Black Sun

Canterlot
Five minutes earlier

Was it too much to ask to fix a problem in this world and expect it to stay fixed?

Why couldn't things just be like they used to?

It had all been so simple back in the old days. Tearing through the skies with her team, going on wild adventures with her friends, Spending the precious times with her family. Just enjoying herself and all Equestria had to offer. When had she decided to settle for letting others dictate how she led her life?

Well...That was something of a moot point now. That decision had been made the moment she learned she was flightless. Making a new life for herself was the only way forward.

Rainbow Dash sighed quietly to herself as she gazed out over Canterlot. The views from her ward generally didn't offer much beyond slightly unflattering angles of the city, but the one to the south-west was quite soothing. Clear skies flowing eternally over the woodland and hills that made up one of Equestria's less inhabited, more serene regions. That was why she couldn't take her eyes off it. It was like those happy memories, something she could cling to for comfort right now. If she looked elsewhere from this view, it would only be toward Ponyville. A broken echo of everything it had stood for mere days before. While the parallel wasn't exact, there wasn't much distinction in her mind at the moment. What was next for the town when its position as a beacon of peace and harmony had been torn apart?

Even when she knew she had to keep moving, what was she supposed to do next when everything that made her who she was had been taken away?

"Sis...You okay?"

'Well, almost everything.' Rainbow thought to herself as she looked to her side. Scootaloo was sat next to her, looking at her surrogate sister with a look of concern. Despite herself, she couldn't help but feel her fears melt away as the need to provide sisterly support flared up strongly inside her.

"I'm okay-ish. Just got a lot on my mind at the moment." She replied, wrapping an arm around Scootaloo's shoulders. It took a lot of restraint not to think about how much more comforting a wing was for this.

"I know that feeling," Scootaloo replied, making a small show of solidarity by doing the same with her hoof rather than using her wing. "It may not be as bad for me but, we've both taken a major blow after that disaster in the Badlands."

Rainbow didn't know how to answer that. Scootaloo hadn't really opened up about how her injuries were affecting her yet. This was actually the most coherent she had been in the last few days, but there was no denying the issues she was facing were similarly career-ending. It was likely that she would have to keep wearing her eyepatch for the rest of her life and barring a serious medical breakthrough, her eye wouldn't get any better either. An important part of any stunt work came from being rapidly able to interpret and react to what was laid out ahead. As impaired as her vision currently was was...

Suddenly, her father's old motivational question from her fillyhood came to the fore of her mind. One of the most important things in both their lives had been seemingly lost for good. Where to from there? As much as she thought about it though, there just didn't seem to be an answer.

"We have, but we'll work through it. We always do." She eventually said, doing her best to sound confident. Scootaloo looked at her silently before sighing and lifting her eyepatch up, squinting as she brought both eyes to focus on Rainbow.

"You don't have to act strong for me." She replied quietly. Although she didn't mean it, the look she was giving came across as so disapproving that's Rainbow's already shaky defences wilted quickly. Suddenly she felt very small and lost. Like a newborn foal that hadn't yet established where its mother was.

"I...I guess I always just believed we'd keep making it through unscathed," Rainbow admitted, resting her front hooves on the windowsill. She couldn't bring herself to look Scootaloo in the eyes at this point. "Even after what happened at Mount Silvat, there was something that kept telling me I'd be fine. I don't know if it was cockiness, past experience, dumb luck or what. Now though...I still try to flap on instinct, you know?"

"I know. I can't tell you how many times I've tried to look around behind the patch," Scootaloo said as she lowered the patch back into place. "When all this is over, I think we both need to find a large, secluded cloud, and have a long talk about what we're going to do next."

"You'd have to carry me up there."

"And you know I would..." Scootaloo looked as though she were going to continue, only to pause as she looked at something beyond the window. The mix of surprise and confusion on her face was enough to make Rainbow turn to look as well.

She could instantly see what had drawn her sister's attention. Several clouds that had been covering the view to the south-east were no longer thick enough to hide the sight of thick smoke hanging over Ponyville and the Everfree forest. Although the smoke itself seemed to be coming from the Everfree, the sight made her heart sink. While it could have had any number of causes, only one was likely at the moment. As much as she hated to admit it though, neither of them were exactly fit to try and help at the moment though, and something told her the doctors would probably be very unhappy at Twilight tripling the number of ponies she'd taken over monitoring for them.

The best they could do was see if Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were still in the hospital. They might not have seen what was happening and would be in a better position to provide some kind of support. As she glanced back at Scootaloo and then to the ward door, she could tell she seemed to have come to the same conclusion. The two of them got up and started to make their way out, silently thankful that this had happened just as visiting hours were finishing and they were still free to move about. No sooner had they left, the sound of galloping hooves caught their attention and they turned to see Apple Bloom and Aurora rushing down the corridor toward them.

