skipped outside into the golden rays of sun. She started chasing a butterfly but tripped in a stone and hit her nose. She lay there for a few seconds, but then she soon sat up and laughed it off. She walked down the street cheerfully greeting everypony she met. It was a wonderful morning, better than she could ever imagine. Well, at least it was like that for the first few minutes of the day. Suddenly, with a great flash of light, the sun disappeared from the sky. Blinded by the light, all of the ponies of Ponyville blinked a few times before realizing that their efforts to see were hopeless. There was no light left in Ponyville, the darkness was perfect. After a lot of bumping into each other and stumbling over things, a few lanterns were lit. These weak and faint lights made the once lovely town look ghostly and creepy. All the ponies shivered in the cold that came soon after the darkness. Little fillies cried looking for their families. Shopkeepers cried over their goods that were broken in the confusion and panic. Peace and happiness was replaced by fear and sadness in Ponyville. Finding FriendsPinki Pie panicked. She ran up and down bumping into other ponies, screaming the names of her friends. Suddenly she saw a small flicker of light. It was the first lantern to be lit. She trotted towards it gladly. It was in the mouth of a kind unicorn lady. "Are you lost?" asked the lady. "No, I mean, yeah, I think." Pinkie replied. "I kinda panicked in the dark." Pinkie let out a nervous laugh and continued talking: "Have you seen, by any chance a blue pegasus with rainbow mane? Or maybe a blonde earth pony with freckles? It's easy to recognize her, she is from the Apple family. Oh, maybe a purple unicorn? Or a shy yellow and pink pegasus? What about a pretty white unicorn with purple mane?" "I haven't seen any of them." the unicorn replied. "But I think I can try to help you find them." Twilight Sparkle walked along the main street of Ponyville, with Spike on her back and a lantern in her mouth. Everything was quiet now, the only sound that could be heard was the sobbing of a filly. Twilight was worried about her friends, something could have happened to them in the panic a few minutes ago. Spike was so scared that he couldn't even move, and he was shivering in the cold. He was muttering some words that were quite hard to understand, but Twilight thought that Spike was saying "Please, please, I am sorry..." but of course she wasn't sure about this. She couldn't imagine what could have happened to the sun. Suddenly, she saw a fast movement from the corner of her eye. She hurriedly put down the lantern an said: "Who's there?" She tried to sound strong, but her voice was shaking with fear. "Twilight?" came the answer from the dark. The unicorn recognized the voice. "Rainbow Dash! I am so glad to find you! Are you okay?" she said happily as her friend walked into the light of the lantern. "Yes, it's me, and I am glad to see you too. But I am not at all okay." "Why, what happened? Are you hurt?" "Well, nothing happened, other than that the sun vanished from the sky, now it's pitch black, and cold, and no sound can be heard that is other than what we make, and the air is unnervingly still!" "So that was that unsettling feeling I felt! I thought it was because of the lack of light, but you are right! There is not even a small breeze. What could this mean?" "Don't ask me, you're the one who reads all the time." "But I never read of something like this... Anyways, have you seen the others?" "No, I've been looking for them all this time." Twilight gave a sad nod in response, and picked up the lantern. The two friends started walking by each others side. Rainbow Dash occasionally called out for the others, but no answer came. Rarity was sitting in her shop, shaking. The flash of light surprised her too. When she looked outside, she saw nothing. Now she was confused and afraid. Suddenly, she heard a knock on the window. She got up, and looked towards the source of the sound. It was Applejack. She was holding a lantern and had a worried look on her face. Rarity trotted to the door and opened it for Applejack. The blonde mare walked in and started talking immediately. "Are ya all right, Rarity? Ah was worried. Do ya know what happened?" "I'm much better now that you are here, Applejack. I am sorry, but I have absolutely no idea about what could have happened. Where are the others?" "Ah don't know. We should go look for 'em" "You are right. Wait a minute, please." Rarity trotted to the back of her house, and started looking for something in the dark. Applejack walked to her and held the lantern. "Ah think you could use some light here" "Oh, thank you." the unicorn said, and continued searching. Finally she found what she was looking for. She was holding two scarves. "One is for you, and one is for me. It must be rather cold out there." They put on their scarves, and left looking for their other friends. Fluttershy was lying on the ground, not daring to move. She was shivering and crying. She felt more scared then ever before. Suddenly she heard a familiar voice: "There she is! There she is! It's her! It's my friend Fluttershy!" after that came a gentle voice the pegasus has never heard before: "I am glad, Pinkie Pie, now there are only four friends to find, am I correct?" Fluttershy looked up, and saw a flickering light just by her side. It was a lit lantern, that hang from the mouth of a unicorn. "He-hello." Fluttershy stuttered. "Hello, dear little pegasus. I am Blacktea, it is nice to meet you." the unicorn said. "She is a super-duper kind pony, you see! She helped me look for you. We checked everypony else's home, but I think everypony was out in the streets. I am so very glad to find you!" Pinkie Pie explained. "Oh, I-I see... Nice to meet you, B-blacktea." the pegasus replied. The three of them set off together to find the rest of the friends. Applejack and Rarity were walking down the streets of Ponyville. There were weak lights in every direction, and the amount of sounds was decreasing every minute. Citizens of Ponyville were starting to give up. There was no movement, except for the nonstop dance of the flames and the two friends' walking. "Hey, Rarity, don't ya think that one light is movin' this way?" "Oh, it does seem so. Who could it be?" "Let's find out!" The two friends took up a faster speed, and hurried towards the moving lantern. When they got near it, happiness filled their hearts. It was Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash and Spike. "Hey there Rarity, Applejack! Glad to see you in one piece!" Rainbow called out to them. The two small groups were happy to find each other at last. But two ponies were still