The Last Princess

The trio's southbound journey to Fillydelphia was, much to their surprise, mostly uneventful. On occasion, one of them would swear they heard a rustling in a bush behind them, or thought they saw a figure, but nothing major occurred. In only three days, they were walking along the train tracks straight into the city, full of hope that they would find food stores there, since they only had three cans of carrot soup left, one for each of them. They kept in an easterly direction once they entered, and stayed on the lookout for any place that looked like it might have once sold food. Finally, Dawn spotted something.

"Look! Over there! It looks like a grocery store!" She pointed a hoof in the direction of the building in question, and it did indeed look like a grocery store. The doors were glass magic-powered doors, which would have been an issue if one of the doors had not already been smashed open.

"Maybe it was a Fallen, trying to get at a pony inside." Dawn suggested, but that wasn't what any of them actually thought had happened. Besides, Fallen would still eat vegetables. Yet, their greatest fears came to pass when they got into the aisles. Everything had been cleared off the shelves, not so much as a cabbage leaf was left. Fallen were much messier eaters than would allow that to be the case, so there was really only one option left. The Bandits had come this way, and looted the entire store.

"M-maybe they missed a store?" Pomegranate implied halfheartedly. She new even better than the other two that that really wasn't a possibility. But, that didn't stop them from trying. They went from store to store, stopping at the occasional street vendor's cart to check. Nothing. Once they came across a massive storage room, but without any cooling, the food had spoiled. It was hopeless. The Bandits had come, taken everything, and then moved on, just like in Manehattan.

"What do we do now?" Dawn asked. They had stopped to sit at an outside section of a restaurant's tables, and were now trying to come up with a plan. Max put on his thinking face while Dawn observed quietly and Pomegranate twiddled her hooves, looking around every once in a while, likely keeping an eye out for Fallen. Finally, Max sat back and sighed.

"I can't think of another way. It looks like we'll have to take our chances, and try to get to Ponyville with what we have." he concluded. Even Max couldn't think of a good way out of this one.

"Isn't there any other way?" Dawn asked, praying for a positive response she new wouldn't be coming.

"Not that I can see." Max said, confirming her fears. "That is, barring any unforeseen circumstances."

It was at that moment that a knife fell from the sky, landing with an audible whunk in the center of the table, and sticking there. It was only then that the three friends looked up, realizing what a vulnerable position they were in. The tables they were sitting at were actually supposed to be accessed by coming through the side door in the restaurant, leaving the area surrounded by walls on three sides, and only one side open to the streets. They had set themselves up in the perfect spot for an ambush.

Now looking up, the group could see several ponies standing in line on each of the buildings, and one of them appeared to be giving another an earful, likely for dropping their knife.

Without so much as a word, they all leapt to their hooves and sprinted into the restaurant, attempting to get out of danger. However, the ponies on the restaurant's roof had to get their somehow, and the trio soon heard hoofsteps on the stairs above them. As fast as they could gallop, they got out of the restaurant and back onto the streets, where it became evident they were being pursued. No wonder no Fallen were around, this lot had probably killed or scared them all.

Max heard the doors slam open behind them, and decided it would be best to try and lose the pursuers. And, after several twists down alleys and turns onto other roads, the hoofsteps behind faded into the distance. To make sure they weren't too obvious, especially if there was a pegasus among their numbers, Max thought it would be best to stay in one of the alleys for awhile.

After a moment's silence to catch their breath, Max asked, "Dawn, what exactly do you have in your saddlebags?"

"Umm, some rope, a pot, a pillow, and a few matches. Why?"

"Put the rope in my saddlebags, then throw yours into that dumpster." Max said as he gestured to the aforementioned dumpster.

"What? Why?"

"Just trust me." Dawn looked at him for a moment. She trusted him. Dang it, she trusted him with her life. Besides, it wasn't like the bags had any kind of sentimental value, nor did anything in them. So, she did as he asked, making sure the rope was in his saddlebags securely before tossing her own into the dumpster in a grandiose fashion.

"Time to go." was all Max said before he walked out of the alley, Dawn following close behind and Pomegranate behind her, though much more hesitant.

"So, Pomegranate, are these friends of yours who have been chasing us?"

"Ummm... Yes? Maybe? I don't know, we were a large group, so I never saw all of my compatriots. Heck, I never even met the leader!"

"Okay. Hmmm..." Max was thinking again. His thought process was interrupted, however, when a bolt of blue fell out of the sky and bowled him over.

"What in Equestria?!" Pomegranate said. Dawn was too busy gaping at what had just knocked over Max to say anything.

It was a pony, a mare, with a cyan coat and rainbow mane and tail. A quick check of her cutie mark confirmed what Dawn had been suspecting.

