Dead Or Alive

by PegasusWing

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Alternate Universe
Length: 5520

After the events of Princess Twilight Sparkle being caught stealing the Elements Of Harmony from Princess Celestia and Luna's castle, Rainbow Dash is sent out to capture her once best friend in return for role as co-captain of the Royal Guards.

After the events of Princess Twilight Sparkle being caught stealing the Elements Of Harmony from Princess Celestia and Luna's castle, Rainbow Dash is sent out to capture her once best friend in return for role as co-captain of the Royal Guards.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-10-31 23:26:57 UTC

Prologue

"Stop! Thief!" Princess Celestia had yelled as her golden horseshoes scrapped across the marble flooring of the hallway. The screech of the gold echoed through the room as she galloped past all the stain glass windows and glared at the cloaked figure running from her with a slight pinkish glow coming from it's hood.

Celestia narrowed her eyes and begun to prepare her horn so she could blast the bandit with her magic. Her horn glowed a bright yellow but quickly faded as a beam of bright yellow light shot from her horn, aiming at the figure.

The glow coming from the hood disappeared as a orb surrounded the figure for a brief moment than disappeared as it teleported out of the beam's aim than back as soon as the beam shattered the large window in the room there were about to enter.

Celestia growled loudly as her hoof steps got louder and louder each second. She extracted her wings and flew after the figure. Fast, but as if she wasn't giving it her best effort. Celestia put her front hooves in front of her as she got closer and closer to the pony as they entered the dinning room.

As the hooded pony ducked Celestia flew over it's head than quickly looked back trying to get a glimpse of their face. She looked forwards and slowed down the closer she got to the shattered window.

"Who are you and what do you want with the Elements Of Harmony!" Celestia spoke as she detracted her wings and let her horseshoes scrap across the wooden dinning room table. She than turned towards the figure. It chuckled softly and stared at Celestia with it's glowing purple eyes.

"Why are you asking if they're just useless shards of crystals anyways? The elements of Harmony were destroyed long ago along with their leader. Princess Twilight Sparkle. Princess of  friendship. Do you still worship your former student or are you just claiming that you're too weak being the strongest alicorn out of the four to defeat all the villains that you know are coming your way?" The pony began crawling onto the opposite end of the dinning room table, staring at Celestia from under her black hood.

"The Elements Of Harmony are a precious artifact that Equestria will fall without! Give them back or suffer major consequences," Princess Celestia snarled and pointed her horn at the figure in a attack stance, looking up at the pony faintly.

"Oh please you could have blasted me long before. When I was just standing there. Yet you didn't. Some ruler you are. Haven't you learned that being the good guy gets you nowhere in life Celestia? If you where harsher on your sister you could havegotten her to bow down to you even faster without sending her to the moon. Same with your former student. You could have taken her powers away instead of letting her go on a rampage. Yet you just choose to let more and more villains leave Equestria in vital danger so you can swoop in and fix it all, giving you more admirers than you already have. Face it Celestia. You're a weakling, and Luna should be the rightful ruler of Equestria. Or perhaps, Twilight. Maybe Cadence, that way Luna would rule the crystal empire and everyone would be happy, unlike now under your foolish ruling,"

The pony chuckled softly and walked one step closer to Celestia.

"Equestria would be in complete chaos if any of them were to rule!"

"At least they would have stopped Twilight Sparkle from getting any closer to ruling the land! You're weak! You could have saved Equestria in the stomp of a hoof yet you didn't, just like you could have saved your life right now!" The hooded figure's hood glowed pink and shot out a beam of pink magic. Celestia gasped and quickly let of a beam from her horn.

The two beams of magic blasted into each other, Celestia's beam increasing in size than quickly overthrown by the figure's. Celestia groaned as the guards could be heard galloping through the hallways to meet her acquaintance.

