Rainbow Dash looked around as she walked into the dark silence of the Everfree forest. Smoking remains of what used to be trees dotted the dark ground. Barely a whisper could be heard other than the soft, rhythmic thuds of their hooves on the dirt and pine needles.
Rainbow sighed deeply.
"Today has not been a good day so far...I really hope Zecora is there. Maybe she can tell us what the heck happened here," she moaned.
As she walked, she glanced down sadly towards her cerulean hooves.
"Aw, please don't worry. I am completely sure that she's there. You and your," here he winced slightly, remembering Rainbow's losses, "friends have told me a lot of good things about her. She really seems like a very good pony, someone who'd never desert anypony else," Soarin said reassuringly, slinging a hoof around her cyan shoulders.
Rainbow looked at him with red-rimmed eyes, an angry look on her distraught face.
"She's not a pony, she's a zebra," Rainbow replied quickly, as she thought of her beloved, close friends. She was so worried about them. She knew absolutely nothing about where, or how, or even when they were, and she could barely keep herself from bursting into sobs every time she even thought of their names.
"Right..." Soarin corrected. He cursed himself for mentioning her friends. He loved Rainbow with all of his heart, yet he couldn't keep himself from mentioning the very thing that would make the mare he loved more sad.
Shining Armor looked at Rainbow Dash sadly as he walked. He saw how distraught she was about her friends' possible deaths, which he knew had been caused by his very mother. The mother who know expected him to betray her further. Even though he wanted with all his might to disobey his mother, and actually help Rainbow and Soarin find her friends, since he was the Changeling Prince, he had to obey the Queen. Disobedience just wasn't done in the Changeling Empire. He knew there was no way he could ever betray his mother.... Sure, every year there were a couple drones who betrayed the hive and left, but Chrysalis always, always just caught and killed them. She was a ruthless leader, and Shining would never get away with betrayal alive....
A loud sigh expelled itself from Rainbow's mouth as she trotted through the Everfree Forest. The normal cock in her step was gone now. She stared at the ground dejectedly. Soarin chattered away loudly, obviously not realizing that not a single word of what he was saying was registering in her brain. Shining armor tapped Soarin on the shoulder and pointed towards the horizon. Rainbow seemed to be in her own world. There was pain glimmering in her beautiful rose eyes as she looked up. After focusing those rose orbs on the horizon for a few seconds, she cast her eyes downward again. Soarin patted her shoulder with a sympathetic white hoof.
"I promise, everything will turn out okay," he promised. Rainbow looked at him with pained, angry eyes. Her beautiful cerulean face glittered with tears, and her mouth was twisted into an angry expression.
"How is it going to be okay? As far as I know, my friends are DEAD. And I can't believe that I couldn't save them..." Rainbow's voice trailed off sadly.
"Rainbow, how could you have saved them? You were at the Wonderbolts performance!" exclaimed Soarin.
"That's just it! If I hadn't gone to that stupid Wonderbolts air show, I might have been able to save my friends, and all of Ponyville!" she lamented.
"But if you hadn't come to see the Wonderbolts-I mean, us, -- you'd never had really met me! Is that what you wanted?" he beguiled
She rolled her eyes at him, having none of it.
Shining Armor intervened.
"I hate to interrupt you guys when you're getting all hot and heavy," he said sarcastically, "But we're at Zecora's."
Rainbow looked up. She spotted a tree lying ahead. Like Twilight, Zecora lived in a tree. Although hers was decorated with native treasures and potion brews while Twilight had the classical "books all over the place" decor, they lived in the same type of house...could Zecora have...She shook her head to distract herself from such silly thoughts. She needed to find Zecora, that was all that mattered.
She flapped her wings out, rising into the air. Pumping her wings almost as hard as she could, she zoomed forward. She crashed through the door of Zecora's tree hut.
