A door swings open casting light into a rickety stairway. Out of nowhere, a small filly is hurled into the darkness. On her way down, she bounced off the stairs several times making muffled sounds of pain. A voice shouted angrily from the doorway when the filly reached the bottom, "And if I even hear so much as a single, bucking, whine come from anywhere near here, I'll make it so your horn never grows back!" With that, the door slammed shut and was locked from the other side leaving the basement stairs drenched in total darkness.

The filly had just laid there for a few moments. The pain sharper pain was slowly ebbing away as she caught her breath. They way she was breathing, it was obvious she was crying. Her eyes opened slowly, blinking away tears, adjusting to the dark room. She stood up cautiously, wiping her eyes. Her body ached a little, but it wasn't as bad as the pain from her forehead. Then with outstretched hooves, she felt her way around searching for the wall. At last, her hoof touched it. It was damp and smelled of mold, but she didn't care. She followed it to a corner of the room. She slid down the wall, bringing her legs to her chest shivering. Tears began streaming down her face as the cold began to set in.

After a while, she wiped her face. With all the gentleness she could, the filly lightly touched the spot where her horn would be. She winced in pain. Biting her lip, she felt all the area around it. The unicorn's horn was now a tender stump. She wrapped her forlegs around her body and shivered against the cold wall.

In as small a voice as she could, the young unicorn whispered, "If anypony is listening right now..." She swallowed hard trying to get rid the taste of iron in her mouth. "I need help."

"If you can... *sniff* S-send somepony to help," she started wiping her eyes again. "Send someone -hic- w-who is strong, an' brave, and..." She stopped when she heard movement from above. She closed her eyes, motionless until she knew it was gone. "...s-send somepony... like a firemane, or a Wonderbolt-" The unicorn held her breath, as the hoofsteps on the wooden floor above stopped. They were directly underneth her. Her body stung with shivering cold and bruises, but she dare not even think. She could hear her heartbeat pulsating in her throat.

At last, the hoofsteps trotted off in another direction. The mare let out a silent sigh. "But, also let it be somepony whose nice..." she whispered rubbing her sides for warmth. "Somepony like... like mommy, before... before..." A tear began welling up in her eye, remembering back before everything changed. Those thoughts had calmed her down a little. She remebered going to school learning math, history, and recess. She smiled, reminiscing. She would run home after school, eager to finish homework. When she got home, her mother would be waiting at the door. She always remembered how her hugs felt. They had felt so warm and soft, especially so after a rough day.

Then she began seeing everything change. Everypony in town began acting strangly and the sky turned from deep blue into a vibrant red. She recalled seeing the moon blocking out the sun creating a darker red thing in the sky. The ground changed, the clouds changed, the animals changed, and her mothe-

She shook her head, not wanting to remember that. It worked and she went back to the thoughts that made her happy.

"Somepony who is strong and nice..." The unicorn slowed down her movements. She began to breath heavily as the domain of sleep beckoned her.

"Send... some...pony..." her eyes closed, and the tear fell from her cheek. "To... help," The filly said before falling into a cold, restless slumber.

In that single tear a spark flowed through it. It was filled with the one thing that transcends fear, pain, and destruction: hope. Upon reaching the ground, it reacted.  The teardrop sent a shockwave so small that not even the Creator could feel it. The shockwave, small as it may be, echoed out of the cold basement, going beyond Ponyville, past the mountains, reaching towards the clouds and farther. It past the moon and sun, stretching outward beyond farthest star eventually breaching the confines of time and space... and kept going...

~~~

Cue the intro!

(Optional)