Under the Burning Skies
Chapter 14: Chapter 13: Without a Good Bye
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Chapter 13
Without a Good Bye
The party went on well into the night, the first rays of the Sun announcing its end. Everypony had fun, in the company of the best DJ, the best dancers and the heart of the party, Pinkie Pie. Tony was happy, this was the best party ever, and it was for him. Being in the company of his marefriend and best friends, it only made him happier.
As the first rays of the sun peeked through the windows of the barn, everypony parted towards their homes, for some well deserved rest. Rarity and Twilight had left the party earlier, for varying reasons, such as ‘beauty sleep’ time, and usual exhaustion from being a student of Celestia. Rainbow Dash remained to help Applejack and Pinkie Pie clean up the barn a bit, and then picked up and left for her home, soaring slowly in the skies. Arriving home, she sat up on her bed, yawned tiredly and closed her eyes, picturing the image of Soarin’ in her mind, wanting to dream about him. It wasn’t long after she fell asleep that she heard a blood curling scream, ruining her nap.
Tony and Sundancer walked slowly toward the Doctor’s house, leaning against one another, occasionally kissing and giggling. It was still early in the morning, so Ponyville seemed empty, as its inhabitants were just waking up. Both of them, not fully sober yet, were talking nick-knacks, about their future careers, and, why not, their marriage. Sundancer seemed bent towards that idea from the very start.
“I’m telling you, sweetie, we gotta get married shoon… Know what I’m shaying?”
“We will get there, soon *hic*… pardon me.” Sundancer giggled and nuzzled him softly.
A few minutes of silence passed before she spoke up again.
“Tony, I don’t kno *hic* what to shay… but… I really… really… ugh… what wash that again… oh yeah. I love you, silly!”
He rolled his eyes playfully and kissed her on the cheek. “I know you do, but I love you more.”
“Fair enough,” she smiled and rested her head on his neck.
Arriving home, he unlocked the door and allowed her to enter first, remaining behind to close the door. Sundancer trotted slowly to the room where the bed was supposed to be, and opened the door with a small creak. Upon entering it, she suddenly felt something very cold in her belly, and a burning pain that was increasing in intensity. Not having strength to even yell, she collapsed to the floor, heaving as waves of pain washed over her body. Only then did she saw the cloaked entity that stood behind the door, a bloody machete hanging in his teeth, with a vile look in its eyes. Slowly tracing the blood from the weapon, she laid her eyes upon a large gash just above her stomach, right beneath the diaphragm, which oozed blood with every breath she took. Her eyes widened in horror and gathered whatever strength she could muster and let out a deafening scream, a wail of pain that reached out well into Ponyville, shocking its denizens.
Upon hearing the terrifying scream, Tony ran towards the room and entered the room, his eyes landing on a sickening sight. Sundancer was laying on the floor, blood seeping from the large wound in her stomach and having a look of pure terror in her eyes, as she tried to motion towards the door. Before he could react, the cloaked figure hiding behind the door dropped his machete and bucked the door full force, hitting him and sending him flying through the room, landing on a nightstand and hitting his head hard against a mirror. He rubbed the back of his head for a second, noticing blood slowly seeping from fresh cuts. Enraged, he prepared to charge head on the figure, only to get himself restrained from behind, by yet another hooded entity. But something was off. Their color… it resembled the suicide attacker at the stadium… Zebra terrorist group Atal’Hakkar, led by the infamous Zabrajin of the Zandalari. His attention was drawn back to Sundancer, who was being eyed menacingly by the other zebra, who picked up his machete and prepared to swing at her head.
“NO!!” With renewed strength, he bucked his head backwards, breaking the muzzle of the one behind him, causing him to lose its grip, allowing Tony to charge and hit the attacker straight in the neck full force, sending him flying in the process. The only sounds audible were that of Sundancer’s whimpers of pain and the sound of bones breaking. The zebra landed on its back, but did not move. Seeing this, the other one yelled in anger and tried to stab Tony in the back of his neck, only to get tripped by the mare, landing face down into the floor, the machete twisting in such a way that it penetrated his neck in return, severing the main artery. It was too late for him to do anything, the blood literally exploding with force from the wound, killing him nearly instantly.
“TONY BEHIND YOU!” she yelled in horror as another figure stepped from the shadows with a cloth in his hooves, trying to incapacitate the enraged stallion. Tony yelled in return at his marefriend, urging her to get help.
“Sundancer! You must get out of here! I can keep them busy, go get help! PLEASE!”
She nodded weakly and shakily got herself on her feet, and started running towards the exit. Upon reaching the door, she tried yanking it open, to no avail. Glancing quickly around, she found the key, broken, on the floor. Light hoof steps alerted her and she prepared for attacking. But before she could do anything, she felt something else. A metallic spike locked itself in the marble floor, accompanied by a severe pain in her lower back. Glancing around, she took notice of a spear embedded just above her rump. She couldn’t move anymore, and blood oozed even faster than before, from her agitation. Her attacker casually moved towards her head and stared her in the eyes. She braced herself for the final blow, whimpering in both pain and sadness, that she won’t ever see her lover again.
