No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop crying. She knew her life was in danger, she knew that she could easily burn to death, or suffocate, or any of another things. But all she could do was stare, and cry. Everything was gone, her home, her forest, but what she couldn't tear her eyes away from were the animals. Some were charred, some burnt to a crisp, some were dying, but most were already dead. But one in particular made her cry the most, the partially burnt remains, of a small white bunny.
"Angel." Was all she could manage between sobs. She sat there, amongst a burning forest, in tears. Her world was collapsing, she had never felt this way in her entire life, all she wanted to do was for it all to end.
"Fluttershy!" She heard a familiar voice call out. She saw him through the flames, his large muscular physic hard to mistake. For some reason, seeing him just made her cry harder. "Fluttershy!" He yelled again, looking for the Pink haired woman. Suddenly she began to feel strange. Maybe it was from the crying, the smoke, or both, but her head got lighter, the flames began to spin. He finally spotted her and ran towards her, and that was the last thing she saw, right before everything went black.
About an hour later:
"No." Was all she could say. The intel told them that a small cell of Anarchists had been operating out of Ponyville, and that rebel troops had a camp located in the Everfree forest. It was a simple task, find any information on the Anarchists and smoke out the rebels. "This isn't how it was supposed to happen." The op started out good, her troops had already learnt a great deal about the cell, and had a list of suspects ready for her for when she arrived.
"Commander Sparkle!" she turned to see a Lieutenant running towards her. his green hair was matted and covered in dirt and ash, as well as the rest of him. His uniform was torn, and he had a limp in his gait. In his hand was a revolver, the standard issue sidearm of the Imperial Army.
"Report, what happened here!" She yelled out as firm and authoritative as she could muster in a time like this.
"We did everything as planned, we captured three suspected anarchists, and we had begun the work of smoking out the rebels when..." he started but was unable to finish.
"The fire was supposed to be controlled! Look at this!" She screamed pointing to the still burning remains of the town.
"It was, at least ours was." He said, somewhat scared at his commanders outburst.
"Ours?" She asked, confused and still beyond upset.
"As soon as we started the operation, along with our fire, several small ones began starting in the town. We sent some men to control the blaze but any who got too close to the town were shot. We later were able to get into the town to try to evacuate civilians, when we got to our temporary HQ we found our guards dead and the anarchists missing." He explained.
Once in the town Twilight was able to examine the remains. the smell of burnt wood filled her nose among other, less pleasant smells. She tried her best to ignore the burnt bodies that littered the ground as she made her way through. "Ma'am, we found this by one of the sites we believe a fire was started." The soldier handed her the remains of a broken barrel. she began sniffing it,, once she picked up a familiar sent she stuck her finger in what was left of the liquid inside.
"Cider." She exclaimed as she dropped the barrel piece to the ground. "You three," She turned to the three soldiers accompanying her. "Find me Applejack."
The farm hand sat silently in the make shift medical tent, holding her younger sister as she wept into her shoulder. Just a few feet away sat her brother, gripping tightly onto the hand of his still unconscious wife. She had been tending the fields with her brother when they noticed the smoke coming from the Everfree forest. They had already known about the soldiers coming in, trying to hunt down rebels hiding in the forest, so they didn't think much of it.
After a few hours the smoke in the air was thick, and they looked to see most of it was no longer coming from the forest, but the town itself. She ran to find her sister while her brother ran back to his home on the other side of Ponyville to find his wife. About an hour and a half later she was trying to keep back the fires spreading through the farm to no avail. She eventually abandoned her mission and turned instead to getting her sister and her two friends to safety. She searched for her grandmother too, but couldn't find her anywhere.
"Applejack," The farm hand looked up to see her old friend Twilight in the unmistakable dress of an Imperial Officer. Her uniform was almost pristine, just a small bit of ash and dirt, the same could not be said about the two soldiers behind her. To be frank, those uniforms were the last thing she wanted to see right now. "could I talk to you for a moment." She got up, telling her sister she would be right back.
