Into Darkness We Ride

by Rated Ponystar

Rating: teen
Tags: Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Cadance, Dark, Alternate Universe, Rainbow Dash, Romance, King Sombra, Adventure, Princess Celestia, Applejack
Length: 56624

When the End Times are upon the ponies of Equestria, two heroes will make one last stand against the encroaching darkness...

It's the End. Equestria has fallen. Her lands are black and sick. Her skies are dark and cold. All that lives is dead – or corrupted by a foe long thought gone.

Millions of lives are lost, among them heroes and princesses, with its remaining survivors forced to retreat to their last safe haven. For five years, they have struggled to survive, dealing with sieges, rebellions, starvation, and death. The Pony Race is all but doomed.

But hope may yet live.

Not all of the Elements have perished. Two survive, and these two final bastions of Ponykind will make an effort to ride into the coming darkness to end it once and for all...

...or be swallowed by it like everything else.

Written by Rated Ponystar and TwilightUCrazy

Edited by TimeLord_Whooves

Published 2014-08-02 15:50:03 UTC
Last updated 2016-02-09 01:03:57 UTC

Prologue

I wish we had seen it coming.

I wish that I had known back then what I know now. I could have done so many things differently. I could have changed everything for the better. I could have stopped it all, or at least have taken preventative measures.

Maybe I could have even prevented all of this nightmare from coming to be in the first place.

Maybe.

Or maybe it was all going to happen just because I let it happen.

None of us could have known, however.

Well, that's not true. Maybe some of us would have seen it if we had known what to look for. Maybe if Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and I had been more thorough, we would still have a place to call home.

I don't know. Maybe there was a spell I missed in one of my books. Something so simple as a corruption dispersal spell could have been enough to end his reign forever.

I could have stopped it before it even happened with a simple cantrip. I could have at least found him and locked him away for another thousand years.

You have to understand that I never thought he could have survived. When the Crystal Heart was restored, I thought we had destroyed him forever. I thought his corruption had been purified, and we'd never hear of him again.

Such great Evil can never be defeated so easily, however. It took the Elements of Harmony themselves to purge Nightmare Moon and reseal Discord. We should have known.

No. I should have known.

Regardless of what anypony says, all of what has happened, all of the ponies we've laid to rest, the homes we watched trampled beneath the blackened hooves of an army...

...all of the blame is mine.

I knew it when we found Rarity and Fluttershy's bodies.

I knew it as I watched Pinkie Pie get cut down in Canterlot's streets.

And now, as I look out across the battlefields around our Crystal Empire, where this nightmare all began, I know it.

History will judge me harshly for my failings – if there even is a history when all of this is over.

I've watched it all crumble before me. I've watched thousands of ponies be crushed underhoof by an enemy they could not fathom, and countless more in lands beyond that I'd never even born witness to.

I watched Cloudsdale fall from the skies.

I watched the gleaming towers of Canterlot turn to ash.

I watched verdant forests and golden plains drown in the cold darkness of fear.

And now I've seen thousands in this Empire, our last bastion of hope, perish defending the lives of those precious to them; those dedicated to the ideals of Harmony and peace.

We huddle by countless masses in fear, crowding into buildings, on the streets and the rooftops of our gracious hosts in our time of need. But our food and water stores are running out, and the magic processes to make more aren't swift enough to feed everypony.

Many will die of starvation or thirst in the coming weeks. Many more will will be slain in battles yet to be fought, and the Crystal Heart's magic won't hold out forever. The Crystal Ponies' willpower will fade in time, and then all hope will be lost.

I can't even remember the last time I was able to sleep. It's certainly one of the perks of ascension to princesshood. I've used all this extra time to seek out some solution, or at least a glimpse of a cure that I've overlooked. I grabbed every book in the Royal Library I could carry with me before the Capitol fell. But there's simply too much to go through, and even with all the time I have, there isn't enough of me to do the research I need to formulate any kind of strategy.

I don't know if there will be anypony left after this to read this journal, but I feel I owe you all my eternal regrets.

And to my friends who are still alive...

Applejack.

Rainbow Dash.

I'm sorry.

I'm so, so sorry for everything that's happened. I'm sorry for the friends and family we've lost. I'm sorry for the pain we've all endured. I'm sorry for the home we watched laid low by Sombra's evil.

I'm sorry for everything. A thousand times I could apologize, and then a thousand more, and it would never be enough to begin making amends for all that I allowed to come to pass.

Maybe if I had been a better Element of Magic, if I had been a better friend. Then I could have stopped all of this. If I had been worthy of becoming an alicorn in the first place, then perhaps I would have been powerful enough. If I had had the wisdom and foresight Celestia had always tried to instill in me, things would be different again, wouldn't they?

But now there's little else for me to say.

Assuming we all somehow survive this coming battle, I promise I'll make it right. I'll find a way to fix everything and turn it all around somehow.

And if we don't survive, if there really is no tomorrow for us, if this really is our last stand, then wherever we go, whatever comes after this, I hope that we'll all be together. And I hope that both of you, and the rest of our friends, and everypony else will find it in your hearts to forgive me.

Your loving and ever-grateful friend,
-Twilight Sparkle

***

Applejack sat on the cold and uncomfortable glassy bench in the hospital's waiting room. She stared at the crystalline floor, polished smooth in defiance of the chaos and horrors that had raged only a few miles from here mere hours ago.

Rainbow's anxious pacing passed into her view from the right to the left, her colorful tail twitching irritably.

“Why haven't they sent anypony yet?” Dash asked with a growl. Her head was still encased in a crystal knight's helm, and the protective armor she wore was badly dented and scratched. True to Rainbow's Element, she had put her own care second as she'd hauled Twilight off to the emergency ward during the fight.

Crystal pony nurses rushed to and fro in the intensive care ward outside. There were too many wounded and dying, and too few doctors to save them all.

“A-Ah'm sure they'll bring news soon, sugarcube,” Applejack said hesitantly, doubting her own words. Her voice quivered, though she tried desperately to power through it to show a strength that wasn’t there. She had wished with all her heart that she could have joined the battle, but the residents of Ponyville, what few remained, had begged her to stay with them while they awaited the outcome of the battle. They had been through so much and wanted at least one of the Elements to reassure them, even if they didn’t have the jewels themselves.

“I wish they’d frickin’ hurry up!” the pegasus shouted, grabbing a chair and throwing it against the wall, leaving another spiderweb-shaped crack.

Applejack paused, looking both ways for the nurse they’d spoken with, hoping to hear some news.

“D-darlin’, why don’t you come sit?” She got up, righting the chair her friend had overturned. “It ain’t good fer ya to be so angry.”

Flourishing her wings irritably, Rainbow stomped over and huffed down angrily into the offered seat.

Feeling somewhat relieved, Applejack softly ran a hoof against the pegasus’s side.

“See? Ain’t that more cozy?”

No reply. Her friend refused to look at her.

Applejack’s ears pinned, and she swallowed nervously.

“S-sugar, Ah know yer scared, but-”

“I’m not scared!” the pegasus snapped. “Twilight’s fine! She’s gonna pull through! She always does!”

The farmpony felt the world get bigger, while she herself shrank under the daggers glared in her direction. “She always does…” Rainbow repeated in a lower register. Her friend looked towards the door a moment, then got up and resumed her pacing.

Sighing in defeat, Applejack sat down on the floor and turned her thoughts to other matters. Focusing on Rainbow wasn’t helping her nerves, and that combined with being worried sick over Twilight was making her a basket case.

“What’s happened?!” thundered a loud masculine voice; the sounds of heavy hoofsteps accompanying it.

Applejack looked up, and there was Shining Armor, followed by an exhausted-looking Cadence.

“I heard the news from my guard captains!” he said, advancing on the two mares, “Tell me what happened!” Even Rainbow gave pause to his demanding tone.

“Shiny,” came the soft, calming voice of his wife, stilling him with a gauntlet-encased hoof. He stopped, but his anxiousness still wore heavy.

“Please… “ he tried fighting the tears in his eyes “just… just tell me that Twily’s okay…”

Applejack had never seen a grown stallion cry, with the exception of her brother. But a bruiser like Twilight’s brother never struck her as the type to have shed tears. His face, though, was wet with them, like he had run straight from the perimeter at top speed as soon as he had heard the situation. She could see the blood and grime on both rulers’ armor, making her wonder just how brutal the battle had been. Then again, she had seen enough death and war for a lifetime. Memories of the burning of Canterlot and the sacking of Ponyville were still fresh and vivid. It all made her want to hunker down and cry again, but she brought out all her courage to stay strong.

“Tell me she’s okay,” he whimpered, collapsing onto his rump and raising a hoof to his face.

Cadence wrapped her forehooves around her husband and cradled him closely.

“Tell me my Twily’s okay…”

His wife softly shushed into his ear, stroking his back with a wing.

Averting her eyes, Applejack had to bite her lip and take a deep breath to keep from losing her composure. The tears were coming already.

Rainbow turned her head away. Applejack could tell just from her body language that Rainbow was struggling not to be lured into the collective emotions of everypony around her, even though the way her breath hitched in her chest gave her away.

The nurse couldn’t have hoof-picked a worse moment to make her appearance. Her apron was spattered in blood, and her face stricken with intense agony over all the death she had seen as tears fell down her sleepless looking eyes.

All four ponies turned to her, collecting in a line around her.

The nurse looked nervously between them. “F-family?” she asked.

Rainbow took a sharp breath, “And friends.”

“What is it nurse?” Shining Armor asked, encroaching on her personal space. Nurse Redheart pinned her ears back, the two tears that dripped down her face following the channels left by scars.

“Just tell me…” he said, choking on his words, “Tell me how bad it is.”

The nurse’s eyes dilated.

Rainbow bit her lip until it turned white, and unconsciously grabbed Applejack by the hoof.

Then the dams burst, and the nurse collapsed, her brave facade failing her.

“I’m sorry…” she whispered. “I’m so sorry… we did everything we could… everypony tried their hardest… but we… we couldn’t save her…”

The prince’s coat paled, and his eyes were wrung with the tears of grief.

”NO!” he shouted, grabbing the attention of everypony nearby. He collapsed to the floor as though all of his immense strength had suddenly left him, and buried his muzzle deep into his hooves. “No, no, no…” he choked, weakly striking the floor with his hoof. Cadence held back the flood as long as she could bear, but eventually her face found its way into his navy-blue mane.

Applejack had no immediate reaction. She felt numb from the head down, and her legs gave way as she collapsed against the crystal bench she had sat on.

Rainbow had frozen, her magenta eyes were naught but pinkish dots swimming in an ocean of tears and despair. Her mane and tail lost so much of their luster in those few moments that she felt the world had lost its color.

Twilight was dead. Another friend. Another Princess. Another Element. Gone at the hooves of Sombra.

Then time resumed, and the puffy-eyed nurse swallowed her grief.

“You… you’re all welcome to see her… but… but it… it’s terrible… what they did to her…”

It took a few moments for Shining Armor to find his legs again, though his stance remained questionable. “Take me to her… please…” he uttered. “I just want to say goodbye… just let me say goodbye to my baby sister...”

Following at the side of her husband, Cadence too joined Nurse Redheart and was gone.

There was a strange silence that followed, as though the hospital had ceased to function. There were no patients, no medical staff, no guests. Even with the nurses and doctors scrambling around in the background, hollering for more healers and antiseptic and anesthetics, it felt as though Applejack was alone with her single surviving friend.

Her last friend… her only friend.

She turned her green eyes slowly to the left and gazed at the stalwart pegasus. She either had no tears left to cry, or the many long months of constant battle and loss, and finally the death of Twilight Sparkle had broken her.

“... … stupid…”

Applejack’s ears perked.

“S-sugarcube?”

“She was stupid!” the pegasus suddenly yelled, bucking the chair behind her back into the wall. She lowered her ears again, wincing at the angry display. The chair clattered, fracturing in several spots as it ricocheted off the wall and against the floor. “What was she thinking, rushing into a fight like that?!” the pegasus shouted through a broken voice.

Applejack saw from her face that her friend had indeed not been cried-out. “R-Rainbow…” she said nervously, barely able to contain her own sorrow.

“It was stupid! She’s barely been an alicorn for a few months!” she shrieked, pounding into the crystal floor and leaving several more cracks with her hooves. “What was she thinking trying to take on a whole army by herself?!”

Applejack backpedaled as her friend turned her fury against the wall.

“She should...” Smash. “...have...” Smash. The wall cracked. “...known better!” she screamed. One last hit, and the section of wall shattered, showering fragments around her.

Applejack winced with every strike Rainbow Dash made. It wasn't the first time she had seen her friend truly angry, and it was always a terrible and intimidating experience.

Tears ran freely down her cyan-colored scarlet face. “She was stupid…” she muttered softly, obviously harnessing her grief with great care, lest she lose control of it again.

“It’s…” Applejack started, trying to keep her voice still and even. “It’s okay, darlin’.” She reached out to touch Rainbow Dash, but her hoof met nothing. She couldn’t tell through her blurry eyes how close or far her friend was. “It’s okay…” she whimpered. “You can cry…”

Rainbow turned on her with eyes full of fire and fury, flinging several tears off her cheeks in doing so. “I don’t cry, Applejack!” she said through a cracked speech. The pegasus had to turn away again. “I don’t cry…” she muttered, her lungs pulling in cool, jagged breaths desperately. “I don’t cry…”

Gulping back the painful lump in her throat, Applejack looked up with swimming green eyes as tears etched multiple small rivers down her freckled cheeks. “Th-then...” she squeaked, reaching up with the back of her hoof to wipe the moisture away, “If you ain't gonna cry,” she sniffed. “i-is it okay if Ah do...?”

Rainbow looked over her withers, her magenta eyes glowing with a sudden sympathy.

Applejack didn't wait for permission. The weight of the world finally crushed her, and she collapsed to her rump.

She felt her friend’s hooves envelope her, and for the first time in years, she wailed like a yearling into the soft, blue coat.

***

The battle was over, but the nightmare was not. In less than five months, half the population of Equestria had been killed or converted into mindless horrors by the dark magic of Sombra. Among those dead were four of the Elements of Harmony: Kindness, Generosity, Laughter, and Magic, as well as Princess Luna who died defending her subjects from her converted and twisted elder sister.

All of Equestria had become engulfed in a living blight, the land tainted with a black sickness and the skies covered in blood-red clouds across the sky with no sun or moon. There was no day nor was there night. A grim and hopeless darkness spread across the heavens, and only the light of the Palace provided illumination.

Most of the ponies who had managed to make it to the Crystal Empire were from northern Equestria. It was unknown what had happened to those in the south like the ponies of Appleloosa, Las Pegasus, or Baltimare. It was still unknown what had happened with most hoping they fled to the griffin lands by sea, while others feared they had retreated into the Badlands.

Everypony had lost family, friends, lovers, and more. There had been an endlessly long series of memorials for those who had fought and died throughout the Crystal Empire. Rainbow Dash and Applejack had attended three of them. The first had been for the fallen Princesses of Equestria. The second memorial had been for those who died in the various cities, each one held separate for those who lost their neighbors, town mates, friends, and family. Ponyville was the smallest one, since it was the first place where the corruption spread. So precious few of them had made it out alive, and both of them had spoken briefly for the ponies who had touched their lives: Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Spike, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Big Macintosh, Granny Smith…

The list was agonizingly long.

All they could hope for was that their suffering plagued them no more.

And now... the funeral of Princess Twilight Sparkle.

It was no surprise when Cadence and Shining Armor announced that her service would be separate, and held in the Crystal Palace itself. She had been the one pony in their lives they’d loved more than any other. The castle was packed with those who had come to say their farewells to their multiple-time savior, and the youngest princess.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash sat together in the front pew, hooves clasped together as Shining Armor tearfully went through his eulogy. He spoke through reddened, baggy eyes, his mane a mess compared to its usual order, and his posture slouched. It was obvious he wanted nothing more than to cry until he could shed tears no more. The responsibility to not only his kingdom, but also the rest of Equestria’s population, was the only thing seemingly keeping him alive.

Cadence stood at his side, dressed in a black mourning gown encrusted with purple crystals in honor of her sister-in-law. She never turned her eyes away from Twilight’s crystal casket. Both surviving Elements knew what she was going through. Twilight had been a sister to Cadence since the day they’d first met, and it was she who would have to bury her.

It haunted them both with familiar anguish. Rainbow could still remember when the thorny vines seized Scootaloo. She could still envision how they wrapped around her little body as she pleaded to be saved, squeezing the life out of her until her desperate cries went silent forever. She had had to watch in endless grief as the limp little body was dragged into the Everfree, never to be seen again.

Applejack remembered holding her sister’s weak form as the poison she’d inhaled slowly took her. All that she had left of her younger sibling was her little bow that had once belonged to their mother.

The eulogy ended, and only then were ponies allowed to come up and say their farewells. Rainbow and Applejack rose first and walked forward to the altar upon which their friend rested. They looked down at the mare who had brought the six of them together in the first place, a mare so special that she had created her own magic out of the love and friendship she had felt for them all.

Applejack weakly placed her crystal rose on the purple crystal casket before lowering her eyes to Twilight’s form. They had dressed her up nicely, and cleaned all the wounds she had sustained. There was hardly any evidence that she had ever fought a day in her life, much less an entire war. She looked so serene; at peace with her eyes restfully closed and a small smile adorning her lips. Neither of them had seen an expression on Twilight in months, but if anypony deserved a good long sleep it was her. What drew out Applejack’s tears was what she held in her hooves over her chest. It was a photo, the first photo they had all taken together as friends, right after saving the world from Nightmare Moon.

Apparently, that was enough for Rainbow Dash, as the pegasus turned and ran headlong out of the room as fast as her hooves would carry her.

Applejack wasted no time in chasing after her.

After a few minutes of searching, she found her by a balcony.

She wept. She screamed. It was no curse, it held no anger, nor fear, nor sorrow.

It was hopelessness. The one pony they both could depend on solving this crisis, the one that held them all together through the darkest moments was gone.

Applejack trotted softly over to her only remaining friend in the world and engulfed her in her hooves, letting Rainbow cry on her chest like she had done at the hospital. The farmpony looked across the Empire, past the shield that was all but protecting them from the horrors that lay beyond, and saw only the darkness in the distance where the border separated them from Equestria and the frigid wastelands outside.

Even if Sombra’s armies had retreated for now, they would return. The dark king would not stop until they were all dead. And as Applejack held Dash in her hooves, she made a vow that she would not die so quietly.

They were going to fight back. They would find a way to destroy Sombra for good and avenge their loved ones.

And even if it was the end, it would be an end like no other.

Author's Note

Hey Guys. Yup, this is a new AppleDash Story but I'm not making this one alone. I have the TwilightUCrazy as my co-writer in making this and we're ready to kick ass.

Now, while both of us have done the prologue, the rest of the chapters will be written by both me and TwilightUCrazy separately. I'm writing Dash, he's writing AJ. I'm going first and then he'll be going second. We already planned out how the story is gonna go and we hope that people will enjoy it.

First chapter will be come up soon guys because as I write this it's almost done.

When The Light Fades

Rainbow Dash could barely remember the smells of spring after five years of living in the Crystal Empire. The shades of green grass, blue sky, and warm sun were nothing more than fickle memories after so long living in a dark, colorless, and near-lifeless world. She stared from the Commander’s HQ Tower towards the distant snowy void that separated the Empire from the lands she once called home.

A home that was long gone.

She looked up at the black sky and red clouds. There was no sunlight, moonlight, or starlight to shine above; it was a sight she could scarcely get used to even after all this time . She’d never imagined that this would be the life she and Applejack would be forced to live by. A life of grief, sorrow, darkness, and death.

“Commander Dash? I have the death reports from the latest insurrection,” announced a private. He was a crystal pony, but it was sometimes hard to tell anymore due to the lack of shine. Then again, none of them had anything to be shining about.

Rainbow Dash took the paper and scowled. Another four recruits dead, and not one of them by the hooves of Sombra’s forces. “Did Cadence give the sentencing for the rebels?”

“Death by hanging. It’s scheduled for tomorrow morning. Will you be there, sir?” asked the private.

“No. I’ve seen enough hangings to last me a lifetime,” muttered Dash, as she sat down on her seat. Her silver and white crystal armor, marred enough to invite a seasoned general’s envy, made it uncomfortable to sit, but she was used to ignoring it. Leaning back on her seat, Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and sighed. “This is the fourth rebellion this year. Hay, I wouldn’t even call it a rebellion. Just one big long riot.”

“They were hanging Equestrians and burning their homes. They blame the immigrants for all the disasters over the past five years,” said the private, shaking his head.

This angered Dash enough that she slammed her hoof on the table, kicking up her scrolls and day-old coffee. “Idiots! Don’t they know that Sombra’s coming here regardless and enslaving them or killing them all anyway?! We’re better off fighting together; not against each other!”

“Th-they’re afraid, sir. Rations are low, more ponies are being drafted by the day, and the curfew laws were unpopular from the beginning. And we’re barely able to keep our army stocked and supplied, much less the common citizen. Maybe if we tried going on the offensive it would give everypony hope,” said the private.

Rainbow Dash winced in response and wished she hadn’t run out of her alcohol. She would have killed for a cider.

The private had brought up one of the most disastrous operations of the entire war. Two years building their forces, fighting small armies who attempted to breach the city, and Shining Armor decided to make an effort to break out and regain control of the Equestrian homeland.

It had been a mission of hope too.

Calling it a disaster was the nice way of putting it.

She had been there as a captain at the time. They never made it out of the empire’s frozen wastelands. The storms and lack of viable transportation had hindered their progress. Without cover or a base to help supply them, they were forced to wait halfway for new supplies from the city.

By then, Sombra’s corrupted army had been given enough time to rush in and wipe out half their forces in one catastrophic pincer maneuver. What remained of their ground forces barely made it back to the city as Sombra’s troops continued to hound them.

It took the last of the energy from the Crystal Heart to keep them safe and the city standing. Those two long weeks had put an indefinite hold on any future offenses. They had survived, but had lost so many good ponies for it. Worse, the Crystal Heart lay in useless fragments, its energy all but depleted.

Shining Armor still hadn’t forgiven himself for his mistake.

Ever since, it had turned into a defensive war against numerous sieges year after year. And while the city still stood, its spirit had long since faded.

“Head home, Private. Go see your family,” muttered Dash receiving a salute in return.

When he was gone, Rainbow Dash got up, shed her armor and returned it to its stand.

She looked mournfully at the neck-mounted crest. The flag of Equestria with both Luna and Celestia circling as one, surrounded by four cutie marks of the greatest friends she had ever known. Along with those was a symbol used by three fillies, one of which she once called her little sister. She shed a tear in remembrance. The final gem was carved out as a pink cloud for somepony she had once known nothing but hatred for, yet she owed her life to for his sacrifice.

It was for all of them, all of the fallen, that she continued to fight. Many didn’t care about defeating Sombra. Most cared only about living to see another day. Some even called it the “End Times”. But Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes at the symbols of those she chose to honor.

She would not give up for their sake. Not until she had slain Sombra himself or died trying. She was still the Element of Loyalty.

Speaking of Elements, I should get home and see what AJ’s got cooking for dinner, thought Dash, feeling her stomach growling.

She spread her wings and flew out of the window, doing a quick fly-by of her own forces before turning back south for home.

So many faces she knew were long gone. And even those of them that yet remained were no longer the ponies she had once known.

Everypony had changed. And it was not always for the better.

* * *

While the Crystal Empire only had one city, it was large enough to be a small country in its own right. It was divided into twelve districts, each named after the birthstones of the month. The thirteenth central Platinum district, where the Palace and other important buildings of the government resided, had been offered as a home to the two. Rainbow Dash and Applejack, however, had chosen to remain with their fellow Ponyville refugees in the Sapphire District.

Yet home, such as it was, was anything but a jewel. Ever since the Crystal Heart’s destruction; the crystalline structures had begun to dull and lose their luster, much like the hearts of everypony who lived there.

What had once been a shining, blue neighborhood had become as grey and mottled as a rain cloud.

Rainbow Dash came to a landing on the street her house was located on, garnering the attention of both Equestrian and Crystal ponies who bowed before her.

It unnerved her a bit, a feeling that the old Rainbow Dash would have been shocked to feel. The truth was that they were latching onto her. Being one of the two remaining Elements of Harmony, it was their belief—even if they never outright said it—that somehow she and Applejack could save the world with some kind of miracle.

But the world didn’t need two Elements. It needed six.

Still, she wouldn’t shatter what glimmer of hope remained, no matter how small, and she still owed her loyalty to those who looked up to her.

She waved and smiled at them, giving some light to their dark and dreary lives.

“Rainbow Dash!” A voice cried out, catching her attention. She turned around and saw Rumble flying towards her with a smile on his face. “I thought I saw you. What are you doing here so early?”

“Just decided to take the rest of the day off. No sightings of Sombra’s goons and I’m pretty sure the military meat-heads can run stuff without me. Barely,” joked Dash as she held out her hoof. The teenager hoofbumped back. “So what are you up to?”

“I’ve been talking to ponies about that rebellion a couple days ago. I heard they're gonna be hanging the ponies that led it. Is that true?” he asked excitedly.

Dash frowned. “Is that really something to get so worked up about?”

Rumble noticed his fault and lowered his head in shame. “S-sorry. But you know they could be corrupted by Sombra. Just like... just like last time...” A small tear dripped down Rumble’s cheek as Dash walked over and gave him a hug.

“Rumble, I’m sorry for what happened to your brother. I know you miss him, but you don’t need to go on a one-pony crusade to make sure that there aren’t any corrupted ponies in the city. You can’t go through them all and we have to have some measure of trust,” said Rainbow Dash.

“We trusted Miss Cheerilee and looked what happened then...” muttered Rumble in a dark tone, almost as if saying his former teacher’s name was a curse.

“That wasn’t Cheerilee, kid. You know that. She died the second he got a hold of her...” Rainbow Dash sighed and closed her eyes, wishing Cheerilee had just told somepony. Nopony knew how it came to pass, or whether it was before or after she started her group for better conditions for Equestrian ponies.

By the time they learned she had incited another rebellion it was too late, and even more lives were lost.

“Just… try remember who she was before all this started.”

Rumble kicked the ground and growled. “I barely even remember those days anymore! All I can think about is how we’re stuck in this stupid place and we can’t get out! And then my brother joins the army to protect me and a pony from Ponyville gets him. He deserved better than that...”

“They all do,” said Dash patting him on the back. “Look, squirt, why don’t you head back to your folks? We’ll talk more later.”

“Can you help me get into the military early?” asked Rumble, with a renewed smile and a faint hint of bloodlust in his eyes. “I want to protect my home like everypony else!”

Home... thought Rainbow Dash as she looked down the street.

The poor skin-and-bones ponies, begging for food while vendors only sold small amounts of it or other necessities. Crystal ponies passed by, glaring at the “intruders” who were taking up their rightful home. The streets were lined with growing numbers of houses with black ribbons wrapped around their lampposts or mailboxes, symbolizing yet another dead loved one who had joined the millions already lost to the calamity. All this misery, suffering, hatred, and more... it wasn’t home.

This is hell.

“Yeah, we’ll talk about it later,” muttered Dash as she turned away and made for her house on the corner. She didn’t even bother saying goodbye. She just wanted off the street.

* * *

“I’m home!” Rainbow announced with a smirk, kicking the door shut behind her. She could smell the soup being made in the kitchen... again. She wanted nothing more than to complain but knew better than to do so. Food was scarce enough and had to be rationed carefully. Nopony ate a three course meal anymore, and no five-star restaurant was open for business.

Rich or poor, it was reality.

What I would do for a hayburger with fries, she thought.

Applejack soon appeared and smiled. “Welcome back, Rainbow.”

Rainbow Dash gave a small smile back. “Hey, smells like heaven in the kitchen.”

Smirking, Applejack guided her back towards the dining room where she laid out the seat cushions. “Well, Ah managed to bargain for some crystal zucchini and rosemary for the soup. Problem was Ah had to give up the last of our ‘taters.”

“Fine by me. I’d skip another day of potato soup and bread. At least the soup’ll taste different this time,” she said, sitting down. Applejack fetched the utensils while the soup simmered.

Applejack hadn’t changed much from the old days. When she wasn’t minding the household, she was out in the streets helping however she could.

Even during the Apocalypse, Applejack was still her dependable self. It was like a little taste of home, and it made Rainbow smile.

She, on the other hand, had a working job on the front line. Applejack had joined the reserves, but only saw action during major sieges. It had surprised both of them how quickly they had adapted to their new roles in life, but necessity could push ponies into anything. Those who knew them had the playful habit of calling them a married couple, much to their chagrin.

It hadn’t been an easy life. There were riots, looters, and of course a lack of food and the constant threat of death. Despite it all, however, they had each other and their friendship was strong as ever.

Applejack came in with the soup and placed it on the table. Dash rubbed her hooves together and reached to claim a helping before AJ smacked her hoof away. “Ouch!”

Applejack scowled at her. “Dash...”

Rainbow blinked.

“Oh right, sorry,” apologized the flyer as she and Applejack turned to a photo hanging over their fireplace. It was the only photo they had left of the six of them and their once favorite dragon back in the good old days. All of them, smiling without a care in the world. Five candles in the respective fallen’s colors were beside it in mourning as the two looked at the photo. Their prayers were silent ones.

It had been something the two of them had taken up since their second year in the Crystal Empire. Before, they would have said grace to Celestia or Luna, but with both alicorns gone it seemed like a waste. So instead, they offered their graces to their friends, praying they were happy and watching over them.

“I miss them,” muttered Applejack, sighing with melancholy. “I wonder what they would be doing if they were with us now?”

Dash thought about it long and hard. “Well, Rarity would be trying to fix the Crystal Heart and make it sparkle again and see if she can chip pieces off for a dress.”

Applejack gave her a raised eyebrow.

“Kidding. She’d do it to give everypony hope. And let’s see… Fluttershy would help at the hospitals or orphanages, but she’d hide under a table whenever something blew up.” She smiled thinking upon her oldest friend. “Twilight would be doing what she did... before she died; finding a way to stop Sombra. And Spike would be there making sure she didn’t push herself too much.”

“And Pinkie?” asked AJ, smirking as if she knew the answer.

“Making everypony smile.” She sighed. “It sure is something I think we need more of,” said Dash as she dug into her soup. “Probably an end-of-the-world party or something, knowing that mare.”

Applejack nodded in agreement before feasting herself.

Dinner remained quiet for the most part and that was what worried Dash. Applejack always had something to say at dinner unless it was bad news. Then she would keep it to herself until Dash had to force the issue.

With a heavy sigh, Dash said, “Look, just tell me what it is so we don’t have to beat the bush and I have to hoofwrestle you for it. I’ve got three-hundred and sixty wins, and I’m itching for three-hundred sixty-one.”

“First off, yer on three hundred and fifty-nine,” pointed out Applejack. Rubbing the back of her neck, Applejack shook her head and frowned. “Lyra and Bon Bon killed themselves this mornin’.”

If it had been three years ago, Rainbow Dash would have been shocked. Time and repetition had numbed her to the news, however. Rainbow Dash sighed. “At least they‘re together.” She looked up from the table and over to her friend. “How?”

“Poison. They found ‘em in bed, wrapped up together,” answered Applejack. “Want to go to the funeral? Or are we skippin’ this one too?”

It was a sad thing in life when you had to make a decision to go to a funeral or skip it. Considering there was one almost every day, however, made it a necessity at times if one wanted to live a life. The graveyards were running out of room and ponies had started to cremate their dead, anyway.

“I guess we should go. At least we knew them better than we did with the last pony we knew who died. Who was it again?”

“Colgate.”

“Right, her.”

There was a pause.

“Ya ever think about it?” asked Applejack, lazily earning Dash’s raised eyebrow. “Killin’ yerself? Endin’ it all? Gettin’ away from this whole thing?”

“No,” quickly answered Rainbow Dash, pushing her soup away. Suddenly, she wasn’t feeling hungry anymore. “I’m not taking the coward’s way out. I’m going to beat Sombra for all that he’s done to us or die trying.” Dash narrowed her eyes and glared at Applejack. “Why? Have you?”

“Once...” confessed Applejack, lowering her hat over her eyes. “When Apple Bloom died...”

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and slowly reached her hoof over the table. Applejack extended her own and held Rainbow’s as tight as she could. The two of them opened their eyes and stared at the only other pony they knew who knew their pain. After all the tragedy, all the pain, and all the suffering, they still had each other. It was them against the world and nothing else.

“This can’t go on anymore, something has to be done,” muttered Rainbow Dash. Groaning she used her other foreleg to smash the table. “I wish I knew what that was.”

“It’s gonna end somehow, sugarcube. One way or another,” muttered Applejack, letting go.

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth, but before she could speak there was a frantic knock at the door. The two looked at each other with curious glances before Rainbow got up and opened it. Another soldier pegasus saluted her.

“Commander Dash? His Majesty, Prince Shining Armor, and Her Majesty, Princess Cadence, would like you to come to the palace at once. It’s an emergency.”

Rainbow frowned. “What’s the state of the emergency?”

“That, I don’t know. I’m sorry, sir.”

She sighed and dismissed the messenger. Applejack was already up and heading for the door. “What do you think it is?”

Dash had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. “I don’t know, but something tells me we’re in for, as Pinkie would say, a doozie.”

Author's Note

And here is the second chapter. The next chapter will be written by TwilightUCrazy. This Collab is going okay, but I'm hoping more people will get into it with this new update. Some people are curious how this mess started, but we promise that we will explain it as time goes on.

Hope you guys enjoy this. Also, if any artist would like to do cover art for us we would appreciate it. Just get in contact with me.

Grasping For Hope

Applejack could never get used to the sound of her hooves clicking against the floor of the Crystal Palace. The way they echoed across the chambers turned one pony into a marching army, and a skittering room full of them into an invasion force.

She shook her head as field marshals plotted battle plans in one corner of the room and a makeshift morgue was set up in another. She had to avoid looking at all the covered ponies lying on the gurneys. How Rainbow took it in such stride on a daily basis was beyond her.

The pegasus coolly led her to a large crystalline door. The pair of guards flanking it nodded at them and tugged on the handles with a grunt before leading them into the main throne room.

“Commander Rainbow Dash and Reserve Sergeant Major Applejack, Your Highness,” the guard announced.

Cadence looked up from her throne and removed the small, black-rimmed glasses from her muzzle. Her once-beautiful and flawless form was riddled with scars she had gained throughout the years and her smile seemed a little plastic.

