The Sunset Trilogy

by ocalhoun

First published 11th of December, 2012

Twilight Sparkle faces the end of the world as she knows it. An epic three book series depicting the fall of Equestria and the rise of a new nation from the ashes.

Twilight Sparkle faces the end of the world as she knows it. An epic three book series depicting the fall of Equestria and the rise of a new nation from the ashes.
I promise you intrepid explorers, bumbling changelings, lost civilizations, murderous trees, villainous nieces, flaming timberwolves, meddling time lords, graceful airships, monstrous bears, frozen dragons, mysterious cities, penitent farmers, stolen kisses, mythical gemstones, foreboding Pinkie twitches, missed parties, epic magical battles, unhelpful zebras, and perhaps even a phoenix or two.
I laughed, cried, and squeed while writing it; I hope you enjoy it too!
Features primarily Twilight Sparkle, Sunny Daze, and an OC, Apollo Dawn.

My thanks to:
Mailbox Bomber (formerly from bronyville.org) - Pre-reading and very helpful story outline advice
--This is a much better story because of your help!
Metaright (from friendshipismagic.org) - Extremely capable and detailed proofreading
--FAR better proofreading than I had any right to expect!
Jadeite (from bronyville.org) - Cover image
--Just what I needed! (Though I did modify it a bit ^.^)

Rated T for brief (where appropriate) gore. This was written before season 3: it's in a season 2 universe; there are already some conflicts with season 3's canon... please disregard them.

I will be posting one chapter every day. If you want to read the entire story right away, you can find it at http://www.bronyville.org/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=4020&p=135925#p135925

If anybody feels like contributing artwork, feel free; and I'll likely add it to the appropriate chapter of the story.
If anyone wants to do a spin-off with some of the same characters, feel free, and let me know! I, myself, will probably make future fics using Apollo and his crew. There are some characters there who I didn't get to play around with and develop as much as I'd like to.

Prologue

The Sunset Trilogy

Prologue

Apollo Dawn steadied himself with his wings as he brought the ice pick down yet again, breaking off a sizable chunk this time. The darkened shape was directly in front of him, just inches away now, really. It tantalized him with its mystery and with its proximity... they would be only moments away from finding out just what this was! As of yet, it was just a dark, indistinct shape in the ice... what could it be, embedded down here at the bottom of an ice cave? He was sure it would be a clue leading his crew closer to their eventual goal: the legendary largest blue diamond known to pony kind, Moonfeather's gem, stolen by an ice-dragon over eight hundred years ago!

With another swing at the ice, the pick struck home, getting stuck in the ice this time but creating a large crack. The reverberations from the impact stung Apollo's hooves, but he ignored it, looking instead at the large crack that had opened up... it wouldn't be long now!

“Do you know what this means?” He said excitedly back to his crew.

“We finally get a lunch break?” Pebble's reply came, despite the heavy load of ice chunks on her back.

“We can pack up and go back someplace warm?” Splints wasn't about to be outdone in rhetoric.

Apollo brought a hoof to his face... As wonderful as his crew was, they could be difficult to live with sometimes. “No, it means–”

His reply was cut off by a loud crack resounding through the icy walls around him. He whirled around to look at the work site as the ice cracked again, his ice pick falling free and clanging to the floor. Ice creaked and groaned as Apollo and his crew members slowly backed towards the entrance of the cavern... it didn't look like a cave-in; only the spot they had been working on was cracking, but nopony wanted to be buried in ice!

Their nervous backing quickly turned into an all-out dash for the exit as small bits of ice crystal began to rain down from the ceiling. Apollo dashed as fast as his hooves could carry him.

He skidded to a halt just outside the ice cavern, his spiked horseshoes scoring lines in the frost as he came to a stop and spun to look back into the hole. Slowly, the sounds of cracking and groaning ice stopped, replaced by the sounds of the last few free chunks rolling to the floor of the cave. He leaned forward, curiosity piqued yet again – Apollo was an explorer after all, and no danger could keep him away for long.

Before anypony worked up enough courage to venture back into the cavern though, a strange shape came rushing out. It was long and sinuous, and seemed to be made of an amalgamation of many different creatures... Apollo had never seen anything like it in his life. He and his crew looked on in stunned astonishment.

“Oh my, it feels just wonderful to finally be out of there,” The creature hissed out, turning her attention to the ponies in front of her, “And since you were so thoughtful in freeing me, I think I'll give you a little gift.” Apollo's attention focused on that! Did this creature perhaps have the gemstone he was looking for? Could it really be that easy? “I will allow you to live,” she said, “to live and experience my lovely new world... at least for a while.” She stretched lasciviously before continuing, “Hm... and speaking of which, I really should get started on that, don't you think?” With a disturbingly coquettish giggle, the creature flew away southwards, quickly vanishing over the horizon.

“What was that​​?” his team navigator asked shakily from behind him.

“Sure didn't look like a big blue gemstone.” Pebbles answered laconically.

Before Apollo could reply, Splints's Trottingham-accented voice cut in, “Hooray! Our glorious leader has brought us to yet another fabulous discovery!”

Apollo only groaned. Not only had this lead turned out to be a dud, not only was his crew acting particularly insufferable today, but he couldn't shake the feeling that freeing that... whatever it was... from the ice had been a very, very bad idea. Still, there were plenty more ice caverns around this glacier – surely the prize he was after would be in one of them.

Book 1 - Chapter I

Book 1: Equestria Burning
Chapter 1

Twilight always found it a little trying, getting the nocturnal Owloysius roused for pony pet playday. She had resorted to caffeine this time, slipping the bird a little coffee. It was working wonderfully: the normally groggy owl was as chipper as ever, despite the bright sunshine... Problem was, Spike's little Peewee had insisted on getting some too.

For the hundredth time, Twilight suddenly stopped in her tracks as a bright hot orange blur shot right in front of her.

“SPIIIIKE! Get control of your bird already!”

The little dragon growled in frustration, “I'm TRYING!”, waddling after the hyperactive baby phoenix.

Twilight seethed, this is NOT the time or the place for out of control fire birds! She looked around at all the bustling ponies in town... and all the horrifyingly flammable buildings. Spike's little Peewee had already started two minor fires in town, and Twilight was not in the mood for another 'incident'... Some ponies in town already were grumbling about how dangerous a baby phoenix could be... Twilight listened, sure she would hear even more now that there was a caffeine-fueled firecracker whizzing around town...

She listened, but only heard the normal babble and a few coughs... nothing about little birds, and nothing about fire. She tried to sigh with relief... but for some reason it felt hollow... there was just something hanging over her head, but she couldn't put a hoof on it. With a shrug, she turned her attention back to the moment.

The trip to the pet park was actually going swimmingly, all things considered. Twilight usually was all but dragging a drowsy owl along, but this time she was being rushed, trying to keep up with Spike's little bundle of energy. Which is almost literally true, She thought, The Marvelous Manual of Magical Monsters had said that phoenixes were creatures of energy more than matter... which some speculated to be the reason for their unorthodox life cycle, in fact... She shook her head. No, it's not studying time, play time, remember? Her friends had been trying to help her with that recently, after she had admitted having a bit of a compulsive studying problem. Her habit, though, was proving hard to break.

As she approached the park, Twilight could see that they had arrived very early. Only Applejack had arrived so far, causing Twilight to wonder for a moment if she would ever get to any appointment before her earth pony friend. If Twilight had a problem carrying her studying into the rest of her life, Applejack was definitely letting her work ethic bleed over into everything else! Not that it's a bad thing, she thought, it's nice to have somepony you can always rely on.

“Wow Twilight! You gotta give that little guy a boost more often! That was AWESOME!” Rainbow Dash had spent most of their pony pet playday effectively having traded pets with Spike. Watching the two of them careening through the sky had been quite the sight. They had even tried a few races, once Rainbow discovered the little bird's speed... not that they had turned out well... it his current state, the little bird didn't have the attention span to fly in any particular direction for long.

“Ya said it R-D!” Applejack spoke up. “With y'all two featherbrains cavortin' around up there, ah hardly missed Pinkie n' Rarity.”

“Featherbrains!?!” A high-strung voice from the sky called out... a little more raspy than usual?

“Oh, please don't be mad,” Fluttershy, said, quieter even than normal, “I'm sure she didn't mean–” only to be suddenly cut off by Rarity's late arrival.

“SO sorry girls, I was only stopping for my appointment at the clinic, to pick up a few lozenges for this dreadful little cough going around... but wouldn't you know, the place just had to have the longest line, all the way out the door... it was just dreadful!” She adjusted her saddlebags again; her cat, Opal, was weighing down one side, while the other looked relatively light. After a demure little cough, she continued her tirade, “Can you imagine that kind of RUDE service right here in little old Ponyville? Making me wait at the end of the line when I had an appointment for that very time? And so early in the morning! Why would they have a rush at this time anyway, don't those ponies have jobs to do?”

Ignoring the fashionista's continuing rant, Twilight looked thoughtful for a moment... “Wait, if you were at the clinic the whole time, where was Pinkie Pie?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow piped in. “We thought she was with you.”

Finding her rant (rudely) interrupted, Rarity replied, “Why, no, I haven't seen her all day.”

A few slightly worried looks passed around between the five ponies, and wordlessly they set out for Sugarcube Corner, their various pets struggling to keep up... or struggling to keep focused as the case may be when concerning a certain baby bird.

Twilight Sparkle followed Rainbow's tail through the front door of the confectionery, the little bell on the door ringing, prompting a call of “Just a moment dearies,” out from the back room.

Fluttershy was the last through the door, leaving Spike outside with some of the more rambunctious pets – particularly his own, though the little bird was by now merely bouncing everywhere, rather than flying... Perhaps the caffeine rush was wearing off?

As Fluttershy stepped inside, Mrs. Cake emerged from the kitchen, quite covered in flour. “Oh, don't mind the mess dearies, with my hubby off to Canterlot to get some ingredients and with Pinkie locked up in her room, I've been having to do all the baking and all the selling.” A buzzer went off back in the kitchen. “Oh! Just you wait, this will only take a minute,” and with that Mrs. Cake whisked back into the kitchen.

The five friends waited for a moment... and then another... Mrs. Cake was taking much longer than just a minute! As they waited, Rainbow sidled over to Rarity. “Say, you wouldn't mind letting me borrow a few of those cough drops you picked up, would you?”

“Oh, poor dear,” Rarity cooed, “You've got that little bug going around as well?”

“What!?” Rainbow started. “Me, the most awesome pegasus ever, sick? No way! I was just wanting them for... for... uh... Tank! Yeah, for Tank!”

Rarity simply gave Rainbow a look. ... Rainbow held her own in the stare-down... right up until she broke down in a little fit of coughing.

Sensing defeat, Rainbow quietly admitted, “Okay... for me.”

Rarity smiled, looking more than a little motherly. “There's nothing to be ashamed of to have caught a bit of a cold my dear. Here, have some – my pleasure to share with my friends.”

As Rainbow gratefully took the proffered medicine, another cough could (barely) be heard... Very dainty, and it would have gone unnoticed had there been any other sound at that moment.

“You too, Fluttershy?” Rarity asked.

Fluttershy just looked a little abashed and nodded, hiding behind her pink hair.

Another package of cough drops floated over to Fluttershy, enveloped in a light blue glow, to be quickly snapped up by a white bunny who ran them over to Fluttershy's side and proceeded to guard them as if they might be stolen at any moment.

Twilight saw the grateful look Fluttershy gave Rarity, and it warmed her heart. She knew that Rarity – fashion aspirations aside – loved nothing more than receiving a look like that.

Twilight's thoughts on the magic of friendship were cut short, however, by the return of Mrs. Cake. “So what can I get for you my dearies?”

“Actually,” Twilight replied, “We were looking for Pinkie Pie... You said she was locked in her room?”

“Oh, yes,” the baker answered, “I can't for the love of sugar get her to come out... something's bothering her and she's...” Mrs. Cake leaned in conspiratorially. “in one of her moods.”

The five friends all looked at each other worriedly... none of them wanted to consider what may be going on with the odd pink pony this time... Despite that, Rainbow Dash led the way up the stairs to Pinkie's room. – Not that Rainbow was any less worried about what they might find. Rainbow just couldn't let herself be seen as being afraid, especially not after that loss of face earlier with the cough drops.

As her friends arrived at the top of the stairs behind her, Rainbow knocked on Pinkie's door, which was indeed locked tightly. “Pinkie, what's wrong with you? You never miss a pony pet playday.”

Without warning, the door opened, and a pink hoof whipped out, impossibly grabbing all five ponies and dragging them through the door, which promptly was locked behind them... with a truly staggering number and variety of locks.

Having re-fastened the locks, Pinkie Pie stood, chest heaving, with her back pressed against the door, as if she was afraid something would try to beat it down. Well, at least her hair's still fluffy, that's a good sign, right? Twilight thought. Still, it wasn't all that reassuring; Pinkie looked like a wreck, with a grimace on her face and eyes narrowed down to points, darting all around the room... and where did she get all those locks anyway?

“Oh, my...” Fluttershy said, rushing over to her friend. “Pinkie, what's the matter?” Seeming to realize how forward she had been, she added, “Um, if you don't mind.”

A pleading look came on Pinkie's face as she said to her friends, “My knee is PINCHY! Not even regular pinchy, but super-duper like it's never pinched before ultra-uber-extreme pinchy! It's like that time I tried licking the electrical socket – 'cause it looked so tasty – have you ever looked at them they look soooo delicious and then it hurt so much but that time was in my face not in my knee but it felt kinda like that so maybe –”

Pinkie's chatter was cut short by Applejacks' hoof. “So ya say there's gonna be somethin' scary happenin' sugarcube?” Everypony there knew enough about the Pinkie sense to know that a pinchy knee meant that something scary was about to happen.

Still with a hoof in her mouth, Pinkie nodded. “MmHm!”

“Well what is it?” Rainbow Asked.

Pinkie looked defeated for a moment, plopping down on her haunches. She looked up at her concerned friends. “I. Don't. Know.” ... and promptly started to cry, eliciting an embrace from Fluttershy, and worried looks from the rest of her friends.

Book 1 - Chapter II

Book 1: Equestria Burning
Chapter 2

Twilight Sparkle couldn't help but worry about her friends. Rainbow kept playing tough; she wouldn't admit to any hardship. Fluttershy would hardly say a word to anypony, and Rarity, oddly enough, tended to brush it away as if it were nothing... But Twilight knew them too well. She could see the tiredness in their eyes. It had been four days since she saw any of those three, and she suspected it was because they were secretly bedridden much of the time. Rainbow was playing too tough... she had learned more humility than that... and Fluttershy was being too quiet, did it hurt her to speak? And Rarity... Ponyville's biggest drama queen giving up a chance to wail about her despair? Not a chance. Something was up, which is why Applejack, Twilight, and Spike were now escorting their friends to the clinic.

Not just the ordinary clinic either... Whatever bug was going around had been hitting the town hard, and the special emergency tent had been set up for the first time since Pinkie's 'baked bads' incident. Using a quick teleportation spell, the five friends had managed to escape Pinkie's room earlier, leaving Pinkie presumably still locked inside, but Twilight was now beginning to wonder if Pinkie's prediction was already coming true. Her and Applejack were only able to get their friends to the clinic by force, and after spending a time there, Twilight could understand why. If the line Rarity was complaining about the other day was bad, this was a disaster. Ponies swarmed the tent, no longer even making an orderly line. Twilight had been there for hours already, and they weren't any closer yet.

An outcry began to break out near the center of the crowd, at the door of the tent. Twilight and her friends were just starting to try and figure out why, as a voice called out from the center, “QUIET!”

In the short, stunned silence that followed, a pony Twilight vaguely remembered, Nurse Redheart, is it? Jumped up on top of something – Twilight couldn't see what with the crowd in the way.

“We're now completely out of medicine, everypony!” The nurse shouted out. “So for everyone still trying to get treated, all we can do is recommend some warm soup and plenty of bed rest!”

This elicited a great deal of grumbling in the crowd. Twilight could only wonder how long some of them must have been waiting, only to hear that.

“We're expecting another shipment next Tuesday,” the nurse continued, which brought even more grumbling, and a few calls of “Tuesday!?!” from the crowd, but the nurse's last word entirely changed the crowd... a simple addition of, “hopefully,” just barely loud enough for anypony to hear.

As Nurse Redheart hopped down from her impromptu platform, the mood of the crowd completely changed, from resentful anger to worried fear. These ponies weren't used to the idea that help might not come, and it clearly shook them.

“Well, now that we wasted ALL morning here,” Rainbow said, turning to Twilight crossly. “What are we gonna do now?”

Twilight was saved from her chagrin by a sudden belch accompanied by a gout of green flame. Spike caught the letter and began to unroll it even before it hit the ground. “It's from Princess Celestia,” he said.

“Well what's it say, hotshot?” Twilight prodded.

As the crowd surrounding the clinic started to break up and head home, Spike began to read, “Her Grand Royal Highness, Princess Celestia of Equestria, hereby issues royal decree numbered four hundred and eighty seven, in light of–”

“An official royal decree!?!” Twilight shouted, “I haven't heard of one of those outside of a history book! Nopony has! The last one was issued almost seven hundred years ago to–”

Twilight suddenly noticed her friends' glares. Sheepishly, she backed down a little. “Heh... sorry about that...”

Spike mustered a look of complete disdain and annoyance, and continued, “Now, if we can avoid any further interruptions... Ahem, ... In light of the sickness known only as the 'Fairflanks malady' spreading throughout Equestria, it is hereby decreed that this is a full-scale emergency, and all royal resources will be immediately employed to the finding of a cure... Repeat, all current projects will be put on hold until a cure is found. Any information should be forwarded to the desk of Healing Heart, president of the royal research hospital, fifteen-twenty Songwind's Lane, Canterlot. ... Residents of Equestria are advised to avoid all contact with infected ponies. Quarantine rules are in effect. Symptoms of the disease are as follows: a gradually worsening cough and sore throat, passing on to stomach ache and fever, leading to dehydration and fatigue, and then leading to death. Mortality rates are estimated at ninety-five percent. Our best pony doctors have been unable to make any progress. This disease seems entirely new, and bears no relation to the known cured diseases that we are familiar with, so any information will be most helpful. ... P.S. Be strong my little ponies, we will come through this. – Princess Celestia.”

