Scaling around the grounds as thunder boomed in the sky, Starlight kept moving as far away as she could from the Crystal Empire. The once-thriving land of Equestria is gone, her friends were all dead for all she knew, and all hope was lost. The only thing she could do now was try to keep herself and Flurry Heart alive since they were now in the open are of Shadow Equestria. But most importantly, she had to find Sunset Shimmer and tell her what happened back at the Crystal Empire.

“She couldn’t have gone far…” Starlight said while carrying Flurry Heart.

She kept herself and Flurry Heart quiet, so that the creatures wouldn’t be able to find her. Looking near a forest, she decided to go in there to see if Sunset Shimmer was hiding inside. Moving inside, she crept her way around the surrounding area to make sure that there were no enemies around. Rattling noises were everywhere as she silently kept moving. Starlight glowed her horn up in case if any ambush were to occur. The only thing she could do now was keep quiet and pray that nothing bad happens next. Sweats beads poured out more and her breath felt thinned as she heard the bushes move. Moving closer to the source, she could only hope that it wasn’t another one of those predators or at least one of the soldiers. Just then, she heard,

“Starlight?”

Immediately jumping from hearing her name, she turned around and glowed her horn for an attack. She noticed a creature wearing a cloak whose face was blocked out by the shadows of her hood.

“Who are you!?” Starlight shouted.

“It’s me! Sunset!” the figure shouted.

“Oh yeah!? How do I know you’re not one of the changelings!?” Starlight shouted, feeling even more paranoid.

“You remember the human world! I took you there! When we fought against Juniper Montage!” the figure shouted, trying to ease Starlight’s fears.

Her angry expression changed to a sorrowful one when she realized that the figure in the cloak was telling the truth.

“S-Sunset?” Starlight asked, trying to hold the tears come back.

The figure removed her hood and it turned out to be none other than Sunset Shimmer. Starlight ran towards her with no second thought and hugged her as tight as she could.

“Starlight? What’s happened? Why aren’t you back at the Crystal Empire? And why is Flurry Heart with you?” Sunset asked, trying to put the pieces together.

Letting go of Sunset, Starlight knew that she needed to tell Sunset the truth about the Crystal Empire. In a broken voice, she uttered the two words,

“They won.”

“What…?” Sunset asked in a state of disbelief.

“Sunset… it’s worse than you can imagine. The Crystal Empire is destroyed. The creatures have won. And the only thing we can do now is run.” Starlight explained while looking around the vast area.

“But what about Twilight? She must’ve escaped too.” Sunset asked.

“Twilight is too far gone to aid. Every last bit of the Ooze she brought back into the Crystal Empire just made our situation go from bad to worse. And if she did manage to escape… we can’t be too careful.” Starlight said, gulping in fear.

“Well, what do we do now? We can’t just sit around and wait until those creatures find us. If there is a one-percent chance of us winning against them, we have to take it! Otherwise, everypony will have given their lives for nothing! You had to have known something! You were Twilight’s pupil! What do we do?” Sunset asked, trying to search for options.

“That’s just it! I don’t know! The Crystal Empire is destroyed! Our friends could very well be dead! And all that’s left now is us! We have been beaten in bar none and there is nothing we can do about it! I let everypony down. We were supposed to win! How could it have come to this!?” Starlight shouted, having an emotional meltdown.

It was too much for her. Starlight had reached the end of the rope and she had no idea what to do next. She lost everything in the chaos: her family, friends, and her home. Her mind and soul were very torn over what has happened back at the Crystal Empire and she didn’t feel as if she had the strength to keep going anymore. She looked up at the thunderclouds in the skies and the answer came clear to her: there was no more hope. All that remained for her was despair. She couldn’t find the words to describe this painful feeling that grew in her stomach. It would only be a matter of time until the creatures would find her and eat her alive along with her remaining friends. But just as she was about to break even further, Sunset grabbed her and shouted,

“I may not have a clue on how to defeat this Ooze that has now corrupted our home nor how we will be able to survive, but now is not the time!!! If we are to survive these monsters that now plague Equestria, we need a plan!!! We are Twilight’s pupils!!! Now it’s time that you own up to that title!!! So stop being a foal and do something.”

Flurry Heart tapped Starlight’s shoulder, causing her to turn around and notice that there are soldiers coming near their position. Taking notice of this, the three ran into the forest and hid near the bushes. Looking closer, there was three soldiers consisting of a dragon, griffon, and a yak. Watching them walk closer towards their position, Sunset and Starlight covered their mouths to avoid making any noises, even going so far as to not even breath. While keeping quiet in the bushes, the three overheard the conversation the guards were having.

“I think the noises came from over there.” the griffin soldier claimed.

“Are you sure? Or are you just thinking with your stomach, bird-brain?” the dragon mocked.

“I know what I heard, lizard-breath. The noises came from over there in that forest.” the griffin retorted, pointing towards the forest.

“Yak getting tired! Yak want head back to castle and celebrate! Just let yak smash forest!” the yak impatiently shouted.

“Keep your horns on. We’ll leave as soon as we find the source of the noise. But from what I can tell, there seemed to be two unicorns from the distance and they were carrying that baby alicorn.” the griffin inferred.

“Shouldn’t we tell the king about this? He’d do anything to have the baby and her caretakers killed.” the dragon asked.

“Perhaps. But think of the reward if we kill them. We could have our names put on the map and even be made Captains! Think of that!” the griffin said, beaming over his imagination.

“Let’s get to killing then.” the dragon gleefully said as he pulled out his sword.

Walking over to the forest, the three soldiers proceeded to search for the three ponies. Scouring the surrounding area, the soldiers tried pinpointing the nearest source while Starlight, Sunset, and Flurry Heart did their best to remain quiet. But when Flurry Heart accidentally made a rustling sound in the bushes, the yak heard it and walked towards the bush. Moving closer and sniffing the bushes, the yak growled and moved closer to it. Sweat beads poured out of the three ponies the more the soldiers got close. Just when they were about to discover the ponies, the griffin said,

“The Commander has called us back.”

“Huh? Why?” the dragon asked.

“You heard the Ooze. He wants us back at the castle.” the griffin said, hoisting his crossbow back up.

“Stupid ponies… yak smash all ponies!!!” the yak screamed before joining back up with his fellow soldiers.

After watching the three leave, the trio got out of the bushes and shared a breath of relief with each other. While Starlight looked at Flurry Heart to see if she was okay, Sunset looked towards the horizon and said,

“We need to leave this area. If any of those creatures find us, we will never get another chance again. It’s imperative we find a way to defeat this Corruption.”

Starlight looked towards the Canterlot Castle and gave it a sorrowful look. She knew that deep down within her heart, she had to take that chance. But she also knows that if she takes this path, there will be no turning back. She would die either way. But then she said,

“If there’s anything we can do…”

Sunset looked to her in surprise at her new sense of determination.

“...there will be no turning back.” Starlight said back in her foreboding tone with a dead expression as she and Sunset looked up at the sky with the thunder in it.