“Thank you corporal.” She stood. “Please see to it that we are left entirely undisturbed. That will be all.”

The guard saluted, and the doors closed behind him with a firm and loud crash.

Applejack gazed up the carpeted staircase as Cadence descended to ground level to meet with Applejack and Rainbow Dash face to face.

Instinctively, both dropped to a fetlock and prostrated themselves.

“Oh, please, no need for that, you two,” the princess said with the edge of a chuckle on her voice. “You both are practically royalty yourselves. Let’s not dwell so much on court etiquette, shall we?”

Rainbow righted herself. “Works for me!”

“Y-yes ma’am.”

Cadence smiled. “I’d like to think that, given all we’ve been through and suffered together, I at least can count you two as my close friends.”

Rainbow blinked and looked Applejack’s way, who returned the glance with a shrug.

“Well… sure. Any friend of a friend is a friend of ours.”

“Heheh.” The Princess of Love smiled. “Well put…”

Silence.

The princess heaved a heavy sigh and looked up towards one of the statues carved in the honor and memory of the six Elements, the dragon who saved her kingdom from Sombra the first time, and her aunts. Their designs took up most of the throne room, leaving little space for open court, though there was little point to such things with martial law in place. As Cadence turned her eyes up to one particular statue carved from amethyst, she gained a rather morose expression and sat on the cold, stony floor.

“Been a rather rough few years, hasn’t it girls?” she asked, forcing a sad smile onto her face. “First Rarity, Fluttershy and Spike. Then Pinkie Pie, Celestia and Luna… never got to say goodbye to any of them…” she muttered as she motioned to each of their statues. “Not even Twilight… and that doesn’t even count all the ponies we lost in the war,”

Applejack and Rainbow Dash shared in a somber look.

“Love really hurts sometimes, doesn’t it?” the princess rolled her eyes and rubbed a tear out of her vision; though given her level tone, she had precious few left in her to shed. “I always knew that. I always knew that loving something would someday hurt me. If I grew attached to something, I would hate it when I had to let it go. And I knew that pain wouldn’t go away quickly, either.”

Applejack looked up. “Cadence…?”

The princess either didn’t hear her, or she ignored her. Either way, she turned to face the two again. “But you know what I told myself?”

Rainbow Dash looked her way, then back to the princess. “‘Remember to brush and floss twice a day -- to stop the cavities and tooth decay’?” she sing-songed

Cadence chortled and even the ever-stoic Applejack managed a thin smile.

“Never lose your sense of humor, Rainbow Dash.” She smiled. “If Loyalty doesn’t work out for you, you could always give Laughter a shot.”

Rainbow’s smile thinned.

Rubbing her temple, Cadence looked back up to Twilight’s statue, the late pony princess standing proud and strong and bold before her citizens in her crystalline armor.

“I always told myself,” the princess said hesitantly, “that love was always worth it… for all the pain and heartache and sadness and loneliness it would cause in the end… love would always be worth it. It would always keep the cold winter nights warm and the hot summer ones relaxing and fun, and the memories of sharing that love with somepony would help to ease the pain away in its own time…”

Silence again.

“I never thought that…” Cadence clenched her jaw and closed her eyes, letting her sentence die in her throat.

Applejack looked around.

“Umm… Princess? W-where’s Shinin’ Armor at?”

Cadence looked over her withers and frowned, before casting her gaze back to the floor.

“He… had to deal with a situation today… One of his friends was injured pretty badly in an incident. He’ll be along soon.”

Applejack saw Rainbow not even bat an eye at that.

“Who’s up for a drink, in the meantime?” the princess asked, eyes brightening a bit too quickly at the change of subject. The wrinkles about her lower lids became more pronounced, and Applejack couldn’t help but shift uncomfortably at the thought of the princess being drunk. “You two have probably forgotten what really good alcohol even tastes like, haven’t you?”

Rainbow shifted a bit from the corner of her eye. “Umm… I’ll pass.”

“You sure?” Cadence asked, trotting over to a crystal cabinet and withdrawing a large container. Applejack recognized it immediately. “‘Sweet Apple Acres Sparkling Cider’. Equestria’s own and finest drink! Probably the last batch left anywhere,” swishing the bottle back and forth.

She swallowed, sorely tempted, and hated it when she said, “Ah’ll pass too, darlin’.”

The princess’s smile fell a bit. “Suit yourselves. When you get to be a princess, though...” POP! The cork went flying with a flick of telekinesis and she marched back to her guests. “...you learn to savor the calm moments. You’ll never know when you’ll get the next one.” She tilted her head back and took several long gulps of the drink.

“C-Cadence?” Applejack heard herself say, earning a look from Rainbow Dash.

“Mmm?” the princess mumbled around the mouth of the bottle. She dabbed her lips with the back of her leg. “Yes, Applejack?”

The earth pony shifted from left to right and back.

“How’re things goin’ between you and Shinin’ Armor?”

Cadence stared levelly at her, then turned back to the bottle for another long, long drink, emptying about half of it.

Applejack coughed. “Umm… not that it’s any of mah business.”

Rainbow turned to look at the princess, also seeming interested.

As Cadence stared at the gold-tinted bottle, she seemed to stare not at the alcohol contained therein, but through it and beyond it entirely.

“Shiny and I…” she finally said.

A long silence.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked at each other.

The princess shook her head.

“It’s… been strained,” she said. “It’s just not easy when you’re a ruler who has to look at the death of every pony and soldier as a statistic, compared to your husband who’s constantly on the front lines with stallions and mares that he’s known his whole life. To him, these ponies aren’t numbers or figures. They’re friends and comrades.” She took another long drink of her family’s cider, gasping when she finally came back up for air. “He doesn’t like that I see them differently… he doesn’t like that we aren’t drafting more ponies into service, or that living conditions on the front lines are so bad…” She sighed. “I know he understands, you know. But I think, on the inside, he’s angry with me for it. He won’t say it out loud… but he is.”

Applejack frowned. “What… makes you think that?”

Cadence shook her head. “It’s just the way he looks at me… the way we talk—or, rather, barely do anymore.” She rubbed her forehead. “The war’s just taking its toll on both of us.” Her face brightened. “Don’t misunderstand. I still love him with all my heart, and I know that he does me, too. We’re just… in different places right now. He’s a soldier at the moment… I’m his queen… he’ll do whatever I ask him to do.”

Rainbow opened her mouth to interject, but the door behind her rumbled. The sharp clang of the unlocking throne room doors echoed through the massive chambers, and Shining Armor’s heavy hoofsteps carried him in.

He blinked as the doors closed behind him, looking between the two of them, then to his wife as she averted her eyes, taking a soft sip.

“Sorry I’m late,” he muttered, stepping past their saluting forms and up to Cadence. “Any of that left?”

She passed it off to him, and he drained the last of the cider in one long drag, letting out a rather rude belch.

Rainbow didn’t comment.

“So…” the pegasus said, scuffing the floor with her hoof, “you wanted to see us?”

“Yer messenger said it was an emergency,” Applejack said.

Shining Armor’s expression soured. He set down the empty bottle and sat. “More deserters…” he sighed, shaking his head. “Another big group snuck out through the gates to the north. A couple hundred or so. Bunch of foals with them too…” He closed his eyes. “We put down the rioters that made it possible, but there were a lot of casualties.”

Cadence looked up at him. “And… Golden Scabbard?” she asked.

Applejack saw Rainbow bite her lip. From what she had told her, she’d known Golden Scabbard from her time under Shining Armor’s command, and even fought alongside her a few times. She was a skilled unicorn from the sounds of it, excellent with a blade, and had been a personal protege of Twilight’s brother for the past two years. Rainbow had recounted several acts of her daring during multiple skirmishes over dinner. She’d seemed like a determined mare the one time she’d met her, and never once revealed any loss of hope. One day, she said, all the survivors would band together and figure out a way to fix everything.

Shining Armor sighed and looked down, shaking his head. “She’ll live… barely.”

Applejack found herself sighing in relief.

“Finally,” Rainbow muttered. “Some good news.”

“The field medic said she’ll be out of action for several weeks though,” he continued. “They chipped her horn, broke one of her legs and several of her ribs.”

Cadence softly stroked her husband’s back. “She’ll be okay, Shiny.”

He nodded. “I know she will.”

Rainbow sighed. “That’s more than we can say about the deserters…”

Applejack frowned. Desertion was depressingly common these days. Sombra’s armies surrounded them to the east, west and south, but left the path to the bitter cold Frozen North open. Many ponies had preferred to take their chances with the cold and fled by the hundreds. It had gotten so desperate that the border guards had had to be doubled at the north gates to keep a steady stream of survivors looking for escape in check.

None of them had ever been heard from again.

“That’s not the only emergency,” Shining Armor said, brow furrowing.

She blinked. “Uhhh… it ain’t?”

“I wish it was that simple,” the prince said, standing again and trotting towards the center of the room. The other three followed him as he stepped into a giant circle patterned on the floor. His horn glowed, and an image of the Crystal Empire appeared in the center of the chambers.

Despite knowing it was just a hologram, Applejack felt compelled to step back and stop crushing the city.

“We just got word from our pegasus scouts that a large mass of troops is coming up from the south,” Shining Armor said, twitching his horn. A mass of black dots swarmed up from off the edges of the map, thickening the black fog that surrounded the Empire. “Judging from their number, it’s Her army reinforcing the siege.”

Shivering at the thought, Applejack looked down at the map again. Craters surrounded the walls of the Empire from the artillery barrages over the years, and there had been no snow to fill them in. Sombra’s forces sat just out of range of their far-reaching cannons.

“In a few days,” he said grimly, “there’ll be too many of them for us to hope to fight. Once they’re all mobilized, they’ll be able to attack us directly and overwhelm us through sheer numbers. Even if we killed them two-to-one, there’d just be too many of them and not enough of us...”

Rainbow frowned. “And since she’s with them, we won’t have a prayer, will we?”

The prince shook his head softly. “No…”

Silence settled over the room. A long one.

Cadence frowned.

“Well…” Applejack said, finding her courage again, “that don’t mean we gotta make it easy for ‘em neither.”

Shining Armor nodded. “I’m having my commanders draw up plans for a last stand. We’ll use every square inch of the city we can and take as many of them with us as possible.”

Rainbow thrust out her chest and narrowed her eyes. “Yeah… just let ‘em try to get in here. We aren’t gonna give up without a fight. I’ll take as many of them with me as-”

“Rainbow Dash, you misunderstand,” Cadence said, cutting the pegasus off. “I don’t want either you or Applejack taking part in the coming battle,” the princess said, giving them both a firm and commanding look.

Shining Armor’s eyes widened marginally.

Applejack couldn’t feel her face as she was struck dumb by what she heard. “Ah beg yer pardon?!” the ex-farmer asked incredulously.

Rainbow was no less shocked, and zoomed to the princess’s face. “Did you take a few too many shield-bashes to the face in that last fight or something?! What the hay is that supposed to mean?!”

“It means exactly what I said,” the monarch said harshly, causing the pegasus to hover backwards a pace or two. “I don’t want either of you here when the final battle begins. I want you both gone and far away when the time comes.”

Rainbow hit the ground with her rump, her jaw agape. Applejack’s own back legs betrayed her to gravity.

Cadence’s husband leaned in. “Dear, I thought we’d talked about this...”

“We talked about it, Shining Armor,” she said, frowning at him. “But I’ve only had time to think about it over the last few days.”

“Cadence, please. There has to be some other way…”

“What ‘other way’ are you talking about?!” she asked, frowning at him.

“Sweetheart, these two are the last beacon of hope for all ponykind now!” he said, meeting her frown with his own. “They’re the only reason we’re not all in shackles… or worse…”

“You think I don’t know that?!” she asked. “You don’t think I’ve seen what they’ve had to endure? You think you’re the only one that’s seen what they’ve had to suffer through for the sake of us all… just to keep hope alive?” Tears streamed down the princess’s face. “I’ve seen what they’ve given for us time and time again, Shiny… but living one battle to another is never going to win us this war…”

Shining Armor met her eyes with his own, squaring his jaw stoically.

“They’re our only hope, now…” she sobbed. “There’s no other choice…”

“Uhhh… ‘scuse me?” Rainbow Dash spoke.

The two royals turned to look at her.

“You guys wanna start talking like we’re here anytime soon?”

“We might have our own thoughts and opinions about what we might wanna do ourselves, if’n ya don’t mind,” Applejack said.

“Just what the hay are you guys talking about? What do you mean you don’t want us to be in the battle?”

“Exactly,” Applejack replied, narrowing her eyes. “It sure don’t sound like y’all have been entirely honest with us. Trust me, Ah’m an authority on that.”

Cadence sniffed and lowered her gaze, unable to meet their eyes. Shining Armor stepped forward between the pair and his wife.

“Cadence has been working on a contingency plan ever since the siege began five years ago.” He looked back and forth between her and the duo and continued, “She’s been planning for the worst ever since this whole thing started. Ever since we originally dealt with Sombra, we knew what he has been capable of… so she thought it would be better to have a backup plan put in place.”

Applejack blinked and looked at Rainbow looking back at her, before returning her gaze to the prince. “A-Ah don’t get it… what plan is that?”

The princess regained her composure, softly pushing her husband to the side. Her horn lit up, and the hologram beneath them changed, peeling away the buildings of the city until a close-up of the royal chambers was revealed.

The image of the bed was peeled away, revealing a large, crystalline gate in the floor. The gate opened and the hologram morphed again.

“When the siege first began,” Cadence said, “I knew that there would be only so long that we could hold out. Eventually, we would be forced to take action. I had originally intended to slowly sneak citizens out of the city…”

The illusion finished morphing, revealing an intricate map of...

“...using a cave network that my personal guard have been carving underground. They’ve been hard at work on it for the past several years now. And just a few days ago, it was completed.”

Applejack eyed the hologram as a spark of light travelled down the huge cavern image. It looked like it just went on forever, twisting and turning in a general southerly direction before taking a sudden turn up at an angle towards the surface.

The image morphed again to the top world.

“The tunnel stretches for nearly sixty miles out of the city to the outskirts of the Empire,” the princess continued. “It surfaces in the Crystal Fields, well past Sombra’s siege line.”

“It was Cadence’s intention,” Shining Armor said, “to slowly sneak everypony out of the city and escape without Sombra ever knowing when the tunnel was completed. By the time he figured it out, we would be long gone, hopefully where we could acquire ships to head across the ocean where we could seek refuge from friendly nations.”

“But we’re running out of time, as you can see,” Cadence said, motioning to the black fog gathering around the city. “There’s no hope of a mass evacuation that would go unnoticed by Sombra’s army. Once he saw the city virtually abandoned and figured out what we were up to, he would pull his army back, and render our only means of escape useless.

“Even sending small groups is too dangerous now. If Sombra’s troops catch sight of anypony outside of his perimeter, there’s a very real danger he’ll know about our secret passage underground leading right to the city, and exploit it.”

“That’s why,” Shining Armor continued for her, hesitating as he turned his grim gaze to the two, “we want you two out of here.”

Applejack’s eyes were practically dry from her inability to blink. Five years, such a project had been under way?

She turned to look at Rainbow Dash, who stood firm and stoic, betraying no sense of surprise on her creased and angry brow. She knew, however, that the pegasus had never been as quick with her brain as she had been with her wings.

“Ah…” Applejack stammered, “Ah don’t… understand,” she said, eyes widening. “W-why would you want us to just up and leave y’all behind like that?”

“Because,” Cadence said, stepping forward and resting her hoof on her withers, “like it or not, Applejack, you two are the last surviving Elements of Harmony, and there must always be Harmony.”

She draped a wing over the earth pony.

“Harmony must always exist to counteract the chaos, just as there must always be light to shine in the darkness. You two are Harmony in its purest essence. You both embody all of the hopes and dreams of our way of life as a nation. If you two were to perish, all Equestrian dreams would be swallowed in obscurity forever. Nopony would ever know what we tried so hard to do and came so close to accomplishing. All of our history, all of our hopes and dreams, whether or not you two realize it… they all lie with you.”

Silence.

Rainbow’s frown deepened. “You two were planning on this the whole time… and you didn’t tell us?”

Shining Armor and Cadence shared a look. “Rainbow Dash,” the princess said, “we couldn’t risk--”

“Shove it, ‘Your Highness’,” the pegasus snorted, inflicting a pained expression on both the royals. “You just want me to run away and hide like some scared little filly? Well forget you! I have my fellow countryponies here to look out for! And if you think I’m just gonna run away and leave everypony else to die on their own while I’m sipping cider on a cruise ship across the ocean, then you’re a really lousy friend, and a really lousy princess!”

She turned to the door and trotted towards it, pausing at it only long enough to say, “I’m staying, and I’m fighting.”

“Rainbow Dash, wait!” Cadence tearfully shouted.

She was ignored. Rainbow Dash pulled open the door to the throne room and marched out without looking back.

The princess buried her face in her hooves and wept.

Shining Armor softly stroked his large hoof along his wife’s back, his dark eyes looking in despair to Applejack. “I’m guessing you’re staying too…?” he asked.

Applejack threw one look at husband and wife, then another back at the retreating figure of Rainbow Dash as she stomped through the main hall and diverted down a corridor.

“Ah got to,” she said, looking back at Shining Armor. “Ah can’t abandon mah only friend in the world…” she muttered.

With that, she marched out of the throne room, and after Rainbow Dash.

* * *

Applejack finally managed to find her way to catching up to Rainbow Dash.

“Rainbow, wouldja slow down a bit?” she huffed and puffed, breathless from trying to find her way around the still-confusing palace.

“Can you believe her?” the pegasus snorted.

“Rainbow…”

“Can you believe that she’d ask me to do something like that?!” she bit, giving the earth pony pause as she continued stomping angrily up the hall.

“Sugarcube, where are ya goin’?”

“Orderly!” she snapped at a nurse pony trotting up the hall a short ways away. The white pony jumped and gasped, then timidly approached, her head held low. “Y-yes, Commander?”

“I wanna know where the stable patients are being kept.”

The nurse gulped. “Y-yes ma’am. This hallway right here,” she said, pointing.

Rainbow trotted away without so much as a thank you, her pace increasing again. She looked at the label beside each door.

“Rainbow, who’re you lookin’--”

The pegasus paused and smiled. “Here we go.”

Applejack got a look at the paper sign taped next to the doorway.

‘Golden Scabbard’.

Rainbow raised her hoof and knocked firmly.

“Yeah, yeah,” she heard the muffled voice, “just drop the slop and leave.”

The pegasus threw the door open.

“You’d do anything to get off wall monitor duty, wouldn’t you?” Rainbow said with a forced grin, marching into the room.

The injured mare looked up from the book in her hoof and blinked, then grinned a familiar, cocky grin. Neither her short, carrot-colored mane nor her tan coat looked like they’d seen a bath in days, but her gray eyes still glinted with their same enthusiasm as ever.

“Well, if it ain’t Commander Featherbrain!” the unicorn shouted happily, though her voice was laced with a bit of a wheeze. “What did I do that was so bad to deserve a visit from you?” She winked.

“If by ‘bad’ you mean ‘badflank’, then you’re way past due, Goldi-fetlocks!”

“Hoo boy, then I’m in trouble!” Golden Scabbard looked Applejack’s way and smirked. “How do you put up with her day after day, Applejack?”

The earth pony slipped into the room and smiled. “It ain’t always easy, believe me.”

“How’re you feelin’, Goldy?” the pegasus asked with a smile. “Any pain anywhere?”

Golden Scabbard grinned, her teeth outlined in red by her own blood.

“Oh, what pain? This?” she smirked, motioning to herself with her good leg. “I’ve had worse than this before… I just can’t think of when right now.” She reached up with her unbroken leg and tapped herself on the side of her head near her chipped horn. “Docs say I might have a concussion. That’s probably got something to do with it.” She laughed a moment, then entered a coughing-wheezing fit.

“Well, good! Maybe if you got knocked hard enough upside the horn, you’ll forget about rushing into stupid stuff and wait for the awesomeness wrecking crew to clear the way for ya!”

“Uhh, y’think? That’s why I was there in the first place!”

The three chuckled, and gradually the laughs subsided.

“So, what brings you girls here?” the tan pony asked, shifting uncomfortably under the two’s stares. “You come to check out the sexy scars I picked up?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes and smiled. “Get over it, girl. Ain’t anything you can do to make that face of yours sexy!”

The unicorn smiled, but didn’t try to return the jab. “This ain’t just a conjugal visit, is it?”

Rainbow glimpsed sidelong at Applejack, who returned the look, then turned her green eyes back to the patient.

“No answer’s a bad answer…” Golden Scabbard’s expression mellowed. “It’s looking bad out there, isn’t it?”

“Ah, hay, can ya remember a time where it looked good?” Applejack said with a sad smile.

The guard captain nodded, her smile vanishing. “We got any plans or anything?”

Rainbow frowned and looked at the floor, scratching at some dried blood on the stonework, then back to injured warrior. “We’re working on one,” she lied. “We just need to buy some time.”

“Sounds like that’s something we’re running out of…” the guardspony said, sounding for the first time like her faith was beginning to waver. Then she grinned. “Ah, let ‘em come. Sombra won’t have an army left by the time we’re done with ‘em.”

Rainbow grinned and chuckled. “Yeah, yeah. You’d be on the front lines in your wheelchair if the doctors didn’t have you strapped down.”

“Hay, you know it! I’d probably take out his whole army myself if I could put all four legs on the ground right now!”

“Yeah. Is that why you let a bunch of rioters drop you?”

“They ambushed me! What do you want? Who do you think you are, anyway? Ms. Perfect Persnicketybitch?”

Applejack snorted a laugh.

Goldy looked up with her swimming gray eyes and smiled softly. “Come on, you two. Get outta here. I hate it when ponies see me like this…” she said, looking down at her bandaged self.

Applejack nodded. “We just… wanted to drop by and tell ya to get better soon.” Her false smile returned. “Gonna be plenty of rumps to kick in the next few days.”

The unicorn blinked and looked between the two.

“You guys wouldn’t even be here visiting me unless it was for a reason. You know I don’t like guests around when I’m hurt…” She stared at them with her steely gray eyes. “What’s really goin’ on?”

Rainbow turned her sour expression to Applejack, and slowly softened her gaze into a sad sigh.

“Cadence asked me to… to do something I can’t do…”

Applejack shifted.

Goldy looked between them again. “So, you guys gonna give me the low-down or what?” she asked. “Don’t tease a filly; she’s not liable to play your game forever, y’know.”

Rainbow sighed.

“It was just something I couldn’t do… wouldn’t be right, y’know?”

The unicorn scowled. “Well, that’s about as clear as mud…”

Applejack frowned. “Sorry, darlin’. It’s… kind of a secret.”

“Hey, I’m the mare that’s following His Princeliness around all over the city and yelling at ponies for him, y’know.” She shrugged. “I’m pretty good at keeping secrets.”

The pair were silent for a moment.

“C’mon… let me in on it.”

Rainbow sucked in a breath and frowned.

“Cadence wants me to leave the Empire with Applejack.”

Golden Scabbard blinked. “Well, has she looked outside lately? Sombra’s kinda knockin’ on our front door, and he’s a pretty crummy house guest.”

“She’s been diggin’ a tunnel in secret since five years ago,” Applejack explained. “She was hopin’ she could start evacuating everypony a bit at a time and get everypony to safety, but…”

“But it hasn’t worked out,” the unicorn finished, closing her eyes.

“It’s a stupid idea…” Rainbow huffed.

“How come?” Applejack and Rainbow Dash both looked at the wounded pony. “I mean, you guys are the last Elements of Harmony, right? That’s… kind of a big deal, isn’t it?”

The pegasus glared. “Goldy, don’t tell me you agree with this!”

“Well, why not?”

“Why not?! You can’t be serious!” the pegasus shouted, sitting in a chair with a huff.

“Yeah, why not?”

“Last time I checked, Goldy, I wasn’t a coward who ran the first time things started looking bad, okay? I know ponies here, and I’ve got no business abandoning them,” she said, crossing her forelegs. “I’ve never run from anything before…”

“Nothing?”

Applejack frowned. “Goldy, look, Ah know you ain’t been around us as much as we have each other, but you know Rainbow ain’t one to run from anything.”

“I dunno, AJ,” the wounded unicorn said, eyes scanning the pegasus. “Sounds like she’s running away from something right now, to me.”

Rainbow’s eyes sparked with anger. “Oh yeah? And what would that be?”

The wounded soldier shifted in the bed, wincing, and stared back. “A chance.”

Silence.

“You girls have a chance to do something for a change.” Golden Scabbard shrugged. “I mean, sure, you could just run if you wanted to—hay, I don’t think anypony would blame you for wanting to get out while you could.” She paused. “Or what if you could make things better? What if you could fix it all?”

Applejack watched Rainbow Dash look down at the floor, and turned back to their friend. “Sugarcube… we ain’t got a dang clue what we could do even if we did wanna try. Twilight was the one workin’ on a fix, and…” She trailed off.

“She was the only who could have figured it out,” the pegasus said for her.

The bed-bound unicorn stared up at the two with analytical eyes, studying their features carefully.

“Well… ya gotta do what’s right, right?” she finally said.

Rainbow Dash nodded softly. “Yeah…” She took a deep breath and blew it out.

Golden Scabbard stared at her, then looked to Applejack for help. She turned away in response, scratching her leg.

“Sure would be nice if that princess of yours had left a clue for you…”

Applejack nodded in agreement. Rainbow remained stoically silent.

The wounded unicorn finally adopted her cocksure grin again. “Well… if ya see Sombra in the neighborhood, let him know my rapier’s got a bone to pick with him. And a heart. And a lung. And a liver...”

The pegasus managed a chuckle. “Sure thing, Goldy…” she said, leaning in to bump hooves with the unicorn.

“Take care of yourself, darlin’.” Applejack leaned in and hugged her, before following Rainbow to the door.

“And stay out until I’m all patched up! I’ll show ya the war wounds later!” the brash pony called.

“Yeah, yeah! Get some sleep ya wuss! And for pete’s sake, somepony get this mare in here a sponge bath!”

“Eat my horn, slo-mo!”

“Hey,” Applejack interrupted with a smirk, turning back to the patient, “y’all save the brow-beatin’ fer the battlefield. And you focus on gettin’ all healed up, okay?”

Goldy rolled her eyes and grinned. “Yeah, sure. Go hug a tree for me or something!”

Applejack chuckled and the door shut behind them.

There was a pause. The two looked at each other, then walked away together in silence.

* * *

Applejack had slipped out of the house in the middle of the night. Sleep had overlooked her that evening, and none of her usual techniques for passing the time were having any effect. Dishwashing had yielded nothing, cleaning up Rainbow’s mess from dinner had yielded nothing, and her midnight walk had brought her farther from home than she had meant. The streets had been empty; only soldiers were allowed out past curfew, and even then, only those of rank.

As she stalked up the quiet hallways of the Crystal Palace, guards nodded at her in passing, their horns glowing to illuminate their way.

She made her way to the highest floor where the royal observatory was. Reaching up with her hoof, she tried the door, receiving a satisfying click as a result, and shoved it open.

The smell was the first thing to hit her nostrils, and caused her to wretch and hesitate proceeding further.

Taking another lungful of the repugnant, stale air, Applejack quickly acclimated and stepped into Twilight’s old parlor. The mana crystal in the center of the room flickered and crackled to life for the first time in years, and mountains of books materialized all around her.

“That girl really had a problem…” she said, unable to contain her smile. Her eyes adjusted to the pinkish light that faded into an off-white as the crystal filled with energy further.

Stepping around book piles, Applejack came across a wide study desk in the center of the chamber. Across it were spread out—surprise, surprise—more books, plus a map of Equestria, and what appeared to be old food crumbs. Several books were marked with various colors of tabs and points of interest. She hoofed open a few of them and gave up when she couldn’t recognize half the words in the texts.

Sighing, Applejack slumped over the desk.

“Really wish you were here right now, girls…” she murmured, eyes burning as she buried her muzzle between her front legs.

The room was quiet, except for the faint hum of the light crystal embedded in the ceiling.

“Applejack?” called a familiar voice.

Applejack jerked to attention and quickly wiped her puffy eyes. “Umm… over here, sugarcube.”

Rainbow Dash peeked over a mountain of books mid-hover and landed on the other side of the desk. “There you are,” she said with a frown. “I heard the front door shut, and when I went to check out your room you were gone. One of the guards said he saw you headed this way…”

Applejack was silent and looked down at another book in her hooves.

Rainbow looked around, a solemn smile adorning her lips. “Nopony’s been here in years…” she muttered.

Again, she didn’t reply.

The pegasus turned back to face her, her expression evolving into one of sadness and worry. “Are you okay?”

She nudged the book in her grasp open. It was another indecipherable tome filled with arcane words and symbols that would take her years to learn and use. Some were marked, some weren’t, though none seemed particularly special to her eyes.

“Just… thinkin’ Ah guess. Not much else Ah can do…” She sighed. “Can’t sleep, can’t hardly close mah eyes, can’t eat, can’t see with the lights turned down for the evenin’, so Ah can forget readin’...”

Rainbow walked around the desk and sat next to her, her magenta eyes scanning the different book titles.

The pegasus sighed at last, her wings deflating. “Applejack, what’re you doing?” she asked solemnly. “Get out of here! Save yourself! Start a family and a farm someplace else!”

Applejack’s smile was a solemn one and wasn’t convincing in the least. “And where would Ah go?”

Rainbow frowned. “I dunno… anywhere. Anywhere but here…” she muttered. “You don’t deserve to die here, AJ.”

“Ah reckon nopony does,” she said. “But Fate’s fixin’ to disagree, it looks like.”

“You don’t have to let Fate win, though,” the pegasus insisted softly, setting her cyan hoof on her withers. “You still have a chance to get out of here. You can still make something out of your life,” she said insistently.

Applejack looked at her with blurry eyes. “And what’s a life worth if yer best friends ain’t around to share it with ya no more?”

Rainbow Dash didn’t seem to have an answer for that. Her ears wilted as she scooted closer and engulfed the earth pony in the hug to end all hugs. She wrapped her wings around her in a warm and secure blanket, and for the first time in years, Applejack didn’t feel like she was slowly freezing to death.

She barely contained the urge to cry, and sniffed back her tears instead.

“She had to’ve left somethin’...” Applejack murmured, looking around. It was more to convince herself than her friend stroking her hoof through her mane.

“Maybe… who knows?” Rainbow said. “All the guards ever said they found that was worth anything was that journal she kept…”

“But she seemed so sure!” Applejack said. She slowly, reluctantly pulled out of the downy hug. “The way she wrote it… the way she wrote that journal… it was like she knew what would fix everything! Like she just… needed one more piece of the puzzle or somethin’...” she said, approaching the bookcase and skimming through the different spines. Biting her lip, she stomped her hoof in frustration. “What was she lookin’ at before she died…?” she asked, mostly to herself.

Rainbow trotted along another row of shelves, mostly emptied. Whatever the contents of the shelves had originally been, most of those contents were splayed out upon the floor in no particular arrangement, at least to Applejack’s eyes.

The few books left on the shelves Applejack stood at didn’t even have markings left in them. She flipped through them page by page, but couldn’t make out anything worthwhile.

“Consarnit, Twilight…” she growled, ready for tears again.

A chuckle from behind her by Rainbow Dash drew her attention.

“Hey, AJ, check this out,” the pegasus called out to her. “Twilight misshelved one of her own books.” She held up a familiar Daring Do tome. Daring Do and the Sapphire Statue.

She rolled her eyes. Only Rainbow Dash could be distracted from the fate of the world lying in their hooves with something so silly.

“C’mon, Rainbow. Ah thought ya already read all of them books like five times.”

“Yeah, but come on! What exactly am I gonna do when I can’t sleep?” she asked with a chuckle, flopping onto a floor pillow and shuffling to page one with her hoof.

Applejack let out an exasperated sigh and trotted up to another shelf.

“Huh… that’s weird.”

“Hmm?” mumbled Applejack as she took a particularly old scroll into her hooves. She slid it open, and it was faded beyond recognition.

“This book… some of the words are underlined.”

The farmpony looked over her withers and quirked her eyebrow. “Whaddya mean? Are they not supposed to be?”

“No,” Rainbow said, narrowing her eyes. “It’s like Twilight just took out a pen and started marking errors on a bad report some student wrote or something,” she said, flipping a few pages.

Applejack turned back to the shelf and shook her head.

“...it’s…” Rainbow said behind her as she flipped through a partially-full shelf.

“...me…”

Blinking, Applejack grabbed another book from the shelf. The cover was written, however, in a language she didn’t recognize, and she put it back.

“...t-twilight…” Rainbow stammered.

That caught Applejack’s attention. Ears twitching, heart pounding, adrenaline surging, she turned to Rainbow Dash as the pegasus blanched on the floor cushion.

“Say that again?” she said, trotting briskly over.

“‘it’s... me... twilight’,” her friend repeated, slowly raising her eyes to meet hers.

The two looked at each other.

“Well, don’t just quit readin’ there, ya goof!” she shrieked, voice breaking. She flew to the desk and grabbed an unopened ink well and scroll as well as a quill before she made her way back over to the pegasus. “Keep goin’!” she muffled around the feather as she dipped it in the ink.

“If…” Flip flip. “reading… i… ‘m…” Flip. “dead... Traitorous… no, ‘traitor...s’... among… us…”

It was Applejack’s turn to pale as she nearly dropped the quill from her teeth.

“AJ, come on! Keep writing!”

“Oh, right…” Shaking her head, Applejack haphazardly continued to jot down the words read to her.

“...little… time left.” Flip flip flip. “...see… elements… harmony… guide.”

Applejack scribbled the last word in such a way it was almost unreadable. “She’s talkin’ about the Elements of Harmony reference guide she had!”

“Reference! Reference!” the pegasus said, dropping Daring Do and zipping around the makeshift library. “Where the hoof does she keep the reference books in this place?”

Applejack took a quick look around. The book had seemed meant to grab Rainbow Dash’s attention in particular. It gave her a pretty good idea of where she’d hid it, and she looked up.

“Rainbow…?”

“I’m looking! I’m looking!” the pegasus squeaked, bouncing from one bookshelf to the next.

“Rainbow…!”

“I know! I KNOW!” squeaked her friend, tearing untouched bookshelves apart and pitching their contents to the floor.

“RAINBOW!”

Rainbow Dash knocked her head against a bookshelf and glared at Applejack. “I’m looking already! What do you-!”

She blinked and looked towards where the earth pony was pointing.

