Bites Of The Deadby the_guyChaptersPains Of TodayMoving OnPlansPlans -part 2-EscapePains Of TodayIt was a nice day out, there was not a noise to be heard. "FLUTTERSHY, HURRY UP!" Twilight begged. Not a cloud in the sky, the sun was bright. "TWILIGHT, THERE CATCHING UP TO ME!" Fluttershy screamed. There was a rainbow over the sky, even though there has been no rain for over a week. "FLY FLUTTERSHY, FLY, GET OUT OF HERE, I'LL BE ALRIGHT!" Twilight demanded. So serine, almost as if it was a gift to make up for hard times. "THE TREE'S ARE TO THICK, I WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO GET NEARLY HIGH ENOUGH!" Fluttershy replied. The beauty of it was almost breath taking, it would have been the perfect day to do anything. "JUST KEEP RUNNING FLUTTERSHY!" Twilight enforced. Not a sound to be heard... "TWIIIIIIILIIIIIIIGHT!!!" Fluttershy screamed in agony The blood curtailing scream made Twilight stop in her tracks and turn around, Fluttershy was on the ground with three of those...things on her, one of them was biting into her side, she struggled but the giant dog like things were to strong. "HELP ME TWILIGHT!" Fluttershy pleaded. "FLUTTERSHY!" Twilight's horn lit up with her purple magic, it grew bright and brighter, as if it was charging. "GET OFF HER YOU BEASTS!" she blasted a shot of magic at each of the dogs, They flew back. Twilight positioned herself on top of Fluttershy in a protective way before the dogs had a chance to recover. "come at me you freaks!" Twilight raged under her breath. When the dogs got back on there... hooves, they jumped at twilight, one by one, and each time they did, Twilight would blast them right back, she would do anything to protect her friend. after a little bit, the dogs gave up, they ran into the depths of Everfree Forest. "Fluttershy, are you ok? how hurt are you? GASP!" Twilight looked down to see a massive bite mark, about the size of a mid sized football, on fluttershy's side abdomen. "I...It hurts Twilight... Please, help me." Fluttershy begged almost pitifully. "Its ok Fluttershy, I can heal this." Twilight promised already tired from all the blast she gave out. Her horn lit up again, this time with a calmer light, she placed it just above the bite wound. "ooooh." Fluttershy relaxed. "That feels nice." They were there for quite a while, stuck in silence and fear. It was difficult for twilight to keep up the spell though, she used up more energy than she thought, there were a couple of times where she lightened up a little, then realized what she was doing and got back to healing. The healing spell itself was slightly complected. It was not much of a healing spell, it was more of a time spell, you would focus your magic on the spot that required healing and let time flow through, using the horn as a time gate. "Alright, Its healed as well as time could heal it, there is a big scar, but you will need to live with that." Twilight gave a sigh of relief... "We need to get moving Fluttershy." "B, But I'm so tired, can't we just take a quick break?" "Fluttershy... are you ok?" Twilight started go get worried "Ya I'm fine, I'm just really tired, I... I think i'll take a quick nap. alright?" Fluttershy weakly managed to mumble. "Fluttershy, Come on, don't do this, do NOT fall asleep." Twilight yelled at the dying pony. "Its ok twilight, I'll wake up soon." "NO FLUTTERSHY, DON'T FALL ASLEEP, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DO NOT FALL ASLEEP!" Twilight was crying. "DO NOT FALL ASLEEP" "mmmmm. Good night Twilight. Oh, and tell Angel to not eat all the carrots please." Fluttershy said with a smile as her last breath escaped her lungs. "Fl, Fl, Fluter... No... no, no no no no no NOOO, NOOOOOOOOOOO FLUTTERSHY, WHYYYYYYYYY!" Twilight screamed out in agony, Tears were pouring down her face now. She never worried about her friends dying, she would always brush the thought off when ever something like that would come to her head, thinking they were to young to die naturally, and nothing, until today would or could kill anybody. Right then one of those dogs came back, he slowly approached, cautious for any on coming blasts. When there were non, he started to circle them, getting closer and closer. Twilight knew that the beast was there, she just could not do anything at the moment under her sobs. She looked up with her teary eyes at the beast, not so far away now. At first glance it looked normal, but after staring at it for a little longer, she saw a pink bloody strand of hair hanging from its mouth. "Oh, so you've come back for seconds have you?... RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Twilight shouted as she shot a huge bolt of magic. The bold went right through the dog and snapped a tree behind it. It was still standing, but clearly weakened, that's when the tree fell on it, making the beast motionless. When she new the beast was dead after staring at it for a while to make sure it was actually gone, she went back to crying "I did it Fluttershy, I killed your killer, even if he was a beast, I got revenge for you.... Oh Fluttershy, please come back" her tears picked up again, this time they were coming in rivers. She laid on Fluttershy, almost as if to get as close as she could. "Come on Twilight, Pull yourself together." Twilight tried to calm herself "She's gone now, not coming back... Oh god, She's not coming back. NO NO NO no no, now is not the time think about that Twilight. Come on, you need to get up... GET UP!" As soon as she said that she jumped off of her lying position she had put herself in on Fluttershy. She ran, as fast as she could, she needed to get away from her, She felt if she stayed there any longer she might never leave. She was heading to the place they were originality heading heading, Ponyville. She ran with tears in her eyes. Not a sound to be heard. Moving OnAs twilight was running, she heard a howl in the distance. She stopped in her tracks. "Fluttershy... No!" She kept on running. "I need to get to Ponyville, Its just a little further, everybody is waiting for me. Its not to much further." The howls duplicated, more and more of them started to join in, getting louder and louder. "How many of these things are there?" Twilight grunted to herself. Soon the howl's started to sound like Blood curdling screams ringing in her ear, it was so close, so loud. It was almost agonizing. "Come on Twilight, you're almost out of the forest. COME OOON!" With that last burst of energy Twilight Bursted out of the thick Everfree forest. The howl's faded. She slowed her pace, but she never stopped running, not only could the beasts catch up to her, but she felt her running was the only thing that was keeping her away from her friend fluttershy, if she stopped, she new she would have to go back. Ponyville was just in the distance. It was different though, normally you could see things happening even from that distance, but this time was even worse than before she left, the town was barren. she ran all the way to the the library, where she had put up a protective shield spell around it. The shield was very strong, it could only be opened from the outside one way, if a unicorn jabbed there horn into the barrier and released a certain flow of magic, which only Twilight and Rarity knew, anypony could get out simply by walking through. When Twilight was inside, she saw Pinkie crying uncontrollably on Rarity's shoulder, both were locked in a tight hug. "There were so many of them, they kept coming." Pinkie weeped. "Its ok sweaty." Rarity tried to calm her. "Twilight's back, see? Its alright Pinkie, We'll be ok. Pinkie continued to cry. "B, But Spike, he..." Twilight's heart skipped a beat. "what happened to spike, Where is he?" Pinkie cried even harder "We were being chased." Rarity said. "spike was riding on my back. They were catching up to us, Spike he... he saw that, and... and he jumped off me, he stood there, his backs to us. He told us to go... I refused for a little bit, he told me it was the only way... He told me he loved me... He told me to tell you that it was an honor serving you, and that he hopes he completed his last task just to your expectations as he all ways does." The pain of Rarity's face was unbearable. We ran... We left spike there. We were a ways away, I felt this immense heat, I turned around and saw massive fire ball, I have never seen anything bigger. other than his screams that was last this we ever got out of him... It was beautiful. Pinkie's cries were now shrieks of pain. Twilight couldn't believe her ears, not only had she seen Fluttershy die in front of her eyes, now the sole being who she could trust anything with was now gone. "No, no not spike to," She felt like crying again, but her mind was stronger than