Prologue
Her wet burlap cloak weighed heavily against her cerulean coat, weighing down her every step. Looking under the thick cloth, she confirmed that the two children were still clinging to her legs, and it wasn't just the soaking fabric she felt. She was, for the most part, a brave, full grown mare and even she was scared out of her mind. They had the war raging in their backyards and lost their parental figures. She couldn’t even begin to baffle what it must've been like for them.
Schoolyard bullies and homework were the least of their problems, not that those were even problems anymore.
Clinging to her left foreleg was a small white unicorn, the younger sister of her late friend, Rarity.
Her name was Sweetie Belle, and she had barely escaped with her life after the boutique exploded.
Her sister wasn’t so lucky, though. Actually, the fashionista chose saving her sister over herself. Her magic was strong enough to teleport one of them out, but not both. Sweetie could barely manage a spark yet. The departed young mare truly lived up to the element of generosity.
Nearly strangling her from the right was the a young purple dragon. comatose Twilight Sparkle’s surrogate son, Spike. She has been out for the count since the start of the war when she lost that magic duel, yet again to a user of the alicorn amulet. It’s now in possession of our enemies. He has barely said a word since the incident.
We were heading to Fluttershy’s animal clinic to pick up the last two foals, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. We were originally all going to meet at the remains of Sweet Apple Acres, but seeing the remnants of her home had been too much for Apple Bloom, though I guess that's to be expected. She is just a filly, afterall.
Scootaloo had been motherless since long before the war but after her royal guard dad was painfully stabbed to death in battle and the orphanage had been captured by enemy troops, things got really ugly, really fast. I managed to rescue her a few weeks ago.
Apple Bloom never knew her mom either, but rather she lived with her siblings and grandmother. Her grandma, Granny Smith, was the only one that went peacefully. She was rather old and passed peacefully in her sleep nearly a year before the war even started. Her brother and sister, Big Macintosh and Apple Jack, shared a demise was far more antagonizing. Their fields were set ablaze and, within a matter of seconds, the entire apple acreage was illuminated by the flames with them stuck inside the maze of burning trees. I bet her being present made it ten times harder. She ran into the forest of fire, but thankfully was able to be rescued before she breathed in too much smoke.
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. have been living with Fluttershy the last few weeks, the other two with me.
Who am I, you may ask? Well, I guess if you found this then I must be dead so I’ll tell you. My name is Rainbow Dash. I’m the element of loyalty. Me and my comrades pulled sticks to see who would deliver these orphans, all of whom which have or had a major connection to the bearers of the elements, such as Scootaloo to myself, to the safe house.
After Twilight went into her coma, the elements just stopped working. If they suddenly got their powers back, though, it still wouldn’t help. Only three or, if we're extremely lucky, possibly four of us to stop this when it requires six. All we really cared about at that point was getting these four orphans to safety.
Up ahead I saw the dark silhouette of Fluttershy's home. After checking to make sure the coast was clear, we slipped silently to side of the cottage and entered through a hidden door to a small room, concealed from onlooking eyes. Inside were the two fillies curled up on a cot, holding to each other for dear life as shivers ran down their backs. I heard harsh hoofbeats on the floor boards above us. I silently motioned them to follow and the five of us silently tip-hoofed out of the veterinary clinic. Once we made it into the forest, I let out a sigh of relief.
"Come on," I whispered, "We're not out of the storm yet."