“Poor little mare… Now, now, you sit here, while I handle your coltfriend, alright?” he said, with a frown on his face.
She stared in disbelief. They came after Tony, not to steal something. She immediately thought back to Spectrum. ‘Did he send them?!’ Gathering courage, she asked the figure that slowly trotted towards the conflict area.
“Were you sent by Spectrum?” she asked, fury obviously evident in her tone.
“He merely told us that your friend has a vast knowledge of physics and technology, so he sold him to us. But don’t worry, since I am a zebra of honor, I already punished him for betraying his mates for money.”
“Wh-what do you mean?!”
“I cut off his head and sent it to my leader,” he said, earning a shocked glare from the petrified mare.
“What do you want from Tony?!” she yelled back at the entity, which took her hood off and stared her in the eyes.
“We need his skills in technology for our war effort against your precious Princessess! We will rain down hell upon you all!” He yelled at her, turning around and entering the room, in which two stallions were fighting fiercely. Tony had a machete in his mouth, swinging relentlessly at his enemy. Upon noticing his leader, the zebra hesitated a bit, allowing Tony to sever his head off in one strike, surprising the zebra leader.
“You fight with valor I have yet to see in your countryponies. However, we played enough. Surrender now, if you wish to prevent further injuries.”
“Buck you! You tried to kill Sundancer! I won’t allow you to live for that!” Tony yelled in anger and charged at the seemingly defenseless zebra standing in the door way. Upon getting closer, the zebra pulled out what seemed to be a small blade, and yanked it in Tony’s left side, causing him to stumble and land head first into the wall behind the figure, breaking his muzzle in the process. Upon trying to lift himself up, he gasped in horror when he noticed he couldn’t move anymore, and his sides were burning.
“Paralyzing agent, from the savannah manticores. Doesn’t kill, but hurts as hell,” the zebra told him sternly, earning a glare of pure rage.
Trying to move, he placed his head in such a position that he noticed another figure in the corridor, standing upright, heaving in pain and crying. He tried to yell, but he couldn’t open his mouth. Every muscle in his body went numb. He occasionally spat some saliva, but nothing else, trying to form words. The figure finally spoke.
“I am Amani, shadow hunter of the Zandalari. As you may have figured out, we came here for you.” He trotted towards the mare, grabbed the hilt of the spear in his mouth and pulled out with power, pulling the mare on her haunches, earning a wail of pain from her. She couldn’t stay in that position and dropped on her belly. Getting weaker and significantly weaker, she cried softly and called his name.
“Tony… Tony, I’m so cold… where are you…”
“Isn’t this heart breaking… Seeing your marefriend die, and not being able to even hold her. Tragic.” He gave the incapacitated stallion a sly grin and whistled three times. Three other shadowy figures came from the other rooms of the house, hauling carts of stolen items and equipment. One of them leaned and grabbed Tony, pulling him on the cart he was dragging. “We mustn’t let any evidence that we were here. Gather the corpses quickly and set a fire. Burn down the house.” Glancing at the dying mare, he motioned towards her aswell. “Burn her too.” The group nodded and started immediately on their task, one of them grabbing the mare by her tail and dragging her through the corridor towards the room, planting her near the bodies. Tony could only stare in disbelief as once again, life was taking away the ones he loved most. Anger was replaced by fright. Pouring his every ounce of power and will left, he managed to drag himself off the card, onto the floor, earning the gasps of those present, and tried going after Sundancer.
“I’m… comin… I … save you… love you… I CAN’T LOSE YOU!!” with a roar of pain, he grabbed the mare by her mane and dragged her towards the window, before collapsing under the strain in his muscles. Those present went on with their duty, while Amani stood and eyed the fallen stallion carefully.
“We are ready to leave.”
“Let’s go,” said Amani, his tone bearing amazement at the force of Tony’s will. He motioned towards his body, as one zebra pulled him back in the cart and fled the scene through the back door, running full speed towards the Everfree Forest. Their leader remained behind, trotting closer to the dying mare and prayed silently for her. ‘Forgive me. It is not your fault…’ With that, he pulled out a torch out of his cloak and lit it up. Dropping it on the bodies of his comrades, he fled the house, which now fully caught fire and was spreading rapidly.
Rudely awakened by the smell of smoke, Sundancer slowly rose to the window and hit her forehead hard on it, breaking the glass, cutting herself in the process. With her final power, she yelled once again for help, but, to her surprise, her shout was barely audible. Crying in defeat, she lowered herself on the ground and closed her eyes, preparing for the worst.
