Twilight Sparkle: The Burning Aletheia

“Huh....? Where am I...”

A purple unicorn mumbled under her breath against the hard, cold ground. Slowly she lifted her body up all while coughing several times. It must have been from inhaling the unnatural, smokey air with a full mind for the first time.

She had a hard time telling where she was because of all the fire blazing through many sections of Ponyville. It was quite dark outside as well. If it wasn't for the illuminating fire, the clouds could have easily sheltered any light left from daytime and make it almost pitch black. That's what it looked like from all this blurry smoke at least.

Twilight Sparkle looked around, but couldn't quite spot any sight of ponies. All she could hear was an occasional scream over the crackling of the burning buildings. Then, she noticed a shadowy figure of a body lying on a wooden cart nearby.

Dear God...

The body looked spread out as if it was stuck to the cart. Inching closer to the dark silhouette, she gasped when she realized who it was. And, sure enough, the dead body's hooves appeared to be nailed to that cartload.

“R-Rainbow Dash..?” It wasn't a shock Twilight didn't recognize her. Rainbow's mane was now drained in color as well as her body. Twilight Sparkle pushed her eyes further down fearing the worst possible thing to happen. Yep, her wings were gone. It looked like they disappeared the most brutal way too, judging from the two large, brownish-scarlet blood marks which already appeared to be drying. This indicated to Twilight Sparkle that she must have been knocked out of her mind for quite a few minutes.

Twilight felt like crying. As her eyes began to water, they came to a halt when hearing a slight mumble and struggle from Rainbow Dash.

“Ughhh.... Twilight..?”

“Rainbow Dash!”

“You're back to normal.. about time..”

Twilight somewhat ignored the mild remark and continued examining Rainbow's drained body.

“What happened to me? Better yet.. What happened to you! Did they do this to you?!”

“Beats me.. you blanked out when they started attacking us.. You wouldn't take your eyes off of Pinkie Pie..”

“No.. Pinkie Pie...”

Twilight had forgotten all about Pinkie Pie. How could she forget about her? Selfishly, she began to feel that slipping into the back of her brain again wouldn't be such a bad idea.

“Oh and.. Celestia is coming over to Ponyville right now..”

“She is?” The ache inside Twilight Sparkle grew stronger. She knew that the end was drawing near, and that soon she would have to face the beast who created all of this straight in the eyes.. and the horn.

“She's looking for you.. I overheard those stallions as they left me here.”

“So that's why they spared me... I bet Celestia has something planned for us.. er.. me..”

“Take care of yourself, Twi.. and the others.. I hope they're okay..”

Twilight Sparkle had a hard time looking into Rainbow Dash's eyes as she struggled to speak. She swore if Rainbow's eyes were to shut, she would break down into tears. No.. she had to be strong.

No crying Twilight Sparkle...

Rainbow Dash's eyelids dropped closer and closer, until they couldn't drop anymore. Twilight ran over to her friend, hugging her tight as she lay there nailed to the cart.

She couldn't help herself though. A tear swam out of Twilight Sparkle's eye where it had met Rainbow Dash's pale skin. She knew without a doubt that this would be the last time she would ever see Rainbow Dash again.

Twilight was feeling extreme amounts of guilt for not being there for her friend when they were pinning her down to her demise. How badly Rainbow Dash must have been thinking of her those final minutes, knowing that she wasn't there for her best friend, the element of loyalty for Pete's sake.

Rainbow Dash tried to protect me from those soldiers.. and she paid the price for it.. oh why wasn't I there when she needed me?

Then she thought back to Pinkie Pie. Another dearest friend who tried to warn them all before they had arrived.

Why didn't I believe in her Pinkie sense?

She held her friend tight in her arms.. she hated to let go but, the others needed her right now. She couldn't hold on to Rainbow Dash any longer.

Then, trying not to look but couldn't keep her eyes off, the stench of Rainbow's raw corpse caught up to her.

