The Dark Zoner

Pains That Never End

“Oh, no! It’s her! It’s The Menace!” A unicorn guard screamed as he levitated a dozen daggers by his side. He held them aloft before shooting each like a bullet at the impeding mare.

The light red mare, whom was dressed in a dark fabric that covered most of her body and face, easily dodged his blades.

She was quicker than any pegasus that he could imagine. His comrades, half a dozen other guards, came to his side just as she was nearing him.

A few of the unicorns erected a small barrier as The Menace jumped up with a spin as blades sprung out from her leg bracers.

There was a ‘boing’ as she fell back from the barrier’s impact.

Two pegasus guards took her rebound as an opportunity to attack as they swooped in from behind the barrier, attacking her in either side. The red maned mare looked at both pegasi with a look akin to boredom before doing a double-barrel back flip, causing the two to collide against one another.

Her blue eyes flashed as she clapped her hoofs together, springing out her hidden blades in her bracers, before stabbing both pegasi in the back of their necks.

An earth pony came charging at her blindly from her back, knocking her into the floor. He came on top of her, preparing to pummel her under a flurry of his hoofs but she was too fast for him.

She punched her foreleg into the ground and quickly twisted her body into a spin. Her lower legs opened a hidden blade in each bracer as her spinning cut the earth colt’s own legs, knocking him to the floor on his flank.

Before the colt knew what hit him, she jumped on top of him and smashed his skull in with her hoofs.

Two dozen arrows suddenly sprang forth as she took a dive to dodge them all. Only one managed to graze her backside before hitting her flank.

She looked up to the direction of the shots to see a dozen more Celestian patrol guards coming onto her, a few were pegasi who were flying above her as they fired down.

“We’ve got you now! You’re surrounded!” A pony said with conviction, as they surrounded The Menace. “Surrender now and you will die swiftly! Refuse…” He looked side to side to see them flanking her, preventing her from escaping. “And may Celestia have mercy on your soul!”

“I’ll have to apologize to Mistress Twilight for being late, tonight.”

The Menace had decimated the entire squad of twenty, single-hoofedly. She shook her head with a sigh as her blades clicked and retracted back into her bracers. ‘Losers, I didn’t even break a sweat.’ She thought with a huff.

Her ears twitched just as she turned to see a group of unicorn guards flanking her. ’Royal Unicorn Guards…!’ She back-flipped as their horns glowed, their magic were just out of reach as she dodged at the last second.

It was a narrow miss! Or, at least, it looked like it. The Menace had only feigned a delayed reaction, she wanted the Royal Guards to think that they almost had her. It was more fun that way, letting her prey feel like they were close to achieving their goals, she liked it like that.

Even though she was an earth mare, none of their magic could work on her, anyway. She was used to fighting the magical fools. She knew every trick that they had in the book and then some.

The red-maned filly raised her hoof dramatically as a single dagger appeared. She made a waving motion with her hoof, making a dozen more appear in her hoof, spread out like a deck of cards.

With a white flash in her eyes, she threw all of the blades. She repeated her motions, making more daggers appear, before throwing more of the blades. It was like she was pulling blades out of thin air as she kept barraging the guards with her throwing knives.

The unicorn guards were quick to form a barrier but some were too weak as her blades ran them clean through, killing a few of the guards. They may have had magic but even magic had a limit.

The Menace gave an uncharacteristic smirk, ‘Too easy.’ She dodged a blast of magical energy. She heard the sound slow flapping wings from behind her. ‘Pegasus wings…!’ And not just regular pegasus wings, either.

She looked up with a snarl to see a overly cocky looking Starlight Pegasus floating above her with his forelegs crossed.

“So, you’re the big bad The Menace that I heard so much about? You‘re just a little earth filly!” The stallion scoffed at her. “Weak!” He blew his rainbow mane away from his eyes.

‘I’m not gonna kill this one…’ She thought with a dark frown. ‘I’m going to murderize him into oblivion that not even Mistress Twilight can revive his pitiful carcass!’

The Menace leaped into the air, surprising the young stallion as he narrowly dodged her. He was surprised that she could jump so high. She was just as good as the rumors say but that didn’t matter. He was going to be the one that defeated The Menace and rise in the ranks of the Starlight clan.

“Breaker! Don’t be an idiot, you can’t handle her alone!” One of the unicorns shouted at the Starlight Pegasus. Just as the stallion said this, The Menace somehow appeared behind him and slid her blades into his throat.