There, up on top of one of the shelves, its corner just barely peeking out over the edge of the shelf, was the familiar-looking gem-encrusted reference guide of the Elements of Harmony.

“Oh…” Rainbow blushed.

“Now wouldja mind gettin’ yer kiester up there and grabbin’ it so we can find out what she wants to say?”

In spite of her tone, Applejack felt invigorated. Rainbow was up and down from the top of the shelf in the blink of an eye and dropped the book to the floor, opening to the very first page.

Then they read, for what she prayed were the answers.

Author's Note

Hiya. TUC here and... yeah, 'sup? Hope it was as good as you were hoping. I've got big shoes to fill here. Hopeefully they fit. Enjoy the rest!

Finding Hope

For the first time since Twilight died, Rainbow Dash felt something she never thought she would feel again. It was almost alien to her, like the first time she landed on grass. This, however, was a thousand times more powerful. This was the feeling she, Applejack, and everypony else in the Crystal Empire had been wanting to feel for five long years.

Hope.

Rainbow Dash remembered how she often called Twilight an egghead for being obsessed with learning, reading, and organization. She would never call her that ever again when they met in the next life.

Well, maybe just once in a while, she thought with a smirk.

She waited next to Applejack as Princess Cadance and Shining Armor looked through the notes and book that they had found in Twilight’s study not too long ago. And it was all thanks to a Daring Do book, once again proving it was the most awesome series in the world. Well, what was left of the world anyway.

Rainbow Dash didn’t know why they were looking at it so carefully. She and Applejack already saw what was most important and it was something known as “The Tree of Harmony”. It had to be important, it had the word “Harmony” didn't it? And while Rainbow Dash would admit she wasn’t the smartest pony around, she knew that it had to be something important and powerful when that word was used. They had the Elements of Harmony which had defeated both Nightmare Moon and Discord so it wasn’t too far off to think that there was another object of “Harmony” that could help them out.

But a tree? Really? It couldn’t have been a “Sword of Harmony” or “Destructive Orbital Cannon of Harmony”? How’s a tree supposed to help?

“I don’t believe it,” said Princess Cadance with wide eyes. “She told me she was onto something that could stop Sombra, but Twilight never told me the details... I never thought about it after she died but this is...”

“It has to be it. She circled it three times in the book,” pointed out Shining Armor. “I know my Twily. She always did that when something was that important. Twilly must have thought something about this Tree of Harmony could stop Sombra.”

“But what is it? The book just yaps on about some other book,” said Applejack, sighing in frustration. “And we searched high and low for it, but we couldn’t find hide nor hair of it.”

“I’ve seen this book it’s talking about before,” said Cadance, rubbing her head and gritting her teeth. “The Origins of Harmony, from way back when I was a little filly. Princess Celestia showed it to me in Canterlot and... ugh I don’t remember!”

“Maybe Twilight hid the book somewhere in the Crystal Empire. There’re a lot of books dating back to even before the Tribes were united -- it’d be the perfect place to hide something like that. Who knows what books she brought with her from Canterlot?” suggested Shining Armor.

Cadence stomped her hoof three times and in came three guards who saluted. “Alert every scribe, librarian, and well-eyed guard that they are to find a book called ‘The Origins of Harmony’. No book is to be left unchecked. Search children’s libraries if you have to.”

They saluted again before leaving and closing the doors behind them. “So what now?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Now we wait and hope the book is here. I’d hate to learn we have this possible knowledge, only to learn it isn’t even here,” sighed Cadance.

“There’s somethin’ else we need to talk about,” said Applejack, her eyes glowing with rage. “Twilight mentioned a traitor, and mah gut’s tellin’ me it ain’t one of Sombra’s goons.”

The thought of such a thing made Rainbow Dash shiver. Dealing with the corrupted had become second nature.

An enemy from within, however, was unthinkable in these times.

“Why would anypony side with him after everything he’s done?” asked Rainbow Dash out loud. She had seen old enemies such as Flim and Flam, Trixie, and Lightning Dust fight for their side when it became apparent the world was ending. Sombra hadn’t spared anypony from his destruction, you either died or became part of his army. There was no middle ground.

“If that does turn out to be the case, we’ll need to make sure this information stays between the four of us,” said Shining Armor. “Twilight wrote this five years ago. If such a traitor is even still around, they’ll be ingrained in our society it’ll be hard to find them.”

“Why would that be hard? We just find somepony screaming ‘Go, Sombra, go!’ and beat the snot out of him, right?”

“If only it were that easy, Rainbow Dash…” Shining Armor paused before lighting up his horn. With a small poof, a large box of letters teleported into the room and landed between Dash and Applejack, who were both confused. “These are this month’s letters alone, each one from a pony begging us to surrender to Sombra. We’ve been getting them constantly for the past five years, and they just keep piling up.”

Rainbow Dash stared at the letters in disbelief. “Is this for real? There can’t be that many who--”

“They’ve lost faith in us, girls,” said Cadance, a tear dripping down her cheek. “We aren’t Celestia and Luna. We’d ruled for less than a year when this all started. We were never prepared for something like this… nopony was. We’ve tried our best to make do with what we have, but nopony has faith in anything anymore. Not harmony, not friendship or love, not even it’s rulers. Everypony’s resorted to living to survive another day, even if that means suffering more.”

Rainbow Dash fell to her rump and closed her eyes. She knew it was bad, but this bad? Why don’t we just all drink poison if everypony is gonna give up this easily? She turned to Applejack, hiding behind her hat.

She could smell the same despair rolling off of her.

“No matter how we look at the situation, we’re running out of time...” Shining Armor sighed.

“Ah ain’t surrenderin’,” said Applejack, lowering her hoof and raising her eyes. “If we ever get to that point where it’s the only option left, Ah’ll hang mah self. Ah’m not gonna live in a monster’s world.”

“Same here,” said Rainbow Dash. “We both swore a long time ago, that the six of us would defend Harmony with our lives if we had to. Sure, maybe there were more of us back then, but me and AJ have been through too much to just quit. And if Twilight’s message is right about this Tree thing....”

Cadance lowered her head. “We can only hope that the answers are here, for now...”

Hope. Heh, thought Rainbow with a smile. Good word choice...

* * *

Darkness.

All she could see around her was darkness.

Rainbow Dash blinked a few times but she couldn’t see anything; not even her own hoof in front of her muzzle.

Where am I? she thought as she stepped forward. The ground felt strange beneath her hooves. It was no grass, pavement, crystal, or even cloud she’d ever trotted on.

It almost felt like she was walking on water. But that was impossible.

“Hello?” Her voice echoed in the emptiness. “Anypony? Applejack?” asked Rainbow Dash out loud, her cries echoing across the black area. “Okay, this has officially gone from Weirdsville into Freaky Central on an express train. Can I at least get a little light in here?”

Her answer came in the form of a white flash in the distance that forced her to cover her eyes with a wing.

When it was finally cleared, she peered through her feathers and saw six lights hanging in the air like stars in the distance, with each a different color: yellow, pink, green, blue, red and purple.

Ask and ye shall receive, thought Rainbow. Thinking it was her ticket out of here, Rainbow Dash galloped forward towards the lights. She could feel her heart beating faster and faster as she felt the warmth of all six lights as they drew nearer. They were held together by a thin outline in the distance.

It felt like being wrapped up in a blanket and a roaring fire after Winter Wrap Up. She wanted to feel more of it.

More warmth. More comfort.

But just as she felt like she was almost there, the lights began to flicker and dim, to Rainbow’s horror.

“Wait! Don’t go!”

Another white flash appeared before her and Rainbow Dash covered her eyes.

***

“Gah!” cried Dash as she woke up to her alarm clock blaring in her ears. Groaning and clenching her aching head, she tossed it out the window and fell back onto her pillow face first.

Stupid dream...

She wanted nothing more than to lay in bed and let the day pass by, but that wish was stuffed aside when she heard knocking on her door.

“Go away,” muttered Dash, her mouth muffled by the pillow. The door opened instead, and something landed across her, much to her annoyance.

Huffing, she sat up and saw her tux splayed across the comforter. She looked up and saw Applejack in a black dress and Stetson.

With a subdued sadness, Applejack frowned at her. “Get dressed and grab some toast. We’re gonna be late.”

* * *

“... and so as we commit these bodies to the earth, let us take comfort knowing our friends have found peace beyond this world of pain and suffering. Let us send our best wishes to Lyra and Bon Bon Heartstrings, who have gone to their final rest together,” said the minister as he continued to read his book.

Rainbow Dash had heard the same speech more times than she could count and drowned out the preacher. She could practically recite it for him, and do it a lot more quickly.

Her focus was on the large casket, wherein both Lyra and Bon Bon lay. The two wished to be buried together, not wanting to be separated even in death. The minister continued to roll on his speech as Dash wondered what made them finally decide to end it all. Was it the feeling of hopelessness? The pain of too much loss? Or was suicide a better fate then what awaited them with Sombra?

She couldn’t help but wonder what had pushed them over the edge after so long.

Rainbow Dash snapped out of it as the casket began to lower into the grave, and she joined the few in attendance in tossing a rose inside. Most of the crowd offered final goodbyes and departed.

The only three left were herself, Applejack, and their friend Vinyl Scratch.

Wiping a tear from her one good remaining eye, the former DJ sighed and turned to them with a smile. “Thanks for coming guys. I think Lyra and Bon Bon would appreciate it.” Dash and Applejack nodded before she turned back to the grave that was being piled up with dirt. “You know what the sad thing is? I think I get why they did it, even though I think it’s so stupid.”

Neither of them said a thing as Vinyl walked over to the grave next to it and laid down an extra flower.

Rainbow Dash remembered this grave well. It was the one whose casket she had had to help Applejack keep Vinyl from diving into as it was lowered into the earth.

In Loving Memory of Octavia Phillomonica

Beloved Friend And Brilliant Musician

Your Music Will Live On In Our Hearts

Rest In Peace

Applejack walked over and placed her hoof on Vinyl’s shoulder. “Vinyl?”

“They were my last two friends, besides you guys,” choked Vinyl as she fell on her rump and looked over the rows and rows of carved stones surrounding them. “All of them are gone. All my friends and family. I’m all alone.” She lowered her head and started to shake. “They told me to live. To keep living so that I can see the day when the sun rises once more. But how can I live when everypony I love is dead!” She screamed and pounded the ground over and over again.

Rainbow Dash made a move towards her, but Applejack stopped her and shook her head.

Vinyl let out a bloodcurdling shout and pounded her hooves into the dirt. Then as quickly as it came, her rage subsided, and she weakly pressed herself into a hug with Octavia’s headstone. She rested her head upon it and stroked it with her hoof, as if it were really her best friend come back to life.

A part of Rainbow Dash wanted to say she knew what she was going through, but she knew it would be a lie.

Glancing towards Applejack, still as a tree, Rainbow Dash wondered what it would be like to lose Applejack. Would she be like Vinyl, crying and hugging her friend’s grave and letting nothing else stop her from wasting away? Would she even end her life with all that she held dear to her finally gone? Would life mean anything anymore despite knowing her friends would want her to live?

She forcefully pushed that thought aside and heaved a sigh.

Rainbow Dash took her hoof and held Applejack’s who squeezed it in response. She would be thinking the same thing. They were all that each other had that was left worth living for. They were each other’s lifelines. To exist without the other was… unthinkable.

We live together or die together. There’s no middle ground, thought Rainbow Dash as she watched Vinyl get up and wipe her tears away.

“S-sorry...”

“Don’t be, sugarcube,” said Applejack, giving her a small smile. “It’s better to let it out. Trust me.”

Vinyl sniffed. “What do you think it’s like? After you die I mean?”

Rainbow Dash thought about it and tried to come up with some grand or exotic words that would give Vinyl some peace. She had never been one for poetry, however, and had never given the subject much thought. What did happen after ponies died?

Applejack came to her rescue.

“Granny always said it’d be like... comin’ home,” she said with a smile. “Ya had a rough and long day and ya come back to yer warm house and there’s food on the table, a chair to rest in, and the rest of the time to kick back and feel safe. Ya got friends and family over, and yer havin’ a good time. It’s just like... yer finally home.”

“Home, huh?” said Vinyl. She smiled and wiped a few lingering tears away. “If that's the case I’m not ready to die yet. Tavi always yelled at me for not doing the dishes and laundry when I came home.”

The three of them laughed for a bit before they finally made their way towards the exit. Rainbow took one last look at the graves before they left. They were all gone. All home with their families and friends.

Home, huh? Yeah… that’s got a nice ring to it.

Dash smiled before catching up to the others just as Vinyl asked, “So rumors are going around that Sombra’s coming back to town.”

Applejack bit her lip and nodded, despite Rainbow Dash rolling her eyes. They were under orders to keep it under wraps, at least until they could find a way to break it to the public.

Not like it would matter; the result was always the same: mass panic.

Vinyl stopped in her walk and sighed. Looking at them with a fierce look in her eyes, the DJ said, “Guess there’s no reason I shouldn’t switch from reserves to full-time soldier anymore.”

“Vinyl, you don’t have too,” warned Rainbow Dash. “It’s not gonna bring anypony back.”

“True, but I at least want to kick the flank of the one responsible for it. Octavia made me promise we’d fight to the end.” Vinyl looked at her left foreleg, covered by her tux. “And a real friend never breaks a promise, right?” She stomped her hoof. “The way I see it, I got nothing to lose either. I make it through this this and I’ll make a rave light out of Sombra’s buckin’ skull, drink so much I’ll piss on his grave, and party for the rest of my life. If I die? Well, at least I can see everypony again. So it’s a win-win for me.”

Rainbow Dash and Applejack smirked and put a hoof on her shoulders.

“If yer sure about it, darlin’, then we’re with ya a hundred and ten percent.”

“Hundred and twenty percent,” seconded the pegasus.

“Thanks guys,” replied Vinyl with a smile. “We may not be close friends, but I’ll take what I can get.”

The three made it to the gates where they were about to hang a right at the corner when they spotted groups of ponies crowding around a lightpost. Many of them looked distressed as they heard yelling over the crowd, rabbling on about “death” and “doom”.

Applejack raised an eyebrow,. “What the hay do ya suppose is goin’ on there?”

“Don’t know, but it can’t be good news,” said Rainbow Dash, narrowing her eyes. Some of the ponies in the crowd were foals who looked like they just saw the boogey pony come to life. Some were even crying. And if there was one thing Rainbow “Danger” Dash didn’t like, it was a filly or colt crying.

She flew over to see what was going on and soon found her answer in the form of a stallion. He was brown colored, with a messy black mane and beard, crumb and dirt could be seen on his face. Even worse was the fact that Rainbow could smell the liquor on his breath even from several meters away.

He began waving his hooves with a manic like look in his eyes as he continued to shout. “The end has come! The legions of evil have come to deliver judgement upon us for our sins! Our sun and moon have fallen into darkness and the world shall end! Only by giving into our inevitable fate and repenting for our sins can we save ourselves from damnation!” He ran over to a group of young mares who backed away from him. “The Dark King is immortal and cannot die! He is the Pale Rider itself, coming to reap our souls for his endless feast! Our homes will burn! Our crops shall wither! Our mares and fillies raped and murdered before our eyes! No hope remains! It is the end!”

“Please! Stop it! You’re scaring the children!” shouted a mother, holding her teary-eyed colt back.

“Better to slit their throats now then let them suffer at Sombra’s hooves! All shall perish in his wake! No hope or miracle can save us! Death is the only salvation and repentance!” cried out the mad stallion.

“Hey!” shouted Rainbow Dash, landing in front of him and glaring. “Can it, bucko! You’re out of control and I’m putting a stop to this! You’re acting like a raving lunatic and scaring everypony here! Besides, we’re not dead yet! We can still win!”

“Ha!” laughed the stallion, hashly. “Win?! Win?! All of our princesses are dead except one who is utterly useless! The Elements are lost! The Crystal Heart is shattered! Sombra’s legion surrounds us everyday and we die one by one. Soon nothing will remain of our kind except endless graves. We are all dead! Dead! Dead! Dead! You’ll be dead and I’ll be dead and we’ll all be dead by the end of the year! Better to end it now than let us suffer our demise any longer! The end of ponies is here!”

“If it wasn’t for Cadence, none of you would be alive right now!” bit back Rainbow Dash as she saw some ponies lowering their heads in agreement. “She’s worked every day and night to take care of us all and if acting like this is how you repay her, then you’re all lost anyway! We’re still united! We’re still alive! And we can still beat Sombra if we keep the faith! We’ve proven time and time again that we ponies can’t be broken no matter how bad things are!”

“Rainbow is right!” shouted Applejack as she stepped forward to help her friend. She glared at the doomsaying pony who cowered back now that the numbers had doubled. “When our tribes were at war with each other, we faced annihilation, but by comin’ together we were able to create Equestria and survive! Sombra ain’t no different than them Windigos and we’re not gonna crawl into our graves and die just ‘cause things are bleak. When things are down, ya only got up to go if ya ever want to get somethin’ out of life!”

“Then how come you Elements haven’t saved us yet!” shouted the mad pony. Pointing at them with a sickly smile. “You two keep preaching how we can be saved, but how will you do that, Loyalty and Honesty? Your friends are dead and without the six of you alive you’re all useless!”

Rainbow Dash was ready to introduce this bastard to her hoof when Vinyl Scratch beat her to the punch. Literally. She whipped her right hoof right across his face, the impact echoing across the group. The stallion was knocked a good ways back before he looked up and quivered in fear in Vinyl’s shadow.

“How dare you...”, whispered Vinyl as she picked him up by the neck and punched him again. “How dare you say that about Rainbow Dash and Applejack! They are not useless! They are anything but useless! If it wasn’t for these two right here, we would have lost a lot more a long time ago! These two have lost everything and they still keep fighting for us! They keep fighting for a future where we don’t have to worry about Sombra anymore! A chance to restore harmony to what it once was!”

She pointed to Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow Dash here has fought in every battle since this whole thing started! I saw her fight and protect ponies in Ponyville and Canterlot! She even nearly lost her life a few times doing it! She’s a bucking hero in the flesh and she’s done more single-hoofedly to take down Sombra’s forces time and time again than you’ll ever know! Many troops owe their lives thanks to her and would follow her to the ends of the earth and back!”

Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but blush at the praise before Vinyl pointed to Applejack. “And Applejack? Nopony’s helped those suffering more than she has. She may not always fight on the front lines, but she makes up for it by taking care of us here in our homes! She’s the one that heads those cookouts you all eat at and all those parties you go to! She tells stories to your foals, telling them the good days we had and will one day gain back. She helps rebuild homes with her own bare hooves over and over again! And when you just need a friend or a hug, Applejack will give you that anytime and anywhere!”

It was Applejack’s turn to blush as she rubbed the back of her head. The crowd was now staring at the two like they were superstars, with hope replacing the despair they had felt only moments before. Seeing she was on a role, Vinyl finished her speech off. “Those two are the best ponies I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. They are the prime example of ponies we need to be more like. They keep on fighting and keep on living because they believe we can win. Even after all this death, they keep going forward because they believe they can change everything.

“And you wanna know something?” She looked back and smiled at them. “I believe that too.”

The stallion, head lowered, sniffed. “But... how? How can you still believe, even after all this?”

“We’ll find a way,” said Applejack, walking forward and pulling him up. She gave him a smile. “We’ve always found a way before and we will do so now”

The stallion only nodded before he began to walk away, tail between his legs. The rest of the group turned to the three and nodded their thanks, some with hope in their eyes. Others still carried the weight of inevitability on their withers and walked away in silent sorrow.

Rainbow Dash sighed and turned to Vinyl and asked, “Is that all true? What you said about us?”

“Every word,” answered Vinyl. “Look, I know you guys are just two ponies. But seeing you guys alive and still fighting gives everypony else strength. If you two lived through all this, then maybe we can come out of this alive.”

Rainbow Dash blushed and turned to Applejack who was also sporting an equal shade of scarlet. It was true the two of them had been called that before, but it still made them feel honored. Although Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but ask herself if the ponies admired her for who they were and their deeds or just because they were the last of the Elements. She also knew the harsh reality of hero worship, it was a double edged sword. A hero was somepony who could inspire hope and faith in ponies, give them the edge they needed to do anything. But if that hero was to die, then despair and grief would spread like a plague.

She knew all too well what that was like when she heard the burning of Cloudsdale and how all the Wonderbolts had fallen. Spitfire. Soarin. Fleetfoot. All of them had been killed in battle.The heroes she had worshiped and admired were all dead and it shattered her very soul. She denied it. Calling them MIA or hiding until they could reunite with the rest of them. It wasn’t until they reached the Crystal Empire that Dash finally admitted they were dead.

There was also the fact that three princesses were dead as well and there was no harsher blow than that. Some ponies even gave up all together and either ended their lives or let the dark army take them, without resistance. The sun and moon had not risen in the last five years. Cadence was powerful, but she had not been taught how to do it, neither had Twilight when she was alive. Some feared it would never rise again, and that the world was doomed to eternal darkness.

If something were to happen to AJ and me, would that break the final straw? Would all be lost in their minds? thought Rainbow Dash.

‘Hey, Rainbow,” said Applejack, snapping her out of her thoughts. She pointed to a nearby patrol of crystal guards who trotted over and saluted them. “The Prince and Princess would like to speak to you about an urgent matter.”

Knowing what it was about, Rainbow Dash felt her heart beating rapidly. Had they found something about the Tree of Harmony? Was it the key to their victory?

Rainbow Dash didn’t even bother to reply, she grabbed Applejack without any warning and zoomed towards the castle. Applejack, barely keeping on to her hat, shouted goodbye for the two of them as she did her best to stay still as Dash made a beeline for the Crystal Palace.

***

“For heaven’s sake, Rainbow. Warn a girl next time!” shouted Applejack as she and Dash galloped through the halls.

“Sorry! But I didn’t want to waste any time. What do you think they found? The location? What it can do? What it takes to activate it?” asked Rainbow Dash with each question increasing her smile.

“Let’s just get there and ask them first before we do anything.”

Rainbow Dash wouldn’t have to wait long as the two of them slammed the throne room doors open and found both royals inside. Along with them was a young, yellow unicorn mare with a blue mane who nearly jumped so high her book cutie mark could have fallen off. Rainbow Dash didn’t waste anytime asking. “Did ya find it?! Did ya find the book?!”

“No, we didn’t...” said Cadence, sighing which instantly wiped away the smile on Dash’s face.

“Then why the hay did you even call us?!” shouted Dash.

“What Dash means to say is that we thought ya found the book,” commented Applejack, glaring at her friend.

“We do know where the book is though, thanks to her,” said Cadence, pointing to the young unicorn who bowed and stepped forward. “This is Dusty Tome. She was an assistant librarian at the Royal Library in Canterlot.”

Dusty nodded and said, “I remembered the book because Princess Celestia showed it to Princess Twilight long ago. I can’t say exactly where it is, but I know it can be found in the History Section of the library... in Canterlot...”

There was a long silence in the room as the realization came to both Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Shaking her head, Applejack was the first to break it. “Hold up... yer tellin’ me that the book that we need is all the way back in Canterlot? Back in Equestria where Sombra’s all but taken over? A land poisoned and filled with his corruption?”

“Y-yes...” muttered Dusty. “The head librarian was very strict about reference books, even to the Princess herself. They never left the library under any circumstances; the older ones would be locked up tight each evening before closing.”

Rainbow Dash cursed the fates. They finally had a break and now it was all but...—NO!

She growled inwardly and thrust her chest out. No… I won’t let this chance go! It might bethe only one we get!

“Well... if the key to winning is in Canterlot, then that’s where I’m going!”

Author's Note

The adventure is underway! Will Rainbow Dash convince the others to go after the book? What is the Tree of Harmony? Will Sombra's forces arrive soon? Find out next time.

Our Last Journey

Midnight broke according to the clock and Applejack was nowhere nearer to sleep than she had been a few hours ago. Every time she closed her eyes, she was taunted with visions of funerals, battlefields, filled hospitals, and dying friends.

Sighing in frustration, she kicked off the thick layers of covers and a chill shot through her as she crossed the room to her small closet. Yanking it open, she quickly pulled on a vest covered in pockets and the cloak that Rarity had knitted for her what seemed like forever ago. The brown fabric kept the chill of the black air at bay as she yanked out her emergency saddlebags and laid them out on the bed. Already they were filled with most of what she would need to survive in the wilderness for at least a week – two, if she stretched them. Cans of water and imperishable food rattled in their recesses, their noise muffled by several blankets and pillows.

After finding her crystalline hatchet and flint, she pulled out a compass and a first aid kit and added them to the growing pile. A map of Equestria – for what good it would do them – was slid into the outer pocket of her bags. The landscape was likely to be unrecognizable anyway, but it was more for sentimental reasons that she kept it with her.

She stepped back and took stock of everything she had laid out. After putting it all away and setting it out on the floor, she gazed around the room that had been home for the past several years. There were many memories here – none of them particularly pleasant – and she held no illusions of the possibility of missing it when it was gone.

What she would miss was the concept of home.

It would be the second time one had been taken from her in her young life. She had watched Sweet Apple Acres overrun by their ashen foes, breathing black death upon her livelihood and shattering her life like it was naught but a fragmented mirror. She had been run out of Ponyville by a foe she couldn’t comprehend, and watched all of Equestria consumed under the encroaching shadows.

And she would have to walk away from here too; ponykind’s last beacon of survival and endurance. Tomorrow she would watch it fade into the distance. Part of her was grateful to be rid of it… all the pain, all the suffering, all the madness and death…

Yet another part of her, however, felt like she was betraying those she had come to know, care for and protect.

It felt vaguely like she was running.

Applejack had never considered the Crystal Empire anything but a place to live, yet never had she felt such a strong urge to protect her adopted home. She had been heartbroken, watching her native lands swept aside, but she had always been a pony to know where she was needed.

Her ponies here needed her, not only for her ability to feed them, nourish their young, and rebuild their demolished homes, but for her willingness to fight for them… for that special trait that all the Elements carried. She was a light in a world devoid of it.

She was a symbol – an icon.

Never before would she have thought of such immense things being heaped upon her. She had always been a farmpony, and deep in her heart, that core value still rang true. She was a mare of the common ponyfolk, taught to give of herself and to raise up others.

It had never occurred to her that she could be lifted so high up in turn.

And now she had to leave it all behind.

Her green eyes glimpsed across the dark to a picture frame sitting on the nightstand. She reached over and twisted the lamp, illuminating the faces of her family.

She wasn’t sure why, but she unclasped the back end and retrieved the old photo, still glossy even after all these years.

She could barely remember those days of her youth anymore. The bright and happy photo centered on her with her brand new cutie mark, standing alongside her proud grandmother and brother, and infant sister, like a raindrop of color in gray-choked desert. She ran her hoof over its smooth surface, wishing it were only that easy to reach out and touch them again.

“Would you be proud of me for what I’m doin’, Granny…?” she choked.

A small tap came at her door, and Applejack quickly gulped down the sore in her throat, sniffed back the tears, and turned to the door. “Y-yes?”

“I remember you showing me that picture,” a soft voice came from her open doorway. Rainbow Dash’s silhouette stepped in out of the foreboding shadows, a solemn smile on her face. “Feels like it's been forever since I’ve seen it.”

Applejack said nothing and lay the photo out before her. Rainbow circled the bed and curled up behind her. Her soft wing and body heat were welcome relief to her frozen nerves.

She hadn't even realized until that point she'd been shivering for quite some time.

“That looks like it was just a couple weeks before I met you. Right?” Her friend peered closer. “You hadn’t grown into your hat yet.”

Applejack nodded.

Rainbow smiled and reached for the picture, brushing it with the tip of her hoof. “Granny Smith sure didn't look like she'd changed all that much since the last time I saw her.”

“Age got more to her head than anything,” Applejack muttered, continuing to stare at the picture.

“She did get a little more kooky as she got older.” The pegasus smirked. “Had to finally start calling me her little zap apple 'cause she kept forgetting my name all the time.”

Applejack smiled. “'Rainbow Smashed.'” She shook her head. “I thought I’d never stop laughin’.”

“In my defense, it was really, really good cider.”

“I still don’t know how you kept gettin’ into the cellar all the time.”

“Seriously, AJ. You didn’t think you could keep me away from a batch of Sweet Apple Acres’ winter brew, did you?” Rainbow winked.

“I guess not.” The duo chuckled. The farmpony's smile faded slightly. “She missed ya for a long time after you stopped comin' around so much.”

Rainbow frowned and hid her face in Applejack's mane. “Well... yeah... but, a mare's gotta put food on the table and pay the bills, right?”

She nodded. “I know...” She looked back and locked her friend's magenta eyes with her green ones. “She still liked havin' you around, though. To her, it was like you were a piece of the pie or somethin'.” She lay down and sighed. “You really were her little zap apple.”

The pegasus shrugged. “I came around as much as I could...”

Applejack nodded. “I know.”

“You know I loved Granny...”

She nodded. “I know.” She reached up and ruffled her friend's mane with a warm smile. “And she loved you.”

Rainbow bit her lip and grinned. “And her apple fritters.”

Applejack grinned back. “Fresh-baked apple pie, straight from the oven.”

“Strudels for breakfast?”

“Remember apple mousse for dessert?”

“Frickin' cinnamon apple fries on Hearth's Warming Eve!” Rainbow squee'd.

Applejack sighed happily. “And hot apple cider to go with it.”

Rainbow's expression mellowed. “Storytime by the fireplace... big blue fluffy blanket to keep us kids warm... Granny in her rocker…”

“Openin' presents the next mornin'...”

Her friend gulped and folded her legs. “I kept that first present you guys made for me...”

Applejack looked at her. “Which one was that?”

Rainbow sniffed, rubbing her nose. “That necklace with you guys’ apples on it... and mine...”

Applejack reached up and held her friend's hoof.

“I never really had all that much of a family until I met you guys…”

“Nopony blames you for not bein’ there, Rainbow…” She frowned. “There weren’t nothin’ you coulda done even if you were.”

“That’s not true, and you know it...” Rainbow choked, burying her head in Applejack’s chest. “I could’ve done something. I could have saved your family… I could have saved Rarity and… and F-Fluttershy…” she whimpered.

Applejack rolled over and wrapped her hooves around the pegasus, gingerly stroking her multihued mane.

“And left me all by my lonesome…?”

Rainbow sniffed and looked at her.

She nuzzled the pegasus’s chest comfortingly. “You’re the only reason I’m alive right now, darlin’... or don’tcha remember?”

Her friend’s eyes twitched as she looked away.

Applejack wordlessly continued to brush her hoof through her friend’s short hair. Gradually, Rainbow’s sniffs ceased.

“We’re gonna make sure it never happens again,” the pegasus said firmly, her brow wrinkled in determination in spite of the tears Applejack felt sliding down her coat.

“I hope you’re right, darlin’…” She sat up and hugged her friend close.

“It’s gonna be okay,” she whispered, squeezing her friend against her.

“I know it will…”

Applejack’s mind wandered to thoughts of Rainbow trudging back to her room in her scared and hesitant state. She couldn’t help but wonder how many tears her friend had left unshed over the years, leaving them to fester like a wound in the deepest pits of her soul. Just how many did she have left to cry?

As her friend got up, giving the photo one last glance, Applejack sat upright.

“Rainbow?”

The pegasus paused at the door and looked at her.

“Ummm… ain’t no sense in tryin’ to get sleep when it ain’t comin’, wouldn’t you say?”

Rainbow wiped her eyes.

“Whaddya say to a little walk?” She smiled. “For old time’s sake.”

The pegasus’s tired eyes lit up as a smile again spread to the corners of her cheeks. “Sure… I’d like that, AJ.”

* * *

There was movement in the shadows as a figure broke from an alleyway’s cover, darting from one to the next. The starless, moonless night aided in concealing his cloaked form from the night watch. He skirred behind slit-eyed sarosians patrolling the streets, and skirted around the light-exuding crystal ponies and unicorn guards, bolting towards one of the city walls.

The figure bolted up another alley and skidded to a panicked stop after knocking into a group of trash barrels.

He caught one in his hooves and a second with his horn. The third spilled noisily, sending the lid and refuse flying everywhere.

The figure froze, listening for the noise of approaching hooves.

He waited.

Hearing nothing stirring in the night around, the cloaked figure righted the overturned barrel and turned–

–and spotted a curious resident.

The unicorn’s horn glowed a soft bronze color, illuminating a small area as he peered out the door of his crystalline house. His eyes darted to the mess left behind on the ground, then back up to the cloaked figure.

The two shared a tense pause.

“Umm… excuse me. Y-you know that it’s after curfew, right?” he asked nervously, taking a step out of the threshold.

The makeshift knife was in his jugular the next moment and the bystander’s silver eyes widened. A wet, gurgling noise escaped his throat, and black liquid splattered in a streak along the ground. He was silenced the next moment when he hit the wall of his house back-first, plowed into by the shadowy figure.

A white light engulfed the crude blade and dislodged it bloodily from the unicorn, before sliding it fluidly across the surface of his neck.

The unicorn twitched, coughed, and struggled only briefly. Then he moved no more.

The white aura flicked the blade, splattering the unicorn’s blood on the ground, and the shadow sheathed the jagged piece of metal back into his cloak.

A sound caught his ear and he turned, ears twitching

The sounds of alerted guards approached, and the figure moved swiftly back into the darkness of the alley. He ducked down a perpendicular crossway and sprinted. The voices and hoofsteps grew closer by the moment.

“We’ve got a body here!”

“There! That way! The hoofsteps lead this way!”

“I want a closed four block radius! Get more guards down here! The rest of you, with me!”

He looked down at his bloody hooves and cursed his carelessness.

The figure darted right and charged along the city walls. Sliding to a stop, his horn lit up and he reached out with his mind, grasping a hidden panel with his concentration and shoving it aside. Carefully leaping into the blackness underneath the city walls, he levitated the secret panel back into place and waited.

He leaned his ear against the panel. A series of thunderous hooves approached, and he winced, waiting for the inevitable.

The charging figures came to a stop on the other side of the wall shard.

“The tracks disappear here,” he heard a gruff voice say.

The figure stepped away from the stone shard and flinched.

“Alright gentlecolts, it looks like we have a teleporter on our hooves,” the muffled voice said. “Have the wall guards sound a general alarm.”

The rest of the conversation was lost to the figure as he stepped further into the wall. Navigating a narrow maze of eroded stones and caverns, he wormed his way back out into the relative light of the featureless night, and hugged the wall before slipping into a shallow stream flowing southwards from the city.

