I came to again, screaming. Green lights completely obscured my vision, fading only slowly. The last memories of unspeakable, otherwordly horrors faded from my mind as the vortex wore off. The light faded, but my vision was still blocked by a cloud of dust surrounding me. Through the dust, I could barely make out the silhouette of the Carousel Boutique. Thank Celestia, at least I wouldn’t be far from home.

The dust cloud finally faded and I blinked away the last bits of dirt from my eyes. I finally got a good look at Rarity’s and felt my blood run cold. The building was a complete ruin. Many of the pillars had fallen in, the windows were smashed, and the door had long been knocked carelessly aside. I felt my entire body freeze up. Thankfully I heard hoof steps behind me, perhaps a rescue pony? Foggily, I turned my head up towards whoever was approaching me only to have the long, lean barrel of a rune-launcher shoved in my face.

“How in Celestia's name did you get this close to my home?” A stallion's deep voice asked. The barrel was shoved hard into my skull, forcing me deeper in the muck on the ground, dirtying my coat. Taking the newcomer in quickly, I put together a quick mental image.  The stallion was clad in heavy metallic armor with a glowing blue horn poking through the helmet . The armor put forth an intimidating visage, clearly built for scare tactics.

“I don't know! One minute I was with Twilight helping out with some time vortex and the next I was here.” I  quickly explained, trying to squirm away from the barrel. I didn't tend to do so well when I felt I was being threatened, people tended to get hurt and very rarely did these people include myself. How he even had one of these weapons was beyond me. The launcher had just gone through the final developmental cycle and were super expensive. No one except a few of the royal guards had them, and they were the ones charged with protecting the Princess herself. “A-are you one of Celestia's guards?” I asked, a tiny spark of hope and familiarity kindling.

The stallion just chuckled mockingly. “Celestia? She's been dead for centuries. You been living under a rock? Now I’ll give ya one chance to get the hell out of here before I start shootin’.” The stallion snapped, the very picture of intimidation in his heavy armor. He telekinetically lifted the barrel away from pointing directly at me, giving me room enough to stand. I quickly struggled to my feet, hooves pounding with pain. Shock registered in my mind at the news of Celestia, making me feel numb. This couldn't be real, there was no way a goddess could die, didn't that defeat the purpose of immortality?

“Well, what about Twilight Sparkle? Do you know where her library is?” I asked, this time without much hope of getting a good answer. I had no idea where, when, and what dimension I was in but maybe... maybe my mentor was still here. Twilight wasn't my favorite pony in the world, but at least she had been there for me in the past.

“Twilight Sparkle; bitch got us all killed. A goddess dead and you think she’ll be alive?. It'll do you good to not mention that name around here, especially with the Reapers still a feared name.” The stallion went on, sarcasm evident. Twilight was dead? The possibility hadn't crossed my mind. She was so powerful, so well connected, and so careful. I never thought she'd even be able to die, except for old age. I didn't think I would, but I honestly felt sad. The closest thing I had to a mother was gone. I attempted to stifle my sadness and could only moderately succeed, but I focused back onto the present.

Through the small holes in the helmet, I could see his eyes narrowed in anger. He started to turn and walk away  but his eye just barely caught on my necklace, clear against the otherwise black coat. “Where did you get that?” The stallion demanded, the long, thin barrel leveling back down to the star.

“It was a gift.” I explained quickly.  I didn't mention who it was from on purpose. If Twilight's name carried such a stigma, maybe it would be safer not to mention her at all. “It's supposed to help me with my magic.” I added, giving the most basic of the necklace's functions. In reality, it acted as so much more.

A few tense moments followed before the stallion lowered the barrel. “Alright, stand up and no sudden movements, got it?” He instructed. As I stood, he caught sight of my blank flank, no longer obscured by the mud. “You’re just a filly, the hell you doing out here?” He exclaimed in shock.

“I...I don’t know.” I replied, trying to hold back hot tears. I was desperately failing at focusing. Confusion and fear were starting to overwhelm me. I had barely been in the new Ponyville for thirty seconds and already had my life threatened.

“Dammit, filly or not, I ain’t gonna mess with no reaper spawn. You can stay the night but you’re out as soon as possible.” He finished resolutely. I nodded and he turned to lead deeper into Ponyville without another word.

During the silent journey, I took my time examining the full damage to the small city. Some houses had hints of green light  flickering through their insides. Easily more than half of the buildings had collapsed in on themselves completely. All colors seemed to have burned away, leaving the world an ugly gray color that dominated the current landscape. The Ponyville I had known was just a shadow of its' former self, burned and gone.

I was left with no time to dwell on my thoughts as my host lead me toward a building that was relatively structurally intact, still far from the center of the town where all the recognizable buildings would stand. That is, if they had ever been there the first place. This one was a building I had never seen before, but it looked like that of a standard Ponyville house. Comfortable, but not extravagant.