“Your voice is grating on my ears.” She said with a sigh as she kicked the unicorn’s gagging corpse off of her blade.

“You damned bastard!” The other unicorns screamed as they levitated their weapons to attack her, only for her to disappear in the group under a haze of smoke.

“Leave her to me, I’m a Starlight! This is what we were born for!” Breaker said as he performed a Aerial Twister, blowing the smoke away with his mini tornadoes.

“We’re staying, you are going to need all the help you can get, Starlight or not.” The unicorn speaking looked nervously over her shoulders, The Menace was the worse of the Trinights. The crazed mare was beyond homicidal and loony. “Besides, help is coming!”

“We just need to hold her off long enough, right? Right?”

The Menace growled from behind the large boulder that she was hiding by. She was standing on her two back-legs like a bipedal creature. The introduction of the Starlight Pegasus was unexpected, she had to tread carefully.

The mare reached behind her back and pulled out a large 4-bladed knife. The blade was bigger than her head, it was unimaginable for her to have had sheathed it in her assassin garment.

“I’ll definitely have to apologize to Mistress Twilight for being late.” She pulled out a second wind shuriken  in her other hoof. “Time to shed some blood on this situation.” She held the blades over her chest before jumping into the group of ponies.

Magic, bladed projectiles, and screaming surrounded her as she charged forward into the chaos.

XOX

Twilight sighed heavily as she walked down the long hallway. A row of Shadowguards were frozen in their guard position. Only the rising and falling of their chests indicated any life that they had.

They each stared at her with loyal and alert eyes. She ignored the eyes. She was well aware of the wide array of emotions that each eye was filled with.

Fear.

Anxiety.

Desolation.

Loyalty.

Desire.

Twilight the Zoner was Princess Luna’s Pride and Firstborn. She was no mere pony. She was something beyond any mortal coil. And that is why her fellow allies kept her at bay. She was a weapon to them, a means to an end. She was also a being on the same level as the princesses.

At least, that’s what that they thought in their minds. Twilight, as powerful was she was, she was no match for the tyrannical Princess Celestia in one on one combat. That’s where her intelligence and resourcefulness came in.

Before Twilight could finish her thoughts, she found herself at her intended destination.

Princess Luna’s bedchambers.

Only she and a hoof-ful of trusted associates were ever allowed into this section of the castle. The last time since somepony, other than Twilight, came to visit the Princess there was almost over 300 years ago.

Princess Luna, also known as the Secluded Princess or the Paranoid Princess, didn’t trust anyone besides her beloved Zoner incarnations to be alone with her in her chambers.

Twilight, when not out scouting, would always be at her princess’s side in case of any danger. One could say that Twilight was a bit overprotective of ‘Mother Luna’.

“It’s me, may I come in?” Twilight raised a hoof and knocked on the wooden doors.

“Thou may cometh, my cherished Twilight Sparkle!” Princess Luna’s voice boomed from behind.

The dark purple Zoner smiled inwardly and stepped through.

She looked up to see her princess standing regally near the tall window, the curtains blowing with the wind from the open glass panels.

The princess had a dark coat, black as the night sky, and her eyes were looking outward in lost thoughts. She was wearing a light blue mythril plate across her chest and a matching helmet. This was the Mare of the Night, the Nightmare Moon that haunted the dreams of the young fillies who cried for their parents in bed.

This was the evil ruler of the Moon Realm!

“M-Mother…?” Twilight hesitantly closed the door and approached the princess.

Princess Luna let out a breath of air that she didn’t realize that she was holding.

“How are you, my young pupil?” The words were both ironic and true, considering that she was ages beyond Twilight even though Twilight was around 500.

“I am fine, Mother Luna.” Twilight decided to step back and kneeled down to bow.

“It’s alright, you don’t need to be so formal with Us.” The princess waved a hoof in front of herself. Her form changed from a tall black alicorn mare to a small light purple little filly, just a head smaller than Twilight. “Just as We you.”

“Oh, Twilight Sparkle! My precious friend! I’ve missed you so much!” The filly Luna’s voice was softer and more squeaky compared to before. Even her choice of words and attitude seemed to change drastically.

This was Princess Luna’s true form. A form only Twilight and her bloodline ever saw.

The princess trotted over to a large round velvet bed that was in the center of the room, hopping onto it. She curled into the covers like a snake coiling itself.

Luna’s tiny head popped out of the furry ball to look at Twilight with eyes of want. The blue orbs were dilated as tears threatened to come out.