It was three miles before he felt safe enough to step out of the stale black water. The journey was a familiar one by that point, but it felt more treacherous every time he took it.

He threw a glimpse backwards towards the Empire and the gleaming central spire of the Crystal Palace. Shaking himself out, the shadow trotted up the incline of a nearby hill and hid on the shadowed side before collapsing with a heavy breath.

He didn’t have time for rest. A set of powerful, heavy hooves thundered against the ground, startling him into standing.

He nearly lost his balance and went for a tumble down the hill. Catching himself against a crystal protruding from the ground, he levitated the metal shard out of his cloak and sent it flashing across the thin stream of light.

All was still for a moment.

“You’ve kept me waiting,” a powerful voice boomed, flicking the makeshift knife out into the night.

The figure prostrated itself beneath the immense shadow. Tangible darkness rolled off of her form and weighed him down, holding him prone through fear.

“A t-thousand apologies…” the doomsayer muttered, pulling back the hood of his cloak. “There was an… incident, milady.”

The darkness seethed, driving icy needles into his nerves. “Were you seen?”

He shook his head. “Only by a dead pony.”

She growled angrily, causing the black mists swirling around her form to condense into patches of frost on his coat, and he shivered all the more violently.

“Need I remind you what is at stake for you, slave?”

He pressed his head against the dirt, clenching his eyes closed. “N-no…”

A pair of raven wings spread threateningly above him like those of a fallen angel, casting a shadow over the darkness of night itself. “Then you would do well to remember that you are only useful to me so long as you remain uncaptured,” she snarled. “Explain yourself…”

Slowly, he raised his eyes from the ground, peering up at the darkened monarch. “I… I…”

A pause.

“It is as I thought,” she sneered, inky eyes narrowing. “You merely lack the courage to–”

“Th-the Elements of Harmony, milady!” he blurted.

She twitched, eyes narrowing and consuming what light remained into them as though they were black holes.

“Go on…”

“Th-they… I did as you asked,” he wept, burying his face into his hooves. “The citizens… they heeded my words… they were convinced the end approached. Hope lay dying within them,” he sniffed. “But they…”

The figure pulled back the hood on her cloak. A multihued black-and-gray mane rolled off her head.

Celestia’s eyes glared towards the city.

“P-please milady… I…”

“It was nothing you could help, knave,” she snorted. “Your words hold no sway more powerful than those of the Elements of Harmony…” She turned back to stare daggers into his soul. “But in spite of your limitations, you will continue to serve.”

The crier bit his lip. “But, your highness,” he stammered, “what can I do? So long as the Elements yet live, hope will not die for the survivors.”

“Leave the Elements to me,” she said, voice softening. “Your concerns are not mine. So long as you do as I command, you will have nothing to fear.” Turning back towards the void of shadows in the fields farther from the city, Celestia took a step away. “Return to your citizens, slave. Continue to serve as you have.”

He gulped, bravely pushing himself up a few inches into a crouch.

“M-milady… f-forgive my impudence…”

She paused and glared at him again.

He swallowed.

“M-my… f-family…”

Celestia snorted, eyes narrowing dangerously and sending a shiver through his spine. “Safe,” she said simply.

Normally, the Princess’s stare was enough to fold anypony’s knees. The doomsayer stood resolutely, however. “M-may I please s-see them, milady?” he sniffed. His eyes shimmered in the faint light of the Crystal Palace’s beacon of light. “It has been months since–”

Celestia began to turn to face him, and he fell silent.

Her heavy hooffalls approached, and the doomsayer fell to his knees again, expecting a fierce lashing.

It never came. Instead, the pitter-patter of several hoofsteps against the ground approached from the fields.

Cracking one eye open, his heart soared when a malnourished, pale-coated mare and a young filly unicorn were marched in chains up to the top of the hill.

The mare’s deadened eyes lit up, her horn sparkling.

“Chanter!” she shouted tearfully, taking several steps before the chains went taught.

“Thistle Blossom!” he exclaimed elatedly.

“Daddy!” the pair’s filly squealed. She ran out from between her mother’s legs, charging across the blackened ground.

The doomsayer nearly burst into tears, scooping his weeping daughter up into his forehooves. He pressed his lips to her stunted horn, and ran a hoof through her matted mane. The clanging of metallic chains were followed by the soft hoofbeats of his wife being released from her bindings.

Husband and wife crashed together, embracing fiercely, followed by shows of affection.

For an instant, the war, the death, the cold, the pain, the world, none of it mattered. All he had that mattered was in his embrace, so warm, so loving, so soft and comfortable.

“I am a merciful ruler…” Celestia’s voice hissed, driving a burning-cold prying rod into the moment.

Chanter’s eyes widened, realizing the Princess was still present. He turned to face her, clutching his family protectively.

“I have kept my word, as you can see…” she said, locking eyes with him. The alicorn’s eyes pierced the trio like javelins made of the purest void. “So long as you keep your own, so long it shall continue…”

He looked at his wife and foal, then at all the guards encircling them, staring at them with dull, lifeless eyes.

The doomsayer looked up. “You… you will keep them safe?” he asked, the tears beginning again.

Celestia’s cold eyes softened. “Have you given me any reason to go back on my word all these years, knave?” she purred, like a panther contemplating tearing out his throat. She took a step forward, and the three ponies shrank.

Her cold breath left an icy glaze across their coats, and the young foal began to cry.

“Have you?” she asked.

Chanter paused, remaining silent. He shook his head tearfully.

“I have been faithful to my promise, as you can see,” she breathed. “Serve me unquestioningly, and you shall drift eternally in the sheltered harbors of my graces.” She paused. “Disappoint me, however…” Her voice trailed off, her speech taken up by her calculating glare as it traced slowly to the right, looking over the fearful mare and the screaming foal.

“I will serve!” he said shakily, receiving Celestia’s stare again. He released his family and bowed. “Please, milady… I will serve.”

“Then what reason have I to go back on our deal?” she said, her voice strangely soothing.

He looked up with wet eyes and darted forward, snatching the monarch’s forehoof in his grip and pressing his lips gratefully to her armored limb. “My princess, your mercies truly know no bounds…” he whimpered.

After a moment, the Princess reclaimed her hoof. “Then we are finished here.” She turned to her guard captain and nodded.

Chanter’s heart twisted as he watched his wife returned to her chains and pulled away. He reclaimed her for one last kiss before she was led back into the shadows, whimpering. Looking down to his crying daughter, he stroked his hoof comfortingly through her short mane and kissed her once more. Gradually, her crying ceased, and she looked up to her father with frightened eyes.

Chanter smiled and leaned in, giving her a soft, reassuring nuzzle, before setting her on the ground again. She sniffled and turned hesitantly to trot after her mother. A guard prodded her, and the two were gone once again out of his life.

The crier bit his lip and sobbed into his hoof before a powerful limb landed atop his withers.

Celestia glared at him.

“Return to your task, slave,” she growled. “The dawnlight hours approach, and I will have need for you again…” Narrowing her eyes at him, she let a puff of cold breath out over his muzzle. “Be mindful of what you stand to lose.”

Then, with a sudden spread of her wings, Celestia took to the black skies and was gone.

Chanter stared after her as long as his vision would allow, before he pulled the hood of his cloak back over his head. Shivering in the cold, he started back towards the city, keeping to the darkness just as before.

* * *

Applejack gripped the last strap of her saddlebags in her teeth and pulled, tightening her luggage about her torso. Looking around the room, she bit at the edge of her lip and couldn’t help the twisting sensation in her gut as she looked at her all-too-small, all-too-plain, all-too-familiar living quarters.

She stroked her hoof over the comforter, neatly tucked in just as it had been every morning. She had been a creature of habit, after all, and some never left her.

Never again would she make this bed, she realized. It was such a little thing, yet something about missing the familiarity and the habit struck her in a painful way.

She looked to the twilit window and strode over to the barricaded glass, pressing her nose against the cold surface. Her breath fogged the glass as she stared over the view that she had come to know over the past several years. All the death, devastation, depression and destruction... she wouldn’t miss it. The pale, ghostly light of the palace spire was just as cruel a reminder as it was a merciful beacon, and she frankly was ready for the darkness.

She was decided. No, she wouldn’t miss this place...

Yet there was a finality to knowing that it would be the last time she would call this place home. She’d known it before then. Only now was it finally beginning to sink in. It was like civilization… like her life was ending. It was like she was taking her last, desperate breaths before she was pulled under, into the depths of the eternal ocean of death.

Perhaps it was true. Applejack couldn’t be sure. It had grown hard to feel anything but the same nagging numbness over the years.

Sighing, the earth pony looked over to her bedside table and reached for her hat. She slipped the picture of her family into the inner lining before plopping it onto her head. Adjusting it slightly, she looked one last time at the window, tipped her stetson in a mournful salute, and turned away.

Applejack shuffled to the foot of her bed and sat on it, careful not to wrinkle it.

“Sure hope somepony can get some use outta ya…” she muttered to her inanimate friend, patting the mattress.

She waited. She considered a nap, though even without sleep the previous evening and the stroll around the city with Rainbow, she didn’t feel fatigued. Perhaps it was adrenaline, or perhaps she had become accustomed to living without sleep.

She closed her eyes, but she found no rest or solace in sightlessness.

Finally, a knock came at her door, and she opened her eyes to Rainbow nudging into the room, outfitted in her combat gear.

“Ready?” Rainbow asked.

Applejack rose wordlessly and trotted over by the door. She shuffled her four legs into a group of upright gauntlets. The retracted blades glinted against the faint light of Rainbow’s aurastone. Giving her hooves a twist left then right, she experimentally extended and retracted the blades on the front of her forelegs, then again on the rear of her back legs. After a few more quick checks she breathed, satisfied that all was in order.

“No,” she droned, striding stiffly towards the door regardless.

Rainbow blocked her exit with a hoof, giving her an unsure look.

The earth pony’s eyes stared back blankly.

“It’s the right thing to do…” she assured her.

“Then why doesn’t it feel that way?”

The pegasus frowned.

Applejack looked up at Rainbow, expression numb. “We’re in this together to the end, Rainbow…” she said softly. “You and me… we’re either gonna win this thing together somehow, or we’re gonna die together out there…” She stood upright. “There ain’t no in-between. Right?”

Rainbow nodded softly. “Right.”

“We’re all we got left…”

Her friend reached up, and Applejack blinked in surprise, nearly forgetting what a brohoof felt like. “Yeah...” she said with a nod. “So don’t go dying on me.” She grinned. “You know I can’t stand to lose.”

She sucked in a breath. “So we’re really doin’ this?”

Rainbow smiled. “Hay yeah, we are. Better than waiting around here to just rot in our skin while Sombra’s goons think about growing a spine, right?”

She didn’t know why she did, but Applejack snorted a laugh. “Guess bein’ bored to death is the worst way to go.”

“Then let’s get moving,” the pegasus said, turning back to the door. “I dunno about you, but I can feel my blood stopping from all the nothing that’s going on here. Let’s go put some distance between us and this place.”

Chuckling, Applejack motioned to the door. “Lead the way, pardner.”

The two left their home behind. Neither bothered locking it; as far as they were concerned, what little remained in it was free game for any who wanted it.

Hoof traffic was light throughout the city at such an early hour. A few homeless squabbled over some scraps of food as per the usual, and a few early-risers as well as some guards nodded at them appreciatively.

“Look, mommy!”

Applejack glimpsed to her left as the pair walked. A young colt shook at his malnourished mother laying across a park bench. “Mommy! It’s the Elements of Harmony!” he said excitedly. “Everything’s gonna be okay now!”

The young colt’s mother shivered feverishly but still managed a small smile as the duo passed.

She quickly broke eye-contact before she could be lured in by the ailing mare’s pained expression.

Applejack pulled her cloak down over her withers and lowered her hat over her eyes. More adoring whispers sounded around them, and she bit her lip.

“The Elements of Harmony…”

“Are they really going to be fighting today?”

“They can do it, right? They can still save us, can’t they?”

“But what about all the other Elements? What about Princess Twilight? She was one of them, wasn’t she?”

A rainbow of colors flashed across the earth pony’s vision, and it was only then when she found the tip of Rainbow’s tail in her mouth that she realized she had slowed down to listen.

So badly had she wanted to step aside and offer them her meaningless words of encouragement.

“Keep walking,” Rainbow said firmly.

Applejack instinctively clutched her friend’s tail in her teeth. Never would she have thought she’d need it for herself as opposed to reining in the daredevil pegasus.

More words of adulation reached her ears, but still she soldiered on.

The pair reached the steps of the palace and were greeted by the princess’s personal cadre of troops. Salutes were exchanged, and the field marshal stepped forward.

“Commander Dash, Master Sergeant Applejack,” he said respectfully, holding his salute in spite of outranking them by several orders of magnitude. “Her Highness, Princess Cadance, asked me to personally escort you to her chambers.”

Nodding, Rainbow glimpsed sidelong at Applejack who nodded in turn.

The pair were led inside, past the makeshift morgue, past the halls of screaming and dying patients, and past the throne room itself into the deepest depths of the central palace.

The door to Cadance’s quarters was marked by a fractured crown emblem.

“We must excuse ourselves,” the general officer said. “We’re expected at the command center within the hour.”

“Thanks guys,” Rainbow said with a nod.

Without hesitation, she knocked twice and pushed on the door to the royal bedchambers.

Applejack had expected a bedroom with every luxury known to ponykind decking out the interior. What she saw instead was the evidence of many past fights between the two lovers who occupied the room under normal circumstances. Cracked floors from stomped hooves and a broken mirror were among the most notable marks on the room.

“Shake and bake, ladies!” Rainbow said boisterously.

Several officers turned to face her, and Cadance peered around the crowd gathered about her. She donned a tired smile and stepped forward, embracing them. “Glad to see some ponies got some sleep last night…”

“Sleep?” Applejack smirked. “I’ve almost forgotten what that was.”

“Yes, well…” Cadance never bothered completing her sentence before her eyes were drawn to the far side of the room. “Shiny?”

The large, white stallion looked up from the table he gazed intently at. Without any words, he sighed and lead the group past the remaining doors until they arrived at the chambers of the royal couple. After they closed the door, Shining Armor went to a frame where it showed the garden party after he and Cadance got married, with all their family and friends there. He pushed it aside and a click was heard.

Both ponies looked at the bed and saw it move to the side, revealing a hatch beneath. Applejack looked at Shining Armor who stared back at them with regret, but also understanding. Applejack nodded in respect. Words weren’t needed at this point. They knew what had to be done.

“I wish there were more time for goodbyes…” he said solemnly.

“Don’t bother,” Rainbow said with a sad smile and a shrug. “We don’t have a good track record with ‘em anyway…”

“No, I guess you wouldn’t,” he said understandingly, stony eyes softening. His eyes turned to look at Applejack.

She couldn’t keep her eyes locked with his. The guilt had grown too heavy.

“I don’t have the words…” he continued. She could hear the tears in his voice. “I just don’t know how I could say thank you enough in the time we have left.” A great sigh heaved from his powerful chest. “We should have set some time aside for this…”

“No thank-yous needed, big guy,” Rainbow said. “We’d do it all again if we had to.”

Shining Armor smiled. “That’s the thing about you guys…” He chuckled. “I just don’t get what keeps you two going. Some days even I wonder why I bother anymore. But you two? You just keep that hope alive somehow…”

Applejack looked up. “Sure beats the alternative.”

“Well… I guess we’ll all find out soon enough, won’t we?” the prince said, levitating his helmet back onto his head.

For a split second, Applejack wanted to hold the whole thing off. To grab a weapon and fight alongside Shining Armor for maybe the last time. To not abandon those who had depended on them until the end. But then she remembered the faith that Twilight had put in them to find her clues and save their world. And she would not disrespect her deceased friend now by running from her duty.

“Don’t die, Shining Armor,” muttered Applejack as she turned to Cadance and bowed. “You too, Princess.”

“Only if you don’t die on us either,” whispered Shining Armor as he saluted them. “Good luck. Whatever happens, it was an honor knowing you. If we don’t all make it out of this mess... then see you on the other side.”

Both Rainbow and Applejack saluted the prince and his wife. Rainbow Dash was about to head towards the stairs before she turned to Cadance and said, “What are you guys gonna do without us?”

Cadance smiled. “We have a back-up plan. We were going to wait until all six were finished but we’ll have to use the three we have for now.”

Applejack was struck curious by what the princess meant, but she knew time was becoming a luxury. Turning to follow her friend, she looked at the foreboding gate blocking the stairs.

One more adventure. Might be the last we ever have…

With one final breath of Crystal Empire air, Applejack steeled herself, and the heavy doors were levitated open before them.

There was no going back now.

“Well… no point in draggin’ it out anymore, I guess…” she muttered.

“HOLD UP!” she heard behind her, and whipped her head around at the sudden intrusion.

Rainbow gaped.

“Goldy?!”

The tan-coated mare, still wrapped in bandages from head to hoof, hobbled into the room, shoving the royal bedchamber doors wide open. The scowl she held on her face could have melted steel, yet her limp was as pitiful as the first steps of a newborn foal.

“What’s the meaning of this?!” Cadance demanded as a series of nurses rushed in on the unicorn’s tail.

“F-forgive us your highness!” the lead nurse said nervously. “We begged her to stay in bed, but–”

“Goldy, what the hay are you doing?” Shining Armor barked, eyes narrowing angrily in the filly’s direction. “The doctors told you that you weren’t supposed to move for another three weeks–”

“All due respect sir?” the unicorn said, staring at her prince with hollow eyes, “Buck you.”

Every jaw in the room dropped.

Golden Scabbard, realizing her error, blushed softly and limped towards the center of the room. “So, you two were just gonna leave without saying goodbye?”

Rainbow and Applejack looked at one another and frowned.

“We wanted to, Goldy. But…” The earth pony bit her lip.

“We’ve said enough goodbyes over the years,” Rainbow finished for her. “We don’t want you to be another one…”

“That’s a hay of a thing to say,” the guard captain said, resting her weight on the crutch beneath her foreleg. “Last two friends I got in the whole world, and you two won’t even spare the time for me.”

“Don’t be like that, Goldy. You know this is just as hard for us…” Rainbow said softly.

“All I know is that the world could end in the next couple days, and all I got to show for it is a couple Elements of Harmony who are supposed to symbolize friendship. And apparently it doesn’t mean a damn thing to either one of ‘em.”

Neither mare responded. An uncomfortable silence settled over the room as nurses, royalty, and military commanders looked uneasily between one another.

Golden Scabbard sighed. “Well… I guess it’s a good thing I’m always there to clean up you guys’ screw-ups, right?”

Applejack let out a tearful chuckle while Rainbow smiled on their behalf.

“Just… just remember,” Goldy choked, swallowing the lump in her throat. She breathed, trying to steady herself, but it was clear to the farmpony that she was having just as hard a time with goodbyes as they were in spite of her brave face. The guard captain straightened again and forced a growl. “Dammit, just remember that… that I won’t be there to bail your tails outta the fire when you do this time…”

Rainbow nodded, biting her lower lip. Applejack could see she was trying her stalwart best to keep her tears from rolling. “You give yourself too much credit, girl.”

As she stepped forward to embrace the wounded mare, Applejack couldn’t help her own emotion. She squeezed Goldy, knowing it could very well be for the last time.

Rainbow seemed no less distressed, resting her chin atop their friend’s back.

“Oh, come on,” Goldy choked softly. “What, did you guys rub against a maple tree or somethin’? I didn’t ask for your sap...” Despite her meager protests however, Applejack felt their affection reciprocated.

She couldn’t count the seconds or minutes the three of them held the hug, but the silence was broken by Goldy’s quivering voice.

“I wish I could go with you…” She whimpered. “I wish I could just see home one more time…”

Wiping a tear from her eye, the farmpony pulled back. “Hey, c’mon now,” she said, patting her friend’s chest. “Have a little faith, sugarcube.”

“Yeah, if anypony’s got the awesomeness qualifications to win this war, it’s me and AJ.” Rainbow threw her hoof around Goldy’s withers and squeezed her softly. “Then, when we win, you can see home all ya want.”

Goldy smiled tearfully and wiped a hoof across her face. “Yeah…” She sniffled. “Still, wouldn’t hurt to have me along, would it?”

“Well, somepony’s gotta keep the awesome-quota here too,” the pegasus replied with a wink.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, Commander Blowhard…”

The trio shared a nervous laughter.

Goldy was the first to regain her composure.

“You two take good care of each other out there…”

“Well, I’ve been doin’ it since we were little fillies,” Applejack said with a smirk, elbowing Rainbow in the ribs. “She never woulda got this far without me.”

Rainbow blinked and opened her mouth to argue.

She was interrupted by the distant bass trumpet of a faraway horn.

Shining Armor jerked his head up and nodded to his staff. He turned to the duo and stepped forward, eyes softening. “That’s our cue…”

Cadance was upon them the next moment, suffocating them in a tight embrace.

“We can never honor you two enough for all that you’ve done for us…” the Princess wept. “Be careful… both of you.”

Rainbow smiled. “There’ll be time for careful when all this is done with…” She turned to look at Applejack. “Let’s do this…”

Giving one last nod and a bow to the Princess of Love, Applejack turned to the spiralling staircase, lit only by the ghostly blue flames of a series of torches.

She couldn’t even see the bottom of the abyssal cavern. She swallowed nervously, unable to help the thoughts of fatal falls or bone-breaking trips.

“Here goes nothin’...” she murmured.

And into the darkness, the pair descended.

Author's Note

From TUC: Sorry it was so long to finish this folks. Work and surgery have drained me of my creativity and energy up to this point. Hopefully I can make up for my absence.

On The Fields Of War

Shining Armor hated the smell of war. It was raw, dirty, and reeked of death so thick, it made him retch. In the span of five years, he had lead stallions and mares into battle after battle with the souls of the dead weighed on his very own. Shining Armor didn’t give much thought towards a Heaven with all the lives he had watched be swept away under his command. He wasn’t even sure if he believed in one anymore. If it existed, though, he felt like they -- whoever that was -- were going to drag him to hell and let him rot there.

Or maybe it was just some strange type of wishful thinking, hoping he wouldn’t have to explain to all those who had died around him why he had let it happen. He knew it wasn’t normal thinking, regardless, but there was no time for a therapist to become involved. All he had time for these days was making sure the ponies under his protection didn’t die.

He marched with his personal guards and generals on top of the Crystal Wall, the biggest physical defence barrier in the world. At twenty-six feet of pure diamond, as well as other crystals to increase its strength, the wall surrounded the entire city nearly sixty miles out. It had been hastily designed after the destruction of the Crystal Heart, a plan left behind by Twilight as a back up. Following her sister-in-law’s death, Cadance put as much effort into making it and it had stood the test of endless battles. Those battles had taken their toll, however, and the walls were always in need of repair or maintenance, and they were running low on resources to keep them steady.

It was likely after this battle, it would have to hold until it fell.

Reaching the highest tower of the wall, Shining Armor stood in the air with the flags of the Crystal Empire and Equestria blowing high above him. He looked below and saw the entire army, all ready for battle. Every section of the wall was layered with archers and various magic focus groups in key areas. Large crystals, red in color and shaped like spears leaping out of a cannon barrel were aimed forward, ready to unleash the crystal magic they had been stored with.

Behind the walls near the gates were the legions of troops of all pony races lined up and ready for battle. Beside them were the catapults ready for long range artillery with whatever ammunition the crews could fill them with.

He sighed. The troops’ emotions ranged from determined to terrified. More than once, he found himself wishing for his old army buddies to be at his side again. The ponies he trained and sweated with for all those years...

He turned to the remaining generals and commanders that he had come to depend on over the years. “Where are Commander Dash and Volunteer Captain Applejack?” asked one of them. “Shouldn’t they be here?”

“They are...” The prince started, but was interrupted by the sound of hooves traveling up the stairs.

A second later, an armored Rainbow Dash and Applejack arrived and saluted.

“Sorry about that, Shining Armor,” said Rainbow Dash, saluting as her hoof connected with her helmet. It was reminiscent of the one borne by Commander Hurricane, but blue instead of black. She motioned over her withers with a nod of her head. “Applejack here couldn’t find her greaves.”

Applejack’s armor, unlike most, was not made with crystals but regular old fashioned steel, designed to look just like the ancient Spartan Earth Ponies. Warriors of old who were feared by all in their time as the toughest soldiers in the land, conquerors of many nations and beheaders of their enemies. Applejack said her Granny told her many stories of them in her fillyhood and even learned she was descended from them. She said if she was gonna fight, she was gonna do it with the spirit of her ancestors beside her. “Would have found them sooner if ya didn’t mix them with the wash.”

Shining Armor did his best to remember that the real Rainbow Dash and Applejack were long gone by now. Still, he had to keep pretences up. “That’s enough, you two. You're here now and that’s all that matters.” He turned to the railing and peered through a spyglass at the roiling darkness of Sombra’s legions. “I guess there’s no point in sugarcoating it: The army coming at us this time is like nothing we’ve ever fought before. Even worse is the fact that Prin—Celestia is leading them.”

Already he saw everypony’s morale drop but his and the remaining fake Elements. The first time he had gone up against his former Princess, he had to remember that this wasn’t the same Princess that he swore an oath to the day he took his duty as a private in her guard. That Celestia had died in Canterlot. This was a puppet that had personally slain not only her sister, but Shining’s sister as well. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of lives the real Celestia would never harm.

It had been a difficult adjustment to make to go from defending her with his life, to risking it before her...

“I know that things look bad. I know a lot of ponies are saying this is the last fight we’ll ever have.” He paused, looking up to the wedding band that adorned the base of his horn, and he felt a surge of determination well up in his chest. He turned sharply to face his ponies. “But buck what those ponies say! We’re going out there and we’re going to show Sombra that he’ll need more than just a bunch of brainless zombies to bring us down. We’ve stood here for five years against all the odds bearing down on us and we’ll keep standing here for another five years if that’s what we have to do to win, gentlecolts!” He clamped his helm shut, and his blue eyes flashed fiercely. “We’re spicing our beer with the blood of traitors tonight, everypony! And I’m buying!”

“Sir! Yes, sir!” they all shouted in unison before saluting.

Shining Armor nodded before turning his attention to each leader. “Rhinestone, Copperhead, Shine Light. You three take the west gates, make sure to keep an eye out for any flank attacks on your end. Juniper, Black Topaz, and Amethyst Star, you’re on the east end.” He then turned to Trixie, dressed in dark blue mage battle robes with various magical symbols all topped by her well known magician’s hat, slightly battered from previous battles. “Trixie, you’ll be in charge of coordinating the mage formations. Keep shield spells ready for when I give the order. After the archers are finished, you’ll lead the unicorn divisions in. Give them everything you can. Even dark magic this time.”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie shall make sure not a single corrupted soul gets past her lines. They will be ashes by the time Trixie’s soldiers are finished,” said Trixie with a smirk.

“Applejack. Rainbow Dash. You two are to join up with the main force. Hold back towards the rear and wait for my signal before you strike.”

“Got it, boss. We’ll show them what we’re made of!” saluted Rainbow Dash.

Shining Armor sighed. “I don’t have to tell you that the enemy we’re facing will be our loved ones and friends from another life. But remember... not one of them is someone we knew… not anymore.”

The prince lowered the visor to his helm and stared through the slits in the armor with gleaming ferocity. “If you want to make their lives mean something, if you want to be merciful, if you want to stop all this suffering, then kill every single one that comes your way! Don’t take a single prisoner!”

***

There was no sound on the wall.

Nothing but the breaths of thousands of soldiers, doing their best to stay calm. Some were whispering prayers, others gazed at photos of their loved ones.

But in all of it, there was an eerie calmness… a focus. The sounds on the flat breeze were those of a ghost town. The faint clinking of metallic armor and weaponry, and the distant buzz of mana-charged weaponry were the only hints of a peace that was to be short-lived.

Everypony was tense. Everypony was ready.

Yet none were more focused than Shining Armor, whose gaze never left the blizzard just outside the once green grass of the Crystal Empire. Standing on the tower, ready for anything, he looked over his remaining forces and couldn’t help but wonder over just how little it truly was in the face of the marching monstrosity bearing down on them.

In a few months, they would be all but down to crumbs to eat and broken tools to fight with -- assuming any of the mages lived through the fight. He wondered if Rainbow Dash and Applejack, the real ones, could manage to save them all somehow. Even if they could stop Sombra, what could they build from the ashes of everything?

He shook his head. No, don’t think all hope is lost. Twilight never lost hope… and you shouldn’t either...

“My Prince!”

Shining Armor’s eyes gazed back towards the center of the blizzard, his ears picking up something in the distance. He twitched them and made them focus closer on the sound.

“Drums. They’re here.”

And soon enough, everypony on the crystal wall could see them.

Wielding spike armor blacker than night, covered in the blood of those they have slain, they appeared. Armed to the teeth with spears, swords, axes, bows and more. Like a great sea of darkness, they appeared in numbers greater than any had seen before. Not since the fall of Canterlot. The war drums continued playing, their sound of death coming to greet the last of the ponies, right beside the catapults and giant crossbows lit with violet and green flames.

The numbers kept growing as they came forward. Already they had outnumbered Shining’s forces four to one. The smell of fear and despair could be wiffed in any true warrior’s nostrils. It wasn’t a surprise, but Shining Armor would not let his own fears dominate him. He was the nineteenth heir and the last living pony of the House of Sparkle and Light. He was the youngest Captain of the Guard in history. The elder brother of Princess Twilight Sparkle. And the Prince of the Crystal Empire.

If Death wanted him, there would be a fight.

Celestia’s army continued to make its way forward as the prince fired a magical bolt into the air. A cry for the archers and magicians to prepare themselves echoed across the wall as every bowpony and unicorn took their place. They readied their trademark weapons and aimed at the horde of corrupted. The crystal cannons began charging.

Then, as if they were one single unit, the army stopped. Just inches out of the archers’ range of fire.

All was silent --, not even the winds of the blizzard could be heard.

Shining knew what was coming next. They all did. Sombra’s officers performed the same ritual before every siege.

Sure enough, Shining Armor spotted at least six uncorrupted captives, bound and forced to sit on their haunches. Despite his every instinct telling him not to look, he activated a spell to give him enhanced sight. All of them were soldiers, three males and two females, with one of them he recognized. Captain Flash Sentry, one of his best soldiers. His wings were gone, ripped off most likely, and his body covered with signs of extensive torture.

Still, the determination on his face never faltered. He looked ready to die.

Shining Armor bit his lip and said a final goodbye in his head to one of his most loyal friends.

And then he watched as Flash’s throat was slit before he fell in a pool of his own blood along with his comrades. Another six dead.

And then the shouting began. They sang the name of their master. Their ruler. Even their god in some ways. To Shining Armor, it was a name he wanted to see on a tombstone.

“Sombra! Sombra! Sombra!”

And then, with one last bestial cry, they charged.

Commanders of each unit told their archers to hold fast. To wait until it was time. They had to be just close enough for their ranged weapons to do the most maximum damage possible. Like a tide from the ocean, the black armored army began to rise closer and closer towards the wall. The sounds of thousands of hoofsteps, beating against the earth, rumbled louder than the distant blizzard. Each of them united in one goal, one mindset, one focus.

From what they knew of the corruption, those slaved to Sombra’s will had nothing but total obedience. There was no free will and, therefore, no doubt or fear. They were ruthless and unwaveringly loyal -- each would die for the sake of their master.

With one last prayer to whatever god still bothered to look over them, Shining Armor raised his hoof as the first line of invaders made it past the range point.

“Archers! Fire!”

The twinges of bows snapping as arrows flew into the air so numerous, it could cover the sky for anypony down below. Like rockets they sailed, but like meteors they fell. Their arrows were true as they landed in the shoulders, waists, heads, and hooves of the charging enemy. Death cries echoed along side the yells or advancement. More red blood to water the darkening ground that once bloomed crystal flowers of all kinds. He could still see the spot where he and his wife celebrated their first anniversary together with a picnic. And now a mare, with three arrows in her head and two in her chest, was lying down right there, her blood decorating it.

“Catapults!” cried out Shining Armor, remembering he was at war.

The launchers flung their heavy ammunition skyward, alongside arrows being fired at will. Crowds of corrupted looked into the sky one last time to see the heavy rocks coming down before them. Their worried cries were silenced by the sound of their bones crushing and organs squeezing into paste while decorating the giant boulders. Volley by volley did the ranged fire sail over the once fertile land of the Crystal Empire to smite the corrupted and free their souls from their curse.

Yet for all the ammunition they had, it was not enough to stop the army from reaching the halfway point. One of Shining’s lieutenants turned to him, and asked, “Should we fire the cannons, sir?”

“Negative! We need to hold them for as long as possible!” shouted Shining Armor.

“Incoming!”

Instincts kicking in, Shining Armor summoned a shield spell that protected the entire tower from a giant flaming arrow, followed by hails of arrows coming from direction of the opposition. Marching forward, the archers of Sombra’s army fired their own projectile weaponry at the wall. Behind them, support fire came from the giant flaming crossbows, loaded and fired with perfect synchronization.

Now the casualties were beginning to mount. Cries of pain were heard as panicked soldiers took cover or were sent flying off the walls to their doom, pierced by arrows. Flames from the giant arrows spread as the smell of burning fur and flesh began to mix in with the smell of blood. One poor stallion was cut in two when one caught him in midair during its flight.

Thankfully, they were ready for this.

Without any signal, Trixie’s horn glowed as did the horns of her mages. Her apprentices, Snips and Snails, were teleporting from group to group, encouraging with words and orders as a shield of magic began to appear around the wall. Each mage group had been perfectly placed so that their combined magic could protect the defenders.

With the shield now up, they could take a collective breath and reorganize.

Sombra’s army neared the perfect killing range, and Shining Armor smirked as he waited for the fireworks to begin.

He didn’t have to wait long. An opposing earth pony stepped on something with a click, before an explosion tore him and those surrounding him to pieces. More explosions went up all along the field as the army advanced. It was like the earth was erupting from below with fire and fragments. Shining Armor couldn’t help but be proud as he saw one of his late sister’s last inventions come to life before his very eyes.

Storing magic inside devices that released when pressed on, delivering a catalyst of wild and dangerous magic. Wide enough to kill entire groups due to the actions of a single soldier. Twily, you really were a genius.

Still, no landmines would slow Sombra’s troops for long. There were only so many, and sooner or later their enemy would reorganize.

It was time to go on the offensive.

“Fire at will!” he cried out, his voice bellowing over the battlefield.