her emotions. [no, I need to stay strong, I've already cried to much, and we don't need to messes of ponies right now.] She looked at a photo on the wall of her and Spike. "Good job spike, you preformed admirably." She looked down. "I wish i could be as strong as you one day." "Twilight." Rarity interrupted. "Wheres Fluttershy?" Twilight looked at her, after a moment of silence Pinkie paused from her sobs. "Twilight... you're saying." "Hey guy's let us in!" Rainbow Dash's voice filled the room. "We don't have a unicorn with us, so we cant get in!" "I'll get that." Twilight said happy for an interruption. As she walked out the door she checked to see if there were any beasts near by. "Its alright" Apple Jack said. "none of 'dem Beastie's out 'ere right now" "Alright, here I come." She fazed through the barrier with ease, then opened it up for the three of them to get in. When they were inside, Rainbow dash called for Fluttershy. "Its alright Fluttershy, Its just us. You can come out now". "She's not here." Twilight said with a disturbed voice. "Not here, What do you mean? Where is she?" Rainbow dash interrogated. "She's in the Everfree forest. Well, I guess she's not anywhere now." Twilight looked down. "What do you mean she's not anywhere!?" Rainbow Dash screamed. "What are you talking about!? "She's dead!" Twilight yelled out. "Attacked by the dog things." The room got dead silent, the four shocked ponies just stared at her in utter bewilderment. "A- And you just LEFT HER!?" Rainbow Dash was in a rage now. "Of course not." Twilight retaliated. "I drove the dogs off of her, and healed her wounds." "THEN HOW IS SHE DEAD!?" Rainbow furiously yelled. "There must be a poison in there bites, soon after I healed her, she said she was tired... and went to"sleep."" Twilight replied. "WELL WHY DIDN'T YOU HELP HER THEN!?" Rainbow was more mad than she ever had been. "You can't use magic to heal poison, you need an antidote for that." Twilight answered. "UHG I CAN'T TAKE THIS, I'M GOING UPSTAIRS." She stormed off in mixture of rage and confusion. "I'll go comfort her, I'm sure you did the best you could Twilight" Apple Jack said running up the the stairs. Pinkie was crying more than ever now, and there were faint sobs coming from upstairs. "What are we going to do Twilight?" Rarity asked still clutching to Pinkie Pie. "I don;t know." Twilight admitted. "lets all try and get some sleep, I'll think of something tomorrow." Twilight didn't realize how tired she really was until she said that. "You to take the spare bedroom over there, I'll go upstairs to." she said "Alright, come on Pinkie." Rarity urged After they closed the door Twilight started to turn the light out. After they were all extinguished, she stumbled upstairs. she was about to open the door to her room, when she heard that the sobs were coming from there. She decided it was probably best to leave them alone, so she went to the end of the hallway, got some blankets out and lied on the floor. "Oh spike..," she said almost without noise, "Good bye, I'll miss you." PlansTwilight woke up in the morning with sunlight shining down on her face, she laid there for a while, not making a noise. It was very sunny again, a very nice day, Twilight could see a rainbow even though it hasn't rained for days. it was so siren outside, it was almost to beautiful for the hard times at hand. [What was that dream I had?] Twilight thought. [for some reason I can't help but feel that was important somehow.] She continued to lay there thinking about it "UHG, forget this!" Twilight jumped out of her blankets, walked down the hallway and down the stairs. When Twilight got downstairs, she looked around, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were playing a game of cards. Rarity and Apple Jack were in the kitchen, Rarity was chopping up some fruit, and Apple jack was frying up Hash browns. none of them had noticed Twilight yet, and none of them were making a noise other than the cooking. Twilight went and sat down in a chair near the stairs. "Oh good morning Twilight." Rarity saw her sit down "I hope you don't mind, we thought we would take the liberty of making food this morning." "Its fine Rarity" Twilight replied. "Thank you." There was a pause. "So how long have you guys been up for?" "Bout an hour." Apple Jack answered. "I got everypony up to help out... some more than others." "What can I say?" Rainbow Dash commented "I'm 20% cooler then all of you, so I get to break more often." She said with a cocky smile. "Break?" Rarity laughed. "You haven't done anything all morning." Rainbow Dash just shrugged and went back to her game. "Why didn't you wake me up?" Twilight asked. "We figured you would need the most sleep out of all of us." Apple jack answered. "Considerin you're the one that went through the most out of all of us, watching Fluttershy leave and hearing Spike was gone soon after." As soon as Apple Jack said that she knew she had made a mistake. There was a long pause, everypony continued what they were doing without making a noise. Finally Pinkie Pie broke the silence, she started crying again "Oh Pinkie." Twilight said. "It'll be ok, you still got us right? "I, I know that." Pinkie managed to get out. "B...But its all sooo saaaad, WHAAAAA!" "Its alright Pinkie, everything will be fine." Twilight tried to reason with her. Pinkie kept on crying. Twilight looked over to Rainbow Dash and saw that She was close to tears herself. "Are you alright Rainbow? Fluttershy was your closest friend, and... "I'm sorry" Rainbow Dash interrupted. "Sorry for what?" Twilight asked. "Last night, when you told me that Fluttershy had... I lost it, I got mad for no reason at you, and I was wrong." Rainbow Dash apologized. "I hope you can forgive me." "Of course I forgive you Rainbow, you're my friend to yano." She left the broken Pinkie to give Rainbow Dash a quick hug then went back to Pinkie. "I would have done the same thing in your position, and it takes guts to say stuff like that, that is something that I could probably could not do." "Thank you." Rainbow said. her hair was covering her eyes, but Twilight could see a single tear roll down the side of her cheek. Twilight gave a smile in return. "Hash browns 'r ready" Apple Jack yelled out in pride. "Oh good, I just finished cutting up the fruit too." Rarity clacked her hooves in approval. "Well then, lets eat, there's plenty for everybody." Apple jack proclaimed. Rainbow Dash said nothing, she just got up and went to the table. "Come on Pinkie, don't you want to eat?" Twilight said in a soothing voice. "i'm sure you're hungry." Twilight used her magic to bring over a tissue, and wiped Pinkie's eyes with it. "there, you see." Twilight said with a smile. "You're fine now, come and eat." Pinkie nodded her head and they both walked over to the table. Rarity had set out an array of all kinds of different fruits. There were apples, pears, bananas, kiwis cantaloupe, watermelon, grapes, cherries, oranges, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, boysenberries, and so much more. "I guess you and Rainbow were successful in finding food huh Apple Jack?" "Yep we were." Apple Jack replied. "We got a lot of apples, but that was expected I guess." They all started to dig in, no one was talking, and they all had a frown on there face. "So I guess you and Pinkie Pie didn't fine anyone." Twilight stated the obvious "No." Rarity said staring at her food. "we didn't, the job we were assigned was unsucsesfull." She was gritting her teeth "What about you Twilight." Rainbow added. "Did you guy's find anything?" "We only confirmed, our suspicious. The dogs are coming out of the Everfree Forest, and that is were most of them are massed." Twilight admitted "How many of 'em you figure there are Twilight?" Apple Jack questioned "I don't know, probably thousands." Twilight blurted out. "There was this one point after... When I was running alone, one howled, and soon after it seemed the entire forest was screaming in my ear. You don't know how many times I tried to doge an invisible dog because I couldn't tell where anything was coming." "So that's what that was." Rarity interrupted. "That almost scared Pinkie to death." Everything went quiet again when Rarity said "death". Everybody look over at Pinkie to see if she was going to cry any further, she seemed ok, for now. "Anyways." Twilight broke the silence. "From what I gathered, they will attack at any time of day, but the night time is when there most active, maybe there nocturnal, and the ones that come out during they day are just looking for some food, or something on those lines." "So I guess that means we travel by day then, don't it" Apple Jack pointed out. "Yes it does." Twilight answered. " But