“Alright, Mother.” Twilight sighed as she knew exactly what the princess wanted. She hopped into the bed alongside the blue-maned filly.

They both cuddled next to each other with their heads popping out from under the covers to stare at the tall windows. The full moon in the dark sky peered down at them through the window‘s glasses.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Princess Luna said off-hoofedly.

“Not more beautiful than the one who made it.” Twilight chuckled as a blush adorned the smaller filly’s cheeks. “And, the one who made me and my siblings.” Twilight hung her head down to nuzzle the princess’s mane.

“I didn’t make you, silly.” Luna shook her head, “I made your ancestor, Dusk Striker.” She corrected the Zoner.

That only made Twilight Sparkle laugh. Even the ageless Luna was a bit naïve on a few things, this included.

“I wonder what Celestia is doing tonight…?”  Princess Luna said suddenly. Twilight could hear the regret in her creator’s voice. Even though Luna has been keeping war with her elder sister for over 7000 years, she didn’t like it.

Luna has tried many times before, during Twilight’s life, to reconcile her and her sister’s differences but to no avail. Princess Celestia was stubborn, she warranted that Princess Luna remove all of her ‘children’ or else any real peace was denied.

The princess was not totally against the idea of destroying her creations to end this dreaded millennia war, especially since most of her creations become wild and mindless, but she couldn’t do so without good conscious. Especially, not if she had to remove her precious Twilight from this world.

They’ve made peace treaties that were less of a…termination but there were restrictions that were still quite cruel set on her creations. Those worked for the most part besides the fact that the demons broke out and killed a few innocent lives due to their entrapments.

Luna could control her creatures and make them easier to deal with, hay, she can even wipe their minds blank so that they were harmless. But she was against the idea of taking away what little will they had left. It was too wrong, too cruel.

“Mother, forget about that old stag. She was wrong and you were right. I would sooner die than let her wipe my brother and sisters off the face of this world.

You were lonely, she didn’t see that and let it hurt you from the inside. What a horrible sister! That’s when you created Dusk Striker so that you weren’t lonely anymore. What’s wrong with being happy?”

“The demons are dangerous. They hurt and kill ponies, even their own.”

“That’s only because of the treatments that those bucking damned Celestian ponies made us go through! They are so xenophobic!”

“Even if I was right, I should’ve been the one to fix the problem instead of letting it get worse. I started it, I could’ve made everything better before this war happened.” Princess Luna looked up at Twilight with tears dripping down her face, “Then we could be together, in peace.”

Twilight bit her lower lips, she didn’t know what to say or how to respond. The words she used were too full of hate and wrath, it only made her princess feel worse.

“I’m sorry, Mother, but the past is the past. There is nothing we can do about it.”

“I miss you Twilight Sparkle, my precious friend.” Princess Luna suddenly said.

Twilight hesitated for a moment before responding with another nuzzle. She felt a small hoof wrapped around her own. The Princess was holding onto her out of fear, fear of the world that they lived in. But most importantly, the little mare was afraid of losing Twilight, which she knew was soon.

‘I miss you’ was not about not being able to see Twilight in a while, it was about never going to be able to see Twilight again. She could disappear at any moment now since she reached the 500 year mark.

The Fated Miracle/Curse.

‘When it happens, it happens. I should prepare an Aegis Stone when I can. At least, Mother won’t be too lonely, then.’ She thought about her potential foal and thought of what names to give them. If it was a colt, ‘Dash Cutter’, if it was a filly, ‘Dash Starker’.

She smiled pitifully, even the great Twilight Zoner of Darkness feared the end. She shook the bad thoughts away, death was immortal and eternal it was not something to truly fear. Even though she could revive the dead…to a limit, she could not stop the cycle and revive herself.

‘Stop feeling so weak and mortal, Twilight!’ She yelled at herself. ‘You will do what you must. That is your duty! Only Luna’s health and happiness, and Celestia and her ponies’ death matters!’

XOX

“Wh-What are you…?!” Breaker Storm found himself pinned against a broken tree stump. He looked up at the earth mare who had him pinned with one hoof. He was beaten and battered, one of his wings were snapped in half, the other wing was torn out completely.

‘This mare…she took 3 Rainbooms head-on without a scratch! How?! Even none of the unicorns’ magic seemed to affect her, either!’

“I told myself I wasn’t going to kill you…,” The Menace growled, a surgical knife twirling in her free hoof. “And, I intend to make sure you live through this for every second you have left.”

