Twilight Sparkle was woken by a deafening explosion.
She rolled from her bed. A dull ringing filled her head. The world was shaking. She looked up and saw the night sky surrounded by flames. The top of her tree had been seared off and the remaining branches were on fire. Smoke billowed up as the flames crawled down into her home.
The ground shook again. Another explosion. Twilight hadn't heard that one. She couldn't hear anything. She looked around. There was no order to her home anymore. Every piece of furniture had been toppled. Her personal effects, mostly books, lay everywhere.
Get out.
She felt herself call for Spike. She was moving now, stumbling down the fragments of steps. Some of the books she trampled over were among her most prized possessions, but right then they meant nothing to her. They could not provide her a way out.
The door was on fire. The only exit Twilight could see was a splintered break at the base where the tree had been partially uprooted. She dug frantically at the gap until it was just wide enough for her to squeeze out.
Once she was out, she turned and looked around for Spike. She should have looked for him inside but there had been no time. The tree was already collapsing in on itself. She had to move back.
An enormous ball of fire barreled across the sky and exploded into the ground not fifty feet away. The impact shook the earth. Twilight lost her footing and dropped to her knees. More waves of heat seared her and stung her eyes. Turning her face away, she tried to stand again on legs as weak as water.
She was running. To where? To whom? There was nothing left. Every building, every structure in the town was consumed by fire. The roads were destroyed. Smoldering debris and bodies lay everywhere. The ponies that were still alive ran aimless and frantic. Twilight could see them screaming, suffering, but she could not hear them.
She looked at each pony she passed. There was Mr and Mrs Cake. Mrs Cake's hind legs were broken and Mr Cake was trying vainly to drag her to safety. There was the Mayor, screaming and thrashing on the ground as fire devoured her. There was Cheerilee's body. There was Diamond Tiara's body. One pony that Twilight did not personally know had been trapped under burning debris. He was a brown pony with a black mane. He was still alive and trying desperately to pull himself free, but his hindquarters were crushed. He looked at Twilight and yelled something. Twilight looked at him but kept running.
Then Twilight spotted Pinkie Pie standing frozen on top of a giant pile of rubble that had once been a grand fountain in the middle of the town square.
Twilight skidded to a halt at the base of the pile. Her body shivered.
"Pinkie!" she screamed, still unable to hear anything. Her own voice sounded as though she were under water. Beyond Pinkie she could see more fire balls streaking down from the sky like giant comets.
Pinkie Pie didn't move. She glared at something in the distance. Her ears were perked and her legs were braced as though holding fast against some powerful force. A gust of wind swept smoke and dust around her.
Twilight scrambled up the pile of rubble. This was not a dream and yet she was dreaming because nothing could affect her right now. Her brain had shut down and allowed her to deal with only the most immediate concerns. She thought nothing of the fact that she had just seen several of her friends dead, or that she had never confirmed Spike's whereabouts.
"Pinkie!" she shouted again and butted her head into the side of the pink pony's neck.
Jostled, Pinkie turned and stared at Twilight, her face as blank and still as a pool.
"I saw them," Pinkie yelled.
Twilight grabbed Pinkie's mane in her teeth and tugged hard. Pinkie didn't resist and the two of them tumbled down the pile of broken stone. They landed side by side. Twilight was the first to her feet and she hauled Pinkie up with her.
"Run!" she shouted, and Pinkie ran. Twilight also ran. She had no destination in mind. She couldn't think that far ahead. The only thing she knew was that the world was collapsing around them and they needed to keep running because this place was not safe. There were no buildings left intact. Every structure in Ponyville had either caught fire or been reduced to rubble, and fire continued to rain.
Twilight could only hope that Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Apple Jack were ok because there was nothing she could do for them at the moment. She could not stop, could not think, could not form a plan. All of her efforts now were focused on staying alive. Every time a fire ball hit the earth it caused a quake that made them stumble.
The forest beyond the town was a wall of fire. Pinkie Pie slowed down but Twilight head butted her again.
"Keep going!"
The two dashed blindly into the burning forest. The trees were nothing but tall flaming pillars surrounding them on all sides. The smoke and heat were near unbearable. Woodland creatures ran with them. Twilight looked at a buck running alongside her. The buck's fur had caught fire. At least her hearing was returning. Now instead of a monotonous ring she could actually hear the screaming.
The two ponies had to find their own way. There were no trails in this forest. They leapt over fallen trees and dodged burning branches that fell from above.
Then up ahead, Twilight caught sight of a dark shadow in the flames. Was that a way out? She blinked and looked closer. No. The shadow was moving. It was a figure, something coming towards her. She couldn't stop fast enough so she simply dropped to the ground and slid to a halt on her flank. Pinkie dropped and rolled.
Parting the flames like curtains, the figure came close. Twilight could hear the deep crunch of blackened leaves under its feet. She gazed up and found herself staring at an alicorn. She gasped and scrambled backwards.
This alicorn was like none she had ever seen or heard of. It was a dark red stallion, twice the size of Princess Celestia, in full armor barding. His face was shielded by a black champron but Twilight could see the white glow of his eyes. His mane and tail were black and his hooves shone like obsidian.