They arrived and quickly stopped at the door looking at Celestia in agony and worry for the pink beam was mere seconds away from over throwing the princess. One guard looked up at the hooded figure and tilted her head slightly. She stepped closer than glanced over at Celestia near to being defeated. The guard flew up and tackled the hooded figure just as her beam reached Celestia's horn, causing her to loose her balance and fall backwards. The guard held the figure down tightly, lifting her hoof over it's head, but quickly stopped she looked into the pony's eyes surprised and somewhat frightened. She put her hoof on the pony's hood, pulling it down to reveal a mare smiling mischievously with a light purple coat and a dark blue and pink mane.

The guard stuttered softly, "Twi?"

"It was nice seeing you again Dashie, but I am afraid this will be our last meeting," Twilight, still smiling pushed Rainbow Dash off her chest with her front hooves. Rainbow Dash's head slammed up against one of the many dinning room chairs and watched as Twilight stood looking down at her, glaring.

A portion of the other guards dashed towards Twilight with their horns pointing towards her, as the other portion went to help Celestia. Twilight smirked and winked at Rainbow Dash just before flying upwards. The guards let of their beams of magic at the wall as Twilight Sparkle flew through the shattered window and out of sight from those in the room.

Rainbow Dash got up slowly and quickly flew out the shattered window the follow Twilight. She looked around for a brief moment before letting out a soft sigh and flew back in as Princess Luna was galloping through the doorway to greet her injured sister.

The guards around Celestia stepped back to let room for Luna to see her sister. Luna walked up to Celestia who was laying on the floor, yet her horn was burnt. Completely. Luna gasped than walked backwards to avoid seeing her sister in such pain.

"Were is she?" Luna faced Rainbow Dash and spoke with the royal voice.

Rainbow Dash looked through the shattered window for about five seconds than turned back to Luna. She cocked her head towards the window and watched as Luna looked into the night sky with fury.

"I tried going after her....but she was nowhere in sight," Rainbow Dash looked down at the ground with guilt.

"I want her, dead or alive."

What Are We Even Arguing About Anyways?

One Week Later

"I want her now Rainbow Dash! No more excuses! Bring her back to me in less than a week or else you're fired!" Princess Luna stomped her hooves against the marble flooring of her study as she paced around Rainbow Dash who had been sitting on her blue couch in front of her desk.

"I'm trying Luna but we've been looking for days and we still haven't found her!" Rainbow Dash looked down at her lap as Luna stopped in front of her.

"Stop sticking up for that pony-"

"I'm not sticking up for her I swear we haven't been able to find her!"

"I said stop sticking up for her! She hurt my sister and nearly killed her in the act! I won't wait any longer Rainbow Dash! Can't you see!? She's not the princess of friendship anymore! She's not the same pony she was years ago and you know it!" Luna pressed her muzzle up against Rainbow's and stared deeply into her eyes.

"I know she's not and that's why I'm not sticking up for her!" Rainbow Dash pressed Luna's muzzle away from her roughly,stare into her eyes as well, but with a look of hatred. "We have been looking and looking and looking day and night! She is no where to be found! We have looked everywhere! The Crystal guards have even been searching for her at the Empire, and we have searched for her in Phillydelphia, Manehatten, Everywhere!" Rainbow Dash yelled back at the princess with a harsh tone followed by a growl.

Luna stepped away from Rainbow Dash and walked back around to her desk. She sat down slowly and put her hooves on her desk roughly.

"Everywhere huh!! If you searched everywhere, than you would have found her by now!!!" Luna yelled at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow had not reacted to the way Luna had treated her and turned head head to the side. "Rainbow Dash...look...at...me...Now!"

Rainbow Dash stood up and started walking towards the doorway casually.

"Do you want your role as co-captain or not!?" Luna stood, pressing her hooves up against her desk roughly, causing her papers to jump up slightly. Rainbow Dash turned to her slowly, than started walking back towards Luna. She stood in front of her desk.

