Dark Spectrum

Eventually, I came too. However, when I did, I could barely stand. I was incredibly disorientated. My vision was blurred to the point where I could only see blobs of color, all merging together. The only possible thing to make out with my vision is that night has fallen. My head is in massive pain, as if it is filled with many small drills, all moving around and tearing through my brain. I stay lying on the ground, weak in my current state.

After quite a lot of time, I finally regain control of my mind, and my vision comes back. I look in front of me, and stare at a tree. Looking around, I see more trees, and a path, leading to Ponyvillle. I seem to be at the edge of the Everfree forest. I can barely remember anything about why I’m here. I remember coming here with Celestia... we were here too..... no!

I spring up, shake my head, and look behind me. The sight was horrible. Seeing my friends like this, I couldn’t believe it. I looked around, and saw my big brother, Shining Armor, lying on the ground on his right side, his skin peeling off of him. He is in a horrible condition, as his skin and muscle are gray and rotted. I can see into him, his organs a small pile at the bottom of his body. His bones are crumbling away, turning into dust. He is surrounded by a small pool of dried blood.

“NO!” I scream, and rush towards him. Logical judgment is all but lost in this moment, as all I care about is my brother. I don’t think of anything else, only the sight of the rotting corpse of my big brother, which appears to have been dead for ages. I run up to it, and grasp his body in my hooves. As I look into his face, I can see his skull, hollow and lifeless. What is left of his face shows no obvious emotion, most of it is gone. His eyes are now empty holes, as is his body. His organs have fallen from there place, and now lay at the bottom of him, near his spine. The organs are shriveled up, dried out and rotted away. I slowly held him up, tears escaping my eyes and falling down to the ground. As my tears hit my brother’s corpse, they cause it to erode. I sit there and watch, as my brother disintegrates into a pile of ash. I had to face the terrible fact, he was dead.

In that moment, my entire life has changed. I felt defeat for the first time, and it cost the life of my big brother, my first true friend. I don’t think I ever cried so much in my life.

“T.... T... Twilight?” a small and scared voice mutters behind me.

I slowly turn around, still crying, to see Fluttershy standing behind me, quivering. I can only imagine how distraught she must be after everything that happened.

“I’m.... I’m... sorry” she says, as tears come from her eyes.

Looking around, I can see my other friends slowly start to get up, looking around cautiously.

“What happened? Did we win?” I can hear Rainbow Dash say, shaking her head and trying to regain her thoughts.

“Why, my mane looks hideous. Why am I in a tree? Hello, can anybody hear me? I need some help getting out of this tree.” I hear Rarity say from a nearby tree.

Slowly, my friends get their bearings and approach me and Fluttershy. Looking around, they remember what happened who knows how long ago. They are all in shock, trying to understand what happened. I would expect as much. We always lived in such a peaceful environment, where very rarely did someone get hurt, even rarer did they die. But this! This was impossible! Nothing could have ever prepared us for this!

“I’m... so sorry Twi,” Applejack says, trying to cheer me up.

“Thanks” I say to her. Rainbow Dash lends me a hoof and slowly helps me up, still puzzled, confused, and horrified with the current situation. I look around, to see my friends, who all have seemed to change. Pinkie’s mane and tail are flat, and she is seen just staring into space, unable to laugh at the current predicament. Rarity, for once, doesn’t care about how she looks (despite having a frizzled mane and a tree branch stuck in her tail), and instead remained silent. Applejack looks the calmest, just waiting for her chance to help. Rainbow Dash is trying to stay calm, and is trying to hold back her shock so she can help out. Fluttershy, was the worst. She just stood there and stared at the scene before her, tears pouring out of her eyes. She’s so sensitive, I can only imagine what this is doing to her.

“Look guys, the princess!” Pinkie yells, in a not-so-hyper tone of voice, pointing her hoof beyond me.

We all immediately look where Pinkie is pointing, and see Celestia, laying down in the dirt, a huge gash in her side. We see her move her head slightly, signaling that she is alive! All of us but Fluttershy immediately get up and run to her. Closer up, we can see she is badly damaged. On her left side is a large gash going across her whole body length. The gash is very deep, so deep that I can easily see her rib cage, amongst the torn muscle and dried blood. Her coat is soaked in blood, but it appears that the bleeding has stopped. The worst part, however, was that next to her head was her horn, slammed into the ground right in front of her. It was torn off, a feat that should be impossible, even for Celestia.

“Princess, are you alright” we all say, in a panicked manner.

“T-T-Twilight? Are you there?” says Celestia, very weak in her current condition.

“Yes, I’m here, and so are my friends. What happened?!” I say. I already know what happened, but I didn’t want to believe it.

“We.... I... failed.” Celestia mutters.

At that moment, we all lost something. We failed to protect our homes, our friends, our lives. Somehow, the Elements of Harmony and Celestia failed to protect Equestria. What is going to happen to us?

A long silence fell upon all of us. For awhile, none of us dared to speak. Eventually, Fluttershy walked over to us, her tears starting to clear up.

“What... what are we going to do?” says Rainbow Dash, quivering.

“I.... don’t know” Celestia says.

“What we need to do is to get help. Y’all know as well as I do that we aren’t going anywhere without Celestia.” Applejack says, gaining her confidence back.

“We... We should take her to Zecora to see if she can...” Rarity says nervously, before getting cut off by a sudden explosion.

We all turn to find out where the deafening explosion came from, as it leads our attention to the distant Canterlot. In the distance, we can see fire and smoke engulfing Canterlot.

“Quickly, you need to hurry.” Celestia says, with fear in her voice.

“Don’t.... Don’t worry... we’ll get you help and stop that meanie. You can count on us.” Fluttershy says, wiping the tears from her eyes. This caught us all of guard.

“Yeah, we can do it.” Rainbow Dash reassured Celestia.

“I know you can. I have faith in you.” Celestia says, regaining some strength.

“Alright, Rarity and Fluttershy, you stay with the princess. The rest of us will go get Zecora.” I say, trying to take cause and create order.

“Alright” my friends say in unison.

I run off, leaving Rarity, Fluttershy, and the Princess behind. We all stay in silence, trying to hide our thoughts. It doesn’t matter, we are all thinking the same thing, and feeling the same confusion. Canterlot is on fire, no doubt by this Black Moon. If he can do that, how can we ever hope to defeat him?

I shove all doubt out of my head. I have to be brave. We have one more shot of saving Equestria, and I’m not about to give up. I have to do this. For the princess, for my friends, for Equestria!

As I run, I stop for a second. I look in the trees, scanning the branches. I swore I saw something? After a little bit, I continue to follow my friends deeper into the Everfree forest, with the unsettling feeling that I am being watched.