His friend, Minni, the unicorn guard that had said that reinforcements were coming…was wrong. Somehow, someway, The Menace had killed them all off before they could even come.

He closed his eyes tight as the surgical knife went up to his neck and started carving under his skin. ‘I’m sorry everypony, I-I…was too cocky. I failed you all….’

XOX

It was a few hours later, after Twilight was alone with Princess Luna. She was currently at the Royal Library. There was a single large floating lantern, above her, that made the dark area even more disturbing than a lack of light could do with its dim and eerie glow.

She had over a dozen books scattered, floating around her in magic. Each book was open and their pages were all turning at a different interval each.

“Finding love…(mumble)… Butter knife… Mixing coffee…?” Twilight shook her head in exasperation, she wanted to toss the book aside and hit someone with them.

She was researching like she usual would do with her spare time. She had already spent hours reading Sun Tzu’s Art of War among other war books.

This time she decided to research love and romance which she found painstakingly difficult. What is love? How does love work? None of these books could detail enough for her beyond ‘feelings’.

Sure, she felt…different around Reiner but she needed to be able to make him feel the same for her but she had no clue. She flirted just like the books told her to but it only seemed to make him angrier.

“I could always just overcome him like Dusk Striker did to his Fated One.” Twilight mumbled to herself. Of course, she tried that. too. With just as horrible results.

“I don’t understand these mortals and their…feelings.”

“Master Twilight,” A black mare wearing blue torso armor came and bowed to her. She was speaking in a deep and strict voice. “Is there a problem?”

“It’s alright,” Twilight waved a hoof dismissively without turning to look at the mare. “I’m done, anyways.” The books disappeared in a burst of purple light. “Love is a confusing emotion, is it not, Shadow Light?”

The black mare blushed and looked to the side. “Love is a precious emotion. It is simple and complex, it is everything in this world but no one can put it into words or into an equation.”

“Ooh…I beg to differ.” Twilight laughed darkly as she approached the mare. She brushed her shoulder with the smaller mare’s. She moved her mouth over the Shadowguard’s ear and breathed, “I intend to find every ins and outs of this feeling. I’m sure you can help me with that, can’t you?”

Twilight smirked as she left the library with the frozen Shadow Light visibly shaking. She knew how to control the emotions but she still couldn’t understand them.

How do they work? Why do they work?

“Maybe Shadow can help me research in my room later.” Twilight laughed.

Twilight decided to go out to get fresh air. ‘Should I go to the farmers’ market…the training grounds…the Neighrun Archives?’ She wasn’t quite sure what would help her relax more.

She was not really in the mood for food, chicken or beetles, otherwise. She had more than enough fight earlier that day that she dismissed the idea of training, both herself and other ponies. And she just came from a branch of Neighrun Archives.

In the end, Twilight decided to just wander around the Neighrun City’s square. As an afterthought, she bought a blue beetle on a stick for a snack as she window-shopped. Her purple cape fluttered as she passed many ponies. Most of whom were shocked and a few were frozen in place as they caught sight of the Zoner.

“It-It’s, Twilight!”

To them, meeting Twilight in person was as if they were meeting royalty. In a sense, she was sort of a royal pony because she was related to Princess Luna, in a way.

Many of them stopped what they were doing immediately and bowed down to her, a few were so shocked, in fact, that they tripped over themselves attempting to bow while still trotting along the streets.

Twilight was a bit preoccupied, though, and took no notice of whatever the ponies around her were doing. This was a normal occurrence to her either way. She just learned to block it out when it didn’t concern her.

“Master Twilight!” That voice sounded familiar, immediately drawing Twilight’s attention. She disappeared in a purple flash behind a dark alley.

“Twilight!” The pony who had called her name nearly stuttered. “Don’t do that! Don’t you know how frightening that is when you teleport at random like that?” The white unicorn sighed as she placed a hoof at her chest to calm her nerves.

“What is it that you want, Miss Rarity?” Twilight asked in a threatening tone. Rarity, the white unicorn, started walking away as Twilight followed behind. Rarity didn’t respond to Twilight’s threatening aura and kept on walking. Even though Rarity seemed to be a bit disrespectful towards Twilight, the Zoner did not voice any complaints. This seemed to be a usual event between the two of them.

When they finally stopped walking, they reached a circular building with a pointed roof. This was Rarity’s shop. Twilight already understood what Rarity wanted now.