Most amazingly of all, there was a being mounted on the alicorn's back. The being looked like a cloud of black mist that had been stuffed into crude leather armor. The being had only the vague outline of a head with long pointy ears. Two red pockets set in the face were its eyes, and when it opened its mouth Twilight could see rows of silver teeth as long as a dragon's claw. Strapped to its saddle was a large curved horn. In its right hand the rider wielded a double headed axe as big as Twilight herself.
The alicorn turned side long and the rider swiped its axe at Twilight's head. Twilight ducked and scooted backwards. The axe came down again and Twilight rolled, but not quick enough. The blade sliced her open from shoulder to belly. She screamed more from shock than pain, though the pain came quick and rendered her immobile. Twilight saw the gash in her side and watched blood pour out over her belly. The bright red fascinated her. She'd never seen so much blood before.
That's all me. That's my life.
She heard Pinkie scream behind her. Lazily she turned her head to see another alicorn stepping from amid the smoke and fire. This alicorn was another stallion, bright yellow with a red mane and tail. He too carried a shadow rider.
Twilight felt Pinkie's arms sliding under her own and then she was being dragged. The movement caused her wound to yawn open and she screamed wretchedly.
There was nowhere to go. The red alicorn was in front of them and the yellow one was behind them. Twilight was too dumbfounded to be afraid anymore.
The rider of the yellow alicorn spoke to the rider of the red alicorn. Its voice was deep and resonant like the growl of an ancient beast rumbling from a pit. Twilight could not understand the language but the sound of it made her shiver. The rider pointed to Twilight's horn as it spoke. The red alicorn rider shook its head and snapped a screeching reply.
"It's alright, Pinkie," Twilight said. "We're going to be alright." By which she meant to say that their deaths would surely be swift and not tortuous.
Pinkie Pie dropped Twilight and stood over her, looking back and forth between the two alicorns.
"Don't worry, I think I got this," she said.
Twilight looked up and saw the normally cheerful pony's determined expression and knew at once what Pinkie was thinking. Even in what could possibly be their last minutes of life, Pinkie Pie's cutie mark was urging her to try and make these demon horses smile.
"Hey!" Pinkie shouted at the red alicorn.
Suddenly the red alicorn was plucked from the ground like a doll and sent crashing into one of the burning trees. The tree snapped like a twig and the top portion came toppling down. Alicorn and rider both became pinned beneath the weight. The rider screamed and wailed so loudly that Twilight covered her ears.
Without a blink, Pinkie Pie turned and frowned at the yellow alicorn.
"Hey!" she shouted.
The yellow alicorn was blown straight up as though it had been standing on a geyser. Twilight watched the alicorn twisting to try and right itself as it flew up and up into the black night sky.
Pinkie Pie stood wide eyed and her ears fell in disbelief.
Twilight laid her head down. The blood loss was sapping her strength quickly.
"Best joke you've ever told, Pinkie," she said.
The red alicorn snorted as he struggled back to his feet. His rider hacked at the flaming branches with his axe and finally threw off the great mass of broken tree.
The rider screamed a terrible shrieking sound that echoed for miles. The alicorn started to charged but was stopped in his tracks by a powerful gust of wind. He glared up.
Princess Celestia descended through the canopy of fire and landed directly over Twilight and Pinkie Pie.
Twilight struggled to get to her feet. Without a word Celestia ducked her head and touched the tip of her nose to the wound in Twilight's belly. At once the pain began to fade and Twilight watched in awe as the fibers of skin and muscle sewed themselves together. When it was done there was only a bald strip where the gash had been.
"Sweet mother of Celestia!" Pinkie shouted.
Twilight's jaw dropped. Until that very moment she'd thought healing magic was nothing but a myth. Certainly there were small spells for aches and ailments. Any basic user of magic could master those. But the level of magic she had just witnessed was the kind that could regenerate lost limbs and make paralyzed ponies able to walk again.
The shadow rider narrowed its eyes.
"Celestia," it hissed, the word seething from between its teeth with slender curls of black smoke. The rider grabbed the horn hanging from its saddle and raised it to its mouth.
Instead of making any sound, the horn sucked out all sounds from the area. The lack of reverberations made everything seem very close. Time slowed. The air went still and stale. Twilight felt as though she were laying in a tomb that hadn't been opened in a thousand years. She could still hear, but every sound happened inside her skull- the crackle of the fire, the rustle of Celestia's wings, the brittle crunch of burned grass beneath her feet... Her body shivered from cold. She wasn't moving and yet she was falling away from the world. Invisible walls were closing in around her. Loneliness and fear bloomed in her chest. She was alone. No one could help her. No one could save her, not even Princess Celestia. She was going to die.
Then it was over. The rider lowered the horn.
Pinkie Pie clamped her arms around Twilight's neck. Twilight looked at the other pony and gasped at the haunted face staring back at her. Pinkie's eyes were wide with pupils the size of pin points. Tears streaked her face.
"Horror," Pinkie whispered.
There was no time for consolation. From the burning forest around them, shadows split open and dozens of alicorns marched forward. All of the alicorns were heavily armored. They ranged in color from red to black to yellow to purple to green to grey. On every alicorn was mounted a shadow rider. Half of the riders bore weapons. The other half bore coils of glowing golden rope.