missing. "We still have to find Pinkie and Fluttershy." Twilight reminded them. "No need to find me! I am right here!" Pinkie Pie laughed from behind of the four surprised ponies. "Pinkie Pie!" they yelled happily. "Were you worried, were you worried about me?" the pink pony asked excitedly. "Of course we were!" Rarity replied. "Pinkie, have you seen Fluttershy?" Twilight asked. "Yep! They are coming this way." Pinkie said, pointing at another moving lamp. "They?" Applejack asked with a puzzled face. "Yes! I met a really nice lady, and she helped me look for you." the party pony said happily. Finally Fluttershy and Blacktea arrived to the group too. Blacktea introduced herself, then said: "Well then, I'll leave you now. I have friends to find too. I hope you'll not loose each other now." "Thank you very much for your help, Blacktea. I wish you luck with your friends." Twilight said. "Farewell, my little ponies." the lady smiled at them, then turned away and started walking. "Bye-bye!" Pinkie yelled after her one more time. Flame in the Sky"Has anyone seen her leave?" asked Twilight Sparkle, looking at her friends. All of them shook their heads. "She's been awfully quiet all the way here." Applejack remarked. The rest nodded in agreement. After that silence followed. "Well then..." Twilight cleared her throat. ", what do you think, Zecora, where should we go?" "The core of all this, where tragedy is." the zebra said with an uncertain face. "I shall accompany you, for I can be useful too." "Yeah, we'd appreciate that." smiled Rainbow Dash weakly. She turned to leave the house, but she froze in the middle of her movement. All of them stared up at the sky. What seemed to be a ball of flame flew towards them, spreading light all around it. When it got closer, they recognized it as a phoenix. When it nearly reached them, they happily noted that they knew the bird: she was Philomena, Princess Celestia's pet. Fluttershy happily flew to the bird to greet her. Upon a closer look, she could tell that the phoenix was extremely sad. She turned back, and landed beside Twilight, followed by Philomena. "Um..., Twilight, I think something's wrong in Canterlot." Fluttershy said in a soft voice. "Why do you think so?" asked the purple unicorn. "Just look at this poor thing's face. She seems so sad!" "Yes, now that you say that, she really does seem sad..." "Then let's go to Canterlot!" Rainbow said, glad to find a clue. The eight of them started walking in the golden light of Philomena. Now they had a path to follow, they would have time to feel worried when they reach the end of the path. When they reached the station, they found no one. The trains didn't function, for there was not a soul to drive them. Twilight Sparkle sighed, and said: "I guess we'll have to walk." And so the friends set off. After Twilight got tired of carrying Spike, Zecora took the little dragon on her back, where he fell asleep. The Zebra was quietly discussing possible reasons for the Sun's sudden disappearance with Twilight, the two of them leading the way. The unicorn used the light magic Rarity found in the book, and now her horn was glowing in an eerie light blue colour. Applejack was walking behind them, trying to comfort the scared Rarity. On the very end of the small line of friends walked Fluttershy, holding a lamp, and occasionally looking behind her back with a worrisome face. Rainbow Dash flew ahead with the other lantern, inspecting what awaited them. She looked around with a serious face, secretly hoping to spot Pinkie somewhere following them in the dark. After a few hours of flying and finding nothing, she returned to her friends. They were all tired and slow. They didn't drink or eat since morning, and they haven't stopped walking since they left Zecora's home. Philomena was now sleeping soundly on Fluttershy's shoulder, with her flame slightly faded. Rainbow landed beside the sorry-looking little group. "Hey, I think we should rest a little." she said. "You're right. We should." Twilight replied quietly. She stopped, and gently levitated Spike off from Zecora's back. The two pegasi placed the lanterns on the ground, and everyone gathered around the small flickering lights. Slowly, all of them drifted off to sleep. Or almost all of them. Rainbow Dash was continuously looking into the darkness, hoping to catch sight of a certain pink pony. But she still couldn't find any signs of Pinkie. She cried quietly. She felt so lost and lonely, even though she was surrounded by her friends. Zecora woke up, and stretched her legs. She looked around, and saw the red-eyed Rainbow Dash lying awake among all the sleeping ponies. "I see that you failed to sleep, is the darkness too deep?" she asked with concern on her face. "Nah, I fear no darkness." Rainbow replied in a tired voice. "I just miss Pinkie so much..." "Fear not little pony, and don't stare so grimly" the zebra answered with a small smile. "We will find your friend, surely in the very end." The pagasus just sighed, and smiled weakly as a response. After a few minutes the others started waking up one by one too. They all got up, and continued their walk. But Dash was too tired to fly by now, and her legs were wobbly due to the lack of sleep. She stumbled aimlessly, and her friends had to keep her on the road. After seemingly endless fight against her sleep, she finally collapsed on the ground, and fell into a deep sleep. Zecora offered carrying her, just like she did with Spike. Twilight levitated the sleeping pegasus onto the zebra's back, and they continued their walk towards Canterlot. Rainbow Dash happily flew up into the bright blue sky. She never felt so energetic and fresh before. After she reached an amazing height in the air, she looked down. Equestria was clearly visible, spreading under her. It looked like some extremely detailed map. Suddenly somepony covered her eyes from behind. "Guess who I am!" a cheerful voice said. She sounded very familiar, but Dash had no clue who she could be. "I don't know." she replied honestly. "Aww, you really don't recognize your best friend?" said the voice. She was so familiar. The blue pegasus was sure she heard this voice somewhere before... Her friend? She tried to list all her friends in her head. There was Fluttershy... no this voice couldn't be hers, too loud. Also, it could be Rarity, she did have wings once.., but no. No way Rarity would act this way. Also, there was Twilight Sparkle and Applejack, but they didn't sound like this either. But who was missing? She shook her head sadly. "Dashie? How can you be so very forgetful?" the voice said, and the pegasus felt her eyes being released. The next thing she knew was that she was falling, and she had no