we wont be leaving for a couple of days, we need to get a lot done. I'll be assigning jobs to all of you. Well, most of the jobs will be done by me and Rarity because were the only ones who know how to make practicable things for the journey. For today, I want the three of you to do as much as you can, but there wont be much for you to do other than assisting me and Rarity, but tomorrow... Tomorrow we train." Plans -part 2-"Train, what do you mean by train?" Rarity asked. "Through my studies, I have read a couple of welding book. "Twilight remarked. I believe I could make weapons for Apple Jack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie." "Wh- Weapons?" Pinkie was shocked. "You mean... Like swords?" Apple Jack said in awe "Yes, that is exactly what I mean." Twilight replied with pride. "But why just those three?" Rarity asked. "What about the two of us.?" "We have our magic." Twilight answered. "That's better protection than any sword could give, and thats what we will be training while those three practice there moves." Yet you couldn't protect Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash thought while giving a quick death stare to Twilight without her noticing. No dam it, stop thinking like that Rainbow, your not like that, you've already apologized. "Are you ok Rainbow?" Twilight asked. "I thought you would be the most exited about this." "Yeah, I'm fine" Rainbow Dash answered. "I'm just... Really tired is all." "I believe it." Twilight inputted. "We've all been through so much already, and its only going to get worse from here on out. "Yeah." Rainbow Dash replied. Shut up Twilight, I don't know how much more of you I can take... RRRAAAHH WHY DO I NEED TO THINK LIKE THIS!? "But to travel, we don't nearly have have enough supplies as in cloths and sleeping bags." Twilight said. "So Rarity needs to get all of her sewing supplies and fabrics and everything else to make that stuff, oh and also all the metal you can rummage up for the swords. Rainbow Dash, you and Apple Jack will need to go to protect her, is that alright with you?" "You can count on me!" Rainbow Dash saluted Twilight. Good, a break from her is probably the best thing for me right now, even if it is just to Rarity's house and back. "Great." Twilight said happily. "I know you will help out some how. Now come on everypony eat as much as you can. These are amazing hash browns Apple Jack, They have so much flavor!" Twilight said amazed. "Thanks, my mom made these for me and my siblings whenever something special would happen, like Christmas, or completing something. I figured that this morning was a special enough morning for these." Apple Jack replied "I guess your right." Twilight answered After they all stuffed there faces, Rainbow Dash, Apple Jack and Rarity set out for there mission. Rainbow was the first one to leave the library, before leaving the barrier however, she flew around to see if she could see any of the beasts. After looking for about two minutes, trying to do a thorough job, she landed and singled for the other two to come out. "I think its best if you don't fly from now on." Apple Jack pointed out. "We ain't want none of of 'em beasties seeing you and coming after us do we?" "Your probably right." Rainbow Dash admitted as they phased out of the barrier together. "Now come on, we need to make this as quick as we can." As much as I hate to admit it. The three of them ran as soon as they left the shield, Rarity's shop wasn't far away, it was even visible from the library, but it was in the plaza, the most wide open space in all of Ponyville, it is also where the general population was in Ponyville. If there was a dog anywhere in town, that's where it would be. the three of them lined up against a wall, Apple Jack in front, and Rainbow Dash in back "Now be quit ya'll." Apple Jack ordered "I'm gona look around the corner and see if any 'em beasties are there." After a short while Rarity got impatient. "Well what do you see Apple Jack?" "There's one of 'em." Apple Jack sounded disturbed. "Its distracted though, Eatin something..." "Well what are we going to do then?" Rarity worried. "I think we can we can sneak around him." Apple Jack said without hesitation. "Are you crazy?" Rarity blurted "Do you know what those things did to Spike?" "And Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash added. "Yes and Fluttershy" Rarity noted. "Quiet now." Apple Jack demanded. "Don't want him to hear us, and yes of course I know what they did, but we need to get in there, and from what I gathered, these things are pretty stupid. Its stuffing its face right now, if we're really quiet, we can do it, I know it." "How could you know that?" Rarity was getting slightly mad. "I don't know how." Apple Jack admitted. "But I just do." "I think we should do it." Rainbow Dash said bluntly. "But its crazy!" Rarity was trying to control her voice. "Its our only chance. Twilight was right." Rainbow winced. "we need more supplies, and your shop is the only place we can get it." Apple Jack saw Rainbow Dash winced and stared at her with a mixture of confusion and curiosity. "You see Rarity... We need to do this. Rarity stood there for a while, looking back and fourth between the other two ponies, finaly she said "Fine... We need to be really careful though." "Right." Apple Jack affirmed. "Now no more talking, not even a peep!" As the three of them walked out, Rainbow Dashes heart was beating rapidly. Oh shit, why am I doing this, this is idiotic. rrrrrrr, just don't make a noise. None of them had ever gotten a chance to get a close look at the beast, they were always running from them. What Rainbow Dash saw made her raise her lip in disgust. The beast had rotting flesh hanging from its body, it was a black colour with shades of brown and red mixed in, showing more in some parts than others. It had more of a muscular cow body shape, long and big legs with pitch black hooves, and of course there dog like head. It had a long red horse like tail and a red mane that went down its neck and over to the right side. there was also a large bite mark on the left of its neck. after what seemed like an hour to Rainbow, they finally got to the door without alerting the beast. Apple Jack being in front stopped in front of the door, with her back hoof she tapped Rarity, then signaled with her head to open the door. Good idea Apple Jack, Rarity can open it quieter than either of us with her magic. Rainbow Dash thought with a smile. Rarity's horn lit up with her light blue magic, which also surrounded the door and the nob, she also put a bubble around the door to block the sound. The door opened smoothly without a noise. After they got in Rarity closed the door the same way. "I almost died from anxiety there." Rarity sighed. "No time for that Rarity." Apple Jack panted. "Now hurry, get all your stuff, we can't stay her long." "Right, I'll go upstairs and get my stuff, you guys get all the metal for Twilight you can from down here and anything that you might think useful." Rarity said trotting away. "Alright Rarity, will do." Apple Jack replied. Looking around for items, Apple Jack noticed Rainbow Dash, staring at a photo of the six good friends, Rainbow Dash was stroking fluttershy with the tip of her hove. "Are you ok Rainbow? When we were talking about what to do out there, I saw you flinch when you talked about Twilight, do you steel blame her? "I want to killer her." Rainbow Dash blatantly admitted. "W, What kill her? Apple Jack worried. "you can't do that, Twilight is our best hope of survival!" "I know I can't." Rainbow said as she slumped is a corner and put her hooves on her head. "And Its not me that wants to kill her, its these thoughts that's creeping itself into my head, like, I know Twilight did her best to protect Fluttershy, but my brain just keeps giving mr these thoughts like "Twilight didn't even care for Fluttershy" or "Twilight wanted Fluttershy dead." and when i get those, I have thoughts of getting revenge for Fluttershy. I hate myself for it, but." Tears started gathering in her eyes. "But I just can't stop... DAMN IT." She slammed her hove on the wall. "Rainbow Dash!" Apple Jack had a tone of anger in her voice. "We can't make noise like that!" "... Sorry." Rainbow Dash simply said "Is everything alright down there?" Rarity called out "I heard a noise." "We're fine." Apple Jack called back. "Rainbow just hit something." "Alright then, be careful down there." Rarity said satisfied. There was a long pause with Rainbow Dash quietly sobbing in the corner and Apple Jack just standing there, unsure what to do Jeez Apple Jack thought. She's more messed up than I thought... "W.. Why am I so weak?" Rainbow Dash sobbed. "I, I know Twilight is