Princess Celestia dropped to her knees over Twilight and Pinkie. Twilight laid flat on her belly and Pinkie pressed close to her side.
"Stay down," Celestia said. She spread her wings with a loud snap and then lowered them to shield the ponies beneath her. She ducked her head and her long horn glowed red.
The wind began to pick up. It swirled softly at first, nothing more than a breeze that ruffled Twilight's mane. Then the branches of the trees began to bow and sway. Clouds of embers were shaken free and drifted along with the steadily growing flurry. Twilight heard a dull crunch and looked up to see one of the trees toppling.
The alicorns had halted. Their riders raised their shields against flying debris. The riders were shouting things in their dark tongue and the combined noise made Twilight think of what Hell must sound like.
The wind became stronger still. Twilight shut her eyes and turned her face into Pinkie Pie's mane. Something ripped and crunched all around them. The sound of the cyclone had risen to a deafening roar. Beyond the roar Twilight could hear the screams of the alicorns and their riders.
"What's going on?" Pinkie Pie shouted.
"I don't know," Twilight yelled back. She was too afraid to open her eyes. How much louder was it going to get? How much longer was it going to last? She just wanted it to stop. She had never been so terrified in all her life. At any moment she was sure she was going to burst into tears, but that wouldn't do. Not in front of Princess Celestia. She had to be better than that.
Princess Celestia stood up and grabbed the ponies by their tails.
The next thing Twilight knew, she was sailing up into the air. She opened her eyes and watched as the dark earth fell away beneath her.
Dark earth?
Hadn't they just been in the middle of a raging forest fire?
Then Twilight looked around. The burning forest was churning and swirling around them. Princess Celestia was flying up through the eye of an enormous tornado. The eye alone must have been at least a mile wide. Caught up in the force of the cyclone Twilight could see the alicorns and the shadow riders. And the trees! There were so many trees. The whole forest must have been ripped up by its ancient roots.
"Watch out!" Pinkie pie screamed.
An alicorn had managed to break free from the wind storm and was swooping up straight towards them. Celestia rolled and narrowly managed to avoid it. The alicorn spread its giant wings and glided around in a circle, then came down for another approach. Its rider was twirling one of those golden ropes. A lasso.
The lasso shot straight by Celestia's head. Celestia glared at the rider. She slowed her descent long enough to aim her horn at the alicorn.
Twilight felt a sudden burst of heat and a red beam of energy blasted from Celestia's horn. The beam coiled around the alicorn and its rider like a serpent, then snapped in on itself. Alicorn and rider were shredded.
Ribbons, was all Twilight could think as she watched the bodies plummet to the earth. Celestia had turned them into ribbons of meat and bone.
Twilight threw up. Her head spun. Celestia was ascending again. She flew up out of the eye of the storm and leveled off. Below them Twilight stared at the giant tornado of fire. Beyond the tornado the earth was completely black except for other fires that dotted the landscape. One of those fires was Ponyville.
Celestia flew to the craggy peak of a mountain. In the side of the mountain was wide ledge where she alighted and dropped the ponies.
Twilight got to her feet. She felt nauseous and so weak she could barely stand.
"Princess," she said, but she could not think of anything else to say. She had so many questions, so many fears. Answers could wait. The only thing she really needed to hear now was that everything was going to be alright. This was a terrible nightmare but Princess Celestia could make it right.
But when Twilight looked at the Princess she didn't find the comforting smile she had hoped for. The Princess looked grim and cold. She was breathing heavily as she shoved off her royal adornments. The crown, peytral, and golden shoes ended up in a pile. The Princess shook out her long, flowing mane.
In the distance the fire storm had died. Twilight could hear the faint screams of the shadow riders and see the glow of their lassos. They were coming.
"Stay here," the Princess said. "You'll be safe." She lowered her head and nuzzled her nose against Pinkie Pie, then Twilight. "My ponies. My wonderful ponies," she whispered. "Be good."
And then she was gone, flying off into the night like a bright white comet.
Twilight paced the length of the ledge.
"We have to do something," she said. "We have to help her!"
Pinkie Pie sat away from the ledge. Her attention was fixated on Celestia's white glow currently arcing across the sky. Behind the white glow was a black swarm of alicorns.
"There's nothing we can do," Pinkie replied softly. "You saw those things."
"No. No." Twilight shook her head. "There must be something. Some spell or- Oh!" She whirled and looked at the other pony. "The Elements of Harmony!"
Pinkie's ears dropped. "The Elements of Harmony are back in Ponyville, you know that. And assuming that we're able to get there in time and actually find them..." She looked away.
Twilight's heart sank. Pinkie didn't have to say it. Neither of them knew if any of their friends were still alive. If they were missing even one member of their team, the Elements were useless.
A loud crack of lightning startled the ponies. Twilight looked and saw Celestia's light growing brighter and brighter.
"She's like a star," Pinkie whispered.
The light filled the sky as brightly as the sun. For a few brief moments the night turned to day and Twilight could see the army of alicorns surrounding the Princess. Then a white ring of light flashed out with a thunderous crack, and the star that was Princess Celestia plummeted towards the earth along with at least two hundred slain alicorns.