wings anymore. She looked up. Above her was the pink pony she used to be such great friends with, flapping her two wings to stay in the air, and looking at the falling pony with a sad face. Did the party pony always have wings? Dash's memory was hazy, she couldn't remember. The ground came closer and closer, and tears fell from Dash's eyes. She reached the ground with a crash, and she could hear her bones break. Then it was all darkness. "Rainbow Dash!" "Hey, Dash!" "Um..., are you alright?" "Oh my, are you alright, Rainbow Dash?" The pegasus opened her eyes. It was still dark, but she could see in the light of some lanterns. She was lying next to Zecora, surrounded by her friends. "You fell from Zecora's back where you were sleeping, and I was worried that-" she heard Twilight start speaking quickly. But she just shook her head, with tears streaming down her face, and sped off into the darkness. She had to find Pinkie. Twilight watched her disappear in the black nothing. She felt tears running down her cheeks. "Rainbow Dash!" she yelled after her, then she continued with a barely audible mutter: "First Pinkie, and now Rainbow Dash...." she broke out crying. Everpony was trying to comfort her, so none of them saw Philomena speeding off after the blue pegasus. Falling Apart"It is alright, you must not give up the fight!" Zecora said, gently touching Twilight Sparkles back with her hoof in a comforting manner. "No! It is not alright! I am so weak! I... I couldn't even keep us together." the crying unicorn said bitterly. Applejack, Rarity, Spike, Zecora and Fluttershy were forming a circle around her, worried expressions on their faces. "Dear, you still have us. We will go to Canterlot, solve this awful mystery and then find our lost friends." Rarity said. "Yes! We sure will save the day in the end! We sure will..." Applejack added. "Twilight, let's get going." smiled Spike. "Guys..." the purple pony looked up at her friends, and smiled, some tears still in the corners of her eyes. "Thank you!" she got up on her four hooves and looked in the direction she supposed Canterlot was. A determined expression on her face, she spoke once again: "We are going to save the day. Let's go!" "But Twilight, are you sure that's the way Canterlot is? I belive that's where we came from...." Rarity said, looking at her friend. "I-I... I am not sure." the purple unicorn looked at the ground once again. "Don't tell me we are lost!" Spike dropped to his knees. "No way!" "It's okay. Ya' all have forgotten about Philomena, she sure knows which way the-" Applejack started with a smiling face, turning around to look at the phoenix, but she stopped in mid-sentence when she saw the lack off the bird. "Where in Equestria...." was all she could mutter. "Yes... I wanted to tell you all.... but I didn't want to interrupt..." Fluttershy said softly, looking down at the ground. "What are we going to do?" Rarity said, tears gathering in her eyes. "I don't know." Twilight Sparkle answered in a barely audible voice. Meanwhile Rainbow Dash was flying across the blackened sky without any source of light. She cursed herself for being so stupid, flying off like that without a source of light. How did she think she'd find Pinkie? All she wanted now was to get back to her friends, help them bring the Sun back, then look for the pink pony in daylight. She gritted her teeth, and closed her eyes. She was getting used to the salty taste of her tears, she couldn't stop them flowing down her face. So weak and useless she felt in the sky, she felt horrible. She then opened her eye, and scanned the ground in a hopeless effort to see the light of lanterns, but all there was was the endless sea of black darkness. She wasn't sure the world existed at all anymore. She was tired, really tired, but she didn't know how far the ground was. She wouldn't know, even if it was right below her hooves. And what if she landed in water? Maybe on something sharp. It seemed too hopeless and dangerous to get on the ground. She decided to try and stay in the air, no matter what happened to her. Not finding a single cloud to rest on her wings were getting tired. This struggle, it was so hopeless. She was about to give up, when a picture of her friends together smiling in the sunlight came to her mind. Yes, for them she had to keep on flying. Maybe there was still a chance, even if it was just a slight one. She flied for hours and hours without a rest, scanning the darkness below her. Not the slightest sign of any movement. After a while, she started loosing height significantly. She was slowing down, and her wings were getting heavy. Her eyes were now dry, but her cheeks still burned from the salty tears. She felt like she didn't know how to move anymore. Nor could she remember warmth of sunlight. She felt dizzy, and her head hurt like it was about to burst. Finally, her wings stopped obeying her. They didn't keep her up now, they were just hanging limply by her side. She didn't have the power left to call out as she fell rapidly towards the invisible ground. She closed her eyes, and prepared for the worst, when adrenalin rushed into her veins. She started flapping her wings again with a last desperate effort, slowing down her fall, and turning her legs towards where she thought she was falling. Just in time, it turned out. Her hooves touched cold, polished stone as soon as she turned. She sighed in relief, and collapsed on the ground, falling into a deep, dreamless sleep. The last thing she felt before finally closed her eyes was pleasant warmth surrounding her. Need for AdviceThe six friends looked at each other. Now that they were together again, they didn't know what was the next thing to do. The silence was getting heavier and heavier with every second that passed. Finally Twilight Sparkle spoke: "Come on, let's go." "Where?" asked Rainbow Dash. "To find out about what is happening." came the answer. The purple unicorn started trotting towards the library, with her friends following her silently. After some time passed, they reached their destination. Spike opened the door, and the group walked in. They lit some candles, and started looking for some information about anything similar to what was happening. After a few minutes Rarity broke the silence: "Oh, look, I found something that might be helpful in our horrible situation." "What is it?" the others asked. Twilight trotted to Rarity happily. "Show me the book please." she said hoping to find the answer to the questions in her head. But what she read disappointed her. It was just a spell to make light similar to a lamps, maybe little stronger. She smiled sadly. "Yes, might be useful." she said. But even after hours of reading, they couldn't