Times of Woe

Quickly.

Quickly.

She had to think quick.

It was the only way to survive. One hoof in front of the other. One wing flap and another wing flap. Was it defiance? To Queen and country? Yes. But she couldn’t stay. She couldn’t handle it.

She had gone into the Crusade thinking that they would both make it. That he would come back home to their friends and neighbors and all would be well. They would receive some praise, and share all the adventures they had been on and everyone would be drinking apple cider merrily at the hearth for Hearth’s Warming.

He was always there to support her.

Quickly.

“I must.”

She collapsed. Her rainbow hair fluttering down against her cheeks as she sat next to the stream’s edge. What was she doing? Abandoning her troop. Abandoning her Princess and the rest of her comrades. Would he have done the same if she had died instead of him?

Tank was her schoolmate since foalhood. Surely, surely a stallion such as he would have made it. Rainbow Dash didn’t admire just anypony. She used to tease Tank for being slow and bulky and a little too protective of her, but he had proven to be the loyalest pony she knew.

Nothing like her.

She couldn’t.

She kept flying. Back toward Cantermost. Back toward home. But what if they wouldn’t accept her?

The Parasprite Crusade was a foolish quest. She and Tank had joined thinking that it would help them find their fortune when they didn’t feel as if they could do it on their own. It was tough for an individual or pair of ponies to journey across the water or to make it over the nearby mountains on their own. There were many wild tribes living in Everfree Country to the east.

So when they heard about the recruiting for the Parasprite Crusade, Rainbow Dash and Tank felt like it was the perfect opportunity.

Hundreds of ponies had gathered by the castle gates to make the journey. Even Luna herself had joined in the cause, and Rainbow Dash took it as a sign that everything would be alright.

There were rumors circling from the outside world that hordes of parasprites were making their way across the known lands, devouring everything just for the sake of destruction. Normally, these hordes would be in very small groups and wouldn’t cause much damage. However, recently bands of roving Twittermites, normally an enemy to the Parasprites, had decided to become their allies.

The destructive toll was great.

And any land that the ponies could reclaim from these attackers would belong to ponykind before any of the local tribes could move in.

Luna seemed ready for battle, but she didn’t seem to have the leadership capabilities when it came to the random strikes of the enemy and the large and unruly group with her.

It also wasn’t her forces to begin with.

Nopony really knew who started the Parasprite Crusades. It just seemed like a few ponies always knew a few ponies that knew a few ponies that were in it and so on. A few groups had already gone out on the Crusades before Luna and Rainbow Dash even knew of its existence.

Still, as soon as Luna joined there was a huge increase in goers. It was quite the publicity stunt for the cause. Luna came up in front of everypony and shone in all her brilliant attire and just zest for all things exciting. It moved everypony.

Even on the battlefields, Luna always radiated energy and brilliance.

But none of that mattered to Rainbow as she watched the parasprites devour not only the countryside, but…

Rainbow had to shudder to herself as she began flying through the trees again.

Nopony expected the parasprites to start eating ponies.

She had to keep lying low. She didn’t want to be caught by her fellow crusaders as a deserter, and she didn’t want to be caught by the parasprites as a midnight meal. She was deft at avoiding the branches and the bramble, but…

She missed Tank.

They lived most of their lives in Cantermost, but when they were really little they lived in a nearby village. When they got older, they moved to the city to find work. It was Tank that made the perfect farmer, helping out with his nine brothers and sisters in their neighboring place. Rainbow was no good at farm work. She could defend a farm, but it didn’t last long. Tank gave up everything to go watch over Rainbow in the city.

Luna’s group had been fighting along in Everfree County for months. Most of that was time spent fighting or lugging around the huge group. Rainbow Dash would need to survive by herself for a week or two and with her fast flying she should make it.

But she made the mistake of falling asleep.

She could feel her wings flapping slower and slower. Her eyes glazed over and she fell toward the welcoming world below.

A world of nightmares.

She fell into a darkness, feeling small insect wings brush up against her as they flapped and buzzed. She felt a few bites that made her give out small yelps as she continued falling.

She thought she could see specks of light in the distance, growing closer and closer as she began what felt like falling up. But all she saw when she got to the other end was destruction and famine. Twittermites everywhere, destroying the landscape and leaving nothing but broken trees, ponies, and ruin.

Rainbow Dash woke up, still lying on the ground in Everfree. She shook the treasonous thoughts of Luna out of her head but ended up settling in for the night. Her right wing had begun feeling sore and her exhaustion continued to gnaw at her.

Luna was a beloved princess, but ponies say she was cursed as a filly.

Her playmate and herself were known to go off on adventures and cause trouble. It was something Old Timeotheus and her uncle Starswirl tried to hide from the public, but rumors spread.

One day, the story goes, they had been outside of the walls of Cantermost when they got lost in the woods of Everfree. It was supposed to be a warm summer night, but then everything grew cold and dark. Luna did have some powers over darkness, but it wasn’t enough to keep the two warm and fed and on their way home.

As they continued getting lost, they found an old hermit’s habitation. They ventured near it, hoping that the hermit was devout or that they would have some decency toward travelers or power.

But no. The blue unicorn peered out of their doorway and cast a wretched spell upon the intruders before creating a powerful gust of wind to blow them back home.

Nopony knows what the effects were on the companion pony, but someponies, out of earshot of the royals, say that Luna was cursed to give those around her terrible nightmares, long after they have left her side.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure if she believed it. Those in the camp didn’t mention much else other than the nightmares of the battlefield itself, but she knew that she herself had experienced many a nightmare out in Everfree.

This wasn’t the first, and it wouldn’t be the last.