Wind blew through desolate plains, whistling through leaves and shaking the trees and plants that hold them tight. Changeling flags danced in the wind, covering the dusty, burnt and overgrown remains of a town once full of love and joy, now in a state of desecration and a memory of war. Snow lightly covered the cobbled streets of Ponyville, broken streetlights covering the roads like fallen trees as distant, monsterish howls filled the air, a precursor to an incoming storm with black, heavy clouds covering the sky and plunging the town into darkness.

There was nothing left. Not a single pony nor changeling roamed the streets, no wildlife in sight, only the scarred remains of the town and a persistent, bitter cold. Sweetie Belle found herself awakening within the remains of Rarity's boutique, in her tired state she hadn't recognised her situation instantly, however began clawing away at the rubble to escape with a gasp upon realising her situation. She found herself in a sea of burnt supplies and parts of the building itself, her body weighed down and almost frozen in place, only barely being able to move. After minutes of what had been a losing battle, she finally emerged from the ruins of the boutique, shooting herself out from the side with her body dirtied with dust and dirt.

Looking behind her, she finally caught a good look at the remains, unable to properly call it a 'boutique' anymore as its damages had made it almost unrecognisable. What had happened? She thought to herself as her eyes scouted the area, collapsed and burnt homes surrounding her alongside the snow that had only been growing, consuming the streets in a blanket of white. 'How long had she been out?' She wondered, 'What happened to Ponyville?' She continued, her mind beginning to race as thousands of questions began forming in her mind. Immediately, panic struck as she realised she was alone, with no one in sight. "Rarity!" She yelled out, her voice filled with a sudden desperation and fear. "Rarity! Where are you?" She echoed, her voice sounding almost muted through the whistling wind.

"Anypony?" She continued, stepping away from the remains of the boutique as she began searching the entire town, though only found damages. Then she had noticed the changeling flags that had been propped up on some parts of the street, some burnt and some vandalised. Her expression immediately sunk and she had dropped into a low, petrified stance in fear of suddenly being attacked. She had missed some kind of conflict, baffled on how she was able to sleep through such an event, feeling Goosebumps as she began to think about what could have happened to the rest of Equestria. This had to be some kind of nightmare, some kind of dream she thought, wondering when Luna would come to rescue her from it.

As she began to walk the streets again, she had arrived at the remains of the Golden Oaks library, burnt away like everywhere else, books and newspaper articles surrounding the ashes that had been the library. Sweetie scooped an article from out of the snow, although all of them had been in poor condition she had tried to get at least some explanation. "Are Windigoes returning?" Read the article's title, followed by an illustration of one of those horrifying beasts underneath. Bony, transparent and glowing monsters of the skies, feeding on hatred like some kind of inverted Changeling. As Sweetie read, the article had been detailing how there had been a war waged by the Changelings, a large draft for the Equestrian military and how horrible the Country's stability had become mere months after it had begun, all of this being the catalyst to such an event occurring. Continuing to read onward, another part of the article had detailed Equestrian losses, permanent damage to reclaimed areas as the Changelings had burnt towns that had importance to the ground once they had captured it. Sweetie jolted as she suddenly heard a disharmony of distant screams, hisses and a raging fire.

She looked up and stared off into the distance, looking for the source of the sound, though was only met with the howling wind and darkness of the environment as the weather began to pick up, the light snow becoming heavier and heavier as time dragged on by. She picked up another, "Harmonic Elements at front!" Read the title, a photograph of the element bearers in military uniform underneath, forcing a smile through worried faces. This couldn't be right at all, Sweetie Belle thought. The element bearers were powerful, but they definitely weren't military ponies. Turns out being national heroes doesn't mean that you're safe from a draft. "With Western Equestria being under Changeling occupation, Celestia has been taking more and more extreme measures, even going so far as to enlist the element bearers into the military. Questions arise on how this could possibly fill the gaps of Equestria's crippled military, but none are being answered..." Continued the article, trailing off into worried ramblings of the reporter.

Sweetie looked at one of the Changeling flags that had littered the streets, before looking to the North, only being met with the remains of the library and the darkness of the street past it. Although she wasn't looking at the street, rather into the distance, trying to see past the darkness and through tremendous distance in concern for the state of Canterlot. Ponyville was just South of the capital of Equestria, if Ponyville had been taken over, had Canterlot fallen too? Why were there no Changelings occupying the town or no ponies being held in captivity? Then, she looked to the sky in an attempt to spot the supposed Windigoes if they had actually returned. Nothing. Sweetie was alone, all by herself. Not a single pony, changeling or Windigo, she was the very last one left, yet she couldn't tell why.

Her next initiative was to head toward Applejack's barn or Fluttershy's home as either one must've been safe from how they had been on the outskirts of the town. In this weather, she wouldn't be able to reasonably leave the town without freezing along the way. She turned away from the library, dipping her head as a sign of respect for the town itself and those who had once inhabited it, her mind failing to comprehend the pain they must've gone through when the town was raided. Only minutes after she had began her trot to the barn she had realized that she had gone numb, unable to feel the bitter cold of the environment and the snow falling upon her back, only a constant feeling of static beneath her hooves as she walked. She began to grow worried, hoping that the cold hadn't been already beginning to kill her, even if it were just a dream.