find anything other than that. "What shall we do? We are doomed!" Rarity said. "No, we mustn't give up! I have an idea." said Rainbow Dash with a determined face. "Let's go visit Zecora! She knows everything!" The others all agreed, and they started walking towards the Everfree Forest. It was now the blue pegasus who led the way, the others following behind without a word. Fluttershy was the one at the very back. She was walking slowly, not wanting to go to that forest in such dark. "Um.., I think we could go to someone else..." she said in her soft voice. But nopony heard her. They finally reached the edge of the forest, and when they stepped into the forest the shy pegasus spoke again, now a little louder than before: "I... I will stay and watch out for... enemies here if it's all right by you..." The ponies turned towards her with a surprised face. Then Twilight Sparkle let out a giggle and said. "Oh, Fluttershy! It's alright if you don't want to come with us. No need to find excuses, just stay here and wait for our return." She smiled, and turned towards the deep dark forest again. "Okay girls, let's go!" she said with a voice that was meant to sound strong, but turned out a little shaky. Fluttershy watched as her friends were getting further and further into the forest, leaving her all alone in the dark. Then she realized that she forgot to take one of the lamps. Now she could only see the lights of the lanterns lit in ponyville, and the small lights of her friends' lanterns getting further and further away from her. She started shaking. "Wait!" she meant to call out to them, but they couldn't hear her. She started galloping towards the moving light. When she got near them, she heard them talking. "I can't believe I have to go into this dark and dirty forest! Why does Zecora have to live in this terrible place?" Rarity complained. "You can always turn back to Fluttershy." Twilight Sparkle replied. "Speaking of Fluttershy..., I think we left her without any source of light." Spike said, who was able to speak again. Finding everypony else made him feel a little safer. "We should go back to help her." Rainbow Dash said, looking back with a worried face. That worry changed to surprise as she saw the yellow pegasus standing right behind her. "What's wrong Rainbow?" asked Twilight, as she turned towards her surprised friend. "Oh, you decided to follow us? That's great!" she said happily, noticing her shy friend. Fluttershy gave a small nod, and they continued walking. After a few minutes, they saw a light in the distance. That must have been Zecora's home. They happily trotted to it, and Applejack knocked on the door. Zecora opened the door, looking at the hopeful faces of the 6 ponies and Spike. "I know what you wish to know, but the answer was lost long ago." she said, shaking her head slowly. "You mean there used to be an answer, but you don't know what it was? Did something like this happen before?" Twilight Sparkle said, hope could still be heard in her voice. "Yes, this happened before, but now it is just ingored." "But is there anything at all about it that you know?" "It happened after the death of one: murder by her own son. But for little ponies like you, things like this are all new." "That's... horrible. But who was... killed? Zecora, please tell us!" "I was told no more than what you already know." the zebra looked down with a sad expression. The little group was staring at her. Twilight could take it, she read of many horrible things in her life. Not as bad as what they just heard, but still nearing it's level. But the rest heard of nothing like this before, to them life was all fluff, candy and happiness. And now, it got a dark side. Bigger things than loosing a competition, bigger problems than messing up a dress, bigger problems than a whole lot of apples ahead to be collected, bigger problems than a few sad faces, bigger problems even than bullying. It was murder, something they never heard of before. When Twilight said "killed", they realized what was the talk about. And it shocked them. "What shall we do?" Rarity muttered. "I don't know." came the honest answer from Twilight. "I don't know, but we should fight together to find out. We are the elements of harmony! Loyalty, kindness, generosity..." she looked at each one of her friends while saying their elements. "honesty, laughter... laughter? Where is Pinkie?" The ponies looked at each other. Pinkie was missing, and none of them realized. They felt guilt and sadness. Confusion and fear. Where could Pinkie go?
Beggining of The DarkIt was another normal summer morning in Ponyville. The sky was blue, no clouds on it at all. The sun shined and the air was warm. A perfect day. Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes. She was woken up by a loud thud. She looked around to find the source of the noise. She didn't have to search for long: her number one assistant, Spike, fell out of his bed. The purple unicorn smiled, and gently placed the baby dragon back in his bed. She put the blanket back on him, and silently walked downstairs. She read a book until she could hear the yawn of Spike. She waited for him to go downstairs too. When he finally stood by her side, she asked for the to-do list for that day. The first task was to go to Sugar Cube Corner and buy some cupcakes for Spike. She smiled, and opened the door. As she stepped outside, a soft breeze caught her mane. She looked up at the beautiful sky above her head and started trotting towards her destination. Fluttershy woke up to the beautiful voice of her little feathered friends. Still half asleep she smiled, and turned on her side in her bed. Then she yawned, stretched all four of her legs and got up. She made her bed neatly, and walked outside into the fresh morning air. She smiled at the bunnies who looked around in the sunshine with sleepy eyes. Fluttershy greeted all the little critters she could see, and smelled the blooming flowers scattered in the grass. She felt perfectly happy and peaceful. She flapped her wings, and rose about one meter above the ground. Then fluttered back inside, humming a sweet song. She prepared breakfast for Angel and for herself. She ate in quiet together with her little furry friend, then she went outside once again. She fed the chicken, she sang with the birds and enjoyed her simple life. Rainbow Dash tossed and turned. She couldn't sleep any longer, the sun was shining in her eyes. She got onto her four hooves, and stretched her wings. She looked around, but there were no clouds to take off from the sky. It seemed she would not have any work to do that day. She would have a lot of time for flying around and having fun. She sped off into the sky like a