"Lucky timing," Aurora panted as he skidded to a halt in front of them. "Is Sweetie Belle with you?"

"Afraid not. We haven't seen her since we met in the hallways earlier." Rainbow explained quickly.

"Darnit. Ah hope she's alright." Apple Bloom quietly commented through gritted teeth.

"We saw what was happening in the forest," Scootaloo continued, lowering her voice slightly. "You think it's her?"

"I know it's her," Aurora told them. "Twilight's gone ahead and she's doing what she can, but we should be ready to back her up."

Rainbow hesitated slightly at that, caught between her need to recover and her loyalty to her friends. She also had her desire to keep Scootaloo safe as well, on top of her already conflicted thoughts on just what she could do without her wings. It must have shown on her face as Aurora looked slightly troubled as well. The moment hung between the four of them for a moment as they silently struggled with what to do next. Apple Bloom was the one to break the tension, stepping forward and placing a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder.

"I've seen that look in yer eyes more times than ah can count," She told them, shooting a knowing glance over at Scootaloo. "You two stay here. If nothing else, we can't take the risk of everypony gettin' killed out there."

"Right...Thanks, we'll do that. If Sweetie Belle shows up, we'll tell her what's happening as well."

As Bloom nodded and stepped back beside Aurora, Rainbow sighed slightly to herself. Her feelings must have been a bit too obvious, wanting to keep fighting when she clearly wasn't in any condition to do so. Now that she was thinking it about it the realisation hit her with full force, breaking against what was left of her will. Suddenly it took all she had just to smile and silently offer good luck as the two before her teleported away. There wasn't much she could focus on other than her thoughts, so she went for the most prominent alternative in her mind and looked over at Scootaloo.

"What did she mean with that look?"

"I ah, was still crashing my scooter a lot when we first became friends," Scootaloo replied nonchalantly, before pausing and looking back toward the window they had been sitting at. "Do...You think Zecora's okay?"

"I hope so..." Rainbow replied quietly, fighting back a sudden urge to throw up.

Aurora looked around as he reappeared, satisfied he'd brought the two of them back to Ponyville safely. They were at the steps to Twilight's castle with a good view of what was going on. The fight between Twilight and Tantabus had moved to the south-west edge of Ponyville, the glow of their magic visible through the haze of smoke hanging over the town. One teal, one red. The sight was enough to send a sharp pang of terror through his body. Even though the Alicorn Amulet hadn't been used since before he was born, he'd read enough about it to know what this meant. Before he could wonder why Twilight would do such a thing, his focus was broken as Apple Bloom nudged him.

He looked back down to see a group of figures rushing down the street ahead of them with a pegasus flying just above, all headed toward the fighting. Even from this distance, he could make out the unmistakable figure of Spike among them. That was all Aurora needed to take off at a run, Bloom following right behind him. As they got closer they could see that the ponies with him were Applejack, Peace Walker and Deep Note, all keeping their eyes on the fighting. Even as he looked back at it the teal glow suddenly faltered before being hit by a blast of red magic, rocketing downward and smashing into the ground. The massive dust cloud that erupted from the landing site sent another jolt of fear through Aurora. That impact site was much too close to Ponyville. What had Tantabus hit?

"Spike!" He called as he caught up to the others, drawing their attention back to him. "What's been happening?"

"I don't know!" He shouted back, waiting for Aurora and Bloom to move up to the group before continuing. "I had gone up to Sweet Apple Acres for a breather, found AJ and Deep, then everything started kicking off. Where're the others?"

"Rainbow an' Scoots still aren't fit for something like this. We couldn't find Sweetie Belle anywhere," Bloom told him as she moved next to Applejack. "What about Fluttershy an' Trixie? Where are they?!"

"Trixie is, out of contact at the moment." Deep told them, perhaps a little quickly as he kept focusing on the falling debris. None of it was coming near them, but the sheer number did not bode well.

"And Fluttershy was keeping an eye on the situation until we can get there," Spike added.

"Hopefully she had the sense to get to shelter," Peace said, quickening her pace. "I don't know about you but I'd rather she have-"

Her sentence was cut off by a sudden flash from where she was running. By the time everyone else had looked round in shock, the only thing left in her place was a small piece of paper, flying along among them as if it had taken her place. Aurora took it in his magic and read as he ran. It was simple, to the point, and had near indecipherably eloquent handwriting:

Had to urgently borrow your friend Peace Walker for a vital task. Will explain once I'm certain everything is improving. Oh, and I'd suggest you all hurry. Discord.

