What we became Part 2

Rainbow Dash woke up in good spirits. The sun was shining brightly; she didn’t have a care in the world. Then she came back to reality. It hardly seemed fair to her; everything she once knew was now gone. It was true that she did have her friends, but all the dreams she once had disappeared. It seemed kinda selfish for her to think about her dreams in this new world, but the calm, easy days as a weather-pony fantasizing about being a Wonderbolt were long gone.

As she got up from her surprisingly comfy bed she surveyed her surroundings. Nothing was recognizable as she had gotten drunk fast last night, they all did, the exception being Big Mac. The group was in a small stone fortress. It had been an ancient shrine of the royal pony sisters. Similar to the castle where they had first became the elements. It was fairly big and secure. There had been vines that gave the building an oddly pleasant nature-like vibe.

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Breakfast was good due to the new haul of apples Big Mac brought. Now that they had all been comfortable, Rainbow was able to identify the group, there were about 25 ponies or so. She recognized most of them.

Twilight, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Spike, Big Mac, Applebloom, Sweetie, Scoots, Lyra, Bon Bon, Derpy, Zecora...

She was interrupted by Twilight. “Okay girls, we have a very important matter to discuss,” again the small group of friends, joined by Applejack and Rainbow Dash this time, gathered to make a decision. “We don’t know how long we’ll be here, but we must find another place soon, this place may be safe from a few of those things, but this is not the sanctuary we have been searching for.”

Twilight then focused her attention to Rainbow, “we don’t know exactly where to go, Canterlot seems like a good option, but I haven’t been in contact with either of the princesses since the incident.”

“But the sun and moon still move, so that must mean they are out there somewhere, right?” Rainbow suggested confidently.

“Actually, it’s not that simple. Ever since Luna’s transformation into Nightmare Moon and banishment, Celestia had employed a spell that keeps the sun and moon moving constantly. The princesses only raise the sun and moon for special events or to adjust and correct their position.”

“Oh,” Rainbow sighed. Twilight tried to recover Rainbow’s mood, “well that is why we want to go to Canterlot, to find them.” A slight grin came across Rainbow’s face, it worked.

“Well I understand wanting to see the princesses, but why not go to Cloudsdale? I haven’t seen one of those things fly yet, it would seem most secure. We could use your cloud walking spell and we should be fine,” Rainbow proposed certain with herself. On this, all the mares had expressed some sort of displeasure as if she had said something wrong.

“Well,” Twilight’s voice had a hint of sorrow, “Cloud… Cloudsdale….,” she took a minute to get rid of the lump in her throat. “Cloudsdale is gone,” Twilight finally managed to say. All Rainbow could do was gasp in shock, “wha… what do you mean gone? It can’t just go away!” Twilight took a deep breath preparing to explain. “Cloudsdale was the most secure place. Some can fly, but not nearly as much as the ones that are earthbound. Still, the incident had horrendous timing; within the first few weeks, Cloudsdale needed to gather resources to make clouds, but envious and angry unicorns and earth ponies refused to allow them to gather the resources. The biggest threat to Cloudsdale had been the living, they were the real monsters. Without the capability to make clouds, Cloudsdale was a time bomb, and fell within another week.”

Now that Rainbow thought about it, she hadn’t seen a cloud in the few days it had been since she got out of the hospital, though most days she was inside the barn with Big Mac while she recovered. Rainbow was distraught. She knew that clouds weren’t the best building materials, and a constant supply was needed, but how did Cloudsdale fall within a week? Rainbow considered many things, the size of Cloudsdale, the scarcity of resources; her mind never did cross the real answer, the answer Twilight and the others knew, Cloudsdale had been sabotaged. Twilight felt that it was best to leave this detail out; even she didn’t want to believe it, she didn’t want to consider that the world had turned the peaceful Equestria to a lawless wasteland where the living were just as much of a problem as the dead.

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It seemed as if the general decision was to go to Canterlot. Twilight decided to announce this at dinner.

“Attention everypony, we will be heading to Canterlot next. We will find the royal sisters and find the safe haven we are all looking for.”

“WHY? We are safe here. We are safe now. Going out there will just get us killed, by those… those things.” Rainbow looked for the source, it was Caramel; he had always been a trouble maker that didn’t know his place, she was angry at his outburst. “And who are you to talk? You wouldn’t know what to do without Twilight,” she replied, much angrier than she intended.

“Now, now, calm down everypony. Although it seems pretty safe here, the structure is falling apart, and would not hold against an attack. With Ponyville overrun and rather close it is very possible that we are in immediate danger.” Twilight spoke the truth, they had been there for nearly a week and were already attracting some attention from the undead. Plus Twilight needed to know what happened to the princesses.

The dispute wasn’t over though and by the end of it the group was divided into two. The elements of harmony, the cutie mark crusaders, Spike, and Big Mac all sided with Twilight. The rest were reluctant, not only to leave, but also to break up the group. Each side tried to convince the other but it was to no avail. The group, much smaller now, packed their things as they were about to leave the coming morning.

That night Twilight dreamed, it was more of a nightmare really. In her dream she saw the world falling apart. Trees set ablaze, towns destroyed, and the cause of it all, was ponies. Living ponies whose morals were now long gone, ponies that had been her friends. Each of the races turned against each other. When she had awoken the next morning she found that even the harsh reality was still a better than the one she had dreamed up.

(AN: Sorry it’s kinda short and that the other members of the larger group didn’t have much development. It would be too hard to write for all of them, or I just suck at writing and like to complain. Don’t worry though this is not the last time we will hear of them. Hint Hint)