“You want me…,” Twilight let out an frustrated groan, “To model for you?!” If looks could kill, Rarity would have been dead a hundred times over. Rarity just smirked and nodded her head. Twilight shook her head before she smiled, “Sure, why not?”

Somehow, as time went by, Twilight went from wearing a white frilly dress that accented her dark coat to having her mane done by Rarity.

“Darling, really!” Rarity spoke with a pose accent, “Why in the world do you let your mane hang flat like that? You are the Zoner, a royal general! You should take care of your appearance more.” The purple-maned young mare made Twilight’s hair wavy to the side that covered half her face in a sensual mystique.

Twilight had to admit, it was a good look on her but impractical. With her powers she could easily remake this mane-style easily but it was such a waste of magic, in her opinion.

“So, where’s Sweetie Belle?” Twilight decided to ask.

“Oh, you know her, she’s still trying to figure out her Destiny Mark.”

“I swear, that foal’s been Markless ever since I ruled.” Twilight joked but stopped when she saw Rarity give her a stern look.

Suddenly, the door to Rarity’s shop, the Carousal Boutique, flew inward. It nearly smacked Twilight whom was sitting just inches from the doorway.

“Rarity!” A dark voice proclaimed. Twilight sighed as she immediately recognized the voice. A light red mare came in with a snarl wrapped in her face. She was drenched in what looked like blood. “Where’s Master Twilight?!” The mare looked around frantically until her eyes fell upon Twilight’s form. “Master!” The mare immediately pounced on Twilight, sending both of them to the floor with their legs tangled.

“Menace! Look at what you have done! Now Twilight’s mane is ruined, forever, forever!” Rarity cried out a bit melodramatically.

“Master Twilight!” The Menace cooed as she nuzzled into Twilight’s chest, smearing fresh blood all over her. “I was looking all over for you!”

Rarity was aghast at the affectionate display, not because it was sickening but it was sickening! She didn’t mind that The Menace had a crush over Twilight Sparkle, everypony but Twilight seemed to see that. But it was the fact that she was ruining her fine velvet carpet with blood!

‘The stains will never come out!’ Also, rubbing fresh blood into another mare’s coat was disgusting too, she guessed with a wave of her hoof.

“Can you leave my model alone?” Rarity huffed at the mare atop Twilight Sparkle with a high nose.

“This is inappropriate for someone of Twilight’s standing! This is something you know very well, The Eon.” The Menace stated with a low growl.

“Psh!” Rarity waved a hoof at The Menace without a care. “I stopped being Eon when Sweetie Belle was born.”

“A very poor decision…!” The Menace got onto her hooves and glared at Rarity’s way. Her blades on her bracers shot open with a ‘zwik!’.

“I may have only been The Eon for only 10 years but I was one of the strongest Eons to have existed. My power is forfeit but I‘m still strong enough to fight you. You don‘t scare me one bit!” The purple-maned unicorn eyes started glowing purple as her magic surrounded her entire body.

Both mares had their faces shoved into one another’s. Their snouts were pressed flat against each other as Twilight was forced to break the two apart. She grabbed The Menace with a hoof around her neck and nullified Rarity’s magic.

“Now, now, girls! This is no time to fight amongst ourselves.”

“But she started it!” They both complained and pointed a threatening hoof at the other mare.

“You two used to get along so fine before, I don’t understand how everything changed.” Twilight sighed as she pressed her hoof to her temple.

“Well, I haven’t seen my brother and sisters for a while. I think I’ll visit them in the Everfree Forest.”

“Wait, Master Twilight!” The Menace turned around and tried to get her superior’s attention.

And with that Twilight vanished in a purple blink. “You do know that she’ll never love you, right?” Rarity laughed with a high pitch shrill as she nudged the solemn The Menace in the shoulder.

“Shut up.” The mare groaned before leaving the shop.

XOX

“Twilight, where are you!?” Reiner heard of sightings of the Dark Zoner being in the Everfree Forest. This was his chance. It had to be!

“Dad, don’t you think this is going too far? Your old wounds are opening up again, at this rate you are going to get killed.” Even Dash was a bit worried about her father’s recklessness. They were deep in the middle of the Everfree Forest, during a full moon. Worst time to be alone at the worst place.

“I told you, leave me alone!” Her father complained. “This is my duty, only I can do this!”

“Do what? Kill Twilight!? What about everypony else? Are you going to leave us for some petty revenge?!” Rainbow Dash shoved her face against her father’s, surprising him. He backed away in shock. His thought seemed to lose their momentum.

