"I'm sorry dear, I just cannot let you out right now. With all the tension going on it is much too dangerous!" Rarity neighed to her sister. Sweetie Belle groaned. "But Rarity-" Rarity cut her off. "No means no, Sweetie Belle." The foal frowned. "But..I wanna see my friends..." Rarity sighed. "Sweetie Belle, it's too dangerous to go outside, but, I know its unbearable to sit here and wait, so you can go to Twilight's to borrow some parchment. I'm much too busy trying to contact Mother and Father to go out myself, so go quickly!" Sweetie Belle smiled lightly. "Thanks, sis."

Sweetie Belle walked up the street, entering the market district. She forced herself to look down, trying not to look at the broken remains of Canterlot. She trudged down to Twilight's house quickly. She knocked, expecting Twilight, but instead her dragon assistant Spike answered the door. "Oh, hey Sweetie Belle, what's up?" Sweetie Belle frowned. "N-nothing, just nervous about everything." Spike sighed, glancing upstairs. "Me too, Twi is beside herself worrying about the Princess. I've never seen her so depressed." Spike continued to glance nervously to the upstairs bedroom. "I hope her letters got to her." Sweetie Belle nodded in agreement. She never really thought about that element of the attack. Who will rule Equestria? Maybe the royal adviser? She hoped the messenger would return with another news scroll. Oh yeah! The scrolls! "Spike, Rarity needs some more parchment, and wanted to borrow some from Twilight. Can I have a few rolls?" Spike nodded and walked inside quickly, bringing out three rolls of parchment. "You and Rarity stay safe, okay?" Sweetie Belle nodded. "Mmhmm."

---------

Applebloom looked around the farm sadly. Granny Smith always told her that her Mum and Pa passed away protecting us from a war with the buffalo, back when the Apple Alamo was just starting to build the biggest family orchard. War was a scary word, so short but so filled with sadness and hate and anger. She didn't understand much of the details about why this was happening, all she knew was the pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies were not trusting each other until this was sorted out. But Applebloom was no fool. Her sister told her "Sugarcube,no matter wut, yer friends are still yer friends, and don't let anypony tell you otherwise." But for the past two days, she wasn't allowed outside the farm. So, she glumly roamed around, reaching the spot of the farm called Bunnyhop Bushel, after the family of rabbits who would steal the apples. She followed the path, slowly and patiently, until she reached her destination.

Applebloom walked into the clubhouse, half expecting her friends to be there. Of course they weren't. So she sat down, and read some old ideas for cutie mark crusading. Today they were supposed to go lion taming. "Aw shewt, that woulda been fun.." She was too busy thinking to notice the sound of hoofsteps. "Yeah, it woulda been." Applebloom looked over her shoulder. "Scootaloo!" She neighed, galloping over for a hug. "Rainbow Dash let ya see me?" She asked. Scoot shook her head. "I had to sneak out, I can't stay long." Applebloom frowned. "Ah- ahm scared! What's goin on? Everyone is saying that a war is happenin! But, then I won't be able to see you anymore!" Scootaloo bit her lip. "Yeah.... I know." Sweetie Belle then walked in, expecting nopony to be in there. "Applebloom! Scootaloo! Thank gosh you're here!" They all nuzzled each other, but quickly dispersed. "What's going to happen to the Cutie Mark Crusaders?" Sweetie asked, almost crying. Scootaloo put her hoof over her shoulder. " I dunno, Sweetie Belle, I really really want to keep hanging out... you guys and Rainbow Dash.. are all I got." Applebloom got up. "We made a promise, right? Even if we're apart, we'll always be the Cutie Mark Crusaders, we'll always be friends!" Sweetie Belle sobbed, and Applebloom held back tears. Scootaloo just looked forlorn, trying her best not to show any sadness.

"Never forgit, everypony, even if we can never see each other again, we'll still be friends. Forever.."