Glowing, the mountainous crystalline turrets began to shine like the stars that once filled the night sky with wonder. They glowed so bright that even those back in the city could see them.

Powerful blasts of energy rippled through the air itself, and scorching beams of light fell upon the invaders, turning them to ash.

Trixie followed suit and ordered her mages into the counterattack. Spells of fire, lightning, light and more blasted through the air alongside the cannon fire. It was like watching fireworks celebration at the end of the world.

There was only one thing left.

Shining Armor turned to the nearby flag messengers and nodded to them. The pair of pegasi flew up and began waving their flags in a synchronized formation that was only directed to Rainbow Dash and Applejack who stood with the charging army of infantry by the gates.

Upon seeing the signal, Rainbow Dash gave a holler before addressing the last legion of defenders. “Okay, you shrimps! It’s our turn to show those bastards out there what it means to be a real army and not one mind controlled by a wispy freak of nature! I want to see you all with bloody armor and weapons by the time we’re done! Any of you come back without any sign of gore on you is gonna be cleaning toilets until next winter!”

“Ma’am! Yes, Ma’am!”

Applejack stepped forward. “Good luck, all of ya… and come back alive.” She turned and shouted at the gatesponies.

The gates loudly thudded across the grounds as the mammoth locks unlatched. The massive doors swung outward until it was large enough for Applejack to stand in.

“CHAAAAAARGE!” her voice echoed thunderously across the plains, and she charged out into the open. Her ground army let out a fierce yell and rushed forward, weapons gleaming, while Rainbow Dash led her pegasi screaming overhead.

Shining Armor, wanting to see their plan in action, teleported himself to the wall itself and observed from above.

Please just let this work...

Rainbow Dash and her forces dove and attacked first -- no surprise there. Holding a spear, she and the other aerial ponies dropped them like bombs and pierced their cowering foes easily through their guts, backs, and hindquarters. Circling back around, they dove down again and struck while their victims were still off-balance before heading back up into the air for another run. This allowed their focus to be on Dash and her team before Applejack’s and her part of the army rushed in with barely any resistance.

At last the attackers responded, firing flaming arrows at Rainbow’s air corps, and driving them away.

Applejack’s troop was on them the next moment, bladed greaves out and ready. She was the first to draw blood with a well-delivered kick to the face that sent the dead soldier flying. She took a stance and began kicking as fast as she could towards any enemy that tried to get in close to her. There was a reason why she wore bladed greaves. Not only could she cut and pierce with them, but the metal allowed for her kicks to be twice as deadly.

She bucked behind her, sending a trio of earth ponies looping back, faces bleeding before she whipped around and kicked out, slicing another across the shins and sending her down. Applejack stomped the mare’s neck with a sickening snap and her opponent moved no more.

The farmgirl was suddenly blasted by a magical burst of energy from her right. She ragdolled a few yards before coming to a limp stop on her back. The unicorn who attacked her marched over, inspecting her limp form. Before he could react, however, Applejack snapped her eyes open and swept the unicorn off his own hooves with an upward slice of her foreleg. Quickly kicking herself, she swung her rear leg out, greaves glinting against the flashing lights of the battle, and split his side open. The unicorn’s organs spilled bloodily on the ground, and he collapsed in a dead heap.

Rainbow Dash was just above her. Sombra’s pegasi dove in from high above, but she was quicker than any of them. With her blade in her teeth, all that could be seen was a blue blur and multi-colored streak, followed by blood spilling out of a severed limb or split neck and the poor soul falling to an early grave.

A few high-speed pursuers took off after wing leader who whipped up and away from the center of the fight, luring a good number from the hoard.

Shining Armor looked up and saw where she was leading them. A small series of dark clouds hung above with a number of flanking pegasi approaching from the hidden side of the cover.

Just as Rainbow moved past, the flanking wingponies dove in and kicked at the clouds, unleashing lightning on the squad chasing after her. Their cries stuttered as fifty thousand volts of electricity coursed through their bodies before they fell limp and silent to the earth below.

Rainbow Dash winged over and dove again, picking up speed while gathering the wind around her. A large group of earth ponies and unicorns charged at the open gate below and managed to circle around them. They lashed out at her diving form with arrows and magic, but their attempts hit nothing but the air around her.

Dropping her left wing, she entered into a tight spin around them. The dirt around the invaders began to spin as Dash compressed the air. A rainbow-colored tornado formed picked up the corrupted ponies one by one and threw them in the air.

The soldiers on the wall cheered, not just for the heroic Elements, but for their victorious, hard-fighting comrades.

Shining Armor, however, knew better than to announce victory so early.

Just where the hay is she?

As if by wicked providence upon hearing his thoughts, a bright light appeared at the edge of the army near the cloak of the blizzard, growing bigger and nearer by the second. Shining Armor turned his eyes toward the light source, before widening them in fear. “Shields up! Shields up NOW!”

His cry was heard over the thunder of battle, and the mages swiftly brought up their magic.

A large beam of light smashed into the arcane wall and nearly shattered it into pieces. Unicorns’ bloodcurdling screams tore through the air as they struggled to fight against such power, but somehow the barrier held.

Shining Armor even lent his own magic to reinforce the forcefield, and sweat pooled on his brow when he saw who it was splitting the sky towards them.

She landed with a impact that shook the earth. Whatever cries of celebration and excitement they once had were now silenced by a cold wave of horror.

Lifting her head, Celestia gazed upon the ponies that once called her their ruler. Her blood-tarnished golden armor stood out among the rest of her forces of Sombra. The blood of her subjects. The blood of her sister.

The blood of her student.

Celestia smirked and lit up her horn with a telling light. “All hail King Sombra.”

She fired once and in a fiery blaze, dozens of soldiers from either side were blasted into flaming bits. Those caught in the blast area were sent tumbling helplessly through the air. Ponies charged but with another blast of her horn, scores more fell.

Shining Armor grit his teeth and reached back with his horn to draw his sword when he saw a rainbow blur heading straight for the corrupted matriarch.

“Rainbow Dash, NO!”

Celestia didn’t even need to look out of the corner of her eye. A golden shield arose between them and the pegasus bounced off the arcane wall. Landing on the ground, she spat blood and drew her sword. Flaring her wings, magenta eyes narrowing, she readied herself as ponies backed away, awaiting the battle between the two legends.

Celestia drew her own blade with her magic and twirled it around a bit. “You dare draw your sword on your princess?”

“You’re not my princess,” growled Dash before flashing forward. Her sword glinted in Celestia’s light.

The two clashed, blade to blade. Celestia fought with a grace and experience no others had. Rainbow, however, used her speed and unorthodox style to keep Celestia on edge.

To others, it was like watching a dance, with all the world watching to see who would be the best performer. Rainbow Dash dodged a thrust meant for her chest and spun around before bringing her sword down towards Celestia’s head.

The alicorn’s cheek bled from a thin gash cut across her face.

Seeing the princess wounded made the hopes and hearts of many of the defenders soar.

With an irritated snarl, Celestia lashed out with her magic, snaring the pegasus by her wings and slamming her forcefully against the ground. Rainbow lost her grip on her sword from the shock of the impact. The princess lifted her again and forcefully crushed her against the cold ground once more.

Dash’s cries of pain went out each time her battered body made contact with the earth. Thrown hard against the ground, the pegasus lay trembling, broken, beaten and helpless.

Celestia sneered. “And so ends Loyalty…” she said, raising her blade up over her head.

Rainbow flinched.

“GET AWAY FROM HER!”

Shining Armor already had teleported himself across the battlefield, horn glowing and sword ready.

Somepony else, however, had beaten him to the rescue. A certain orange farmer flung herself into the fray and forcefully bucked Celestia across her armored face with her front legs. Landing beside her remaining friend, Applejack swirled around and growled, her breath heaving.

The princess smirked.

“Good, the both of you are here,” said Celestia, healing the cut she had taken to her face with a surge of magic. “Now at last I can kill the remaining Elements, and any remaining hope of your pathetic resistance.”

Her horn glowed as she slammed her hooves on the ground. A yellow magic circle with runes appeared. Glowing and spreading across the ground until it pushed everypony but Dash and Applejack away.

Shining Armor cursed and grunted as he was flung to the side. He rose quickly, pounding on the barrier, but his efforts proved useless.

Celestia’s horn glowed once again and lightning surged through the circle, honing in on the two trapped Elements. Their tortured screams ripped through the air as a sadistic Celestia only smiled. The soldiers wore horrified expressions as they could only watch their heroes tortured mercilessly.

Shining Armor grit his teeth.

Damnit! When is Cadance sending her?!

Raising her sword, Celestia levitated the two closer to her.

A powerful series of violet blasts, however, shattered the barrier and sent Celestia reeling backwards. She shook her head as the dust cleared, wiping the blood from her nose before she glared up, ready to kill whoever had dared lay a hoof on her.

Her pupils dilated and her jaw dropped as she took several steps back.

“No… that can’t be... You perished!” She shook her head, disbelieving of her own eyes. “I killed you myself!"

Nopony else on either side could believe it either, except for Shining Armor whose breath left him in a sigh of relief.

Twilight Sparkle, decked in her purple armor, hovered overhead, eyes fixed on her former mentor, horn aglow with raw arcane power.

“Release my friends, Celestia! Your battle is with me!”

Celestia stared for many long moments, then closed her eyes before opening them again.

“What trickery is this…?” she demanded. She set her jaw, horn glowing ever-more-brightly. “I felt your lifespark flicker and die… how is it possible that you’re still alive?”

Twilight stared, horn sparking.

The two stunned armies watched on with bated breath. It felt as though Time had lost all meaning. Even as the blizzard fell in gales around the two, the world felt empty except for the two mighty princesses squaring off.

Celestia snarled, taking another few steps back and sheathing her blade.

“Guard captain… signal the retreat. Withdraw to the fallback position and reassemble the ranks...” she begrudgingly commanded an orange pegasus mare nearby.

Her cold eyes then glared at Rainbow Dash and Applejack laying beneath her nearby.

“But we will not leave this battle empty-hooved.”

Before anypony could react, two spears of light formed on either side of the princess and flew towards Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

The two never had a chance and the spears pierced straight through the duo’s chests. Their eyes widened in brief surprise and pain, before they rolled back in their heads and shut.

The two Elements rolled onto their sides and collapsed lifelessly to the ground to the horror of all.

“NOOOOOO!” shouted Twilight flying swiftly to her friends. Celestia used the momentary distraction to teleport herself away, while the rest of her army turned back.

Nopony bothered to chase after them.

All soldiers that had lived gathered around their fallen idols. Countless tears flowed, uncontrollable sobs could be heard, and the survivors lowered their helms respectfully.

Their victory had cost them more than they had been willing to pay.

***

Shining Armor, Cadance, and Twilight Sparkle entered the morgue alone. They had asked for privacy for when they gazed upon the fallen heroes. On the metal beds lay the now deceased Applejack and Rainbow Dash, removed from their armor and their wounds patched over.

An exhausted-looking Cadance sighed as she muttered softly, “Illusion off.”

In an instant the bodies of Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and even Twilight shifted into perfect crystalline replicas of a normal pony bodies.

Cadance walked over to the two “corpses” and shook her head. “I wish the damage hadn’t been so extensive. We don’t have a choice but to use these two as corpses now… Nopony could ever survive damage that extensive. Even if we did bring them back… Celestia would only be suspicious.”

“On the bright side,” Shining Armor said grimly, slicking a hoof through his mane, “Celestia won’t be looking for the real ones anytime soon… And at least we managed to scare her back with the Twilight golem,” muttered Shining.

He looked over at the crystal golem that had taken on his sister’s shape again. Something about her unflawed appearance struck a chord in his heart, and he had to stop himself from reaching out and embracing the automaton.

The crystal golem had been an invention by Sombra of all ponies, before his days of madness, as intelligence gatherers and espionage agents. Most of them had been destroyed over the years by age or neglect. But by sheer dumb fortune, a small hidden group of them had been discovered during the tunnel excavation nearly three years ago, perfectly preserved.

Their existence had been a closely-guarded secret until that day.

“I wish it wasn't a pain to re-enchant them to follow our orders instead of Sombra’s,” the princess said, shaking her head. “If we had at least a few more handy, we could have had all six Elements again.”

“And what cover story would we have for that? We got away with Twilight because we said she was in a coma and we faked her death until her recovery,” said Shining Armor, sighing. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m just grateful that the plan worked. Celestia will hesitate for awhile to attack us now that she’s seen the Twilight gollum. That’ll give Rainbow Dash and Applejack a chance to get underway...”

There was a moment of silence between the two royals.

Then, “Do you think they’re alright?”

Shining Armor sighed before activating the illusions for the two on the metal beds. “For all our sakes, I sure hope they are...”

Author's Note

The Great Unknown

The wilderness was calm and cold, with only the unnatural wind slicing across the darkened plains and the soft pitter-patter of Celestia’s blizzard against the long-dead grass. The world, was cold and, for all intents and purposes, dead.

Then something moved.

Near the base of a frost-covered knoll, a small rocky outcropping stirred, knocking a layer of fresh snow loose. One of the larger boulders budged.

Then a pair of eyes peeked out from behind the stone from the shadows of the hill.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes glinted magenta against the thin light that reached the opening. She leaned against the cold stone and gritted her teeth, pressing firmly against the rock and causing it to budge another few inches, giving her a clear view of the surrounding few meters. She sniffed the air and pricked her ears over the wind, listening for nearby patrols.

The breeze betrayed nothing, and the pegasus let out a relieved sigh, before turning back to the shadow of the jagged tunnels. She scowled and tapped her hoof impatiently against the slick floor.

Several minutes later a winded Applejack pulled herself up out of the depths of the tunnel.

“‘Bout time,” the pegasus said in an impatient whisper. “What did you do? Crawl here?”

“Yeah, it’s easier when ya ain’t gotta run over everything in yer way, ain’t it?” the earth pony scowled heatedly.

“Say what you want, AJ. I think all the housework’s made you soft,” Rainbow said with a wink.

“Sure is easier when yer in the guard runnin’ drills everyday,” the earth pony huffed. “Now get outta the way.”

“Yes ma’am.” Rainbow chortled. Technically, she outranked Applejack, but neither was in a position or mindset to give any credence to the chain of command for the time being.

One inch at a time, the earth pony’s burlier build let her unwedge the rock from the hillside.

Rainbow floated up and leaned the top of the rock just enough to the side to peer around. Her eyes acclimated quickly to the dark landscape, and nothing jumped out at her.

“Clear?”

“From the looks of it,” she acknowledged, and with a grunt and a push, Applejack shoved the boulder aside several more inches.

At last, she forced a gap large enough for the two to fit through, and the pair scampered out into the waiting cold, ducking into the cover of an outcropping.

The earth pony’s fur bristled on contact with the frigid air.

“S-s-s-s-sweet R-R-Rover,” she stammered, emerald eyes widening. Just enough light filtered through the air for her to see her breath leaving her on clouds of steam. The faint snow pelted against her exposed legs like tiny, crystalline projectiles, and she clutched desperately at her thick winter cloak.

“Weird how warm it was underground,” Dash muttered, shaking out her coat and ruffling her feathers. She cast a glimpse Applejack’s way. “You okay?”

“What the hay was I thinkin’ agreein’ to th-this...”

The pegasus smirked and removed her own cloak, draping it around Applejack’s withers.

Her friend appeared about to protest, but Rainbow held her cover firmly in-place.

“You ain’t gonna be cold?”

Rainbow flashed a cocky smile. “What? In this? I’ve flown through worse than this before. No biggie.” She shrugged. “Forgot how you earth ponies can’t handle the cold like we pegasi can.”

“I’ll be f-fine as soon as we start movin’...”

The pegasus nodded. “Then the quicker we get going, the sooner we don’t have to worry about running into Sombra-jerks…”

“Rainbow, wait!” the earth pony protested, her teeth clamping down on the pegasus’s tail.

“Wait for what?!” her friend asked, rubbing her sore tailbone.

“Don’t you think it’d be smarter if ya flew ahead and scouted out the way in front of us? Ain’t nopony exactly been out this far since Shinin’ Armor tried to bust us outta this mess. There could be anything waitin’ for us out here.”

Rainbow blinked and scowled.

“AJ, our friends are back home, fighting for their lives. Every second we take is another friend that dies because we weren’t quick enough!”

“Shh!”

Rainbow pinned her ears and sighed, lowering her voice. “We don’t have time to be careful, Applejack. Time’s something that’s not on our side anymore. Think of Goldie and Cadance and Shining Armor…”

“I am, sugarcube!”

It was Dash’s turn to hush her.

Applejack frowned and calmed herself. “Ain’t nopony know better than I do what’s at stake here, but…” A sharp chill ran through her as a particularly-nasty wind sliced down off the knoll and cut straight through her cloaks.

Even Dash shivered a bit at the sudden cold.

“But it don’t mean we gotta be reckless either,” she continued. “Everypony else is countin’ on us to live long enough to finish the job anyway. It ain’t gonna do anypony any good if we rush off without thinkin’ and die out there...”

The pegasus bit her lip and looked to the south, then to the north, where the palace spires of the distant Crystal Empire still gleamed faintly on the horizon, like a last beacon of hope dancing on the edge of Existence. Even so far away, Applejack felt like she could reach out and touch it, like she still felt its warmth washing over her -- though that was a relative term in this day and age.

Rainbow grit her teeth and looked to the south again.

“We can be quick and careful…” she muttered impatiently.

“Rainbow…”

“‘Rainbow’, nothin’! We have a mission to complete and we’re not going to finish it by standing around talking about it!”

Applejack pinned her ears back.

In days past, she would have met Dash’s bullheadedness with her own and put the pegasus squarely in her place. Her friend’s brashness and attitude, however, had saved either of their lives on multiple occasions, and experience had taught her well when it was and wasn’t worth arguing with her.

Rainbow Dash had transformed a long time ago from a starry-eyed dreamer into a hardened warrior, and she had the instincts to back it up.

Applejack, on the other hoof, had learned to know when to step aside.

She relented. “You have a plan then?”

Rainbow’s stern expression slowly softened and she glimpsed around with the eyes of a bird-of-prey.

She turned back to face the farmgirl. “You still got that map of Equestria on you?”

Applejack blinked and looked down at her saddlebags, retrieving the scroll and hoofing it over.

Rainbow nestled herself down low into the shelter of the rocky outcropping and knocked her aurastone necklace several times to improve the lighting it gave off.

Applejack glimpsed around several times as a precaution and hunched low, peering through the low light at the map.

The pegasus’s stone highlighted the Crystal Empire on the map, then traced south, peering all around the perimeter of the old Imperial prairies.

“Not much cover if we get seen by a passing pegasus or something…” Rainbow muttered, narrowing her eyes.

The light of her stone stopped to the south and slightly to the east.

Her hoof landed on Neighagra Falls.

“We can break for here. There’s water, cover from air scouts, and shelter from the weather. ...We can hope, anyway.”

“‘We can hope?’” Applejack raised an eyebrow at her friend. “That don’t sound very reassurin’.”

Dash sighed and shoved the map back into her saddlebags. “It’s the best chance we’ve got anyway. Following the train tracks would be suicide, and the river wouldn’t be much better…” The pegasus looked at her grimly. “At least this way, we have nature on our side.”

“And you don’t think Celestia and her goons would figure the same thing?”

Rainbow looked at her. “It wouldn’t be any different if we just hoofed it straight south for several days. Except Celestia isn’t looking for us yet, and we have the bonus of cover this way, which gives us an advantage for a change.”

Applejack couldn’t help it. She chuckled.

The pegasus looked at her quizzically. “What?”

Reining in her giggles, the farmgirl smiled. “You. Lookit you. Actin’ all grown up and serious…”

Rainbow blushed. “Y-yeah? What about it?”

Applejack sighed wistfully. “I can still remember when it was a pain the neck to get you off yer rump to do anything work-related.”

“Yeah.” Rainbow smirked. “Good times.”

The two smiled at each other.

“C’mon pardner. Let’s go.”

Nodding silently, Rainbow turned to the south again and led the duo down the blighted hill, and onward into the waiting unknown.

***

The procession passed by like shadows against the light of a flash stone in the background. One after another, faceless shapes would pause in front of the faintly-lit crystalline caskets. Their heads would bow in respect, and then they would move on to make way for the next pony.

She lost track of how much time had passed or how many had paid their dues; there were far more ponies to count than a single line of them could accommodate in any reasonable amount of time. Minutes had passed like hours, and Golden Scabbard sat in the front row, watching it all take place in front of her. Endless shadows crossed her dull, soulless expression like a slide show of familiar-yet-nameless ponies.

Every so often, one of the attendees would approach her and offer their condolences.
Not that she heard them. She was simply aware of them speaking to her, and that the occasional word she picked up implied that they were expressing sympathies.

Most ponies who were on the line of battle knew that the three were a virtually unstoppable trio. Battle, for them, had become such an art form that the three would hold little competitions mid-fight to see the body count they could wrack up before the opposing forces tucked tail and ran. Some had referred to them as “The Elements of War”.

Now they were gone, and the hopelessness was palpable, and not an iota of it was offset by the mysterious return of Princess Twilight Sparkle.

A foal passed by, nuzzling against her unwounded fetlock, and she looked down.

A tiny earth pony filly – she couldn’t be more than a few seasons old – pinned her ears and stumbled nervously back beneath her gaze. She didn’t even come up to barrel-height for the mare, and her black mane and gray fur appeared to be in dire need of a brush. Not even a cutie mark adorned her flanks.

Goldie blinked blankly and motioned with her good hoof.

The filly responded slowly, timidly approaching the wounded warrior. Goldie brushed her hoof down the foal’s mane and back.

“Where are your parents?” she asked softly.
The filly looked up at her and rubbed her fetlock against her watering eyes.

Heart aching, Goldie reached forward and took the filly under her hoof and pulled her nearer before looking back to the funeral line.

The shadowy specters of mourners flickered across her field of vision, one by one.

She couldn’t tell how long it had taken for the line to disperse.

A guard acting as usher approached her, gently prodding her side.

He asked her if she wished to say her goodbyes – her goodbyes to a pair of false idols, laying in crystalline caskets and casting a black shadow of misery over the congregation.

Her eyes traced slowly back to the caskets, wherein lay her “friends”, dead from their fierce struggle.

The soft, magical light of the candles illuminating their remarkably-convincing faces lent an air of somberness over the innumerable bouquets of flowers that otherwise did not exist in her eyes. The caskets flickered not only with a crystal surface, but the hundreds of false tears shed over the bodies of the golems.

She looked back to the guard, then the gathering around her that avoided her gaze out of respect. Her golden gaze then looked down to the mother- and fatherless filly, clinging desperately to her leg.

Silently she slid out of her pew and nudged at the filly with her hoof, spurring her into motion.

The two turned for the exits and Golden Scabbard led in a limp amidst whispers of concern, outrage, pity, or whatever it was they were saying – she didn’t care.

Already, all the light of hope had vanished from her charges’ faces, and expressions weary with emotion passed by in countless numbers on either side of her.

One of her nurses from the critical care wing of the palace rushed to stop her, only to be pushed aside by a pulse of her horn.

She didn’t care if she was abandoning the funeral early or for what her caretakers had to say. She cared little for the false whispers of encouragement the Princess would have for the remains of her Empire. To her, knowing they were empty made them meaningless.

The pair of guards watching the entrance of the palace looked at each other as the little filly and her surrogate guardian approached.

Neither dared pull rank to try and stop her, and a level stare from Goldie was all that was needed to have their way cleared for them.

The pair stopped at the top of the palace steps together. Beneath them, several lines of honor guards barred the entrance of any others. Thousands of ponies, perhaps more, held vigil, grasping or levitating mourning candles and creating a sparkling, multihued sea of light below.

The guards parted way for the two as they passed, and Goldie led the way through the crowds back to the Diamond District.

***

All was silent, dead and normal perched on the edge of the Crystal Plains.

In stark contrast to the brilliant Imperial capital nearly fifty miles away, Celestia’s fortress-like stronghold seemed to devour every photon of light that came near like a black hole. Legions of soldiers of all races surrounded its armed, spiked walls, performing drills, escorting prisoners, and mending damaged arms and armor.

The wounded, the sick, the dead and the dying lay in droves all around the grounds, filling the air with – what was to Celestia – a pleasant precursor to the main event to come, and a happy reminder of those past to soothe her rattled nerves.

The former matriarch of Equestria draped a hoof over the edge of the highest tower in the fortress and fixed the Crystal Palace in the distance with dark, hateful eyes.

The visions ran through her head, and the more she thought about it, the less she liked it. For years, she had been convinced of her former pupil’s death. She had torn her body asunder, left her crushed, broken and beaten at her hooves.

If it hadn’t been for Princess Cadance’s timely intervention, she would have killed her right there.

No doctor, no matter how skilled – not even her own surgeon could have mended such wounds…

Celestia’s eyes narrowed.

“M'lady, the courier has arrived.”

Her ear twitched, and gray eyes slowly turned to the right. One of her generals, Spitfire, if she remembered correctly, stood at attention at the top of the spiraling stairwell. A cup of steaming tea was extended to her in offering.

Celestia eyed the beverage with contempt and looked at her air marshal bitterly.

Spitfire shuffled uneasily beneath her queen-lord’s gaze.

No more words were uttered, and Celestia instead turned her steely attention back to the gleaming city.

Without hesitation, the Wonderbolt flight’s commander bowed her head respectfully and turned to retreat down into the shadows of the tower.

A biting wind blew by, and the former princess bit her lip, drawing blood.

You've impressed me before, my dear student... have you truly learned to conquer Death's cold clutches as well?

No answer came to her mind, no matter how long she considered the possibilities. Even the ex-matriarch's vast wealth of arcane knowledge and experience could come up with no solution to how her once-precious apprentice had survived her wounds.

Celestia snorted.

“Or perhaps, I simply wasn't thorough enough the first time...” she muttered.

The clatter of unsure hoofsteps behind her drew her attention once more, and an old, black sky carriage drawn by old personal guard landed. A trio of unicorns forcefully threw a rucksack to the stony, black floor and disembarked from the ride.

A pony-sized form wriggled insistently in the sack. From the sounds of his – she assumed – muffled gasps for air.

A slight pulse from Celestia's horn and the top of the makeshift bag came undone, roughly spilling Chanter's ragged body onto the cold ground.

Celestia turned to the couriers and nodded, receiving a salute in turn before the carriage was drawn off.

The trio of unicorns forced the doomsayer to his hooves with painful sparks of magic.

The former ruler's dark eyes looked over her former subject as a lion would prey.

“You kept me waiting...” she droned, though the undercurrents of impatience ran strong in the firm tone of her voice. “I left myself quite exposed waiting outside the wall for you... after an hour waiting, I was beginning to think that you had been discovered...”

In normal circumstances, Celestia would have been furious for being made to wait. Her mind had been occupied enough, however, to cool her infamous wrath.

“F-forgive me m'lady. The guard details were strict in where we—”

Celestia's gaze grew stern, and Chanter became quiet.

“If your regent bids thee come, you come,” she said firmly. “I would hardly ever risk an asset for something insignificant, you understand.”

Chanter swallowed nervously and nodded wordlessly.

Celestia turned her icy gaze back to the city.

“I presume that the deaths of the last two Elements of Harmony have left the populace in turmoil.” A slim smile crossed her muzzle. “Their morale is broken. The funeral services have doubtlessly left hope shattered, and an entire Empire on its knees, awaiting its inevitable end.” She glimpsed backwards to Chanter. “Yes?”

Chanter averted his eyes and didn't answer.

“Except for one thing, of course...” she purred menacingly.

The doomsayer flinched.

“The unexpected return of an old student of mine, while certainly a surprise, had most definitely left me questioning the value of your information... all of it,” she said. “For it was you, I believe, who informed me of her demise the first time, yes?”

He bit his lip.

“And lo, just as I am on the cusp of ultimate victory – just as I have dashed my greatest enemies into broken dolls and smite their ruined bodies upon the freezing, dying battlefields for which they have fought, just as I am on the verge of the elimination of Old Harmony itself...”

She turned, a goddess angered as though she were a building thunderstorm.

“...when who should appear to light my foes' darkest hour?”

She stopped, mere inches from crushing him under her mighty hoof.

“Are there any other of mine enemies long-forgotten whose impending return I should be aware of? Have my old friends Applejack and Rainbow Dash gained Enlightenment through the Elements they bore? Have their deaths done nothing more than allow them to rise again in regal splendor as phoenixes from the ashes of their old forms?”

The former Sun Princess's breath could be likened unto the heat rolling off burning coals. The waves of fear rolling off of Chanter's prone form fed her fury further, and he covered his head as if in preparation for an attack.

One of the unicorn guards yanked up on his mane sharply.

“Her Ladyship asked you a question, knave!”

“SPEAK!” another demanded.

Celestia raised a hoof calmly, and all was silent again, the armored unicorns falling back into line behind the informant.

She stared down at the trembling stallion, and took a deep breath.

“You can understand my awkward position, Chanter,” she said.

The named pony looked up in surprise at the monarch.

“If, after all, this information you gave me about my fallen pupil proved to be untrue, how can I know for sure that other things you have told me cannot be as unreliable?” Her eyes narrowed dangerously. “Are you so certain that the wielders of the Elements of Harmony could be destroyed so easily? Are you so certain that you have not been discovered – that you are not falling for a deception that is beyond your ability to comprehend?”

“Y-Your Highness...” he sputtered, “I attended the funeral of Loyalty and Honesty. I saw their bodies myself...”

“It is not the fates of the Elements of Loyalty and Honesty that concern me, slave...”

Cold eyes, calm and calculating reached deep into his soul.

“Th-then—”

“If my dear Twilight has truly returned from her grave – that is, if she truly ever perished—”

“Sh-she did, m'lady! I saw her perish!”

“SILENCE.”

Even the wind and Celestia's own guard attachment stood deathly still. The irritation the sun immortal wore on her expression was a dire one.

Celestia breathed again and looked to the city with disgust.

“Regardless of the circumstances of Twilight Sparkle's unfortunate return, I must know for sure the source of this 'second life' she now has.” Her dark eyes narrowed. “I must know where she has been all these years... what she has been seeking... and why she has chosen now, of all times to return.”

Celestia turned back to Chanter.

“This is your task. Be swift and bring word to me quickly...” Her eyes twitched, looking at something far behind her indentured servant.

Chanter turned, and saw—

“D-daddy?”

His breath left him as his daughter was brought up to the roof on a tight chain.

Chanter reached forward to reclaim his little girl, but was shoved back by the trio of unicorn guards barring his way. A group of blades hovered before him, wrapped in dark, telekinetic auras.

Celestia's hoof fell forcefully on his withers, pinning him to the ground.

“Remember... there is much at stake for your success...” She narrowed her eyes at him. “And a heavy price for betrayal...”

Author's Note

Sorry for the lateness. I'll do better next chapter. T_T - TwilightUCrazy

In These Woods, The Past Lingers

Everypony had been to Neighagra Falls at least once in their life. It was a popular resort destination in the past, and most Equestrians made the pilgrimage to mark the passing from foalhood into adolescence.

Rainbow Dash had been twice. The first was during a summer vacation with her parents. That was the year she’d tried to fly around the falls, only to learn it was a no-fly zone. Her parents had given her quite the scolding that day, and she had almost been denied her passing as a result.

The second was a less pleasant memory.

It had been one of the stops she and thousands of others had made after the Fall of Canterlot. The lifeless forest that held nothing but silence and the stench of decay was anything but a welcoming sight, save for the giant waterfall of clean water. Despite the falls, however, Sombra’s poisoning of the land made it clear that nothing would bring back the once-luscious forests. The towns had been reduced to rubble and held nothing of value after a few quick checks.

Rainbow Dash flew over the edge of the falls, careful not to get too close and be dragged down with the freezing water. The feeling of the fresh mist glazing her coat was like diving into a tub of ice cream, cool and fresh, and with all the running and flying through the border into Equestria, she needed the wash. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a bath.

Flipping over on her back, Rainbow Dash folded her wings and nose-dived straight towards the deep basin below.

Closing her eyes, she shut the world around her and felt her body relax before she shot into the water. Down and down she went like a torpedo, lingering for what felt like forever beneath the surface. She felt almost as if she had been removed from life itself as the feeling of cold nothingness penetrated her dense coat and filtered through her feathers.

She couldn’t clearly remember a time when she had been so relaxed -- when she wasn’t waiting in anxiety for the next siege or another rebellion. There was only her and the water and the feeling of oblivion.

Then, slowly, she breathed outward as her buoyancy carried her back to the equally-frigid surface.

After a few deep breaths, she noticed an orange figure highlighted faintly by a distant aurastone. Applejack was waving her back to the beach. So after a few more splashes and twirls through the water she swam for shore.

Arriving at the shoreline, Dash hastily shook herself dry and sat down on the small circle of blankets Applejack had assembled and guzzled from one of the water canteens. Fires were a no-no, especially when you were on the run in a realm of eternal darkness.

“You know,” she said, wiping her mouth, “if it wasn’t for all the dead… everything, this place wouldn’t be so bad.”

Applejack didn’t respond. She only continued to bury herself under one of the blankets they’d brought.

Rainbow frowned and nudged closer. “Hey, I’m sure they’re okay back home. I have a feeling they all made out fine. Call it a fighter’s instinct.”

Still no response.

Sighing in frustration, Rainbow Dash continued to drink while turning her back to Applejack to gaze at the once-beautiful falls. “Look, if you want play the silent game, that’s fine. Just trying to help out...” She stretched her damp wings a bit before continuing. “Anyway, if we head down the mountain path we should be able to make it to Canterlot in about three days.” She forced a smile. “Gotta say, I hope Sombra at least tidied the place up. Or at least opened a hotel...”

Applejack rose to her hooves suddenly. “I’m goin’ for a walk.”

The pegasus blinked. “Um, okay?”

Her friend filed out of the clearing without so much as a word.

“Don’t go too far!” she called after her.

Applejack only nodded before disappearing into the nearby forest. Her eyes were as lifeless as their surroundings. It was as though she were looking into the face of a zombie.

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and rested her head atop her forelegs like a pillow while keeping her ears perked. She had no illusions of safety in spite of their distance from the front lines. They were in Equestrian territory again. Sombra owned every part of it. An enemy scout could be anywhere.

And where there was one, there were often many. Alert one and you could alert a dozen more. And those dozens could alert an army.

Rainbow knew better than to think they would be able to get through this without a fight. Hay, she didn’t deny the idea they could just as easily die. But she was just as determined to relax when she had a chance. Some things never changed.