Rainbow Dash woke up with a start and flew towards Ponyville, trying to find the source of the scream. After flying for more than 20 minutes, she gave up and was ready to head home, when she noticed three cloaked figures trotting away hurriedly towards the Everfree Forest, pulling carts filled with equipment and other items. Among the items stood out the white form of Tony, unconscious. She immediately bolted straight towards them, but stopped suddenly. ‘I should follow these guys and see where they are going. Something is very wrong here.’ With that in mind, she resumed her pursuit, following the running group through the forest, while avoiding being seen.
Back in Ponyville, its citizens were alerted by the black smoke rising from the old house of Doctor Whooves. The most worried in this situation were Twilight and Rarity, having being woken up by the shouts. What really troubled them was that they didn’t catch a glimpse of their friends, who were probably trapped inside. Several moments later, a panting orange earth pony arrived at the scene and gasped in horror at the smoldering house.
”Where is Tony and Sundancer!?”
“They are probably trapped inside, but we can’t reach them!” Rarity exclaimed, earning a death glare from Applejack.
“Ya mean ta tell me that while our friends are burnin’ inside that house, you are staying here outside an’ do nothing?!” With that, Applejack ran past her friends, towards the burning house and bucked open the front door, which came crashing down from the force of the kick.
“TONY! SUNDANCER! WHERE ARE YA?!”
All she received was the sound of wood cracking from the heat, as well as the song of the flames. As she stepped inside, she noticed the bloody floor and immediately recognized that something terrible had happened here. Slowly pacing through the falling debris, avoiding the walls aflame, she reached out into the bedroom, where she was met with a smell of burning flesh and hair. Shooting a quick glance around the room, she noticed a slightly singed Pegasus mare, leaning against the wall, gasping for breath.
“Oh sweet Celestia… Sundancer! Hang on!” She leaped over the burning pile of corpses, slightly burning her underbelly, but she ignored the pain and pressed on. When she got closer to the white mare, Applejack immediately saw her wounds and gasped loudly in disbelief. Gently picking up the barely conscious mare, she jumped through the window, landing in the backyard. Once clear of danger, she yelled at the top of her lungs for the other ponies in the front of the burning house. Several paramedics surrounded her and the injured Pegasus. Sundancer was laid on a stretch and carried away to meet a group of medical unicorns which were preparing a teleportation spell for Canterlot Hospital. One of the paramedics approached Applejack and offered to tend to her wounds. She snarled at him and proceeded to enter the house again, despite the other ponies protesting against it. Just as she prepared herself to run through that window again, a powerful explosion sent debris in every direction. Applejack dropped to her haunches and raised her hoofs to protect herself from the deflagration. Unfortunately, a loose piece of wood hit her in the head and knocked her out cold.
All ponies present at the site of the disaster panicked and ran in every direction, away from the still burning ruins. Debris lied scattered through the area. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy met with Rarity and Twilight at the site, eyes widening in horror when they noticed the smoldering ruins, and Applejack being carried away on a stretch.
“Oh my, what happened Twilight? What happened to Applejack?” Fluttershy was on the brink of tears and sniffed silently.
“A fire started out in the house, and Applejack went inside and saved Sundancer… No sight of Tony, though. I’m afraid he is still inside the house…” Twilight shakily exhaled, still shocked by the tragedy. ‘Did he do this? No, he would never, ever, hurt Sundancer… I saw just how much he loves her… Then what, what could have possibly happened?’
The group of zebras cantered towards the rendezvous point. Unbeknownst of them, a cyan Pegasus was following them through the woods, into a secluded area in the forest. Arriving at the spot, they stopped from their run and rested for a while, waiting for the signal. Rainbow Dash sat in the tree corona, eyeing them carefully. ‘What is Tony doing in there… and where is Sundancer?’ Turning her head for a brief moment towards Ponyville, she noticed the heavy black smoke rising from what appeared to be the location of their house. She gulped silently and prayed that somehow, her fan has escaped the inferno. Spending a few more minutes in hiding, her heart nearly jumped out of her chest when a large explosion occurred in Ponyville, causing her to shake uncontrollably. ‘I hope she is alright…’
A red flare was shot into the sky, as a large airship descended seemingly out of nowhere and landed in the opening. A zebra with a black eye patch over his left eye motioned to those on the ground to haul the carts aboard. Rainbow Dash saw this opportunity and flew up to the ship and hid in the back of the storage area, without anypony noticing. There, she found the cart where Tony should have been, but he was nowhere to be found. She was interrupted from her thoughts by the movement of the ship, as it rose into the skies and set for the unknown.
Rainbow looked through a small window, staring at the form of Ponyville, shrinking as they distanced themselves. Sighing sadly, she found a spot where to hide from potential attackers, and tried to recover some sleep. She regretted not picking up her enchanted medallion. Now, she had to save Tony all by herself, from some guys who didn’t seem to know of mercy.
