Applejack’s hooves pounded against the dirt road as she raced through the streets of Ponyville at breakneck speeds, a steely determination in her eyes that sent other ponies scrambling to get out of her way. Her braided mane whipped behind her wildly as she ran, and it was only through sheer force of will that her Stetson remained on her head as she picked up speed even more.
On her flank, her cutie mark glowed with a faint, pulsing light akin to weak embers desperately holding onto life.
Minutes before, Applejack had been working her family fields when she had felt the smallest of tingles on her flank. Thinking it was a bug at first, Applejack had flicked her tail in an attempt to drive it away so she could get back to work. When the sensation had persisted, however, Applejack had finally stopped to glance back to see what was bothering her, only to bolt from the fields a moment later on a direct course for Twilight’s castle.
“Applejack!”
Without stopping, Applejack glanced over her shoulder and spotted Rarity and Pinkie Pie running up to her, both of them sporting worrisome looks. When they caught up to her, she could see why: both their cutie marks were glowing as well. “Y’all too?”
“Indeed!” Rarity replied as she matched Applejack’s pace. “I dropped everything as soon as I felt it happen!”
“Me too!” Pinkie added. “Good thing I wasn’t carrying a plate of cupcakes when it did or somepony’s day might have become a lot more frosting coated!”
“Somepony want to tell me what the hay is going on!?” The group looked up in time to see Rainbow Dash flying overhead, still dressed in her Wonderbolt’s flight jacket. “Spitfire is going to have my hide for being late, so this better be important!”
Within a few short minutes, the four ponies finally reached Twilight’s castle, busted through the entrance without stopping to knock, and made a direct beeline for the map room. Skidding to a grinding halt, Applejack threw open the doors and hollered, “Twilight!”
As was to be expected, Twilight was in the midst of a panic attack as she paced around the room, her mane a frazzled mess as Fluttershy tried her best to calm her friend down. At the sound of Applejack’s voice, Twilight spun towards the door. “Oh, thank Celestia you’re all here!” she proclaimed, a strained smile on her lips and a slight twitch in her left eye. Like her friends, her cutie mark glowed with a faint light.
“We came as soon as we could,” Rarity said between panting breaths. “What’s going on?”
“That’s the thing: I have no idea!” Twilight replied, running up to the table in the center of the room and placing her front hooves up on it. A three-dimensional projection of Equestria spread across the surface of the map, but the image was hazy and frayed at the edges like it was only just able to sustain itself. Floating above the projection of her castle was a ring of six cutie marks corresponding to the six mares currently occupying the room. “This… this shouldn’t be happening! Without the Tree of Harmony, the Map’s been dead for almost a week now, and nothing I tried could get it to turn back on! Then today it just switched on without warning! It shouldn’t be possible… Un… unless…”
The unspoken idea floated through the room for several seconds before Fluttershy finally spoke up. “Could… could it mean the Tree is… is still alive?”
“I don’t see how,” Rainbow muttered dismissively. “We all saw Sombra smash the Tree to pieces along with Elements. If the Tree was still alive, then why isn’t it doing anything about keeping back the Everfree Forest? We sure could have used some serious help back there before the princesses and Beardy showed up.”
“I don’t know, Rainbow,” Twilight replied, her eyes still locked on the image displayed on the map. “However… if the Tree is still alive somehow, this could be its only way of calling for help.” Her mind drifted back to weeks before, when she had ventured into the crystal caverns beneath her school and encountered the embodiment of the Tree of Harmony, its parting words that day still etched into her memory…
Fear not, Twilight Sparkle. There will come a time when we will get a chance to speak once more. This is merely a temporary goodbye, with the promise of more to come in the future. Until next we meet… friend.
Friend… On that day, when Sombra had callously cut down the Tree to remove possibly the only obstacle to his rule, he had done more than just destroy the Elements; He had also destroyed a fledgling consciousness, a new spark of life that was still coming to terms with its existence and understanding its new abilities. But, most of all, he had cut short the newly forged friendship between Twilight and the Tree.