Celestia impacted the earth like a meteor and the sank the ground for miles like the hoofprint of an angry god. A concussion spread in all directions.
"Get down," Twilight said. She huddled with Pinkie and together they pressed themselves close to the cliff face. The blast reached them a few moments later. Wind swept over them. The whole mountain rumbled. Boulders were shaken free and tumbled down the cliff face. A portion of the ledge shattered and fell away.
Down below there was now a canyon surrounded by crude roils of earth.
Twilight got up.
"I'm not staying here," she said. "Not while Princess Celestia is in danger." When she had to tell the others what had happened, she wanted to be able to say she had tried.
She made her way to the ledge and carefully began to pick her way down the side. The slope wasn't too steep. In some places she was able to jump down from rock to rock and in other places she was able to slide down on her flank. Pinkie Pie followed her without a word.
Twilight had no plan. She was scared. If she and Pinkie were caught by one of those alicorns, it was all over. She didn't care. She wouldn't sit by while Princess Celestia faced an army of demon alicorns by herself.
By the time she reached the base of the mountain she was sweating and out of breath. She kept going.
The landscape was completely different now. Flat earth had been turned to mountains. Hills had been turned to valleys. Forests had been razed. Rivers had been over run.
The only thing Twilight could do was follow the sounds of the screaming riders. She crawled over and under fields of fallen trees and splashed through shallow lakes formed by redirected streams.
As she neared the canyon she started to see the bodies of fallen alicorns. Some of the bodies were crushed, others were burned and crispy. Some had been sliced open. Some had been cut completely in half. She soon realized that the puddles she splashed through were puddles of blood.
When she reached the edge of the canyon, Twilight looked for a way down. The canyon glowed orange from the light of burning trees still rooted in the earth of its walls. Alicorns circled above the canyon like vultures, and more alicorns were down in the canyon itself.
Twilight jumped down onto the horizontal trunk of an old oak tree and walked out as far as she dared. Down through the crackling branches she could see Princess Celestia surrounded by a tight circle of alicorns.
The Princess kicked and reared. Her glow was fading. She was tired. The shadow riders threw their lassos one after another. To Twilight they looked like black spiders shooting golden webs.
One lasso made it around Celestia's neck. Celestia grabbed the rope in her teeth and yanked the rider from its saddle. The rider disappeared in a swirl of black mist, then promptly reappeared right back on its alicorn.
Another lasso looped the Princess's neck. Another followed, and another. When Celestia reared again a rider got its lasso around her front legs. The rider tugged hard on the lasso and Celestia lost her footing and fell to her side.
As soon as the Princess was down, the shadow riders swarmed over her and combined to form a ravenous black cloud.
"No!" Twilight screamed.
Her feet moved before she could think about what she was doing. Mindless with fear, she jumped down from tree to tree. Princess Celestia could not lose. Equestria needed her. Twilight needed her.
The black cloud boiled around the Princess. Celestia struggled to rise above it but the lassos held her down. She tried to spread her wings, to kick her legs, to thrash her body so violently that the force would snap the ropes, all for naught. She screamed.
The sound chilled Twilight to the core. Princess Celestia wasn't supposed to fear anything, but that scream had been one of wild terror.
The cloud swallowed the Princess and then rolled in on itself and dispersed into nothing. Twilight skidded to a halt right where the Princess had laid.
Gone.
There was nothing. Twilight circled the spot. She toed the ground and sniffed the air.
Nothing.
The remaining alicorns turned and disappeared into shadowy slits in the air. The slits then dispersed just the same as the cloud.
Twilight had never felt so alone. Her mind raced but she couldn't think. She had to do something. She ran to the canyon wall. She had to get back to Ponyville.
No.
She stopped. She had to find the Princess.
She ran back to where Celestia had disappeared and started digging at the ground.
No, that wasn't right.
She circled again and looked around. The canyon was silent but for the crackling of the fires burning above her.
"Princess Celestia," she called. Her voice echoed. No one replied.
What do I do?
She kept expecting to wake up, but she knew she would not. She was already awake. This was real and time was still moving forward even without Princess Celestia in the world.
She sat down and stared at the ground. If there had been anything in her belly she would've thrown up again. Her vision blurred with tears.
What do I do?
"Twilight!"
She looked up to see an exhausted Pinkie Pie poking her head over the canyon's edge. Twilight sniffed and wiped at her eyes.
"Don't come down here, Pinkie," she said.
She didn't want to move. This was the last place where Princess Celestia had been. She could see the deep gouges in the earth from the Princess's struggles.
She pulled herself to her feet and slowly made her way to the canyon wall.
The climb was arduous. The canyon face was too steep for direct climbing so Twilight had to rely on the trees sticking out like spikes. It was a good thing Pinkie Pie had come along when she had. If Twilight had waited any longer, the fire would have eaten too many of the trees away.
When she reached the top, Pinkie Pie was there to grab her arm and pull her up.
"You raced off without me," Pinkie said, still trying to catch her breath.
"Sorry," Twilight replied, brushing past the other pony. "I panicked."
