Tears of the Indifferent.

Sweet Apple Acres Barn
Applejack and Rainbow Dash trotted through the barn door "Are ya girls doing alright-" Applejack fell silent as soon as she spotted the crusaders. There bodies lay collapsed around the book, and flipping through it's pages was a teal colored Alicorn with a sea foam mane.

The Alicorn peered up from her skimming, and smiled. "Well hi there this is a nice barn you have here." Then she returned her gaze to the pages below. "Hmm that old scale bag is still trying his hardest? Lucky her she wouldn't have survived if she was Still that small." She clucked her tongue and put a hoof to Sweetie Belles neck. "That's not good at all."

Rainbow Dash charged forward "Who are you, and what did you do to my daughter?!" She went muzzle to muzzle with the strange Alicorn.

"I am Sahara the awesome, the mighty, the hungry. Do you have any food?" She asked, and gently pushed Dash away from her.

"Food what? No, what did you do to them?" Rainbow hissed getting back in Sahara's face. "I want answers now!"

"Rainbow simmer down, now miss Sahara was it? Would you be kind enough to answer our questions?" Applejack inquired pulling Rainbow away from the Alicorn.

Sahara smiled "Oh you two do remind me of Those silly lizards, alright since you amuse me I'll answer some questions. However you have to promise you will bring me food." The orange farm pony nodded, and Sahara flipped the book closed. "Alright now to answer your questions we need to go on a little trip." The Alicorns horn glowed blue and the room began to spin.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash teetered thrown into a dizzy haze. Their heads collided causing them to fall in a heap. Sahara looked down at them and inhaled sharply "Whoops, note to self distribute helmets before transporting."

Apple Family Barn: Sahara's World
Applejack slowly got back on her feet lifting a still stunned Rainbow on her back. She scanned her surroundings, the barn walls seemed to have moved. The entire room was larger the ceiling was so far up only darkness could be seen. "Where in the hey are we?"

"Oh this is an alternate plane of existence, do you like it?"Sahara asked as she pushed a bale of hay against a wall revealing a stone tiled floor. "I made small checkpoints like this one so I can travel to certain areas of Equestria accurately." She began wiping hay away from the stone.

"What the hay are you talking about?" Rainbow grumbled as she maneuvered into a sitting position. "What does this have to do with Spike, and the girls?" Applejack repeated the question with less hostile intent.

Sahara looked up from her chore and smiled "Meh I'll tell you later. Now if you two would help me clear this area so we can get them back. I have a long story to tell once we're done."

Rainbow Dash slid off Applejacks back and shrugged at her. Applejack returned the gesture and they quickly began to clean the hay off the strange tile.

Carnage's Asylum
"Oh buck what in the name of Celestia's sun happened to her?!" Scootaloo gasped as soon as Spike put Sweetie Belle down. The unicorns slender abdomen was cleanly cut and blood began flooding out of the wound. Applebloom threw up as the scent reached her nostrils.

"Stop gawking and help me she's going to die if we don't do anything." Spike snarled. "Sweetie Belle, Sweetie Belle talk to me please." He whispered.

Sweetie Belles eyes opened slightly and she smiled "You idiot.. Should have left.." She coughed and blood trickled from her lips.

"No no no we have to stop the bleeding! Scoots Applebloom we need to do something about the bleeding!" The two teenage mares shook there heads and looked around helplessly.

"Spike there's nothin' in here but bare rock and dust. Oh pony feathers so much blood.." Stomach bile poured from her mouth dampening the floor.

Scootaloo looked between her two friends and slammed her hoof down "That big stupid dragon messed with the wrong crusaders I'm going to go out and kick his- Shut it!" Spike roared.

"Nothing you do will make this any better he'll just burn you to a crisp with his fire..." A thought slid into his head, a thought he didn't care for at all. He sighed and put pressure on the slit in Sweetie Belles stomach. "This is going to hurt, but know I do it because I care." Twilight always told him that when she cleaned his scrapes with alcohol. He took a deep breath and flames licked his lips. "I do it because I care."

Carnage hovered above the cave mouth and licked his fangs. "Oh you young ones are the best things to come my way. First you give me a show, then you give me my flame back. Next thing I know you'll be pleasing me with your virgin flesh." He shivered and opened his eyes. A small teal colored light shined at the mouth of the cave, the scent of Alicorn wafted up from it. "You! Yet again you seek to disrupt my fun. No not this time, this time the sweet nectar of death will be mine to savor."
The black dragon landed and slowly approached the light. Grey energy swirled inside his jaws as he inhaled deeply letting loose a ball of grey sickly red flame which consumed the teal glow.

Sahara's World
The three ponies successfully cleared the hay exposing a collection of symbols shaped like stars. "What are we looking at exactly?" Dash inquired with a tilted head.

