Love

It was a beautiful day in Equestria. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and everypony was happy.

...I can't even say that with a straight face. No, let me tell you the truth.

It was not a beautiful day in Equestria. In fact, it was possibly the worst day Equestria had ever had, and the landscape reflected it. There were no birds left to sing, and from end to end of the horizon, there was not a single pony to populate the charred, blackened landscape. Fires blazed gently on what little scraps of flammable material that had not completely been destroyed remained, and the sun barely managed to provide even the scantest lighting through the dust-brown, smoke-filled sky. Had there been a single blade of grass left, it would likely stand out among the foliage free, grayscale landscape like the light of ten thousand suns stood out amongst the darkness.

Calling it a 'barren wasteland' would be generous.

Still, I trudged onwards, my hooves crunching gently upon the thin covering of ash that coated pretty much every open spot of ground that even existed anymore. My hooves had long ago turned black from such labors, but that was the least of my worries. In fact, I'd go as far as to say it wasn't even a worry. I...I was used to it.

Still, the difficulty of my steps ran its toll, carrying with them a certain burden, and a certain unwillingness to move. My brain urged them onwards, however, with a single thought:

I need shelter. She needs it too.

As if on cue, I could feel a shifting upon my back, and my balance momentarily teetered as first there came a wriggle, a whine...

...and then a series of loud, persistent cries of pure agony pierced the air, assaulting my ears with such a ferocity that I nearly stopped to untie the struggling bundle from my back, and ceased my slow plodding. My heart wrenched with each single step, even as I caught sight of a suitably intact, suitably low profile building only a simple mile away. It was my goal.

"Hang in there. I think I found somewhere to rest. We'll...get you fixed up soon."

My own voice sounded foreign, with all its cracks and uncertainty. Still, it was apparently enough to calm the writhing mass on my back, just enough that I was able to break into a gallop and race towards the one source of sanctuary I could hope to have at the moment, the crunching beneath my hooves evolving to a constant scraping. I knew I had only precious minutes before the next swarm passed through, and any living thing - including me - would be carried back to The Hive if spotted, to determine its usefulness to their race. If they were capable of love, then they would likely be enslaved, but if not...

I preferred not to think about it.

As the one building my eyes sought came closer into view, my speed faltered, if only slightly. I would later curse myself, but the memories asserted themselves over my need for self-preservation.

"Come on! What else could cheer you up on such a day in the dumps?"

"Being *alone*."

"Oh come on, silly! That isn't the Twilight I know and l-"

I shook my head suddenly, clearing the voices from my head. Fate had to choose that moment to mock me, didn't it?

It was this sentiment that caused me to barrel twice as quickly through the sagging, weakened door, nearly slamming it off of its half-melted hinges. I lept over a slab of dark black nearly indistinguishable from the rest of the entire building, coming to a squat behind the counter - or the remains of one that I knew once existed, and used to be brimming with such colorful pastries. As it were, however, what had once been crystal clear display glass was now coated with heavy flakes of grayish-black, no longer see-through in the least.

I manipulated my magic with inherent ease, lighting my horn up and untying the rope that held the now quietly - but still insistently - crying bundle to my back. The rope fell instantly, coiling into a neat circle, while the whimpering mass gently floated to the floor with my aid; upon contact, I turned towards it.

"T-Twilight...I feel f-funn-"

"Shhh." I quickly hushed the pink mare in front of me, stooping to inspect her. I could see in her cyan eyes the weight of pain, of pure fear, only modeled by the tears streaming freely down her face, but she remained quiet and still long enough for me to squint, inspecting her carefully.

Though she trembled slightly, as my eyes roamed slowly over her body, caked with copious amounts of dirt and ash, I found the one thing that had been the source of her pain.

Two tiny, almost invisible holes in her skin were just barely within my sight, but they were there, squatting uglily on the base of her neck. Twin trails of dark red slowly flowed down, all the way down to her chest and even further, and I brought a hoof to the two marks in disbelief, gazing at the red that remained on my hoof as I pulled away.

