Sorrow's Downpour

by Krushnazag

Rating: everyone
Tags: Tragedy, Slice of Life
Length: 8471

What happens when an immense storm rocks Ponyville to the core? When nothing remains, what is left?

When a storm of unparalled strength hits Ponyville, nothing can stand before it. When it's all over, so too is the quiet paradise that we all know. What happens when everything is gone? What then remains?

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-04-22 23:34:49 UTC

The Onset

On every day, night must fall. On every breath, death must call. For every love there one is lost, in Ponyville the dice are tossed. Fate shall determine what we see, this we know, now come with me.

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The wind battered against the walls and the lights flickered maddeningly. Pinkie curled up in her bed and pulled the blankets even tighter around her, terrified by every streak of lighting, every screech of the wind. The rain pounded against the roof and lashed out at everything. Ozone filled the air as huge bolts of electricity shot down almost as much as the rain itself. The thunder shook the very ground and produced deafening clashes with every blast.

The lights blacked out and Pinkie felt more alone than she ever had. She shuddered with every strike, every push of the wind, every clap of thunder. The rain splattered against her windows hard enough to make them rattle in their frames. She couldn't see very far past the window, the rain was an almost solid downpour; the ponies had all been told to stay in their homes hours ago due to flood risk, now the doors bulged under the pressure of the waters.

Pegasi could be seen flying around occasionally. The more they kicked at the clouds, the more clouds there seemed to be. The wind and lightning downed most of them, but still Rainbow Dash forced everypony to continue. "Let's go," she screamed over the howling winds and bursting thunder, "if we don't take this thing out all of Ponyville's going down!" The Cloudsdale weather patrol had arrived long ago, but even those elite ponies could do little to help. Every attempt at taking out the furious clouds failed quickly and horribly.

Fluttershy had left when the storm started, eager to ensure the safety of her animal friends. She, Angel and Applejack led a group of ponies to save the local animals. They knew there was no place to put them all until it was over, and their dens were all guaranteed to flood. Even the beehives had been knocked down by the storm and it was little more than dark clouds on the horizon at that point.

"Ah've got it," Applejack yelled as they all tried to think of ways to save the animals. Everyone looked at her hopefully. "We can build a huge bot and stick them in it 'till this here storm blows over." Everypony set to work building the boat. Trees were felled with blinding speed and the sound of hooves pounding on nails echoed through the air. A deathly silence had fallen as the storm neared.

Back at Sweet Apple Acres, Big Mac and the other local stallions were busy boarding up the barn and putting all the apples inside. Many of the unicorns had joined in here as they could harvest entire orchards with their magic. A few pegasi were helping, though for the most part they had been sent out to prepare cloud-falls in case the storm was bigger than it looked; it was coming off the Everfree Forest so it continually grew as it went. Apples were bucked and thrown into the windows on the loft of the barn. Derpy was stationed here to ensure that the apples didn't jam up in the window, and to keep her out of trouble; so far, it was working.

Twilight and Rarity were back in town preparing the townsponies for the coming onslaught with their natural orderliness; Twilight's from studying, Rarity's from OCD. Preparations were nearing completion when the first of the storm hit. The air seemed to still, even the shouting ponies made little impact upon the still atmosphere. There was a hushed expectancy in the air. Then it struck.

Wind howled and thunder shook the ground. The once tranquil village had been turned into a swirling mass of black clouds and muddy water lit only by multicolored flashes. The pegasi tried breaking up the clouds, but that only caused the torrential downpour to increase. Ponies fell, flames crackling brightly after they were struck by the free flying energy. One after the other they fell, most extinguished by the water, others became stranded on the roofs, setting the dried materials on fire almost instantly; the oil that waterproofed them making a perfect catalyst for the flames.

Twilight and Spike had chosen not to stay in the library. "A tree," Twilight reasoned, "is a horrible place to be during a storm." She had cast spells to protect the books and they went over to Rarity's house. She had one of the tallest buildings around but had put in lightning rods after a mishap with spells caused her fabric to burn. Twilight could still feel the pinpricks from her revenge.

Twilight, Rarity, Sweetie Belle and Spike were huddled together in Rarity's room when the lights went out. Spike was too terrified to even register the fact that he was being crushed between two attractive mares and a cute young filly. He was screaming almost as loud as they were. A loud crash resounded from below and Rarity knew her fabrics would all be ruined. The smoking remains of a tree could be seen through the window, the rest of it lying splintered in the direction of the boutique.

The library had been struck many times and was nearly burned down, Twilight's spells had held though and the books remained unharmed, floating around in the pooling water as the library burned around them. Owlicious had been forgotten. He flew around frantically, trying to find an escape from the heat and smoke. Twilight had thought him with Fluttershy and the other animals. He thought Twilight getting a place ready for everypony to hide. The smoke filled his lungs and the fire raged against him, the only thing visible amongst the inky blackness. His eyelids closed, but nothing changed. His head grew lighter, his breathing ragged. Owlicious's wings gave out and he dropped to the floor. His body a crumpled heap amongst the red tongues that lapped against the floor, growing ever closer. A final call went through the dying library, "who, to-who!" He knew no more.