"What can I do for you." She asked her friend, in a polite almost too formal tone. Twilight picked up on the subtle hint of anger in her voice.
"We have been doing some investigation into the fires that started in Ponyville," Twilight began, "do you know anything about it?"
"Yes I do." Applejack said without hesitation. "I know it was started by a bunch of idiots who decided it was a good idea to set fire to the forest surrounding the town."
Twilight could tell her friend was upset and resentful. "We found this at the scene of what we believe was a purposely started fire near Sugarcube Corner." Twilight handed Applejack the broken piece of barrel. "It once held cider from your farm."
Applejack looked up from the Barrel to Twilight. "What are you trying to say?"
"Alcohol makes an excellent fuel source for flame." she said, trying to be as formal and calm as she could, but she could see the growing anger in her friends eyes. "Someone used your cider to start that fire. Do you have any ..." she started to ask.
"Get Out." Applejack whispered angrily, causing twilight to be taken aback. "I said GET OUT!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "How dare you. How DARE You! YOU did this, not me, not anyone else, YOU!" she started jabbing Twilight in the chest with her index finger, causing the two soldiers to reach for their pistols. Twilight quickly signaled them to stand down.
"Goodbye Applejack." Twilight said solemnly as she turned and made her exit. She made sure to pick up Sweetie Bell prior to leaving Ponyville in the hands of her subordinates. Before getting into the transport Twilight looked back at the town that had once been her home, now in ashes. She didn't know what she could do, all she wanted right now was to get back to the Palace.
Rarity rushed through the halls of the palace, nearly knocking several people over. "Sweetie Belle!" She exclaimed as she ran over to embrace her little sister. their embrace didn't last long before Rarity broke and looked at her sister. "You are absolutely filthy. We simply must get you out of these cloths."
"I nearly burn to death and you're upset that I got dirty?" Sweetie Belle looked at her sister, annoyed but not that surprised.
"I am not upset, all I meant was that we need to get you cleaned up now that your safe and sound." Rarity defended.
"Fine." The young girl wondered off towards her private quarters.
"Thank you Twilight." The noble woman said as she turned to her friend.
"It was my pleasure." Twilight replied. "You should really thank Applejack, she rescued all three of the girls from the flame."
"Guess they chose a poor time to go back to have a sleepover" Rarity said, trying to Lighten the tension. "How bad is it?"
"Almost three fifths of the town is either dead or unaccounted for." Twilight stated solemnly.
"I see." Rarity mimicked her sadness. "So what exactly happened?"
"I'm not sure about the details." Twilight stopped in front of her office door. "I'm waiting for the final reports."
"All right, keep me posted." And with that the two parted ways.
"Commander, here are the reports from the survivors of Ponyville." The Lieutenant handed Twilight a small stack of papers.
"What, why are there so few?" Twilight asked, looking at the stack.
"Read the reports Ma'am, it explains it." She said, still not breaking attention. Twilight began reading the reports. Several citizens refused to talk to the soldiers, the ones that did reported that after the fire broke out, that anyone who attempted to put them out was shot by Imperial Soldiers.
"What is this!? Our Soldiers?" Twilight jumped up appalled by the very idea.
"Ma'am..." The Lieutenant started. "our troops never made it in to Ponyville while it was burning, anytime we tried we were shot at. They couldn't have been our troops"
Twilight was hit with a sudden realization. "They knew. They knew we were coming, and they knew our plan. this wasn't a bunch of naive Anarchists taking advantage of a fire, they had to plan this."
Meanwhile, in a secret location in what was left of ponyville
The pink haired woman took another large swig from her mug. "Sad really, this is the last cider Sweet Apple Acres will ever make" She said looking at the mug.
"Don't drink too much of that." A voice came from the darkness behind her. "I don't want my second in command too inebriated." a tall "man" came forward, his hair was grey and his beard was white, he had two horns protruding from his head, neither matched, same with the wings on his back, or anything really, he wasn't really a man, he was a creature.
"Hello Discord." Pinkie said without turning to see him approach her.