Spike finished reading the letter, having paid more attention to his oratory skills than the actual message inside, and turning to his friends, he looked surprised to see that the reaction wasn't what his imagining of his oratory skills led him to expect. The five ponies – and quite a few of the ponies still lingering from the crowd – were all staring at him dumbfounded.

Rarity still laid on the ground, having fainted sometime during the letter, and Fluttershy cowered into a quivering little ball of yellow and pink fur. Rainbow Dash, as usual, was the first to spring to action. “So, what's the plan?”

The prospect of planning caught Twilight's attention enough to draw her out of her stupor. Plan indeed... But what can I do about this? I don't know anything about medicine, or know anypony who does... anyPONY... Twilight's face lit up as the idea struck. Come on girls! To the Everfree Forest!

Twilight was greeted only by confused looks, until Applejack deduced her idea. “Zecora! Let's go!”

The four ponies began to dash off... only to stop a moment later. Four? Twilight thought, Wait. Rarity! Twilight quickly trotted back to rouse her fainted friend. Wow... usually she just pretends to faint... but this time she really did! Still, a few shakes were enough to bring Rarity back to the conscious world, leaving the group now ready to go.

With an eye roll from Rainbow Dash, the now five ponies dashed off towards the Everfree forest.

“Come along, Hooves!”

Derpy Hooves hurried through the Ponyville's Stirrup Street as quickly as she could... which wasn't fast enough for Doctor Whooves, apparently. It wasn't easy when she couldn't keep from bumping into ponies and buildings and anything else in the way.

“We need to get out of here before the disaster comes.” He seemed pretty serious about that.

“What disaster?” She looked around and held her little Dinky closer than usual, even more confused than usual. “Everything looks fine.”

“This isn't a good place to talk about it.” The Doctor looked warily around at the ponies surrounding them. “I'm glad we could come back for your daughter, but I didn't mean to get back this late... the disease is already spreading, and we have to get out before we catch it, okay?”

Derpy still didn't know what he was talking about... but she had been traveling with him long enough to know that he was usually right. She rushed after him again, eager to get herself and her precious little daughter to safety inside the tardis.

Book 1 - Chapter III

Book 1: Equestria Burning
Chapter 3

Far from the dreadful and fearful place Zecora's hut had once represented, as Twilight and her friends approached the zebra's home, it now seemed to shine like a beacon of hope.

Already Twilight could imagine the feeling of accomplishment, the recognition, the warm smile from her mentor's face, on hearing that she and her friends had so quickly found a cure – an herbal remedy, no doubt – to this awful sickness. Her high hopes making her brash, Twilight barged right through the door of the hut. Only to watch, for a second time, an upside-down meditating zebra suddenly wobble and crash to the floor.

“If you ponies continue to refuse to knock,” Zecora chanted, “I will be forced to put in a lock!”

Ignoring the jibe, Twilight burst out, “Zecora! We need your help, there's a horrible sickness going around and we have to find a cure as soon as possible!”

“Very well my dear, let's have one of your sick ones come forward here.” Zecora looked at the ponies, all of whom were looking rather reluctant.

A stern gaze from Twilight at her three sick friends did the trick: while Fluttershy was still cowering, and Rarity was looking very studiously uninterested, Twilight's gaze fell on Rainbow. Rainbow Dash glanced ploddingly to her left and right, to Fluttershy and Rarity, hoping to see one of them stepping forward... but finally allowed herself to be the volunteer, temporarily dropping her 'I'm not sick' act.

Seemingly oblivious to that little drama, Zecora spoke up. “Good, a diagnosis we'll get very quick, and we'll find what has made you sick.” With that, Zecora started wandering all around the hut tossing a strange variety of things into the big cauldron in the center. After a few moments of this, she approached Rainbow. “Now with all that in the brew, I need just one more thing – from you.”

Before Rainbow could cringe away, Zecora darted in and pulled out just one hair from her prismatic mane with a quick nip of her teeth, happening to snag a red one. Rainbow darted back in startlement, but Zecora already had her prize, which she promptly tossed into the cauldron.

Zecora leaned over the brew, watching closely. This, of course, prompted the same behavior from the five ponies, forming a circle of ponies all closely watching the brew, though they didn't know what they were looking for.

Slowly, the mixture began to bubble, building up to a boil, and it began to change color from it's previous milky-white appearance to what was becoming a startlingly vivid blue.

With a worried expression, Zecora went to fetch an old-looking book, and quickly opened it to a well-used page.

With the Zebra incredulously looking back and forth between the pot and the book over and over, finally Twilight could take it no more. “So, what is it? What's the cure?”

Zecora just shook her head. “For this mix to turn so blue... this sickness... it is entirely new.”

“What?” Twilight cried, “You mean you don't know how to cure it!?!”

Zecora looked oddly beaten, hanging her head low and mumbling, “I can treat the symptoms this is sure... but I cannot make a cure.” She stepped over to a shelf and grabbed a couple bottles, handing them to Twilight. “Here, for the coughs, this is the one to take, and that one for when a fever needs to break.” She avoided eye contact, “Twilight, I wish I could help you, but I've done all that I can do.”

As Twilight plodded back towards Ponyville, the three ponies staring hungrily at the bottle of cough cure weren't enough to distract her from her own disappointed inner monologue. Variations of What are we going to do now? replayed incessantly in her mind... Her hopes of a quick cure and a hero's welcome seemed very far away now.

Book 1 - Chapter IV

Book 1: Equestria Burning
Chapter 4

She wasn't precisely running away from the problem, but Twilight knew that none of her books would give her a cure. Still, she read the days away, vague feelings of guilt growing about her faux action... but what else was there to do?

“Twi-Light,” She heard Spike calling from the next room, “Would you put down that book already? You've been reading all day and you haven't eaten anything! ... And when's the last time you slept?”

Twilight sighed. It was true. Even though she knew this marathon study session wouldn't be curing any diseases, she couldn't stop. To stop would be to admit defeat... and be forced to think of something else to do... and what else was there? So, she continued to study, at least finding a little comfort in the familiarity.

Shocking her out of her reverie, the page she had been looking at was suddenly blocked by a plate of – admittedly delicious looking – waffles. “I made waffles Twilight, don't you want some?”

Twilight looked up to see Spike proffering the plate as enticingly as he could manage. She was finally about to break down and accept when an odd look came over the baby dragon's face. Having spent quite some time around him, she sprung into action, grabbing the plate with her magic and ducking out of the way... Not a moment too soon, as a burst of green flame came flying out of his mouth.

Waffles momentarily forgotten, Twilight opened the letter: another from Princess Celestia, but no kingdom-wide decree this time. This was a personal note.

Twilight's eyes grew wide as she rapidly read the contents of the letter. Rolling it up and shoving it into a hastily donned saddlebag, she turned to Spike. “Quick spike, I need AJ, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Rarity at Sugarcube Corner as soon as possible! The princess needs us!” With that, she rushed out the door.

Spike gave a longing backward glance at his magnificent waffles now getting cold on the floor – he had spent all morning getting them just right... But he knew the futility of ever getting Twilight to put the princess on hold, even if it was just for a minute to eat. With a sigh, he followed Twilight, running out the door to round up her friends.

Twilight's face began to burn with rage as she yelled once again at the locked door. “PINKIE you HAVE to come out! It's an order directly from Princess Celestia for pony's sake!”

“You don't want me to come out!” Came the reply from inside. “It won't end well, Twilight.”

“PINKIE! I. DON'T. CARE!” Twilight screamed back, “You are coming out of that room RIGHT NOW!”

As Twilight prepared to blast the door away with magic, her friends came trotting up the stairs. Rarity stopped Twilight's preparation with a simple “Darling, you can't possibly be serious. Blasting that door would just be unforgivably rude.”

Rainbow leaned in close to Twilight, whispering conspiratorially. “We've been working on a 'plan B' ... Just watch.”

Unsure what her friends were up to, Twilight did as asked, though still keeping the blast-the-door plan in reserve as 'plan C'. She watched Rainbow take a high, hovering position above the door, while Applejack readied her rope. Once they were in position, Rarity began her part, “Oh Pinkie Pie, won't you come down, we have just a lovely party ready, It would be simply dreadful if you missed it.”

Taking the silence from inside as encouragement, she continued, “Oh, and there's just ever too much cake, what ever shall we do with it all?”

That seemed to do the trick: the poor pony had been locked up in there without food for days now. Rainbow and Applejack passed a look as they heard locks being undone on the other side of the door. Slowly, the door opened with just a blue eye and a sliver of pink face peeking out... which was all the opportunity the plan needed.

Quickly, Rainbow rammed the door at full power, sending it flying open, and sending Pinkie flying back into the room. As Pinkie and Rainbow flew together towards the far wall, Applejack's rope whipped out, catching the pink pony before she even hit the floor. By the time Rainbow recovered from her crash, Pinkie was hog-tied and ready for kidnapping.

Pinkie Pie had been positioned as comfortably as could be arranged while still tied, and she now 'sat' around one of Sugarcube Corner's tables with the rest of the group. The Cakes looked on, a little bewildered, but being used to Pinkie's antics – and a little peeved at not having her help in the shop for the last several days – they weren't asking any awkward questions about the restraints.

“Now why did y'all round us all up here in the first place, Twi?” Applejack asked, which brought nods from around the table, though Pinkie – with hair now hanging straight down – just sat and gave Twilight a pleading look.

“The princess has requested our help,” she answered. “immediately,” she added, with a peeved glance at Pinkie. With a tug of magic, the scroll she received earlier floated out of her saddlebag, and she began to read, “My dear Twilight, my sister and I have exhausted all avenues of inquiry about this illness. All save one. However, this last is not to be taken lightly. We need you and your friends in Canterlot as soon as possible. The trains have stopped running because of the quarantine, so I've dispatched a chariot. It should arrive shortly. Please come to the castle with all haste. – Princess Celestia.”

Fluttershy and Rarity looked a little worried, Applejack and Rainbow Dash resolute, but Pinkie just looked resigned to her fate... which Twilight found more than a little disturbing.

“Y'all know more than yer tellin' us, dontcha, sugarcube?” Applejack prodded.

Pinkie just looked Applejack's way and nodded, shedding a tear before going back to her morose fascination with staring at the floor.

Twilight would have pressed the issue had it been any other pony... but despite Pinkie's inclination toward being a blabbermouth, if she got it in her head to keep something a secret, it would be a secret 'FOREVER', as the pink party pony herself would put it.

A loud clatter came from outside, and through the window, Twilight could see their ride arriving, one of the biggest sky chariots she had ever seen, drawn by a team of ten pegasus guards. Wow... the princess must have really meant it when she said 'with all haste,' huh? Turning to her friends, she called out, “Okay, grab Pinkie and let's go.”

Rarity looked panic stricken for a moment. “To Canterlot? Now? Without packing a single thing to wear?” More than one stern backwards glance came her way, and with a nervously forced laugh she followed the others out to the chariot.

Twilight couldn't help but to be impressed at the raw power of their transport – the wind was whipping by despite the heavy load... but it also left her a little worried. What could have happened to make the princess so desperate? What is this last 'avenue of inquiry'? She looked around at her friends – the elements of harmony – seated around her. Whatever it is, it must be big... so big the princesses don't think they could handle it on their own... What?

Twilight's mind continued to chase itself in circles as the countryside passed by underneath and Ponyville receded into the background.

Book 1 - Chapter V

Book 1: Equestria Burning
Chapter 5

Having extracted a Pinkie promise from the inventor of Pinkie promises, Applejack began untying the pink pony. Their ride was almost over in any case, with the chariot slowly coming down to ground level.

As the wheels touched pavement – not the castle entrance either, directly in the courtyard, Twilight noticed – the two royal sisters were already in evidence, waiting on the group's arrival.

Still wondering what it was they were called for, Twilight rushed up to Princess Celestia. While her other friends bowed respectfully, she ran right up and began babbling. “What's wrong Princess? We came as fast as we could! What do you need us to do? Why do –”

The princess cut her off with a look. “I've called you all here as a safeguard. My sister and I have decided that we need to speak with someone. He's very dangerous, and I believe you've met before – Discord.”

As her friends looked on in shock, Twilight realized just how desperate her mentor must be to resort to that. Was there really no other way?

Celestia continued, “I will be opening up a connection through his stone prison... It should be perfectly safe... but naturally we want to have backups in place.” She glanced to her side. “Princess Luna will be keeping an eye on me – in case I am overwhelmed.” She received a few shocked glances at the prospect of her being overwhelmed with anything. “And I want all of you keeping an eye on Discord... During this time, his prison will be weakened, and I need the six of you to ensure any escape plan of his is short lived.”

“Are you ready, my little ponies?” The princess asked.

A chorus of affirmation resounded in response, with Rainbow Dash going as far as to give a salute.

Princess Celestia paused for a moment looking slightly unsure, causing Twilight to wonder if she might actually be feeling reluctant to continue... but the moment passed, and Celestia's mask of a pleasant smile returned as she levitated out a familiar bejeweled box, eliciting a few sighs of relief when the six ponies in front of her saw the elements safe inside. “Very well then, please follow me to the gardens.”

As she approached the familiar statue, Princess Celestia's heart filled with dread. It wasn't often that the princess of the sun had occasion to feel fear... And though she strove to keep her regal mask in place, she worried that the fear was showing through.

Before long, she found herself beneath the towering statue – again an unpleasant change from usual – being quite nearly the tallest pony in Equestria, she wasn't accustomed to being towered over... and this accentuated her nervous fear all the more. Resolutely, though, she stared down the statue. Her ponies were dying from this plague, and she needed to do whatever it took – anything – to put an end to it.

She looked up at the draconequus's face. She had taken great pleasure in having a base attached to the petrified Discord, and having him placed in exactly the same spot in the gardens as before. She recalled getting a laugh out of how much the spirit of chaos would enjoy getting to look at the exact same scenery for a few thousand more years. Now, though, she almost wished she had been more kind... this was going to be difficult enough without the complication of a personal grudge.

Lost in thought, she hadn't noticed when her escorts brought themselves into position. Luna nudged her out of her reverie with a poke and a clearing of her throat. Celestia almost adopted a sheepish look – almost. Thousands of years of practice with a royal visage had her transforming that sheepish look into a regal nod, as if she had been planning to just stand and stare at the statue for a few minutes.

She glanced around. Her faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, and her friends were gathered around behind Discord, all staring back at her expectantly. Her sister was at her side, a concerned look on her face, but Celestia could see that her sister was trying to be as supportive as possible. She, for one, understood how Celestia was feeling better than anypony else could.

Her pulse racing, Celestia forced herself to take a deep breath... here it goes. She leaned in and touched her horn to the statue, calling up a simple spell to help bypass the stone barrier, and with a gasp, she saw the world around her vanish.

At the princess's gasp, Twilight ran forward to help, only to be held back by a dark blue hoof.

“Let her be, Twilight Sparkle. She is not in peril yet, and this must be done.”

With a reluctant look at her teacher's pained face, she slowly returned to her place, keeping vigilant watch over the statue along with her friends.

A cacophony of light and noise assaulted Celestia's senses... and more than that, she realized, every sense was assaulted. She could feel alternating hot and cold, electric tingling, a tickling feather, a lover's touch, and something that felt like warm pudding sliding down her neck... meanwhile, tastes and smells whisked to and through her almost too fast to recognize, the smell of lemons, and the taste of chocolate, suddenly replaced by an acrid taste and smell, and replaced again by the smell of fresh coffee and the taste of cheese, only to be replaced again. Even her magical sense was going haywire, telling her that random magic was flying all around her.

Get a hold of yourself, she thought, It's all just illusion. Ignore it. Easier said than done. Every moment was a full sensory overload, and none of it made any sense. The fear came rushing back... what if she was to be trapped like this forever? No, she thought, Luna's there, she'll get me out... now just KEEP IT TOGETHER!

Suddenly, the assault on Celestia's senses died away, leaving complete absence of any sensation at all. She languished that way for a moment, completely lost, and still reeling from the overload earlier... and then a voice came lurking from the darkness...

“Oh my... look who's come to pay us a visit! If it isn't my old friend Celestia...” The voice seemed to move right up next to Celestia's ear. “Why, you should have called first, I would have set up a better welcome. ... Still, I did the best I could on such short notice; I trust you enjoyed it?”

“Discord,” Celestia managed to say, despite the nervous tightness in her chest.

“Oh, I'm soooo honored,” The voice replied, “She remembers my name! It's just wonderful. Perhaps she'd like to stop for a spot of tea?”

Celestia couldn't let fear get the best of her. She brushed aside thoughts of Discord's previous tea party, thousands of years ago... Not a pleasant experience. “Actually, Discord, I've come to ask a question.”

The voice from the black void returned. “No, my dear, I won't marry you. You're quite nice and all, and quite the beauty, but you see, you can just be so dreadfully dull and dreary.”

Celestia sighed. Dealing with Discord was always a challenging endeavor. “No, I've come to ask you about a disease spreading through Equestria, you see it's –”

“And there you go again!” The voice interrupted. “Being all boring and serious again. Really Celly – can I call you Celly? – Really, you should learn to lighten up a bit!”

Ignoring Discord's interruption, Celestia continued, “it's killing too many ponies... it's a disease that starts with–”

“Oh, I know all about your little plague running amok out there my dear,” the voice responded. “Just because you've got your minions to lock me up in this stone doesn't mean I can't keep tabs on the world. I'm the spirit of Chaos, after all. Locking up this physical body only does so much.”

“Yes,” the princess responded, “but about the disease...”

“And you can forget about that,” the voice came back snidely, “you won't see me interfering with my dear little neice's silly corpse games.”

“Niece?” Celestia asked in shock.

“What, you didn't know?” Discord had himself a little laugh. “Oh that's just too rich.”

Realizing the import of what Discord had just let slip, Celestia began to shut down the spell, exiting his world... only to have it locked in place.

“Oh dear, leaving already?” The voice taunted, “Won't you stay just a little longer? – I made a gift for you, after all... only fitting in return for your little gift of putting me back in my accustomed place...”