“Oh.. oh..” Twilight wanted to end the word with “Celestia” but stopped. She pulled her head down away from Rainbow Dash. The boiling acid in her stomach, and the tugging in her throat felt like she was going to hurl.

She heard ponies coming. Not citizen ponies, she also heard the clinging sounds of heavy armor and weapons as they drew closer. There wasn't any time to throw up bad memories! Running was all she could do. Twilight kept her stomach swallowed and proceeded to Rarity's store, where she would think Rarity would most likely be at, but she couldn't bet on it either.

I have to find the girls.. judging by our location, it looks like Rainbow Dash was trying to do the same.

It turned out that she wasn't far at all from the Carousel Boutique. Just around a corner, she found it standing.. in flames.

“Oh no.” It looked like the roof of the Carousel Boutique had already been damaged. Twilight Sparkle had to put aside all of her fears and find Rarity.

She began running towards the store without anymore hesitation. Just as she was about to reach out for the door knob, the door slammed wide open, so violently that Twilight could have easily been knocked to the ground had she not reacted so swiftly. She also almost got trampled by a weeping and struggling Rarity running out in dismay. It looked like she had piles of her clothing and fabric strapped on her back. Despite this though, many small materials kept falling off .

“This is horrible!! Absolutely awful!! Oh how ever will I save all of my designs?! What an absolute nightmare!!” The tears kept dripping through Rarity's eyes, mascara staining her face and making a mess all in itself.

“There you are! ...Why are you carrying all those clothes? Can't you see the whole town is in trouble?”

How strange of her to choose to be more concerned for her designs over our world that's falling apart. Thought Twilight.

“Twilight, dear! Thank Celestia you came over. You can help me put out this fire while I get out all my clothes outside.”

Thank Celestia? Twilight still pondering over Rarity's use of speech. Thats an odd thing to say at a time like this.. doesn't she know where this raid came from?

“Augh! And now my mascara is running too. How can this get any worse?”

“Rarity? There is no time for this!”

“What ever do you mean? My store is burning down! My flesh and blood and everything I've worked hard for is ruined! The only way it could get worse was if my mane caught fire as well.. its not on fire, is it??”

“No, its not. I know this is all shocking, I still can't believe it either. But we can't let any of these ponies down! Now help me look for Fluttershy and Applejac-”

“How dare you, Twilight Sparkle?! How dare you toss my work aside like rubbish wool socks!”

“If we're all still alive at the end of all this, then you can make more clothes. But don't you see? This cannot wait! We're suppose to be protecting Equestria, not watching it burn!”

Rarity expression turned from relieved to flustered in less than a minute.

“Wait a minute..”

“Wait a minute.. what?” What weird thing was Rarity going to say next? That's what Twilight was curious about.

“I know why you want me to leave the Carousel Boutique! You're planning to steal all of my designs for yourself! Shame on you, Twilight! Some friend you are!”

“What?! No! What kind of ridiculous accusation is that?! Rarity, there are ponies dying here right now and so far two of our friends are dead! Why are you crying about a bunch of clothing?!”

Twilight began to get very frustrated with Rarity. Then something came up in her mind that put her at even less ease. She was almost afraid to ask, but felt that she really had to, because she didn't trust Rarity's mentality at the moment.

“Rarity, where's Sweetie Belle?”

“She's probably inside.”

“What?!”

“Don't tell me you're actually concerned about her. She was an annoying sister, anyway.”

This is not Rarity. This is a complete fake. The real Rarity would put her younger sister before her whole fashion career period. There was no time to scold her though.

Twilight Sparkle rushed inside despite the burning roof of the Boutique. She peeked around every corner within the burning catastrophe. Then, she recognized another body in the darkness. It was sweetie belle's unconscious body. She couldn't tell if she was alive or not, so logically she decided to take her out of harm's way and dragged her outside.

“She doesn't look good.”

“Twilight Sparkle, why on Earth did you do that? You could've at least grabbed some of my makeup while you were in there.”