Fluttershy and the others had just finished the boat as the storm engulfed them. Most of the animals had been thrown on board; many had been washed away before their turn came. Applejack stood atop the ship, casting her lasso about seemingly at random, each throw pulled up a small group of animals. The number in the water decreased rapidly, but so too did the numbers of those catching the ropes. Fluttershy did her best, but the winds soon became too violent for her to fly in.

She collapsed on the deck, a number of squirrels falling from her arms as she cried. She could hear the diminishing struggle of her woodland friends, but wasn't strong enough to help. "There, there," Applejack said as no more struggling figures showed against the waters, "we done our best and we got most of 'em. Just look around at how many you saved Fluttershy." The yellow pegasus looked around, her eyes filmed with tears. Nearly all of her furry little friends were here. One vacancy stood out.

"Where's Angel?" she gasped, seeing almost instantly that he wasn't here, "where is he?" She screamed and tried to throw herself into the water to find him. "Angel!"

"Calm yerself," Applejack said, pulling her back. "He ain't here and there's nothin' we can do about it. Knowing that bunny he'll find some way outta this. But there's nothing else you can do here, especially not by drownin' yerself." Fluttershy nodded and curled up in the corner, a few of the other ponies present came over to try and cheer her up, most just sat and watched, knowing the extent of her grief, knowing nothing now could quiet her cries.

Rainbow Dash struggled against the winds. 'It's no use,' she thought, 'even I can't fly in this.' A flash of light shot past her and she thought for a moment that she should at least feel something. A nearly identical blur went by a moment later. They stopped, more or less, in front of her. Their forms slowly became visible through the sheeting rain. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had come.

"What's the plan?" Luna yelled looking around. The devastation could barely be seen through the heavy rain, but seen it could be, especially by the princesses' abnormally strong eyes. Luna's were even more so due to her stay on the moon.

"I don't know," Rainbow Dash could barely hear herself, but the alicorns seemed to understand. "I just… don't know. Nothing is working." She felt warmth around her eyes and knew that not all of the water was from the rain. "Too many pegasi have fallen and we haven't even put a dent in that bucking storm."

"Then it's as I feared," Celestia seemed calm, but a great sorrow could be seen in her eyes. She didn't raise her voice, but Rainbow Dash could easily hear her magic infused voice over the clamor. "I have seen a storm such as this long before. There is nothing that can be done. We must flee."

"Sister," Luna cried, shocked at the coldness of Celestia, "what about all the ponies here?"

"There is nothing that can be done at this point. They'll either die, or they'll pull through. This happened just after you were sent to the moon. I fear your return similarly unbalanced things so that another could happen. If the townsponies flee, the storm will follow. We learned this the hard way last time."

"But my friends," Rainbow Dash managed, "what about them?"

"There is nothing we can do. We must leave now ere it is too late. If they can be saved, it will be once this has blown itself out."

Rainbow ground her teeth, 'Why did this have to be so difficult?' She took a deep breath. "Okay." She flew up as high as she dared go without being struck, "everypony, get to safety. There's nothing we can do here. It's done."

The pegasi from other towns flew away as fast as they could, the storm still dropping them by the dozen, some managed to get back up, others were abandoned. Those who knew Rainbow Dash stared in amazement. She never gave up. If Rainbow Dash said she was quitting, something must be wrong. "I bucking said GET OUT OF HERE!" She screamed over the storm and shot away. The lighting seemed drawn to her as she sped past.

She came to a stop on a large hill on the outskirts of the shadowy mass of clouds. She landed and noticed her hooves and fur were blackened and burned by the lightning. Other pegasi from town landed around her. She finally gave in and explained what the princess had said. Everypony watched as the town they loved fell. The buildings defeated by the elements, one after the other. Dawn was still far off.

Pinkie felt the building under her lurch and he was thrown from her bed. She landed on the floor, her blankets still wrapped around her. Her pillows were thrown around the room as well. A few of them landed on her, covering her head with marshmallowy softness. The building began to fall in; much of the rubble was stopped by her overly-large, amply-stuffed pillows. Some hit her, but with the exception of one brick, none of the injuries were serious. A shattered brick hit her just as a pillow cushioned a blow from a falling board; the pillow had been shifted to the side and the brick slammed into her temple, knocking her unconscious. The last thoughts she remembered having before the brick hot her were, 'thank goodness the cakes were out of town for this.' She could picture the fear on Pound and Pumpkin's faces as the world tore itself apart.