Suddenly, Celestia's world again exploded into a kaleidescope of sensation in all six senses... Only this time, they were all pain and unpleasantness. The colored lights were back, so bright they burned her eyes. A staccato screeching noise pained her ears. Bitter taste filled her mouth, accompanied by the smell of sulfur, quickly replaced by the exact smell and taste of hot, fresh blood – it was making her gag. She could feel her fur being pulled out, one hair at a time, as her legs tied themselves in knots.

Celestia cried out, only to feel herself flung to the side, and find some blue monster standing over her. She instinctively struck out in fear, only to see her magic diffuse along a shield barrier. ... Slowly, she came to her senses. That wasn't a monster, it was her sister, Luna. She had pushed her Celestia aside, breaking contact at the first sign of trouble, just as planned.

Celestia looked at the singed ring of earth around her sister's feet. The attack she had lashed out with had been a powerful one... She was glad to have had her sister in this position... few other ponies could have blocked such an attack. “I'm so sorry sister, I didn't mean to–”

Luna cut her off with an embrace. “Do not mention it my sister. We – I mean, I – remember the last time we had occasion to talk to the demon Discord. It is only natural to come out a little defensive.”

Celestia glanced back up at the statue of Discord, still struggling to catch her breath. Gradually, her mask of regal serenity returned, and she turned to Twilight Sparkle and her friends. “Thank you. Thank you all. I think I've learned something helpful here, and I won't be needing to talk to Discord again anytime soon.” She suppressed a shudder at the thought. “I'm afraid we'll need you to stay here in Canterlot for a time... I think we may have need of your special talents again soon.” She summoned her sister to come along with a glance, and headed towards the royal guard's headquarters. The guard hadn't seen much action so far in this crisis, but they were about to make up for that... she would need the biggest aerial search in Equestria's history to locate this niece of Discord.

Book 1 - Chapter VI

Book 1: Equestria Burning
Chapter 6

Spending a vacation in Canterlot would normally have been pleasant – an opportunity to show her friends around town... except that Twilight had been stuck here for five weeks already, with no end in sight, and the great city was no exception to the depredations of the mysterious disease plaguing all of Equestria.

As they sat around the outdoor table at Twilight's favorite bistro, her friends' moods continued to worsen. Rainbow Dash and Applejack argued quietly, but heatedly about the merits of disobeying the princess and returning home. Twilight could only catch a few words of the whispered fight, 'harvest', 'traitor', 'sick filly', 'duty'... She continued to pointedly ignore it, turning to the rest of her friends. Pinkie was strangely morose, mane and tail still hanging straight down, all because of that strange premonition she had. Rarity seemed to be doggedly attempting to enjoy her stay in Canterlot, despite her worsening health and growing fatigue, chatting amicably with an unresponsive Fluttershy... and Fluttershy herself seemed to be just as bad off... she didn't show many obvious symptoms... even her coughs and sneezes were almost too quiet to catch... but Twilight could see the tiredness in her eyes.

Twilight Sparkle sighed. She wanted to assist the princess more than anypony... but they were wasting their time doing absolutely nothing here... and truth be told, she found herself getting very homesick for Ponyville. Twilight sipped her tea – not her usual blend she liked from this bistro. That had become unavailable, the waiter had apologized, due to quarantine. As she sipped, she thought, I wish the princess could finally get on with whatever she needed us to help with or at least tell us what it was! I'm not sure how much longer I can keep this little group together...

Twilight came out of her thoughtful mood as she noticed everypony else staring at the sky... Looking up as well, she was amazed and shocked. The sun turned a sullen reddish color, staining the sky. Impossibly, a full moon rose with startling speed and began tightly circling the sun. Despite both sun and moon in the sky, the stars somehow were also beginning to shine through.

Apprehension gripped Twilight. She turned to her friends. “Come on girls, I think we'd better go check on the princess.” Nods of nervous agreement met her statement, but as she turned to go, leaving a few bits on the table, a pegasus royal guard landed in front of her, looking very winded.

After a moment to catch his breath, the guard spoke. “Twilight Sparkle, the princess has requested the aid of you and your friends immediately at the quarantined graveyard south of town. She insisted it was very urgent.”

“At the graveyard​​​​​?” Twilight asked in shock, turning back to look at her friends, who displayed looks of appalled confusion, except for Pinkie, who seemed to just wince, before turning back to her look of remorse. Noticing the guard still standing there staring directly at her, she replied, “Of course, we'll be there as soon as we can.”

With this, the guard seemed satisfied. He gave a curt nod, and zoomed away, presumably on some other errand.

Twilight turned back to her friends. “Let's go!” Together, under the strange, sick sky, they rushed towards the other side of town, hurrying to the princess's aid. In their haste, none of them noticed a plume of smoke beginning to rise from the valley below.

Princess Luna looked to her sister as they flew together. Her sister had donned her battle armor – it hadn't seen use since the day she was banished, and it still unnerved her slightly to see that gleaming white and gold plate armor, glistening with both sharp edges and countless magical enchantments and enhancements. At her sister's insistence, she had brought out her old armor she had worn as nightmare moon... less covering, but just as enchanted, and still just as intimidating. Still, she wished her sister would have waited for the elements of harmony to show up before rushing off to fight this threat. Luna remembered the last time the two sisters had fought a draconequus... They weren't to be taken lightly. The princess of the sun, however, had insisted on meeting the threat immediately after the report came in with a location. She thinks she has to defeat this monster as soon as she can, to save every life she can... but she's not thinking, 'what if we lose'? Still, messengers had been sent out to find and send the elements of harmony. All Celestia and Luna would have to do is delay the creature and keep it – her – in place.

The thought of meeting this new draconequus filled Luna with foreboding. Celestia had told her of the conversation with Discord, and Luna did not like the sound of this niece of Discord's 'corpse games'. She worried that this draconequus would make Discord seem friendly and likable by comparison. Too late to turn back now, she thought, as she saw the graveyard drawing near. I just hope we won't regret this later.

The sky burned an ugly grey-orange, as the two gleaming alicorn sisters glided down into the huge graveyard. By royal decree, contact with infected corpses was kept to an absolute minimum, which unfortunately meant that little respect could be given to the dead. Most of the 'graveyard' was just one big open pit, filled with a disturbingly large number of recently deceased ponies... the disease had been taking its toll.

The two alicorns looked around suspiciously. The royal pegasus guards had reported spotting a draconequus in this area, but none was in evidence at the moment. The tension in the air was palpable as the two sisters slowly stalked around the edge of the pit. Many of the corpses seemed to have been badly abused. Was this the nature of the creature's 'corpse games'?

At a noise from behind, both sisters whipped quickly around facing – nothing. Weary of this game, Celestia called out, resorting to her rarely used royal Canterlot voice, “SHOW YOURSELF, FEIND.”

Slowly, a few bodies in the pit began to move, rising up... and then flopping sickly down again as a she-draconequus rose from beneath them and stretched luxuriantly. Despite their random nature, one draconequus was much like another – this one also sported a lion paw and snake tail... all the same parts as her uncle, Discord. This one, though, was more curvaceous, and distinctly feminine. Her fur seemed to be slicked down with some kind of oil, giving her a darker, glistening appearance.

“Oh come now, did you really have to disturb my nap?” The beast asked.

“You've been sickening and killing my little ponies long enough,” Celestia replied, her urgency showing in her voice, “It stops NOW.”

“Stop? Whatever do you mean my dear?” The draconequus asked, with a slight hiss, “I've only just started... and look how wonderfully it's going!” She bent down and picked up one of the corpses, which was once a blue and white unicorn mare. She hugged the corpse tightly, giving it a decidedly unchaste kiss. “I do just love these little ponies like this; how could you ask me to stop?”

Reeling with revulsion, Princess Celestia sent a blast of magic towards the draconequus, which upon striking lit the entire graveyard with a piercingly bright burning glow.

As the glow dimmed, it again became possible to see the draconequus, utterly unharmed, but looking wistfully at her arms where the corpse she had been caressing had been incinerated. “How could you?” She cried out, in seemingly genuine distress, “How could you!” Rage lighting up her face, she rushed towards the two alicorns.

Book 1 - Chapter VII

Book 1: Equestria Burning
Chapter 7

Strange flashes of light flashed across the dully lit sky as Twilight raced to Princess Celestia's aid. She could feel the immensity of the magical power being unleashed ahead, almost painfully intense even at this distance. She ran on, struggling to keep her group together, with Rainbow constantly pulling ahead, and with Fluttershy and Pinkie constantly falling behind... Fluttershy apparently out of her normal timidity, but Pinkie seemed to be almost limping. Pinchy knee... Twilight thought, something scary is about to happen... She looked ahead. The flashes were brighter and closer, and were they higher up? Well, now we know what that was all about.

The six friends crested one last hill, and before them sprawled Canterlot's quarantine burial grounds. Many of the corpses had obviously been desecrated... used as some kind of sick playthings... but the grounds were devoid of any sign of life, leaving Twilight confused for a moment. She was sure this was where the message said to go... and she was sure this was where the flashes and magical discharges were coming from...

Suddenly, a bright flash from above lit up the scene. A wave of magic resembling twinkling starlight was dissipating away from an invisible shield around... a draconequus! Even from the ground, Twilight could tell this wasn't Discord... it – she – looked distinctly different, despite the same general shape. It seemed to notice the newly arrived ponies, and simply froze in the air, chanting and waving arms around... seeming to be preparing for a very complicated spell.

Twilight shouted out a warning, “Princess, look out!”

Celestia didn't seem to notice. She, too, had an intense look of concentration on her face as she hovered in midair. Princess Luna had been angling behind the draconequus, looking to land a sneak attack from the back, she turned though, at Twilight's call, to see what was the matter... just at the wrong time.

Celestia's tightly-channeled solar flare tore through the sky, roaring with tightly contained, unfathomable power. It followed a curving path, down from the sun, directly at the draconequus. The draconequus, who had seemed to be engrossed in casting a spell, suddenly looked up, and rather than giving the flare the fear it was due, she only gave a little smirk...

With a flash, the draconequus teleported herself out of the path of the beam of solar fire... leaving it now headed directly for a distracted Princess Luna.

Luna was not a pony to be trifled with. Thousands of years of experience and some of the most powerful magic in the world saw to that. Casting aside the star-powered attack she had been preparing, she quickly dodged to the side, calling on the power of the moon for the strongest shield she could muster.

Her intended target now teleported away, Celestia's heart skipped a beat as she suddenly noticed who was in her flare's path. Urgently, she veered the deadly beam off the the side.

Twilight watched from the ground in stunned horror as Celestia's beam of solar energy veered to the side... the same side that the princess of the night had dodged toward. Another savagely bright flash lit up the sky as Twilight saw the tightly focused flare cut through Luna's shield.

Caught in the beam, Luna was slammed to the ground, landing within Twilight's view. Her starry mane and tail were gone, along with most of her fur, and even a lot of skin. Her sleek black armor was glowing red and slowly melting around her. Her mangled face showed only a tight cringe of pain, as wisps of smoke rose from the new crater she made upon landing.

Twilight and her friends stared in silent shock, disbelief and horror on their faces. A piercing cry tore through the sky, “LUNA!” as Celestia went into a steep dive, blind to all else but her suffering sister.

Still high in the sky, Celestia's plummeting form came to a sudden stop and slightly reversed, as a rapidly rising draconequus impacted from below.

Twilight looked on helplessly as the two fell down towards the ground, much more slowly this time. The draconequus's mouth was clamped over the princess's face – the only gap in her armor – locked on tightly, with an eagle claw gripped tightly on the alicorn's horn and a tail wrapped around her wings.

As the two entwined combatants fell, Celestia struggled. First, her horn lit up with a dazzlingly light glow, but the glow seemed to only travel down the draconequus's claw and dissipate. The pony princess struggled physically, but could find no leverage, and the draconequus continued to stay latched on doggedly.

The two hit the ground with a thud, a small cloud of dust rising from the impact. Twilight was already running to help, horn aglow and friends close behind. As she approached, and the dust cleared though, she saw what she knew would haunt her for many years to come. The draconequus was still latched on to her mentor, the alicorn's entire face trapped in the creature's mouth. As Twilight's first magical attacks reflected harmlessly off of a shield around the two, the princess of the sun gave a few final twitches, and then lay still.

Twilight's world began to spin around her... no, that wasn't it... it was only the shadows spinning... Twilight looked up; the sun was zooming around the sky, taking a wide spiraling path from its zenith down to the horizon... Which could only mean... Her teacher, her mentor, the princess of the sun and ruler of all Equestria... was dead. Twilight's stunned horror lasted only a moment. This had to be stopped, but how?

Princess Luna rose shuddering from her crater nearby with a groan, attracting attention both from Twilight's group and from the draconequus. Her armor had cooled and solidified in a badly distorted shape, and she herself looked as though she should hardly be alive, much less standing, shaky with rage and pain. The sun now behind the horizon, the sky began to look much like a normal night sky, with a full moon high overhead.

“TIA!” Luna cried out blindly, “Tia, where are you?” She received only a sickeningly mirthful laugh in return.

Luna's eyes were long gone, but began to glow nonetheless, and she shouted out, in a surprisingly strong voice, “You will pay for this vile beast! Show yourself!”

The draconequus rose from her fresh kill, and responded, “Oh, come now, I much prefer the name 'Pestilence'. I may be vile, but I do like to think of myself as above the beasts.” Quickly, she dodged to the side.

One of the stars in the sky suddenly changed from a twinkling point to laser-like beam, vaporizing a large chunk of ground, and several deceased ponies. Celestia's armor still protected her body, which now lay at the bottom of a shallow crater, missing most of its wings and face, which were unprotected.

“I do so love the new look, Luna my dear,” Pestilence taunted, “No fur, no tail to hide the naughty bits... very risqué!”

Another shaft of starlight shot down and annihilated the area where the voice had come from... Which had only been a pony corpse animated by the draconequus's magical puppet strings from above.

Grinning at her blind target, Pestilence dove down silently, dropping like a rock – directly towards Luna's now unprotected neck.

At the point of impact, a cracking sound brought horror anew to the six ponies watching. As Pestilence rose from her second alicorn kill of the day, the moon rolled down from the sky, seeming to land on the southern horizon and stick there. The stars all began to slough off from the sky in different directions, like raindrops running down a window.

Twilight could scarcely breath at this point. This had to be a bad dream or a warning or something... it couldn't be real. It couldn't be real.

As she Twilight stared on in denial, Rainbow Dash was the first to respond, “The elements! Come on! We've got to get to the elements!”

This roused the group to action, and they began running back toward Canterlot, to the hall where the elements were kept... Only to have their path blocked by the bulk of the draconequus. This close, the smell of her was overpowering, cloyingly sweet, with a distinct undertone of decay. “I can't let you do that darlings,” Pestilence intoned sweetly.

Book 1 - Chapter VIII

Book 1: Equestria Burning
Chapter 8

Twilight and her friends faced off against the draconequus, Pestilence, blocking their route to the elements of harmony. “Come on girls, we've got to get past her,” Twilight said, “As a team, we're unstoppable.”

“Oh, yes, and about that...” Said Pestilence, looking directly into Twilight's eyes with a predatory look... Without warning, the draconequus sprung for Twilight, only to be blocked just as quickly by Applejack.

This didn't faze Pestilence in the slightest though, who simply scooped up the brave earth pony, carrying her up into the sky. A strangely distorting magical shield went up around the two as the draconequus said, “Oh well, I had wanted the ringleader... but you'll do... as long as I have one...” She coiled her body tightly around Applejack, still floating in midair, and moved in close, face to face.

Applejack struggled fiercely against the draconequus's coiled body, but push as she might, even with all her considerable strength, she couldn't budge. She stared defiantly at the monster's face as it hovered in front of her, but her defiance began to wilt into confusion and fear as the face drew slowly closer and closer. She arched her neck back, trying to get further from that face – she could smell the thing's breath now... sickening sweet like rotten apples, but with an undertone of the stench of dead things... she did not want that face coming any closer!

Closer it came though, forked tongue flicking out to lick its lips. Applejack felt her body trying to make panting breaths of fear, but she clamped down, holding her breath against the stink in front of her. That horrible face was only inches away now, and she found herself trapped, staring into its eyes, unable to look away as it closed the final distance. She could see flashes of light and color around her peripherally, she could hear muffled shouting... but she couldn't manage to look away from those eyes.

Applejack shuddered and felt a little sick as noses made contact and she felt something flicking up against her own lips. She could still smell the awful stench of good things gone bad on the creature's breath, and she tried to recoil away, but she was already as far back as she could get. The tongue at her lips suddenly forced its way through, horribly strong. Applejack could taste it as it explored her own mouth... and she did not want to think about where those awful flavors had come from! In desperation, she bit down on it as hard as she could... but it didn't seem to have any effect at first; it was tough.

Her bite did have an effect though... the horrible foreign organ responded by shoving in deeper... impossibly deeper. Her entire mouth was suddenly full of it, and she began to gag as she felt it in her throat, still sliding slowly deeper in. The draconequus's eyes in front of her grew half-lidded as the tongue shoved in deeply enough for the pain to start.

Applejack's gagging intensified tenfold as she began to feel something writhing around, stirring her insides in a way that should never happen, but she stopped even noticing it as the pain started. That tongue was thrashing inside her, crushing things, tearing things, rearranging her organs and wrapping around them.

Slowly the realization hit her... she wasn't going to survive this. And worse, she would be leaving her friends crippled, with only five elements. Still with her eyes fixated by the draconequus, Applejack's look of shock, fear, and pain gave way to sadness. She didn't want it to end this way... she didn't want to let her friends down...

Twilight looked into her friend's eyes as Pestilence planted a firm kiss on Applejack's mouth. Applejack's expression quickly changed to complete surprise, but then quickly to pain as she began to make gagging motions.

Twilight could see Pestilence's tongue slide deeply – far too deeply – into Applejack's mouth, and she took action, sending a flurry of magical bolts against the draconequus... all of which curved around the shield, continuing on afterwards as if they had missed.

Twilight sent every kind of magical attack she knew at the strange shield... but everything was bending around it, not even making contact. She wasn't the only one intent on saving Applejack, though, she saw. Rainbow Dash had flown up and was now smashing herself against the shield, futilely trying to break through to her friend. This made Twilight's task more difficult; she had to try and make sure her attacks wouldn't strike the brash pegasus.