"I see you haven't changed yet." Discord said, motioning to the uniform she wore, the uniform of an Imperial soldier. "Though it appears the mission was successful."
"Everything went just like you said it would." She replied, emotionless.
"Indeed. So now we just wait. with their hideout threatened, the local rebel branch should make their move soon." Discord wondered around the room, picking up some of the odd trinkets on the shelves.
Suddenly A photograph falls to the floor and breaks "Oopsie, my bad."
"Shouldn't you be returning to the palace?" Pinkie said, getting annoyed.
"But my dear Pinkie Pie," He said as he backed into a dark corner. "I never left the Palace." He suddenly vanished, the last thing to go were his red and yellow eyes. Pinkie couldn't help but smirk.
She walked over to the photograph and picked it up. It was a photo of her and Rainbow Dash, the two leaning in close together for a picture. Pinkie couldn't remember ever having a smile so big. She couldn't help but smile just a little bit at the picture, but quickly her feelings turned sour. She threw the picture against the wall, shattering the rest of the frame.
"You abandoned me." was all the angry woman said before laying down on her bed. then, she began to cry.
Back at the Palace Twilight was busy going over all the Intel gathered on the Ponyville incident when she heard a knock on her office door. "Come in". Rainbow Dash walked in. the seraph was wearing the combat uniform of the Wonderbolts, with her wings draped around her arms, almost like a cape. "What can I do for you Captain? Last i heard you were still in Cloudsdale."
"I took an emergency leave." This raised Twilight's eyebrow, why would Dash take an emergency leave. "I heard about Ponyville."
"I see, is that why you took an emergency leave?" Twilight asked, though deep down she knew why Rainbow dash was here.
"Where is she?" Was Dash's only response, it was vague, but the Commander knew exactly who she was asking about. "Is she safe? Is she hurt?"
"I don't know." Twilight replied.
"You don't know, how could you not know?" Dash was getting upset.
"Captain." Twilight used a stern and authoritative voice to remind Dash who she was, her Commanding Officer. "I don't know because she wasn't there. apparently left Ponyville months ago, didn't tell anyone where she was going, and she hasn't been seen since."
Dash was taken aback and confused by the information she had just received. Finally all she could say was "So that's why she hasn't been responding to my letters"
Twilight saw the sadness and confusion on her friends face. "Dash, take some time off, I'm granting you two weeks extended leave, I know that emergency leave only grants you a few days." It took a second but finally Dash got up, thanked twilight and left.
Back in ponyville, the first thing Fluttershy did as she started waking up was cough uncontrollably. next she became aware of the pain she was in. forcing her own eyes open she looked around. she noticed the large man asleep leaning onto her bed, his hand still grasping hers. she moved her other hand to his head and began running her fingers through his hair. He groggily stirred and looked up.
"Fluttershy, your awake." Big Mac said as a smile broke across his face.
"I'm sorry." She whispered, unable to talk without discomfort. "I didn't mean to wake you."
"It's fine." He replied "How are you feeling?"
"I'll manage." She choked out. "How bad is it?"
"The Doc said you're gona be fine, most of the damage was minor." He started, then she noticed his expression go grim. "When I found you, you had collapsed to the ground, you suffered some burns, most of which were minor, except for..." He was having trouble telling her.
She tried sitting up but pain shot through her right shoulder. her hand shot up to grab it, and that's when she felt it. There was a bandaged nub were her right wing used to be. "It was too badly burnt." Her husband began. "They had to amputate it to stop it from getting infected." He began to tear up. "I'm sorry, I wasn't fast enough."
She reached up and wiped a tear from his face. "Don't worry about me, I don't need my wings, when's the last time you saw me fly anywhere?" the two chuckled a little. "See, I'll be fine." He laid his head on her stomach as she began to run her fingers through his hair. Then she felt herself drift off to sleep.
Author's Note
This is more of an introduction to the story, we get to see what the mane six is going through, and set up some of the future events. future chapters won't jump around as much.
I made a few Changes to make the chapter flow better, now that chapter two is out i wanted to fix this one because looking back I wasnt too happy with it.