Twilight and Rarity felt the floor begin to give way. Several loud crashes had sounded downstairs and the building had been swaying for a while. A particularly hard gust of wind slammed into the building and a sound like breaking branches shot out. They put up a bubble around the room, protecting most of it from the fall. Rarity mostly provided the needed strength and focus while Twilight worked the immense spell. Spike and Sweetie Belle had fallen asleep almost an hour ago, exhausted from their fear. They cried out a little as the room fell, but didn't wake up. Water began flooding into the room as it came to a stop in the street, but Rarity, acting quickly, began stretching her rain coats across the windows and Twilight tied them in place with magic, surer bonds than those holding the walls themselves.

They traded off watching for new dangers throughout the night, but nothing more happened. At one point, Twilight had used a spell to see through the roof. The storm still raged, but no sound could be heard. The water rose above the ruins of the buildings dozens of hooves. She released the magic, disheartened. After all that had happened, she hadn't expected the pegasi to be able to do much against the storm, but she had at least expected to see them searching for survivors, if not trying more to find ways to break the storm.

Derpy flew through the air, oblivious to the cascading water. She knew only one thing and that thought filled her mind. "Dinky! Where are you?" A gray hoof protruded from the water. She could make out a small figure holding a board. She dove straight down, her hooves outstretched reaching for her little muffin. A thundering crash exploded above her and the world turned black. She heard Dinky yell, "Mommy!"

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How can any hope to survive? Will there be any left alive? The rain continues its weighty fall; the winds arise within the squall. Destruction strikes the buildings all. The doom approaches, darkness encroaches. Shall any last throughout night, or succumb within the fright. We know not what lies within, should evil bare its foul grin. But should we care to look once more, the clues are written behind the door.

Thanks for reading; I'm hoping that the story grows as I want it to as I write it. Comment and give me your thumbs (up preferably.) Also, please note that this is rather different from my usual structure. It will have longer sections and be a little more organized in the future. The storm was just too chaotic for me to organize and it kept blowing away my notes, so this happened.

The Wake

Pinkie woke up. She was cold, alone and darkness surrounded her. She could hear the steady dripping of water. The air felt cool and dank, like the time she fell into the well at Applejack's farm. She felt around for a little while, her eyes adjusting to the lack of light. She soon found herself hoof deep in a large cold puddle. The water felt slimy and she could feel the grit clinging to her soft fur. She tried shaking the water off her hoof, but very little came off, no matter how vigorously she shook.

She stumbled along a little ways before finding a small flashlight. She turned it on, but nothing happened. Pinkie felt herself breaking away. After the intense storm the night before, Pinkie was still scared. Then she woke up to find herself alone in near total darkness. "Now the stupid flashlight won't even let me see." Her breathing grew slightly ragged as a few sobs escaped her.

Pinkie hardened herself and began shaking the flashlight. Usual, that worked no matter what the flashlight had gone through, but for once, the luck usually protecting Pinkie seemed to have left her. She unscrewed the top; it still had batteries in it. Pinkie was about to throw it away when she realized why it hadn't turned on. The batteries weren't dead, they were just backwards. She breathed a sigh of relief and switched them.

The small light turned on as she screwed the top back on. Its meager beam showed her the extent of her surroundings. She was in a deep stone-lined hole. Great puddles of murky brown water covered the floor. Huge wooden beams had fallen around the entire area. One stuck out of a shattered patch of stone inches from where her head had been when she woke up. Most of the room was filled with rubble; every now and then she could pick out things that she recognized: a dented oven, a set of pranking tools, even a broken crib that lay on its side, the blankets spilling out.

Pinkie noted with a sense of morbidity that a selection of large, wicked looking knives had fallen into the crib, point first. Once again, she was extremely grateful that the cakes hadn't been in town for this.

She continued to survey the wreckage. Splintered remains of her past life only seemed to emphasize her hopelessness. She couldn't hear any noises coming from above and, based on the wreckage around her, nopony could even get close to where she was any time soon. She decided to try and find a way out, but after several minutes of digging, she realized just how lucky she'd been. Somehow, the floor where she'd fallen had collapsed into the bottommost of the Sugarcube Corner's basements. For more than ten hooves in the direction she'd dug, she found nothing other than rubble. Going over a few figures in her head, she realized that if anypony saw the ruins from the outside, it would look like nothing would be left of her except a crushed body, a lifeless corpse amongst the pieces of bakery. They probably wouldn't look for her until the other buildings in town had been checked.

Pinkie walked back over to where she had woken up. Her large pink comforter lay there. It was damp and stained with muddy water, but it helped keep out the worst of the cold. She shivered as she drew the dank fabric around herself. She wouldn't risk a fire for fear of filling the area around her with smoke. She felt a rumbling in her stomach and knew she'd have to try and find something to eat eventually, but for now she could ignore it. Pinkie lay in the darkness, she wanted to leave the light on, but was afraid of running down the batteries so she'd shut it off and placed it on a nearby cobblestone.