As she began to tire, sweat dripping down her face, Twilight looked back into Applejack's face. Her friend had lost her pleading look, and now just looked remorseful, as remorseful as possible while still gagging on a draconequus's tongue, anyway.

Rainbow was now screaming Applejack's name, beating herself bloody against the infernal shield blocking her from rescuing her friend. Again and again she rammed herself as fast as she could against the shield, tears streaming, but the shield showed no signs of weakening.

Twilight watched, despair growing, as the color faded out of Applejack, slowly turning her grey as she had been under the influence of Discord. As the last bit of color seeped out of her, she closed her eyes and finally stopped the sickening gagging motion she had been making since her unwanted kiss with Pestilence began.

Rainbow continued to bash herself against the shield, either unable to see what had happened through her tears or not caring. Twilight couldn't tell which.

The draconequus set down on the inside of her own shield holding the now-dead Applejack (too) closely, and stared down at Twilight, “I do like her so much better this way, don't you dear?” She gave Applejack's face a lick with her horribly long, horribly stained tongue. “This one was so delicious... I can't wait to taste the rest.”

Suddenly, the danger became apparent to Twilight. The shield must be time-based! Set for a given amount of time, it would stay there for that time, no matter what, but only for that time. She had to get her friends out of there before the spell ended!

Turning, she screamed desperately, “RUN! Get away!” Pinkie Pie and Rarity needed no further encouragement, they dashed off together towards Canterlot. Fluttershy was already missing... she must have hidden or fled already. Rainbow Dash, though, was still doggedly smashing into the barrier.

Twilight sent a burst of magic at the colorful pegasus, knocking her away from the shield, and followed it up with a magically boosted voice, with a touch of command spell, “GO!”

Rainbow Dash had just recovered from the magical shove as she heard Twilight's voice, and despite the magical command within it, she hesitated, looking conflicted and glancing back and forth between Twilight and Applejack, whose body was now being obscenely abused by Pestilence. Disregarding Twilight's command – an impressive feat given the magic she had laced it with – Rainbow redoubled her futile pounding against the shield.

Twilight urgently raced through her mind, trying to think of some way to save her pegasus friend. Time was running out, she was sure, and she couldn't afford for Rainbow to still be here when that shield went down... Finally, a plan came to her. Grabbing her rainbow-colored tail with a telekinetic grip, Twilight hauled her friend back to the ground next to her, pushing the pegasus to the ground and looking her right in the eyes, “Rainbow! Our other friends need your help, and I do not want to lose them, too. I need you to keep them safe for me!” Twilight scowled back at Pestilence and growled as menacingly as she could manage, “I'll handle her.”

With a final glance at what used to be Applejack, a hoarse cry, and a renewed burst of tears, Rainbow flew off as quickly as possible, leaving Twilight alone with Pestilence. The draconequus looked at Twilight hungrily, still playing with Applejack's body... Twilight prepared to flee herself, but stopped as she caught a glance of gleaming white and gold armor.

She turned back around, facing Pestilence, now resolute. She wouldn't let that monster abuse these bodies like the others. Worrying that the shield spell might end any moment, she began preparing a massive teleportation spell. She would need to teleport four ponies – two of them extra-large – an enormous distance... But where? Seeing Applejack's body made up her mind. Sweet Apple Acres. She would be safe there, able to regroup and form a plan...

Twilight was almost finished preparing her teleportation spell, when a popping sound announced the end of Pestilence's shield. The draconequus came roaring down from above, terrifyingly fast. Straining with the effort, Twilight put the last pieces in place, and vanished just before the draconequus smashed into the ground where Twilight had been.

Pestilence picked herself up out of the draconequus-shaped hole she had just made, seething with anger. She looked around for the little purple unicorn. That impudent little filly would pay for this trickery! Already Pestilence's mind was working over the pleasant possibilities of just how to collect that payment, when as she looked around, she noticed the absence of a few of her favorite new toys... The two alicorns and her delicious little earth pony were missing! Nowhere to be seen! Now she howled with rage. Nopony can do this and get away with it! She began sniffing around the ground, finding Twilight's trail obviously ending where she had teleported away... but four others trailing off in different directions, yes... those she could follow.

The draconequus stalked off on the trail of one of the ponies... the white one, she thought, getting a whiff of expensive perfume. She would follow these ponies, and she would find the purple one... and she would get her toys back, and more, many more. Rage now replaced with her accustomed predatory gleam, she pursued her quarry.

Twilight Sparkle struggled to remain standing in the field just in front of the Apple Family's home. She was trembling, her horn – and indeed all her bones – felt like they were on fire, and her insides felt upside down. Shakily, she looked around. Applejack's body was there, still grey. The now wingless body of Celestia was still there, in its glimmering armor, and nearly unrecognizable now, Luna's abused form could also be seen.

Turning her head around left Twilight more than a little dizzy, and now a crushing headache was making itself felt. One slow, shaky step at a time, Twilight made her way towards the farmhouse door... she had to get help... Almost halfway there, her front leg gave way, sending her crashing to the ground. Oddly realistic stars spun in her eyes as she made a determined effort to stand again. She succeeded in standing, only to lose focus and fall again, this time totally unconscious.

Book 2 - Chapter IX

Book 2: Equestria Lost
Chapter 1

Twilight Sparkle slowly awoke to the smell of coffee brewing and golden sunlight pouring in through a window, making the specks of dust in the air sparkle prettily. Still half asleep, she breathed a contented sigh... This bed wasn't her own, but it was very comfortable... with a blanket that had a green and white checkered pattern with apples on it. Hm, she thought groggily, must have spent the night at Applejack's... rough night. I still feel tired... what happened?

Twilight thought back, trying to remember why she had spent the night at Applejack's farm... When it hit her. No, that had to have been a dream, just a nightmare! She jumped out of bed – or tried to rather. At the first movement, the pains in her bones awoke all over again, making her cry out. She quickly resolved not to try that again... but the pain still being present... that had to mean it was real...

Despite any evidence to the contrary, Twilight almost managed to convince herself that it was indeed all just a bad dream, as Big Macintosh pushed open the door and walked in, carrying a tray. His once huge frame was still tall, but now gaunt and thin from exposure to the disease. Spike's letters had mentioned that the whole Apple Family had come down with the plague, but Twilight had never expected it to take such a toll on the strong earth pony.

She had to know the truth. As Big Macintosh set down the tray next to the bed, she asked, slightly surprised at the weakness of her voice, “Applejack?”

As a short wince crossed Big Mac's face, before being quickly replaced by his normal stoic look, Twilight already knew the answer she dreaded to hear, “Eeyup... I saw to what needed to be done.” His eyes looked more than a little pitying. “They're all in the family plot up on the hill.”

Twilight's heart sank, and for a long while, she merely retreated into herself, losing all interest in Big Mac's tray of food, and in his efforts to get her to eat some. Her mind was consumed with thoughts of her friend, now gone forever... and thoughts of her mentor, who had seemed like the anchor of Twilight's life... she had always been there, and she always would be... except, now she wasn't.

As the day's events replayed over and over in Twilight's mind, she came upon a sickening revelation. It was all her fault.

If she had gone to get the elements first, rather than going straight to Celestia... If she hadn't called out that stupid stupid warning at exactly the wrong time...

She was brought out of her reverie by a hoof brushing the tears from her eyes. She followed the bony red leg up to see Big Mac's face looking down on her, still there, still caring. Now that she looked closer, she could see the red eyes and tousled hair... It looked like the stoic earth pony hadn't had a very good night either.

She spoke, or rather whispered, as her voice was still weak, “My friends – my other friends – they ran away... we have to find them!”

Big Mac just looked down at her and shook his head, “Enope. You're in no shape to travel, and I can't leave yet. You want to go get your friends, you've got to get better first... and you want to get better, you got to start by eating this.” He took a bowl of soup off the tray, and though it was more than a little cold by now, it still smelled delicious.

He moved to feed it to her, but she brushed him away. “I can do it, don't worry.” She lifted the bowl with her magic – or rather, she tried, only to wince in renewed pain from her horn, and only a few weak sparks to show for her effort.

“Eeyup. You probably shouldn't be trying that just yet,” Big Mac said.

Magic overload. Her teachers at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns had taught her about that. When a unicorn overreached the limits of her power like Twilight had with her long distance teleport, it could cause real harm... sometimes permanently. She groaned with a little dismay and self-pity as Big Macintosh lifted the bowl up to her again... but didn't refuse this time. Slowly she ate her meal, a delicious, if now tepid, tomato-based soup, a few mild biscuits, and some juice... evidently the coffee she smelled earlier wasn't for her. Her stomach complained a little at even what she had now, and she decided that was for the best.

As she finished eating, she noticed the sun going down... that was odd, it had been rising as she woke up. “It's sunset already?” She asked Big Macintosh.

“Eeyup,” He replied, “Well, sorta. Sun's been acting a mite strange the last few days. It just circles around the horizon bobbin' up and down above and below it every few hours.”

“Few days?” Twilight asked in reflexive surprise, “How long was I out!?!” She lost Big Mac's reply, however, as the enormity of the disaster manifested itself. The sun was out of control... the whole world was out of control. Her grief had been personal, all about what Celestia, and even Luna had meant to her... but now she felt the loss of them to the world...

Her anxious thoughts of the fate of the world fought a losing battle against her full belly and tired body's insistence on sleep... She mumbled a few objections as Big Macintosh pulled the covers back over her, but she fell asleep before seeing him pick up the tray and walk out the door.

Book 2 - Chapter X

Book 2: Equestria Lost
Chapter 2
(Before the fall of Celestia and Luna)

Apollo looked up as he heard the first cracks begin to spread. Little chunks of ice were already trickling down, and cracks across the ceiling were spreading... He kicked his assistant as hard as he could, the betrayed-looking white pegasus sliding backwards as Apollo Dawn was forced forwards, sliding away from each other despite their cleated horseshoes. Both ponies slid to relative safety just in time as a huge chunk of the ice from the ceiling collapsed into the narrow passage, blocking it almost completely, but not crushing the two.

As the noise died down and the snow-dust settled, Apollo rushed to the tiny remaining crack that the passage had been reduced to. His faithful assistant was on the other side, shaken, and electric blue mane frazzled, but otherwise unharmed. “Albie!” He called.

Albatross shook himself, short mane falling back into its accustomed place. He laughed, albeit a little nervously, “Heh, close one, eh?”

Dawn grinned approvingly at his assistant. The colt's talent might simply be flying long distances tirelessly, but though Albie didn't know it, one day he would be Dawn's replacement. “Head on back to camp... there's no more you can do here.”

A slightly worried look crossed Albatross's face, “You'll be okay without me?”

Dawn put on his most dashing face, “Of course. Don't you know who I am?”

Albatross gave a salute, somewhat ruined by the eye-roll that accompanied it, “You're the boss!” With that he turned, carefully ascending back to the entrance.

Apollo Dawn stepped back away from the crack, turning toward the continually descending ice cavern, and his confident look melted into trepidation. Still, he brushed his light grey mane out of his eyes and gazed resolutely down the passage. Now, the only way out – if there was one – was through, not back... And he hadn't become the most famous explorer in recent history by turning back when things turned rough! He moved on, more carefully now, his washed-out blue fur blending with the washed-out blue light filtering in from above through the thick ice.

Before long, he was finding the occasional gem encased in the ice... and the air grew even more frigid. Excellent. He was drawing close to his goal. Tightening his parka against the chill, he continued onward, now paying special attention to staying quiet. This mission would require stealth.

The gems embedded in the floor and walls... and even ceiling now... were becoming even more frequent, nearly to the point of where there were more precious stone than ice. As Apollo rounded yet another bend in the passage, he was confronted with a fearful, yet magnificent sight. Before him lay an enormous cavern in the ice, glittering with an uncountable wealth of gems. The distant walls were vanishingly far, difficult to even distinguish in the vague, shimmering light. The ceiling rose high above, letting in more light than the passage had – the ice in the ceiling must be much thinner.

What truly made the view awe-inspiring, though, was the cavern's inhabitant: resting on her side in the center, the great ice-dragon of the lonely wastes. She was dark blue and purple, according to legend, but she was covered with a thick layer of icy armor – as ice dragons often were – and so looked to be pure white all over... And next to her head glimmered the object Apollo had spent the last three years searching tirelessly for: glinting in the odd light of the cavern, the lost stone of Moonfeather, the largest blue diamond known to pony kind, stolen over eight hundred years ago by this very dragon.

One careful step, one nervous breath at a time, Apollo Dawn crept towards his goal, taking extreme care to be utterly silent, lest he wake the sleeping menace. As he drew closer, the ice dragon began to tower over him, even in her reclined pose. The closer he came, the colder the cavern became. A thin layer of frost began to build up around his face as his own breath froze. He began to shiver, wincing at the slight scratching noises of his cleated shoes on the gems in the floor... Yet he continued on, not the most famous explorer in Equestria for nothing, he reminded himself.

Finally, he reached his goal. Eagerly he grasped the enormous gem... almost the size of his head... But his half-frozen hooves betrayed him, and the gem slipped out of his shaky grip, clattering noisily to the floor. He cringed as he turned around to find himself face-to-face with a truly enormous – and very open – slitted yellow eye.

The eye narrowed, still remaining larger than the terrified pony in front of it. Apollo Dawn put on his best 'nothing to see here' face, quickly grabbing the gem and shoving it securely into his saddlebag. The giant eye widened, pupil contracting, as Apollo's own dark blue eyes darted around looking for an escape route.

With an ice-dragon's enraged roar, Apollo took off across the ice, wings beating furiously to add extra speed to his low-traction escape route... And then furiously backpedaling as a huge ice-studded tail slammed down in front of him, spreading cracks all over the floor. He took to wing, flying for the far wall just as a gout of frost-breath encased everything he had just been standing next to in solid ice. He flitted as fast as he could around the now very confining-feeling cavern, narrowly avoiding strike after strike from the ice dragon's formidable natural armament. He began to grow a little concerned – some might call it terrified. He wasn't the fastest nor the most agile pegasus ever... sooner or later, one of the dragon's attacks would strike home, and he'd be done for... And the only escape route he knew of was blocked!

As he dodged yet another swipe from the huge claws, only to barely avoid the dragon's frigid jaws, he shot upwards, toward the sunlight coming through the thinner ice above... and an idea came to him. He continued on towards the ceiling, only making a slight detour to avoid another blast of frost-breath. Once he reached the ceiling, he turned, expecting to need to taunt the beast.

He seemed to have underestimated the dragon's rage, however. She had already followed him in taking wing, and was only barely behind him as he turned to taunt. Quickly, he pushed off of the ceiling, down into a daring dive straight at the ice dragon. Cleated horseshoes raking along the dragon's iced hide, he barely slipped by along the dragon's back. He continued his dive as the dragon continued her fast upward thrust. As the dragon burst through the ice at the ceiling, he turned, angling along the floor to avoid the huge chunks of ice raining down from above.

He looked back at the dragon, now crawling back through the hole she had just made in the ceiling... and through the hole he could see sunlight! Real, unfiltered sunlight, and real clouds! He began working his way back towards the hole, enraged ice dragon still hot – or cold, rather – on his tail.

Albatross was looking forward to the hot cocoa that would be waiting for him in camp... That cave was so cold he was sure his beautiful feathers were frozen solid. As he reached the edge of the rough camp, a few other ponies peeked out of their tents. Most of them didn't seem concerned at him coming back alone. They trusted Apollo to always make it back. He smiled, looking forward to telling them what happened over a warm mug inside a (relatively) warm tent.

He looked back over the ice field, wondering how Apollo was doing, only to be surprised at actually getting an answer. A light blue blur that could only be the famous explorer shot straight up out of the ice at top speed, curving quickly toward camp, filling Albatross with relief... which was quickly replaced by fear as a truly enormous ice dragon followed, shooting up out of the ice, glistening in the wan sunlight for the first time in ages.

Thoughts of warm mugs abandoned, Albatross shouted to the crew, “The toboggans, get 'em out and get 'em going!”

Most of the others had also seen the dragon erupting from the ice, and needed no further urging. Albatross thanked his lucky stars that Quartermaster had packed the silly things. He had laughed at the time, but he should have known by now to trust the old goat. As the first few slid out, carrying his teammates to safety down the glacier, he cast a nervous glance backward. He couldn't make out Apollo anymore, not against the background of the massive dragon closing in fast... which was bad, because this would require split-second timing... all the others were already on their way down, but he had to get his last toboggan moving at just the right time and speed to match up with Apollo's approach... He placed himself in position, looking back with intense care.

“Okay,” He said to himself, “Five... Four... Three... Aurgh!” A huge weight slammed into his back sending the sled careening forward.

“Perfect timing, as usual, Albie!” Apollo shouted as the sled accelerated downward.

Albatross took one glance backward at the still gaining ice dragon before turning his complete attention to steering across the treacherous glacier, “Yeah, heh, perfect, of course!”

They skidded together dangerously fast across the rough ice, narrowly avoided crevasses and outcroppings, and narrowly outrunning the approaching dragon. Luckily, her ice armor was designed for brawling, not for speed. It was holding her back just enough for them to outrun her.

Apollo laughed at the impotent rage of the dragon as the slid even further away from her... but his laugher was cut off suddenly as their toboggan hit the tree line. It continued to slide on the soft covering of pine needles, but the forest floor was no substitute for snow when it came to steering. As both ponies braced for impact, the sled struck a tree root, sending them both flying deeper into the forest.

The two wasted little time picking themselves back up, of course. There was still an enraged ice dragon to be concerned about. They ran on as fast as they could, using the forest as cover. As they passed a massive rock outcropping, a massive pair of pale green hooves grabbed them both, hurling them around and behind the rock.

Albatross's pleased outburst of “Pebbles!” Was muffled by yet another pair of hooves, bright pink this time. Shimmer Spell motioned for them to be quiet, and engaged an invisibility spell before peeking over the top of the outcropping again.

He shoved the pink hooves out of his mouth, with a look of mixed resentfulness and thankfulness at Splints, and whispered up to Shimmer Spell, “What's going on?”