Pinkie Pie fell in beside her. "And Princess Celestia?"
Twilight looked away.
Don't make me talk about it. Don't make me think about it.
"Gone," she said.
Pinkie stopped as though she'd been struck.
"Gone?" she cried. "What do you mean gone? Princess Celestia can't be gone. She's Princess Celestia!"
"She's gone."
Twilight looked up at the stars. The night was clear and calm now. In the far distance she could see the fires of Ponyville. How many were still alive? How many would they be burying in the morning?
Then she remembered that there wasn't going to be a morning. Princess Celestia would not be there to raise the sun. And what of Princess Luna? Had the alicorns attacked her as well?
The magnitude of what had happened tonight was overwhelming. Princess Celestia was gone and Equestria had been destroyed. Had any cities been left untouched?
"Come on, Pinkie," Twilight said softly. "Let's get back to Ponyville."
The journey back to Ponyville took twice as long as it should have. There were no roads to follow anymore. Everywhere Twilight looked she saw nothing but vast plains of smoking ruin beneath the light of the full moon. She wasn't sure how much more she could take. Her body ached and she was exhausted, but her only choice was to keep going.
Pinkie Pie was silent the whole way. The formerly upbeat pony's mane and tail had gone as flat as Twilight's. The look on her face was more than sadness. Her gaze was haunted. There was something buried there, something Twilight had never seen before. She didn't like it, but she wasn't going to press the matter now. She had enough concerns on her plate.
Twilight tried to organize her priorities. When she got to Ponyville there were two things she absolutely had to account for: her friends and the Elements of Harmony.
She decided that she would begin at her home. There she would search for Spike and the Elements. Once she found either or both, she would search for Rarity who was the only other pony in their group besides herself and Pinkie Pie who resided directly in Ponyville. After she found Rarity she would head for Sweet Apple Acres to find Applejack, then she would search the ruined forest for Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash would be the most difficult one to account for. Rainbow Dash lived in the clouds and Twilight could only assume that the hot air balloon they used to visit her had been destroyed. She supposed she would just have to send Fluttershy to look instead.
Having a plan helped to calm her. She took a deep breath.
Only one worry at a time. I can do this.
Ponyville looked like the aftermath of a war zone. The fires had died down and the surviving ponies wandered the town like ghosts. They picked through the wreckage looking for lost items and lost loved ones. They worked in groups to clear away debris from the roads.
"What are we going to do?" Pinkie asked as they made their way over a large chunk of drywall. The drywall was wallpapered with a pink floral print and still had a couple of picture frames nailed to it.
Twilight had been asking herself the same question over and over.
"We're going to find our friends first," she replied. "Then we'll worry about the more trivial matters like food and basic medical care."
Her dry attempt at humor fell flat. Pinkie Pie was thoroughly sobered.
They were climbing over a fallen house tree when a passing mare spotted them and stopped.
"Pinkie Pie!" the mare gasped.
She was an older peach-colored pony with a white mane and tail. Her mane was pulled up in a messy bun. The mark on her flank was that of a heart with stitches around the edges. On her back she carried saddle bags filled with what looked like medical supplies.
Pinkie Pie jumped down from the tree trunk and the mare rushed to throw arms around her neck.
"Thank Celestia you're alright," the mare cried. "I've been watching one good pony after another turn up dead and I was almost certain you'd be one of them, what with your house being close to the center of town all."
Pinkie returned the mare's hug but gently.
"We're ok," she said, stepping back. "Twilight, this is Surgical Precision. She used to have a cosmetic surgery clinic in Manehatten."
The mare turned to Twilight. "Oh, you're Twilight Sparkle? Aren't you the one who knows the Princess?"
"That's right," Twilight replied slowly.
Surgical Precision's blue eyes lit up. "Is that where you're coming from? Is the Princess coming here? Is she going to send help? Were any other cities attacked or was it just Ponyville?"
Pinkie opened her mouth to reply but Twilight spoke ahead of her. "We don't know."
The mare frowned. "The Princess hasn't said anything at all? We have ponies dying here, doesn't she know that? We need help!"
"I'm sure she's aware of what's happened," Twilight said, choosing her words carefully. "But we just don't have any information right now."
"Well isn't that a peach. Ponyville gets attacked by a horde of fire breathing alicorns and the Princess just leaves us all in the dark!" The doctor shook her head. "We don't have time to stand around waiting for her. We've set up a hospital in the middle of town and we need all the help we can get. You girls look like you're in pretty good shape. Can you spare your hooves to help?" She looked at the ponies hopefully.
"Oh," Pinkie started and then dropped her eyes to the ground. "Twilight here could help, but I don't know anything about how to care for injuries or anything like that."
The doctor's look softened. "Don't you worry about that. We already know we're not going to be able to save all the ponies who get to us. The ponies know it too. The kind of help those ponies need is the kind that you especially can provide."
Twilight looked at Pinkie Pie who toed at the ground. She didn't know whether to encourage Pinkie to go with Surgical Precision or not. Pinkie already looked so miserable, but one of the things that had always cheered the laughter pony in the past was her ability to make others smile. Perhaps it would be good for her. Surgical Precision was right. They needed smiles and laughter as badly as they needed bandages and gauze right now.