She drifted off into an uneasy sleep, waking occasionally at the sounds of muffled yells, but it didn't seem like anypony could hear her replies. Each attempt at contacting the voices left her more tired and broken than before. She finally fell once more into a fitful sleep, thinking that she'd only imagined the voices and that nopony was even looking for her.

Her tears joined the water already covering much of the floor.

A loud grinding noise jolted Applejack back into consciousness. The grinding grew louder and louder until, with a huge mushroom cloud of dust, the bran collapsed inwards on itself. She stared in amazement, that barn had stood since her grandmother was a filly. The water continued flowing out of Ponyville and the surrounding area. The pegasi were attempting to drain all of it so that they could save any survivors, but they hadn't mentioned that that included running the remains of a storm big enough to destroy Ponyville through her farm. Applejack cursed her luck, she should have known it would go through her farm, it meant going downhill and it was closer to the forests, flooding those didn't matter nearly as much as sending all of that water straight to Canterlot.

Rainbow Dash flew over. "How are things over here AJ? I'm trying to make sure nopony gets hurt while we drain the town."

Applejack pointed wordlessly at the barn. So many memories had taken place there, so many apple crops stored against lean times. Rainbow Dash stared. "I'm so sorry Applejack, I hadn't meant to-"

"No, no," Applejack sad, waving a hoof. Everypony else had lost so much, it shouldn't matter if one creaky old barn fell in. "T'aint yer fault Rainbow, don't go blamin' yerself. That ol' barn was about to fall over anyways, maybe now ah can get Big Mac to help me put up a new one that don't leak none."

"Have you seen the town yet?" Shadows ringed the cyan mare's eyes as she asked this.

"Yeah, ah saw it when the rain stopped. Ah told Fluttershy that ah had to make sure everything was okay here. Then ah climbed outta the boat and swam most of the way back. It gave me enough time to see plenty of the town."

"Nothing's left," Rainbow Dash said hoarsely, "even Pinkie's house is just a huge pile of wreckage." She looked into the cowpony's eyes, "Applejack, I don't think Pinkie made it."

Applejack gasped, "Ya can't mean ya think Pinkie's-"

"Yeah. I hope she isn't but it doesn't look good. I'll have pegasi digging her out as soon as I can spare them."

"Good. Ah'll see about headin over there to help out just as soon as ah can clean things up here. Shouldn't take Big Mac long to get up an help." A large red stallion stood up just behind the mares. He had taken to sleeping in the loft lately. With the cutie mark crusaders around most of the time, it was too loud for him to sleep in the house. He'd grown to like the loft of the barn. It was always quiet and there was more room than his bedroom. Plus it always smelled like a mixture of hay and fresh apples. He had even managed to put enough hay around him to drown out the sound of the storm; the farm had been just outside the storm's main path of destruction so all they'd gotten was a heavy thunderstorm. But, when the floodwaters rushed through and knocked the barn over, he'd still been sleeping inside.

"What happened?" he said rubbing his head. His deep voice had a strange soothing quality and managed to calm down the two mares.

"We tried draining the water out of town and it had to go this way. It knocked over the barn while it went. Sorry."

Big Mac looked at the boards he had just pushed off of himself; they were still in the shape of the roof. "Well ah can see that much," he said, "Just how bad was that storm last night?"

"Ponyville is gone," Applejack said before Rainbow Dash could go back over what she'd been tortured with since the previous afternoon. She'd have to relive it when she flew back into town for cleanup, she shouldn't have to go over it while she was off.

"How gone?" Big Mac asked, looking worried.

"Nothing's left, not even the street signs. Even Twilight's library managed to burn down." Rainbow Dash was staring at her hooves as she spoke. "The rain even tore my house apart. That storm shouldn't have been possible."

"How could it've burned in all of that?" Applejack asked. She had been near the edge of it helping Fluttershy save the animals and she's still been half drowned within seconds of the rain starting.

"I don't know, but her books all survived, she must've put a spell on them or something. Well, except one thing. We haven't gotten to looking around the remains of the buildings yet, but I saw something that looked like a huge burned book. For a second I thought it might've been something else, but Twilight and Spike had gone to Rarity's house and Owlicious was with you, Fluttershy and the other animals."

"No he wasn't," a look of horror spread across the orange pony's face, "he wasn't with us. Ah checked. Ah thought he was with Twailaight."

Rainbow Dash's face lost its color. "I saw Twilight and Spike when they were going to the boutique; they said Owlicious was with the other animals."

"Well, ah was with the animals and he wasn't there."

Rainbow Dash turned to fly away. Big Mac had gone back to the barn and was busily searching through the broken boards to find his things. Applejack placed a hoof on her friend's shoulder, "Ah'm sure things'll turn out all raight, thy always have before." Rainbow Dash nodded and took off, determined to find the rest of her friends in the emerging wreckage that, a few hours before, had been a quiet little town.