With her invisibility spell active, he couldn't see it of course, but he felt the annoyed eye roll in the tone of her voice just the same: “Shimmer Spell can see the dragon. It stopped at the tree line and seems like it doesn't want to pass... but it's blasting the nearby trees with ice for all it's worth.”

Albatross heard the unicorn drop down next to him, as her spell started to, well, shimmer, letting her become visible again.

“And that's why I'm glad we added you to the team, Shimmer,” Apollo said. “You really are the best magical unicorn ever!”

Shimmer looked coy for a moment, batting her light blue mane out of the way, but it was obvious to everypony present that she simply melted in the warm glow of Apollo's praise. Unable to resist that adorable look on his favorite unicorn, Albatross gave his fiancé a quick kiss, which she returned enthusiastically.

“Come on now, everypony,” Apollo continued with a sharp glance at the love birds, “Even if the dragon stops pursuing us, we're stranded far from the nearest town, and we've lost all our supplies. We'd best get moving.”

“Did you at least get the goods this time?” Splints asked, her Trottingham accent coming through thickly, “I'd really like to get paid this time...” She leveled a withering look, not at Apollo, oddly, but at Quartermaster, who had been in charge of team payroll.

“Did I ever!” Apollo proclaimed, drawing the magnificent gem from his bag. For a moment, all seven pairs of eyes reflected only the amazing, glittering gem held in Apollo's hooves, each widening in amazement. Quickly though, he shoved it back into the bag, “this is no place for celebrating though... let's get back to town!” As he began to walk, he looked sidelong at his crew... they deserved it. “And when we get there, first round's on me!”

Trailed by a now more enthusiastic crew, Apollo began the trek back to town. It had taken eight days to reach their camp, but two of those had been ascending the glacier, and they had just bypassed that bit of arduous tundra by their hectic sleigh ride... and the return trip would be mostly downhill. Albatross hoped to see the lights of the town within five days: they would be hungry, but they'd make it. They always did when Apollo was in charge.

Albatross looked over at his team leader. The blue pegasus's cutie mark was a new moon, only showing the slightest sliver of white, which he always said represented him shining the light of knowledge to the darkest parts of the world... but the way albatross saw it, Apollo's true talent was in inspiring his team and keeping them together against all odds and against all adversity.

Book 2 - Chapter XI

Book 2: Equestria Lost
Chapter 3

As Twilight's eyes slowly opened, she was confronted with a pair of big light blue eyes. Before she could properly process this, a shout of “She's awake!” awoke her fully. Carefully, she propped herself up on her front hooves, successful this time. Her pain level was already much reduced from earlier. She looked down at the little earth pony filly, still standing with her front hooves propped up on the bed and staring at Twilight. She had seen this filly before, but couldn't quite remember her name. Bright yellow coat and a white mane... with a big shining sun for a cutie mark... what was that filly's name?

“Now Sunny,” Big Macintosh said as he entered the room, “Y'all need to let miss Twilight get her rest. She's been through a lot.” He turned to Twilight, “Please 'scuse little Sunny Daze here. She's been staying here ever since the fire.”

Twilight's face scrunched up in confusion. “Fire?”

Sunny Daze's face lit up with the realization. “She doesn't know!”

“Know what?” Twilight asked.

Big Macintosh looked uncomfortable, but Sunny didn't seem to be encumbered. She elaborated enthusiastically, “Oh, like the whole town burned down! Almost everything! And the firefighter ponies were all sick so it just spread and spread and it was SOOO scary and I ran away and–”

Big Macintosh's hoof covered the filly's mouth. “Now Sunny, miss Twilight here don't need to be bothered with that just now.”

It was too late for that though, as Twilight replied, “My library! Oh my gosh! Are my books okay? Wait... Spike! Is Spike okay? ... Wait, silly question, dragons are fireproof! What about all the other ponies?”

Big Mac hung his head low. “Eeyup... library's gone... haven't seen Spike since the fire, but he probably made it out... and... well...”

Somehow, the little yellow filly was unperturbed at all of this. “The fire got a lot of the ponies who survived the sickness. Only a few left now, and they mostly left for other towns.”

She didn't know if it was just the combined shock of all the news she had gotten recently, or if somehow she was going a little crazy – as had been known to happen on occasion – but Twilight somehow thought it fitting that Ponyville should fall along with the princesses, along with the sun and the moon, and along with Applejack.

“Come on now, little Sunny, miss Twilight needs some time to think about all this,” Big Macintosh said, and ushered the filly out the door.

Twilight laid back in the bed and sulked. Time to think was the last thing she needed. Her thoughts kept going back to a scorched Luna, to a twitching Celestia, and most of all, to the apologetic eyes of her friend Applejack at her end. ... And more than that... her thoughts kept returning to the awful fact... it was HER fault. She could have prevented it all. She felt a strange hatred growing in her... a hatred of herself. She loathed herself, blaming herself for all that went wrong. She could have saved the day... could have fixed everything... except she had been so blatantly stupid. What did she plan to do when she got to Celestia's side without the elements anyway? Why did she cry out that stupid warning? Surely Celestia was already watching that beast...

And suddenly, Twilight's anger found a new target. Pestilence. She would dedicate her life to hunting down and ending that loathsome creature, she thought. Then maybe everything could be better... maybe then she could forgive herself. She entertained herself with thoughts of revenge most foul for a time... before coming to the bitter realization that she couldn't get revenge. Even the princesses together couldn't stop that thing... what made her think she had the slightest chance?

With that, Twilight fell into a deep depression. There was nothing left for her, nothing left for Ponyville, nothing left for the world. Why try? Why do anything?

Book 2 - Chapter XII

Book 2: Equestria Lost
Chapter 4

Needle Point led the way back to town, unerringly as ever. Apollo could remember being dubious about signing the shy, frail-looking earth pony mare onto the team in the first place... as much for apparent weakness as for her cutie mark, which happened to be exactly the same as Apollo Dawn's most hated fictional character, Daring Do. Reluctance aside though, the first time he had seen his new navigator actually navigate all doubts were cast aside. The unassuming light brown mare had a true talent for it, and he had never seen her lost, not even for a moment, not even in completely unfamiliar territory. Needless to say, that was an extremely useful talent on an exploration team, and Needle Point had quickly become one of his most valued crew members.

After her followed the longest-serving member of his team, his personal assistant, Albatross. His talent, as evidenced by his wing cutie mark – and his rather magnificent wings – was flying long distances without tiring. Pretty useful when it came to doing an areal search for a long-lost temple, or when it came to flying all the way back to civilization to get help... but the real reason Apollo liked having that pegasus around was for his can-do attitude. He was down for anything... and though Apollo had never told the brave young pegasus, he was grooming the lad to become his replacement someday... Exploring and adventuring took their toll on a body, and he'd have to retire someday. It warmed his heart to think that somepony would carry on his tradition after he was gone. It also warmed his heart to see his assistant walking right alongside his magical expert, Shimmer Spell.

Apollo had never had a romance that deep, really. He regretted it a little, but the explorer's life didn't leave much room for commitment. Still, he enjoyed by proxy watching the relationship between his assistant and his new magic expert unfold. Shimmer Spell was the crew's newest addition, and the only unicorn on the team. Truth be told, after having her around for a while, Apollo could hardly fathom how the crew had managed without magic before. Though the blue unicorn was a little odd, always referring to herself in third person, she was invaluable, helping out in a million little ways... and now that she was inseparable from his long-time assistant, Apollo doubted that he could remove her from the team even if he wanted to.

Himself, he walked between Pebbles and Hair Trigger, the massive size difference between the two making him feel off balance somehow. Pebbles was the largest earth pony mare he had ever seen, a big bulky draft type with pale green coat, and her short blue mane and tail had streaks of green running through them. Despite her huge, intimidating appearance, she really was good natured... at least when she had access to the food, drink, and stallions the way she liked them: 'the bigger the better,' to use her own phrase for her preferences in all three. Her cutie mark of a huge boulder supposedly represented her immense strength – she claimed to have gotten it upon lifting an enormous rock that looked just like it. Apollo suspected that there was more hidden beneath that gruff exterior, even though he had never seen evidence for it.

Hair Trigger, small as he was, had to be coaxed into being quiet. The rambunctious little pegasus colt was the youngest member on the crew, with a coat of bright yellow, and a mane of neon orange, it was sometimes hard to even look at him in bright sunlight. Apollo would never have involved a colt so young in such a dangerous business... but the little guy always seemed to know when danger was approaching before anypony else did... He saved the crew more often than the crew saved him... barely. His cutie mark was an ear and a telescope, representing his acutely tuned senses of sight an hearing... but really, all of the little pegasus's senses were extremely sensitive, and the slightest stimulation to any of them would send the little guy bounding all over the place. He couldn't fly yet, except for short bursts, but he did those (too) often, and the colt could usually be located only as an orangeish blur ricocheting back and forth all over the area. The long, hungry trek seemed to have tired even the boundless energy of Trigger though, causing Apollo to worry about the less energetic members of the team.

Quartermaster brought up the rear, along with the crew medic and animal expert, Splints. Quarter was the oldest member of the team, and it showed. Slow and crotchety, he would have no place on the team, except for his special talent. The crate on his wrinkly flank represented his ability to pack things... It didn't seem like much, really, but he was very talented at it. The toboggans had been his idea to bring, and as usual, his sense of what they would need on the journey seemed almost supernatural. With that old dark-grey earth pony, scraggly black mane and all, on the team, they always seemed to have just the right amount of stuff in their packs, never too much, and never missing anything they needed. For that, the old guy was worth his weight in gold, despite his rambling stories about grandpappy Nicklemaster, or occasionally even great-great-grandpappy Pennymaster.

Somehow, Splints and Quartermaster were the only two on the team who could stand to talk to each other for very long. Somehow Quartermaster's acerbic wit just clicked with Splints's acidic personality. Splints was the best field doctor Apollo had ever seen, and an expert on wild animals, too... But he was glad that she spent her time with somepony else, not him. Her bright pink coat and purple-streaked yellow mane gave her a falsely cheerful appearance, belied by the annoyed-looking squint her purple eyes were accustomed to. The mare had no patience, and no compassion... for anything healthy, anyway. Give her something injured though, and she would nurse it back to health as tenderly and lovingly as anypony could wish for... and then she would kick it out of the sickbed brutally as soon as it was healthy again. That mare was a puzzle indeed, but despite her personality issues, she was valuable to have around in such a dangerous profession! Apollo himself had been under her care several times, enough to earn her forgiveness for all the insults and wry comments she could muster.

His team had been walking now for four days without provisions, and he hated taxing them so, but unless they cared to go brave the ice dragon's territory again, there wasn't any alternative. Besides, he hoped to reach town within a day or so, and then they could gorge themselves to hearts' content. For hundreds of years, the Canterlot History Museum, where he nominally worked as a curator, had posted a reward of several thousand bits for the return of the fantastic gem in his saddlebags. A payoff like that would more than compensate for the let-down of the last mission, when the crew had found an (unfortunately empty) long lost tomb of an ancient zebra king.

As the ground leveled out, Apollo Dawn's hopes rose. Their first few hours of walking out of town had been level, and though he couldn't see any smoke rising in the distance, he knew they must be getting close. He trotted up to Needle Point, wondering just how far they had yet to travel.

As he came up alongside, Needle seemed to already know what he wanted. “Only a couple of miles, now. We'll be there within an hour.”

Apollo grinned. The team had made better time than he had expected, and soon their trek would be over. He looked again towards the town, looking to see the smoke rising from the chimneys as it had when they left... but he couldn't.

Again, he looked at Needle Point. He never doubted the little mare before, but, “You're sure?” He asked, “We should be able to see it by now.”

Needle just shrugged, looking away shyly, “That's the place, I don't know why we can't see it.”

“Trigger?” Apollo said quietly – he knew that the little colt would hear him, even if he had whispered it.

Instantly, a yellow and orange blur resolved itself into the little colt at his side, “Uh huh? Ya need me! Woohoo! I'm ready! Let's go! We'll –”

With a roll of his eyes, Apollo shushed up the energetic little colt. He was about to ask the little guy if he could discern any sign of the town when the town became visible to all. The team stood at the lip of a valley, and down inside was the town of Fairflanks, northern-most town in Equestria. Apollo looked to his team. They all looked relieved and happy... all save one. Hair Trigger was looking only confused and troubled.

“What's wrong little guy?” Apollo asked. He had learned to trust the little colt's sharper senses completely.

“It's... It's all so quiet... so empty... nopony home...” the colt said softly.

Book 2 - Chapter XIII

Book 2: Equestria Lost
Chapter 5

Instead of 'Ponyville librarian', Twilight Sparkle's new career seemed to now be 'professional moper'. And mope she did. For days she stayed in bed... even though she was pretty sure she was well enough to get up... but why get up? What would she do? She spent most of her time thoughtlessly watching the strange behavior of the sky. Her window faced east, giving her a fine view of the stationary moon, both in day and night... The sun was still behaving strangely, still circling around the horizon, regularly dipping above and below it every few hours... making most of the day perpetual sunrise or sunset. Twilight had – as most ponies – began counting days by considering the daily eclipse as 'sunrise'. By chance or someone's design, the sun was eclipsed by the stationary moon about once in the period of time that used to be known as a day.

Twilight missed the stars though... She had loved to look at the stars back in what she was already thinking of as 'the old days'. Now though, all the constellations she had learned laid broken, only a few stars left barely above the horizon in any direction... most of them had fallen below it. Thinking about that loss would inevitably remind her of her other losses, leading to yet more morose –”

A loud banging on the door snapped her out of her thoughts.

Sunny Daze burst through the door, apparently after having decided that five seconds was too long to wait for an answer. “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!” The little filly literally bounced with joy, “Big Mac says you're healthy enough to come out! We can finally go play!”

The only response Sunny received though, was a groan as Twilight rolled over, pulling the covers over her head.

Sunny's enthusiasm carried her over for a short time. She continued, prodding and cajoling the stubbornly sorrowful lavender unicorn... but after a time, even Sunny could see that it wasn't going to have any effect.

Twilight felt only relief as the annoying little yellow filly dejectedly left the room. She couldn't stand to be around such cheerfulness. It grated on her decidedly un-cheerful mood.

Twilight's next visitor was Big Macintosh, who, though he brought in some food for her, just stood there next to the bed with a disapproving look on his face. She contemplated giving him the same treatment she had given Sunny, despite her hunger... but deep down, she knew, that would only make things worse.

With a sigh, she looked up at him, still very tall, even though he was much thinner now. “I suppose you think it's time for me to get out of bed, huh?”

“Eeyup.”

“But there's nothing left for me out there... anywhere.”

“Enope.” He responded, “You're forgettin' somthin'”

Twilight thought for a moment, and later she would feel completely awful about how long it took her to remember, or that she even forgot in the first place. “My Friends!”

“Eeyup.”

Twilight jumped out of bed, surprisingly agile, only to wince in pain upon getting to the floor.

“You're not quite ready to go get em just yet though.” Big Macintosh said, “Can y'all use your magic again yet?”

Twilight focused on an apple slice on the tray, her horn aching a little as it glowed, but the apple slice did rise up, and did move towards her... before falling to the floor.

“Eeyup. Didn't think so. Y'all still need to rest up, but it's time to get movin' some.”

Book 2 - Chapter XIV

Book 2: Equestria Lost
Chapter 6

Apollo looked as his crew worriedly as they walked through the streets of the eerie ghost town of Fairflanks. All of them, even the jaded Splints, seemed subdued and nervous. It just wasn't right, seeing a the vibrant town they had been looking forward to so empty. The buildings were cold, empty and intimidating, the streets were empty of all the life that should have been there... but nowhere was there any hint of what happened... it looked like all the residents had just packed up and left without warning.

As a first few flakes of snow drifted down, Apollo decided to take action. His crew would be able to handle this better if they had direction... something to do. “Okay,” He said, “something strange is going on here, but we've got to make the best of it.”

He turned to his crew. Quartermaster seemed to be doing the worst out of all of them... “Quarter, you and Splints go to the inn we stayed at last time. Get it warmed up and ready.”

A look of relief passed across the old pony's face. Apollo could tell that Quarter's joints had been bothering him again in the cold... being the first to get warm in the hotel would be a relief, for sure. Splints just gave the annoyed and put-upon look she gave anytime she was asked to do any real work, and followed Quartermaster off towards the inn, just across the railroad tracks.

“Trigger, Needle?”

Hair Trigger responded with a quick “Yep!?” Needle Point simply looked up, gracing Apollo with a rare instance of actually making eye contact.

“You two go and see if you can sniff out some food supplies and water. Use anything perishable or hard to transport first.” Already he was thinking of the trip out of town... the train ride had taken weeks... and somehow, he doubted the trains were still running.

Trigger was off in an instant, pinballing between buildings with short bursts of wingpower. Needle point ran off in a vain attempt to keep up with him. Apollo didn't worry though. If Trigger needed help, he'd find her, not the other way around.

To Pebbles and Shimmer Spell he said, “Okay ladies, if you could get started looking for replacements for our gear we lost, that would be great. Anything you can find for now... we'll sort through it later.”

Pebbles only gave a mumbled grunt of an acknowledgment, but as usual, the unicorn was vocal. “Shimmer Spell shall not fail!” she said, trotting off, Pebbles in tow.

Only his assistant remained now. “Alright Albie... Let's try to find out what happened here.” His ever-faithful assistant just nodded, as if he had been eager to do the same.

Apollo began to suspect he had given himself and Albatross the most frustrating task of all. Already it was growing dark. The snow hadn't let up either, growing heavier as the wind began to pick up... Apollo wondered if any of that might be the ice dragon's doing... even as far north as Fairflanks, it wasn't usual to get heavy snow this time of year...

Every building they had entered looked completely innocuous, as if nothing was wrong... everything had been tidily packed away, as if the whole town had gone on vacation for a month. With a sigh, he turned to the last major building in town they hadn't visited yet, the town's clinic. Even if they couldn't find out what happened, at least they could pick up a few replacement medical supplies... Splints would be glad for that, though she wouldn't show it, of course.