"Well this tile is going to show us where exactly we need to go." The strange symbols shifted into the shape of a dragon head. "Oh I see how it is you think you can block me out?"

"What are you talking say something that actually makes sense! You said you could help me get Scoots back where is she!" Dash hissed.

"I have to agree with Rainbow you're not making a lick of sense we need answers now." Applejack added firmly. "Please we just want our family and friends back."

Sahara sighed heavily "Alright we'll do this quick and fast. Lance, Javelin I need you!" The Alicorn called towards the distant ceiling. The sound of stone grinding against stone echoed through the room. "Alright I don't know exactly what's going down on their half, but those teenagers of yours are in danger. They stumbled into a magic bubble which is inhabited by a very large, very angry, very unstable black dragon. His name is Carnage and if left to his own devices he's well it won't be pretty."

Applejack and Rainbow Dash stared eyes as wide as Luna's moon. "Sooo how exactly do ya reckon we take on a fully grown dragon... Without Fluttershy."

"I don't care Scootaloo just became a part of my life, and I'm not going to let some over grown lizard take her away from me. Now get us there so Applejack and me can kick this Carage's tail, and get our family back." Applejack smiled and stood next her friend nodding agreement.

"Well you girls won't have to worry 'bout the tail kicking I got that covered." A large black dragon with golden spikes and claws hovered on silent wings accompanied by a smaller white as fresh snow female dragon. "Names Lance ladies nice to meet you. My associate here goes by the name of Javelin. The pale scaled she-dragon nodded her head in greeting.

The two mares gaped at the dragons giving Sahara a look of fear mixed with confusion. "Oh oops wow I need to work on my pony skills. As he's told you this is Lance he is my personal guard, and Lady Javelin she's one of the few white dragons. We'll have a nice little chat about dragons and food later, but for now we need to move. Alright I'm going to transport us, Javelin I need you pony sized for the extraction Oh this is going to be fun."

The white dragon's scales glowed and she stepped next to Sahara now just slightly larger than a common pegasus. "Let's get your loved ones back." And with that Sahara's horn glowed a sickly evil red the crimson light burst out consuming the group.

Carnage's Asylum
Spike looked down at his medical work, he had cauterized Sweetie Belles wound. The unicorn had passed out after screaming for a good 2 minutes. Spike still felt his scales shifting uneasily.

Applebloom and Scootaloo had tried to pull him away when they first realized what Spike was doing. However when the blood flow stopped they had to agree that it was for the best. Still their friends tortured screams still left them shaken. "S-s-spike is she going to be alright." Aplebloom whimpered as she eyed the black line of burnt flesh.

"Of course she will Spike knows what he's doing we'll be alright as long as we don't take any risks with that monster." Scootaloo spat the last word and glared in the direction of the cave entrance.

Carnage was still shivering from Sweetie Belles screams agony. Not because they disturbed him quite the opposite. "It's been so long since my ears have been blessed with such a delicious sound. Oh how I cannot wait to carve their sweet virgin meat so they will make that lovely music." He licked his lips and shivered again.

"Oh sweet little morsels here comes Carnage." He let out a roar and to his surprise it was answered. Not by that little purple one no it was an adults roar. He looked up to see another black dragon with golden markings land in front of the cave mouth. A sick smile formed on carnages lips as he recognized the dragon.

"Well well if it isn't the commander of the Dragoons Lance how is your unit fairing without Pike and Harpoon?"

Lance touched a pair of scale necklaces one green one blue. "I never got to pay you back for that you sniveling wrym." He pulled out a black gemstone from a metal container attached to his hip. The gem glowed and extended into a massive Black diamond great lance.

"So that is your dragoon weapon are you compensating for something?" Carnage scoffed.

Lance slammed his weapon into the ground and stepped forward. The weapon glowed and a black colored barrier surrounded the cave. "No I don't need a weapon to kick your sorry tail."

The two black scaled titans bellowed and grappled Carnage kicked Lamce in his soft underbelly only to get a fist slammed into his snout. They both tumbled onto the ground scraping, biting, and tails lashing in a jumble of muscle, scale, and on occasion a point blank fire ball.

In all the commotion Carnage never saw the small white dragon circling the rock formation causing a silver cylinder of magic to engulf it. He also didn't see the three ponies that entered the cave as it dissapeared along with the white cylinder.

Javelin circled one last time to see her Lance and Carnage's heads collide. "Good luck teacher we'll bring you back as soon as we can." And with that a teal sphere surrounded her drawing her back into Sahara's realm.

Lance didn't see them leave all he knew is that they were gone he knew he hadn't been the only one, and he knew Carnage would go berserk when he realized his prey had escaped. What he didn't know was if he could defeat Carnage in his Berserk form, and frankly he didn't give a damn.