Twilight woke up feeling very warm. She felt something soft and smooth pressed against her side. Another pair of warm spots were stretched across her back, partially on her, partially off. Rolling carefully to avoid disturbing anything, Twilight sat up and looked around. Sometime during the night, Rarity had pressed in close and fell asleep. Spike and Sweetie Belle had curled up together on top of the two mares. They seemed peaceful in their dreams, but would cry out every now and then.

Twilight's horn glowed and she could see through the walls and ceiling. The water from the night before was gone, but they were surrounded by rubble. Nothing could be seen of the surrounding town but, stretching her spell, Twilight saw that the room she and Rarity had placed a shield around was mostly in a hole, so little of the town could have been seen anyways.

A loud meowing came from the bed. Twilight released the energies form her spell and looked over. Opalescence crawled out from under the blankets and looked at Twilight expectantly. Twilight's stomach gave a slight rumble and she realized what the cat must want. "Sorry Opal," she said, trying to sound as soothing as possible, "but as far as I know there's no food in here. You'll just have to wait until we dig ourselves out or somepony comes in after us." Opal seemed displeased, but she curled up on the bed and went back to sleep.

Twilight was tempted to get up, but she decided against it. It was so warm and comfortable here with her friends. She snuggled down and prepared to go back to sleep; they weren't likely to go anywhere. Spike rolled in his sleep and his claws dug into Twilight's flank. 'Then again,' she thought, 'maybe I should find a way out of here.' She started to get up, but Rarity moved in closer and wrapped a hoof around her. Rarity mumbled something in her sleep and nuzzled her face into Twilight's mane. Heart melting, Twilight lay back down. 'It could be worse,' she thought, 'I could be stuck like this with Pinkie. At least now I can sleep.'

They rescue crews flew around overhead, their synchronized movements pulled the water along. This created quick moving rivers that efficiently drained all of the flood waters and removed much of the more irritating mess.

Dinky and her mother washed up in the top of a tree. The rain had stopped a while ago, but the water was still coming as much as ever. She shook her mom, but the gray mare wouldn't wake up. She had been flying through the storm searching for her daughter when she was hit by lightning. Dinky had managed to pull Derpy onto the board she was clinging to and had pushed all night until they snagged on something and she fell into an exhausted sleep.

Her legs ached from pushing herself and her mother all night. She was very numb and cold from spending the night in the water. Her legs were tinged slightly blue and she knew she had to warm herself before she caught, what did Ms. Cheerilee call it, new-moan-ya.

She had given up trying to wake the gray pegasus hours before. She could still feel a heartbeat, it was irregular, but it was there. A large black burn covered Derpy's haunches where she'd been hit and a sickeningly sweet smell rose from it.

A large boat floated just off in the distance. Dinky knew she wouldn't be able to make it there while pulling her mother along. But if she left, Derpy would probably float away and be lost. Rather than risk losing her, Dinky decided to stay with the board; rescue would come eventually. She shivered violently, she only hoped it would come soon enough.

Fluttershy looked around. Most of her animal friends were on the makeshift boat with her. Several ponies were there as well; they had helped construct the massive thing and had saved hundreds of small furry lives. Fluttershy knew that she had only saved a fraction of the animals in the area though, but more had probably had time to escape, they just wouldn't have anything to come back to.

She missed Angel; it had been years since she spent a night anywhere without him. He had left the boat to try and save his family, they weren't at the meeting place for the boat and he knew something was wrong. Fluttershy had a strong feeling that she wouldn't see him again, but she hoped it was just her nerves talking.

Many ponies had tried to reassure her, but most quit after a while. Applejack had tried to keep her thoughts off of the bunny through the whole night, but she had to leave to make sure her family was safe. That only made Fluttershy dwell on Angel even more.

Most of the water was gone, but everypony stayed on the boat, it was dry and there was nowhere left to go in town anyways. They opened up the doors and let in others who had made it through the storm. Even with this though, by the time the water was gone the boat was still mostly empty.

At one point, one of the ponies who had been looking for stragglers called down to Fluttershy. "You may wanna see this," Lyra yelled, "and hurry."

Fluttershy quickly flew to the top of the boat, hoping against hope that it would be news on Angel. She quickly scanned the area Lyra had pointed. Off in the distance she could see a bird nest with a soggy white ball in it. She flew out over the water, hooves stretched out for what she dearly hoped would be her lost friend.

In the nest, two bunnies lay curled up. One full-grown, the other still a baby. She recognized the way the grown bunny breathed. "Oh Angel," she said, scooping them both up.

Angel woke up and began pushing against the unknown attacker. As his eyes focused he pulled himself as close to Fluttershy as he could get. She gave him a hug but pulled him away sooner than she wanted to. "Where are the others?" Angel just pointed to the sleeping baby in Fluttershy's hoof. She gasped, "But what about Amelia and the other babies?" He shook his head sadly and gestured at the baby once more. "Oh, I'm so sorry Angel," she held him close again and he hung limply. "Let's get back and see if we can warm this little guy up before he catches a cold." Angel nodded wearily and fell asleep in Fluttershy's hooves.