She only wished the same could be said for Applejack.

What is it about this place that has her so worked up, anyway? Haven’t seen her act this uptight in years, she thought to herself.

She threw a look through the clearing in the treeline that Applejack had vanished into.

I mean the last time we were here was when…

Rainbow froze mid-thought, and slowly clapped her hoof over her face.

Oh, wow, I am such an idiot.

Rainbow Dash shot up and felt the need to give herself a swift, hard kick in the rump for forgetting what all her friend had lost here in these woods.

Or rather, who she had lost...

***

It had been five years since she had been through these very woods, and Dash’s memory wasn’t exactly the best. She was also sure she had made a few wrong turns.Still, she had to find Applejack and be there for her, though. A part of her wanted to smack the earth pony for not even taking her in the first place.

She had just as much right to visit the grave as she did.

It was her, after all, that convinced Applejack it was for the best to do what she had to do… or at least, that was what she had thought at the time… even if she hadn’t spoken to her, or Twilight, for nearly a week after.

Soon enough she spotted the farmer, looking down at a single, small pile of dirt, untouched by hooves or the elements since it was first made. Applejack said nothing, nor did she acknowledge Dash’s approach, even when she landed right alongside her. Her dark green eyes remained fixed on the ground in front of her.

Remaining quiet out of respect, Rainbow focused on the wooden, carved gravestone, and the red ribbon wrapped around it.

Apple Bloom

Loving Sister and Proud Crusader

Rest in Peace

Rainbow Dash didn’t need to think about it, and instinctively put a comforting wing around Applejack as the memory of the past flickered on the surface of their minds.

***

“You shouldn’t use that wing for at least three days, Rainbow Dash. You’re lucky the arrow only grazed you and didn’t cause any permanent harm. If you had been even slightly less lucky, you might never have flown again,” said Nurse Redheart as she applied the medical tape to the injured patch on her left wing.

Dash herself was silent -- all she could do was stare out over the rest of the patients in the medical tent. This one at the very least. They had at least a hundred, but that wasn’t enough for the tens of thousands that had been making the migration together, leaving many open to the empty skies and cruelly cold temperatures.

The vast majority of the wounded -- mostly those less-critical -- were forced to be outside, lounging in the forest and dirt rather than in the shelter of the triage tent.

Rainbow Dash nodded her thanks to Redheart as the nurse moved to assist a fellow soldier -- Lunar Guard she guessed by the armor -- who’d had his right eye slashed out and a deep sword wound in his belly.

Rainbow Dash had seen enough injuries in the past several weeks to know he was a goner. Hay, she had seen more wounded and dead already to last her six lifetimes. Passing by the stretchers of bodies and exhausted medical staff, she made her way out of the tent and saw the sea of thousands more. Nearly eighty percent of their number were civilians from Canterlot, Ponyville, and other nearby cities in the north trying to escape Sombra’s horde.

Last they’d heard, the cities to the east had sailed to the lands of griffins, zebras, dragons and more for shelter. The southlands had been trapped between Sombra’s closing grip and the Badlands, where death from either side was a certainty.

The west had already fallen. Every city, town, and village had been obliterated or subsumed. Not a single soul from there lived that wasn’t dead or corrupted.

In a matter of weeks, all of Equestria had been overrun. The very idea of it being gone forever was still sinking in, not only in her mind but the minds of everypony. No one smiled. Not even children. Even the fact that they were alive felt like nothing worth celebrating. Most were too busy sobbing, holding each other, or praying to their now-dead princesses. But the only thing every one of them did, including Rainbow Dash, was gaze up into the unfamiliar, ominous skies filled with nothing but an unending, featureless void.

Rainbow still waited for the nightmare to end, but sleep never came; not easily. All she could see when she closed her eyes were her dead friends.

Fluttershy breathing her last as the thorny vines strangled the very life out of her.

Rarity laying in a pool of her own blood from multiple stab wounds.

Scootaloo’s pleading eyes for help before being dragged underground.

Discord, a friend in the end, sacrificing himself so that they could all escape the warzone Ponyville had become.

Pinkie with blades plunged into her barrel.

Spike in Twilight’s arms as he closed his pale eyes for eternal sleep.

Luna’s dying scream as her own sister, corrupted by Sombra’s twisted influence, smote her writhing body upon the crater-ridden Canterlot streets...

It had all grown to be too much for her psyche to bear, and that made fighting to keep the corrupted off their tails a better choice. Although, she thought as she glared at her wing, I guess I won’t be doing that for awhile.

Sighing to herself, Dash made her way to another hospital unit not too far from where she was. The tent was far smaller than the others, with enough space only for its one patient. She spotted Twilight landing nearby in her bloodied battle armor of purple and white. Several royal aids rushed over to undress her while Rainbow walked over.

Her brain was trying to process the idea of Twilight, the eggheaded bookworm and nerd to the extreme, fighting in actual battles of life and death. The Element of Magic had always been opposed to killing for as long as she’d known her, even writing several papers on the abolition of the death penalty.

Sombra’s blitzkrieg had forced her to change. It’d forced all of them to change.

“How’s it looking?” the pegasus asked softly as Twilight, now rid of her armor, drank down a full canteen of water.

“Not the best,” she gasped as she lowered the container from her lips, “but far from the worst. We’ve been able to hold them back for several days, but we’re going to have to move soon. We can’t wait for my brother’s reinforcements any longer. We’ll have to fall back on our backup plan and make for the Crystal Empire,” she said, as she wiped the water off her face and handed back the canteen to the aid.

“Not all of us are gonna be ready for the cold, Twilight,” pointed out Dash impatiently.

“And none of us were ready for this situation in the first place, Rainbow Dash. But we’re running out of options,” snapped Twilight.

Rainbow’s eyes widened and she backpedaled.

The princess’s gaze quickly softened, and her firm stance relaxed noticeably. “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to yell. It’s just...”

Dash stepped forward and put a hoof on her shoulder, nodding. “I know. Don’t worry about it.” She then turned to the tent. “I was just gonna check on AJ and…” Her voice trailed off as a sore sensation arose in her throat. She forced a confident smile. “You coming?”

Twilight nodded and the two stepped forward, hearing quite the sudden commotion before entering the tent. The two of them winced as Apple Bloom struggled against her bonds. A group of nurses and Applejack tried desperately to hold her still as Doctor Stable felt around on the filly’s leg with the aura of his horn. “Ms. Bloom! Please, try to hold still!”

“Stop it! Stop the voices! He’s gonna get me! He’s gonna GET ME!” shouted the little filly, her face filled with terror as her bloodshot eyes widened. Her mane and fur had already begun to lose their color, while one eye had become green and slitted, with black, branching veins stretching outward from the whites.

“Apple Bloom! It’s okay! You’re safe, sugarcube! I promise!” Applejack lied to her younger sibling. Tears streamed down her freckled cheeks as she struggled to keep her little sister pinned to the cot.

“I can hear ‘er… I can hear Princess Celestia... Sweetie Belle... Big Mac... they want me to join ’em...”

“Don’t listen to ‘em, darlin’! Fight it, please!” Applejack turned to Doctor Stable. “Hurry it up, already!”

Doctor Stable finally managed to locate a vein, and the little filly gasped before her eyes began to flutter drowsily. Her little body slowly went limp, and she turned to her big sister with the last of her strength. “Don’t... let me... be like them...” she said hoarsely. “Don’t let ‘im take me, Applejack…”

Applejack nuzzled her sister’s cheek before firmly kissing her on the forehead. “I won’t. I swear on my heart, I won’t.”

“Excuse us, Miss, but we have to analyze her,” the doctor said urgently.

“But--”

Twilight and Rainbow Dash finally made their presence known, each putting a wing around the farmgirl.

“Applejack, let Doctor Stable do his job,” the princess insisted.

Applejack opened her mouth, seeming ready to argue. Rainbow held her firmly, setting a hoof on her withers, and at last she nodded and walked out of the tent with her friends, and over into the shelter of a low-hanging tree. She took a few deep breaths before she screamed and turned to the tree, bucking so hard against it that she left her hoof imprints in the bark.

Rainbow winced and made to stop her, but Twilight held her leg up in front of her and shook her head.

Applejack continued to beat her hind legs against the tree trunk, even as it became uprooted and fell to the ground under her enraged assault. She stomped it, causing its already-weakened structure to crack, and ripped it apart branch by branch with her bare teeth, nearly hitting others with flying debris. Several bystanders looked on abject terror, shying away from the rampaging earth pony.

After ten long minutes of fury, Applejack finally collapsed in exhaustion, her anger gradually folding in lieu of tears. Twilight removed her hoof and released Rainbow to help their friend up. The pegasus wrapped her in a fierce hug, and Twilight joined the pair, enfolding the small group in her sheltering wings.

Dash turned to Twilight, the etchings of concern knitting into her brow. “Is… is there anything we can do?”

Twilight sighed and slowly broke away from the hug. Lowering her head to the point where her bangs covered her eyes, she whispered back, “I’ve tried everything I could think of. Nothing I, or any of the rest of the arcane council know of seems to work on this... this corruption. Once you’re infected, it slowly works itself into your leylines and body, twisting you into one of his slaves...”

“Like zombies in a horror movie?”

Twilight didn’t answer. She raised her head and looked at Applejack. “It won’t be much longer until she’s completely overcome. I’m amazed that she’s lasted as long as she has but…” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “But it’s inevitable... eventually… eventually Apple Bloom will be just like the Cakes… Rarity’s parents… my mother and father… and all the others...”

Applejack gave such a glare that Rainbow Dash was sure she might attack the alicorn right then and there. “Don’t even think about it, Twilight,” she snarled, her eyes still blurred by tears.

Twilight Sparkle’s ears folded. “Applejack, if she becomes like them... she’ll be able to link with them... this hive mind they have. Sombra will have complete control over her. He would make her into his puppet and there would be nothing left of her... I can’t risk that happening. We can’t risk that happening.”

“She ain’t gonna turn! We can lock her up if it comes to that! Just keep ‘er in chains until we find a cure if that’s what ya gotta do!” shouted Applejack, stomping her hoof.

Rainbow Dash gulped.

“We’ve already tried imprisonment, Applejack. Whatever spell Sombra has her under... this corruption spell he’s cast allows him to kill any of those who are of no use to him anymore,” said the princess, who stood her ground with an unbreakable frown.

“Then let me take her somewhere! Let me get ‘er away from here! Ah’ll take care of her myself and y’all can just go on to the Crystal Empire yourselves!” shouted Applejack, her voice getting higher and more desperate.

Rainbow wasn’t sure if she was ready to break down and cry, or kill.

It was Twilight’s turn to glare. “Applejack, you are one of the three living Elements of Harmony! It’s your duty to help us! Everypony is counting on us!”

“I don’t CARE! I never asked to be this!” she screamed. “I never wanted to be a hero! I’m just a farmer!” she insisted, collapsing to her rump. The tears streamed down her face.

The pegasus’s heart wrenched for her friend.

“I’m just a farmer… I don’t wanna be a hero…” Applejack rasped, covering her eyes. “I don’t wanna be a hero… I don’t wanna be a hero… I don’t wanna do this…”

“Applejack,” Twilight said firmly, “if you go out there with Apple Bloom, she WILL turn into one of Sombra’s minions…” She paused, taking a breath and setting her jaw. “And when she does turn, she’ll kill you too...”

“I’d rather be killed by my OWN SISTER than kill ‘er myself!” shouted Applejack, standing and pressing into Twilight’s personal space. Neither pony moved as they stared each other down, eye to eye. “I’ve lost everything! EVERYTHING! My farm! My home! My town! My Granny! My brother! And who knows how many of my other relatives are alive at this point?! My sister is all Ah got left! Ya can’t ask me to kill ‘er!” At last Applejack’s grief-stricken rage smoldered just enough for the princess to gain the upper hoof.

The farmpony’s eyes became pleading.

“Please don’t make me kill ‘er…”

Twilight’s eyes softened, brimming with unspilled tears of her own.

“I’d never make you do something like that, Applejack... But we have to end her suffering now… while she’s still the pony we know and love...” A teardrop etched a course down her cheek. “I know what you’re going through… believe me, I do… I never thought I could live with myself after I ended Spike’s life...”

Rainbow Dash lowered her head in remembrance of the dragon.

Applejack grit her teeth angrily and spat on the ground. “Who gave ya the right?!” she demanded, her voice straining.

“I WAS GIVEN THE RIGHT WHEN I BECAME THE LAST PRINCESS OF EQUESTRIA, APPLEJACK,” shot back Twilight, spreading her wings authoritatively. “I can’t look out for just one pony anymore… I have responsibilities to all of my citizens, now, and not just my friends and family.” She breathed once more, and fixed Applejack’s eyes with an intense stare. Nonetheless, she softened her voice. “I’m only giving you a chance to do this because… because you are her sister. If you don’t wish to do it, somepony else can.”

All was still and quiet for several long moments.

“Believe me, my friend, if there was another way to end this I would gladly take it... but there isn’t.”

The farmer said nothing. Then, with a quivering lip, she turned away and ran as swiftly as she could towards the woods.

Rainbow Dash turned to Twilight who appeared ready to fall down and never get up again. “I’ll talk to her.”

“Thank you...” whispered Twilight as she slowly turned and made her way in the opposite direction.

Dash nodded before chasing after Applejack.

It wasn’t hard to follow her. The sight of so many broken trees was a big enough trail of bedcrumbs to follow.

When Rainbow Dash finally caught up, she was sitting on her haunches, staring down at the ground. Her entire coat was covered with scratches and dirt, her hooves chipped and bloody. But Applejack didn’t even seem to give one damn.

Rainbow Dash swallowed painfully as she walked over and sat down right behind her, their backs facing each other. For a long time, there was a thick silence between them. Rainbow Dash had never had a sibling -- Scootaloo had been the closest thing she’d had to one. If there was one thing Rainbow Dash was never going to forget for the rest of her life, however long or short it may be, it was Scootaloo’s eyes in her final moments. Her desperate plea for Rainbow to save her, echoing in her mind so many times... to have her idol rescue her from certain death.

And then she was gone. Dragged into the earth by the accursed black vines.

One final scream of her name... and then nothing.

It was a scream that would haunt Rainbow Dash forever.

“Ah can’t do it...” whispered Applejack without looking behind her. “Ah can’t let ‘em do it...”

“Applejack...” said Rainbow Dash softly. “If I’d had your choice… if it had been Scootaloo lying there…”

She clenched her teeth and closed her eyes.

“I wouldn’t let him have her… I wouldn’t let it be anypony but me…”

Silence. Then...

“... why?”

Dash breathed. “Because it’s a fate worse than death. Would you really let Apple Bloom be forced to go through the trauma of killing? What if she killed you? Or Cheerilee? Or one of her other friends?” She looked up to the empty sky. “Do you have any idea what it might be like to become a monster like that?”

Rainbow Dash turned and put a hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “I know you don’t wanna do this… I get that... but think long and hard about what she would rather have. Don’t you think Apple Bloom would wanna die as Apple Bloom instead of another slave?”

Applejack lowered her head even further and sniffled.

“It ain’t fair... it just ain’t fair...”

“I know it’s not. None of this is...” whispered Rainbow Dash, fully embracing the teary-eyed farmer from behind. “But you don’t have to face this unfair world alone...” She held her tightly, pressing her cheek against the side of Applejack’s head.

“I’m here… I’ll always be here…”

And Applejack wept.

***

Apple Bloom was still asleep by the time they were ready. Applejack had given her consent to the euthanasia, the most painless death they could give the little filly. All Applejack could do was stare at her sister, holding Dash’s hoof as she did her best to breathe.

Twilight watched from the corner, silent and alone, fulfilling her duty, she’d said, as a princess and as a friend to be present.

Doctor Stable sighed and, with the injection of the life-ending substance in his telekinetic grip, walked over to the sleeping filly. “Do you have any last words you’d like to say to her?”

Applejack nodded and walked over towards her sister. She gently pushed back the formerly red mane and kissed her forehead.

“One day, sugarcube... we’ll all be a family again. Just ya wait. Ah’ll be there to join ya someday and we’ll all be happy together forever. But for now... just… just sleep tight... and goodnight, little sis.”

She paused, biting her lip and mustering all of her courage. Tears fell from her chin like rain.

“Goodbye…” she whimpered.

Applejack kissed her one more time and held the little filly tightly before she nodded to the doctor. She watched as he injected the needle into her tiny leg, hugging her little sister even tighter. “Ah’ll never forgive ya for this, Twilight... Ah’ll never forgive you...” she breathed painfully.

Rainbow Dash didn’t turn around, but she swore she heard Twilight say, “And I wouldn’t ask you to...”

The three of them watched as Apple Bloom, the last of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, breathed her last breath and faded from life.

She never looked so peaceful.

***

“Let’s go...” muttered Applejack, turning away from the grave as Dash snapped out of her memory. “Ah wanna leave here and never come back...”

Rainbow Dash nodded and was about to follow when she paused and asked, “Have you ever forgiven her after all this time? For what happened to Apple Bloom?”

Applejack stopped and, without turning around, replied. “To my ever-lastin’ shame... no... but Ah’ll never forgive Sombra neither...”

Nothing else was said as the two ventured away.

All that remained was a lonely little grave, and a cold, dead silence.

Author's Note

If you don't know why I enjoyed writing this chapter so much, you don't know me very well- Rated

What We Fight For

Golden Scabbard stared across the kitchen table at the little filly. The anonymous orphan ate ravenously, devouring the stale bread and drinking down the watery soup she had offered her. The carrot was long-gone, stem and all, and all that remained of the apple was the stem and a partially-devoured core.

Goldy considered her size, and the fact that she hadn’t said a word since she’d led her home. Her coat and hooves were slicked with street grime. And her mane had obviously never felt a brush. She was young; perhaps not yet able to speak. Or she was mute. Perhaps her parents had died before they’d taught her to speak.

She belched, and continued feeding without missing a beat.

The guard captain smiled and levitated over a napkin with her chipped horn. The little filly almost reminded her of Rainbow Dash in her mannerisms. Except, her friend had become numb to fear. The poor little yearling before her had yet to develop that trait.

“Guess you haven’t eaten this well in a while,” she said with smile.

The filly looked up from her plate and shrank, as if only now remembering she was there. Her ears folded and she shrank beneath her gaze.

“Hold still.” The napkin levitated closer and brushed the crumbs and soup off her lips. “Be careful. Don’t eat too fast, okay? You don’t want to make yourself sick.”

Her confidence bolstered, the small gray filly continued to tear into her meal, slurping loudly at her soup bowl. The silver spoon clattered to the floor, discarded in favor of simplicity.

Goldy shook her head and chuckled. She’d seen it before. Most ponies when nearly starved to death would eat with a fervor to reflect it. She’d seen far too many of her fellow warriors die literally eating themselves to death.

She tried an alternative approach.

“Do you have a name?”

The filly paused, swallowing a bite of bread. She stared at her, clutching the bread she’d been given.

“Can you speak?”

The foal hid behind her bread helping and shook her head.

Goldy smiled in the friendliest manner she could muster. “Can you understand me?”

A nod.

Encouraged by the little orphan’s reply, she tried again. “Do you… come from Equestria?”

The filly shook her head.

“You’re very young. Were you born here?”

A nod.

Goldy sighed inwardly. To have been born in such darkness, and never to have seen the golden light of the sun or the silvery moon… Something so elemental, so essential, was surely the birthright of all that lived. And the fact that this little filly could die soon, having never seen either bothered her.

“Your mother and father – did they fight in the army?”

She nodded.

“They… never came home, then?”

She shook her head, hugging the bread loaf as though it were a doll. She seemed so small, so vulnerable. It amazed her that such a young foal could survive on her own at all.

“I’m sorry…”

No reply.

“My parents died during the attack on Canterlot. My mother was a maid in service to Princess Luna, and my father was the captain of the Royal Guard. When Princess Luna gave the order to evacuate the city, they stayed behind to help with the old, hurt and sick. They said they’d come for me.”

The filly was looking at her, eyes sad and sympathetic.

“It was hard for me too,” she continued. “Not knowing what happened to them, it ate me up inside. Sometimes, just… just the not-knowing is worse than them not being there anymore… but Shining Armor… he knew my father.” She shrugged. “Guess he talked about me a little bit.”

She paused and looked at her guest and grimaced at her look of confusion.

“S-sorry. I guess I started rambling a bit… I’m not very good at entertaining kids. Wish I had some keys to jingle for you.”

The filly tilted her head.

Goldy stood, surprising her guest, and hobbled around the table. “You ever even seen a bathtub before?”

The little orphan looked up at her, ears pinned.

“That’s okay. Everypony gets filthy enough for one eventually,” she said with a smile. She turned to the kitchen, and returned, levitating a steaming pot of water. “C’mon, kid. You get to try one of the simple pleasures of life.

Stepping into the bathroom, Goldy produced a small metallic pan and placed it on the floor, before emptying the contents of the pot into the tub. Adding a bit of cold water to the tub caused the steam to dampen, while leaving the water warm and toasty. Slipping the back of her fetlock into the water to test the temperature, she smiled and turned to her diminutive guest.

The little filly eyed the tub curiously, and her hostess motioned to it. Cautiously the little earth pony trotted up to the tub and peered in.

“It’s okay. Jump in.”

She looked up at her with nervous eyes and eyed the water.

Goldy chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to make a stew out of you. I promise.”

The filly looked up at her, ears folding. Apparently that hadn’t been the right thought to bring to the yearling’s mind.

She sat and extended her leg. “Need a hoof up?”

Without waiting for a nod, she scooped up the filly’s rump and deposited her into the warm water. A small, nigh-inaudible squeak escaped the young pony and she scrambled through the water to the edge.

“Easy, easy…” she whispered softly, stroking a hoof through her mane. She smiled. “I assume you’ve never had a nice warm bath before, have you?”

The nervous filly looked up at her with scared eyes.

“It’s okay. Just relax,” she cooed, running her hoof down through the little pony’s mane. “You’ll get used to it. You’ll feel a lot better. Hay, you probably won’t even wanna get out.”

The filly, her expression still unsure, nonetheless relaxed into the steamy water. Soon her trembles ceased, and a smile blossomed on her face. She paddled at the water delightedly with innocence that could only be had by a foal.

Goldy softly massaged the back of the yearling’s pelt with her goof hoof, and was amazed by how much dirt and grime came away. The water became murky, leaving her coat a pale gray. Her muzzle, to her amusement, remained a spotty darker gray. Her mane and tail cleaned into an off-black. She seemed to enjoy the scrubber pouf she used, and giggled airily as she rubbed her belly clean.

“Close your eyes,” she urged her, levitating a nearly-empty bottle from the bathroom.

The filly looked up curiously and obeyed, shutting her eyes tight. A spurt of shampoo landed in her mane, and Goldy gingerly began to massage the suds through her hair and along her pelt. She seemed to enjoy it, and a warm and happy smile blossomed on her face.

Acquiring a measuring cup from the kitchen, Goldy rinsed the little foal clean, and she shook, sending water droplets everywhere.

Before long, the water’s temperature began to decline, and Goldy levitated the filly out of the bath water. Noticing her shivers, she was quick to wrap a towel around her and scrub her dry.

Cradling her against her chest, she trotted over to the couch. The tiny filly’s shivers slowly subsided.

“So…” she said with a grunt, reclining against the arm of the sofa. “You can’t speak, so you can’t tell me your name. I wonder if I could guess it…”

The filly tilted her head and smiled at the prospect of a guessing game.

Goldy smirked cheekily and booped the young pony’s muzzle. “Is it Silly Filly?”

Her diminutive guest sniffed a soft laugh and shook her head.

The hostess smiled and raised a hoof to her cheek and pondered. “Let’s see… Graycoat?”

The filly shook her head.

“No? Hmm.” She slowly smiled and flashed a grin at the yearling. “Is it… ticklish?!” She rolled on top of the filly the next instant and attacked her sides and belly with nuzzles and gentle pokes with her good hoof.

A soft squeak escaped her little victim and her breathy laughs, soft as they were, brought a ray of warmth to Goldy’s heart. Without thinking about it, she traded the filly’s towel for a blanket, and got up, trotting over to the fireplace where the last few glowing embers of the previous fire still burned.

After piling up some more makeshift peat in the hearth, she poked at the still-burning coals. Some of the ash she kicked up brought about a sneeze and a sniffle.

Goldy paused the poker mid-motion and considered the soot she was tracking. She considered the filly’s mane and coat colors.

“Ash…” she muttered.

Movement from the corner of her eye caught her attention and she looked at the nodding filly.

“Ashe?”

The filly nodded again.

Goldy smiled and replaced the poker in its holster. “Ashe, hm?” She nodded and limped back to the sofa, curling up behind the filly. “I like that name.”

Ashe smiled and reached up, bumping muzzles with her.

The mare smiled and curled her good leg around the filly and pulled her in closely. She snuggled under the blanket with her and tucked her beneath her chest, warm and safe. “Okay, then. Ashe it is.”

The little filly squirmed closer and yawned, her eyes growing heavy.

“You know something, Ashe?” she whispered as the filly drifted off, “I think I found a reason to bother fighting again…”

The only reply she received was a soft snore.

***

“Two-hundred sixteen dead…” he said in disbelief.

“Yessir,” the guardspony replied, expression stern as ever.

“I guess there would be panic when the last two known Elements died,” Shining Armor said, sweeping a hoof back through his mane. He looked at his orderly and passed the notes back to him. “Just try and contain the crowds for now. We don’t need anymore death today, Lieutenant.”

His guard saluted and walked back down the hall. He turned around and sighed exhaustedly. It had been a hectic twenty hours. Rioters, looters, and doomsayers had flooded the streets. Buildings crumbled, foals were torn from the hooves of mothers, countless had been trampled underhoof, and large crowds had gathered at the gates, demanding that they be allowed to leave.

Another dozen wall guards were dead, and Shining Armor had had to reassign several of his own personal cadre just to replace them. The city was in crisis, and the population seemed resigned to their fate.

Even Princess Twilight’s “return” had done little to ease the collective restlessness of the citizens. Nearly ten percent of the city had been abandoned, those inhabitants taking up residence near the north gates, demanding release from their artificial prison. Worse, the growing crowd at the northern gates had pulled needed guards from elsewhere on the wall just to contain the demonstrations.

It was ugly. He couldn’t lie to himself. Hay, he hadn’t even seen hide nor hair of Cadance since the staged funeral, and typically she was a source of his comfort for him. She had vanished to “tend to some things” as she had put it, and given him no clues as to the specifics. All of her usual spots -- the med station, the throne room, the situation chambers -- had reported her missing.

He trotted up the silent hallways and ascended the stairs to the royal suite. A pair of guards allowed him entry, and he proceeded directly to the sink to wash the sweat off his face. A glimpse in the mirror told him he had most certainly seen better days.

Part of him was wondering if the golem ruse had been worth the growing cost.

He pressed a hoof against the entrance to the bedroom and froze at the doorway, blinking across the dimly-lit chamber.

There, veiled behind the thin silk of the bed, was his wife, draped limply across the mattress. Only the glowstone embedded in the ceiling gave away her shape. Her slippers, royal vest and crown laid discarded haphazardly on the floor.

He adopted a smile, relieved that she had at least found a moment of rest for herself.

“Wow. If you were looking for someplace to hide, you couldn’t have done a better job,” he said warmly, stepping out of his own armored greaves. “I mean, our own bedroom? Who would’ve thought of that?”

No reply. Typically, Cadance was more responsive to his humor, such as it was. Something must have been wrong.

Shining Armor’s face softened and he edged closer. “Cadie? You okay?” he asked.

His wife tensed as she sensed him drawing nearer. Frowning, he stepped up onto the mattress and slid softly across the covers.

She didn’t reply. She refused to even look at him.

“Cadance, please,” he said softly. “I know it’s been hard; on you, on me… Applejack, Rainbow Dash…”

She flinched, clenching her streaming eyes. His brow furrowed. He might have known that that was what had been bothering his wife. It had only been a couple days, and the fact that she couldn’t hold her two dearest friends close anymore had taken its toll on her. She couldn’t stand not-knowing what had happened to them.

He nuzzled behind her ear. “But it doesn’t mean you have to shut everything out… I’m here for you. I always will be. You don’t have to bear that weight alone.”

Cadance sniffled, giving the first time in a long while that she was alive.

“I’m just so tired of it all…” she muttered into the sheets. “I’m tired of fighting… tired of goodbyes… I’m tired of all the death and funerals and nopony smiling…” She weakly struck the mattress with her hoof and wept. “I’m so tired… I don’t want to do it anymore…”

Shining frowned and encircled his mate with heavy hooves.

“I know…” he consoled softly. “I’m tired too…”

For a long time, that was how they laid. He stroked her mane and peppered her cheek and neck with comforting kisses.

“But…” he spoke up softly, after she’d calmed slightly, “if it wasn’t for us, it would all be over. We wouldn’t have made it this long.” He squeezed her tightly. “And there’s no other princess everypony else can look to to lead them out of this…”

Cadance swallowed and wiped her eyes. “Then I don’t want to be a princess anymore…” she muttered.

Shining Armor considered for a moment. He smiled and turned her to face him and pressed his lips against hers.

“Then, maybe once this is all over with, we can retire from the whole ‘royalty’ thing.”

Her dull eyes sparkled for a moment. She liked that idea, apparently, and an amused smile crossed her face. “Shiny, I don’t think it works like that.”

“What do you mean? You’re a princess, Cadie. If you decide you’re done, I don’t think that there’s much anypony can do to stop you.” He kissed her again and pulled her closer. “We could go find an empty field somewhere… build a little cabin for ourselves… plant a great big apple orchard… then we could finally start a family together.”

His wife blinked at him and smirked, fluttering her lashes sarcastically. “Why, Shiny! Kids?”

“Hay yeah,” he said, smile splitting into a large grin. “Twenty of ‘em – for a start.”

Cadance threw her head back and laughed for what felt like the first time in ages.

“Twenty little foals in the sun… nopony else to worry about…” She sighed, leaning over and laying her head against his chest. She yawned, heavy dark bags hanging under her eyes. “You really are ambitious.”

“No other way to live, babe,” he said smugly clutching her tightly. “As I recall, it made you go nuts for me.”

“Oh, right…” his wife muttered with a sarcastic roll of her eyes. “It was you that fell for me.”

“Hmmm… you might be right… must’ve been that love spell you put me under messin’ with my head…” he said with a wink.

“Please,” she scoffed up at him, grinning. “You were head-over-hooves about me before I’d even met you. I think you’ve just taken too many shots to the head over your career to remember how it happened.”

The two shared a laugh before staring at one another for several long moments.

“I’m worried about them, Shiny…”

He nodded. “Me too…”

She hugged him tightly, as if he were security itself. “I want them to succeed so bad.”

“They will,” he said. “They’re the ones the Elements chose… they’ll make it. I know it.”

Cadance nodded and laid her head back. “It just feels so cold and empty now with them gone… It’s so quiet without Rainbow Dash yelling at soldiers... or Applejack helping in the soup kitchen…”

Shining Armor’s face grew solemn. “Cadance… listen, I know I haven’t exactly been the best husband over the past couple years. I know I’ve been concentrating a lot on the city’s security and… and I haven’t been as… attentive as I should be.”

His princess frowned, reaching up to stroke his cheek. “Shiny…”

“C-can I…” he said, claiming her hoof in his own, “can I finish first?”

She grew silent.

He looked into her eyes and leaned down to nuzzle her. “Sweetie, I promise… I promise that once this whole thing is over, it’ll all change. Whatever you want to do, wherever you want to go, it’ll be you and me forever, no matter what happens. And I’ll spend the rest of my life making you the happiest mare I can… I give you my word.”

She was crying again, but it seemed to be for different reasons, judging from the smile on her face.

“Shiny…” she said softly, stroking her hoof through his mane, “you’re exactly the same stallion that I fell in love with all those years ago. I knew you then, and I know you now.” She sniffled again. “And even though this war may have taken us away from each other a lot… I love you more today than I ever have since, and it’ll be the same way tomorrow.” She leaned up and kissed him passionately.

They separated after a moment and shared a smile.

“And cottage, kids, or kingdom, I’ll keep on loving you to the very day we part. Because that was the promise we made to each other.” She rested a hoof over his. “We swore that our love would always bring us back to each other… and the love we have will conquer anything that stands against us.”

Then, Shining Armor, for whatever reason, felt playful.

He grinned. “I believe it, ever since you conquered my heart.” He winked. “How could I see a pony as beautiful as you and not want to wake up next to you for the rest of my life?”

She shook her head with a smile, eyes half-lidded. “You can say some of the most beautiful things sometimes. Corny, but beautiful things.” She leaned forward and kissed her husband passionately. “Now I remember why I fell in love with you…”

“Turn-on, isn’t it?” he asked, flashing a grin.

“Mr. Smooth Criminal…” she whispered.

“A hardened criminal—” He jolted, eyes widening as his wife’s hoof drifted elsewhere.

“You feel a little dusty down there, Shiny.” She winked.

“H-hey, don’t gloat,” he snapped playfully through his blush. “Pretty sure I saw some cobwebs between your legs, too.”

Cadance giggled and rolled onto her back, posing alluringly for her husband.

“Well, if you can still get it up after all these years, mister, you’re welcome to help me clean.” She pressed her lips against his again and grinned. “And help me get a jumpstart on those twenty kids you promised me…”

***

She had been cold for the longest time; numb and unfeeling, except for the pain throbbing in the depths of her heart. The pain of loss and regret echoed across distant memories and left a stubborn soreness.

Then she was warm; almost hot. It was a sensation that Applejack hadn’t felt in years, and though she could feel a bit of sweat dotting her brow, she snuggled deeper into its source. A rich blanket of warmth engulfed her tightly, safe and secure.

She didn’t care whether or not she could move. She only cared that for the first time in ages she had slept warmly. She hadn’t woken up shivering. In that moment, she was in Heaven, amongst blooming meadows and innumerable apple trees as far as the eye could see.

The image brought to mind the smell of sweet fruit and fresh flowers. She tingled with the feeling of peace. Every leaf, every blade of grass and every grain of soil bent towards her, as if she were the sun – the source of all life itself. She felt so warm and vibrant, so alive and happy and free from the cares of the world. Everything was in Harmony; everything was perfect.

It was beautiful, and nothing could tear her out of it – except a familiar snort right behind her head.