"Listen buster. We've looked everywhere, and she is no where to be found. We have searched this castle inside out just like every other place in damn Equestria! So stop yelling at me and try finding her yourself for fucking once! I am sick and tired of you acting as if you're the rightful ruler of Equestria Luna! You aren't and you will never be! Ever! So get off your lazy horse ass and actually do something a rightful ruler would do, and stop treating us like slaves! I don't give a damn about the co-captain role, and I don't give a damn about that smart ass 'Princess' Twilight Sparkle," Rainbow Dash snarled and turned towards the door way. She began to trot outside of the study.

"Wait! Look, I'm sorry, but I need to find her! She hurt my sister and I'm not going to let her hurt anybody else!" Luna walked over to Rainbow Dash slowly as Rainbow stopped in her tracks.

Rainbow Dash chuckled softly, "You're going to need to give me more than a week if you want me to find her,"

"Why would you need more than a week if you'll be going with the rest of the guards?" Luna cocked her head to the side and walked in front of Rainbow Dash.

"You can't send all the guards. We need as many guards as possible to guard you and the castle. The news about Celestia being defeated, and the guard's absence while she was getting attacked has spread all around Equestria. All the bandits there are will find it as a chance to sneak in knowing the royal guards are bad enough to not even get to Celestia when she could clearly be heard yelling for he-"

"What?!" Luna cocked her head back and glared at Rainbow Dash.

"What about what?" Rainbow Dash stepped back from Luna with caution.

"You could hear her?!"

"Uh, yea. So what it's not like we'd be able to get to her on time,"

"If you could hear her why didn't you and the other pegasi guards freaking fly to help her!? Rainbow Dash you were accepted into the Wonderbolts! If you had taken the job you would be one of the fastest fliers in Equestria, and you practically are! And you're telling me you couldn't fly as fast as you possibly could and save my sister!" Luna snarled and stomped one of her front hooves.

"Either way we wouldn't have gotten to her on time!"

"You could absolutely could have saved her! All the guards are a bunch of morons besides you! They freaking stood there and watched her nearly get killed instead of doing anything until after she was hit! At least you're not a complete idiot to just sit and stare! Heck, her horn might have been burnt just a bit less and even that would've helped!"

"Ugh, calm down. Just be happy that you're a freaking alicorn. Alicorns rarely die! Despite the fact that her horn was badly burnt doesn't mean it would kill her! It's just magic it's not like Twilight shot her in the freaking heart!" Rainbow Dash stomped back at Luna.

"But if her horn was near to the point of amputat-"

"What does amputation haft to do with any of this!?"

"If her horn no longer worked what would be the point in keeping it! Alicorns have both magic and the ability to fly! My sister would just have the ability to fly and she wouldn't be able to raise the sun or moon, or protect her kingdom!" Luna spoke with a harsh tone, pressing her muzzle up against Dash's.

"Couldn't you just raise the moon and the sun!? You're a alicorn too you know!" Rainbow Dash said with a concerned voice and stepped away from Luna.

"I'm not the leader of Equestria Dash! I'm one of the leaders! I was taught by Tia how to raise the moon! Raising the moon is the only thing I know how to do! And nobody else in Equestria knows how to raise the sun! If her horn was to be amputated, or if she was to be killed, the land would either be in eternal light, or eternal night depending on when she died or when her horn was amputated!"

Rainbow Dash blankly looked at Luna as if she was over reacting, "You do know she could have just told you how to raise the sun? That's how ninety nine percent of unicorns learn magic! But instead by reading a book.."

Luna looked back at Rainbow Dash as if she was nervous to say anything else, "Y-Yes b-but-" Luna thought for a moment, "But Celestia would no longer be the god of the Sun!"

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes as if the conversation was pointless by then, "You do know that Princess Celestia has been raising both the sun and the moon and you where still the god of the moon logically right?"