Celestia sat on a cloud looking over the ruins of what was one of her favorite towns. She sighed sadly and Luna alighted next to her. "It's just awful," Celestia said, "so much heartbreak and destruction and we were powerless against it."

"Why don't we just go fix things now?" Luna asked. She had been banished to the moon as Nightmare Moon the last time this storm had hit.

"We cannot," Celestia said. Her sorrow-filled eyes gazed on the wreckage heaped before her, "if we intervene the storm will return again. It was sent as a result in the change in power resulting from you coming back from the moon. The same thing happened back when you were banished there."

"So we can do nothing?" Luna asked. She felt as though this was her fault. So many ponies had lost so much because she returned. The only reason she had to return is because she had hurt ponies and was punished. No matter how she viewed it, she was responsible for the scene before her.

"Nothing," Celestia agreed, "except hope that we have left enough of ourselves in the ponies here for them to overcome this." Seeming regretful, Celestia lifted her immense wings and began to take off. She flew away, every motion seemed filled with sadness at her subjects' suffering. Luna followed after, their shadows making twin trails of darkness over the flooded expanse of ruins below.

Emergence

Rainbow Dash looked around, surveying the town before her. Huge tents had been set up for the rescued ponies and excavations were well under way. Several of the larger houses had already been cleared out; most of the ponies had survived one way or another. The living ponies were taken to a giant tent holding what was left of the hospital. The bodies went to Zecora; she managed to avoid the escaping flood waters and was busy preforming last rites for all the lost ponies.

Rainbow had wanted to dig out the Sugarcube Corner first, but from the looks of it, all they would find was a broken pink body. She wasn't ready to face that yet. They started by clearing out some of the likelier looking buildings instead.

Twilight and Rarity woke up at almost the same time. Spike and Sweetie Belle were over in a corner playing with some cards they had found. "Go graze," Spike said when Sweetie asked him for twos.

"Well somepony's up bright and early," Rarity said, giving a luxuriant stretch.

Twilight cast a quick spell. "Not really," she said, "it's almost noon."

"Really? That late already? That magic last night must have worn me out more than I thought." They had made it through the storm by placing Rarity's room in a huge magic bubble; unfortunately the same protection hadn't extended to the rest of the building. They were now trapped underneath the results.

Spike turned to look at the two unicorns. "A couple of times we thought we heard voices outside but they didn't answer when we yelled." He laid a pair of threes down and turned back to his card game, "of course, you two didn't wake up for that so we probably didn't yell loud enough."

Eventually, the two unicorns grew tired of talking and joined in the card games. After Sweetie won twelve straight games though, nopony wanted to keep playing very much. During the fifteenth, Spike shushed everypony and said that he heard digging.

Dust began falling from the ceiling and soon loud scraping noises could be heard. Twilight tried hurrying things along with her magic. After a couple of bright pink beams exploded against the ceiling the noises stopped and there was a lot of shouting. A few seconds passed while the trapped ponies waiting for the noise to continue.

A familiar voice, though muffled, could be heard coming from a crack Twilight had made in the ceiling. "Hey in there," Rainbow Dash yelled, "is everypony all right?"

Twilight sent a small focused ray of magic through the crack, it was meant to hit Rainbow and give her a quick mental image of the three ponies sitting with Spike and playing cards. Twilight was afraid that it hadn't worked; nopony said anything back and the digging hadn't started again yet.

Several minutes passed while they sat in silence. "Okay," Rainbow Dash said, "I'm going to leave Caramel here to dig you guys out while the rest of us go look for everypony else. It'll take a while but he's all we can spare right now."

A loud scraping sound began and more dirt began to fall. Twilight tried helping with magic, but after the first bolt shot through the ceiling there was a loud squeal. "Mrs. Sparkle, um, Twilight? Could you please not do that," the voice was familiar, but Twilight wouldn't have recognized it if she hadn't known who was up there; it sounded much higher than usual.

Pinkie was fully awake now. The water continued dripping in and the pools inched closer and closer as time wore on. The flashlight was growing dim and she and begun sneezing violently and regularly. She was cold and wet and she couldn't sleep. Her hunger gnawed at her focus, but she had nothing to fill her stomach. So she sat, alone in the darkness.

A rippling sound echoed through the dim, stony expanse. It switched between splashing and the clicking of sharp claws and back again. Pinkie swung the light around, she had no idea what might've gotten into her pit while she wasn't paying attention. Knowing the local animals though, she knew it couldn't be anything good.

The faint beam fell across a spreading trail of v's on the water. Slowly, two purple dots emerged, followed by a small green shape. "Gummi!" Pinkie yelled as she scooped up the toothless alligator. He began gumming at her mane and she held him closer. Finally, something had happened to ease her fears. She held him close and a few things became obvious to the pink pony: she was very hungry and there was no food, some ponies ate meat and they always said it was very good, Gummi sounded like he wouldn't last much longer.

