Broken Harmony

Cannot stop.

Cannot turn back.

The frayed wings of a once proud rainbow blow in the winds of regret

The Crystal Empire, or rather what's left of it. Why did I come here? It's all ruins now. No Cadence. No Shining Armor. No Crystal Heart. Not a single damn thing left.

And it's all your fault.

Shut up! It wasn't... I mean.... I didn't want it to be.

Hm? I looked up to the clouds to see it was raining. Rain. Was I crying? I can't even tell. I remember when the rain used to mean something to me. To everypony. A rainbow always followed the rain, but now I'm not so sure. My eyes stung. Was I really crying?

Your fault.

Yeah. It was.

I looked to the ruined buildings around me as I walked through the ruined empire. Hard to believe anypony ever lived here, but they did. I saw them. Hay, I even knew most of them. I sighed. Now's not the time to wallow in my self pity. I need to keep moving. The alicorn's forces will be following me.

//SNAP//

I stopped in an instant as my wings flared at the sound. I quickly turned my head in search of the source of the sound. Left. Right. Nothing. I sighed and gave a little smile. Come on, Rainbow. Stop being so jumpy, I chuckled; the rain still pouring down my face as I broke into a soft laugh. Or was I still crying? I bet Pinkie Pie would start planning a 'Turn that frown upside down' party the moment she saw me. She did always like making me laugh. I looked up to the rain and closed my eyes, silent. I remained that way for a few moments before my thoughts broke my temporary peace, and I looked back down to the ground.

Keep moving. They're coming.

Right. Gotta keep moving. Against the rain. My gaze returned to the cloudy sky above. I doubt even a rainbow would show.

I shook my body, my armor making a bit of noise, but not enough to carry more than a few feet in the rain. I felt my wings unfold against my sides and open up before giving a few practice beats and lifting my body into the sky.

The rain and wind pushed against my body. Even with the armor, I was unable to break the sound barrier. I sighed, but quickly regretted it as I got a mouthful of rainwater. I choked and coughed it up and quickly shook my head clear. Guess I was right about there being no rainbow in the rain, I thought, smiling weakly.

The Crystal Empire, or rather the Crystal Ruins were now long behind me. I hadn't known I would end up there. I just wanted to get away from Hope. I followed my instincts, and they brought me straight to the Crystal Empire. It was the first to fall.

The Crystal Empire.

6 Years Ago.

"Rainbow Dash!", Twilight called to the pegasus hovering above. "I need you to take out as many changelings in the air as you can. Can you do that?"

The rainbow maned cerulean pegasus nodded and saluted before taking to the sky.

"Pinkie", The unicorn turned to the bright pink earth pony who was smiling brightly. "I need you to man the cannons on the walls, but be careful. These aren't filled with a party."

Pinkie nodded and giggled. "Well of course, silly filly! I know they're real cannons!"

Twilight rolled her eyes and remained silent. Pinkie smiled as she got the hint and bounded to the castle walls.

"Look at you being a little leader.", came a soft and reassuring voice.

Twilight turned and immediately smiled at her step-sister, best friend, and old foalsitter Princess Cadence. "Well, somepony has to be in charge. Might as well be me." Twilight's smile faded as she noticed the strained look in her sisters' eyes. She wouldn't last any longer. This wasn't like when King Sombra attacked. The Crystal Heart was proving to be useless against this new foe.

Cadence smiled weakly and embraced Twilight in a hug. "It'll all be over soon."

Rainbow Dash had already begun her work as she noticed the shield surrounding the Crystal Empire beginning to crumble. There was only one explanation, but she pushed that thought to the back of her head and flew straight into the oncoming army of changelings when there was a bright flash of red and everything turned black.

The first betrayal.

Maybe if I hadn't just flown straight into the fight like that. Maybe the empire would still be standing. Maybe Cadence and Shining would still be around. If I hadn't have been a stupid idiot, then everything would have turned out differently.

You betrayed them. You did this. You destroyed the empire.

Then a bright flash of lightning flooded my vision.

The Crystal Empire

6 Years Ago. Sometime after the fall.

The empire was empty. The homes were nothing but blocks of shattered crystal. The bodies of ponies lay everywhere. The castle itself, once a beacon of light, love, and hope, was simply gone. Turned to dust, and all who dwelled within, by the power of the mysterious alicorn.

A pegasus stood before the mound of crystal sand. She wore no expression as she saw what had happened when she was knocked out of the fight so early on. Twilight had told her that Cadence and Shining were in there when it was disintegrated. They were gone, and it was all her fault.

I awoke within a cave. When did I fall asleep? It suddenly hit me, no pun intended, that I was in pain. My body ached and it hurt to move. There was a fire next to me, and somepony was sitting beside it. I couldn't really make them out through the flames, but I could tell it was a unicorn and I thought I could see some purple fur through the dancing reds and yellows. Twilight?

Twilight?!

"T-Twilight?", was all I could sound out. My voice was dry and raspy. But it seemed to have gotten her attention.

My vision began to blur as she moved around the flame and stood infront of me. Twilight Sparkle. She was here with me. I gave a weak smile as she kissed my forehead, painfully, but I suddenly realized that my head hurt and that the world was getting darker. She tried whispering something to me, but I couldn't hear through the haze now clouding my head. She gave one last kiss to my forehead and walked out of the cave before I blacked out completely.

"Twilight?!", I shot up from the cave floor and looked around. The remnants of the fire were there, but Twilight wasn't. I looked to the cave floor and only saw one pair of hooves. Was I dreaming the whole thing?

//Clack//

It took a moment for the sound to register as a small rock falling before I put out the fire with a quick flap of my wings and slowly went down to my stomach. Somepony was out there. Did they find me? No, the rain would have masked my scent. And the visibility was too low for me to have a tail.

//Coughcough//

Were they coughing? Not very sneaky.

"R-Rainbow Dash...", came a familiar, but weakened, voice. "I know you're here". Gilda coughed a few more times before collapsing at the cave entrance.

Gilda? Why was she here? She should have been dead! I... I left her. Was she being mind controlled? Was she hear the kill me? Was she acting?

She's dangerous. Kill her.

She's my friend. She needs my help!

She'll kill you. Kill her first.

I... I don't know.

My mind was fighting with itself. An internal debate of literal life and death. I could only watch as my body moved on it's own to stand over Gilda, my oldest friend. I could only watch as I raised my hoof and brought it down to bear on her head.

Loyalty, indeed.