The night loomed over the sky, as all the ponies in the small village of Peles sleep. Outside the village, several other ponies, all cladded in black armor gathered. At there head was a Bright Blue colored Unicorn, wearing a black cloak, and boots. With her motion, the armor cladded ponies charged into the village, lighting the houses on fire and slaughtering everyone they saw. In the midst of the chaos a small yellow pegasi with a long pink mane, who had been knocked out, was being carried over to a large red stallion. The Stallion looked at her briefly before turning to the soldier who brought her.
"Is this the the one the Empress wanted?"
"Yes sir, This is her." The soldier responded.
The Stallion motioned for the soldier to return to ranks as he pulled out a large blue stone out of his satchel and held it over the young mare. Within moments of positioning the stone, it began to shine like white fire from the reflection of the moon. A bright beam of light escaped the orb, shining on the forehead of the mare. Retrieving the stone and placing back in his bag, he motioned for two soldiers to come to him.
"Take her away." He said with authority. The mare was lifted, and quickly carried away into the night.
A purple colored pony sat atop a cliff, over looking a forest. In the distance, she watched as a large black figure raised out of the forest. It's shape was like a hound and a Lizard combined into one, with the wings of an insect. The figure ravaged several trees before returning below the treetops. The pony looked down at the gold necklace she wore around her neck, a smooth black gem resting in the middle.
"Roadra, The incarnation of Betrayal. Something is brewing, I just know it." The pony said, quickly descending the cliff and entering the forest.
Down below in the forest, A dull orange pony sat on a rock, enjoying the sounds of the forest. She hummed to herself as she ate her lunch, her satchel resting next to her.
"Ahh, Applejack. You sure know the best places to pick." She said to herself eyeing the scenery. As she dazed off, she heard hoof steps coming from the path behind her. Applejack, quickly reached into her bag and pulled out a sword, holding it in her mouth. From around the corner came two Unicorn Stallions, covered from head to hoof in black armor. The reared up as they saw her, stopping in their tracks.
"What are you doing here!" One of the two armored ponies asked to her.
"I should be askin' you that same question." She proceeded to respond, raising her weapon. The two stallions reared up again, pulling a weapon of their own.
"How dare you draw a weapon against the Soldiers of Stallio! You will pay for that." The other pony said. The two of them prepared to charge, interrupted by some small seismic activity.
The ponies looked around as the felt another shake only moments after the other, followed by another. Their answer came in a burst of darkness from the trees above. A head, like a hounds, descended from above, trying to eat them. It was black as the void and covered in scales, its eyes lacking a center. The two stallions proceeded to turn and run the way they came, leaving Applejack to defend against the creature.
Applejack raised her blade, trying to deflect the attack of the beast as it swung its scaly paw. The attack was intense, knocking her back several feet. Determined not to back down, Applejack continued to hold her ground, taking 2 more hits from the giant paws. After the attacks, The young mare decided that to stand was to die. Ducking under one of the incoming paws, Applejack turned tail and began to run though the forest, ducking and dodging the incoming attacks. The creature persisted the attack as the mare ran, eventually coming to a cliff face. To her left, she could see another expanse of the forest, only it was a hundred feet below. Everywhere else to run was blocked by a cliff. She turned around as the beast emerged and looked at her. The mare pulled out her blade and faced it towards it.
"If i'm goin' down, y'all are comin' with me." She yelled at it. The beast snapped at her, its maw lined with teeth. Applejack braced herself for the incoming blow, closing her eyes. She felt a tackle from her right and then a falling sensation that lasted only a few moments. Applejack opened her eyes and was face to face with a purple colored pony, with a long black mane.
"What the hey-" Applejack started before the stranger placed its hoof on her mouth.
"Shh" They said trying to quiet her. Above they could hear the beast thrashing about, trying to figure out where they went. After a few moments and a realization that they were gone, the beast turned around and left the area.
"Mighty big thanks there partner." Applejack said to the strange pony. "If it hadn't been for you, i'd be dog food right now."
The purple pony nodded. "That thing was coming from the north and headed to the south. You should probably stay out of it's way. Next time I won't be there to save you." She said turning away from Applejack.
"Did you say it was headin' to the south. Peles is to the South!" Applejack said urgently. "That thing is going to destroy Peles. I gotta warn 'em" She said climbing back up onto the path and heading straight for the village.
The strange mare watched and shook her head as the orange mare took off again. She looked down at her necklace once again, only to find the gem in the center glowing with a heated intensity.
"Co-Could it be." She said, with a stutter to herself.
Applejack entered the small town from the north entrance. She looked as it was completely different from what she had envisioned. Everywhere she looked, she could see corpses of ponies laying in the streets. The houses were reduced to ash and soldiers were everywhere. She looked around, noticing two stallions, kicking an older mare. Applejack ran over to them as one pulled out there blade.
"Didn't you get enough killing last night." One of them asked.
"I might after I kill this old hag." The other said, raising the blade. Applejack reacted quickly, pulling out her own blade and parrying the blow with the flat of her sword.
"What the hay!"The soldier said.
Applejack looked at them with deadly intensity. "Did you do this to mah friends?" She asked them.
The two Stallions smilled at her. " And if we did, what are you going to do about it?" The second Stallion said to her, swinging the blade at her head. Applejack ducked, dodging the blade by a mere fraction of an inch. The mare responded by swinging her blade at the Stallions knees. The blow connected. Keeping with the momentum, the mare raised the blade, slashing the face of her opponent in half. She watched as the Stallion quickly dropped the ground. Applejack listened as she heard wind rushing from behind her. With lightning reflexes, the Mare turned and expertly parried the blade of the other Stallion. The stallion recoiled and swung again, aiming at her neck. Applejack parried the attack again, spinning around and hitting him in the head with the flat of her blade, causing him to collapse. Applejack panted from the skirmish, quickly catching her breath and moving to the aid of the injured mare.