rainbow rocket and did a few loops. She felt adrenalin rise in her as she flew with an unbelievable speed and the wind picked up her mane. Oh how amazing it was to fly. She never got bored of it. She did a few more circles, then she dove down towards Ponyville. She stopped her falling just an inch above the ground. A group of fillies clapped their hooves and asked the blue pegasus to do more tricks. She did gladly as they wished, she never missed a chance to show off her talent at flying. Rarity woke from her beauty sleep with a delicate little yawn. She slipped out of bed, and walked to her mirror. She jumped in horror seeing the reflection looking at her. She would never get used to her morning self. Her mane was a mess and dried drool was in the corners of her mouth. She combed her hair urgently, washed her face and brushed her teeth. Now that she was her real self again, she looked out of the window. Oh, it was such a lovely day. She trotted into the kitchen, made some breakfast, and called Sweetie Belle downstairs. The ate together in peace, talking about everyday things. Rarity sent off her little sister to school, and went back to her room to finish her work that day. She half hummed and half sang a song as she continued the dress she started last evening. Applejack woke up to the laugh of her little sister, Applebloom. Soon she could hear Granny Smith scolding the little filly, and telling her that her big sister was still asleep, and she shouldn't wake her up. Applejack jumped out of bed and trotted to Granny Smith. "No need to scold lil' Applebloom, Ah would've stayed in bed all day if she wouldn't have woken me up." She smiled at her sister, and walked outside. She could see BigMac already working on the farm. She waved at him and smiled. He waved back. Then Applejack picked up few bags of apples and ran off to Ponyville to sell them, being a little late already. Pinkie Pie opened her eyes, and jumped out of her bed quickly. She was full of energy. So full of energy that she had to bounce around her bed a few times. She ran out of her room, and greeted Mrs. Cake, who was cooking some cupcakes while humming an old pony song. The pink pony skipped outside into the golden rays of sun. She started chasing a butterfly but tripped in a stone and hit her nose. She lay there for a few seconds, but then she soon sat up and laughed it off. She walked down the street cheerfully greeting everypony she met. It was a wonderful morning, better than she could ever imagine. Well, at least it was like that for the first few minutes of the day. Suddenly, with a great flash of light, the sun disappeared from the sky. Blinded by the light, all of the ponies of Ponyville blinked a few times before realizing that their efforts to see were hopeless. There was no light left in Ponyville, the darkness was perfect. After a lot of bumping into each other and stumbling over things, a few lanterns were lit. These weak and faint lights made the once lovely town look ghostly and creepy. All the ponies shivered in the cold that came soon after the darkness. Little fillies cried looking for their families. Shopkeepers cried over their goods that were broken in the confusion and panic. Peace and happiness was replaced by fear and sadness in Ponyville.
Finding FriendsPinki Pie panicked. She ran up and down bumping into other ponies, screaming the names of her friends. Suddenly she saw a small flicker of light. It was the first lantern to be lit. She trotted towards it gladly. It was in the mouth of a kind unicorn lady. "Are you lost?" asked the lady. "No, I mean, yeah, I think." Pinkie replied. "I kinda panicked in the dark." Pinkie let out a nervous laugh and continued talking: "Have you seen, by any chance a blue pegasus with rainbow mane? Or maybe a blonde earth pony with freckles? It's easy to recognize her, she is from the Apple family. Oh, maybe a purple unicorn? Or a shy yellow and pink pegasus? What about a pretty white unicorn with purple mane?" "I haven't seen any of them." the unicorn replied. "But I think I can try to help you find them." Twilight Sparkle walked along the main street of Ponyville, with Spike on her back and a lantern in her mouth. Everything was quiet now, the only sound that could be heard was the sobbing of a filly. Twilight was worried about her friends, something could have happened to them in the panic a few minutes ago. Spike was so scared that he couldn't even move, and he was shivering in the cold. He was muttering some words that were quite hard to understand, but Twilight thought that Spike was saying "Please, please, I am sorry..." but of course she wasn't sure about this. She couldn't imagine what could have happened to the sun. Suddenly, she saw a fast movement from the corner of her eye. She hurriedly put down the lantern an said: "Who's there?" She tried to sound strong, but her voice was shaking with fear. "Twilight?" came the answer from the dark. The unicorn recognized the voice. "Rainbow Dash! I am so glad to find you! Are you okay?" she said happily as her friend walked into the light of the lantern. "Yes, it's me, and I am glad to see you too. But I am not at all okay." "Why, what happened? Are you hurt?" "Well, nothing happened, other than that the sun vanished from the sky, now it's pitch black, and cold, and no sound can be heard that is other than what we make, and the air is unnervingly still!" "So that was that unsettling feeling I felt! I thought it was because of the lack of light, but you are right! There is not even a small breeze. What could this mean?" "Don't ask me, you're the one who reads all the time." "But I never read of something like this... Anyways, have you seen the others?" "No, I've been looking for them all this time." Twilight gave a sad nod in response, and picked up the lantern. The two friends started walking by each others side. Rainbow Dash occasionally called out for the others, but no answer came. Rarity was sitting in her shop, shaking. The flash of light surprised her too. When she looked outside, she saw nothing. Now she was confused and afraid. Suddenly, she heard a knock on the window. She got up, and looked towards the source of the sound. It was Applejack. She was holding a lantern and had a worried look on her face. Rarity trotted to the door and opened it for Applejack. The blonde mare walked in and started talking immediately. "Are ya all right, Rarity? Ah was worried. Do ya know what happened?" "I'm much better now that you are here, Applejack. I am sorry, but I have absolutely no idea about what could have happened. Where are the others?" "Ah don't know. We should go look for 'em" "You are right. Wait a minute, please." Rarity trotted to the back of her