As he crossed the street towards the clinic, the looked back at his assistant, seeing his own frustration, confusion, and underlying nervousness mirrored in the brave pony's face. His assistant followed close behind as he cracked open the door of the town's clinic. Like most of the doors in town, it hadn't been locked... of course, many of the doors didn't even have locks. He guessed crime wasn't much of an issue in these parts. He looked into the main lobby inside, only to reel back in shock, slamming the door in his assistant's face.

Albatross looked at him, giving him a hurt look for the second time today... but Apollo Dawn barely noticed. His eyes shrunk down to points at what he had seen... Row upon row of black bags... each just big enough for a pony. He had heard of such things before... a plague... but it never prepared him to actually see it. Those things were supposed to be ancient history!

Albatross looked at Apollo with concern and confusion, “What's wrong?”

“It's a plague... everypony is... well...”

“A what?” Albatross cut him off.

“A disease, a sickness... they all got sick... and...” For some reason, he couldn't just say it...

He didn't need to though... as the concept sunk into his assistant. “Then they're in there... everypony?”

“Uh huh,” Apollo responded, “Must be the whole town in there...” He shook himself, “Come on, we can't go in there, it might still be contagious... we've got to get news of this out... we might be the only ponies still alive that know about it!”

Dawn looked ready to take off right then and there, but Albatross stopped him, “We're tired, and you've got a team to take care of. These ponies will keep for one more night... let's get some rest.”

Looking a little more subdued, Apollo headed back towards the inn. His assistant was right, of course; his first responsibility was to his crew, and they needed him... now more than ever, perhaps.

Book 2 - Chapter XV

Book 2: Equestria Lost
Chapter 7

Twilight sighed. Big Mac had finally found her. She had gone for a walk a long while ago... probably much too long – the sun had gone up and down several times, Twilight had lost track. She hadn't really meant to, but her little walk had led her straight to the Apple Family's burial plot, and the three fresh graves there. She had been just sitting there, feeling sorry for herself to be honest.

The thought of honesty reminded her of Applejack, threatening to bring tears again, but Twilight fought them back, since Big Macintosh was approaching. “This wasn't quite what you meant when you said I could use a walk, was it?” She asked, as he stepped up beside her.

“Enope.”

“But I just can't stop thinking about it... it keeps going over and over, and the worst part is it's all my...” Twilight hesitated... she hadn't told anypony yet that it was all her fault, and now she felt reluctant to... she hated to hide it... but she found herself also hating the thought of how others would look at her if they knew... and at that moment, that threat of disapproval seemed the greater evil.

Luckily enough, Big Mac didn't seem to pick up on what she almost said, instead he sat down next to her and said, “Sunny Daze came to live here on account of her house burnt down... while she was out shopping for food because her ma was too weak with the plague to get out of bed. Her ma burnt up with that house. Before that, her pa had to go help with the clinic in Canterlot, and he hasn't been heard of since... they wrote to Canterlot, but they said he never arrived. And before that she lost her best friend, Peachy Pie, to the plague. Those two used to go everywhere and do everything together.”

Twilight looked around at the other gravestones. She hadn't missed Granny Smith's and Applebloom's when she saw them earlier. She looked to the gaunt red pony beside her... he had lost everything, too. All his family, and even the strength that had defined him. Now he was as weak as Granny Smith had been... No, Twilight wasn't the only one suffering, but how could she stop thinking about it... how could she stop hurting?

Big Macintosh continued, “That little filly needs somepony to look after her. I can't keep up, not since I got sick. And more than that... she needs a friend.”

Twilight looked over at him and simply nodded, giving her silent assent. She got up – still a little stiffly – and started heading slowly off back towards the farmhouse, with Big Macintosh following her lead only a moment later, though Twilight never saw his backward glance at the tombstones. Both slowed by their past ordeals, they walked home together.

Twilight poked her hoof through yet another pile of blackened rubble. Idly, she wondered if her hooves would ever return to their normal color, or if they would stay darkened forever. She stepped away... this pile didn't look too promising anyway, full of cans of paint that had boiled and burst from the heat of the fire.

Sunny Daze dropped a few cans of soup – only a little bit burnt – into Twilight's saddlebags. Twilight didn't even stop to see what the were, instead looking warmly at the bright little filly... well, less bright at the moment, since she was pretty well covered in soot... but despite having been scavenging through the burned-out town of Ponyville for the better part of a day, she was still as bouncy and giggling as ever.

Their scavenging missions into Ponyville had become less and less fruitful though, and they were taking longer and longer to complete. There wasn't much left of the town, and Twilight had a suspicion that they weren't the only ones picking through the ashes for scraps. At any rate, they had managed a pretty good haul for the day, all things considered, and it was time to head back.

Sunny, of course, challenged Twilight to a race to the edge of town, and with Twilight encumbered by both lingering weakness and saddlebags, won it easily. Even though it had hurt her pretty badly to try and keep up with the filly, as she lay panting on the grass outside of town, she couldn't help but be uplifted by seeing the look of joy on the filly's face... Twilight's participation had made the filly's day, and Sunny was beaming with a huge smile. Somehow that also made Twilight's day all worthwhile, and as she realized this, a strange sensation came over her... partly emotion, but more of magic... strange, powerful magic. The only time she had felt anything like that was when she had been facing down Nightmare Moon, when the element of Magic attached itself to her... But looking around, she couldn't see anything that should have caused a feeling like that...

Shrugging it off, she turned to Sunny. She hated breaking the good mood, but what she had to say needed to be said... “Sunny... I... About the way I treated you earlier... I was so awful to you... and after you had lost your family and your friend... I'm just so sorry. I can never make that up to you. It's just I lost ponies I love too, and I wasn't feeling myself, and –”

Twilight's apology was cut short as Sunny Daze wrapped her hooves around Twilight's neck, giving her the biggest hug her little body could manage, looking up with teary eyes.

Twilight returned the filly's embrace, and shared in her tears. It felt good to finally let the grief out... and more than that, it felt great to have a friend there to share it with.

As they finally broke apart, the sun was on its way down again – it would be dark before they managed to get home. Both ponies were a mess. Sunny covered with soot, Twilight with a big splotch of soot where Sunny had been, and both of them with muddy streaks where tears had been draining down. Twilight wiped the tears from Sunny's eyes, and from her own. “Friends?” She said to the filly.

“Forever!” Sunny replied, giving Twilight another short hug.

Together, they headed homeward, with lighter hearts and heavier bags... a day well spent.

Book 2 - Chapter XVI

Book 2: Equestria Lost
Chapter 8

Apollo Dawn surveyed his team as the winds howled outside the inn. The storm outside was getting worse as the night progressed, but his team seemed to be in high spirits; the cider found during yesterday's scavenging probably helped with that. Needle Point and Hair Trigger were poking around the pile of supplies that had been gathered, putting first dibs on some of the equipment, maybe? Quartermaster was contentedly napping in front of the fireplace, snoring quietly, probably enjoying being truly warm for the first time in almost a year. The rest were sitting around the table with him, Pebbles laughing slowly but boisterously at some sarcastic comment Splints had made while he was distracted. His assistant and Shimmer Spell, though, were pretty well distracted by each other, sitting close and not paying attention to much else... He had a chuckle of his own about that, and thought it was probably the subject of Splint's earlier comment. The two love birds hadn't had any privacy in almost a year... they were probably looking forward to a private hotel room!

He hadn't told any of them about what he had seen in the clinic though... He couldn't really bear to dampen the first easygoing night they had enjoyed in quite some time. Some glances from Splints had suggested she knew he was hiding something... that pink mare had a disturbing ability to see what he was thinking sometimes. It didn't seem to sour her mood any more than normal though, so he didn't worry about it... there would be plenty of time to tell them in the morning.

He left the table, going over to stare out the window at the barely visible snow piling up. With this wind, there would be some pretty bad drifts, but at least most of the ground would be clear... He noticed Shimmer Spell and Albatross in the reflection on the dark window, following his lead in leaving the table, leaving Splints alone with Pebbles as Shimmer trotted up the stairs towards the rooms, with an eager white pegasus following. Apollo sighed... he wished he could be so carefree, but his mind kept coming back to the bags he saw in the clinic... so many... it must have been the whole town. Idly, he wondered if there was one pony left not in a bag... after all, who could have bagged up the last one?

Apparently – and not surprisingly – tiring of Pebbles's company, Splints also left the table. She was headed straight towards Apollo. Uh-oh... he thought, darn... I had hoped to have more time to think it over... Before long, she was at his side, starting into the darkness outside the window with him.

“So, what's got you down, oh fearless leader? Besides the spooky ghost town and all, since everypony knows you never get scared, right​​​​?”

With a sigh, Dawn let Splints' sarcasm roll right off. She knew that the stories of the fearless explorer in the cheap newspapers were mostly made up, but teasing him about it was just a normal part of her attitude... just how she communicated with him. Still, he wasn't ready to tell the crew about what he'd seen. “Oh... just thinking about some... things,” he replied, lamely.

“You know, I was taking a look at the supplies earlier,” she said, watching him from the corner of her eye, “and we didn't seem to get much in the way of medical supplies...” She then looked at him overtly, and with a raised brow asked, “you think we could go check the clinic later and see what's there?”

A pained look crossed Apollo's face, “Albie told you?”

“No,” she replied smugly, “You did. Just now.”

Apollo sighed again. Splits was altogether too good at reading him... he should have known he couldn't hide anything from her for long...

“So, fearless leader, what's in there?”

Looking defeated, he turned away from the window, looking Splints closely in the eyes. He paused for only a brief moment. Had he seen a blush on her face? At any rate, there wasn't one now... she was looking at him with her customary annoyed smirk. “Yes... there's something there...” He admitted, “but I'll tell everypony at once at breakfast... suffice it to say that nopony should go there,” He glanced outside. Snow was now building up against the window. “Not that anypony would, in this weather.”

She continued glaring at him for a moment, but eventually seemed satisfied. Everypony on his crew knew he was honest to a fault and that he could be counted on to keep his promises. She turned, and with an odd backwards glance at him, retired up the stairs to her room.

He looked around the room. At this point, the only other pony in the common room was Quartermaster, still happily snoozing in his chair by the fireplace. Apollo walked softly over, draping a blanket over the tired old earth pony. Looking down with a gentle smile, he knew, despite any disaster that had befallen this poor town, he still had his crew – his friends – and together they could handle anything. With a tired yawn, he headed up the stairs himself. It had been a long day, after all, and he would sleep easily, despite his troubled mind.

Morning had come bright and early, last night's storm clouds nowhere to be seen. Pebbles, who as the best cook in the outfit and prepared most meals, had with the assistance of her cook in training, Hair Trigger, whipped up a quite impressive breakfast: omelets full of fresh peppers and mushrooms. Apollo wondered where they had gotten the fresh ingredients... then again, he had told them to use the most perishable things first, so if they were available, the crew might as well use them. It seemed to suit them well, anyway. They had been living off of trail rations for too long now, and it was easy to see from the contented looks on the faces around the table that they had enjoyed the opportunity for a real fresh meal... though he suspected a certain pegasus's and unicorn's contented looks were due to more than just good food, seeing as how they had been that way before breakfast even began.

He noticed Splints giving him the look from across the table though, and knew that he couldn't put it off any longer. He stood up, bracing his front hooves on the table for more height. All the ponies on his crew were already giving him full attention. They could all sense he was about to make an important announcement. “You're all probably wondering what happened to this town...”

A few nods came from around the table, and a few concerned sidelong glances.

“Well, yesterday, Albie and me found out.” He looked around the table... he had all their rapt attention, but he was still reluctant to continue... Still, his policy had always been to tell his crew the truth... and they needed to know, “This town seems to have been hit by a really bad plague... a sickness... The clinic is full of... full of...”

“Dead ponies.” Splints added, with her usual level of sensitivity and tact: none.

Apollo sighed, “Yes... So everypony should avoid that building at all costs... we don't know if it might still be contagious. And you should avoid any other bodies you might find anywhere else, too... there might be some in other places besides the clinic.”

He received stunned looks from all around the table. “So... everypony in the town is...?” Trigger's squeaky little voice broke the silence, “even...”

“I'm afraid that's what it looks like,” Apollo said, as he noticed the little pegasus beginning to tear up. Too late, he remembered the red and purple unicorn colt he had seen Trigger playing with last time they were in town. Pebbles draped her huge hoof over the saddened little colt, drawing him in close. “I'm... I'm sorry,” Apollo whispered, so soft only Hair Trigger's highly attuned senses would pick it up.

Looking back up, he addressed the others, “We have to get this information to the rest of Equestria. I guess it's too late to send help, but they still need to know.” Most of the expressions around the table changed from shock to various forms of resolute stare... Good, he was getting to them, “So, we'll all need to work together. The train's probably not coming back, so that means we've got a very long hike over snow ahead of us.” He turned to the left side of the table, “Quartermaster, I want you to take Needle and Pebbles to find a wagon, something big and sturdy.” He looked at the still despondent pegasus colt, still nestled against Pebbles' huge frame. “and take Trigger with you.” He turned to the other side of the table, “The rest of you will be coming with me... we're going to comb this town through for the best supplies. The walk out of here is going to be hard. We're going to need everything we can find.”

As his crew went about cleaning up breakfast and preparing for the day's exploration, he attempted to open the inn's front door. Unfortunately, it opened outwards, and even after bashing himself against it several times, it had barely opened wide enough to allow one slim pony though. He sat back a moment, seething in frustration. The snow wasn't even that deep, but it kept piling up right next to the door, and the further he pushed it, the harder it became. After a moment, though, he noticed Pebbles standing behind him with a smug grin on her big face.

With a soft laugh at himself and a sigh, he stepped aside, letting Pebbles push the door fully open with seemingly little effort. Well, after all, where would he be without his crew? Trotting back to get his parka on, he watched his first crew members walk out into the windswept snow. Yes, together, they could find a way through this.

Book 2 - Chapter XVII

Book 2: Equestria Lost
Chapter 9

Sunny looked askance at Twilight at the dinner table that night... again. The odd purple unicorn kept making the strangest faces... and several times it seemed like she was about to say something, but suddenly stopped. Sunny kept an eye on her new friend's odd behavior, but paid most of her attention to the meal... It was quite astounding really, better than most they had been able to scrounge up recently. Apples were fine and all, of course, but you get tired of them... especially if you're a young filly always wanting to try new things. And they had been stuck with apples for a long time now. Two of the only-slightly-burnt soup cans were in today's dinner though, and the improvement was magnificent!

She was about to reach for another serving, ignoring the beautiful-looking apples on the table, when Twilight finally managed to blurt out, “It's all my fault!”

Sunny looked over at the unicorn quizzically, as did Big Macintosh, who only let out a confused “Huh?”

Twilight was sitting there as if she expected the world to come crashing down in on her now, crouched down with eyes shut tight and hooves over her head... But after a few moments of silence broken only by Big Mac's questioning 'huh', an eye peaked out, glancing around nervously.

“Watcha mean, Twi?” Sunny asked.

“Don't you get it!?!” Twilight screeched, “It was all my fault! I'm the one who's responsible!”

This only elicited further confusion from the bright yellow filly. “Responsible for what?”

“EVERYTHING!” Twilight responded, “The princesses, Applejack, they're gone because of ME!”

This time it was Sunny's turn to add in a “Huh?”

“I was the one who distracted the princesses at the crucial moment! I was the one who rushed in without the tools we needed to defeat Pestilence! I was the one who killed them! ME!” Twilight was in tears at this point, head sagging down to the table.

“Twilight, it is NOT your fault,” Sunny said, “I know you, and you'd never do that!”

Twilight only responded from her fortress of misery there on the table, not even looking up. “But I DID. I'm an awful pony. I should have died instead. I deserved it.”

Sunny Daze hopped onto the table, spilling a couple drinks in the process, and making her way right up to where Twilight's head was hidden under her hooves. “Did you want it to happen that way?”

“No, no, no, NO!” Twilight sobbed.

“Are you happy it happened that way?” The filly continued.

Twilight Sparkle looked up at the filly on the table in front of her. The tears streaking down her face and her desperate, self-accusing eyes were answer enough without resorting to any words.

“Then we forgive you.” Sunny Daze proclaimed with a magnanimous look on her face.

Twilight's turn this time, she replied only with, “Huh?”

“Right, Big Macintosh?” The filly asked.

“Eeyup.”

“But... but but... how...” Twilight stammered. “It's the worst thing ever! I'm the worst pony ever!”

Sunny looked down at the despondent purple unicorn... she had to do something to cheer her up. “Twilight,” She said, “you did everything you could, because you only knew what you did then. I know you didn't mean to, and that's what makes the difference!” With that, she jumped at Twilight, forcing the unicorn to catch her – into a tight hug.

With the little filly wrapped around her neck, Twilight finally began to feel forgiven and accepted by the others... Forgiving herself though... that wouldn't be as easy.

Sunny Daze leaped into the sky, straining to catch hold of that elusive purple glowing flower, but again it darted up out of her reach. She had been playing like this with Twilight for the better part of a sun cycle, and still showed no signs of slowing down. Twilight kept the flowers darting around, actually having to strain herself to keep the filly from catching them; her magic was still weak. This was excellent training, of course, getting her magical abilities back in top shape... but more than that, she loved to see the little filly playing and laughing in the sunshine – Sunny seemed to adore sunshine!

Loosing her attention for a moment, the flower drooped, allowing Sunny to snatch it from the air. She promptly ate it, lest it escape again, then turned to Twilight, beaming. No, Twilight thought, that was what made it all worthwhile. Somehow making the little filly smile was opening Twilight up, and letting her forget about the past.

Big Macintosh watched Sunny and Twilight play on the grass in the front yard, enjoying the short burst of sunshine before the third sunset of the day came around. It was a real pleasure to see the two enjoying themselves... and he had few enough pleasures these days. The plague had taken a lot out of him, and though he didn't let on about it, it still pained him every day, weakening his every movement.

He had struggled on though. First to care for the ailing Applebloom and Granny Smith, then to care for the orphaned filly, Sunny. Seeing the two out on the lawn like that though allowed him to relax for the first time in a long while. Twilight would look after Sunny, raising her up into a fine young mare... and Sunny would look after Twilight, her sunny disposition helping keep Twilight out of the dumps. A gentle smile crossed his face as he let his tiredness catch up to him, and settled in for a nap, sitting there on what used to be Granny's favorite rocker on the front porch.