Suddenly, a roar was heard! It was unmistakable, it was the roar of an angry phantom. The giant white creature peered down over the two ponies, its sharp toothless maws were open with acidic saliva. The creature’s empty white eyes stared into his fearful purple eyes.

Reiner tried to jump at Rainbow, and take her away from the creature’s oncoming attack but he felt himself frozen as if by an invisible force. He, then, tried to scream at his daughter to look at the creature hovering behind her but no words came out of his open mouth.

In slow motion, he saw the creature come down upon Rainbow Dash as it turned into a milky white puddle and seeped through the ground, leaving nothing but the bones of his daughter behind.

“Rainbow Dash!!!”

“Hehehehe!” A familiar feminine voice laughed above him.

“You!” He turned his head to see Twilight hovering above him with a smug look on her face.

“What’s wrong, Reiny, dear? Can’t handle the fact that your daughter is dead because of you?” Twilight Sparkle attempted to hide her mouth behind her hoof as she laughed in a vicious screech.

“You killed my daughter!” Reiner realized that Twilight forced him to watch his daughter die.

“No, Reiner. I didn’t.” Twilight stopped laughing but her smile never left her soft face. “You did. You lied to everypony, to Princess Celestia, and worse to your own family.” She flew down to the surface and looked at him at eye level. “You knew what would happen but you did it all the same.”

That sparkling smile of hers never left her mouth and her eyes gleamed under the moonlight. “Twilight!” Reiner suddenly found himself being able to move again and lunged at her, knocking her onto her back.

“Reiner…,” Twilight said softly, without an inch of mock. She looked so innocent under him.

“I hate you so much…!” Reiner growled as he bent down and forced his lips on her own. Twilight raised her forelegs and wrapped them around the back of his neck and pulled him in closer. “I betrayed everypony and my own daughter and wife…but I don’t care!” He declared out loud.

Everything turned black.

“Hah!? Huff, huff, huff!” Reiner shot up out of bed with sweat pouring down his face.

“Reiner, what’s wrong, honey?” Cotton’s eyes opened slowly and she watched her husband from where she slept.

The aching in his legs made him feel so numb. His chest was rising and falling rapidly. “No-Nothing, Cotton. It’s just nothing. Bad dream, just a bad dream. Go back to sleep.”

XOX

The nightmare was short but the effect it had left in him was powerful and draining. Seeing his own daughter dying before his very eyes was not something many fathers would be able to take.

Luckily, it was all just a horrible dream.

‘Or is it?’

Reiner took in a deep breath before sighing. He walked outside with a heavy heart. Cotton was taking care of their home like usual while he went out for a breath of fresh air.

He felt the tingly sensation in his hoofs and legs again. It was something that he feared and knew.

His legs were only temporarily healed. They were starting to return to their previous state. If his dream came to fruition, he won’t be able to save his daughter.

Fortunately, it seemed that while the pains and aches were returning they weren’t going to be overly severe and impede him very much like before. He’ll still be able to run and trot and do normal things like before, as long as his activities weren’t too strenuous.

“I have to tell Cotton and Rainbow the truth…!” Reiner growled at himself for being so weak. “Before it’s too late.”

Suddenly, a unicorn guard ran up to him, breaking him out of his daydream. “Sir! Your daughter, she ran into the Everfree Forest!”

“What?!” The cyan pegasus ran to the armory to gather his armor.

XOX

Over in the Everfree Forest, Rainbow Dash was hiking through the thick foliage, taking care not to step her hoof in the wrong area. She was smacked in the face by one of the branches that she was holding with her hoof.

“Now, where did Trixie say that flower was?” Rainbow held out a piece of paper in her hoof that had a picture of a purple flower and white stripes on it. “Luna's Moonflower was supposed to be around here somewhere…?”

She turned her head and screamed, “Ah ha!” The blue mare dropped her parchment and ran to the flower in the clearing. It was a single flower and there was a ray of light breaking through the ceiling that landed over the flower in the dark forest.

“Sweet! Now I can take this and bring it to mom, she’ll love it!” Rainbow Dash smirked as she thought of  the praise that her mother was going to give her for the exotic flower. “And maybe I’ll get more of those awesome pancakes of hers!” She drooled at that last thought.

“My, oh my. What do we have here?” A familiar voice sounded in the empty forest, making Rainbow take a step back in shock.

Chapter End