"How did he...You know what? Nevermind." He muttered to himself as he dropped the paper and upped his pace. Clearly Discord knew something they didn't and if he was treating the situation this seriously, it had to be even worse than he'd feared.

"So did that explain anything?" Applejack asked, still looking and sounding lost over what had just happened.

"Probably, but only once we're already done." Aurora told her. He'd heard enough of how Discord worked to make that a safe assumption.

Within a minute the group approached the edge of Ponyville, headed toward Fluttershy's sanctuary and the Everfree. Just as they cleared the last of the houses, the sound of another magic blast erupted from ahead of them. It was unlike any they'd heard before, high pitched enough to make everypony fold their ears back in an attempt to shut it out. Spike was forced to stop and cover his ears fully. As soon as it faded and everypony was able to focus again, Deep hovered higher to try and see what was going on.

"That sounded like it came from Fluttershy's place!" Applejack exclaimed.

"No...Not exactly..." Deep told her, his voice suddenly so tense it was a wonder he could talk at all.

As they got closer, everyone could see why. Fluttershy's cottage, and the Angels Wildlife Sanctuary, had been reduced to a shallow crater. Broken strips of metal and wood lay scattered across the site, the surrounding land coated brown by the earth kicked up in the blast. All of them paused in place at the sight, trying to process what had happened. Fluttershy's family and animals had all been evacuated either during or immediately after the attack on Ponyville, but had she come back here during the fighting? Where was she?

Shocking as the damage was, it was nothing on what lay within the crater. On one side was Tantabus, seriously injured but staring straight ahead with a look of satisfaction. On the other, Twilight Sparkle. Her only injuries were limited to some minor cuts on her chest, but the look of mounting horror on her face indicated something much worse. Even as they reached the lip of the crater, Tantabus clenched her eyes shut and her horn glowed. Before they could move in, she had teleported away. With no idea how the battle had unfolded though, there was no way of knowing just where she was going or what she had done. In the heat of the moment though, those were no longer priorities.

"Twilight!" Aurora called as he rushed toward her, feeling with his magic for how she was doing. Overwhelming guilt and grief were all that met him. "How bad is it?"

Twilight didn't reply, the rapid rise and fall of her chest the only movement she was making. She didn't even seem to be aware that he was in front of her.

"Twi..." Spike said quietly as he moved in front of her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Just focus on me, ease your breathing a little."

His voice seemed to help as Twilight blinked slowly and looked up at him. Her mouth opened slightly and closed again, tears starting to well up in her eyes. Aurora opened his mouth to try and calm her, only to be distracted as Applejack looked down at some of the shards in the center of the crater. They were unlike any of the others, some red and jagged, others black and cold. Suddenly he understood what had happened, and just how badly things had gone.

Then Twilight screamed. A long, tortured cry that made everypony recoil in shock. It wasn't one of pain, but of grief, of loathing. Spike immediately pulled her close to him, trying to comfort her despite having no idea what had caused it. After several seconds the screamed petered out and she let her head drop against his good shoulder, sobbing quietly as everypony gathered round them.

"It's my fault..." Twilight said quietly, her voice cracking as she tried to bury herself in Spike's hold. "I took the amulet. I let myself give in because I, I didn't...I didn't trust you all. I caused all this damage...I...I-I killed Fluttershy!"

Applejack, Spike and Apple Bloom froze in place at those words, Deep's jaw dropped slightly, while Aurora simply stared in disbelief. Something in his gut told him that at least part of that confession wasn't true. It couldn't be. Twilight seemed genuinely broken though, sobbing her heart out as she buried the visible parts of her head in her hooves. The sight shook everyone hard, none of them sure how to respond.

"I saw the body..." Twilight continued weakly, her whole body shuddering. "The blood, everypony's blood. All on my hooves...The nightmare was real. She died because of me..."

As she sucked in a breath of air, even that being a challenge in her state, the others looked among themselves. Where were they supposed to start with trying to bring her round from this? More worryingly, what if it was true? Aurora looked upward as he tried to come up with something, repeatedly drawing blanks as ideas ran through his mind. None of the others seemed to be doing any better. Twilight looked set to break down even further, only to yelp as a sheet of paper flashed into existence in front of her. It shocked her out of continuing her meltdown for the moment at least. She looked down at it as it fell to the floor, everyone else doing the same. Applejack eventually moved to pick it up, reaching through the sheet quickly.

"Twilight..." She said gently as she finished. The others were expecting the worst, only to realise that she was smiling. Her voice sounded as though she were deeply relieved, rather than bearing news of the worst. "Ah think you should see what happened fer yourself."

As the alicorn took the paper in her magic and read through it slowly, something clicked in Aurora's mind. It looked like they'd be getting their explanation sooner than he anticipated.