My Little Pony: Equestrian Redemption

“Desert.” The first thought that crossed his mind as he shuffled beneath the heaving rubble of “tomorrow”. From what he could remember, time itself changed in an instant, leaving no delay of seconds from the world he once knew. He could understand little of his situation, but the crushing tension between he and his stone protectors were reminder enough. Slowly, the colt pushed away from the desert’s toils, revealing the blazing hot fury of the Sun’s violent presence. He coughed, blocking the molten rays from his eyes as best as he could; a second cough arose, but with no surprise. With all he could recall, he was never alone during this royal endeavor.

“Where are we?” The second voice coughed between two gasps, “What happened?”

Still dazed from the impact, the colt shook his head, trying to stay sane after the changes of yesterday. He called to the second voice, “I don’t know . . . everything’s . . . different.”

The colt, unknowing of his nature, pressed his head against a large, coffin-like rock, rubbing it gently as a gust of sand dug deep into his frail skin.

“W-Where’s Twilight?” The young, reptilic voice called, pushing another mound of rocks, “She said we had to do something . . . important.”

“Important?” The colt rubbed his chin for the moment; he did remember something requested of the princess, the princess whom he swore to protect. The colt scratched his head, but peered over at his friend. He didn’t know him forever, that was for certain, but he could tell he’d been with him for a while. The small dragon’s distinctive color pattern imprinted upon his mind like no other; he was one of a kind. The colt leaned back, closing his eyes as he resentfully accepted his new environment.

From what little the colt could remember, only his duties remained clear. His memories, for they were, remained mere blurs of past events. Simple shadows in front of a hazy backdrop. He took a deep breath, resting his eyes from the strains of snapping back and forth. He remembered traveling with two: the princess and his friend, the dragon who lay beside him now, Spike. They were all fleeing from something: a wave of light that consumed the land for those foolish to find themselves caught in it. Together, he and the other two ran from the light; his eyes scarred from leaving the destination’s safe-haven presence, but he couldn’t resist staring into the eyes of those frozen in fear. How their bodies burned bright like coals and melted to the mercy of no one; their eyes illuminated with the heat of magma; the last moments were always the worst. He remembered galloping relentlessly through a town, not far from where he lay now. The town was small and shady; a good place for refuge; but it wasn’t without its flaws. The flash of light readied close on their tails; Twilight was ahead, pushing her citizens aside as a wave of death overcame the masses, scorching their lives upon the pavement like an undying wildfire. With only seconds to spare, the unicorn tucked her two friends deep behind the rocks of a long-forgotten crevasse lining the borders of the Badlands. She took a step back; and with her eyes caught in the wave of chalky-white heat, she used her most powerful magic spell on herself, leaving her no choice but to be consumed by what she described to be, the “Destruction”.

The colt observed his surroundings, finding himself buried in the rubble of a fallen desert cliff. The wind that howled in his ears seemed almost imaginary. The ghosts of the past that haunted each galloping breeze, the steamy burn that stung the side of his cheek as his eyes rested upon that hollow horizon; where was he? Even the sun seemed to have given up on life. From its position far in the sky, a sense of sorrow overcame its hung body, limp and stagnant upon the tree that was the sky. Each deafening detail scared him, though he refused to admit it. He was too brave to admit fear.

Silhouettes danced upon the plain desert beach, bordering the sea of wails afar. The colt pulled himself together, having lost himself in the emptiness of the world around him. The vacancy was almost daunting. Everything happened so fast, nopony would’ve expected it; it was like the purity of an exposed child, gone in a blink and left without a trace. The colt glanced at his friend beside him.

“Are we the last ones left?” His voice trailed off in the end; he eyed the scaly companion.

“It . . . looks like it. . .” He scratched, sitting up from his bed of rocks. His green eyes scaled the massive mountains to the north and the horizons to the west; both friends searched for signs of life. Together, the two companions sat unwelcome by the shallow wasteland’s cold greetings of solitude. A cool breeze blew from the north, sending a chill down their spines. The colt brushed his hoof against a large stone resting upon his lap; it was a sculpture, cracked, but still durable despite all that’s happened. At first glance, there was nothing spectacular about nature’s paperweight; but with a spectacle, those small details grew larger and larger in comparison. The figure resembled what appeared to be the common form, a pony, but with battle-scarred features familiar only to those closest to the chosen. From every strand of hair to the number of gashes, they were all there; the colt whispered in the wind, spitting mumbles of astonishment that even he couldn’t make out. The stallion breathed heavily, startling the dragon.

“What? What is it?”

The stallion laughed with a vat of tears in his eyes; he cradled the statue like a newborn filly, “Thank goodness you’re okay.”

Rubbing a thick layer of moist dust from the surface of the statue’s face, the stallion peered deep into the eyes of his duty. The sculpture’s form could be matched by none, the lining on the hair was superb; there was none other who could match the work of Life herself. The details on the eyes expressed more power than ever before. Sculptors would die to capture such a face of terror as this piece had. The one eye, lined with a darkening shadow of blind fate; the wings, stripped like the rank of a dishonored officer; it was all too tremendous to me hoof-crafted. He wailed with joy,

“It’s Twilight! We’ve found her.”