"But Tia was the leader of the leaders of Equestria basic-"

"That doesn't even make sense-"

"TIA WAS THE RULER OF EQUESTRIA AND WE WERE JUST HER BACK UP!! HAPPY NOW!!?!?" Luna stomped towards Rainbow Dash and widened her eyes, putting one oddly close to Rainbow Dash's.

"Well, you still haven't said if I was going to go find Twilight on my own so no,"

"Well, well, well....well..I say...-"

"Yes,"

The two turned towards the entrance where Princess Celestia had been standing. Her horn was bandaged up, her coat was awfully dirty, and her mane was visibly un-brushed. "I say yes. Rainbow Dash will go to find Twilight Sparkle on her own and will be given one month to find her,"

Rainbow Dash smiled widely, followed by her tongue sticking out at Luna.

Luna blankly stared at Celestia with what seemed to be no expression.

"Rainbow Dash please, you're in the castle," Celestia looked at Rainbow Dash as she continued to stick her tongue out at Luna.

Rainbow Dash chuckled and stopped, "Heh, sorry princess,"

Celestia smiled, "You know, you sure are awfully playful after what happened with the rest of your friends, including Pinkie Pie,"

Rainbow Dash sighed softly, "I like to keep my sorrow in a bottle,"

Luna chuckled softly, "You do know that's bad for you...right?"

"Who cares it makes me even more emotionally stable which makes me even more awesome cause I'm so damn strong on the inside,"

"Language Ms.Dash," Princess Celestia narrowed her eyes towards Rainbow Dash as Luna attempted to stop herself from laughing.

"Oh, sorry,"

"Anyways, back to business matters. I could hear you guys arguing all the way from my room which you have seemed to forgotten is just down the hallway, so I'll point out, that Princess Twilight's castle is hidden within the Everfree forest after the recent disasters. I highly doubt you and the guards have searched there, being that at least one of you would be missing-"

"We checked there," Rainbow Dash claimed.

"And I say check again. There are many hidden passages in Princess Twilight's castle, most, as usual, are activated by a bookshelf, a statue, or a hidden lever which is pretty much always a torch and it should be obvious cause the supposed fire of the torch will look like cheap plastic and will not be moving, at all. Chances are Twilight will be in one of the hidden passages being that she knows that it's obvious to all of her friends and me. But, Twilight is smart enough to rig up a fake hidden passage, so beware. If you get lost think like Twilight, cause if you get trapped for good, you'll either be trapped their forever till death, or Twilight will come to find you and either use you to help her with her next stunt or worse,"

"Like what?" Rainbow Dash cocked her head to the side.

"Death. Rainbow Dash, I am warning you. Twilight is not a moron. She knows I'm sending you out to find her, and she knows you know where she is hiding. I have no doubt that she is setting up booby tra-"

Rainbow Dash burst out laughing. She put on hoof on her stomach attempting to keep her balance as Luna and Celestia glared at her for interrupting the 'plan'.

Rainbow Dash looked up at them nervously. She blushed and put her hoof down on the ground.

"Continue.."

Celestia rolled her eyes, "Booby traps. Princess Twilight tends to stay in her study. The more artifacts she learns about the more she steals. If you are not able to capture her, simple learn what artifact she tends to seek and report it back to us. That way, we will be prepared and she will be caught,"

"I'm not sure I can do that on my own. I mean, Twilight's smarter than me. Can't I at least have the elements of harmony help me?" Rainbow Dash sat down on her rump. She playfully tapped her hooves together as Luna smiled softly at her somewhat childish behavior.