house, and started looking for something in the dark. Applejack walked to her and held the lantern. "Ah think you could use some light here" "Oh, thank you." the unicorn said, and continued searching. Finally she found what she was looking for. She was holding two scarves. "One is for you, and one is for me. It must be rather cold out there." They put on their scarves, and left looking for their other friends. Fluttershy was lying on the ground, not daring to move. She was shivering and crying. She felt more scared then ever before. Suddenly she heard a familiar voice: "There she is! There she is! It's her! It's my friend Fluttershy!" after that came a gentle voice the pegasus has never heard before: "I am glad, Pinkie Pie, now there are only four friends to find, am I correct?" Fluttershy looked up, and saw a flickering light just by her side. It was a lit lantern, that hang from the mouth of a unicorn. "He-hello." Fluttershy stuttered. "Hello, dear little pegasus. I am Blacktea, it is nice to meet you." the unicorn said. "She is a super-duper kind pony, you see! She helped me look for you. We checked everypony else's home, but I think everypony was out in the streets. I am so very glad to find you!" Pinkie Pie explained. "Oh, I-I see... Nice to meet you, B-blacktea." the pegasus replied. The three of them set off together to find the rest of the friends. Applejack and Rarity were walking down the streets of Ponyville. There were weak lights in every direction, and the amount of sounds was decreasing every minute. Citizens of Ponyville were starting to give up. There was no movement, except for the nonstop dance of the flames and the two friends' walking. "Hey, Rarity, don't ya think that one light is movin' this way?" "Oh, it does seem so. Who could it be?" "Let's find out!" The two friends took up a faster speed, and hurried towards the moving lantern. When they got near it, happiness filled their hearts. It was Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash and Spike. "Hey there Rarity, Applejack! Glad to see you in one piece!" Rainbow called out to them. The two small groups were happy to find each other at last. But two ponies were still missing. "We still have to find Pinkie and Fluttershy." Twilight reminded them. "No need to find me! I am right here!" Pinkie Pie laughed from behind of the four surprised ponies. "Pinkie Pie!" they yelled happily. "Were you worried, were you worried about me?" the pink pony asked excitedly. "Of course we were!" Rarity replied. "Pinkie, have you seen Fluttershy?" Twilight asked. "Yep! They are coming this way." Pinkie said, pointing at another moving lamp. "They?" Applejack asked with a puzzled face. "Yes! I met a really nice lady, and she helped me look for you." the party pony said happily. Finally Fluttershy and Blacktea arrived to the group too. Blacktea introduced herself, then said: "Well then, I'll leave you now. I have friends to find too. I hope you'll not loose each other now." "Thank you very much for your help, Blacktea. I wish you luck with your friends." Twilight said. "Farewell, my little ponies." the lady smiled at them, then turned away and started walking. "Bye-bye!" Pinkie yelled after her one more time.
Flame in the Sky"Has anyone seen her leave?" asked Twilight Sparkle, looking at her friends. All of them shook their heads. "She's been awfully quiet all the way here." Applejack remarked. The rest nodded in agreement. After that silence followed. "Well then..." Twilight cleared her throat. ", what do you think, Zecora, where should we go?" "The core of all this, where tragedy is." the zebra said with an uncertain face. "I shall accompany you, for I can be useful too." "Yeah, we'd appreciate that." smiled Rainbow Dash weakly. She turned to leave the house, but she froze in the middle of her movement. All of them stared up at the sky. What seemed to be a ball of flame flew towards them, spreading light all around it. When it got closer, they recognized it as a phoenix. When it nearly reached them, they happily noted that they knew the bird: she was Philomena, Princess Celestia's pet. Fluttershy happily flew to the bird to greet her. Upon a closer look, she could tell that the phoenix was extremely sad. She turned back, and landed beside Twilight, followed by Philomena. "Um..., Twilight, I think something's wrong in Canterlot." Fluttershy said in a soft voice. "Why do you think so?" asked the purple unicorn. "Just look at this poor thing's face. She seems so sad!" "Yes, now that you say that, she really does seem sad..." "Then let's go to Canterlot!" Rainbow said, glad to find a clue. The eight of them started walking in the golden light of Philomena. Now they had a path to follow, they would have time to feel worried when they reach the end of the path. When they reached the station, they found no one. The trains didn't function, for there was not a soul to drive them. Twilight Sparkle sighed, and said: "I guess we'll have to walk." And so the friends set off. After Twilight got tired of carrying Spike, Zecora took the little dragon on her back, where he fell asleep. The Zebra was quietly discussing possible reasons for the Sun's sudden disappearance with Twilight, the two of them leading the way. The unicorn used the light magic Rarity found in the book, and now her horn was glowing in an eerie light blue colour. Applejack was walking behind them, trying to comfort the scared Rarity. On the very end of the small line of friends walked Fluttershy, holding a lamp, and occasionally looking behind her back with a worrisome face. Rainbow Dash flew ahead with the other lantern, inspecting what awaited them. She looked around with a serious face, secretly hoping to spot Pinkie somewhere following them in the dark. After a few hours of flying and finding nothing, she returned to her friends. They were all tired and slow. They didn't drink or eat since morning, and they haven't stopped walking since they left Zecora's home. Philomena was now sleeping soundly on Fluttershy's shoulder, with her flame slightly faded. Rainbow landed beside the sorry-looking little group. "Hey, I think we should rest a little." she said. "You're right. We should." Twilight replied quietly. She stopped, and gently levitated Spike off from Zecora's back. The two pegasi placed the lanterns on the ground, and everyone gathered around the small flickering lights. Slowly, all of them drifted off to sleep. Or almost all of them. Rainbow Dash was continuously looking into the darkness, hoping to catch sight of a certain pink pony. But she still couldn't find any signs of Pinkie. She cried quietly. She felt so lost and lonely, even though she was surrounded by her friends. Zecora woke up, and stretched