good, bu, but I can't help but think of all the made up bad of her. Like really, I thought she burned down your farm at one point." "You are not weak Rainbow Dash!" Apple Jack said with an empowering voice. "Your just messed up, most ponies would have completely shut her out by now, you even have the courage to apologize to her for being rude, you're the strongest pony I know." Rainbow Dash looked up at her "You.. You think?" Apple Jack went over to Rainbow Dash, went down to her level, put a big smile on her face and put her hooves on Rainbows shoulders. "Of course I do." And with those simple four words, Rainbow Dash threw herself into Apple Jacks arms, her crying was unstoppable now, the two with there arms locked, just sat there for what seamed like a long time to them. A bird chirped somewhere off in the distance. EscapeRarity came running down the stairs "Alright, that should be good for upstairs, how are you guys doing dow... Oh, I'll go back upstairs." Rarity claimed after seeing them. "No." Rainbow Dash said breaking the hug. "Were done, we'll get started down here." "Alright then, as long as your both ok." Rarity made sure. "We're fine." Apple Jack confirmed. "Good." Rarity said with a smile. "I'll help down here to then." While the three of them were scavenging, Rainbow Dashes and Apple Jacks eyes would meat often, every time Apple Jack would give a smile, but Rainbow Dash would look away in shame. Apple Jack wasn't one hundred present sure what that meant, but she new it could be nothing good. I guess Rainbow Dash still has some bad thoughts to Twilight. She'll get over it... I hope. The bottom of the shop didn't have to much to loot, just some metal, a couple dozen yards of fabric, needles and thread, and couple food items. "I guess we should get out of here." Rainbow Dash said satisfied with the work they did tearing apart Raritys shop. "Agreed." Apple Jack said. "pick up all the stuff now Rarity, you'll be going first just in case." "Sure" Rarity complied. Her horn glowed with her magic, and soon after the room was filled up with items from Raritys upstairs experience it seamed. "How much stuff do you need Rarity!?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Hey! A girl needs her accessories." Rarity said with a pout. "Whatever." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "It's all down here, we can get going now." Rarity said "Ok, this is what were going to do." Apple Jack said. "Rarity, you open the door to let Rainbow Dash out, she'll check to see if the beastie is still there, hopefully its gone, but if it is there we're gona hafta do the same thing we did before." Apple Jack laid out. "Lets do this!" Rainbow Dashed pumped her arms Rarity opened the door, Rainbow Dash flew out and hid on top of the building, to avoid any spying eyes. After looking around for about a minute or so, she flew back in. "There's still that one dog thing, its in a farther away spot though, we can totally make it past him." Rainbow Dash told them. "Good, like I said, Rarity will go first, I'll go second and Rainbow dash after." Apple Jack explained. "And have the all your things floating over us Rarity." The three of them were calmer this time walking out of the house sense they knew they could do it, doing once already. The beat was further away this time, feeding on another fallen victim. Rainbow Dash couldn't help but keep her eyes on it. Apple Jack felt confident enough to whisper. "Watch out for this rock Rainbow." Rainbow Dash wasn't really listening, she was to enthralled by the beast not to far away from them. "uhuh." was her reply. after taking a few steps, she kicked the rock with deadly accuracy, she couldn't of been more centered on it. She tripped and fell on her face. "OOF!" she exclaimed. Both Rarity and Apple Jack looked back at Rainbow Dash with terror on there face, soon after the three of them wiped there heads over to the dog, for he had turned to them and had his head up in the air howling to the sky. "He's calling the others!" Apple Jack realized, "We need to get out out of here, NOW!" Rainbow Dash got up and started running after them passing giving her enough time to see the beast start charging before running around the corner again. Rainbow wasn't to far behind them, they never left her sights, being the fastest out of the the, she caught up quickly. "What are we going to do Apple Jack!?" Rainbow Dash questioned. "I duno!" Apple Jack admitted. they paused for a while "... If we stop to open up the barrier, the beastie will get us... Oh, Rainbow Dash, fly over to the library, get Twilight to open it up for us when we get here." Rainbow Dashed winced at the idea. "I'm not leaving you alone, maybe we can fight it!" "Even if we could," Rarity interrupted. "All the other ones knows where we are now, we'll me swarmed in minutes, its the only way Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash looked down and pause for a moment... "Fine." She said as she sped off. "Rarity, get all the stuff in a straight line in front of us." Was the last thing Rainbow Dash heard as she flew away. It didn't take long for Rainbow dash to get to the library, with her wing speed, it only took her a few seconds. She landed and screamed out. "TWILIGHT GET OUT HERE I NEED YOUR HELP!!" "I'll get her!" Pinkie Pie yelled back. "She's downstairs doing that blacksmithing thing!" "PLEASE HURRY" Rainbow Dashed begged. After waiting for what felt like an age to her, she heard hoof steps rumbling closer. "HURRY UP TWILIGHT!" Rainbow Dash screamed. Silence. She could start seeing figures in the distance. Rainbow Dash started to bang on the purple wall of light. "Please Twilight... hurry up please... I don''t want to loose anyone else." Rainbow Dash almost cried. Suddenly she heard clacks echoing through the house. "I'm coming!" Twilight yelled. "Come on." Rainbow Dash yelled. "Open up the barrier for us, Apple Jack and Rarity are being chased. "Right!" Twilight said as she jumped out of the barrier. She stuck her horn in and let the magic flow from her. "I'll go see what I can do to help them!" Rainbow Dash told Twilight. "No Rainbow Dash!" Twilight rejected. "Get in the barrier, it closes as soon as I walk in, and who knows how many are coming, if you go I'll have to keep it open and wait for you, who knows what could get me at that time." "But..." Rainbow Dash tried to argue. "NOW!" Twilight yelled out. Rainbow Dash looked back at the two rapidly approaching ponies and the lone dog not far behind. She turned away in shame and walked into the barrier and sat on a tree root which the library was made of. "HURRY UP!" Twilight yelled at the running ponies. "Come on Rarity, one more push, were almost there!" Apple Jack told Rarity encouragingly, who was breathing heavily and had a pained look on her face. "I... I can't" Rarity objected. "YES YOU CAN!" Apple Jack enforced. "You can and you will, you need to! Think of Pinkie pie and Rainbow Dash, they need you to be there right now, they can't afford to loose anyone else right now!" That last line seamed to give Rarity a last burst of strength, her pained faced morphed into anger as her paced quickened, she even was slightly gaining a little bit of distance between her and Apple Jack, the dog was still behind them however snapping at Apple Jacks tail, barley missing every time. The supplies were flooding in now. "RRRAAAAAAA!" Rarity yelled as she jumped through the now phaseable barrier. As soon as Rarity got in Twilight went in at the same time as Apple Jack, trying to calculate the perfect time for the two of them to get in without the dog. Twilight was a little late. The dog got half way through, the Barrier solidified on it. It was stuck half way through with no way of getting through, all it could do was back out. Just before Apple Jack got away however, the dog managed to take a good chuck out of her tail, about half, it was just standing there hopelessly gnawing on it for some food that it wasn't going to get. Rainbow Dash was leaning on the tree now, giving a huge sigh of relief. Rarity was collapsed on the floor trying to get her breath back. "Are the three of you ok!?" Twilight asked. "Did any of you get a bite!?" "We're fine." Apple Jack assured. "Well... 'sides my tail." she looked back at it with a sense of incompleteness. "Your tail can't reach your blood stream, or anything like that." Twilight told her. "Still though, we should cut off that part throw it out just in case." She grabbed a pair of scissors with her magic, that Rarity brought over, and used it to cut the spot off. "There." Twilight said picking it up with her magic, she walked outside to throw the hair out the barrier, the dog was still there, it wouldn't stop barking. Not a single noise could be made out past the demon like barks.
