Our Darkest Hour

Zecora lit a candle to ward off the darkness that was engulfing the inside of her home. Something obviously wasn’t right, as the sun wasn’t up yet and it was well past noon. The zebra knew that Luna was not responsible, either, for the moon was absent from the vacant sky, giving the entire thing a feeling of dread.

After the last candle was lit and a healthy glow warmed her home, Zecora sat down to think. It was unlike the princesses to neglect their duties, and if something dire had happened then the Equestrian National Alarm would have been raised.

Perhaps, thought Zecora, that is for the best. It would not be wise to cause ponies more stress. Her face morphed into a frown as she thought about the extremely recent deaths of the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony

“None of them deserved their fate, any assistance I could offer came too late” Zecora's eyes welled with tears as she reflected on the events that had ended the lives of the six mares. Tragedy had struck Twilight Sparkle first, as an out-of-control storm raged and smote the unicorn with an errant bolt of lightning. Rainbow Dash, the ambitious young flyer, had gone next; her body had been found in her home, limp and soaked in blood. The rest of the bearers followed soon after, each meeting a similar grisly fate.

Zecora's tears spilled over as she wept for the six young mares. They had been some of the zebra's closest friends, and their deaths seemed injust. Twilight weighed the heaviest on the old zebra, as the young unicorn was the one who stood up for Zecora’s innocence. She had a brilliant mind, which left little doubt as to why Princess Celestia had chosen Twilight to be her personal student. A strangled sob forced its way out of Zecora's throat as more tears began to fall to the floor of her hut.

Her thoughts were interrupted as her door burst open, admitting a howling wind. Every candle and every lantern was extinguished, save for the one that cast a dank light on the back wall. A black creeping fog rolled in, swallowing and coating all it touched, obscuring the zebra's vision. There was something unnatural about this fog - it was too thick, too heavy, and too sinister. Of all the horrors and fears that Zecora had faced in her life, this fog terrified her the most. Slowly, she stepped backwards until her hooves collided with the wall. Unable to retreat any further she could only watch in horror as the thick fog surrounded her.

The fog enveloped itself around Zecora, sending a biting cold through her body. It felt as if hundreds of tiny needles were puncturing her skin from all sides. She tried to scream, but the only sound that escaped her mouth was a choked whisper. The fog raised her off the ground, suspending her in the air. Blood sprung from her snout and eyes, dripping down her face like tears. Bones broke and splintered, ripping through flesh like paper as her very soul was ripped violently from her body. Real tears mingled with the red ones as she breathed her last. When the fog was finished, the zebra's empty shell fell to the ground with a loud thud. In Zecora's last fleeting moments of life, her vision was consumed with the grinning face of a unicorn. Thin rivulets of blood flowed from the unicorn's mouth, and her eyes were as pitch black and deep as Tartarus itself.

It's task complete, the fog rolled out of the hole in Zecora's hut, creeping towards its next target: Ponyville.