She skidded a few feet, creating a nasty rugburn on her stomach, but her pain was forgotten when she saw one of er best friends lying on the floor near her. Parts of her beautiful white and grey striped coat were torn up, and a few hours ago blood would have been rushing from them. Now the blood was hardened, staining parts of her coat a deep red. Her right ear was partially brunt, and a small trickle of blood leaked from the other, broken ear. Her eyes were closed and unconscious, but worst of all her gold jewelry was gone. Zecora loved her jewelry...they were her favorite things from the native lands where she had come from, and they were the only things that she ever wore. Rainbow went over to her friend, and a loud sob escaped her throat. Tears percolated madly from her tear ducts, streaming down her face. She wailed in sorrow.
"Zecora! You have to wake up! Pleas-" she sobbed, a hiccup cutting off her last word. She curled up into a tiny ball on the floor, sobbing.
Soarin and Shining Armor exchanged glances and ran to Rainbow's side.
When they entered the hut they noticed something horrible that Rainbow, in her sorrow, had missed. The cottage was ruined. Steaming piles of ash had replaced Zecora's work, the potions that she had been so proud of. Her beautiful tribal masks had been cracked and broken, and the small area that had hosted her bedroom was worse. Her bed was covered in some sort of strange thick, violet purple substance, and it was broken beyond repair. The few potions that she had stored there were poured upon the floor, polychromatic liquids bubbling and hissing as they merged. Her recipe books, some of which she had made herself, almost three years' worth of work, were ripped, torn and burnt.
Rainbow's tears finally dried up, but when she got up, the flood started again. She couldn't believe that her friends...were gone?
Shining Armor grabbed a wooden basket that had somehow survived and filled it with cold, clean water from the stream outside. He placed it next to Zecora's head, in hopes that it might help Rainbow. If Zecora woke up with a dry throat, the water might help her...her ear could use some water...and maybe the thought of water might just be calming to her.
Rainbow looked up at him with gratitude crossing her tear-stained face.
They all knew that it was an empty sentiment, but a little bit of kindness never hurt...and Shining Armor needed to do something nice to soothe his nerves about betraying them.
A tear leaked from Soarin's eye as he worried about the mare he loved. He wished that he could do something about Rainbow's grief...he so badly wanted to help her.
All of a sudden, he got an idea. He grabbed a broom that had survived the ransacking. He fluttered up into the air, using the full height of the long object. He, using long, graceful strokes, swept the ashes up.
Shining's horn lit up with a gentle purple glow. He grabbed a piece of cloth and wiped up the liquid from the spilled potions.
Rainbow looked up at the stallions with a somewhat hopeful expression on her face.
"Thank you..." Now Rainbow only sat with all the hope she could muster up .... Just maybe Zecora would be ok.
As rainbow Dash awoke that morning the sun was shining brightly and she had not a care in the world as she happily trotted outside to the train station where she sat exicitedly waiting for the train to canterlot where she would go to see the wonderbolts perform.The train pulled up slowly and Rainbow leaped on after handing over her ticket , the train took off through the morning air going faster than normal as they where already behind schedule .Rainbow sat there for what seemed like forever until finally the train arrived at canterlot she emidiately went to the place the performance was to be held zipping to a front row seat before some other pony could take it .She looked up as little gray clouds started to appear.''well i hope it doesnt rain thatll just ruin the whole thing''She looked back down to the stage to find a stunning soarin staring at her , she blushed and looked away as he did the same .The wonderbolts where right there in front of her when everything happened everything went terribly wrong...As spitfire flew by it seemed as if the sun flickered off because everything was dark , Soarin crashed into a wall not being able to see as Rainbow zoomed over to him in concern . ''soarin are you alright?''he nodded his head dizzily he sight focusing on rainbow as he adjusted to the darkness .rainbow sighed with relief as she helped him up and she turned finding an angry changling queen infront of her''since you ruined my wedding you will pay!''she schreeced happily as she grabbed spit fire and disappeared as a portal opened sucking everyponie in except for soarin and rainbow who clung tightly to eachother as well as the stage...silencnothing was to be heard until ...''ahh!''rainbow and soarin covered there ears letting go of each other as the screams of everyponie rang out through all of canterlot when it stopped slowy they looked at each other shock and scarce written on there faces ...TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 2