"No. Most of the elements aren't stable. Pinkie Pie has been in the hospital for months. Rarity has been driven to insanity after all her idols shunned her for the dresses that Twilight sabotaged. Fluttershy is also somewhat insane after her animals where killed, and she hasn't come out of her cottage in months. As for Applejack, she kinda can't even move so, no. You're the only element stable of basically moving for that matter besides Twilight, but she doesn't count cause she was the one that practically killed all the elements, and without all the elements, she is no longer the element of magic. Just be happy that she hasn't turned you against your element. Loyalty. And being the element of Loyalty, I presume that you will do what we say. If you don't come back in at least a week, we'll send more of the guards out to find you. Now remember, don't encounter poison joke, timber wolves, Chimera, a Cockatrice, a Hydra, a Manticore, or a Cragadile. Now that you know your mission, get your saddlepack which has already been prepared for your trip, get on a train to Ponyville, avoid all contact with other ponies for chances are they'll most likely keep you from finding Twilight faster with all their questions, and find Twilight's castle. After that either bring her back dead or alive, or figure out what she is planing to steal next and report it back to us immediately,"

"Okay..I think I get it, but one question...Why is my saddlepack prepa-" Luna's horn glowed a light blue color as a faint orb of light surrounded Rainbow Dash for a moment as she teleported outside by the castle entrance.

Luna galloped through the hallways with Celestia and walked through the door to the balcony. The two waved to Rainbow Dash as she glared at them for rushing her. Rainbow Dash dusted the dirt off of her saddlepack with her tail and slowly began to fly towards the train station as the two princesses continued to wave goodbye to her.

Train Ride

Rainbow Dash sat in one of the many sleeping cars in what appeared to be first class. It was a rather large sleeping car, with clean pillows and blankets that smelt of mint, and a small window to view the outside world as they passed through what seemed to be the middle of nowhere, yet a place of delicate flowers and beautiful rosebushes. Rainbow Dash set her saddle pack to the side of her with half of it sticking outside the curtain that gave her a bit of privacy. She turned her head towards the window as she laid on her back and listened to the somewhat pleasant conversation the ponies in the sleeping car next to her.

The voices seemed to be male and female ponies. Despite the fact that they had been arguing, Rainbow Dash found it calming.

"I'm telling you hun Rainbow Dash is on this train car,"

"No she is not. Rainbow Dash has been living in the castle for months,"

"I heard she was sent out to find Princess Twilight after she broke into the castle and stole the Elements Of Harmony,"

"Ugh, your such a stallion. Just like when I met you,"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You find anything that has slight action interesting, or real. Like when that rumor went around town that the elements were transported into that comic book!"

"It was true!"

"Just because that silly dragon boy claimed it happened doesn't mean it's true. He's just the side character in their little duo,"

"He is not. Spike is a respected dragon. I mean, he traveled all the way to the dragon mountain and belly flopped into lava just so he could be considered a actual dragon!"

"Stop your blabbering..Besides he didn't belly flop into lava. He chickened out.."

"Yes he did!"

"No he didn't!"

"Yes..he...did!"

"Shut up and go to bed,"

"Fine honey..."

As the couple had begun to stop arguing, she dragged her her saddlepack all the way into her sleeping car and took out a cheap pair of headphones with pictures of her cutie mark on each of the things that held the muffs in place. She put them on to block out the noise of the other passengers talking and stared up at the ceiling of her cart. Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and begun to think to herself.