It was the Element of Loyalty, Rainbow Dash.

"Uhh... Sorry, mister! I was flying away from these crazy ponies. They were trying to mug me!" the nigh-legendary pegasus apologized.

"Think nothing of it." Max said as he stood up. He didn't react to Rainbow Dash in any particular way, almost like any other pony had crashed into him.

"Okay? Well, I bet you guys want to get out of here too, huh? Come on, follow me! I know a shortcut back out of here."

Max wondered at the way the mare was acting. She seemed a little flustered, and brought up the subject as if she had been instructed to tell them something. He shrugged it off and followed her. It was a perpetual catastrophe around them, she had a right to be a bit flustered. Dawn, on the other hand, was absolutely enthralled by the presence of the Element Bearer, and hadn't even really comprehended what she said.

"I'm Rainbow Dash, by the way." The pegasus introduced herself.

"Oh, I think we all know who you are, miss Dash. But I'm Max Suspense, this is Pomegranate, and the one gawking like a filly over a candied apple is Dawn Haze." Max returned, gesturing to each of them in turn. Dawn glared at him. He smiled in response. "So, I understand you're one of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony?"

"Was." the cyan mare corrected, a scowl twisting her features. "And then all this happened. Now the Elements are gone."

"What? What do you..." Dawn started to ask.

"We're here." Dash interrupted, a tad louder than Max thought was absolutely necessary. Wait...

They were in another of those areas, though not exactly the same, that looked perfect for an ambush. It was a large cranny between buildings, but not quite an alley, that was, obviously, surrounded by walls on three sides. Dash had seemed like a filly rehearsing lines in a school play. She spoke louder than was necessary.

"Oh no." was all he managed to say before the net descended on the three of them, pinning them to hard cement beneath them, and ponies began appearing from everywhere, even raining from the sky.

"HA HA HA! Good work, boss! We got even more of 'em!" a stallion shouted from the crowd.

"Yeah, I guess I'm just good at everything." Rainbow Dash boasted, and the crowd stomped their hooves and laughed. "Now, let's see what they've got." A few hooves reached down, plucking the saddlebags from Max's back and working out from under the net, and Max found that he couldn't help but smirk a little. Luckily, nopony was paying attention to him, they were reeling at the contents of the bag.

"THREE CANS OF SOUP AND SOME ROPE?!" bellowed one stallion.

"THAT'S NO GOOD!" another answered.

"Ah, well, at least we can have a little fun with these three!" One pointed out, and the crowd stomped and laughed again.

It had taken awhile to sink in, but finally, Dawn started shrieking, "YOU BETRAYED US?! HOW COULD YOU?! THE FAMOUS RAINBOW DASH, BEARER OF THE ELEMENT OF LOYALTY, BETRAYED US?!"

"Hush, Dawn." Max said, trying to calm the enraged pegasus, but to no avail. She kept on screaming profanities and insults even as the surrounding ponies talked.

"Man, that one can yell. Wonder how she'd sound getting torn apart by cannibals?" One suggested.

"Nah, we gotta butcher 'em ourselves, then maybe through 'em to the mad ones."

"What're you, stupid? I wanna here 'em shriek!"

And soon, all was chaos, the Bandits all shouting out what they wanted done to their three prisoners, with Dawn adding to it with her accusations.

Suddenly, there was an unbelievably loud BOOM from straight overhead, and, despite being pinned to the ground by the net, Max thought he saw a rainbow disappearing just over the buildings. Now, everypony was quiet, even Dawn, though she was obviously still fuming.

"Now," said Rainbow Dash, into the silence, "We will not kill these prisoners." A collective sigh of disappointment met this news. "But," Dash continued, "We will recruit them."

Some discontented murmurings ran through the crowd, but nopony spoke out against the decision.

"Hey boss!" called a stallion, "I recognize this one. It's Pomegranate!"

"Well, Max, it looks like this scum is my old crew." the magenta mare in question whispered. Max gave her the best 'no really?' face he could manage while pressed against the cold pavement.

"Pomegranate? You mean the mare we left for dead in Manehattan?"

"Yeah, I remember her."

"Well, alright." the traitorous leader said, "Since she was already one of us, you can do as you please with her." A cheer went up from the ponies, and Max's eyes widened in horror. No! Everything was going perfectly!

"TO THE CARRIAGES!" the Bandits shouted in unison, and Max and Dawn found themselves roughly separated from Pomegranate, and carried, net and all, into the back of what appeared to be a pony-drawn carriage. Max was pondering their escape, and worrying himself sick over the fate of Pomegranate.

Dawn, meanwhile, could only focus on the cruel irony of being betrayed by the Element of Loyalty.