I was speechless for a long time, and by the time I managed words, they were choked with anger.

"Those little...Celestia-condemned bugs..."

She didn't respond with any words, or any plea for hopeless reassurances. Instead, she simply leapt forwards and embraced me in a near death-hug, her shoulders now shaking in sobs of both a pony who sought nothing more than to relieve her suffering, and one who had realized the pain had only just begun. I moved to grab her closer, too, but the motion seemed mechanical in itself, even as I spoke, unable to believe what was all too real.

"...they actually bit you..."

I could make out the furious nodding even as it shook my entire being with her, and my heart snapped. I didn't dare cry, though - the instant I gave in to sorrow, I would be giving into the cause that might very well be our doom - a fate worse than death.

I pushed gently back from her desperate embrace, rising to my hooves with a grunt. She followed reluctantly, and I could see it in her eyes that she wasn't ready. Everything inside her was fighting as much as it could, but she would likely have trouble accepting the reality of the situation. I smiled in a vain attempt to cheer her up, which I found ironic, considering who I was talking to. "Pinkie, we'll get through this. I promise. You just have to be strong until I find a way to undo what's been done."

"B-but..." Another tear found its way down the side of her face, carving a path through the ash and dirt as she stammered uncertainly, swallowing in an attempt to clear the lump from her throat that I suspected was there. "...I've been s-strong for so long...I don't think...I just want to go back...t-to how things were, Twily..."

I planted a gentle kiss on her forehead, tasting the faint smokey essence of a previous fire's essence with surprising clarity, despite the nature of the action. "I do too, Pinkie...a lot, but..." My hoof began tracing patterns in the cake-layered ash. "...after what they've done, I don't think it can ever be the same."

"But-"

"But nothing." I sighed, feeling the weight of the past fully settle on me. "We can't keep running forever. As long as we're together, I'm confident we can save them all. I...I think I have a plan."

The look of hope in her eyes was almost enough to give me my hope back. Even despite her mental stress, and her physical pain, she was able to throw her sorrow aside for one question: "...what is it?"

No sooner than she finished her question, the air was silent, and then suddenly filled with the buzzing of a swarm of insects. The half-open door burst off its hinges entirely to reveal a black figure with insect-like eyes and wings, followed by a bare minimum of ten of its companions.

As the buzzing switched to an insistent droning as they seemingly locked on to us, I saw her eyes suddenly brim with panic. "Twilight! I -"

I raised my hooves in a gesture of peace towards the insect-like creatures, showing that we meant no harm or resistance. I smiled, though now it was humorless, almost grim in itself, and one of necessity as the group swarmed into the once-a-bakery, surrounding us and chittering to each other curiously. "The plan is this..." I stated simply, not even bothering to jump as a green slime suddenly shot from the jagged horn-like appendage of the creature, pinning my forehooves directly outstretched as they were; my shoulders locking in place along with them.

I shook my head slightly at her sudden twitch, a twitch that I knew meant "I'm going to spring to defend you", and allowed my board-like forelegs to lower themselves to the ground. Shortly thereafter, another bolt of green goo came shooting from the same area, binding all four of my hooves together with a gooey, yet ever resilient slime that I recognized all too well from the last year.

"The plan is this," I repeated as the offending insect-thing moved in front of me, imposing itself with a sentience I'd hardly expect from them. I felt less sure of myself, but if I had to press through at any time, it was now. There was no going back, after all. Pinkie's gaze bore insistently as I finished explaining my plan, the only one I had for the survival of all of ponykind, and even Equestria itself.

"We let ourselves get captured."

It would have to do for the moment. After all, it wasn't like there was anything better I could do besides running away.

Again.

No, I'd done that too many times. It was finally time to attack this from the inside.

And so, even though I feared what I would see when I finally opened my eyes again, I allowed myself to relax, and eventually I lost awareness.