As the sun began to set, Twilight and Sunny came trotting in from the yard. Sunny was sweaty all over, and with more than a few grass stains, and Twilight was beaming a huge smile despite a growing headache from magical overexertion.

Sunny came hopping up the steps, already shouting to Big Macintosh about how much fun she had. Twilight noticed Big Mac sleeping peacefully in the rocker, and began to chide Sunny about waking him up... when she noticed just how still he was... And noticed how Sunny hadn't woken him up.

Worried, Twilight trotted over, giving him a nudge... and a poke... and a shout... and even a shake... all to no avail. The big red pony had finally succumbed to his plague-born weakness and let himself go.

Realizing this, Twilight stepped back, covering her mouth in an expression of shock and loss.

Sunny had just sat down, eyes tearing up, but not yet crying. Big Mac had become like a father to her already. For a while now, her life had revolved around him... but she was becoming much too exposed to such losses for such a little filly... it was almost as if she expected them now, and she was better able to accept them.

Twilight looked back at the filly, expecting her to be bawling... Only to see her handling it well... too well. It hit her then just how much Sunny had lost. What was a little more, after all? She scooped her up, holding her tight, and promising to herself never to leave little filly alone.

Book 2 - Chapter XVIII

Book 2: Equestria Lost
Chapter 10

Apollo Dawn found himself inordinately pleased with his crew. Despite the snow drifts often blocking the path, his team had already gathered up nearly enough supplies to see them through the long trip southeast to Stalliongrad. They had been lucky, really, finding a survivalist pony's secret stash of apocalypse food. Barrel after barrel of food that, while a little gritty and tasteless, would last for years without going bad... And no small amount of useful gear either! Whoever that pony was, he was ready for anything! ... Well, except for a deadly disease, apparently.

As his half of the team approached the hardware store, he could hear muffled voices from around back, so he took to wing, making a short hop over a particularly high snow drift to find the other half of the team.

“Ah, Polly my boy!” Quartermaster called out to him... That old earth pony was the only one he would tolerate being called 'Polly' by. “Glad ye came by! I was jes teachin' these youngins a few of the finer points of wagon repair!”

Apollo looked at the long-suffering team members, all over a wagon that, while large, seemed to have more broken parts than working ones. He glanced back to the bespectacled old pony questioningly, “You're sure this is the best one?”

“It's the ONLY one sonny!” He replied, “Why, the only thing this here town's got a shortage of is waggins!”

Now that it was pointed out, he finally noticed... it was true, he hadn't seen a single other conveyance of any kind in the whole town. Hmm... perhaps that meant some of the townsfolk had left by wagon, which meant at least some of them might have survived... Well, that was a relief. “You're sure it's even possible to fix this thing?” He asked skeptically, turning back to Quartermaster.

“Sure as my grandpappy Nicklemaster's stockin's!” he replied, brushing his mostly imaginary mane back, “Why, we're almost half-done already! Lucky fer us it were behind the hardware store all convenient-like!”

Apollo looked back at the busted wagon doubtfully. If it was already half repaired, he didn't want to know what it looked like before they started! Would that thing make it all the way to Stalliongrad?

Despite cloudy eyes, his logistics expert saw his doubtful look, “Now dontcha worry lil' Polly, I been doin' things like this since I were just a liddle squirt, and I knows a thing er two about it! We'll have this here contraption glidin' along like a fluffy cloud... and I'm puttin' skids on it too, so we can have ourselfs a dainty little sled.” The old pony's neck stretched impossibly long, looking over Apollo's head, “And you lazy ponies move yer cabooses! This here Andromeda ain't gonna fix itself!”

Apollo was about to leave, but turned back around at that last word. “Andromeda?”

“Why of course!” Quartermaster said, zipping much faster than his usual pace to caress a busted side board. “Anything so fine deserves a fine name! Why, I spent the first couple'a hours just figgerin what te name such a beauty.”

With that, Apollo decided it was time to go – and also that this half of the team should get a break tomorrow. He flew, winging his way back to the front of the hardware store and angling towards the door, only to change to quickly back winging his way to a stop as a blue-glowing bundle of various axes, picks, hammers, and shovels came floating out, followed by his triumphant-looking magic expert. As he settled to the ground, Albatross came running out.

“Hey Apollo, Check these out!” he said excitedly, holding up a squat little metal cylinder. With his teeth, he popped the cap off of it, and it suddenly hissed to life spouting out a little magical flame. “They've got portable stoves! Lot's of 'em!”

Shimmer Spell used her magic to pop the cap out of her coltfriend's mouth, putting it back onto the cylinder and cutting off the flame. “Where should Shimmer Spell put these things?” She asked.

Apollo hid a little eye roll at his assistant. The pegasus always had been very impressed with any kind of magic... possibly why the praise-loving Shimmer liked him so much. “Hmm... Just take them around back. You'll find what Quarter calls a wagon back there, and we might as well put durable goods somewhere close to it.”

She glanced over at Albatross, and he nodded, taking to the air. Apollo marveled at how well the two worked together as his assistant guided Shimmer, “Okay, a little to the left... little more... and... THERE!” At that word from Albatross, a loud clatter rose from behind the hardware store, followed by a few startled screams of terror. At Apollo's quick glance upward, Albatross quickly became defensive, “Hey, it's okay, I didn't hit anypony!” Apollo gave him a withering look, “Okay... maybe it was a little close,” He said, cheeks flushing.

Still looking up, Apollo noticed more clouds rolling in. He turned back to his half of the crew, “On second thought, let's get a few more of those shovels from inside and put them in the inn... looks like we might get more snow tonight, and we don't want to get snowed in all winter.”

Dutifully, Shimmer and Albatross trotted back into the store. Apollo took another look at the sky, weighing the possibility that he and Albie might be able to go up and make a dent in the amount of clouds up there and save themselves snow clearing later... but he noticed something odd... the moon was rising... again... and in the wrong direction.

As the two ponies in the store came back out, this time with a big bundle of shovels in tow, they noticed Apollo staring at the sky, and looked up themselves. The full moon had fully risen now, impossibly fast, and was now circling the sun as the whole sky warped into a dour reddish grey color. Wasn't it impossible to have a full moon and the sun right next to each other? Even more impossibly, the stars were coming out as well, becoming visible despite the sun still high in the sky.

None of the ponies had seen anything like this before... with a crash, the floating bundle of shovels dropped onto the hardware store porch, failing to attract any attention from the ponies staring at the sky. The voices and sounds of work from behind the store had fallen silent as well.

After a while, the ponies were about to go back to their work when a long thin tendril split off from the sun, arrowing down somewhere to the south, baffling them even more. It vanished as quickly as it had appeared though.

Apollo looked down to Shimmer Spell... Surely his magic expert could explain some of this... She was still staring raptly at the sky, so he gave her a nudge, and an imploring look.

She only turned to him and shrugged helplessly, turning back to watch the sky again.

He also turned back to the sky, just in time to see the sun start to waver, then begin to trace a widening circular route across the sky, spiraling closer and closer to the horizon.

By the time the sun finally neared the horizon, Apollo had managed to herd his team to the inn's entrance, even managing to get them to bring a shovel each, despite how the rotating shadows were starting to make him a little woozy... As the sun dipped below the horizon, some semblance of normalcy returned... the sky at least looked somewhat like a normal night sky... except that the sun shouldn't have set for several hours yet. He wasn't able to actually get them in the inn, of course. By unspoken unanimous agreement, they stayed just off of the inn's porch, still watching the sky.

Suddenly, one of the stars ceased to be a twinkling point, instead becoming a vivid ray of light, angling off to the south, then another and another. Apollo turned to Shimmer again, but thought better of asking her anything when he noticed her dumbstruck stare at the misbehaving sky.

Looking up again, Apollo Dawn found himself dumbstruck. The moon simply rolled away from it's position high in the sky, seeming to land and stick, just peeping over the southern horizon. As it landed, seeming to shake the stars loose from their places, Apollo was strangely crushed. Somehow it felt as if he had lost a dear friend. As the stars slowly fell towards the horizon all around, Dawn began to worry, just a little. The plague in this little town now seemed a lot less significant.

The eight ponies stayed outside for some time after that, staring as the last stars disappeared beyond the horizon, leaving the sky grey and empty, except for the storm clouds still rolling in. In fact, those clouds looked worse than ever, growing black, and even letting out the occasional burst of lightning, rolling thunder echoing off of the nearby mountains. As the winds began to pick up and the first flakes of snow fell, that seemed to be enough to usher the crew into the safety of the inn. Lightning in a snowstorm was unheard of... something told Apollo that this storm would be as unusual and catastrophic as the display in the sky had just been.

Book 2 - Chapter XIX

Book 2: Equestria Lost
Chapter 11

The hill had gone feral, as most of Sweet Apple Acres had by now. Weeds and brambles grew all over in between the apple trees, and even other kinds of trees were beginning to be interspersed in with them. They still bore fruit, but there was nopony around to care for them or harvest them. Twilight and Sunny had only been able to keep a small portion of the orchard kept up, and now that they were ready to leave, even that small part would become wild like the rest.

Twilight looked to the tombstones in front of her, but when she looked around, she thought that actually the orchard, abandoned as it was, would be more of a memorial to the Apple Family. Even centuries later, apple trees would still grow here, brightening the lives of anypony who stopped by. That would be the Apple Family's real legacy... their real mark on the world... thinking of it that way made Twilight's burden of guilt a little easier to carry.

Sunny Daze stood by quietly, not wanting to interrupt Twilight's reverie, but getting visibly impatient. If they wanted to get to Cloudsdale before dark, they needed to leave very soon. She was very impressed with Twilight's magic now that she had fully recovered – and more, she claimed. 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger,' she had said, and indeed, her ordeal with the long-distance teleportation had already apparently made her stronger once she recovered. Twilight claimed to be able to teleport anywhere now... and even planned to do it with Sunny in tow as she searched for her lost friends.

Sunny couldn't wait for the excitement of visiting new places all over the world. The burned-out Ponyville was depressing, and while Sweet Apple Acres was huge, the farmhouse she spent most of her time in was really pretty small and dull... after over a year of staying there, she was growing bored with the place. It was finally time to leave though, if only Twilight could quit staring at those graves and move on!

Twilight began to turn away, but then turned back one last time, to give one last goodbye to the stones: one marked with a moon in a shadowy cloud, one marked with a sun-in-glory... she stopped to wonder for a moment, is this really where the princesses should be buried? She was sure that some Canterlot survivors would disagree, but she thought no place could be more fitting than the peaceful little hill in the apple orchard. Next to those, there was one marked with an apple pie, and one with only text... Applebloom never had gotten her cutie mark, poor little filly. Next to that was a more crudely made one... neither Sunny nor Twilight had much skill in carving, but they had managed a crude representation of a big apple half for Big Macintosh... And finally, the one that still haunted Twilight the most, marked with three simple apples.

Twilight turned away resolutely. Applejack was lost, it was true... but her other friends might still be out there... might still need her. She had to go find them. Seeing Sunny's hopeful face as she turned melted her grief away, and the tears that had been threatening to flow receded. She scooped the filly up into an embrace, holding her tightly... only partly out of a desperate need to hold on to the ones she had lost.

Setting Sunny down, she asked, “Ready?”

At this, Sunny looked a little nervous... she had never been teleported before, and the prospect scared her a little. She tried her best not to show it, not that she was very successful in hiding it – her face had always been very transparent in giving away her emotions. “Ready!” She replied.

Twilight again held Sunny close, this time more for the filly's sake than out of missing her lost friend. Twilight's horn began to glow brightly, and Sunny winced, but Twilight touched the filly's cheek bringing her up to meet her eyes. As she looked into Sunny's eyes, the look of fear was replaced by one of trust and affection, and a smile crossed Twilight's face.

With a violet flash and a pop, the two ponies vanished, leaving the empty grove silent and peaceful once more, broken only by the occasional falling leaf or cricket chirping as the sun began to set.

Book 2 - Chapter XX

Book 2: Equestria Lost
Chapter 12

Sunrise came too early: it seemed like he hadn't slept at all... truly early, Apollo realized as he glanced at the clock in his room. The sun had gone down only a few hours ago. If it had been behaving normally, it would have only just dipped below the horizon, and here it was rising again! He had only just gotten into bed, but rose again to close the shutters on the window, blocking out the unnatural light... only then did he realize, his window faced west! He peeked out the window again. Yep, definitely a rising sun, peeking through the clouds... in the west. So much for hoping the sky would return to normal soon...

Still with a troubled mind, he crawled back into bed with a groan. The wind still howled, despite the short break in snowfall... and it had been a long day... but tomorrow looked to be even worse.

Apollo woke to the sounds and smells of breakfast being prepared. He must have slept in pretty badly... but again he glanced at the clock... no, it was still very early morning... or at least it should be.

Opening the shutters again, he was greeted by the rich purples and reds of a late sunset against the still-cloudy sky... though the light was coming from the northeast, out of his view. More than that, he noticed how awfully high the snow had piled up during the night... they'd be lucky to be able to get out. He thought of returning to bed... but he was already up, and pangs of loyalty forced him to think of how much his crew would need him today.

With a sigh at the warm, comfy looking bed, he stretched, back popping, and headed downstairs. Not everypony was awake yet, apparently. He found Splits sitting sullenly alone at the table, nursing a cup of coffee, and he could hear Pebbles in the kitchen humming tunelessly as she often did while cooking. Hair Trigger was engaged in getting a long-winded story about the good 'ol days from Quartermaster, who was still in the chair by the fire, still covered in the blanket Dawn had put on him last night... he must have slept there the whole night. Trigger was sitting with a look of rapt attention on his face, so it must have been one of Quarter's better yarns... usually the little yellow pegasus couldn't stand to sit through those rambling stories!

As he helped himself to some of the same coffee Splints had found, the rest of the crew began to filter in down the stairs, Albatross and Shimmer being the last to finally make it down.

He listened in to Quartermaster's story, waiting for it to be over before he interrupted by addressing the whole crew. He couldn't hear it all from across the room, but it seemed to have something to do with Quarter's distant ancestor Pennymaster and the first nightmare night... Had Pennymaster really lived that long ago, to have seen the day – or night rather – when Nightmare Moon was banished? Well, at any rate, it seemed an appropriate story to tell after seeing what the sky had done yesterday... was still doing, actually, he thought, looking out the window. As the time normally came for the sun to rise, it was instead just now growing dark. The inn's main window faced south, and through it he could see the moon's glow peeking over the rooftops of the town... still solidly stuck on the southern horizon.

Hair Trigger came running up to the table as the first plates were set down, with Quartermaster following at a much more sedate pace. Apparently, story time was over, so Apollo decided it was time for a talk with the crew as they began to gather around the table. He looked around, making eye contact with each member of his crew... or trying to, anyway: some of them seemed rather distracted, “Well guys, whatever it is that happened yesterday, it's a big deal... Bigger than a whole town of ponies getting sick.” They were all paying attention now. “And if last night's storm is any indication, the winter that's coming is going to be bad ... really bad.” A few nervous looks to the window answered this, and he looked over at it himself... though it was dark outside, the lights inside still lit up the snow covering the lower half of it. “So, more than for getting the news out, we should try to get further south before winter really hits. We don't want to get buried up here!”

A few resolute looks answered him, and a few nods... and a few tired, but resolved, looks from the more experienced members of the crew... they knew that getting further south would be easier said than done. “So, everypony, we need to finish up our jobs from yesterday.” He glanced over at Quartermaster. “And definitely go for putting skids on that wagon!” He turned back to the rest, “I want to try to get out of this town by tomorrow morning... we can't afford to waste any time.” The wind howled again outside, as if mocking his resolve, but he cast his doubts aside. “We can do this, am I right?”

A few nods came from around the table, as well as the bellowing announcement from Pebbles that breakfast was ready. Once again, Apollo found himself thanking his lucky stars – or what was left of them – to have such a crew.

Book 2 - Chapter XXI

Book 2: Equestria Lost
Chapter 13

Twilight Sparkle stepped through yet another gaping hole in the rubble. What had happened to Canterlot? The place was a disaster, with hardly any building left unscathed and nopony to be seen anywhere... nopony alive anyway.

She swept her detection spell across yet another abandoned building and courtyard... to come up empty yet again. It was disheartening enough not being able to find her friends, but at least the other towns had some life in them... She had nearly completed her sweep of Canterlot, and hadn't yet located a single living soul... which could be a good thing, all things considered. Pestilence was still unaccounted for. Who knew where she might be?

With a sinking heart, Twilight looked up to the final place in the city she hadn't yet explored: the royal palace. She hoped the sinking feeling that came over her was only a result of the bad memories from her last visit... but all the same, she was glad she had left Sunny Daze outside the city this time. She would be safe hiding out next to the lake below Canterlot Mountain... safer than Twilight suspected herself to be. Her heart dropping even further, she took the first steps toward the palace.

Twilight sighed as she looked around the desolate room. Princess Celestia's private study had seen better days, to be sure. Really, she supposed, it wasn't surprising that she ended up here. She knew her memories would get the better of her, and this room had housed some of the brightest moments of Twilight's life.

Even though the warm fireplace was now cold and dead, and even though the soft rug her mentor liked to lie on was now covered in shards of broken glass from the now gaping window, the room was still a comfort to her... and given the memories welling up inside, she could dearly use some comfort right about now.

As she turned to leave, giving one last longing glance backward, a door caught her eye... a small, unassuming door, but one of great importance nonetheless... It was the door to the princess's private room. Nopony had ever been inside, not the palace servants, not the royal guard, and especially not Twilight Sparkle... A sudden light of curiosity burned inside her... what had been in that room? That door had occupied far too much of her thoughts as a filly, of course, even after she had been burned one too many times by its powerful protection spell.

...But with no princess to power it, the protection spell would be gone, wouldn't it? Before she knew it, Twilight found herself stepping slowly towards the door, bits of glass crunching under her hooves. With an effort of will, she stopped herself. What kind of service would it be to the memory of her mentor to go snooping through her private things? Resolutely, she turned away from the door again... but found herself glancing back at it. She was searching for her friends, right? She would have to search everywhere, right?