Applejack’s ear flicked at the hot breeze, and her green eyes lazily drifted open. Bountiful fields folded to the visage of a drab landscape bathed in utter darkness. Dead trees and gnarled, dry foliage twisted about on each other in a cruel mockery of life. She felt distant and numb to everything again – everything but warmth.

It took her a moment to recognize the waterfall basin before her as it lapped at the dark shoreline. Neighagra Falls continued to thunder just through the veil of darkness. Only the mist and noise gave away it was there in the shadows.

Even in darkness, the warmth persisted. It didn’t take her long to guess the source. Blinking the sleep out of her eyes, she looked behind her.

Rainbow was draped over her, still deep in sleep’s grasp. She adjusted in response to her movement, and snored no more, snuggling closer.

Applejack smiled. Rainbow Dash could be cute when she thought nopony was looking. She thought of how funny it’d be to shout her awake.
Then guilt took her for thinking such things. It wasn’t like Rainbow got enough sleep, anyway. Every other evening, she’d heard her pacing around the house, double-checking the doors and windows to be sure all was secure.

She’d find her polishing her weapons and armor in the living room at times. Other times she’d find her just sitting at the kitchen table formulating battle strategies, or staring at nothing in particular; nothing but the empty wall on the other side of the room, and five other empty chairs at the eating space.

The latter had always felt eerie to Applejack. It was almost like her friend was in communion with something she couldn’t see. Then again, Rainbow had seen a lot and come to terms with much.

It was the most restful she’d seen the pegasus in years. Her hooves wrapped around her chest and she nuzzled deeper into her blond mane. Waves of nostalgia washed over her as she looked back on sunny days over Ponyville and saw her friend lounging on clouds overhead.

Some things really never changed.

In olden times, Applejack would have happily given the mare what-for for not being up in a timely manner. But here and now, she couldn’t be happier that her friend had finally found the peace she’d needed to rest that had eluded her for so long. They would doubtless need it down the road.

Her eyes grew heavy watching her friend sleep, and a yawn escaped her.

Maybe there was no harm in sleeping in just a bit longer.

Great, now old-you is rubbin’ off on me, she thought. She chuckled and relaxed beneath the blanket. Rainbow Dash’s comforting and reassuring hold lured her back into her dreams.

The next time she awoke it was from a gentle nudge against the side of her head. A soft, comforting whisper grazed the tip of her ear.

She shifted.

“AJ…” the voice softly said again. Rainbow tickled her sides with feathery appendages.

“No…” she protested into the blanket. “Better when I sleep…”

She could feel the pegasus’s smile without seeing it. “This is the pony who used to give me such a hard time for napping all the time.”

“Sleepin’ and nappin’ are two different things,” she muttered drowsily.

“Are not.”

“Mrrrrrre too…” She folded her ears to keep Rainbow from pestering her with her talking.

She heard a chuckle behind her, and her friend pressed against her, squeezing tightly. She felt her nuzzle against her ear gently. “C’mon, AJ… we can’t stay here forever. We gotta go.”

All the contentment and happiness she had been feeling evaporated, and a sigh escaped her. “I know…”

Rainbow softly stroked a hoof through her mane. “And, hay, if we can make enough time, maybe we could set up camp early.”

“Yeah… maybe.” Applejack lifted her head and yawned. The biting air pierced her coat the second the pegasus moved off of her. She flinched and pushed herself groggily up to her hooves.

“WHOO!”

The farmpony nearly leapt out of her skin at Rainbow’s sudden exuberance. The pegasus’s fur and feathers alike bristled, and she shook the sleep out of her body with a quick prance around the clearing.

Applejack rolled her eyes with the barest hint of a smile, and trudged over to her saddlebags nearby. She produced an apple – a rarity these days generally reserved for royalty and gifted personally to her by Cadance – and took an eager bite of it. Her knees immediately weakened with the taste of her breakfast. Tears brimmed in her eyes as delight flooded through her.

“You okay there, cowgirl?”

“Best. Thing. I’ve ever tasted,” she replied, nearly coming to tears. She chewed slowly, savoring every mouthful, and far too soon it was gone.

Rainbow stopped her as she reached for another. “Easy, AJ. We gotta ration everything, remember?”

She looked at her friend, and received a raised eyebrow in return. She gazed back down at the red fruit cradled in her hoof. If only she could take one more bite; one more taste…

At last, she sighed and slowly slid it back into the saddlebag where it belonged. “I know… I know that.” She shook her head and quickly buttoned the flap shut. “I can’t figure when you got to bein’ the one with self-control. What world am I in?”

Rainbow chuckled and threw a hoof around her. “Well, once we put everything back to normal, you can be the responsible one again if you want. I can go back to sleeping on clouds all the time.”

Applejack smiled. “Deal. Ain’t sure I could trust you with much else, anyway.”

The pair rolled up their blanket pile in short order and stowed them in the bag of holding Shining Armor had provided them with. Tightening the clasps on their luggage, the pair took one last long drink of water from the basin and filled their canteens before giving a lasting glimpse to the once-familiar landscape.

Applejack shook her head groggily and turned towards the south. “C’mon. Let’s get outta here.”

Apparently Rainbow took notice and trotted up beside her.

“Are you feeling okay?”

She looked up, finding the pegasus looking at her with a concerned expression. She turned away and tried to hide the fact she was lying.

“Fine…”

Rainbow eyed her unconvincingly. “You sure about that? You look like you didn’t sleep so hot.”

Applejack shook her head. “Just… nightmares.”

“About…?”

She sighed and turned away as they passed by the remains of a triage tent that had been abandoned in a hurry so many years before. She could still recognize the royal crest on it. No sun or wind or rain to damage it. In fact, it looked hauntingly like it had been the one that...

She shivered and quickly turned away. “I-I don’t wanna talk about it.”

Rainbow slid up next to her and draped a wing around her withers. She leaned in and nuzzled her neck comfortingly.

“It’ll be okay…” her friend promised softly.

Applejack looked up at her, her vision blurry with tear-stricken eyes. “Do you really believe that, Rainbow?”

She noticed her friend’s pause, however brief it was, and found her smug grin thereafter unbelievable. “Oh, sure! Totally! It’s you and me, AJ! Nopony can stop our tag team!”

In spite of her doubt, Applejack managed to force something that resembled a smile and continued to march. “Yeah… guess that’s true enough...” She sucked in a breath and turned to Rainbow again. “Lead the way, darlin’.”

The pegasus flashed a grin and did just that, spiraling into the air and performing a series of energetic spins, cartwheels, and loops, with the slower earth pony following along behind her.

Both ponies were ignorant of the silent figures moving in the darkness around them.

Author's Note

Late again! Won't somebody kick my ass and make me work?! T_T

-TUC

What Is Our Future?

One positive thing that had come out of their trip, Rainbow Dash realized, was that she hadn’t had a chance to really stretch her wings in years. She could scarcely remember a time when she had been able to soar as high and as far and as fast as her eyes could see.

Now, out in the open wilderness, she had plenty of open space for practicing her stunts, or even cruising at will.

She may have only had dead fields, cold weather, and an empty sky above her – not much to look at, sure – but at least she had room to breathe, regardless of how stale the air was, and all the space in the world to do it in. There were no stray arrows to cut her down over a blood-soaked battlefield.

Flying through the air and performing a few loop-de-loops, Rainbow Dash was regardless sure to keep her eyes open for trouble while also keeping tabs on Applejack far below. The country mare had been deathly silent ever since they left Apple Bloom’s grave mere days ago, and all through the journey across the dismal, decaying flats into the Canterlot Mountain lower hills.

Rainbow Dash knew where her friend’s heart was – she knew that place all too well – and had elected to give her the space she needed. She still had nightmares of Scootaloo’s death and feelings of guilt and helplessness that came with her failure to prevent it.

For Applejack, it stung all the worse with Apple Bloom being the last of her family.

Her entire family…

Now, she was the last Apple left, and Dash couldn’t begin to fathom such a feeling.

Rainbow Dash had never had much of a family. Her mother had died when she was a foal, and her relationship with her father had been an iffy one at best. She carried regrets over never burying the hatchet after learning about Cloudsdale’s fate, but if anything, her friends had become far more important to her then her own family.

Hay… Applejack had become her only real family by then. So AJ was everything.

Even if Dash had managed to beat Sombra single-hoofedly, beaten back his armies, given ponykind a future and saved the world, it would matter little if she didn’t have somepony to share it with.

We win this together or we go out together. There’s no middle ground.

She looked high above where the mountain they had to climb towered over them. It was the shortest and safest path to get to Canterlot without running into any of the corrupted armies of Sombra that were doubtlessly scouring the countrysides for them. However, while Rainbow Dash could easily fly rings around such annoyances and leave them in her dust, Applejack was completely grounded. Somepony heavy as her friend would wear her out in minutes, and by their estimations, it would take them a good five days to round to the other side of the mountain. Every minute was a precious one.

And every day is another day the city could get steamrolled, thought Rainbow Dash, hoping and praying that the gates still held.

It would really suck if we were the only two ponies left. Unless AJ or I grew another limb between our back legs, goodbye ponykind, she thought with a grim snicker.

It did make her wonder, though...

“So... I was just doing some thinking,” voice-broke Rainbow Dash as she skidded to a halt on the ashen soil. “Once we’re all done saving the world again, what do you plan to do first?”

Applejack paused and broke out of her staring match with the earth, looking up at the grinning Rainbow Dash. “Beg pardon?”

Rainbow shrugged. “Well… y’know. Once we do the whole ‘charge of the Awesome Brigade’ thing and totally kick Sombra’s mangey, smokey butt all the way to Cerberus’s doggy door, what did you have in mind on doing?” She threw her eyes to the sky, her fluff and feathers ruffling in elated thought. “First thing I wanna do is take a vacation… maybe take a break from all this awesomeness and see if I can dig up a bottle of cider somewhere and chug it all by myself.”

Applejack smirked. “Really got your priorities straight there, doncha darlin’?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, don’t you think the first thing we should be doin’ is figure out some way to get the Sun and Moon goin’ again? Shed a little light on this here dirtball and get some things growin’?” she asked, scuffing her hoof through the arid soil.

“Oh… yeah. Right...” muttered the pegasus.

“I mean, if you figure it right, even if we do somehow put a hoof through Sombra's noggin, that's only half the battle right there. It don't matter ifwe win if we ain't got nothin' left after that....”

Rainbow rolled her eyes and frowned. “Sheesh… kill the buzz, why doncha?”

Applejack stared levelly at her. “Rainbow...”

She lifted a hoof, waving it frantically with a grimace. “Yeah, yeah, I know… you're right,” she said, stepping in-time with her friend. “Wouldn't kill ya to have a little optimism here, though, right?”

Applejack's ears folded, and a look of guilt crossed her brow. “Sorry… I didn't mean to be a nervous nancy.”

Sighing heavily, Rainbow shrugged. “No, it's okay. You're not wrong. I can barely remember what real grass under my hooves felt like…”

“Or the sunshine in a flowery meadow...”

“Yeah… or a warm spring breeze...”

“Mmmm...” Applejack purred with a smile. “Remember the days when the apples first started gettin' ripe?”

Rainbow Dash shuddered in elation. “Or when the dandelions started popping up?”

“Hay, I even miss rainy days in April...”

“Hot cider, straight from the cask...” Rainbow said, licking her lips free of drool.

“Rainbow?”

“Hm?”

“Your wings…”

The pegasus blinked and looked back at her erect appendages. She bit her lip and chuckled nervously.

Applejack smirked in that alluring way of hers. “Cold out here?” She turned and flicked her tail playfully across the pegasus’s muzzle. “Or did my cider just give ya that good a time?”

Rainbow could feel her cheeks turn a deep scarlet. “Eheheh… right.”

Silence. Applejack's brow began to knit in worry.

“You didn't hurt yourself, did you?”

“Huh? Who? Me? Pfft! Nah! No! Noooonononono! Never! Uh-uh!” Rainbow insisted, flexing her muscles a few times to demonstrate.

Applejack blinked curiously, and the two carried on in silence up the rocky path that appeared and vanished in equal measures up into the bitter heights. Dash lost track exactly of how long they had been quiet and how many times she had had to take to the sky to rediscover the path, but she would have bet on it being nearly an hour as they navigated the terrain.

It’d be approaching the equivalent of nighttime soon, and the pegasus's stomach was protesting its lack of nourishment. It would be time to pack it in before too much longer. A number of caves a few hundred feet up the slopes seemed like ideal places to hide.

“Fifteen minutes,” she said, landing next to the earth pony as softly as she could manage, “then we can call it quits for the night.” She looked up at the mountain that towered over them, easily above the clouds, had there been any.

“Right,” Applejack said breathlessly, pausing before hopping up another platform of rocks and scaling a steep incline. Rainbow, meanwhile, kept her hawk like eyes open for tumbling pebbles.

“So,” her friend said, grunting up another layer of stone, “what brought all that on? Do you have any plans 'sides ridin' the hero wagon?”

“Huh?” Dash was caught off-guard by the question…

... or she could have been paying too much attention to the way her aurastone glinted off the sweat on Applejack’s legs.

“What you were talkin’ about awhile ago. About plannin’ things and such.”

“Oh… that. Yeah.” She smiled and averted her eyes. “I just figured… maybe you might start… maybe looking for somepony. Like… y’know, a stallion… and stuff.”

Applejack launched herself up another layer of rock and nearly lost her balance.

Rainbow’s quick hooves clamped over her flank to stabilize her and saved her friend from a nasty tumble down the side of the mountain.

The pair shared an awkward pause before Applejack cleared her throat and gently wriggled her cutie marks out of her grip, while Rainbow was on the receiving end of a mental shellacking of her own conscience.

“M-me? N-no… not really, no,” Applejack said. A few quick hops up the side of the mountain, and the duo stood at the entrance of a yawning cave mouth.

There was a long pause.

“Ummm… why? W-were you thinkin’ somethin’ like that?”

“Me?” squeaked Rainbow. Her ruby eyes glinted off the orange light that passed through her vision and into the cave. She was quick to follow. “Well… no, not really. Nothin’ like... that anyway,” she said with a shrug. She pounded the dirt off her hooves and wandered into the cave. “I just figured that… you know, with...” Rainbow winced. “With you losing your family and all, I thought maybe starting one might kinda be high on your bucket list or something.”

Silence pervaded as the words died on both mares’ tongues. Gleaming stones shone a soft light on the cave walls. Stalactites clung defiantly to the ceilings of the cavern as it expanded into a wider chamber deeper in the undermountain, and the limited glow of the stones did little to extend the sight lines of the two ponies to the other end.

Nothing moved in the limited light. So far as both could tell, they were alone in the cave.

Applejack sighed and let her back legs drop, releasing her saddlebags with a tug of the tie around her neck before sifting through her packs. As Rainbow might have anticipated, it was a glistening red apple that she produced.

She wasn’t sure if it was her friend’s predictability or the way Applejack so greedily devoured her ration, but it made Dash chuckle uncontrollably.

The earth pony looked at her, and the duo paused and shared a laugh before Rainbow produced her own apple and proceeded to chow down.

All was quiet for the time being, and a silence like neither had ever shared before loomed around them.

Rainbow looked up and around. Gradually her eyes began to readjust to the darker-than-midnight space. Her aurastone illuminated the faint outlines of rocks, boulders and shelves, but little else of interest. Stalactites hung from the ceiling like the fangs of a great predator, ready to come crashing down on both mares any moment. It might have creeped her out if she hadn't seen far worse in her life already.

“I woulda thought so too...”

Rainbow looked up and over at Applejack's shadowy form, dimly lit by the red rock slung to her chest. Through the darkness, she thought she saw her friend's eyes shimmer in the thin lighting.

“Huh?” she asked.

“Th-thought about a family, I mean,” the cowgirl clarified, turning her head away.

“Oh! Right… that.” Rainbow chuckled nervously. “I-I just… y'know, you never seemed to really be interested. It always looked like you were more into… well, helping everypony instead of finding some dude to be chill with.”

“Heh… well, somepony needed to hold down the fort.”

Rainbow blinked. “Really… that was it?”

Applejack stared.

“I mean, you were putting aside everything that mattered to you just to make sure that everypony was taken care of?”

The cowgirl looked at the damp ground. “It's not like I was the only one.”

“You were the only one putting your whole life on hold though. I mean… everything you cared about…”

“Not everything I cared about, darlin'...”

The pegasus blinked as Applejack looked back up at Rainbow and snuggled in closer against her. The feeling of her warm cheek pressing against her neck just beneath chin.

A warm smile crossed Dash's face, and took the offered pillow of Applejack's golden mane. The two shared space for several moments more, and the tension and chill in that moment melted away like Winter Wrap-up.

***

Rainbow Dash wasn't sure how long the two of them had laid there; all she was sure of was that they must have lost consciousness at some point. A warm body was curled up next to her, breathing softly, and her eyes flew open on instinct.

Jerking upright, Rainbow's heart was beating at a million miles an hour as she flinched away from the source of admittedly pleasant heat, and made to alert Applejack to the intruder.

Ooooooh…

Shaking the glitch out of her head, Rainbow rubbed her hoof over the aurastone on her chest, bringing the soft glow to life. Sure enough, Applejack laid next to her, still sleeping peacefully wrapped up in her hooves. Memories of the previous evening flooded back to the surface, and the pegasus sheepishly grinned to herself.

Dash snuggled into the soft blond mane again, and nuzzled the soft tresses, before being rewarded by a satisfied moan.

“Nice nap?” she asked softly, brushing a wing over her sleeping companion.

“Mmmm… best I've had in a long ol' time,” the cowgirl cooed, nuzzling closer to the pegasus's warm form. Through the dim light, her green eyes opened and a yawn escaped her lips. “What time is it?” she asked.

“'Bout midnight, if it makes a difference.”

“Nnnngh...” Applejack draped her tail over her face. “What's lights-on so early for, then?”

“Oh, sorry.” Rainbow quickly breathed on her necklace, drowning out the light, and snuggled against the cowpony. ''I was gonna go get a drink. You want anything?” she asked, motioning towards the saddlebags.

Another yawn. “I'd kill for some oats, I reckon.”

“Comin' right up!”

Dash was gone for mere seconds before returning with the canteen and bag of oats. Applejack quickly set about quieting her stomach while Rainbow silently quenched her thirst.

“So,” Rainbow said, licking her lips of the water she'd guzzled, “feel like getting an early start today?”

Applejack groaned in protest.

“Y'know I would,” she said with a pout. “But I'm still feelin' a little stiff from all that climbin' earlier.”

Rainbow chuckled, flexing her wings. “Bet you wish you had a pair of these babies.”

“I'd settle for a horn if it meant I could teleport.”

“I thought that was supposed to be a really hard spell or something.” Rainbow shrugged. “At least, that's what Twilight had always said, anyway.”

“She sure made it look easy enough. Then again, look who we're talkin' about.”

“Exactly.” Rainbow took another swig of water and looked at her friend again. “So, dream about anything good? Apple pie? Fritters?” She paused and smirked. “Mr. Right, maybe?”

Applejack looked up from her oat bag and at her. “Beg pardon?”

Dash shrugged. “I just thought since you were sleeping so good, maybe you were dreaming up something nice for a change. Some good squeeze, I figured could help 'ease your dreams',” she said with a snort and a chuckle.

The cowgirl rolled her eyes. “Get outta town.”

“What? I'm not making fun… this time! Honest!” Rainbow grinned and snuggled with her friend, which seemed only to serve to aggravate Applejack further. “I mean, you gotta have something to look forward to, right? Kids? Family? C'mon!”

Applejack snorted irritably. “There ain't gonna be any little apple seeds, darlin'.”

A pause.

“Huh?” asked Rainbow Dash, tilting her head.

Sighing, Applejack rolled her eyes at Dash and stopped. “My tail don't flick for stallions, darlin'. And last time I checked a mare can’t get another mare pregnant.” She fidgeted with her hooves a moment. “And I sure as heck ain’t gonna drag some poor colt into bed just so I can use 'im like that. If I'm honest with myself – and I always am – it'll be some gal I can love. Somepony I can get close to and settle down with.”

“Whoa...” Rainbow replied, eyes bulging. “You think you know a pony...”

“I thought you did know...” she muttered. “After that whole fiasco with Trenderhoof, I figured you'd probably put it all together...”

“Trender-who?”

Applejack paused and blinked. “Oh… right, that was with Rarity.”

Rainbow stared.

Freckled cheeks flushed noticeably, even in the warm, amber light.

“I coulda sworn it'd been you. It's been such a long time now...”

“Wait, you mean to tell me… Rarity figured it out before me?!”

Applejack shrugged.

Rainbow wowed to herself and quietly capped her canteen before stuffing it back into her saddlebags.

She sighed. “So, no...” She closed her eyes and lowered her head. “The Apple family dies with me, sugar. Sombra took that from me when he killed every one of my kin.” She snorted. “Another thing I owe him for when I see him, I reckon...”

Rainbow Dash bit her lip and looked over, placing a hoof on her shoulder. “I’m… really sorry, AJ.”

“Don't...” Applejack winced and sighed. “Don't be sorry, sugarcube. It ain't your fault. You didn't mean nothin' by it.” She flashed a gentle smile. “I'm sorry I ain’t been the best company since we left the falls. I... I just keep thinkin’ 'bout… things I...” Applejack bit her lip and swallowed painfully. “...things I shoulda let go of by now...”

“No, it's okay.” Rainbow leaned in and pulled her friend into a feathery hug, stroking a hoof across her mane. “We're gonna figure out a way to fix all this… and send that slimeball, Sombra, back to whatever pit of Tartauros he crawled out of.”

Applejack managed a smile for a moment, before she snuggled her muzzle back into the crook beneath Rainbow's chin.

“I miss 'em all so much, Rainbow...” she whimpered.

The pegasus lifted her friend's chin and gave a comforting smile. “They're all happy now, AJ. Hay, Applebloom’s probably with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, none of 'em hurting or hungry or lonely...” She paused and smiled. “They're probably building a brand new Crusader clubhouse wherever they are, still trying to figure out their cutie marks.”

The earth pony bit a smile, trying to suppress a laugh. “Yeah... I'd bet bits you're right.” She chuckled heartily.

The two descended into a long, euphoric laugh that dispelled the dismal dank darkness of the cave around them, filling the miserable chambers with mirth and jubilee. For the briefest moments, the world felt the slightest bit brighter between the two of them. Memories of Scootaloo's admittedly-humorous attempts at flight, Applebloom's clumsy and stubborn wrecklessness, and Sweetie Belle's merciless assault on her big sister's sanity were traded back and forth before the duo's tear-filled eyes met.

“Do ya think she’ll forgive me?” asked Applejack somberly, biting her lip.

Rainbow's eyebrows raised. “Applebloom?”

The cowgirl winced and shook her head.

“Oh...” Rainbow's ears pinned back against her head. “AJ… I'd bet anything she’d ask you to forgive her first,” said Rainbow Dash with a comforting smile.

“Yeah... reckon she probably would,” murmured Applejack.

***

The two friends sat for what felt like hours, drinking their fill and refilling their canteens with meltwater before reclining against the rock formation with their sleeping bags.

“Well, that drink sure hit the spot after such a big hike.”

“Speaking of hikes,” Rainbow said, raising her head and looking towards the ceiling of the cave, “how far do you figure we have to go anyway?”

Ear twitching, Applejack stared at the rock overhead and hummed to herself.

“I figure we’re almost halfway up. And when we get there we could camp out for the night and pick it back up in the mornin’.”

“Sounds good to me,” answered Rainbow Dash with a yawn, stretching her wings. “Although I still wish we had a unicorn so they could cast that wing spell thing, at least. It would make traveling a lot faster.”

“What, like that time Rarity had them fairy wings and used them to flaunt them around while y’all were panickin’ over that flight competition you won?” chuckled Applejack.

“Yeah, and miss pretty pants got too close to the sun so they burned out and I had to save her butt along with the Wonderbolts,” laughed Rainbow Dash. She shook her head with a smile on her face. “Good times. Back then... back then it was like we could save anypony, you know?”

“Yeah...”

“… yeah.”

The two sat there in silence, the little joy they had briefly now replaced with the familiar feeling of sorrow and loss. It was a feeling both had been carrying with them for over five years now. Rainbow Dash snarled and slammed her hoof against the ground. “Damnit! Are we ever gonna have a day when we don’t think about all this... lame depressing stuff?!”

“Kinda hard not too when everything around ya is dead or dyin’,” muttered Applejack, shaking her head.

“I know, but I don’t want to feel that way anymore! It’s been five years! I want to have some sort of happiness, or some awesome feeling! I wanna party! I wanna get drunk! Have sex even!” shouted Dash, her voice echoing in the cavern. She crossed her forelegs. “I’m not even asking for the glory days anymore... just for a moment where we don’t have to worry about what tomorrow might bring – if it even comes at all…”

An endless pause existed between the two of them, punctuated only by a soft, mournful sigh.

“... th-then do you wanna?” asked Applejack, turning around.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow and looked at her friend next to her. “Wanna... what?”

“Wanna have sex.”

Rainbow wasn't sure if she'd heard that right, and was grateful she hadn't been drinking from her canteen at the time. A good portion of it would have been lost to the stone.

She was sure if she had the muscle power her jaw would have fallen straight through the mountain. She gazed at Applejack’s face to see if there were any signs of joking, but her face was as serious as... well as it usually was. For a moment, the pegasus believed half her brain had exploded and the other half was too busy putting it back together to comprehend what she was hearing.

“O-one more time?”

Applejack sagged down against the rock. “You heard me.”

Rainbow swished her hoof around in her head, picking at whatever fluff might have gotten lodged in her ear canal. But when she tested her voice, everything came through perfectly clear.

That only meant she'd heard right.

Applejack wanted to… to do the horizontal limbo. With her.

Right here. Right now.

“B-buh… duuhhhh… w... what?! Wh-… you can't be… are you for real?!” squeaked Rainbow Dash, blushing madly. She was thankful for the darkness.

“Well… why not? Unless you… well, y'know...” Applejack shrugged. “Unless I ain't what you had in mind.”

“I… but… wh-where did that even come from?”

The cowgirl leveled a stare at her. “Well, if you want the truth of it, it was your idea. I was just tryin' to be helpful is all.”

“But… but… d-doing it? Like, right here?” Rainbow could scarcely believe what her ears were telling her brain.

“Well… why not?”

“Well… for one thing, wouldn't it be like… well, totally inappropriate right now?”

“How come?” Applejack frowned at her. “You said you wanted to… figured it sounded like now would be as good a time as any. You got anything better to do?”

Rainbow bit her lip, fumbling with her logic for several long moments. “I-I… well, fair point… but… I don't...”

Applejack fidgeted. “I don't figure how it could be any worse than throwin' a two-gal party. And I didn't think to bring no liquor… unless you're holdin' out on me,” the cowgirl said with a flat chuckle. “Hay, I figure we don't know if we'll even get another chance...”

Rainbow frowned and looked down at herself – what she could see of herself anyway – and hesitated.

“AJ… I…”

Applejack rested a hoof on her shoulder and brushed the spot between her wings, evoking a warm and inviting jolt up and down her spine.

“Sugarcube, it's okay...” she said softly. “I'm… I'm sorry I made it feel weird. I was just tryin' to help...”

“No, it's okay,” the pegasus said nervously with a grin. “It's cool. I just… I was just caught a little off-guard, that's all. I mean… I never would've figured you of all ponies to be up for… well, that kind of… messing around.”

Snorting, Applejack smirked and responded, “Says the mare who was complainin' about not feelin' happy.”

Rainbow smiled at her unsure.

Applejack's, in turn, faded, and she sighed. “I guess I… just wanna feel, even if it's just for a moment, like nothin’ in the whole wide world is wrong. I feel like… like even if we can't win… even if it's really hopeless, that we can at least have hope and joy… and each other, I guess. That no matter how hard Sombra tries, he can't take us away from each other, or how happy you make me feel...”

Nothing in all the armies she had faced had ever scared Rainbow Dash so completely.

“I... I don’t know...” She looked at Applejack, ruby eyes soft and reassuring. “I… I need some time to think about it...”

Applejack's smile faded slightly. “It's okay, darlin'. I'm a big filly – if you really ain't interested, you can just say so if you want. Don't need to beat around the bush about it.”

“I just… I'm not sure, AJ.” Rainbow looked her dead in the eye. “Don't get me wrong… you mean everything to me now. Every pony left in Equestria doesn't mean as much to me as you do… but…” She sighed. “If I'm gonna have a chance to stop Sombra… to give you a world and a tomorrow...” Rainbow forced an unsure smile. “Well, I can't do it without something waiting for me once we do win,” she said with a wink.

Applejack chuckled.

Dash leaned in, nuzzling noses softly with her dear friend. “I don't wanna regret rushing it… not with you. You mean way more to me than that...”

The cowgirl blinked and Rainbow swore she could see her cheeks glowing in the dark.

“Yeesh, darlin',” Applejack replied playfully, whacking the pegasus's rump with her tail. “If you ain't careful, you could wind up charmin' a girl.”

“Picked it up from an old Daring Do book,” she said with a giggle.

“Didn't figure you for a poetry-type none, anyway.”

The two shared in a warm chuckle and gazed into each other's eyes; for how long, neither was entirely sure. The silence was broken as Rainbow wrapped her wings around her friend and held her closely.

“We will have a tomorrow, AJ,” she reassured her friend, nuzzling into her intoxicating mane. “I wouldn't miss it for the world...”

“Yeah… I sure hope you're right about that darlin'...”

Author's Note

Sorry it took so long, both me and Twilight have been very busy this summer. And before you ask, yes. There will be clop :)

Darkness Rising

The sarcophagus was dank and dark, and were it not for the breaths of passing guards, it likely could have been all the colder.

Heavy hoofsteps echoed through the ornately-decorated crystalline hall. The immaculately-polished hallway gave the illusion of a faint glow as the guardpony's aurastone glimmered on his chest, casting a shimmering light across the empty tomb's walkways. Occasionally, two guards would pass by one another and nod in acknowledgment, before continuing on their separate patrols.

None of them took note of dust being scattered about in unusual patterns across the smooth floor. None noticed the strange flutter of a foreign breeze when they stopped for a drink or to speak with one another.

And none noticed the spare set of hooves echoing in the halls, or the humidity that gathered in the air as an unseen pony breathed and shuffled through the shadows.

Chanter peeled back the hood of the invisibility cloak he had been granted and glanced frantically around the halls, before taking several steps towards the entrance to the next corridor. The bluish glow of a unicorn horn brought forth a panicked gasp, and he smothered himself in shadow once again. He froze in his tracks and bit hard on his lip, stifled his breathing and strangled his own urge to whimper when Princess Cadance herself rounded the corner, her eyes heavy and tired.

She stepped directly past him so close that he could feel her breath. Chanter's face paled, and he winced, believing any moment that he would be caught. Prison flashed through his mind only after the thoughts of what Celestia would do to his family. He clenched his teeth and waited.

Then she was gone. Her light dimmed down another hallway, and her hoofsteps faded into a distant echo.

Chanter took a badly-needed breath and scrambled around the corner, moving as quickly as he dared. Every flap of the cloak, every gentle tap of his hooves against the ground was deafening to his ears. Any moment he expected to be heard, and for the alarm to be raised. The jig would be up, and his little foal would be doomed to hellish servitude – or worse.

It didn't happen.

Chanter found himself stumbling into a round room of a soft, bluish aura. Tiny motes of light danced on the breeze he generated entering the hallowed chambers, and he slid clumsily to a halt.

Upon an elevated altar of sapphire, tucked into caskets of diamond, were two bodies – one orange, one blue.

The Last Elements.

A shudder ran through Chanter's body as he laid eyes on the two dead mares. Their forms were preserved splendidly, their manes combed immaculately straight, and their gravesites lined with innumerable bouquets of flowers, gems, notes of gratitude and grief, and treasures both sentimental as well as invaluable. They formed a veritable mountain of blossoms and trinkets, far larger than the caskets themselves, all settled at the foot of a portrait of both carved into the crystalline walls. Wreaths were mounted to both sides of the caskets surrounding a picture of both mares in question, and in the center between the two was a portrait of both of them together, a picture of all six Elements of Harmony – long before the war, it appeared – and a plaque.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack

Loyalty and Honesty

-

The Last Knights of Equestria

True Friends to the very end

-

May Harmony keep you forever

-

Rest well

Chanter peeled back the cloak. His eyes cared not for the display or outpouring of affections. He panted heavily and trotted forward, disregarding the rope line and scaling the steps.

He chewed on his lip and peered through the clear casket lids. He couldn't help but admire the fine job the medical staff had done in disguising their wounds. Were his family not at stake, Chanter very likely would have wept for their loss. There was no denying the beauty of the two legendary mares. Rainbow Dash's mane still shimmered in their dazzling array of colors, and Applejack's fur still appeared as soft and as velvety as he'd imagined. It was truly a shame they had to perish in such a disgraceful manner.

A pang of guilt worked itself through Chanter's heart. He couldn't help but feel at least marginally responsible for the two mares' deaths. They had so much life left to give – and it was at least in small part because of him that they wouldn't be able to give it.

Then he pushed his grief aside in favor of his fatherly instinct. He shook his head and turned to leave, throwing only a sidelong glance at the two caskets.

He froze.

Moments passed. He wasn't sure what caused him to pause. Something simply seemed… off about the entire setup. Chanter had been to enough funerals in his life to know that such smiles that they held were reserved for the living. There was something odd about the relaxed nature of their corpses as well. The way their legs folded over one another across their chests was too peaceful, too unnaturally restful.

It was too perfect. The entire setup almost appeared fake.

Chanter bit his lip and looked towards the entrance of the cathedral entrance. No lights flickered in the corridors.

He turned back to the caskets, and wedged a hoof into the handle.

The crystalline top piece weighed far more than its thin and fragile appearance implied. Grunting, he turned and pressed his muzzle against the polished surface, shoving upward with all he was worth. He ground his teeth, scuffed his hooves, strained, shoved, and panted.

At last the lid slid open. Chanter failed to compensate for its sliding motion, however, and the heavy lid slid off the casket, crashing loudly to the floor.

Chanter winced. He waited with bated breath. Moments seemed to last minutes. His ears flicked, listening closely to the echoes that reached him from the way he had come.

The halls, however, remained as silent as the tomb.

At last, the stallion allowed himself to breathe again, and turned back to the body. He scrutinized her with a scrunching of his muzzle. His hoof swept up across her lifeless freckled cheek and swept back her pillowy golden mane. He paused, staring at her face head-on.

