Guardian

CHAPTER 8 – HINDCAST

“Figures that the rain would stop as soon as we leave.” Spike kicked a rock in frustration as the group traveled down the road to Fluttershy's cottage.

“Beats flying with wet wings,” Rainbow Dash happily drifted over the group at a casual pace, swirling and spinning in the air subconsciously due to her overactive body.

“Ah hope that Fluttershy's alright,” Applejack tilted her hat slightly to bar the bright and unhindered sunlight from blinding her, “Ah'm sure that the wind must've scared her somethin' good. Them critters probably weren't none too happy neither.”

“I'm sure she handled it just fine,” Rarity began, “Besides, what's the worst that could have happened with her home surrounded by all of those trees- Oh my!”

The group stopped in shock as they turned the corner into a clearing and were met by the sight of Fluttershy's cottage – practically in pieces. The roof had nearly been blown off completely, the door was missing, the bird feeders that could normally be seen outside the home were gone entirely, and the bridge leading across the creek was completely shattered and randomly-strewn in parts around the area.

“Oh no! The whole place got torn apart!” Twilight's voice became filled with fear for her friend. Fluttershy's home was somewhat south of Ponyville, so she had originally thought that the cottage would be safe from the winds. However, she failed to take into account that the trees around the house created something of a trap for the wind, which most likely had ricoched off of the trees behind the house and recoiled back upon the backside of the cottage.

“Well, at least the chicken coop's in one piece.” Spike pointed over to the coop – high up in a nearby tree. The chickens seemed to be just fine, though they were stuck up too high to get down without harming themselves.

“Rainbow,” Twilight began with an authoritative tone, “Fly up there and get the chicken coop down. We need to see if Fluttershy is alright.”

Nodding her head, Rainbow Dash took off up towards the tree as the rest of the group jumped the creek and headed up to the entrance of the house. Entering the unbarred doorway, the ponies took in the sight of the wrecked inside of the house.

“Fluttershy, dear,” Rarity called out, “Are you okay? Are you in here?”

A faint whimper caught their attention, the group turning to a pile of random objects over a quivering blanket. Twilight walked to the objects and cleared them away with her magic, then lifted the blanket up. Beneath the cloth was an abundance of small animals and a yellow pegasus with a pink mane, all quite shaken by the storm.

“Are you okay, Fluttershy?”

“Is... Is it over?” The yellow pony whispered quietly in fear.

“Yeah, it's all over now. You can come out.”

Angel was the first one to oblige, hopping out quickly and stretching his long ears, wiggling his poofy tail as well. Slowly, Fluttershy calmed the animals and allowed them to scurry out to their chosen destinations.

“It all happened so quickly... All I could do was gather all of the animals I could under the blanket. Oh... I hope the birds and chickens are okay...”

“The chicken coop's in a tree.” Spike's nonchalant statement instantly drew irritated response from the group, save for Fluttershy.

“What!” The yellow pegasus quickly darted into the air and flew towards the doorway, crashing into a cyan figure that was making her way into the cottage.

“Geeze, what's with you?” Dash rubbed her head as she sat up on the floor.

“Oh, Dashie, I'm sorry... Are the chickens okay?” Obviously not truly concerned for Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy's worry continued to rise and gather the longer she stayed inside of her broken house.

“Yeah, yeah, they're fine.” Rainbow Dash moved out of the way slightly to show the chicken coop outside placed randomly on the ground. The chickens ran about in a delayed terror, having not been able to during the storm.

“Oh!” Fluttershy darted past the cyan pony to tend to the frightened chickens. As soon as her form left the cottage, Spike's eyes widened and he let out a green flaming burp, complete with a rolled-up scroll.

“What's this?” Twilight caught the letter with magic before it hit the ground, “A letter from Princess Celestia...” The mulberry unicorn unraveled the letter and began reading, her eyes widening in shock as she let out a gasp.

“What happened?” Applejack quickly moved over next to Twilight, followed by the other members of the group.

“The Crystal Empire is under attack by an unknown force,” Twilight summarized, “The shield was taken down from around the city... The Crystal Heart was destroyed!”

“What!” Dash's scream was followed by her snagging the letter for herself and reading it aloud, “The barrier of the Crystal Empire, along with the Crystal Heart, have been destroyed by an unknown power. Shining Armor, Prince of the Crystal Empire, has gone... missing? Missing!”

“My brother is in trouble?” Twilight allowed her shock to further claim her, “What? What happened? What's going on?”

“Do you think that this has anything to do with that cloud you said you saw earlier?” Rarity asked with horror.

“It might be related to that storm just a few minutes ago.” Applejack added.

“I don't know...” Twilight held her head with a hoof as she became more and more confused and shocked, “Is there anything else?”

“No,” Rainbow Dash began, “Nothing but a distress call. 'Please send the Elements of Harmony as soon as possible, the Crystal Empire is on the verge of failure with no defense.' This sounds really bad.”

“Ah just don't get it.” Applejack started with irritation, “How could the Crystal Heart be broken like that? It's one'a the strongest magical items in all of Equestria. Not even Sombra could've overcome it.”

“I risk my life for that thing and it gets broken. Go figure.” Spike crossed his arms in an attempt to cover his fear with irritation.

“This is serious, Spike.” Twilight suddenly overcame her despair and began planning, “The Elements are probably our only hope right now. Spike, take a letter of reply.”

Before he could grab a sheet of parchment off of the floor to begin writing, Spike burped up another letter. Applejack quickly caught the page and opened it up, the group gathering around her to see what was on the page. Shock and horror filled them once more as they read what was on it.