"Maybe you should go with her," Twilight said. "I can keep looking for the others."
Pinkie looked at Twilight and then at Surgical Precision. Twilight could see her shoulders visibly slump.
"Alright. I can go," Pinkie said.
"Wonderful," the doctor replied, smiling. "Follow me, and quickly now!" She turned and trotted off down a narrow trail between a giant pile of splintered wooden beams and the remains of another toppled tree home.
Twilight hugged Pinkie Pie. "Be careful, ok? I'll meet you at the hospital later."
"I don't feel like smiling at all," said Pinkie. "How am I supposed to get others to do it when I can't even do it myself?"
"You'll be ok. You're a familiar face to every pony in Ponyville. They'll be happy to see you."
Pinkie nodded. She turned to catch up with the doctor but Twilight stopped her with a hoof to her shoulder.
"And Pinkie Pie," Twilight said.
Pinkie paused and looked.
Twilight glanced around and then in a low voice she said, "Don't say anything about what happened to the Princess. We don't need widespread panic on top of all this."
Pinkie Pie nodded. "Ok."
Twilight continued through the town alone. The going was not easy because ponies kept approaching her to ask the same questions about what had happened and what Princess Celestia planned to do about this mess.
Every pony in Ponyville knew that Twilight was the Princess's student, and they assumed that meant Twilight was privy to all kinds of information. The truth was that the Princess only ever conferred with Twilight over matters of friendship, magic, and the Elements of Harmony when it was important. Twilight didn't know anything about the things she was most commonly asked about like proposed laws, tax rates, or some pony's current legal proceedings, and she didn't know anything about what had happened tonight.
At one point a group of five ponies formed a circle around her and wouldn't let her move until they had thoroughly interrogated her. Around the circle the ponies went, firing their questions.
"Our homes are gone," one pony shouted. "What are we going to do?"
"When is the princess going to send help?" asked the next pony.
"What if those things come back? Where are we supposed to go?"
"Was it Discord again?"
"Was it Nightmare Moon?"
"You're good with magic. Can you fix any of this?"
"Do you know any healing spells at all?"
Twilight had never felt so useless as she looked at the angry faces around her.
"I don't...uh...I wasn't...I don't know," she stammered. She was so physically and mentally drained that she couldn't think of anything else to say. "I don't know." Her ears fell back in shame. She was supposed to be the smart pony who always had an answer. She was supposed to be a leader, but she was just as lost and uncertain as all of them.
Her uncertainty only angered the ponies further. They began to shout all at once and finally Twilight had to force her way through them. The ponies followed her for a short distance and then gave up. She could not help them and they had more urgent matters to attend to.
Eventually Twilight made it back to the tree that had once been her home.
There was nothing left of the tree but a big charred stump laid on its side. The entire block was unrecognizable under all the wreckage. Her personal effects littered the area. Ruined books were strewn everywhere, their pages fluttering like broken bird wings.
Twilight picked up a few of the better looking books and stacked them.
"Spike," she called softly.
No reply.
She tried to think back to when the fireball had hit her home. She had been fast asleep and then there had been that explosion. She had rolled out of bed and seen fire all around her. Spike should have been right there. She should have seen him then, but she hadn't.
From the remains of her home Twilight recovered a few books that were still readable. There were also some photos she'd kept in a metal box, and her saddle bags. The leather bags were stiff and slightly blackened from the fire but they could still hold things.
Twilight donned the saddle bags and tucked in the photos she'd found. She continued to search the area for the Elements of Harmony. They shouldn't have been difficult to find. She had kept the Elements locked in a large golden chest on the first level of her home. When the tree had been knocked over, the chest likely would have been dumped out along with most everything else.
Twilight searched through the piles of burned rubbish but found no trace of the golden chest, or Spike for that matter
After nearly an hour of searching, she had to sit down.
Breathe.
She was so weary. She couldn't handle the thought of Spike being dead, or the Elements being lost.
What do I do? What CAN I do?
"Spike is alive," she whispered. "He is alive until I see him dead."
Spike was a smart dragon. He would have found a way to get out of the tree before it collapsed.
But it collapsed so fast. I should have looked for him then. I should have made sure he was alright, but instead I ran to save my own skin.
She forced herself to stop thinking about it. She could not change what she had done, but neither could she change the feeling of guilt in her heart.
The Elements of Harmony were another concern. What if the Elements were gone? No, that was silly. They couldn't be gone. They were lost but they had to be SOMEWHERE. Things don't just disappear into thin air.
The memory of Princess Celestia's terrified scream made Twilight gasp. She shuddered.
"The Elements are not right here," she told herself. "But they are somewhere. I will find them, but first I will find my friends."
She had made a plan. Sticking to that plan was the only thing that could keep her together right now.
Rarity's boutique looked like it had taken a direct hit from a fire ball. The building was still standing but had been thoroughly burned. Half of the roof had caved in.
In front of the boutique there was a mare gathering shards of broken pottery into a crate.
Twilight approached the pony and said, "Excuse me. I'm looking for a pony named Rarity. Have you seen her? She lived in this boutique."
