The End

Rainbow Dash had been flying around all day doing damage control, making sure ponies weren't severely hurt or worse. Twilight had sent her out due to her speed, and flying prowess. She could spot ponies in need then get somepony to help them in 10 seconds flat. She was the perfect scout.

As of now, she was flying over the area between Ponyville and Cloudsdale. It was the last area in her patrol, then she could finally go home and rest after this eventful day, but she spotted a magenta tail coming from under the shade of a tree. It could be nothing, but it could be a pony in dire need of help. Rainbow banked hard and descended towards the firm earth.

What she saw when she landed shocked her. Underneath the tree was a mare, a pegasus to be exact. She looked some years older than Dash, her yellow coat and magenta mane were stained with blood, most likely just her own. Her wings were limp behind her, they were horribly twisted and broken, the same went for the majority of her legs. Dash rushed over to the fallen mare.

"Miss?" She reached a tender hoof out to gently shake the mare. "Miss, are you alright..?" No response came, Dash put her hoof on the yellow mare's neck to feel for a pulse. She felt nothing. The rainbow maned pegasus let her head droop. This had been the only casualty she had witnessed all day. "I'm sorry..."

Then she saw the small book lying beside the mare. It was a simple brown tome with the name "Skyward Glory" written on it. "That must be you, huh?" Dash didn't care that she was speaking to the dead. "Here I was thinking I was having a bad day.." Dash smiled sadly as she wiped a tear away. "I'm sorry we couldn't save you.." Dash looked back at the book and picked it up, flipping it open to a random page. "Your journal, huh?" Dash nodded slightly. "You, stay here, I'm going to go get some help, I promise" Dash lifted off slowly and with great regret and took to the skies to go get somepony to help her take the body to Ponyville.

Dash returned within the hour with all of her friends, sans Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy who were unaccustomed to death, or not fit to witness it. Dash herself, had resigned to walking with her friends instead of flying, she didn't feel like flying for the first time in her life.

"Dash, what did you say the name of this mare was?" They had all been quiet and somber the whole walk, it was Twilight who broke the silence. Rainbow felt depressed every time the mare was brought up. She hated death, she hated talking about it, and most of all, she hated seeing dead pegasi.

"Her journal said Skyward Glory on the cover..." Her voice carried little to no emotion.

"Wait, are you sure?" Dash nodded. "She runs the orphanage in Canterlot. Why would she be all the way out here?" Dash hadn't disclosed the full details to her friends. She just said a mare was hurt and she couldn't deal with it herself. Dash was about to answer Twilight when they came over the hill. The dead pegasus was in full view for everypony now.

"Rainbow Dash....y-you didn't tell us she was dea-de...deceased." Rarity turned a light shade of green, and nopony could blame her. Applejack took off her hat and held it to her chest, while Twilight...well..Twilight just stood there.

"Sorry guys, I couldn't bring myself to tell you..It's...too much." Applejack nodded.

"It's alright Sugarcube, y'all don't need ta be sorry. This shouldn' happen ta nopony." Applejack rested a firm hoof on her friend's shoulder.

Twilight approached the body apprehensively. "G-Glory..?" Sure enough, as she got closer, she could tell it was the orphanage owner. The familiar Indigo heart cutie mark with a small hoof-print in the middle of it. But she wasn't used to seeing the mare in such bad shape, so bloody and beaten.

"So, you knew her Twilight?" Dash's voice came from behind her.

"Y-Yeah...she was my mother's midwife during mine and my brother's birth...and she ran the local orphanage. I used to visit her to read her foal care books when I was bored.." It was hard to see such a significant part of her life, broken. Her magic reached out and moved her tangled mane out of her face.

Rarity finally joined the group. "Will you be okay, Twilight..?" The purple unicorn nodded. Then, without a second thought, a purple glow encompassed her horn and the small book on the ground, she flipped through it. "What do you know about her, dear?"

Twilight flipped to the very first page of the book. "She was born in....1528?" All three of the mares stepped back in shock.

"That's only a couple of years older than us..." Dash said in a small voice.

"She looks so old, though...and tired.." Rarity's eyes were trying to look away, but just couldn't seem to.

"She had a hard life Rarity. She was an orphan on the streets of Canterlot from what she told me. She also had a daughter she lost.." Twilight was reading through some of the entries in the journal, in the meantime, Rarity pulled a dark sheet out of her saddlebag and placed it on the body.

"Twilight, ah know this must be mighty hard fer you ta take in, but we need ta get the body back to Ponyville fer burial. It's awful improper fer a body to rot in the open.." The orange mare kept her head bowed in respect for the dead.

Twilight nodded and lifted the body with the blanket, gently wrapping the blanket around it. " I suppose you're right AJ." The group started walking back towards Ponyville. "You were such a loyal mare, Glory. What made you leave your job and do this?"