Pains Of TodayIt was a nice day out, there was not a noise to be heard. "FLUTTERSHY, HURRY UP!" Twilight begged. Not a cloud in the sky, the sun was bright. "TWILIGHT, THERE CATCHING UP TO ME!" Fluttershy screamed. There was a rainbow over the sky, even though there has been no rain for over a week. "FLY FLUTTERSHY, FLY, GET OUT OF HERE, I'LL BE ALRIGHT!" Twilight demanded. So serine, almost as if it was a gift to make up for hard times. "THE TREE'S ARE TO THICK, I WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO GET NEARLY HIGH ENOUGH!" Fluttershy replied. The beauty of it was almost breath taking, it would have been the perfect day to do anything. "JUST KEEP RUNNING FLUTTERSHY!" Twilight enforced. Not a sound to be heard... "TWIIIIIIILIIIIIIIGHT!!!" Fluttershy screamed in agony The blood curtailing scream made Twilight stop in her tracks and turn around, Fluttershy was on the ground with three of those...things on her, one of them was biting into her side, she struggled but the giant dog like things were to strong. "HELP ME TWILIGHT!" Fluttershy pleaded. "FLUTTERSHY!" Twilight's horn lit up with her purple magic, it grew bright and brighter, as if it was charging. "GET OFF HER YOU BEASTS!" she blasted a shot of magic at each of the dogs, They flew back. Twilight positioned herself on top of Fluttershy in a protective way before the dogs had a chance to recover. "come at me you freaks!" Twilight raged under her breath. When the dogs got back on there... hooves, they jumped at twilight, one by one, and each time they did, Twilight would blast them right back, she would do anything to protect her friend. after a little bit, the dogs gave up, they ran into the depths of Everfree Forest. "Fluttershy, are you ok? how hurt are you? GASP!" Twilight looked down to see a massive bite mark, about the size of a mid sized football, on fluttershy's side abdomen. "I...It hurts Twilight... Please, help me." Fluttershy begged almost pitifully. "Its ok Fluttershy, I can heal this." Twilight promised already tired from all the blast she gave out. Her horn lit up again, this time with a calmer light, she placed it just above the bite wound. "ooooh." Fluttershy relaxed. "That feels nice." They were there for quite a while, stuck in silence and fear. It was difficult for twilight to keep up the spell though, she used up more energy than she thought, there were a couple of times where she lightened up a little, then realized what she was doing and got back to healing. The healing spell itself was slightly complected. It was not much of a healing spell, it was more of a time spell, you would focus your magic on the spot that required healing and let time flow through, using the horn as a time gate. "Alright, Its healed as well as time could heal it, there is a big scar, but you will need to live with that." Twilight gave a sigh of relief... "We need to get moving Fluttershy." "B, But I'm so tired, can't we just take a quick break?" "Fluttershy... are you ok?" Twilight started go get worried "Ya I'm fine, I'm just really tired, I... I think i'll take a quick nap. alright?" Fluttershy weakly managed to mumble. "Fluttershy, Come on, don't do this, do NOT fall asleep." Twilight yelled at the dying pony. "Its ok twilight, I'll wake up soon." "NO FLUTTERSHY, DON'T FALL ASLEEP, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DO NOT FALL ASLEEP!" Twilight was crying. "DO NOT FALL ASLEEP" "mmmmm. Good night Twilight. Oh, and tell Angel to not eat all the carrots please." Fluttershy said with a smile as her last breath escaped her lungs. "Fl, Fl, Fluter... No... no, no no no no no NOOO, NOOOOOOOOOOO FLUTTERSHY, WHYYYYYYYYY!" Twilight screamed out in agony, Tears were pouring down her face now. She never worried about her friends dying, she would always brush the thought off when ever something like that would come to her head, thinking they were to young to die naturally, and nothing, until today would or could kill anybody. Right then one of those dogs came back, he slowly approached, cautious for any on coming blasts. When there were non, he started to circle them, getting closer and closer. Twilight knew that the beast was there, she just could not do anything at the moment under her sobs. She looked up with her teary eyes at the beast, not so far away now. At first glance it looked normal, but after staring at it for a little longer, she saw a pink bloody strand of hair hanging from its mouth. "Oh, so you've come back for seconds have you?... RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Twilight shouted as she shot a huge bolt of magic. The bold went right through the dog and snapped a tree behind it. It was still standing, but clearly weakened, that's when the tree fell on it, making the beast motionless. When she new the beast was dead after staring at it for a while to make sure it was actually gone, she went back to crying "I did it Fluttershy, I killed your killer, even if he was a beast, I got revenge for you.... Oh Fluttershy, please come back" her tears picked up again, this time they were coming in rivers. She laid on Fluttershy, almost as if to get as close as she could. "Come on Twilight, Pull yourself together." Twilight tried to calm herself "She's gone now, not coming back... Oh god, She's not coming back. NO NO NO no no, now is not the time think about that Twilight. Come on, you need to get up... GET UP!" As soon as she said that she jumped off of her lying position she had put herself in on Fluttershy. She ran, as fast as she could, she needed to get away from her, She felt if she stayed there any longer she might never leave. She was heading to the place they were originality heading heading, Ponyville. She ran with tears in her eyes. Not a sound to be heard.
Moving OnAs twilight was running, she heard a howl in the distance. She stopped in her tracks. "Fluttershy... No!" She kept on running. "I need to get to Ponyville, Its just a little further, everybody is waiting for me. Its not to much further." The howls duplicated, more and more of them started to join in, getting louder and louder. "How many of these things are there?" Twilight grunted to herself. Soon the howl's started to sound like Blood curdling screams ringing in her ear, it was so close, so loud. It was almost agonizing. "Come on Twilight, you're almost out of the forest. COME OOON!" With that last burst of energy Twilight Bursted out of the thick Everfree forest. The howl's faded. She slowed her pace, but she never stopped running, not only could the beasts catch up to her, but she felt her running was the only thing that was keeping her away from her friend fluttershy, if she stopped, she new she would have to go back. Ponyville was just in the distance. It was different though, normally you could see things happening even from that distance, but this time was even worse than before she left, the town was barren. she ran all the way to the the library, where she had put up a protective shield spell around it. The shield was very strong, it could only be opened from the outside one way, if a unicorn jabbed there horn into the barrier and released a certain flow of magic, which only Twilight and Rarity knew, anypony could get out simply by walking through. When Twilight was inside, she saw Pinkie crying uncontrollably on Rarity's shoulder, both were locked in a tight hug. "There were so many of them, they kept coming." Pinkie weeped. "Its ok sweaty." Rarity tried to calm her. "Twilight's back, see? Its alright Pinkie, We'll be ok. Pinkie continued to cry. "B, But Spike, he..." Twilight's heart skipped a beat. "what happened to spike, Where is he?" Pinkie cried even harder "We were being chased." Rarity said. "spike was riding on my back. They were catching up to us, Spike he... he saw that, and... and he jumped off me, he stood there, his backs to us. He told us to go... I refused for a little bit, he told me it was the only way... He told me he loved me... He told me to tell you that it was an honor serving you, and that he hopes he completed his last task just to your expectations as he all ways does." The pain of Rarity's face was unbearable. We ran... We left spike there. We were a ways away, I felt this immense heat, I turned around and saw massive fire ball, I have never seen anything bigger. other than his screams that was last this we ever got out of him... It was beautiful. Pinkie's cries were now shrieks of pain. Twilight couldn't believe her ears, not only had she seen Fluttershy die in front of her eyes, now the sole being who she could trust anything with was now gone. "No, no not spike to," She felt like crying again, but her mind was stronger than her emotions. [no, I need to stay