The pony stopped what she was doing and looked at Twilight. She was a raspberry red pony with a silver mane and tail. The mark on her flank was a pitcher pot. She wore a broken pair of glasses with small rectangular lenses.
"Rarity?" the pony asked. "She's outside of town that way. Just follow those two." She pointed at a couple of large stallions dragging a canvas tarp behind them. Piled on the tarp were the dusty, mangled bodies of three ponies. One of the ponies was missing both of his hind legs. Another one was missing an eye. The remaining eye stared at Twilight as the stallions passed.
Twilight's mouth went dry and she swallowed reflexively.
"Are you telling me...I mean, she's not..."
The red pony blinked at Twilight, then her eyes widened.
"Oh, no! No, no. Rarity's alive." She chuckled nervously. "When they first started pulling bodies out they were piling them here in this intersection because it was the most open area. I guess Rarity couldn't stand the sight of it anymore. She went ballistic and took charge of the whole operation! The last pony to set a body down here got his ass zapped by a thousand volt blast from her horn."
Twilight didn't know whether to feel relief at knowing Rarity was alive, or concern over what she was apparently doing. She stared at the pony in disbelief. "Rarity? Taking charge of body disposal?"
The pony shrugged. "I didn't question it. I'm just glad she did it. They were talking about burning the bodies right here in a bon fire to save time."
"Oh." Twilight cringed. "Well, thank you."
"Anytime."
Twilight trotted to catch up with the stallions who wearily pulled their load through one of the narrow trails that had been made through the town. She followed them out of Ponyville to a field a little over a mile away.
In the middle of the field, moonlight shined pale blue on the backs of three ponies who were busy digging a long trench. Adjacent to the trench were rows upon rows of dead ponies. The bodies had all been laid carefully on their right sides. There was enough space between the rows to allow ponies to move along them and search for loved ones. Near the flank of each body was a little floating ball of light to illuminate the pony's mark.
The stallions stopped at the end of the bottom row and unhooked their pull ropes from the tarp. Twilight stood back and watched them. Both stallions took a corner of the tarp in their mouths and together they heaved upward to roll the three dead bodies off.
"I say," shouted a distinctly proper voice. "You two!"
Twilight looked and saw Rarity ambling their way from the other end of the long row. Rarity's left hind leg was wrapped from hoof to hock with a bloody bandage. Her white coat was grey with dust and half of her tail had been burned off. Her mane was dirty and unkempt and there were dark circles under her eyes. A paper and quill floated along behind her.
Rarity trotted straight up to the two stallions. The stallions were so tall that she had to crane her head back to look them in the eyes.
"What did I tell you about dumping bodies like that?" she snapped. "You bring them here and you WAIT for me to lay them in line with the others. Do you understand? It's wretched enough that this is a mass grave. We don't have to treat these ponies like the fallout of a prison camp!"
One of the stallions flattened his ears.
"If you wanna move these bodies then maybe you should make it a point to be ready when we get here," he said. "We don't have time to wait on you. Have you even been to the hospital? There were twelve bodies waiting when we left and it'll double by the time we get back."
"I beg your pardon, sir, but these ponies had names and families. If you're too tired to take the time to do this right then don't even bother! I'll find someone else to help."
The stallion glared. "You're taking way too long with this, Rarity. You're treating this like it's some fancy dinner table you're setting. These are dead, rotting bodies! We need to get them in the ground!"
Rarity slapped the stallion so hard she knocked his head into the other stallion.
"I'll bury every single one of these ponies myself if I have to," she cried. "But I'll be damned before I stand by and watch you treat them like sacks of garbage. Now take your tarp and leave!"
The stallion lowered his face to Rarity's level. "You better watch yourself."
Rarity's horn began to glow.
"Keep looking at me like that and I'll have your eyes out," she hissed.
The second stallion put an arm in front of his friend. "Come on, Luck. Leave her alone. We need to get back."
The stallions gathered their tarp and headed back toward the town.
Rarity turned to the three dumped bodies and used her magic to lift the one off the top of the pile. The body was that of a young cream colored stallion with a green and black mane. Rarity turned the body onto its right side in the air and then gently lowered it into position at the end of the row. She closed the pony's eyes and tucked his front hooves together. At last she sparked a little blue ball of light to hover by his flank.
"Let's see here," she muttered. "A comb and a pair of scissors." She brought around the paper and quill that had been hovering behind her and made a note of the mark.
Twilight stepped forward slowly. "Rarity?"
Rarity looked at Twilight and was silent for a moment. Then her eyes went wide.
"Twilight!" The quill and paper dropped. Rarity rushed at Twilight and threw her arms around her neck. "Oh thank Celestia you're alright! I was so worried!"
Twilight returned the hug. "I'm alright. Pinkie Pie's ok too. We fled the town as soon as...things started happening. I'm sorry we didn't look for you. There wasn’t any time to do anything but run."
Rarity laid her head against Twilight's neck and Twilight could feel her shaking.
"Don't give that a second thought,” Rarity said. “I can't tell you how relieved I am to see you. Every time those brute stallions came back with their tarps I would think to myself 'Who is it going to be this time? Is it going to be another one of my friends?' There have been too many already. But oh, here you are!" She pawed over Twilight's face as though reassuring herself that she was not dreaming.