She walked onto and through a dirt path, making her way through fields of trees that had long died, rotten apples lying beneath. Sweetie's face lit up upon seeing that the farmhouse had still been standing in a state of disarray, looking as if it wouldn't take much to knock it down. Gathering the confidence to enter the countryside death trap, she slowly crept in, calling out and asking if anyone had been around, to no avail. With how limited the sunlight had been due to the weather, there was little to no light inside, her eyes struggling to adjust to the void that lied further within. She looked around for anything that could be used as a source of light but failed to do so, forcing her further onward into darkness. Strangely enough, Sweetie began to hear voices, a distant echo of Applejack and Applebloom having a conversation, though Sweetie Belle couldn't recall ever hearing these words ever come out of their mouths. "What's happenin'?" Asked the echoing, disembodied voice of Applebloom as Sweetie Belle continued searching the relatively empty farmhouse, now heading upstairs to get to Applebloom's room, listening intently into the voices without saying a word. "We're leavin', that's what. Celestia wants us to head for Canterlot." Applejack's disembodied voice replied in a deeply serious manner, showing just how much she had been trying to hide her concern.

"We're abandonin' the farm?" Applebloom replied as Sweetie Belle finally made her way into the room, searching for any clothing that'd keep her warm. Of course, she didn't find much as a lot of it was already taken, the remains being gear for winter wrap up, which had been enough for her. "We have to. Look, Changelings are gettin' awfully close to town, so we 'gotta leave." Applejack's voice continued with a longwinded sigh, Sweetie had been confused as to why she didn't hear the voices of either Big Macintosh or Granny Smith, her mind piecing together that they had already left. So why was Applebloom the only one left? It didn't make sense. She couldn't know for certain, she wasn't there. "Well, When are we leaving?" Applebloom's voice asked in a now saddened tone as Sweetie Belle walked back down the stairs, into the kitchen. "Now." Applejack's voice replied simply, now louder than before as if the conversation occurred in the same room as Sweetie. "Pack your things and then we'll go." The voice continued, before both fell into silence, not a single word being spoken after.

Sweetie searched the kitchen for any kind of food, yet found nothing and coming to the conclusion that they had already taken everything, causing her to groan yet found solace in the fact that they most likely had enough for their travels. She took a moment to sit down on a chair as she felt her senses returning, able to feel again. She turned her head to look at the only open door; the one she entered through. She hadn't been excited to head out into the snowstorm again, noting how the piling snow had begun to slowly seep into the farmhouse. Still, she was confident that this had been a dream even if it felt so real, doubt had slowly begun to creep into her mind as Luna hadn't arrived yet. Soon, she thought. The worst would come and then she would finally be saved as it had been how it would always go. She sighed, finally rising from her seat and making her way to the front door, leaving and shutting it behind herself.

Instantly she had felt the cold, beginning to shiver as a chill crawled down her back, the clothes she wore only helped a little, thankful that she was still able to feel even if it meant she had to suffer through the cold. Sweetie then began to make her way to Fluttershy's cottage, thinking that the peaceful home wouldn't be caught in the crossfire either. Maybe she could even find Zecora, if she was still around. As she thought this, she stopped for a brief moment to look around at her surroundings, shaking her head with a sigh as she immediately disbelieved her own thoughts. "Nobody is going to be around here." She muttered to herself under her breath. As she was walking, the sounds of warfare begun to play within her mind once more. Rolling wheels of wagons, echoing shots of cannons alongside distant explosions. She couldn't quite tell if she was imagining these noises, it had to be the most logical explanation yet some part of her felt like she had heard it all before. That was impossible, she thought. Not once until this moment did she ever see or hear the horrifying events of war, she never even thought about the very possibility of war since it always felt so unlikely, so surreal to her now that she stood alone in a war-torn Equestria.

Still, she could not help but ask. Where had everyone gone? Why was she the only one left? Echoed through her mind on repeat, everything she's heard so far has only been eluding to an answer, yet so far none had come. Why was she left behind in the rubble of the Boutique? If the Apple family had evacuated, why hadn't Rarity taken her to Canterlot as well? She didn't forget about her, right? No, no. Surely not. There was no way that Rarity could possibly ever forget about her sister. Even if she did, this was all just some strange dream. Finally she had arrived to the snow-ridden, desolate home of Fluttershy.

"She's not home." Rainbow's voice suddenly echoed, again disembodied like the last. Sweetie Belle stopped dead in her tracks, listening. "Figures. I thought she'd chicken out on something this serious." Rainbow's voice of the past scoffed, Sweetie began to hear the faint sounds of wildlife, alongside the flapping of wings yet when she looked around, still she found nothing.

"She didn't chicken out, Rainbow." Twilights voice replied in a serious manner, "She just needs some convincing, you know somepony like her would never go to war." Twilight's voice paused with a sigh. "Even if it meant hiding from her friends, too." Twilight's voice paused once more before concluding. "We'll try again later, if she's still not home then we're unfortunately going to have to track her down." Silence followed after that, all noises ceasing and leaving Sweetie alone with nothing but the howling winds. Why could she hear all of this? She had never experienced any of this with her own eyes. Sweetie attempted to open the doors to the cottage yet was surprised to find that it was locked, then noticing that the window had been smashed open as if someone forcibly broke in.

Sweetie climbed up and looked through the window, only seeing a trashed dark room inside. She rolled her eyes, letting herself fall back onto the snow, knowing that she wasn't going to find anything in there. Then, she heard hoofsteps, moving away from the house and toward the forest. She knew that this wouldn't lead to the answers she needed, but she was curious. Where had Fluttershy gone? Were those her hoofsteps? Maybe through her she'd find where the other element bearers had gone if they were trying to actively track Fluttershy down. Couldn't they just let her go? All of this was so confusing, why were they trying to force her into this? Sweetie groaned, knowing that she'd never get a straight answer out of this. If only she was just there to ask, during all of the confusion.

Sweetie Belle began to walk into the forest, relying on the sound of the mysterious hoofsteps and a dirt path nearly invisible, buried beneath the snow.

Next Chapter: 1 - MINDSTORM Estimated time remaining: 17 Minutes