Pinkie shook her head. "No, I haven't been down here that long." She realized Gummi was ice cold. She held him close and pulled him under the blanket with her. It was soaked and smelled like the fetid water around them, but it was still warmer than the rest of the room.

Pinkie wondered just how long she'd been trapped down there. There was no way to measure time in the black void of the Sugarcube Corner's sub-basement. Any amount of tie could have passed. She might have been there for days or only a few hours; the ignorance of her situation was maddening. She wanted to scream, to break things, to do… something. Pinkie felt herself slipping away. She couldn't handle being alone for this long; she wasn't used to the intense quiet, to the darkness, to the sheer bone chilling frigidness of the water.

She sunk back into the corner she'd been in for most of her time in the water filled room, however long it had been. It was slightly warmer than the rest of the floor and it was a little higher up, so there was less water. If only that meant there was no water.

Pinkie sniffed at the air; even now it had seemed to be growing stale, growing ever more foul. Even the stench of the brown water was fading compared to the new smell in the air. Pinkie recognized it from when she had tried mailing herself to her parents not long after she moved out. She woke up next to them in the hospital; the box hadn't held enough air for the trip. She was lucky she hadn't suffocated. Now that same sense of thick stillness pervaded the air around her. She pulled deeper into her damp, smelly blanket and held Gummi close, he was warming up, but he still felt far too cold.

Her tears joined the water pooled across the floor. It accepted the new additions, it had no reason not to; its growth wasn't planned or steady. The water had all the time in the world. If only the same could be said for frightened pink ponies and their pets.

Applejack walked through the streets of Ponyville. There was still water at least hoof deep everywhere, but the pegasi had decided they got rid of enough and were going to start trying to rescue any ponies trapped in their homes when they collapsed.

Applejack could see huge pits in the ground where bright, colorful buildings had once stood. They now were shadowed with murky floodwaters and echoed with the cries of those who had lost. Nothing stood other than a few piles of rubble, but those looked like they'd been made by rescue crews while they were digging.

A large number of ruins had been dug out, but many still remained. Some, like Twilight's library, were just ignored. Other places still had some obvious safe places in them; this is where most of the ponies were focused. A third site also seemed fairly common. Places like the Sugarcube Corner, where nothing was left above ground level, had been bypassed. It didn't make sense to try and find corpses when so many ponies were still trapped elsewhere.

Applejack looked around. "So much lost," she whirled and saw Twilight standing by her. She scooped the purple unicorn up and gave her a spine crushing bear hug.

"Oh Twailiaght, you're alraight!" Twilight uttered a few grunts as her face changed colors alarmingly. Applejack, grinning sheepishly, put her down.

"Yeah, Spike and I stayed with Rarity. A tree isn't a very good place to be in during storms, remember?"

"What ah remember is that wherever Rarity is is a bad place to be during a storm." Twilight looked at her friend shocked, but couldn't help smiling when she saw she'd just been kidding. "So what's the damage so far?"

"I don't know for sure. We just got out of the boutique a few minutes ago. Rarity and I managed to put up a shield that kept us nice and safe while the storm was going on. I did find out that most ponies are either missing or seriously injured right now though."

Something buzzed in the back of Applejack's mind. "Twailaight," she gasped, "I just remembered. Do you know where Owlowiscious was last night?"

"He was with you, Fluttershy and the other animals right?" Twilight was worried. She hoped the owl had made it through the terrible ordeal form the previous night.

"He wasn't with us sugarcube. Ah was talkin to Rainbow Dash jus' this morning and I think you should go see that library of yours. Somethin might've happened there that ya jus' might wanna see about takin care of."

"Oh, what happened?"

"Rainbow said something about seein something on the floor. She didn't have time ta check it out, but ah think it might've been Owlowiscious."

Twilight nodded and hurried towards the giant stack of books that had been a library the night before.

Rainbow Dash looked around. Rescue operations were well under way. Hundreds of ponies had been saved, but there were still a lot more houses to check out. She looked over at the remains of the Sugarcube Corner. She wanted to make sure Pinkie was all right, but from the looks of it, they wouldn't find very much of her, if they found her at all.

She sighed sadly, she wanted Pinkie to be all right, but it didn't look like even Pinkie could pull out of something like that. She steeled herself; there was work to be done and ponies to be saved. She didn't have time to worry about personal feelings.

Rainbow turned back to pulling the pieces of ruined walls away. She hadn't expected anypony to be at the school house, but it wasn't rare for Cheerilee to spend the night there, busy planning fun activities for the local foals. Plus, it wouldn't take long to clear away; there wasn't much to the place.

A particularly large board caught on something as she pulled it away. Giving a huge tug, Rainbow ripped it free and a few drops of red liquid splashed across her face. He dropped the board and hurried in. A hoof lay on the ground, surrounded by wreckage. A thin trail of red showed where the nail had dug through. "Mrs. Cheerilee," Rainbow yelled.