strong, I've already cried to much, and we don't need to messes of ponies right now.] She looked at a photo on the wall of her and Spike. "Good job spike, you preformed admirably." She looked down. "I wish i could be as strong as you one day." "Twilight." Rarity interrupted. "Wheres Fluttershy?" Twilight looked at her, after a moment of silence Pinkie paused from her sobs. "Twilight... you're saying." "Hey guy's let us in!" Rainbow Dash's voice filled the room. "We don't have a unicorn with us, so we cant get in!" "I'll get that." Twilight said happy for an interruption. As she walked out the door she checked to see if there were any beasts near by. "Its alright" Apple Jack said. "none of 'dem Beastie's out 'ere right now" "Alright, here I come." She fazed through the barrier with ease, then opened it up for the three of them to get in. When they were inside, Rainbow dash called for Fluttershy. "Its alright Fluttershy, Its just us. You can come out now". "She's not here." Twilight said with a disturbed voice. "Not here, What do you mean? Where is she?" Rainbow dash interrogated. "She's in the Everfree forest. Well, I guess she's not anywhere now." Twilight looked down. "What do you mean she's not anywhere!?" Rainbow Dash screamed. "What are you talking about!? "She's dead!" Twilight yelled out. "Attacked by the dog things." The room got dead silent, the four shocked ponies just stared at her in utter bewilderment. "A- And you just LEFT HER!?" Rainbow Dash was in a rage now. "Of course not." Twilight retaliated. "I drove the dogs off of her, and healed her wounds." "THEN HOW IS SHE DEAD!?" Rainbow furiously yelled. "There must be a poison in there bites, soon after I healed her, she said she was tired... and went to"sleep."" Twilight replied. "WELL WHY DIDN'T YOU HELP HER THEN!?" Rainbow was more mad than she ever had been. "You can't use magic to heal poison, you need an antidote for that." Twilight answered. "UHG I CAN'T TAKE THIS, I'M GOING UPSTAIRS." She stormed off in mixture of rage and confusion. "I'll go comfort her, I'm sure you did the best you could Twilight" Apple Jack said running up the the stairs. Pinkie was crying more than ever now, and there were faint sobs coming from upstairs. "What are we going to do Twilight?" Rarity asked still clutching to Pinkie Pie. "I don;t know." Twilight admitted. "lets all try and get some sleep, I'll think of something tomorrow." Twilight didn't realize how tired she really was until she said that. "You to take the spare bedroom over there, I'll go upstairs to." she said "Alright, come on Pinkie." Rarity urged After they closed the door Twilight started to turn the light out. After they were all extinguished, she stumbled upstairs. she was about to open the door to her room, when she heard that the sobs were coming from there. She decided it was probably best to leave them alone, so she went to the end of the hallway, got some blankets out and lied on the floor. "Oh spike..," she said almost without noise, "Good bye, I'll miss you."
PlansTwilight woke up in the morning with sunlight shining down on her face, she laid there for a while, not making a noise. It was very sunny again, a very nice day, Twilight could see a rainbow even though it hasn't rained for days. it was so siren outside, it was almost to beautiful for the hard times at hand. [What was that dream I had?] Twilight thought. [for some reason I can't help but feel that was important somehow.] She continued to lay there thinking about it "UHG, forget this!" Twilight jumped out of her blankets, walked down the hallway and down the stairs. When Twilight got downstairs, she looked around, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were playing a game of cards. Rarity and Apple Jack were in the kitchen, Rarity was chopping up some fruit, and Apple jack was frying up Hash browns. none of them had noticed Twilight yet, and none of them were making a noise other than the cooking. Twilight went and sat down in a chair near the stairs. "Oh good morning Twilight." Rarity saw her sit down "I hope you don't mind, we thought we would take the liberty of making food this morning." "Its fine Rarity" Twilight replied. "Thank you." There was a pause. "So how long have you guys been up for?" "Bout an hour." Apple Jack answered. "I got everypony up to help out... some more than others." "What can I say?" Rainbow Dash commented "I'm 20% cooler then all of you, so I get to break more often." She said with a cocky smile. "Break?" Rarity laughed. "You haven't done anything all morning." Rainbow Dash just shrugged and went back to her game. "Why didn't you wake me up?" Twilight asked. "We figured you would need the most sleep out of all of us." Apple jack answered. "Considerin you're the one that went through the most out of all of us, watching Fluttershy leave and hearing Spike was gone soon after." As soon as Apple Jack said that she knew she had made a mistake. There was a long pause, everypony continued what they were doing without making a noise. Finally Pinkie Pie broke the silence, she started crying again "Oh Pinkie." Twilight said. "It'll be ok, you still got us right? "I, I know that." Pinkie managed to get out. "B...But its all sooo saaaad, WHAAAAA!" "Its alright Pinkie, everything will be fine." Twilight tried to reason with her. Pinkie kept on crying. Twilight looked over to Rainbow Dash and saw that She was close to tears herself. "Are you alright Rainbow? Fluttershy was your closest friend, and... "I'm sorry" Rainbow Dash interrupted. "Sorry for what?" Twilight asked. "Last night, when you told me that Fluttershy had... I lost it, I got mad for no reason at you, and I was wrong." Rainbow Dash apologized. "I hope you can forgive me." "Of course I forgive you Rainbow, you're my friend to yano." She left the broken Pinkie to give Rainbow Dash a quick hug then went back to Pinkie. "I would have done the same thing in your position, and it takes guts to say stuff like that, that is something that I could probably could not do." "Thank you." Rainbow said. her hair was covering her eyes, but Twilight could see a single tear roll down the side of her cheek. Twilight gave a smile in return. "Hash browns 'r ready" Apple Jack yelled out in pride. "Oh good, I just finished cutting up the fruit too." Rarity clacked her hooves in approval. "Well then, lets eat, there's plenty for everybody." Apple jack proclaimed. Rainbow Dash said nothing, she just got up and went to the table. "Come on Pinkie, don't you want to eat?" Twilight said in a soothing voice. "i'm sure you're hungry." Twilight used her magic to bring over a tissue, and wiped Pinkie's eyes with it. "there, you see." Twilight said with a smile. "You're fine now, come and eat." Pinkie nodded her head and they both walked over to the table. Rarity had set out an array of all kinds of different fruits. There were apples, pears, bananas, kiwis cantaloupe, watermelon, grapes, cherries, oranges, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, boysenberries, and so much more. "I guess you and Rainbow were successful in finding food huh Apple Jack?" "Yep we were." Apple Jack replied. "We got a lot of apples, but that was expected I guess." They all started to dig in, no one was talking, and they all had a frown on there face. "So I guess you and Pinkie Pie didn't fine anyone." Twilight stated the obvious "No." Rarity said staring at her food. "we didn't, the job we were assigned was unsucsesfull." She was gritting her teeth "What about you Twilight." Rainbow added. "Did you guy's find anything?" "We only confirmed, our suspicious. The dogs are coming out of the Everfree Forest, and that is were most of them are massed." Twilight admitted "How many of 'em you figure there are Twilight?" Apple Jack questioned "I don't know, probably thousands." Twilight blurted out. "There was this one point after... When I was running alone, one howled, and soon after it seemed the entire forest was screaming in my ear. You don't know how many times I tried to doge an invisible dog because I couldn't tell where anything was coming." "So that's what that was." Rarity interrupted. "That almost scared Pinkie to death." Everything went quiet again when Rarity said "death". Everybody look over at Pinkie to see if she was going to cry any further, she seemed ok, for now. "Anyways." Twilight broke the silence. "From what I gathered, they will attack at any time of day, but the night time is when there most active, maybe there nocturnal, and the ones that come out during they day are just looking for some food, or something on those lines." "So I guess that means we travel by day then, don't it" Apple Jack pointed out. "Yes it does." Twilight answered. " But we wont be leaving for a couple of days, we need to get a lot done. I'll be assigning jobs to all of you. Well, most of the jobs will be done by me and Rarity because were the only ones who know how to make practicable things for the journey. For today, I want the three of you to do as much as you can, but there wont be much for you to do other than assisting me and Rarity, but tomorrow... Tomorrow we train."