her legs. She looked around, and saw the red-eyed Rainbow Dash lying awake among all the sleeping ponies. "I see that you failed to sleep, is the darkness too deep?" she asked with concern on her face. "Nah, I fear no darkness." Rainbow replied in a tired voice. "I just miss Pinkie so much..." "Fear not little pony, and don't stare so grimly" the zebra answered with a small smile. "We will find your friend, surely in the very end." The pagasus just sighed, and smiled weakly as a response. After a few minutes the others started waking up one by one too. They all got up, and continued their walk. But Dash was too tired to fly by now, and her legs were wobbly due to the lack of sleep. She stumbled aimlessly, and her friends had to keep her on the road. After seemingly endless fight against her sleep, she finally collapsed on the ground, and fell into a deep sleep. Zecora offered carrying her, just like she did with Spike. Twilight levitated the sleeping pegasus onto the zebra's back, and they continued their walk towards Canterlot. Rainbow Dash happily flew up into the bright blue sky. She never felt so energetic and fresh before. After she reached an amazing height in the air, she looked down. Equestria was clearly visible, spreading under her. It looked like some extremely detailed map. Suddenly somepony covered her eyes from behind. "Guess who I am!" a cheerful voice said. She sounded very familiar, but Dash had no clue who she could be. "I don't know." she replied honestly. "Aww, you really don't recognize your best friend?" said the voice. She was so familiar. The blue pegasus was sure she heard this voice somewhere before... Her friend? She tried to list all her friends in her head. There was Fluttershy... no this voice couldn't be hers, too loud. Also, it could be Rarity, she did have wings once.., but no. No way Rarity would act this way. Also, there was Twilight Sparkle and Applejack, but they didn't sound like this either. But who was missing? She shook her head sadly. "Dashie? How can you be so very forgetful?" the voice said, and the pegasus felt her eyes being released. The next thing she knew was that she was falling, and she had no wings anymore. She looked up. Above her was the pink pony she used to be such great friends with, flapping her two wings to stay in the air, and looking at the falling pony with a sad face. Did the party pony always have wings? Dash's memory was hazy, she couldn't remember. The ground came closer and closer, and tears fell from Dash's eyes. She reached the ground with a crash, and she could hear her bones break. Then it was all darkness. "Rainbow Dash!" "Hey, Dash!" "Um..., are you alright?" "Oh my, are you alright, Rainbow Dash?" The pegasus opened her eyes. It was still dark, but she could see in the light of some lanterns. She was lying next to Zecora, surrounded by her friends. "You fell from Zecora's back where you were sleeping, and I was worried that-" she heard Twilight start speaking quickly. But she just shook her head, with tears streaming down her face, and sped off into the darkness. She had to find Pinkie. Twilight watched her disappear in the black nothing. She felt tears running down her cheeks. "Rainbow Dash!" she yelled after her, then she continued with a barely audible mutter: "First Pinkie, and now Rainbow Dash...." she broke out crying. Everpony was trying to comfort her, so none of them saw Philomena speeding off after the blue pegasus.
Falling Apart"It is alright, you must not give up the fight!" Zecora said, gently touching Twilight Sparkles back with her hoof in a comforting manner. "No! It is not alright! I am so weak! I... I couldn't even keep us together." the crying unicorn said bitterly. Applejack, Rarity, Spike, Zecora and Fluttershy were forming a circle around her, worried expressions on their faces. "Dear, you still have us. We will go to Canterlot, solve this awful mystery and then find our lost friends." Rarity said. "Yes! We sure will save the day in the end! We sure will..." Applejack added. "Twilight, let's get going." smiled Spike. "Guys..." the purple pony looked up at her friends, and smiled, some tears still in the corners of her eyes. "Thank you!" she got up on her four hooves and looked in the direction she supposed Canterlot was. A determined expression on her face, she spoke once again: "We are going to save the day. Let's go!" "But Twilight, are you sure that's the way Canterlot is? I belive that's where we came from...." Rarity said, looking at her friend. "I-I... I am not sure." the purple unicorn looked at the ground once again. "Don't tell me we are lost!" Spike dropped to his knees. "No way!" "It's okay. Ya' all have forgotten about Philomena, she sure knows which way the-" Applejack started with a smiling face, turning around to look at the phoenix, but she stopped in mid-sentence when she saw the lack off the bird. "Where in Equestria...." was all she could mutter. "Yes... I wanted to tell you all.... but I didn't want to interrupt..." Fluttershy said softly, looking down at the ground. "What are we going to do?" Rarity said, tears gathering in her eyes. "I don't know." Twilight Sparkle answered in a barely audible voice. Meanwhile Rainbow Dash was flying across the blackened sky without any source of light. She cursed herself for being so stupid, flying off like that without a source of light. How did she think she'd find Pinkie? All she wanted now was to get back to her friends, help them bring the Sun back, then look for the pink pony in daylight. She gritted her teeth, and closed her eyes. She was getting used to the salty taste of her tears, she couldn't stop them flowing down her face. So weak and useless she felt in the sky, she felt horrible. She then opened her eye, and scanned the ground in a hopeless effort to see the light of lanterns, but all there was was the endless sea of black darkness. She wasn't sure the world existed at all anymore. She was tired, really tired, but she didn't know how far the ground was. She wouldn't know, even if it was right below her hooves. And what if she landed in water? Maybe on something sharp. It seemed too hopeless and dangerous to get on the ground. She decided to try and stay in the air, no matter what happened to her. Not finding a single cloud to rest on her wings were getting tired. This struggle, it was so hopeless. She was about to give up, when a picture of her friends together smiling in the sunlight came to her mind. Yes, for them she had to keep on flying. Maybe there was still a chance, even if it was just a slight one. She flied for hours and hours without a rest, scanning the darkness below her. Not the slightest sign of any movement. After a while, she started loosing