the badlands. an inhospitable wasteland that expands from the southeastern-most part of equestria to Celestia knows where. and thats where 7 ponies are right now. specifically, rainbow dash, pinkie pie, rarity, applejack, fluttershy, spike the dragon, and heartstone.
"why are we here again? refresh my memory." rainbow dash, was wearing a loose fitting scarf, wrapped around her neck and head, keeping the sand out of her eyes. she would have been flying, if her left wing hadn't been ripped off by a changeling.
applejack sighed. "we're here for twilight, remember? she's supposed to be out here?" applejack wasn't wearing anything, except for her trademark stetson. she walked slightly slower than she would have, as she was three months pregnant with her fourth child.
"oh right. the traitor. i say we leave her to rot here." rainbow scowled. twilight disappeared right as the changelings attacked, and she still thought that her wing could have been saved had she been there, 20 years later.
"rainbow dash! i'm sure that twilight had a perfectly good reason for disappearing for 20 years." fluttershy was wearing pleather armor, with chainmail plating. she had dyed her hair black, and her fur light grey. out of all of them, she had changed the most. that was because she realized that her stare was powerful enough to essentially lobotomize an entire group of changelings. fancy that.
"indeed, Rainbow. it is unhealthy to hold a grudge for this long." rarity on the other hand, had changed the least. aside from the occasional streak of grey in her hair, and the bags under her eyes, she looked exactly the same as she had 20 years ago. she was wearing an overcoat, encrusted with enchanted gems that cooled her down. "spike, you tell her."
the drake scratched the back of his head. "i kind of agree with rainbow here, rarity. she did abandon us." spike had grown up considerably, and was at least three times the size of a normal pony. "she left us to fend for ourselves against the invasion."
"that doesn't matter, spikey! we're going to see our friend for the first time in forever! i'm gonna throw her such a big party, it'll even trump applejack and trenderhoof's wedding!" pinkie pie had her usual pep, but her hair was flat. her hair had been flat since she watched rainbow dash get her wing ripped out.
"anyway. how're ya doin', heartstone?" the youngest of the group, heartstone was the child of shining armor and Princess Cadence. she wasn't wearing anything, since her special talent was fire. or at least that's what they thought. her cutie mark was a dark grey stone with flecks of red in the grooves of the stone. in truth, nopony knew anything about her special talent, except that it had something to do with a stone. to bad nopony knew what the stone was. it was completely unknown.