She instantly knew it was a mistake. Scootaloo had insisted on coming with her to help. So did all the other foals when they were found. Everypony ran over to help, but when they saw the hoof, most of the school house lay upon or around it, they backed away.

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She suddenly snapped them open and lunged forward. Using all of her strength, Rainbow Dash cleared away a huge section of the school in record time. Cheerilee lay on the ground, blood trickled from her mouth and her body was soaked. Rainbow Dash went to pull her out of the wreckage so that she could get medical help, but she noticed how pale the pony's face was and how blue the lips were.

The foals had all begun crowding in and Rainbow motioned for the older ponies to take them away. They'd have to deal with this eventually, but not yet. She sighed and placed a bright red flag near the broken pony. This wasn't the first time she'd had to do this today, she knew it wouldn't be the last. She just hoped it would be the last time she came across a pink pony like this.

Dinky shivered. The boat she'd seen before had left with the water. She'd managed to move the board with her mother on it to where they'd slowly move towards the ground as the water drained away, but wouldn't go with the water. They were now on the ground. She pulled the board along. Her hooves were completely numb and even though it was warm out her breath fogged up.

Dinky stopped, she'd heard moaning from behind her. She turned, ready to defend the unconscious Derpy. The gray mare's eyes fluttered for a second before remaining half open. "Wha-what happened?" She turned her head to look around, "where am I?"

"Mommy," Dinky shrieked with delight as she jumped into the gray pegasus.

"Muffin!" she nuzzled her daughter. "Where are we?"

"I don't know. The big storm last night hit you and then we got pulled away by all the water."

Derpy sniffed the air and looked down, she noticed that her flanks were black and smoke was still rising from them in tiny amounts. She reached to touch one, but Dinky grabbed her leg, "that's probably not a good idea," she said. She hadn't paid much attention in class when they were going over how a pony's body works, but she didn't think that it was smart to touch yourself where it looked like that.

The veins in her neck stood out as the mail mare rose to her hooves. She lowered a wing like she always did when she flew Dinky around. Dinky enjoyed flying with her mom, but she knew it probably wasn't a good idea to go without a helmet.

As she climbed on, Dinky realized how warm her mom's body felt. She tucked her legs in and pushed her face into the blonde mane in front of her. The warmth rushed in, but was quickly taken away as Derpy took off; the wind battered against the small unicorn and she had to hold on tightly to keep from falling off.

They rose high in the sky and Derpy could see a bunch of huge tents all marked differently. She frowned. This seemed familiar, something Rainbow Dash had told her before. Something about something called murblecies. She shook her head. It was hard to remember too many things, so she focused on ponies' names and different muffins; it made things much easier and it never made her head hurt.

"Mommy," Dinky said, pointing at the tents, "I think I know what those mean. Rainbow Dash told me to tell you to always go to the big red one first if you saw them."

Derpy nodded, she remembered now. She tucked in her wings and began spiraling towards the ground, this trick always made Dinky laugh, but not this time. She was worried so she began flying faster. She had to go back to her normal speed when she almost hit a few trees and other pegasi though.

Dinky held on tightly. She loved flying with her mom and usually had a lot of fun. But this time, everything seemed blurry and she was having trouble holding her head up. She just wanted to go to sleep, but a small voice in her head told her not to. She tried to stay awake, she really did, but her eyes felt so heavy. They slowly began closing.

Dinky was woken up by a scream. She had just dozed off and as a result had slipped off of Derpy's back. The blonde mare had caught her, but it was still too close to the ground for comfort. "Don't go to sleep until we land sweetie," Derpy said. One eye was focused on Dinky, the other watched where they were going.

Fluttershy was happy. She knew she shouldn't be with everything that had happened but that didn't stop her. Almost all of her friends were safe with her, she had even found Angel. She just wished he wasn't so sad. He had left to find his family, they hadn't been together long, but already he and his mate Amelia had had a littler of bouncy baby bunnies. Fluttershy had found him floating in a nest, he was alone except for one baby bunny.

They all had to wait for the rest of the water to dry up before the animals could start building new homes. Angel spent much of the time staring out at the ruined forest that had once held his home and all he loved. Fluttershy didn't want to bother him, she knew he would talk about it when he was ready, he had his own way for getting over things, but she knew she had to do something. The only question was: what could she do?

Fluttershy spent hours trying to answer this question. During that time she had taken care of most of the animals that had been saved. The other ponies with her tried to help, but most of the animals seemed to avoid everypony until Fluttershy got to them. She didn't mind, it helped keep her mind off of what must have happened in town. One of the pegasi had flown in to give them news at one point, but most of that had just been what had been guessed at that point, nothing was for sure.

Fluttershy hoped that her friends were all right. In the meantime though, she had animals to care for.

For those of you hoping Pinkie would eat Gummi, you're all awful people... and you seem to think just like I do. But, this isn't my grimdark, so she won't.