height significantly. She was slowing down, and her wings were getting heavy. Her eyes were now dry, but her cheeks still burned from the salty tears. She felt like she didn't know how to move anymore. Nor could she remember warmth of sunlight. She felt dizzy, and her head hurt like it was about to burst. Finally, her wings stopped obeying her. They didn't keep her up now, they were just hanging limply by her side. She didn't have the power left to call out as she fell rapidly towards the invisible ground. She closed her eyes, and prepared for the worst, when adrenalin rushed into her veins. She started flapping her wings again with a last desperate effort, slowing down her fall, and turning her legs towards where she thought she was falling. Just in time, it turned out. Her hooves touched cold, polished stone as soon as she turned. She sighed in relief, and collapsed on the ground, falling into a deep, dreamless sleep. The last thing she felt before finally closed her eyes was pleasant warmth surrounding her.
Need for AdviceThe six friends looked at each other. Now that they were together again, they didn't know what was the next thing to do. The silence was getting heavier and heavier with every second that passed. Finally Twilight Sparkle spoke: "Come on, let's go." "Where?" asked Rainbow Dash. "To find out about what is happening." came the answer. The purple unicorn started trotting towards the library, with her friends following her silently. After some time passed, they reached their destination. Spike opened the door, and the group walked in. They lit some candles, and started looking for some information about anything similar to what was happening. After a few minutes Rarity broke the silence: "Oh, look, I found something that might be helpful in our horrible situation." "What is it?" the others asked. Twilight trotted to Rarity happily. "Show me the book please." she said hoping to find the answer to the questions in her head. But what she read disappointed her. It was just a spell to make light similar to a lamps, maybe little stronger. She smiled sadly. "Yes, might be useful." she said. But even after hours of reading, they couldn't find anything other than that. "What shall we do? We are doomed!" Rarity said. "No, we mustn't give up! I have an idea." said Rainbow Dash with a determined face. "Let's go visit Zecora! She knows everything!" The others all agreed, and they started walking towards the Everfree Forest. It was now the blue pegasus who led the way, the others following behind without a word. Fluttershy was the one at the very back. She was walking slowly, not wanting to go to that forest in such dark. "Um.., I think we could go to someone else..." she said in her soft voice. But nopony heard her. They finally reached the edge of the forest, and when they stepped into the forest the shy pegasus spoke again, now a little louder than before: "I... I will stay and watch out for... enemies here if it's all right by you..." The ponies turned towards her with a surprised face. Then Twilight Sparkle let out a giggle and said. "Oh, Fluttershy! It's alright if you don't want to come with us. No need to find excuses, just stay here and wait for our return." She smiled, and turned towards the deep dark forest again. "Okay girls, let's go!" she said with a voice that was meant to sound strong, but turned out a little shaky. Fluttershy watched as her friends were getting further and further into the forest, leaving her all alone in the dark. Then she realized that she forgot to take one of the lamps. Now she could only see the lights of the lanterns lit in ponyville, and the small lights of her friends' lanterns getting further and further away from her. She started shaking. "Wait!" she meant to call out to them, but they couldn't hear her. She started galloping towards the moving light. When she got near them, she heard them talking. "I can't believe I have to go into this dark and dirty forest! Why does Zecora have to live in this terrible place?" Rarity complained. "You can always turn back to Fluttershy." Twilight Sparkle replied. "Speaking of Fluttershy..., I think we left her without any source of light." Spike said, who was able to speak again. Finding everypony else made him feel a little safer. "We should go back to help her." Rainbow Dash said, looking back with a worried face. That worry changed to surprise as she saw the yellow pegasus standing right behind her. "What's wrong Rainbow?" asked Twilight, as she turned towards her surprised friend. "Oh, you decided to follow us? That's great!" she said happily, noticing her shy friend. Fluttershy gave a small nod, and they continued walking. After a few minutes, they saw a light in the distance. That must have been Zecora's home. They happily trotted to it, and Applejack knocked on the door. Zecora opened the door, looking at the hopeful faces of the 6 ponies and Spike. "I know what you wish to know, but the answer was lost long ago." she said, shaking her head slowly. "You mean there used to be an answer, but you don't know what it was? Did something like this happen before?" Twilight Sparkle said, hope could still be heard in her voice. "Yes, this happened before, but now it is just ingored." "But is there anything at all about it that you know?" "It happened after the death of one: murder by her own son. But for little ponies like you, things like this are all new." "That's... horrible. But who was... killed? Zecora, please tell us!" "I was told no more than what you already know." the zebra looked down with a sad expression. The little group was staring at her. Twilight could take it, she read of many horrible things in her life. Not as bad as what they just heard, but still nearing it's level. But the rest heard of nothing like this before, to them life was all fluff, candy and happiness. And now, it got a dark side. Bigger things than loosing a competition, bigger problems than messing up a dress, bigger problems than a whole lot of apples ahead to be collected, bigger problems than a few sad faces, bigger problems even than bullying. It was murder, something they never heard of before. When Twilight said "killed", they realized what was the talk about. And it shocked them. "What shall we do?" Rarity muttered. "I don't know." came the honest answer from Twilight. "I don't know, but we should fight together to find out. We are the elements of harmony! Loyalty, kindness, generosity..." she looked at each one of her friends while saying their elements. "honesty, laughter... laughter? Where is Pinkie?" The ponies looked at each other. Pinkie was missing, and none of them realized. They felt guilt and sadness. Confusion and fear. Where could Pinkie go?