She had only managed to half-convince herself that looking in was really the right thing to do, but that was enough to get her slowly walking toward the door again, enough to get the light of her magic surrounding the doorknob. No protection spell shot back into Twilight, no arcane wards burst into blinding light... the door was finally undefended. Hardly daring to breathe, Twilight turned the knob and slowly pushed the door open.

At first, she was slightly disappointed... no secret dungeon, no hidden, unspeakable fetishes, no magical artifacts too powerful to leave anywhere else... instead, there was a simple wardrobe, a very comfortable looking couch, what looked to be some kind of hot tub, and as the door opened further, she caught sight of an enormous feather bed... a bed that was not empty!

Twilight backed away quickly at the sight of the draconequus snoozing contentedly on Celestia's bed. Horribly, the beast was using a rather decayed pony as her pillow. Twilight winced as her back hoof came down on a particularly large shard of glass, making a particularly loud crack.

Pestilence stirred, an eye cracking open just in time to catch Twilight Sparkle turning and making a dash for safety. Three different types of claws tore into the luxurious bed as the draconequus launched herself after her most wanted prey.

Twilight risked a glance behind her as she ran down the hallway, desperate to get away... and she wished she hadn't. An eager looking, asymmetrical face was following much too close behind her! Struggling to concentrate while still running, Twilight powered up a teleportation spell. It broke as her concentration faltered when she felt a tongue brush against her flank. Redoubling both her speed and her magical effort, Twilight's horn began to glow again, and her body started to shine with sweat.

With a loud flash, Twilight vanished just as the draconequus's jaws snapped shut on thin air. The creature seethed in impotent fury before slinking back the way she came.

With a too-bright flash and a too-loud bang, Twilight appeared next to Sunny Daze, the startling violet explosion evidence of wasted magical energy on a teleportation spell with desperately poor control. It had worked though, as Twilight lay on the ground next to the filly, sides heaving with panted breath.

“Are you okay, Twilight?” Sunny's concerned voice broke out quickly.

Twilight looked over herself, not even sure of the answer to that question... but finally she replied, “Yeah... okay...”

“You didn't find anyone here either?”

“Oh...” Twilight panted a bit more before continuing, “I... found someone...”

Book 2 - Chapter XXII

Book 2: Equestria Lost
Chapter 14

Apollo groaned as he looked at the mess his crew was in. Five weeks! Five weeks since he had said he wanted to get started 'tomorrow'. Old mare winter must have had a good laugh at his expense there! The supplies had been gathered, the wagon readied and parked in front of the inn door, the crew was ready to go... and when morning had dawned, it was all buried. They hadn't even been able to see that from the downstairs window. They had needed to look out from an upstairs window because the lower ones were completely covered!

To make matters worse, they had already eaten most of their stored trail rations, threatening to run out of food and leaving them without provisions for the journey south. As Needle Point came back inside – having walked through the inn's new main entrance, the window in the hallway upstairs – he asked her, “How's the excavation going?”

The shy little navigator had been on digging duty all morning, working on digging a way into the restaurant next door. “Well, um... uh... we found the front porch...” She said, “but...”

“But what?” he asked. The little mare was a great asset to the team... but getting her to talk was never easy.

“Um... it's just that... nopony remembers where the door was on the porch.”

“But they're looking for it, right?” He asked.

A soft “Uh huh” was the only answer he received.

He tried to settle Needle's apprehension with a warm smile of thanks, and she walked off towards the couches in the common room, but Apollo was still unsure if he had actually reassured her at all.

As he looked into the common room, he could see Quartermaster and Hair Trigger engaged in a game of chess. Trigger seemed to be winning, though Apollo wasn't sure if that was due to Quarter's kindhearted nature or his senility. Suddenly, Trigger perked up, sitting straight up and perking his ears. Apollo knew to pay attention to that! He trotted into the common room, asking, “What is it?”

The little pegasus stayed motionless and silent a moment longer – a very rare occurrence for him – before saying, “The snow... it stopped.”

The snow had still been gently falling the whole time... had the little pony really been able to hear it? Quickly, Apollo trotted upstairs. Looking out the window he saw it was true... the snow had finally stopped.

The sun was beginning to go down again, just in time for lunch, and the remaining excavation crew ponies were on their way back inside, trudging along in their improvised snowshoes... and miracle of miracles, they were carrying bags of food! They must have found the entrance!

It had taken another week, time Apollo alloted only begrudgingly, but the team had finally done it. As the first light of the morning broke above the horizon – from the south, unnervingly enough – his crew were all arrayed outside the inn, decked out in layers of heavy coats and kludged snowshoes. Bringing their wagon – or sled rather – to the surface of the snow, rather than deep underneath it had taken countless hours of hard work, but Quarter's ingeniously insane idea of a ramping tunnel had actually worked... It was finally time; they were ready.

The feeling of setting off usually invigorated Apollo Dawn. Truth be told, the feeling he got when he took the first step on a new mission was what he lived for... And there still was some of that feeling present. A vague feeling of dread poisoned it though.

He began walking along where the train tracks should be, with Needle Point at his side... not that navigating along this trip would be difficult. Even under the heavy snow, the railroad's path was clear as a long straight line where the thick coverage of evergreen trees was missing. Albatross and Shimmer Spell fell in behind him, along with Splints for some reason. Bringing up the rear, Quartermaster walked along with Pebbles, who was pulling the sled. The big mare always got stuck with the heavy jobs like that... she would always complain about it, but everypony knew she actually didn't mind. Physical work seemed to come to her effortlessly. Hair Trigger, of course, didn't exactly stay in any position in the group, flitting all over back and forth, and to the sides. Apollo had no idea where the little colt found the energy; that little pegasus would probably end up traveling twice the distance the rest of them did, if one counted all his zig-zags. Like the rest of the pegasi on the team though, he didn't wear snowshoes. Having wings brought more advantages than just flight – for a pony who could walk on clouds, walking on soft snow was nothing.

Looking ahead, Apollo could only see an endless expanse of mountains covered in snow and fir trees. He sighed – it was going to be a very long journey. He kept on though. It wasn't the first long trip on foot this team had made... and probably wouldn't be the last either. With only the sounds of the ponies' hooves and the sled's slow rolling crunch breaking the silence, the determined group of ponies pressed on.

Book 2 - Chapter XXIII

Book 2: Equestria Lost
Chapter 15

“And that's when 'ol nickel up 'an picked up his chair. He went over and poked that mean lookin' manticore right betwixt the eyes, and darned if the critter didn't start runnin' scared!”

As the sun rose for the third time of the day, barely peeking above the mountains to the north, Apollo sighed. His crew had been walking for four weeks now, and the stress of the journey was getting to everypony. Quartermaster's way of dealing with it seemed to be a constant stream of rambling old “truer than the big blue sky” stories of the exploits of his ancestors.

Suddenly, an explosion of snow flew up in front of Apollo, making him rear back. He fell backwards, but jumped right back up, ready for anything... Only to see a sheepish looking yellow face peeking up out of a new crater in the snow. Trigger's bright orange eyes didn't look apologetic at all though. As Apollo was preparing to give the little pegasus colt quite the lecture, his opportunity vanished as the orange and yellow blur shot off again, somewhere off to the right.

As he stepped carefully over the snow crater, he looked to his side, just in time to see Needle having herself a little giggle at his expense. He suppressed his feeling of pique though... The timid little earth pony mare had seemed particularly withdrawn into herself lately, it was good to hear something from her, even if it wasn't the most polite thing ever... especially if it wasn't the most polite thing ever.

With the light of dawn coming from behind them now, Apollo looked onwards to the road ahead. From the crest of the hill they were on, he could see for miles... and yet still all he could see was an endless expanse of hills, broken only by the thin white line that represented the railroad line they were following. With another heavy sigh, he put down his hoof, one more step along the way. If the feeling of exhilaration when setting out on a journey was the favorite part of his job, this was the part he hated the most... When the road stretched on and on, with no relief in sight. He walked on, head hung low... and stopped short when he saw another little crater in the snow... and another. How many times had that little pegasus hit the snow?

He turned to shout to the colt, but stopped as he noticed his navigator staring with abject horror at the ground ahead. Following her gaze, he looked up. The indentations he had noticed a moment ago continued... on and on, right down the same path they were following... and now that he looked at the pattern... True, they were each large enough to have been made by a whole pegasus colt crashing into the snow... but they were all the same shape, and all in two lines... “Um, Splints?” He called, “You think you could come over here a second?”

An exasperated “Ugh!” answered him, “What? Does little Needle need me to hold her hoof to cross another bridge maybe? Oh, I know, maybe our little orange pinball finally ran out of energy and now I have to carry it?”

Apollo Dawn shook his head, “Just get over here, okay?”

“Fine,” Splints said, trotting over, disdain mapped across her face, and even the way she moved. “What is it now?”

Rather than risk further argument with his medical and animal expert, he simply pointed.

That got Splints to stop her complaining! She simply stood and stared for a moment, before jumping up to get a closer look, then trotting off to look at a few more prints, making the occasional sound of confirmation to herself. “MmHm, white bear all right,” she concluded, finally.

“White bear?” Apollo asked. He noticed Needle Point cowering, ironically enough inside one of the creature's footprints. “Is it dangerous?”

“Oh, yes, very,” Splints confirmed, accent coming in heavily, “I warned you about them on our way up here, if you could remember anything I ever say... They usually don't come so far south though... Hmm.”

“So what do we do about it?”

“Why're you asking me, oh fearless leader?” Splints replied, “I'm not the one who calls the shots around here, isn't that what you told me?”

Now it was Apollo's turn to be exasperated. That pink and yellow mare could be infuriating at times. That particular argument had to have been years ago, but he still apparently hadn't heard the end of it. “Fine,” he said, “It's ahead of us on the path, maybe we'll never even see it... let's just keep moving.”

Apollo looked at Splints as the group began moving again, their hoofprints obscuring the prints of the bear as they moved along. He found the irritable mare completely unreadable. Often, he wished he could read her the way she could seemingly see straight through him, but she only stared back with an annoyed look on her face... yet there was something beneath that... something frustratingly impossible for Apollo to figure out.

Waking with a start, Apollo looked around his tent. Nothing seemed wrong. The pile of blankets insulating him from the snow beneath were still fluffy and soft, and it was even dark enough to truly be called night time, not even the slightest glimmer of light coming through the tent wall. The dark periods during the day were hard enough to get used to, but the bright-as-day periods during the night were what really drove him crazy.

Still, what had awoken him... Not a dream... he had actually been having a very pleasant dream... one featuring Splints, embarrassingly enough. Slowly, he let his guard down, pulling a thick blanket back over him... Then, he heard it. A thick, sustained, creaking crunch as old snow was crushed beneath something heavy... and a windy-sounding snuffle.

He knew what it was instantly. The white bear. It must have found their camp, and now it was only a matter of time until some disaster happened. Would it attack one of the ponies? Would it eat their supplies? They still had weeks of travel left: without supplies they might not make it... and the thought of the bear having its way with one of his crew sent a bolt of lightning down his spine. Not on his watch!

Quickly, he hopped out of bed, thankfully already wearing his parka, no time wasted wrestling that heavy thing around his wings. He unzipped the front of his tent, seeing the pale white snow barely visible in the dim moonlight from the southern horizon. Strangely though, he couldn't see any trees, or the other ponies' tents... only three big dots arranged in a triangle, two on top, one below. Still a little sleep addled, he stared at the odd vision in front of him... until the two top dots blinked.

Fabric ripped as he shot straight through the back side of his tent, a feat he never thought he would be able to do, but apparently a huge bear right in front of one's face could inspire one to some pretty epic accomplishments!

At a safe distance, he hovered above, flying in a small circle around the camp. The bear was still just standing there, staring at him. The huge beast made a low, rumbling growl as it watched him circle.

Responding to that growl perhaps, a face popped out of one of the tents. Needle Point's, Apollo noticed with suddenly redoubled worry. The face popped back into the tent, giving Apollo a moment of relief, only to have it shattered as Needle's face once again popped out of the tent, this time with her thick glasses in place so she could actually see what she came out to look at.

Now that she did see it, she popped back inside even faster, zipping the closure up behind her with a timid little squeak.

Apollo winced as that squeak diverted the bear's attention from him to the tent where the sound came from. As the huge white muzzle came down to sniff at the tent's entrance, he knew that he would have to take action if he was going to protect his crew.

He dove down towards the bear, buzzing by and landing a good kick on the back of its head. He bounced off, back into the safety of the sky, but the huge bear only looked up at him, a little annoyed. Hitting it had felt like hitting a brick wall... a big, fuzzy brick wall. The bear was huge, a little bigger than their whole supply wagon, and a lot heavier looking... How could he possibly stop this thing?

The bear lumbered up after him, bowling over a couple tents in the process. Apollo winced, trying to remember whose tents those had been, but quickly found something else more urgent to think about as the bear reared up and took a swipe at him, coming uncomfortably close – Apollo had badly underestimated the bear's reach!

As the bear pursued him, an idea occurred though. He kept at it, always staying barely out of reach, always coming back to harass the bear if it began to lose interest in him. Slowly but surely, he was drawing the bear away from camp.

Apollo made one more tired dive at the bear, using his new strategy of hitting it with snowballs rather than getting within kicking range – his back right leg still stung with the glancing contact it had gotten from a big bear paw. This snowball was a great success, hitting right in the eye. “Bullseye,” he said to himself, with a little smirk. After a couple of hours of this, he was starting to get good at it!

The freshly enraged bear made another run at him, which he easily avoided, gaining what he now knew to be just enough altitude to put him firmly out of bear-reach. As the first light of the night's second dawn broke the horizon, he decided that he had probably led the bear far enough away. He darted away, quickly making one last snowball before the bear caught up with where he landed, and again took to the air.

This snowball didn't hit quite so spectacularly on-target, but further enraged the bear nonetheless. With that, Apollo began to fly off, slowly gaining more and more altitude, still heading away from camp. With any luck, the bear would continue to chase him in this direction even after he headed back to camp.

The bear slowly receded in the distance, becoming difficult to see against the snowy backdrop. Apollo gave it plenty of extra room though, continuing on long after the bear was invisible in the snowy countryside. The sun was fully above the horizon by the time he made a sharp dive back down to tree level, leveling back off just above the treetops, and only then beginning a wide circle back to camp. With any luck, he could get back to camp by the time the sun was going down again, even by this wide route, and he could still enjoy a few more hours of sleep before the 'morning' came.

Book 2 - Chapter XXIV

Book 2: Equestria Lost
Chapter 16

“Twilight, wait up!”

Twilight Sparkle turned around to see Sunny lagging behind. She slowed her pace to let the short-legged little filly catch up, but she still kept on trotting down the street, scanning buildings as she passed by. Manehattan was a challenge, of course, given its huge size and complicated streets, but slowly, methodically, she had been getting it completely scanned.

Like most of the cities she had been to so far, Manehattan showed some signs of life... nowhere near the bustle that should be here, but occasionally she would pick up a few ponies in her scan of a building. Strangely though, the ponies in this town weren't rushing out to greet her... they stayed safe and hidden inside their homes. What were the ponies of this city so afraid of? There didn't seem to be anything wrong; in fact, this city seemed to be in better shape than most she had been to... no major signs of damage to buildings, no corpses in the road. What had them so scared?

Yet again shrugging it off, Twilight resolved to find a few and ask them... once she was done with her scan. It wouldn't be long now; she only had a few more blocks to go... which might explain how her pace had picked up in eagerness. Finally, Sunny caught up next to her, going at a full run to keep up with Twilight's still-fast trot... but the filly didn't complain – Twilight couldn't ask for a better companion for her search.

Turning what would be the last corner, Twilight came to a dead stop. “Miss me?” A sultry voice asked from above.

Twilight and Sunny both looked up in horror to see a draconequus hovering above them. Gripped with fear, Twilight fired off a fast teleportation spell, only to reappear right back where she and Sunny had started. As she looked in the direction she had tried to go, she could see a ripple of light traveling upwards and outwards... a spherical shell around the whole city block, trapping Twilight and Sunny inside.

Twilight backed away fearfully as the draconequus edged closer. “Not this time, precious pony.” her voice slid disconcertingly into Twilight's ears. “This time, you're mine!”

In desperation, Twilight fired off a bright flare of unfocused magical light, quickly running off with Sunny as the blinded monster cried out in pain and surprise. She rounded the corner again and headed down the street, only to quickly be stopped short by the spherical shield cutting across it. She took Sunny with her, ducking into an alley quickly before the draconequus came around the corner.

“There's no escape this time, little one,” that horribly smooth voice came through again, “So just keep running! I like the taste of fear in a pony!”

Twilight knew Pestilence was wrong... she could escape, but she would need more time... she needed a distraction.

Sunny Daze ran out into the street, catching Pestilence's attention just as Twilight had planned. Quickly taking off into a run, she led the draconequus away, giving Twilight the time she needed to complete her spell. The filly couldn't run terribly fast though, and she had no wings to compete with those of the draconequus. She quickly succumbed to the monster's greater speed, Pestilence grabbing her around the middle with one giant eagle claw and holding the screaming filly above her head like a prize.

“Oh Twilight Sparkle! Come out Twilight Sparkle! Come out and I'll let your friend to live!”

With one final grunt of concentration, Twilight put the final parts of her spell in place. Pestilence had trapped her in here with a three dimensional sphere... but Twilight Sparkle was as well-educated as she was magical... she knew there were more dimensions than that. Holding Sunny close, she walked up to the edge of the sphere, and horn glowing, she simply stepped around it. To somepony watching form the outside, she might have seemed to vanish for a moment and reappear on the other side, something that should be impossible with a magical shield of this kind... but not impossible for a unicorn as well-studied as Twilight!

Confident now, Twilight led Sunny back to the street through another alleyway, so they could see Pestilence still inside the shield, holding Sunny Daze aloft. They drew the creature's attention with a friendly wave before Twilight removed the power from her illusion spell. The Sunny Daze in Pestilence's grip suddenly vanished, leaving her talon to close on a quickly dispersing cloud of yellow dust. Before the draconequus could even cry out in rage, Twilight and Sunny vanished from the street, teleporting away.