Plans -part 2-"Train, what do you mean by train?" Rarity asked. "Through my studies, I have read a couple of welding book. "Twilight remarked. I believe I could make weapons for Apple Jack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie." "Wh- Weapons?" Pinkie was shocked. "You mean... Like swords?" Apple Jack said in awe "Yes, that is exactly what I mean." Twilight replied with pride. "But why just those three?" Rarity asked. "What about the two of us.?" "We have our magic." Twilight answered. "That's better protection than any sword could give, and thats what we will be training while those three practice there moves." Yet you couldn't protect Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash thought while giving a quick death stare to Twilight without her noticing. No dam it, stop thinking like that Rainbow, your not like that, you've already apologized. "Are you ok Rainbow?" Twilight asked. "I thought you would be the most exited about this." "Yeah, I'm fine" Rainbow Dash answered. "I'm just... Really tired is all." "I believe it." Twilight inputted. "We've all been through so much already, and its only going to get worse from here on out. "Yeah." Rainbow Dash replied. Shut up Twilight, I don't know how much more of you I can take... RRRAAAHH WHY DO I NEED TO THINK LIKE THIS!? "But to travel, we don't nearly have have enough supplies as in cloths and sleeping bags." Twilight said. "So Rarity needs to get all of her sewing supplies and fabrics and everything else to make that stuff, oh and also all the metal you can rummage up for the swords. Rainbow Dash, you and Apple Jack will need to go to protect her, is that alright with you?" "You can count on me!" Rainbow Dash saluted Twilight. Good, a break from her is probably the best thing for me right now, even if it is just to Rarity's house and back. "Great." Twilight said happily. "I know you will help out some how. Now come on everypony eat as much as you can. These are amazing hash browns Apple Jack, They have so much flavor!" Twilight said amazed. "Thanks, my mom made these for me and my siblings whenever something special would happen, like Christmas, or completing something. I figured that this morning was a special enough morning for these." Apple Jack replied "I guess your right." Twilight answered After they all stuffed there faces, Rainbow Dash, Apple Jack and Rarity set out for there mission. Rainbow was the first one to leave the library, before leaving the barrier however, she flew around to see if she could see any of the beasts. After looking for about two minutes, trying to do a thorough job, she landed and singled for the other two to come out. "I think its best if you don't fly from now on." Apple Jack pointed out. "We ain't want none of of 'em beasties seeing you and coming after us do we?" "Your probably right." Rainbow Dash admitted as they phased out of the barrier together. "Now come on, we need to make this as quick as we can." As much as I hate to admit it. The three of them ran as soon as they left the shield, Rarity's shop wasn't far away, it was even visible from the library, but it was in the plaza, the most wide open space in all of Ponyville, it is also where the general population was in Ponyville. If there was a dog anywhere in town, that's where it would be. the three of them lined up against a wall, Apple Jack in front, and Rainbow Dash in back "Now be quit ya'll." Apple Jack ordered "I'm gona look around the corner and see if any 'em beasties are there." After a short while Rarity got impatient. "Well what do you see Apple Jack?" "There's one of 'em." Apple Jack sounded disturbed. "Its distracted though, Eatin something..." "Well what are we going to do then?" Rarity worried. "I think we can we can sneak around him." Apple Jack said without hesitation. "Are you crazy?" Rarity blurted "Do you know what those things did to Spike?" "And Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash added. "Yes and Fluttershy" Rarity noted. "Quiet now." Apple Jack demanded. "Don't want him to hear us, and yes of course I know what they did, but we need to get in there, and from what I gathered, these things are pretty stupid. Its stuffing its face right now, if we're really quiet, we can do it, I know it." "How could you know that?" Rarity was getting slightly mad. "I don't know how." Apple Jack admitted. "But I just do." "I think we should do it." Rainbow Dash said bluntly. "But its crazy!" Rarity was trying to control her voice. "Its our only chance. Twilight was right." Rainbow winced. "we need more supplies, and your shop is the only place we can get it." Apple Jack saw Rainbow Dash winced and stared at her with a mixture of confusion and curiosity. "You see Rarity... We need to do this. Rarity stood there for a while, looking back and fourth between the other two ponies, finaly she said "Fine... We need to be really careful though." "Right." Apple Jack affirmed. "Now no more talking, not even a peep!" As the three of them walked out, Rainbow Dashes heart was beating rapidly. Oh shit, why am I doing this, this is idiotic. rrrrrrr, just don't make a noise. None of them had ever gotten a chance to get a close look at the beast, they were always running from them. What Rainbow Dash saw made her raise her lip in disgust. The beast had rotting flesh hanging from its body, it was a black colour with shades of brown and red mixed in, showing more in some parts than others. It had more of a muscular cow body shape, long and big legs with pitch black hooves, and of course there dog like head. It had a long red horse like tail and a red mane that went down its neck and over to the right side. there was also a large bite mark on the left of its neck. after what seemed like an hour to Rainbow, they finally got to the door without alerting the beast. Apple Jack being in front stopped in front of the door, with her back hoof she tapped Rarity, then signaled with her head to open the door. Good idea Apple Jack, Rarity can open it quieter than either of us with her magic. Rainbow Dash thought with a smile. Rarity's horn lit up with her light blue magic, which also surrounded the door and the nob, she also put a bubble around the door to block the sound. The door opened smoothly without a noise. After they got in Rarity closed the door the same way. "I almost died from anxiety there." Rarity sighed. "No time for that Rarity." Apple Jack panted. "Now hurry, get all your stuff, we can't stay her long." "Right, I'll go upstairs and get my stuff, you guys get all the metal for Twilight you can from down here and anything that you might think useful." Rarity said trotting away. "Alright Rarity, will do." Apple Jack replied. Looking around for items, Apple Jack noticed Rainbow Dash, staring at a photo of the six good friends, Rainbow Dash was stroking fluttershy with the tip of her hove. "Are you ok Rainbow? When we were talking about what to do out there, I saw you flinch when you talked about Twilight, do you steel blame her? "I want to killer her." Rainbow Dash blatantly admitted. "W, What kill her? Apple Jack worried. "you can't do that, Twilight is our best hope of survival!" "I know I can't." Rainbow said as she slumped is a corner and put her hooves on her head. "And Its not me that wants to kill her, its these thoughts that's creeping itself into my head, like, I know Twilight did her best to protect Fluttershy, but my brain just keeps giving mr these thoughts like "Twilight didn't even care for Fluttershy" or "Twilight wanted Fluttershy dead." and when i get those, I have thoughts of getting revenge for Fluttershy. I hate myself for it, but." Tears started gathering in her eyes. "But I just can't stop... DAMN IT." She slammed her hove on the wall. "Rainbow Dash!" Apple Jack had a tone of anger in her voice. "We can't make noise like that!" "... Sorry." Rainbow Dash simply said "Is everything alright down there?" Rarity called out "I heard a noise." "We're fine." Apple Jack called back. "Rainbow just hit something." "Alright then, be careful down there." Rarity said satisfied. There was a long pause with Rainbow Dash quietly sobbing in the corner and Apple Jack just standing there, unsure what to do Jeez Apple Jack thought. She's more messed up than I thought... "W.. Why am I so weak?" Rainbow Dash sobbed. "I, I know Twilight is good, bu, but I can't help but think of all the made up bad of her. Like really, I thought she burned down your farm at one point." "You are not weak Rainbow Dash!" Apple Jack said with an empowering voice. "Your just messed up, most ponies would have completely shut her out by now, you even have the courage to apologize to her for being rude, you're the strongest pony I know." Rainbow Dash looked up at her "You.. You think?" Apple Jack went over to Rainbow Dash, went down to her level, put a big smile on her face and put her hooves on Rainbows shoulders. "Of course I do." And with those simple four words, Rainbow Dash threw herself into Apple Jacks arms, her crying was unstoppable now, the two with there arms locked, just sat there for what seamed like a long time to them. A bird chirped somewhere off in the distance.