Something about that smile…

His hoof brushed by her ear. The merest touch produced a soft click, like hooves that met rock. He eyed it closely and blinked. He bit his lip and rapped against the appendage again to the same strange note. With a third touch, he tried to feel the texture of her ear.

A portion of it fractured and fell away.

His jaw clenched, and his pupils narrowed to pinpricks. Chanter stumbled back as the crystal's life-like illusion faded, replacing it with a thin, fragile shard of crystal that returned to its original shape.

He had read enough on the Crystal Empire's history to be aware of the fabled crystal golems. Never would he have believed that they would have been so life-like.

He pressed his hoof against the wounded stone figure, and the illusion that had been Applejack flickered beneath his very touch. Beneath was revealed the shimmering crystal statue where one of ponykind's legends should have rested.

Chanter's jaw dropped.

“In the tomb! I swear I heard a noise coming from here!”

The stallion's head swung towards the entrance to the chamber, and he startled in-place. Quickly he pulled the hood of his cloak over his head and retreated to a distant corner, just in time for a trio of armored guards to come rushing into the tomb.

The three of them skidded to a halt and looked about the chamber, one's eyes glazing briefly over Chanter's position. Chanter bit his breath and lip, and froze again.

“The casket lid,” the lead guard muttered, eyes growing wide and his coat pale.

The other guard turned to the mare at the back of the line. “Go inform Her Highness immediately that we've had a breach.”

With a nod, the mare charged back the way she had come.

Chanter saw his chance, and broke for the tomb entrance. His hoofsteps echoed deafeningly off the walls, and he tripped over a suit of mithril armor. Every eye in the room sliced a path straight towards his location and the crystal dust that kicked up around his hooves.

“INTRUDER!” the lead guard shouted. “Intruder in the Harmonic tomb!”

Chanter dashed into the corridor with a pair of massive stallion guards hot on his fetlocks.

“They're wearing a shadow cloak!”

“BLOCK THE EXITS!”

“SWAN SONG! BEHIND YOU! SWAN SONG!”

Chanter came up swiftly on the tail of the startled mare guard. He quickly reached back to his saddlebags with his teeth and gripped the hilt of his dagger, before severing her jugular with a single swipe to her neck.

The mare blinked, twitched, and fell to the ground in a spray of blood that stained the edge of his cloak.

The younger of the stallion rushed to her side in a panic, cradling her twitching form in his hooves. The guard captain locked eyes on his bloodied form, and galloped after him, bearing down on him at a rapid pace.

Adrenaline surged through him, and Chanter clutched at the clasp of his cloak, freeing it from himself and leaving it in a shadowy puddle behind him.

It was enough to send the captain for a spill and buy him a few precious seconds.

Chanter bounded around a corner and straight into another set of guards. Their surprise worked to his advantage as he vaulted over them and their outstretched javelins.

“The south hall!” he heard behind him, but it was already too late. Chanter dodged down another hallway and swiftly bounded towards the exit.

“C-commander...” he spoke to his neck. “COMMANDER!” he shouted, hoping to hear the aurastone resonate back to him with the familiar voice of Spitfire any moment.

Silence answered him.

It was only then he realized that his stone had been latched to the clasp of the cloak of invisibility he had worn for the mission. Blinded by panic, Chanter ran as fast as his hooves could carry him out of the exalted spire…

...and headlong into a group of guards.

“HALT!” one commanded, his troop leveling their spears at him.

Chanter skidded to a halt and looked frantically to his left and right, only to find himself surrounded on all sides. Guards poured out of the Harmonic Tomb and encircled him from every direction, weapons drawn threateningly.

“Remove your saddlebags, and spread your hooves!” the large captain snarled, taking a menacing step forward. “I won't warn you twice!”

Chanter quaked in-place and slowly lowered himself to the ground. The three largest guards advanced slowly towards him, their weapons trained directly on him. The heat of their breath steamed his hackles and caused him to shiver.

The stallion clenched his tearful eyes shut. Thoughts of his wife and little filly flashed through his mind. Tears poured down his face with the thought of their brutal execution because of his failure. It would be slow… torturous… cruel…

“Don't even think about moving,” the guard growled as his stomped forward.

Suddenly, the air overhead whistled, and three black shadows meteored from out of the darkness. The three guard captains were crushed down to their stomachs in a wave of dust and bitter cold wind.

Chanter dared to open his eyes, and the familiar forms of Air Commander Spitfire and her lieutenants Fleetfoot and Soarin' glistened in the light of the palace.

The guard captain she towered over looked at her with wide, fearful eyes.

“Y-you…”

Spitfire grinned sinisterly, leaned forward, and vomited a tar-like black substance into his gaping mouth. The rest of the guards backpedaled in a combination of disgust and fear, leaving the captain to writhe on the ground in wailing agony. The air commander turned to smirk at Chanter's prone form.

“Must it always be an ordeal with you?” she hissed sarcastically.

“F-FREEZE!” a young crystal guard stepped forward, raising his javelin. “You four are under arrest for high treason against Equestria!”

Spitfire turned and narrowed her ember-like eyes at him.

“'Equestria?'” she scoffed. “There is no Equestria. There is only King Sombra…”

“D-don't even think about it lady!” another young, bold stallion stammered to her side. “There's twenty of us and only three of you!”

Chanter looked up and saw Spitfire grin.

“You should recount. There are six of us and seventeen bodies.”

“Wh—”

The young guard never got to finish his question before the ichor-stained guard captain whirled around and impaled his junior's skull on his spear. A twist splattered his eyes and brain matter all over the cobblestone streets.

Chaos took reign as the two other guard captains turned, their eyes pouring with black tears and snarling fangs. Half the junior guards’ ranks broke in a blind panic, while three more fell in a sudden bloodbath.

Screams of panic filled Chanter's ears as Spitfire turned and smiled at his quivering form.

“You're fortunate that I heard the screams over the stone. What use would your family be to us had you been captured or imprisoned?”

She glanced at her two wingmates and nodded. “Take him.”

The stallion felt himself hoisted up by his forelegs and winced painfully as the three tore to the sky unimpeded, leaving a gathering chorus of chaos and fearful shouts behind them.

* * *

Rainbow Dash awoke with a stir and moaned, feeling about to her side and patting the hard floor of the cavern with her hoof. For the second time that evening – what one would call that anyway – she found herself robbed of the source of warm and happy cuddliness.

Something had robbed her of…

!!!

Her heart rate elevated to stratospheric levels, and Dash was awake and on her hooves in an instant. Her body burned with adrenaline, and her eyes frantically darted around in the dark.

“Applejack?!”

A warm hoof falling on her withers the next moment startled the pegasus, and she leapt ten feet into the air, wheeling about to fight whatever had touched her.

A pair of wide, green eyes stared back up at her, and a musical chuckle filled the short space between the two of them.

“Swear, I figure I seen ya in every color of the rainbow, but I ain't never seen white.”

Deflating, Rainbow Dash heaved a sigh and fluttered back to the floor, never more grateful for her friend's touch as she crossed the short space between them and hugged her.

“Bad dream?”

Rainbow shook her head. “No… just cold all of a sudden,” she muttered.

A canteen crested in apple-shaped gems was shoved into her hooves, and she looked up.

“S'okay, sugarcube. That's the way I used to wake up all the time too.” She smirked. “I kinda regret tryin' to be all sneaky-like about gettin' a drink though. You sure were enjoyin' bein' all snuggled up with me,” she said with a wink.

“D-did not,” the pegasus nervously stammered. She averted her eyes and sipped the canteen. “I just… liked having the warm again...”

“Well, time enough for that later, darlin',” the cowgirl said, dropping a set of saddlebags at Rainbow's hooves. “We oughta get a move on. I reckon we slept in as it is.”

“R-right.”

Rainbow strapped herself into her saddlebags and devoured her breakfast in short order, and the pair were on the move again. The two took to charging the mountains with their newfound strength with all they were worth, stopping to snack along a shielded alcove, where their collective breath and close quarters allowed for some semblance of warmth to collect. They only allowed themselves a few precious minutes to gather their strength and catch their breaths before surging onward once again.

The paths grew more jagged and narrow the higher up the mountainside they climbed. Solid pathways gave way to narrow, crumbling cliff faces, overlooking fatal falls and an endless plane of utter darkness. Steps that were taken in haste just hours prior were now subject to decision and testing by Rainbow Dash, simply to see that the path would hold up for her earthbound companion. Many terminal points disintegrated beneath the pegasus's touch, leaving the pair to backtrack multiple times.

There were no shortages of scattered, bleached-white skeletal remains of fallen ponies. Many of them had likely been would-be escapees scrambling in attempt to escape Canterlot during Sombra's invasion, or those that had simply chosen death over servitude. Each was a sobering reminder of the fate that awaited the unwary.

The already-thin air at ground level grew only thinner. Even Rainbow Dash had to be careful not to wear herself down too much, lest she be asphyxiated at altitude. Applejack, on the other hoof, struggled for breath, and the pair found themselves constantly stopping to give her a chance to rest.

Then, at the level of sky where clouds once mingled, betwixt the numerous mountain peaks, natural rock bridges criss-crossed the chasms, giving the duo a welcome bit of relief from their persistent climb. Applejack in particular seemed grateful for the break. Even Dash grew dizzied by the sheer heights over the floors of the jagged, rocky valleys far below, and found herself constantly encouraging her wingless partner to keep her eyes on the straight ahead of her. Miles that were once nothing to the duo in the distant past were unbelievably taxing. A thousand meters felt like a marathon, and Rainbow Dash had to surrender hovering in favor of conserving her strength for the journey ahead.

The pair entered a long narrow valley, their breaths echoing off the slanted canyon walls endlessly back and forth when the pair stopped for a drink and a rest.

“You smell somethin', or is that just me?” Applejack panted tiredly.

“Huh?” Rainbow turned back to her friend. “Smell something? Smell what?” she asked, inhaling the thin air.

Applejack stopped nearly a dozen yards back, ears pricked, breathing in deeply. Her brow furrowed in worry. “That smell… like somethin's burnin'.”

Rainbow blinked and looked up, but was blind to any shade in the sky that may have indicated smoke. She sniffed and sniffed, then finally shook her head.

“Nah. Don't smell it. Let's keep moving.”

Applejack hesitated to follow, but after a few more whiffs of air continued on after her friend. The pair walked up the seemingly endless canyon for several hundred more yards, before Rainbow came to a pause.

“Wait,” she said, causing the earth pony to stop.

She sniffed.

“Okay… okay, I smell it too…”

“Burnin'?”

Dash nodded and looked around, smelling at the air every which direction. “I can't make anything out… do you see a fire somewhere?”

“I smell it… but I sure as hay don't see it...”

“Me neither…”

“Then I ain't crazy.”

“Not unless I am too...”

Applejack pulled her ears back. “One thing's for sure – there ain't no cause of fire out this far in these parts that's a good one.”

Rainbow crouched and flexed, producing a pair of talon-shaped blades out of her war gauntlets. She shrugged herself out of her saddlebags and kicked them behind a rock nearby.

“AJ?” she whispered.

Applejack sagged out of her own saddlebags and paused. “Yeah?”

“Arm yourself… I don't think we're alone here…”

“Ah, hayseed…”

Rainbow was gone the next moment, crouching and launching herself up a cliffside and clambering to a higher shelf in the mountain face.

“Rainbow!” Applejack hissed after her, withdrawing the blades in her own gauntlets. “Rainbow, you get back here! Don't go runnin' off on your own!”

“Just checking it out,” the pegasus said with a soft wave. “Stay there, and yell if you see anything.”

“Rainbow!”

No answer. Only the skittering of pegasus hooves.

“Rainbow!”

Silence.

Rainbow was a hundred feet up the slopes and disappeared into the dark over the bluffs, beyond Applejack's voice's reach.

The farmgirl spat in annoyance and took a heaving gulp of the thin air before she launched herself at the rock face. The talons on her greaves allowed her to grip and scale the rocks far easier than she could with her large hooves alone, and she ascended to where she had seen Rainbow Dash vanish.

She clutched to the edge, only to have a sky-blue hoof held out to her. She clutched it and felt herself hauled up by her old friend.

“Rainbow Dash!” she whispered angrily. “How many times do I gotta tell you to not go—”

“SHH!” The pegasus stifled her with a wing.

Silence. The only noise was the duo's quiet breathing and the texture of the rocks beneath their hooves. Regardless the quiet did little, it seemed, to calm the excitable pegasus.

“I heard a noise…” Rainbow whispered.

Applejack blinked and stepped around her friend's wing. She took a thorough look around the sloped canyon. There was precious little to hide behind, save for a few vertically-standing stones.

“You don't think we got followed all the way out here, ya suppose?”

“Hard to say...” Dash's brow furrowed as she stared up and around at the nothingness.

Somewhere a stone fell.

“Hear that?”

“Yeah...”

“Stones don't just move themselves, right…?”

“I don't reckon so.”

Rainbow's tail and wings stood erect and alert, prepared for an ambush.

“AJ,” she whispered. “You take the right flank around that rock formation – I'll take the left. Be ready for anything...”

“Hay no, sugarcube,” Applejack protested. “What've I told you about bein' reckless? I'm stickin' to you like cotton on a rabbit's tail.”

Rainbow chewed her lip and considered for a moment. She nodded and led the way slowly forward, ducking close to the ground in attempt to blend with the boulder-studded landscape. The two nervously eyed the darkness and hushed their lit gems hastily.

Gradually, however, the pair relaxed when it became apparent that they were the only two ponies occupying the valley.

Instead, their fascination became absorbed by a warm breeze that brushed through the two's manes.

“Feel that?” the earth pony asked.

“And-a-half.” Her ears sagged. “You don't think we're standing in a volcano, do you?”

“I reckon it's always possible...” Applejack said hesitantly, kicking a warm stone with her hoof. “I didn't think these were volcanic rocks, though… always figured they were like glass or somethin'.” She sniffed. “Burnin' sure smells a lot stronger up here, though...”

“There's so much heat building up here…” Rainbow huffed, wiping her leg across her face. “I could actually start sweating…”

“Humid too…” Applejack panted, fanning herself.

Rainbow kicked at another stone with her hoof and frowned, examining the terrain closer, ears pricked towards the faint noise of a number of rocks tumbling down the hill.

“Does this rock feel like normal rock to you?” she asked with a furrowed brow.

“I dunno, sugarcube… I got a bad feelin' about all this.”

“Oh please, AJ, don't say that,” Rainbow said with a wince. “That's the line every stupid adventurer pony in all those lame books says right before the horseapples hit the fan.”

“I ain't kiddin' darlin'.” Applejack turned to her with a concerned expression. “I think we need to book it on outta here.”

Rainbow looked around. “Yeah… yeah, probably not a bad idea…”

The two turned towards the narrow chasm they had emerged from.

“Ouch!”

Rainbow quickly whipped her head around.

“What?! What's wrong?”

“The ground here… it got real hot all of a—” The earth pony hissed and leapt several spaces as green sparks lit up around her fetlocks.

“AJ!”

Rainbow took a step and shrieked at the heat that touched the frog of her hoof. She instinctively leapt into the air with a mighty gust from her wings, and bolted over to Applejack who was hopping across the ground with green flames licking at her fur. She swept down the slope and scooped her up in her forehooves. After a short glide, the pair skidded to a halt on the nearest ground that wasn't steaming and glowing bright green with heat.

The two turned breathlessly to the lit slopes around them. Within the green fires, rocks and stones began sweeping uphill and congregating in a center location. The mass of rocks and objects – not rocks and stones, but petrified bones and long-dead flesh – towered over the two of them, swirling in a mist of flame, steam, and magic.

Both girls' eyes widened as the mammoth shape took form. An ethereal, burning green eye solidified and glared soullessly back at the pair of them. The makeshift beast turned to glare at them, snarling with an otherworldly growl.

Applejack paled and her jaw dropped.

“R-R-Rainbow?!”

“DRAGOOOOOOON!

And then all was panic, noise, and fire.

* * *

Elsewhere, far from any carnage…

A comforting light glowed below. Down in the valley, nowhere near the outskirts of Canterlot, a pair of figures moved through the foreboding darkness, descending the sharp slopes with the grace of impalas. A light tan mare with a red mane carrying a brightly-glowing torch dipped behind another shelf into a sheltered, hidden path, and exited on the other side of a sheer cliff face. She came to rest on one last rock ledge before the basin of the vale, carrying in her teeth a woven, dusty sack.

On the flat ground, where the light was a distant glimmer, the mare dropped the sack and turned. She smirked up the mountain path to a young stallion as he struggled to keep pace with her down the rough path.

“Come on, Tanner! You'll never be a Gatherer with that kind of can't-do attitude!” she barked. “Pick up your hooves a little!”

The colt slid to a clumsy stop next to her with a tight hold on his own sack. His bag was nowhere near the size of the older mare's, yet even so, he struggled to keep from losing it over the cliffside. She brought him to a halt with a firm hoof and held him up by the withers.

She chuckled, bringing forth a pout from the budding stallion.

“I was coming along just to try and make your life a little easier, y'know. You could stand to be nicer,” he snorted. “It's only my second time out, anyway,” he said.

She trotted into town, past roughly-assembled cloth huts, and stopped at a bonfire near the center of the makeshift village.

The mare smiled warmly and patted the young colt on his withers.

“I'm your big sister, kid.” She ruffled his mane. “Ain't my job to be nice. It's to make you a strong, respectable stallion. You don't want Silver Leaf to hear you complaining, do you?” She stooped and picked up her bag of rocks, draping it over her back.

She looked at the pout on his face and the slump in his withers, and reached out to him, bringing him in close for a hug. “Just the same… thanks for all the help today,” she said with a wink. “I'll make sure your little girlfriend hears how big 'n tough you are.”

Tanner bit his lip and blushed, looking away from her as the duo made towards the inviting glow of town. “Sh-she's not my girlfriend!” he protested. He fidgeted. “J-just… I don't want her to think I'm a… wuss or anything.”

“Alright, tell ya what – I won't tell her you whined half the day about all the hard, dirty work.”

Her brother hesitated, glimpsing sidelong at her. “I-if?”

She smirked. “If you go help irrigate the west fields.”

He proceeded to whine further. “Awwww, sis! I hate farming duty!” he protested. “I'm never any good at it… and the other guys always make fun of me for it…”

“Pretty sure I'd put Silver Leaf on those fields for that too...”

Tanner threw a wide-eyed look at her.

Trailblazer smirked. “She's all alone out there… I just figured you wouldn't mind being gentlecoltly about it and lend her a hoof… but if you're not interested, I could always just get—”

“O-oh, alright! Fine!” He bit his lip. “I-I'm just doing it 'cause you asked, though – not 'cause I wanna be alone with her or anything...”

“Naturally.”

A pause. Trotting.

“Is it… okay if I just… y'know, go straight there?” he asked, glimpsing at the heavy bag off stone on his back.

Trailblazer snorted and single-hoofedly lifted his carry off his back and placed it on top of her own without a hint of effort. There was any number of bad things about being an earth pony with a unicorn sibling. She simply didn't appreciate being the pack mule for her weaker brother.

“Th-thanks, sis!” he chirped, before galloping off at a brisk pace.

The mare shook her head with a roll of her eyes and couldn't help the chuckle and smile that came to her face. Boys would be boys, after all…

Trailblazer entered town, the makeshift stone gate opened for her by a brick-red pegasus stallion and brown unicorn mare acting as guards.

She nodded at the two guards. “Stone Eye. Amber. All quiet?”

“As a graveyard,” the mare replied with a smile.

“Good to know you two are behaving yourselves today, then,” she said with a playful wink.

The two young guards had a healthy spit-take.

“Itoldyoushesawus. Itoldyoushesawus!” the timid pegasus stallion panicked under his breath, thinking she hadn't heard him.

Trailblazer chuckled past them and marched towards the heart of the village. On either side of her, ponies huddled by small, thatch-woven huts in groups of seven or eight – exactly had she had left them twelve or so hours ago. Most clutched at blankets or warmed their hooves by small, burning black stones likely nicked from the bonfire that glowed in the center of the village. She gave the villagers each a smile or a nod in reply to their greetings and happy tidings of her return. Most of them, she knew by name. The village was simply that small – no more than a couple hundred ponies, and most never more than a stone's throw away.

After stowing the two bags of ash rocks in the community tent, Trailblazer approached and hung her aurastone by the bonfire in the village center where it shimmered a soft crimson light. It began to flicker in the dark and gradually began to recapture the spark of the blaze. She smiled nodded and, after she threw her torch into the blaze, she turned toward the east side of the village.

Not far past the last homes lay rows of various crops assembled as a small farmland of a number of acres – hay, corn, grasses. All were doused beneath a number of special glowing rocks – sunstone, if she remembered the enchanter correctly.

In the glow of one of them, a diamond dog pawed at the dirt. He let a scoop of the earth fall through his paw as he sniffed at the contents.

Trailblazer smiled and pushed through a row of corn. “Stonejaw?”

The scarred diamond dog looked her way.

“What do you think?” she asked.

He looked at the ground and pawed at it. “The last season for this ground. We will have to cycle to another field while this ground rejuvenates.”

She nodded. “How about the crops?”

“We will live… barely.”

She snorted with a grin. “So, same as every harvest?” she asked, whacking his shoulder playful.

He nodded stoically.

“I don't want to tempt the fates by saying it could be worse, but...”

The thinnest semblance of a smile crossed the canine's jaws.

“Well, I was going to go explore a bit into the northern mountain caves – see if I could scope out some everdark mushrooms for the stew this evening. Care to come with me?”

Stonejaw shook his head softly.

“You sure? Never know – there could be gems in them there hills,” she said with a waggle of her brow.

The diamond dog simply stared at the ground.

She pawed at the soft earth herself, and up and down the slowly-greening crops. “I didn't mean for you to wind up stuck out here all by yourself, you know. This wasn't what I had in mind. I just thought you might appreciate the solitude. I know the idle ponyfolk chatter doesn't exactly appeal to those sensitive ears of yours.”

“My ears tolerate ponytalk just fine,” he said calmly behind her.

“I know you can – and don't feel like I want to pressure you or anything. But I know not having anypo— or rather, anypuppy – to talk to has to eat at you, Stonejaw.” She turned. “I just don't want you to feel alone is all…”

She paused and blinked at her long-time friend.

Stonejaw stared skyward with his one unscarred eye.

“Stonejaw? Buddy? You okay?”

Stonejaw growled at the heavens in reply.

Trailblazer's ears pulled back. “What is it, big guy? Bad news?” she asked, looking up into the darkness where his eye was glued.

“Fire…” he snarled.

She blinked. “You sure you're not just smelling the bonfire again?” she asked.

“No.” He looked at her. “It's not the ash rock…” He looked to the east. “Magic… dark magic…”

In Stonejaw's age, a bit of paranoia could be expected. It had served them well over the years, but the gray hairs in the top dog's coat made it obvious that he was no puppy. That left her to wonder if his nose had begun to play tricks on him in his old age. She had often wondered secretly if the endless pony diet didn't agree with the predatory dog's appetite – or mental state – particularly well. Though his senses had saved the village many a time from stray patrols of Sombra's forces, she didn't even consider him, her closest friend, above scrutiny. The village's safety was her responsibility, and she had to question everything.

She opened her mouth to speak, only to have her thoughts interrupted by an ear-splitting roar that threatened to shatter the mountains they called home. Her jaw dropped in disbelief.

Stonejaw had grabbed his pack sitting nearby and slung it over his shoulder, passing a rustic Royal Guard battle gauntlet to her.

The mare spat a curse, turned and eyed the diamond dog grimly. “We'll need to grab Stone Eye and Amber – sounds like something was stupid enough to go and poke the dragon…”

She pressed her hoof into the shield-like grieve and locked it on, and the two galloped towards the village.

“Hopefully whoever it is is still alive by the time we get there…”

Author's Note

Sorry this is late guys, Twilight and I have been super busy. I'll try posting the next one as soon as I can

Dragons and Dogs

A dragon.

A bucking dragon!

Of all the things they had to face in this world in order to save it the first thing they come across was a giant fire breathing, death giving, and most likely corrupted dragon. Why do all the awesome ponies such as me have such rotten luck?! thought Rainbow Dash as she avoided another blast of flame. Even before Sombra’s take over, dragons were very rare to find in Equestria. Rainbow Dash had seen more than most ever did due to her duties as an Element of Harmony.

There was a reason why dragons were feared, they were highly magical resistant, powerful fliers and fighters, and-oh yeah-breathed fire! Even though she was dodging the flames, Rainbow Dash could still feel the damn heat from them nearly turn her crisp. She was at a loss of what to do. The last time she and her friends faced a dragon they ran like pansies. Rainbow was sure she could outfly the dragon at her top speed, maybe even with a sonic rainboom or two.

But that would leave AJ all alone to face this thing, and Rainbow Dash would never do that. Even if it was a million dragons she was facing.

Thankfully, the dragon was mostly preoccupied with her while Applejack was making her way further up the mountain. If they could find a cave or tunnel to hide out in, they could wait for the dragon to get bored and leave. It might take a few days, and good drain on their supplies, but it would be better then cooked and dead.

Just got to buy Applejack some time, thought Rainbow Dash as she made a hard turn and headed straight for the mountain side itself. She increased her speed as the rocky surface got closer and closer. Got to time this right!

Just at the last second she zoomed straight up. Just as she hoped, the dragon crashed head first into the mountain and got it’s head stuck. Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but give a childish raspberry at the monster and shake her plot a bit at it.

Hearing a loud whistle, she looked down and saw AJ hunkered down between some large rocks, calling her down. Without a second thought, she flew down and crouched down low with her friend. “You okay?”

“Some scrapes and bruises, but nothin’ Ah can’t handle!” shouted Applejack, before motioning to the big dragon still crawling his way out of the mountain. “How long do ya think ‘till he’s freed?”

“I’d say two minutes tops,” answered Rainbow Dash as she narrowed her eyes for a closer look. “Is it just me or does he not look completely corrupted?”

“Ah agree with ya,” said AJ as she stared at the half corrupted dragon. “Don’t mean anythin’ though. Listen, Ah’ll distract it so y’all can fly on ahead an-”

“Before you finish that sentence let me tell you now the answer is no!” shouted Rainbow Dash as she flared her wings out. “We make it out alive or this mountain becomes both our graves. I’m not leavin you, Applejack. Not even for all of Equestria.”

Applejack looked ready to argue but by the time she did the dragon had freed itself and roared louder than ever. “Fine! Keep that big thing occupied! Ah’ll find shelter!”

Rainbow Dash nodded before she took to the skies again in a flash. She only hoped that Applejack would find a place for them to hide out soon. Drawing her blades on her hoof gauntlets, she made for the dragon which roared at her. She had no doubt that her blades would cause barely any damage, but she had to do something to distract it.

Narrowly dodging a bit from it’s giant mouth, Dash cried out and slashed her blades against the blackened scales of the corrupted sign of the dragon. The sharp steel only bounced off the scales with not a scratch on them. Dash cursed as she barrel rolled out of the way to make it the dragon’s backside, avoiding the claws along the way. Damn, what I wouldn’t give for Fluttershy and her stare.

She made sure to keep herself right behind the dragon and weave and follow it each time it tried to turn in the air to attack her. So far it was keeping its focus on her and that’s what she wanted for now. Any time it looked to be diverting to the ground, where Applejack was, Dash made sure to use her gauntlets to keep its focus on the pegasus.

Then in a surprise twist, the dragon spun around and reversed its position so fast Dash barely reacted to it. It opened its jaws and unleashed its flames, which Dash tried to avoid by veering left. Only one second too late as the flames nicked her right wing but the intensity was enough to make her scream.

Knowing it would be only minutes until her wing’s nerves stopped working, Dash made a quick dive for the ground. She did her best to make the landing as soft as possible, but she still crashed into a bunch of rocks. Groaning, she tried to get up, grateful that her bones were only bruised and no broken.

“Rainbow!” shouted Applejack as she galloped towards the downed pegasus. Helping her up, she asked, “You okay?”

“Other than smelling like griffin-styled fried chicken and the crash landing? Yeah?” joked Dash with a laugh.

That laugh was soon replaced by as gasp as the dragon hovered over them and roar. The two froze up, unable to turn away from the sight of the great creature ready to unleash it’s flame upon them both and send them to the beyond. However, a single arrow unleashed itself upon the face of the dragon and exploded in its face, rearing it back as it retreated in confusion.

“What the...” said both ponies as they heard something landed behind them. Turning around they gasped.

“Come with me if you want to live!” said a diamond dog, crossbow in one paw while holding out its other one.

Rainbow Dash didn’t know who this one-eyed diamond dog was or if she could trust it but she didn’t have many options. She took it and was helped up as the diamond dog loaded up his crossbow again and fired against the dragon who was unfortunate to get it in the head again. The explosion echoed in Dash’s ear, wondering just want kind of powder or magic was in those arrows.

“Amber! Cover these two while me and Stone Eye handle him!” shouted the diamond dog.

Coming down the road, a yellow coated unicorn with a brown mane was charging up a spell while the black furred pegasus took to the skies with his gray mane flowing in the wind. When the unicorn named Amber arrived, she had a shield spell already protecting the three of them. “Follow me!” she shouted which neither of the two argued with. They had allies and that was enough.

They followed, doing their best to keep under the shield as they heard the sounds of battle behind them. Rainbow Dash looked back to see the pegasus, Stone Eye, flying around as a distraction with some pretty decent moves while the diamond dog was firing his crossbow.

They continued to run up the mountain, Applejack helping Rainbow Dash along the way as she did her best to ignore the pain in her wings. When they reached the far side wall, they saw two children near what looked to be a small entrance with a rock nearby.

“Amber! Get in here! Looks like Stonejaw’s running out of ammo!” shouted the colt as he waved his hooves in the air.

“Get inside! Quick!” shouted Amber which Applejack and Rainbow Dash obeyed. As soon as they were in, Amber used her magic to seal the rock behind them and the five of them sighed in relief.

“Wait, what about your friends outside?!” asked Rainbow Dash.

“They’ll be fine! We have other entrances into the tunnels,” said Amber with sigh. A second later she aimed her horn at them. “Now stand still or I’ll blast you!”

“What the heck for?!” shouted Applejack in disbelief.

“Yeah, what the hay?! First, you save us and now we’re being held up?!” growled Dash, as she glared at the pony in front of her.

“We need to make sure you aren’t corrupted like the others on the outside,” growled Trailblazer, as she nodded to the two smaller ponies. “Tanner. Amber. Search them.”

“This is ridiculous, we’re not-”

“Dash, just let them do it. We got nothin’ to hide,” said Applejack, giving Dash a stern look. Rainbow recognized it as her “keep quiet or I’ll make you” look.

Rainbow Dash grumbled under her breath but didn’t say anything as the colt and filly checked them both out. After a few minutes of being searched every part of their body, the two foals nodded to each other as the boy, Tanner, said, “Both of them are clean, Trailblazer. They’re as normal as you or me.”

Upon hearing this, the mare put her magic off and raised her head back to normal eye level. “Sorry for that, but we had to make sure that you weren’t Sombra’s spies. I’m Amber, a watchguard here in our mountain. This is Tanner and Trailblazer, both of them are trainees.”

“Ya got kids training to be guards?” asked Applejack, looking sad at the concept.

“We all gotta pitch in,” said Amber. “Each of us has to do our part to help each other.”

“I’m surprised that there are ponies still in Equestria,” said Applejack with a smile. “We thought they all died out or went overseas.”

“We thought the same thing,” Trailblazer droned. “We thought we were the last.” She turned to look at the two of them. “Where are you two from? Just who are you?”

“Maybe it’s best if we brought them to the Elder, first,” suggested Tanner.

“Good idea. We can meet up with Stone Eye and Stonejaw along the way,” said Trailblazer as she lead them down the passage. A series of burning torches lead them forward, but as they pressed on AJ and Dash found themselves following a series of hallways that seemed to go on forever.

Seeing their confused expressions, Amber smiled at them and said, “Don’t worry. It takes time to remember all the passages.”

“Did y’all build these?” asked Applejack, impressed by the tunnel work.

“No. These were built by the Diamond Dogs before we came here,” explained Amber, leading them down a staircase. “This mountain was originally theirs. When Sombra invaded, a few of us refugees tried to flee the nation, but were cut off. We took shelter here. In exchange for helping them with their mines, security and other things, we live as one community with the Diamond Dogs.”

“No offense, but the Diamond Dogs we’ve encountered in the past weren’t exactly the pal-around-with-pony types,” said Rainbow Dash, remembering the time Rarity had gotten kidnapped. “It’s kind of hard to believe they would do this out of the kindness of their own heart.”

“If it wasn’t for that kindness, you would both be scorched in a dragon’s gullet right now,” snapped Trailblazer in a voice that made Dash nearly jump. Her pause brought her rump-to-paw with a giant figure behind her. She turned around and they saw the diamond dog from outside along with the brick-red pegasus.

Amber rushed to the pegasus who she hugged and said, “I was beginning to worry.”

“I’m fine, Amber,” said Stone Eye, who kept his eyes on AJ and Dash the whole time. “Did you check them?”

“We did, they ain’t corrupted,” answered Amber.

“So who are they?” asked Stone Eye.

Applejack stepped forward. “I’m Applejack. This here’s Rainbow Dash. We’re from the Crystal Empire and we’re trying to get to Canterlot-”

“You’re trying to go where?!”

“The Crystal Empire is still standing?!”

“You’re the Elements of Harmony?!”

Everyone turned to Tanner who was staring at the two with his jaw wide open. “You guys are the Elements of Honesty and Loyalty, right? We thought you were all dead! Are the other Elements around too? Are you going to beat Sombra?!”

“Wait, these are the Knights of Harmony?” asked Amber in shock as she took a look at them. “We thought you all perished at the Battle of Ponyville.”

“Some of us did,” muttered Rainbow Dash, regret in her tone. “T-Twilight died later... we’re the last of the six.”

Stonejaw sighed. “This really sounds like something we should share with the Elder. Come on.”

With that said, Stonejaw took the lead as the group followed. “Not much of a talker, huh?” asked Rainbow Dash to Amber.

“No, he never has been. But he’s a good soul, trust me,” said Amber as she lead the two down further along the tunnels.

“Hey! All of you! Move your rumps!” Trailblazer snapped.

Rainbow scowled at the back of the lead mare’s head, and looked at Applejack. “Why do I get the feeling it was gonna be easier with the dragon?”

Author's Note

This one is short cause were still deciding more about the city that the group is heading into. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.