In a blink, all worry and doubt vanished from Twilight’s face as a fiery determination burned in her heart. I couldn’t save you then, but I won’t let you down this time! “If the Tree is still alive somewhere, then we have to save it, no matter what! Right, everypony?”
“Yeehhaaaw!” Applejack hollered. “Yer darn right we do, Twi!”
“We’re all with ya, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash chimed in.
“And we’ll do whatever we can to help,” Fluttershy added, Rarity and Pinkie Pie nodding in agreement alongside her.
A grin split across Twilight’s face as her friends stood with her again. “Right, first thing’s first, we need to come up a plan, and–”
All six of them stopped and glanced at their flanks once more as a familiar tingling sensation passed over them and their cutie marks begin to flash brighter than before. A bright light from the Map drew the attention of the six ponies as the images of their cutie marks began to spin faster and faster around the image of the castle for several seconds before shooting away and settling down on the thrones displaying each of their cutie marks.
Not a word was spoken between the group as they shared a look and a nod before walking up and climbing up onto their respective throne, the cutie mark emblazoned on the back of each lighting up as they each sat down. As Twilight settled down and the image of her cutie mark lit up, a beam of light shot out of each throne and collided above the Map, forming a rapidly growing ball of energy overhead. Before the six startled mares could comprehend what was happening, the ball of energy dropped down and slammed into the map table, emitting a burst of intense light that filled the room and nearly blinded the six ponies as they recoiled back.
“What… was that?” Twilight finally asked after several moments of silence, rubbing at her eyes to try and clear the spots from her vision.
“Whatever it was, that was one serious light show!” Pinkie exclaimed as she whipped off the sunglasses she had donned just in the nick of time. “I wonder—” Pinkie suddenly gasped, her eyes growing wide as she stared at the table in front of her. “Uh… girls?”
As the others recovered from the blinding flash of light, they too gasped at what they saw. The Map had gone dead once more, but what really drew their attention was the body of an adult mare now lying across the surface of the table. Stepping down from her throne, Twilight carefully looked the mare over.
The mare appeared to be an Earth pony at first glance due to the fact that Twilight couldn’t find any visible wings or a horn on her, and her coat and mane were an almost deathly pale shade of purple, as if all the color had been drained from her body. She almost resembled a Crystal Pony from the Crystal Empire, except that she lacked the gradient mane and tail style shared by the Crystal Ponies, instead having what appeared to be a violet mane with a faded magenta stripe running through it.
Just like me… Twilight thought as she looked closer. The only sign that the mare was even alive was the steady rise and fall of her chest with each breath she took, although her breathing was noticeably labored. What was most troubling of all, however, was the fact that this mare lacked a cutie mark, her flank as blank as a newborn foal’s. Could she have been drained of her magic?
“Find anything, Twi?” Rainbow asked, looking on with the others in anticipation at the mare that had seemingly appeared out of thin air.
“She’s alive, that I can tell. Still, where did she—”
“Uhhh…”
Twilight trailed off suddenly, her ears perking up at the sound of groaning coming from the mare. “I think she’s waking up! Hello, Miss? Can you hear me?”
The mare groaned again as her eyes gradually opened and violet eyes weakly looked up until her eyes locked with Twilight’s. “Twi… Twilight... Spark… Sparkle…”
“Oh, thank Celestia you’re awake!” Twilight replied, breathing a quick sigh of relief. “Don’t worry, you’re safe here. Could you tell me your name, please?”
The mare let out a strangled wheeze in response, her mouth moving as she appeared to try and respond.
“I’m sorry? Could you repeat that?” Twilight asked, leaning in closer to try and make out what the mare was trying to say. Once more, the mare’s lips moved as she spoke in a voice quieter than a whisper, only for her eyelids to close as she slipped back into unconsciousness a moment later. Twilight pulled away, frowning as she kept her gaze on the mare.
“Well, what did she say?” Rarity asked, looking back and forth between Twilight and the unconscious mare.
“She said…” Twilight appeared to have been shaken by what the mare had said, confusion reflected back in her eyes as she looked up at her friends. “... She said ‘My purpose has failed…’”
A heavy silence filled the room as everyone looked down at the unconscious mare, more questions on their minds than answers.