This new side of Rarity was starting to disgust her.

“Rarity, I don't know whats gotten into you, and you're wasting my time. I have to go help everypony now.. good bye.”

Rarity didn't say anything but watch her friend leave. Feeling a little bad, Twilight Sparkle decided to take a look back. Of course, Rarity wasn't hurt from the abandonment of her friend at all. Twilight Sparkle caught the tail of Rarity heading back inside the shop.

Great, that was a time waster.. Why was Rarity acting so... heartless and selfish? It was like she wasn't even pony. That wasn't even Rarity! Something's not right here.. and the next closest house.. is Fluttershy's. Oh poor Fluttershy.. I wonder how she's handling all of this.

Twilight was galloping as fast as she could but still weary of the sounds of army men. Screams and cries continued clustering around the sections of Ponyville. She could see the home of her friend still standing on the hill. It didn't look like it was going to be that way for long though.

Arriving at her front door, she saw that the area around looked as if it was completely abandoned- even the chicken coup. She then turned her head toward Fluttershy's backyard, to see the Everfree forest fields away and dissipating in smoke.

Without further delay, Twilight gave a knock on the door; But there was no answer. Then, she looked through one of the windows. It appeared that the curtains were shut and nothing could be seen inside.

Nothing seemed to be inhabiting the house as she could see. She was beginning to worry that Fluttershy was already taken away. Suddenly, she heard a rustling close by.. Looking around the many directions behind her, Twilight noticed a bush next to Fluttershy's house. It's leaves were moving recklessly, so she went over to check it out. It was who she had expected to be there.

“Fluttershy?”

“NO!! Please don't take me!!” The yellow pegasus squeaked loudly in a panic. Quickly Twilight placed her hoof over Fluttershy's mouth in a signal interpreting for her to be quiet.

“Shhhhh! Fluttershy calm down, its only me!” Twilight hushed and whispered.

“Oh.. Twilight.. thank goodness you're here.. This whole raid thing is getting really scary.”

“It'll be okay, Fluttershy. But what are you doing in this bush right in front of your house? It doesn't seem like a very good place to hide. Then again.. there really aren't many places to hide thanks to all this fire.”

“You're right, Twilight, there aren't many places to hide..”

“So why don't you come with me? We can go look for Applejack and put a stop to this madness! We can help put out the flames and take on Celestia and these horrible soldiers!”

“Oh no, Twilight, I can't leave here.”

“What? Why not?”

“You see..”

Fluttershy paused her sentence as she began to push a few leaves from the bushes aside to reveal a small patch of grass. Underneath those branches laid her pet, a small white bunny, angel. The bunny hardly showed an inch of reaction from being exposed of his hiding place. He continued to lay there curled up with his eyes shut. Some scars from the fire could be seen scattered around his body.

“Angel got hurt when we were trying to rescue some animals from the forest fire. I have to take care of his wounds.. and...” Twilight looked into Fluttershy's eyes to notice them growing a tad watery. Her face turning slightly red and puffy. It made Twilight Sparkle's heart jerk a bit inside.

“I can't just leave all of my animals here scared and homeless.. That would break my heart.”

“I can understand if you don't want to leave them.. and I don't want to pressure you into making a decision. But Fluttershy, I do need all the help I can get. Celestia is at war with her own subjects and if she wins, then this could mean the end of the pony race as we speak. There must be somewhere we can hide all of your animals.. perhaps beneath the ground? You could ask the other animals who live in holes in the ground to allow them in their homes for now.”

Twilight was hoping for an easy persuasion with Fluttershy. She got the exact opposite. Fluttershy didn't answer her question. Instead, her face had turned into a grim, ugly look. A look of someone really pissed off. It seemed as if Fluttershy acting concerned and scared was all just an act. Her facial expression began to seriously intimidate Twilight Sparkle.

“So, what are you trying to say, Twilight? That I should just leave all my animals and let them starve or get killed? You want me to do that?”