EscapeRarity came running down the stairs "Alright, that should be good for upstairs, how are you guys doing dow... Oh, I'll go back upstairs." Rarity claimed after seeing them. "No." Rainbow Dash said breaking the hug. "Were done, we'll get started down here." "Alright then, as long as your both ok." Rarity made sure. "We're fine." Apple Jack confirmed. "Good." Rarity said with a smile. "I'll help down here to then." While the three of them were scavenging, Rainbow Dashes and Apple Jacks eyes would meat often, every time Apple Jack would give a smile, but Rainbow Dash would look away in shame. Apple Jack wasn't one hundred present sure what that meant, but she new it could be nothing good. I guess Rainbow Dash still has some bad thoughts to Twilight. She'll get over it... I hope. The bottom of the shop didn't have to much to loot, just some metal, a couple dozen yards of fabric, needles and thread, and couple food items. "I guess we should get out of here." Rainbow Dash said satisfied with the work they did tearing apart Raritys shop. "Agreed." Apple Jack said. "pick up all the stuff now Rarity, you'll be going first just in case." "Sure" Rarity complied. Her horn glowed with her magic, and soon after the room was filled up with items from Raritys upstairs experience it seamed. "How much stuff do you need Rarity!?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Hey! A girl needs her accessories." Rarity said with a pout. "Whatever." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "It's all down here, we can get going now." Rarity said "Ok, this is what were going to do." Apple Jack said. "Rarity, you open the door to let Rainbow Dash out, she'll check to see if the beastie is still there, hopefully its gone, but if it is there we're gona hafta do the same thing we did before." Apple Jack laid out. "Lets do this!" Rainbow Dashed pumped her arms Rarity opened the door, Rainbow Dash flew out and hid on top of the building, to avoid any spying eyes. After looking around for about a minute or so, she flew back in. "There's still that one dog thing, its in a farther away spot though, we can totally make it past him." Rainbow Dash told them. "Good, like I said, Rarity will go first, I'll go second and Rainbow dash after." Apple Jack explained. "And have the all your things floating over us Rarity." The three of them were calmer this time walking out of the house sense they knew they could do it, doing once already. The beat was further away this time, feeding on another fallen victim. Rainbow Dash couldn't help but keep her eyes on it. Apple Jack felt confident enough to whisper. "Watch out for this rock Rainbow." Rainbow Dash wasn't really listening, she was to enthralled by the beast not to far away from them. "uhuh." was her reply. after taking a few steps, she kicked the rock with deadly accuracy, she couldn't of been more centered on it. She tripped and fell on her face. "OOF!" she exclaimed. Both Rarity and Apple Jack looked back at Rainbow Dash with terror on there face, soon after the three of them wiped there heads over to the dog, for he had turned to them and had his head up in the air howling to the sky. "He's calling the others!" Apple Jack realized, "We need to get out out of here, NOW!" Rainbow Dash got up and started running after them passing giving her enough time to see the beast start charging before running around the corner again. Rainbow wasn't to far behind them, they never left her sights, being the fastest out of the the, she caught up quickly. "What are we going to do Apple Jack!?" Rainbow Dash questioned. "I duno!" Apple Jack admitted. they paused for a while "... If we stop to open up the barrier, the beastie will get us... Oh, Rainbow Dash, fly over to the library, get Twilight to open it up for us when we get here." Rainbow Dashed winced at the idea. "I'm not leaving you alone, maybe we can fight it!" "Even if we could," Rarity interrupted. "All the other ones knows where we are now, we'll me swarmed in minutes, its the only way Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash looked down and pause for a moment... "Fine." She said as she sped off. "Rarity, get all the stuff in a straight line in front of us." Was the last thing Rainbow Dash heard as she flew away. It didn't take long for Rainbow dash to get to the library, with her wing speed, it only took her a few seconds. She landed and screamed out. "TWILIGHT GET OUT HERE I NEED YOUR HELP!!" "I'll get her!" Pinkie Pie yelled back. "She's downstairs doing that blacksmithing thing!" "PLEASE HURRY" Rainbow Dashed begged. After waiting for what felt like an age to her, she heard hoof steps rumbling closer. "HURRY UP TWILIGHT!" Rainbow Dash screamed. Silence. She could start seeing figures in the distance. Rainbow Dash started to bang on the purple wall of light. "Please Twilight... hurry up please... I don''t want to loose anyone else." Rainbow Dash almost cried. Suddenly she heard clacks echoing through the house. "I'm coming!" Twilight yelled. "Come on." Rainbow Dash yelled. "Open up the barrier for us, Apple Jack and Rarity are being chased. "Right!" Twilight said as she jumped out of the barrier. She stuck her horn in and let the magic flow from her. "I'll go see what I can do to help them!" Rainbow Dash told Twilight. "No Rainbow Dash!" Twilight rejected. "Get in the barrier, it closes as soon as I walk in, and who knows how many are coming, if you go I'll have to keep it open and wait for you, who knows what could get me at that time." "But..." Rainbow Dash tried to argue. "NOW!" Twilight yelled out. Rainbow Dash looked back at the two rapidly approaching ponies and the lone dog not far behind. She turned away in shame and walked into the barrier and sat on a tree root which the library was made of. "HURRY UP!" Twilight yelled at the running ponies. "Come on Rarity, one more push, were almost there!" Apple Jack told Rarity encouragingly, who was breathing heavily and had a pained look on her face. "I... I can't" Rarity objected. "YES YOU CAN!" Apple Jack enforced. "You can and you will, you need to! Think of Pinkie pie and Rainbow Dash, they need you to be there right now, they can't afford to loose anyone else right now!" That last line seamed to give Rarity a last burst of strength, her pained faced morphed into anger as her paced quickened, she even was slightly gaining a little bit of distance between her and Apple Jack, the dog was still behind them however snapping at Apple Jacks tail, barley missing every time. The supplies were flooding in now. "RRRAAAAAAA!" Rarity yelled as she jumped through the now phaseable barrier. As soon as Rarity got in Twilight went in at the same time as Apple Jack, trying to calculate the perfect time for the two of them to get in without the dog. Twilight was a little late. The dog got half way through, the Barrier solidified on it. It was stuck half way through with no way of getting through, all it could do was back out. Just before Apple Jack got away however, the dog managed to take a good chuck out of her tail, about half, it was just standing there hopelessly gnawing on it for some food that it wasn't going to get. Rainbow Dash was leaning on the tree now, giving a huge sigh of relief. Rarity was collapsed on the floor trying to get her breath back. "Are the three of you ok!?" Twilight asked. "Did any of you get a bite!?" "We're fine." Apple Jack assured. "Well... 'sides my tail." she looked back at it with a sense of incompleteness. "Your tail can't reach your blood stream, or anything like that." Twilight told her. "Still though, we should cut off that part throw it out just in case." She grabbed a pair of scissors with her magic, that Rarity brought over, and used it to cut the spot off. "There." Twilight said picking it up with her magic, she walked outside to throw the hair out the barrier, the dog was still there, it wouldn't stop barking. Not a single noise could be made out past the demon like barks.