"It's a trip how much strangers in this world know about you when you're famous. What was Rarity thinking? How could she possibly want to be famous when every little thing that has your name on it is talked about constantly. Every possible bad situation could be turned into a rumor about you, and worst of all, like Celestia said, they know your face from a mile away and they'll stop whatever they're doing to just bug the crap out of you, and secretly in your head you'll think to hate them because they oddly enough know so much about you, but than you'll feel guilty cause they're basically your idol so you'll spend more and more time with them and it's just annoying! Calm down Rainbow Dash. Just because a couple ponies where talking about you doesn't mean your famous...Well..I am the coolest pony ever! I was accepted into the Wonderbolts, I'm about to be captain of the royal guard when I come back with news about Twi so awesomely amazing that they decide to promote me a level higher than they said, and to top things off, I'm the last remaining element and I don't need everyone else to back me up on it this time! Loyalty is better than all those other elements. What were they? Oh yea, Applejack was annoyance, Rarity was annoyance, Fluttershy was annoyance, and Pinkie Pie, was Ann-annoyance...Stop trying to convince yourself into being happy Rainbow Dash. You miss your friend and you know it. Keep it together Rainbow Dash, you're way to cool for any of those losers! Oh what's the use Rainbow Dash...they where your one and only best friends and now they're gone because of that no good, evil.....misjudged Twilight Sparkle...You can't hide your feelings Rainbow. You know you miss all your friends. No matter how annoying or evil. Just be glad Celestia and Luna don't know what really got all your friends in their place. If they did, Twi would be wanted dead for sure and that wouldn't leave you very loyal if you where to kill your best friend would it Rainbow? At least the mayor of PonyVille offered to keep everything silent so no one in Ponyville would know the real reason why we no longer have any carnivals, or parties for that matter. Or anything fun basically. I don't deserve the life I have...I have fame like Rarity wanted, popularity like Pinkie wanted, I get to take care of Philomena at times like Fluttershy kinda wanted I guess, and I get to stay in the place I love and do what I love like Applejack wanted her whole life. Sadly none of them got to fulfill their dreams, and yet I did after I basically helped Twilight ruin their lives in a way. Ugh, just erase everything from your mind Rainbow..You'll be in Ponyville tomorrow...

Ponyville

The rest of the train ride was a blur for Rainbow Dash. She could still hear all the other ponies in their sleeping cars blabbering about her nonstop, and the lovely couple from the day before had decided to stop debating to whether or not Spike belly flopped into lava or not like he claimed. Instead they decided to speak of the elements of harmony, as well as another lovely couple or two who overheard them when it was morning.

Rainbow Dash kept her curtain closed to avoid confrontation, and continued to look up at the ceiling with her Rainbow Dash themed headphones upon her ears. She cocked her head to the window as they had begun to enter Ponyville. The town was more dull that she had remembered, with hardly any colorful buildings, and there was a large gap where Twilight's old castle once rested. From the distance it had appeared that all the buildings had either been closed or shut down. All but the Quills and Sofas store, which hadn't reminded anyone of anypony, being the elements of harmony.

The train stopped at the train station followed by a cracked voice that came from the speaker.

"We have arrived in Ponyville," The stallion then coughed into the mic before shutting it off to allow the passengers to get off. Rainbow Dash stayed in her sleeping cart, hoping no one would be slow enough for the train to leave Ponyville by the time she put a hoof out of her sleeping cart.

Rainbow Dash stuck her muzzle out of her sleeping cart, followed by her head. She scanned the room to see the train cart was empty and quickly stepped out. She  threw her saddle pack on her back and cautiously walked towards the exit keeping her head down to avoid being seen by anypony. Rainbow dash yawned as she continued to walk closer and closer to exit.

Rainbow Dash slumped over as she trotted out of the train. She cocked her head to all the ponies greeting their families warmly. She thought of how to escape the crowd as she cautiously continued to trot towards the Everfree forest. Rainbow Dash looked up at the cloudy sky as she groaned softly. She sighed, continuing to make her way to the forest. She began to trot faster with a look of determination on her face to capture Twilight.

She groaned uncomfortably at the deafening silence of Ponyville, and looked over at a row of houses. She gagged at the dark, grimy paint. The houses had patches of different shades of grey, with piles of paint scrapings up against the walls. She attempted to ignore the unsanitariness of the wretched paint job as she viewed what appeared to be a orange coated mare with a purple mane. Rainbow Dash continued to walk through the town as her mouth fell open at the sight of the lack of ponies walking around.

Sugar Cube Corner had been repainted a vital shade of grey and yellow, yet sadly, it had been the most colorful building in the town.