The stallion pushed open the door, revealing a decrepit interior as was expected. The only illumination came through the windows, most of the light being filtered out due to the dusty cover. A beat up couch took up the majority of the room's inhabitable space with a small mattress shoved into the opposite corner. None of the original flooring remained, just concrete. Two more doors split off from the room, closed tight. Debris poked out from underneath one of them, indicating that the adjacent room had collapsed.

“So what's your name? Mine’s Zenith,” I asked, in an attempt to start some conversation.I needed some information and despite this stallion's hostility, he was the easiest way to get it. I edged my way onto the couch and gently lay down, trying to stop the aching in my hooves and make myself more comfortable.

“Call me Shield.” He replied gruffly, starting to levitate the different pieces of armor away from his body. As he lifted the pieces away, I took in the full set of armor. The pieces would have overlapped multiple times fully on. Spiked pauldrons were the most obvious and prominent piece, looking both incredibly threatening and useful. The body armor consisted of plates of steel overlapped to maximize protection, with minimal decoration focusing completely on the utilitarian aspects. All the decoration had been saved for the grand finale; the helm. A dragon's head adorned the helmet, carved rather intricately and highlighted with what looked like streaks of blood.The saddlebag came off first, landing in a clump on the mattress. The other pieces swiftly followed, revealing a light blue pony with magenta mane and piercing yellow eyes. On his flanks, a yellow light was hidden by a great green shield as his cutie mark.

Shield turned back to me, gun still hovering in the air beside him. Abruptly, the gun pointed towards me again and I shrunk back. “So... I’ve never heard of just a filly runnin’ round with the reapers, specially round raider territory like this. Makes me wonder exactly what you’re doin’.” He started, voice sounding casual but actions far from it. “Why are you here?”

“I-I don’t know.” I replied, trying to keep my calm. He poked the gun closer and I flinched away quickly.

“Don’t lie to me! You come wearing a reaper's necklace and those damn eyes and expect me to believe you ain't up to nuthin?!” He snapped. Everything was too close. His body, the gun, and the wall. I just wanted to be left alone. My anger started to boil over.

A mugger had cornered me. Not that uncommon of a site on the Canterlot backstreets. I was hiding in the alley, trying to get a little rest. He didn’t buy it, thought I had some food. A knife from his bag. My magic lashed out on it’s own. My vision blurred to nothing but red.

Snapping back into reality, I locked my gaze on Shield, eyes burning with anger. My vision clouded in a familiar rage, flooding my veins with white-hot energy. Magic seeped from my horn, taking hold of rubbish and debris from the floor, anything I could use as a weapon. A bright, red shield surrounded me. “I’ll leave if you want me to, but stay the hell away from me.” I declared. My knees trembled despite my outward confidence. I hated confrontation. There was no way I could even think of fighting anypony else normally, but my rage-fueled magic stupor provided me with a certain security.

“No need to be hasty.” Shield muttered, uncertainty infusing his voice for the first time and making it much higher pitched, now closer to where I believed it should be. “There's no need for that, I was just offering you a place to stay. I ain't gonna hurt you.” He finished, clearly trying to defuse the situation. His own horn had started to glow, grasping around his armor. “Now, why don't you just calm down and put the sharp instruments away?”

The rage disappeared even faster than it had first come on, my magic collapsed  as my concentration broke. The knives fell to the floor with a clatter and my body followed, as my vision changed from red to black. “Unnhh.” I moaned, a deep rooted headache taking hold. Shield swore to himself, probably at my own stupidity. Getting tossed through a magical vortex didn’t tend to be the healthiest thing for a pony.

“Wait right here, I'll get you something to eat.” Shield whispered,sympathy infused in his tone. Every unicorn had felt the pain of burn out at one time or another. I heard a door open and assumed he had gone through one of the doors branching off from this room instead of going outside, back into the wreckage of the town. For a few minutes, I was left with just my own thoughts and the extreme silence of the outside wasteland to keep me busy. Shield returned, levitating a few cans behind him. He lay one can in front of me and split the top off with a small grunt of effort.

I took a brief sniff of the peaches and wrinkled my nose. Even canned goods couldn’t keep that well over years. I took a small sip of the juice anyways, food and sugar were the fastest cures to magic exhaustion. “Would you mind i-if I took a little nap?” I asked, feeling fatigue start to settle over my body.

“Not at all. Go right ahead..” He mumbled, apparently trying to be nice to me.That was kinda nice, maybe Shield wasn’t as bad as he originally seemed. At least I could reserve judgment for a while; after all, he could’ve just been protecting his home. I didn't know any of the customs here, I was the last one that should be making any judgments. I let the darkness take over me.