Twilight managed a small grin. "Is Sweetie Belle ok?"
"Yes, she's fine and so is that little friend of hers, Scootaloo. I don't know about Apple Bloom, or Applejack for that matter." Rarity dropped back. She gazed out over the rows of bodies with their hovering balls of light. "I haven't had a chance to go look for anyone. I mean everything happened so fast. One minute I'm wrapped up in my fine satin sheets. Then the town is burning and I'm being chased by some awful alicorn. And then when I think it's over, I'm watching bodies pile up on my doorstep. I just..." She looked at Twilight, her eyes beginning to glisten with tears. "Is this really happening? Am I really here doing this? There's just so much that I don't know what to feel. I don't know what to do! Has the Princess contacted you yet? What were those monsters that attacked us? Why is this happening?"
Those same questions again. Twilight wanted to tell Rarity about what had happened to Princess Celestia, but there would've been no point to it. Rarity couldn't do anything about it and she was shouldering too many emotional burdens already.
"I don't have answers for any of this right now, but I will soon," Twilight said. She slipped an arm around Rarity's shoulders. "In the meantime we just need to focus on getting this mess cleaned up. You're doing great work here. You really are the Element of Generosity."
Rarity wiped at her eyes and pushed Twilight's arm off of her. "Oh, don't give me that, Twilight Sparkle. Admit it! You're amazed to find me out here doing this. I know it." She began to pace, hobbling awkwardly with her injured leg. "And don't go thinking I'm not disgusted by all this, because I AM disgusted. I HATE these bodies! I think they're the nastiest things I've ever had to deal with in my life. I hate blood and dirt and grime and foul smells and everything else about this. I swear I'm going to have nightmares for the rest of my life."
"If it bothers you so much, why are you out here doing this? Are you sure you're alright?"
Rarity lifted another one of the bodies that had been dumped. This was the body missing both of its hind legs. Frayed flaps of skin hung over what remained of the fat and muscle. She laid the body like the others.
"I'm not alright, Twilight," she said. Her mouth was drawn up as tight as a draw string purse as she sparked a light to try and make out the pony's cutie mark. Half of the mark was on a portion of the torn skin. She had to use the tip of her hoof to straighten the skin enough to make out what the mark was. It was a honeybee in a bee hive. "I'm doing this because it's important to consider how we proceed going forward. There's a certain procedure to these sorts of things, you know? That stallion was right. I'm treating this like it's some fancy dinner party. You know why? Because without procedure or ceremony, death is just death."
"I understand," Twilight said softly. "It's nice of you to take the time to do something like this for so many ponies you don't even know."
Rarity scoffed as she arranged the corpse of the pony with the missing eye. The pony was a speckled blue and white unicorn mare with a mark of a corkscrew.
"You would think," she replied. "I mean, what I said to those stallions about all these ponies having names and families...It was the right thing to say but the truth is that it's going to be impossible to avoid stacking them like lumber in that grave when the time comes."
She rolled up her paper and tucked the quill inside of it. Twilight followed her as she walked down the row. "These ponies all deserved so much better! They deserved to be mourned individually, but if we did that we'd be having funerals until next year. There are over two hundred bodies here now, and there will probably be at LEAST two hundred more before it’s all over. And the worst part about all this..." She stopped and looked at Twilight, her face taut with frustration. "There is simply no time to grieve! All I want to do is run off and cry myself into exhaustion but I can't. I can't leave these ponies, Twilight. There are whole families laying dead here and no one else is going to take the time to give them a dignified send off. Why is that? Why am I the only one who ever cares about doing things the nice and proper way? If Applejack were in charge of burying these bodies she would've happily dumped them straight into the hole and been done with it three hours ago."
Twilight leaned against her.
"You're not the only one who cares. You're just one of the few who are strong enough to do it."
Rarity laughed weakly. "I don't feel strong at all. Every minute I'm wishing for another pony to come along say 'I can take it from here, Rarity. I have everything under control.' But you know even if that did happen, I wouldn't leave because I wouldn't trust any other pony to do things right."
"I still need to account for Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash. When I'm finished I'll come back and help you, ok? You shouldn’t have to do all this by yourself."
"That would mean a lot to me. Oh! And before I forget..." Rarity handed Twilight her rolled up paper. "This is only one of the pages I have, but do you think you could take it to Pinkie Pie? She knows every pony in Ponyville and I need to match these marks with the names that go with them."
Twilight took the paper and slipped it into one of her saddle bags.
"I'll hold onto it,” she said. “But I don't think it would be a good idea to ask Pinkie Pie to do that just yet. She's going through a lot right now."
"We all are, darling. None of us are going to be the same after this. The world isn't going to be the same. Didn't you see that enormous tornado of fire? Ponies are saying all the rivers and forests in Equestria are probably gone!"
Twilight didn’t want to think about the rest of Equestria right now. Ponyville alone had overwhelmed her. She turned and waved a hoof to Rarity.
“I’ll be back soon,” she said.
Rarity picked up her quill and trotted back across the field of bodies.