Rainbow cocked her head back at Scoot's supposed house as the now older mare stepped outside with a dusty Rainbow scarf wrapped around her neck, with faded colors. Scootaloo blew a small strand of hair out of her face as she walked past Rainbow Dash with no real clue who she had been.

As Scoots walked past Rainbow, she sighed while Dash held one hoof up waving it from side to side slowly hoping it would catch her attention from the corner of her eye. Scootaloo looked back at Rainbow Dash for a brief moment then stopped in her tracks as Rainbow spoke.

"Scoots..." Rainbow stood still and stared at the mare. Scootaloo kept herself from looking back as the sound of hoof steps reached her ear. Rainbow walked closer and closer to Scootaloo till she was mere feet away from her. The two stood still without making a noise. Scootaloo sighed softly and turned to Rainbow Dash slowly. she walked closer to Dash and rested her head on Dash's neck.

The moment was silent except for Scootaloo's sniffs.

"Please don't leave again Rainbow Dash...Ponyville has been a disaster. Nopony ever comes out of their home, Sugar Cube Corner, the last remaining place in this wretched town is close to shutting down cause Mrs. and Mr.Cake can't get any business, and now it's just me and Apple Bloom since Sweetie Belle is always at home taking care of Rarity..Please Rainbow Dash, you're the last person that can help this town. Don't leave," Scootaloo said softly followed by another sniff.

"You know I can't stay Scoots...The princesses need me to help protect Equestria. Even you. It wouldn't be very loyal of me to abandon the rest of Equestria and just care for you guys now would it?"

Scootaloo shook her head slowly. She pulled her head away from Rainbow Dash and stepped away from her.

"It was nice seeing you Rainbow Dash...Maybe one day you can save this town like old times..." Scootaloo turned with a saddened voice and slowly began to walk away from Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow sighed softly, "Nice seeing you too Scoots.." Rainbow thought to herself as she stepped back and flew up. She was in no hurry to find Twilight, and decided to scan Ponyville for a dash of color that stood out.

Despite the slight color from Sugar Cube Corner and the pink and red slabs of wood nailed together that formed Apple Bloom's apple cart, Ponyville was practically colorless. The roses were black, the lilies grey and the grass had been cut so short, that all that could be seen was dirt.

Rainbow shook her head quickly trying to clear her mind of the sorrow all the Ponyville citizens had felt with the absence of the elements of harmony. Rainbow Dash lifted her head up to see Sweet Apple Acres in the distance over Town hall. She cracked a soft smile, flying to the side to view the farm. Rainbow's eyes widened at the sight of the far,. It was a dusty broken down farm. The walls were on the verge of rotting with old furniture lazily thrown outside. Couch cushions had been covered in dirt and partially buried. The apple trees had rotted. Some had fallen and the ground was covered in rotten apples.

Rainbow Dash sighed looking down. She gulped with guilt knowing she was the reason for Ponyville's torment. A glint caught Rainbow's eyes coming from the Everfree Forest. She quickly turned her head towards the forest. A pony escorted a wagon full of equipment into the forest. The forest from a distance looked worse than before, with dead trees and the sound of vicious beasts roaming the forest.

She flew down towards the forest, her weapons banging against each other in her saddle pack as she got closer to the forest. She skidded against the dirt, attempting to catch herself before she entered the forest against her will. Rainbow's jaw dropped a bit as she looked at the forest's appearance. The trees had all rotted and looked as if someone had drilled holes into them. Most leaves had all fallen from the trees, yet there were enough trees close enough to seem as if the trees were covered in leaves from the top of the forest.

Rainbow Dash gulped in fright as the sound of growls could be heard inside the forest.

"Alright Rainbow Dash...It's just a forest...You're the element of loyalty, and soon to be co-captain of the royal guards.."

Rainbow lifted her head up to view the darkened sky and slowly began to walk closer and closer to the forest entrance. Rainbow dash gulped once more, and put a hoof inside the Everfree Forest