“N-no, you've got it all wrong! I was just trying to gather all of our friends to see if we could stop what Celestia is plotting up for everypony being captured. I needed to know if you were joining us.”

The talking didn't seem to help much. Actually, it appeared to be making things much worse. It seemed like Fluttershy was going to burst deeper in rage each time Twilight spoke her piece. Twilight began backing away slowly as she noticed Fluttershy creeping closer to her. If Twilight Sparkle's intimidated feelings didn't know any better, Fluttershy was trying to get into her face so she could yell at her.

“Look here Twilight. I don't care if all our friends die. Hell, I don't care if everypony in Equestria dies. You expect me to just abandon all of these helpless little critters to go save a bunch of disgusting, cruel, sinful ponies and their pathetic homes? If so, then you must be out of your Goddamn mind!”

Woah! What happened to Fluttershy's language?! This new version of Fluttershy was actually starting to scare Twilight Sparkle more than the Rarity one! Twilight wanted to get out of here so badly.

“Fluttershy! Okay okay calm down! You can stay here and take care of the animals..”

The tension and bad aura created by Fluttershy was abruptly silenced when they heard the sound of grass and small twigs being stepped on from afar. Twilight Sparkle carefully peaked over the hill and saw a group of stallions heading upward to Fluttershy's cottage, all of them either unicorns, or earth ponies holding torch sticks.

“Oh no.” Twilight said to herself. She ran back behind the bush and whispered fretfully to Fluttershy.

“You and Angel have got to get out of here. Those soldiers are heading up here as we speak!”

“I told you I'm not leaving!” Fluttershy's voice raised violently.

“No Fluttershy, I'm taking you with me! Now pick up Angel and make it fast!”

Twilight focused the strength she held into her horn. As she expected it to pour out a series of magic, it didn't. Not even a sound or anything. She focused again with all her might, searching for the ability to pull Fluttershy and Angels' weights along with her. Still, nothing happened.

“What happened to my magic?! I can't use it!”

Twilight Sparkle lowered her head down, saddened by this sudden new piece of information. Fluttershy only turned her head to the purple unicorn and responded in a calm, cool tone.

“Twilight, don't even bother. We're staying here and there is nothing you can do about it. I am never leaving my precious animals. Now go.”

“..Are you sure you want to stay here?”

Without further words, Fluttershy responded with a smooth nod.

“Okay.. good bye then.. Take care of yourself you guys..”

Before she took off, Twilight Sparkle left Fluttershy with a tight, warm hug, even though she couldn't feel the hooves of Fluttershy on her back in return. Twilight's head continued to face the grass as she turned away from a last look of her fragile friend.

Twilight was wondering if this really was the right thing to do. She couldn't just stay there and let them take her down too. There was still a message to be carried onto Applejack. There was still an ability to do something about the destruction that had hit Equestria. It wasn't her time to die. Not yet.

It was stomach churning to just abandon Fluttershy there. But what could Twilight do if she refused to come with her? Her magic was gone to, so she couldn't just drag her along for the ride. Fluttershy was being completely unreasonable. Doesn't she know that it made Twilight break inside when she was forced to leave her for the soldiers to take her into their claws?

Without giving another look back, Twilight began running. She didn't want to look back because she remembered what happened last time when she did. Soon she was lost in the burning fields of Ponyville and shortly lost sight of her friend. That didn't stop her from hearing frightening voices though.

“No!! Take your hooves off my Angel now!!”

Hearing the squealing torments of Fluttershy slowly fading away as distant increased phased Twilight Sparkle. In a similar way to when she had to leave her other friends behind and couldn't help any of them. Without her magic, what good was she for? How could she ever even attempt to save Equestria let alone Ponyville? Twilight Sparkle was beginning to feel completely powerless in all of this, and it was the worst feeling in the whole world. All of these ponies didn't deserve to live and die in such a surprising, traumatizing way.

Why is life so cruel?

TBC