A White Stallion

"Well, I got nothing." said Twilight after a while of levitating various books in front of her face and quickly scanning them one by one. "How much time has passed?"

"Exactly 10 hours, 10 minutes, 20 seconds, and 10 milliseconds." said Pinkie Pie. "And I can't find anything either."

"Well, girls." said Twilight. "I think we should take a break." She turned to Spike. "Any word from the Princess?"

"In the words of Bic Mac, 'nnope.'" Spike replied.

"Well, I think that's it for today." said Twilight as she collapsed into a chair. "Still, what Rade said bothers me. He said that I should go to where he is, and that I should go as soon as possible. What do you think he'd do if I didn't go?"

"Ah don't even wanna think about it." replied Applejack. "But I wouldn't worry about it for now. Let's just call it a day. I got lot's of apples to buck in the mornin'. I should get goin' now. Night, Twi." Applejack tipped her hat and let herself out the door.

"And I really have to take care of my animals. Um. Good night, Twilight." Fluttershy waved awkwardly before letting herself out the door as well.

"And I have to babysit the Cake's kids again. Night, Twilight!" said Pinkie before she left.

"Good night, girls." Twilight said as she waved Pinkie goodbye.

"Well, Spike. I'm off to bed. Good night." She ascended the stairs and slid carefully into bed. Spike slid himself into his own bed.

"Good night Spike." said Twilight as she drifted off into sleep. Spike didn't reply. He was already asleep by the time his head hit the pillow.

Despite all that had currently happened, Twilight slept relatively well that night. That is, until somepony started banging on the door, which woke her up.

"A visitor?" Twilight asked out loud. "I wonder who that could be." She made her way down the stairs and to the front door, her hoof reaching out to open the door.

Upon opening the door, Twilight saw Pinkie Pie, with panic streaked across her face.

"Twilight!" said Pinkie as she grabbed Twilight by the hooves and started dragging her outside.

"Pinkie, what's wrong?!" Twilight asked Pinkie.

"No time to explain!"

Twilight knew this was serious, because Pinkie's mane was down, and she was clearly trying not to break down into tears and cry hysterically.

"Can you at least tell me what's wrong?" Twilight asked again.

After dragging Twilight into the center of town, Pinkie abruptly stopped in her tracks. "That!" Pinkie screamed and then finally broke down in tears.

And then Twilight noticed something. She saw a peculiar crowd of curious ponies walking to the source of the hubbub, and then running away crying. Some ponies stayed and continued to stare with shocked expressions on their faces. Twilight started walking closer to the crowd to see for herself what the commotion was about. What she saw would be burned into her retinas forever.

She saw Fluttershy, disemboweled, her wings bent and broken at hideous angles, blood pooled around her body, and one of her eyes dangling out of it's socket. Patches of blood spatter could be seen on her fur, and one ear had been cut off.

Twilight could only gasp and choke back tears at what she saw. But she regained composure just long enough to see a note on the ground. She picked it up and read it.

"You stole my innocence, and now I've stolen yours. Want to waste more time? Be my guest." it read. Her innocence? He must have been talking about Fluttershy. She was the beacon of innocence that everybody knew and loved. The shy, timid one that was practically afraid of her own shadow, one of the few innocent ones left in this world....gone...forever. Twilight knew she couldn't waste any more time, but she couldn't bring up the courage to face Rade. She quietly cursed herself for being so cowardly.

Twilight couldn't hold her tears back anymore. She let them flow freely....just as the blood from Fluttershy's corpse still flowed.

"Somepony...anypony..." Twilight cried out as she outstretched her arms and closed her eyes.

Twilight's arms finally managed to grab hold of somepony, and she didn't care who it was, just the fact it was somepony to hold and somepony whose shoulder she could cry into. The pony she was holding held her back and cried into her shoulder as well, and for a while, they stayed that way.

"Twi." the other pony said in between sobs. Twilight immediately recognized it as Applejack. "Stay with me tonight. Please. I already talked to Pinkie. She's staying, too. She's already at Sweet Apple Acres."

"B-but." stammered Twilight. "What about Rainbow Dash and Rarity?"

"They're staying at the Carousel Boutique."

"Ok."

They cried a little while longer, until finally Applejack regained some semblance of composure and started to half-drag, half-lead Twilight to the farm.

"Wait." Twilight said after they were halfway to Sweet Apple Acres. "I almost forgot about Spike!"

"Let's go get 'im." said Applejack as they made their way to the Library.

Spike was still asleep, and still in one piece, thankfully. Twilight used her to magic to levitate Spike out of bed and onto her back. She attempted to balance Spike's bed as well, but Applejack took it and said "I got it."

"Thanks, Applejack." Twilight said gratefully.

"No problem, Twi. You ready yet?"

"Yeah."

The walk to Sweet Apple Acres was mostly uneventful. Both Applejack and Twilight were very quiet the whole way through. As soon as they arrived, Twilight tucked Spike into bed and then went into a seperate room with AJ, Apple Bloom and Pinkie.

For a moment, Twilight wondered if Apple Bloom knew what happen, but when she saw her tear-streaked face, she knew. They all curled up next to each other and cried to sleep.