______________________________________________________________________________

I awoke groggily to a huge armored pony taking up  my entire perspective. Shock flooded my mind before I realized it was just Shield, armored and armed. Distantly, I could hear faint pops and bangs. “Stay here. The caravan needs my help. If anyone comes in except for me, defend yourself.” Shield explained quickly. He left the two knives I had stolen from him earlier on the floor and then exited the house in a hurry, making haste toward the sound of explosions. Cautiously, I took the knives in my magic grip and hid behind the couch, waiting.

And waiting. I tried to pretend I was still back at home, just for a little bit, but the sounds of gunfire broke any idea of peace I could start to form. Even still, my thoughts drifted, attempting to forget I was here. Twilight had really never been my favorite pony, but at least it was safe and she was nice. How crappy this place was and the sharp contrast between them made me realize how could life had been in the library. I had always been asking to have adventures and get out of the house but now that I had one, I just wanted to go home. If I ever saw her again, I would apologize and beg for her to take me back in.

And waiting. My memories started to drift back to the first day I had met Twilight. She had been nice; shown me around the place, made a lunch, and treated me pretty well. Of course, i also got a huge list of rules, but that was just Twilight being Twilight. Despite how nice it was, I didn't want to stay. I had always felt caged in. It was probably just the whole teenager thing, but now that I was here, I couldn't help but wish I had been a better apprentice for Twilight. I had deserved much, much worse.

And waiting. Now, the thoughts in my mind shifted back to Spike. How nice he was to me, even without having ever met me before. I can’t believe I had ever been jealous of him. Twilight always spoke pleasantly of him and negatively of me, it was enough to drive anypony to anger. Maybe it was just nostalgia and Twilight wishing she could turn the years back, didn’t old ponies start doing that after a while? Whatever it was, the time was long past now, and didn’t seem to have a chance to ever come back. I wish I could just meet him again. Dragons lived for a long time right? Maybe he could still be alive in this time, if he ever even existed here.

Seemingly a while later, I heard a knock at the door. “Hello? Shield?” I called out, anxiety seeping into my voice. Silence greeted my question, giving me no indication one way or another on who it was. I started to creep out from behind my couch to peep through a window. Suddenly, the door exploded inwards, bursting off it’s hinges and impacting against the far wall. Instead of Shield, a dirty, brown-colored earth pony covered with scraps of leather armor stepped through the door. Two rough saddlebags seemed to carry all his goods, blades and other instruments of pain peeking through some of the holes. He held a shovel handle in his mouth, the other end had been sharpened into a jagged blade, covered with rust and dried blood. It took him all of a second to spot me. Definitely not Shield.

“Hey there little filly.” The filthy stallion said, in easily the least convincing ‘nice’ and ‘sweet’ voice I had ever heard. “Why don’t you come over here? Got a pretty necklace for that pretty neck. I’ll trade ya.” He continued. Even Fluttershy wouldn’t have believed this pony was sincere. He dropped the shovel onto the ground, probably figuring he wouldn’t need it. He then reached into his saddlebag and withdrew a heavy iron collar, shining green in my vision from the enchanter’s magic. For whatever reason, I was slightly suspicious of his good intentions.

“Stay away from me.” I commanded, magically amplifying my voice. Maybe if I scared him enough, he’d just go away. On the outside, I tried to remain confident and strong, but I was honestly terrified. I still had the knives, but couldn’t force myself to even lift them, much less use them against another pony. Unfortunately, the stallion didn’t back down and kept advancing towards me. I shrunk away into the corner, curling into a defensive ball, ruining any scary image I had began to conjure.

“Don’t be difficult now. Come peaceful and I’ll make sure none of the others give ya any trouble, be good for me and I’ll be good for you.” The stallion went on in the same fake voice. His face adopted a sadistic grin, showing cracked and yellow teeth around his grip.

Two young, male ponies stood in front of me, smirking and taunting. I was in a kitchen of an upscale townhouse, magic keeping strong hold on kitchen utensils. There was a pot of boiling tomato soup on the stovetop.I felt myself progressively angrier, my vision started to change to red as more rage fueled magic built up in my system. The knives levitated into the air beside me and flew forward, a scream, and then black.

“Last warning,” I cautioned shakily. Gathering resolve from my memories, I took a hold of the knives and mentally strengthened my resolve, my limbs still shaking. I tried to do something to defend myself, but just when I needed it my magic locked up. The stallion had was close, way too close and was leaning down when a sharp retort rang out, much closer than the previous sounds of the battle. Blood spurted out from the top of the pony’s head, spraying me with disgusting little bits. To my embarrassment, I couldn’t help but let out a little shriek as he slumped lifelessly against the ground. In the doorway, Shield stood, the gun still held tight in his magic grip.

“Sorry, had to take care of business outside. Mind coming out here and helping me out with that magic?” Shield asked, moving the stallion’s body off of me with his cool-colored, calming magic. How could he be so damn... nonchalant about killing another pony? How could he stand there so calm, while I felt like vomitting? Shaking still, I nodded and struggled the way to my hooves. He led the way outside and down the street, revealing new signs of battle.