"What happened?" Applejack questioned, trying to quickly dress her wounds. With a heavy breath, the mare spoke to her.
"Hell Mare. . . Trixie. . . They. . . Captured. . . Fluttershy." She said between breathes, with the last one being her last. Tears welled up as she held the mare in her hooves. Applejack turned around and found a sheet that was laying around, using it to cover the now dead pony.
Applejack wept for the now dead mare, but decided to press on. She examined the village, or what little remained of it. Every house she came across was burned to the ground or ransacked. The people who had survived the attack were wounded, their clothing doused with blood. Applejack's mind wandered as she viewed the destroyed the village.
Why wasn't I here! I could have changed things.
Applejack continued to beat herself up, not noticing as she almost tripped over a person lying in the streets. As she kicked them, she heard a moan, catching her attention. Alarmed that they were still alive, the mare helped them up and quickly bandaged their wounds.
Applejack looked at the face of her victim, quickly realizing who it was. "Granny Smith!" She called out. The old Green pony looked up at her, her face covered in wounds.
"There you are, deary. Are you all right?" She asked, not minding her own wound.
Applejack looked at her and while still frantic, managed to remain calm. "Granny, what happened here." She asked.
"It was Warden Trixie. She attacked the village, slaughtering everypony in their sights. All of it just to get a hold of Fluttershy. Why, is anyponies guess. She was such a sweet girl. Warden Trixie took Fluttershy to Hell Mare Prison, or so i heard, lying there on the ground."
Applejack stood up and looked to the South, the direction of Hell Mare. "All right, Granny. You be safe and try to take care of the injured. Imma goin' after Fluttershy."
"You would enter Hell Mare of your own choice? Are you crazy, filly?" Granny Smith said to her.
Applejack nodded and began walking to the exit of the town. "It's my fault she got captured. It's my job to save her." With the last word, Applejack broke into a gallop, closing the distance as fast as she could between her and the dreaded prison.
Two days had passed on her trip to the prison. Applejack worried about the safety of her friend as she wandered the coast. She walked carefully as she edged her way along the straight down drop on her left. Never before did she see so much water in one place as she looked out into the expansive ocean. A mile or so in the distance, across a narrow land bridge was the prison she had been looking for, but even from this distance, she could see it was heavily guarded.
"Now how in the hay am i suppose to get in there." She asked herself, trying to formulate a plan. Behind her, she heard the rolling of wheels. Desperate to not get spotted, she dove behind a large rock to her right.
Applejack peeked over, eyeing the cart as it rolled by. It was filled with loads of supplies to fuel the prison. The mare looked at the cart as an idea crossed through her mind. Swift as a falcon, the pony ran up to the cart and dove into the back, covering herself with anything she could find so that she could conceal her pastel coat.
Several tense minutes passed as the approached the gate. As the cart rolled to a stop, she heard someponies talking. Applejack stopped breathing as she knew she was at a checkpoint.
"All clear!" She heard from right in front of her. As the cart rolled away, she exhaled. Most of the pressure now off of her. After another few minutes, the cart rolled to a stop once again. Applejack sat undercover as she heard the driver dismount. Feeling it was safe, Applejack exited the cart, finding herself face-to-face with the driver of the cart. The mare could see the terror in the face of the brown coated pony.
"Help!" The driver yelled, a passing guard over hearing. It was a pegasus pony who wore all dull brown leather armor which covered almost all of their body. The guard pulled out a long handled mace, which they wielded in their front hooves. Applejack drew her weapon as the guard charged at her, sidestepping a vertical swing of the mace. Applejack proceeded to swing her blade at the shaft, splintering it and sending the head of the weapon across the room. The guard was not deterred, attempting to attack her with their body, tackling her to the ground. Applejack rebounded, using her back hooves to knock the guard to the ground, but losing her weapon in the process. The guard got up from the ground and charged Applejack again. Applejack looked around, trying to find something to defend herself with, finding the head of the mace. Applejack grabbed the splintered shaft in her mouth and spun around, releasing the weapon at the arc of the spin. Applejack watched as the pegasus tried unsuccessfully to avoid the weapon. The head of the mace collided with the ponies face, whom fell to the ground motionless. Applejack retrieved her weapon, looking at the cart driver.
"P-p-please don't kill me!" he said stuttering profusely. The mare sheathed her weapon.
"Relax. If you keep quiet, I won't have to kill you." She said in a semi-sarcastic tone. The nervous driver, now shaking badly, nodded. Applejack smiled at him before exiting the room, remaining as stealthy a possible.
The pony maneuvered though the maze of gray, stone corridors, viewing in each cell she passed. Applejack panicked as a guard came around the corner. She eyed a cell that was open and she dove in, sliding her sword under the straw bed. She went to the door as the guard passed her.
"Hey, bonehead!" She yelled at him, catching his attention.
"What do you want captive, dinner isn't for another few hours." The guard responded.
"It ain't food imma lookin' for. I heard there's a new prisoner. A quiet, yellow-colored, mare with pink mane."
"Yes there is. Why do you ask?"
"Jus' wonderin' where she's bein' kept?" She said, trying to play dumb.
"She's being kept in the security rooms up. . .Hey, i don't remember seeing you before." He said beginning to approach her. Applejack's reflexes kicked in as she swung the cell door open, slamming into the guard and knocking him out cold. Applejack sighed as she pulled the guard into the cell, retrieved her sword and pressed onward. As she wondered, she came across a basket, floating in the air by a rope and pulley. Curious, the mare stepped inside finding a rope hanging from the ceiling of the basket. Applejack pulled the string, immedietly feeling herself moving upward.