Apple Bloom felt like her eyes had barely closed when she felt a hoof on her shoulder shaking her awake. “Arise, my little Apple Bloom,” Zecora’s voice whispered. “We must leave this place, and soon.”

Apple Bloom pushed herself to her hooves with a grunt and blinked in the lantern’s soft light. The shelves were almost empty, and even the large, black cauldron was gone. “Where’re your things?”

“Packed away inside my cart,” Zecora whispered as she placed the last of her bottles in a box balanced on her back. “We need to get an early start.”

Apple Bloom looked out the open doorway. “It’s still dark,” she said. “I thought we were going to wait for sunrise.”

“The hour of dawn has come and gone,” Zecora answered as she picked up her lantern and walked outside. The zebra hung the lantern on a pole attached to the back of a small wooden cart filled with her belongings. “Nightmare Moon’s eternal night is more than a story to give children fright.”

“Eternal night?” Apple Bloom repeated. “You mean the sun is never going to rise again?”

“I do not know, my little one, what Nightmare Moon did with the sun,” Zecora answered. “Just one thing is made quite clear: the sun will not be rising here.”

“But what about the farms? How will we grow food?”

Zecora placed a hoof over Apple Bloom’s mouth. “For now, my dear, we must be gone. To Ponyville we shall press on. We’ll take what food and things we find and leave this ghastly place behind.”

The flutter of wings silenced both as they stared into the darkness around them. Zecora slipped into the cart’s harness and began walking silently into the forest. Apple Bloom followed close behind, jumping every time a shadow shifted nearby. The wagon’s wheels squeaked and rattled over the uneven terrain, accompanied by the soft clink of glass. Apple Bloom’s heart pounded, and she wondered if the Shadowbolts could hear it.

After an eternity, the two stepped into a clearing. A cottage sat at its center, half-charred and smoking. Apple Bloom thought she saw a bear lying just outside the lantern’s light, but when she started to walk toward it, Zecora’s hoof blocked her path. Apple Bloom looked at her companion for an explanation, but the zebra simply shook her head and slipped out of the cart’s harness. “Fluttershy kept food in supply for her friends of earth and sky,” she whispered as she took the lantern off the cart and led Apple Bloom toward the cottage. “Much was lost in the attack, but there may be some we can take back.”

Apple Bloom coughed as the wind blew a cloud of smoke in her face. “How come it didn’t all burn to the ground?”

“Rainbow Dash came her to save her friend, and so put out the flame,” Zecora replied as the doorway drew near. “Stay out here and wait for me. What lies inside you should not see.”

Apple Bloom wanted to ask what she meant, but the zebra’s solemn expression kept her silent. Apple Bloom sat on the ground and listened to the sound of Zecora’s scavenging and what sounded like gagging. A few minutes later, Zecora walked outside with a half-full bag of grain on her back. Apple Bloom frowned. “That’s all?”

Zecora put the bag in her cart, placed the lantern on the pole, and slipped into the harness. “We must press on to Ponyville,” she said stiffly. “I hope that scene won’t make me ill.”

Apple Bloom glanced back at the ruined cottage as Zecora began walking away. “What was in there?” she asked.

“That is not for you to know,” Zecora snapped. “It is time for us to go.”

Still frowning, the filly followed Zecora away from the cottage toward Ponyville. Now that they were out of the forest, Apple Bloom could see smoke rising into the night sky. They rounded a bend, and Apple Bloom came to a halt. Where Ponyville had once stood, there now sat a field of destruction. The streets were strewn with broken brick and blackened beams. A fire still smoldered in the library, the only building still standing.

Zecora slowed as she crossed the bridge into town. “Come along, let us make haste,” she called. Apple Bloom trotted to catch up. “We should not linger in this waste.”

The town’s openness seemed to press down on the filly just as the trees and thickets had before. She stayed near Zecora and kept her head low as they passed one burned-out foundation after another, their path dictated by how little debris stood in their way. Ash filled Apple Bloom’s nostrils, and more than once she had to stop and recover from a coughing.

“Cover up your mouth with this,” Zecora said after a particularly heavy fit, offering Apple Bloom a piece of torn cloth. Apple Bloom tied the cloth around her face like a bandana. “We’ll soon be out of this abyss.”

“But what about food?” Apple Bloom asked, her voice slightly muffled through the cloth.

Zecora shook her head. “Nightmare Moon took great care to leave this town completely bare. No provisions could have lasted where all these buildings have been blasted.”

A sudden rush of wind drew their attention toward the forest. Apple Bloom thought she heard the beating of wings before she felt Zecora pushing her into one of the ruined buildings. The two scrambled under the wreckage just as a legion of Shadowbolts shot overhead, led by Nightmare Moon herself. A small squeak slipped out of Apple Bloom’s mouth as she crouched lower in the ruins. She spied a team of four Shadowbolts hauling a cage, but what it contained remained a mystery.

“The dark mare flies for Canterlot,” Zecora muttered once the last of the Shadowbolts had passed. “She takes the ponies that she caught.”

“She has prisoners?” Apple Bloom asked. “Who?”

“Their fate is out of our control,” Zecora replied as she stepped out of their hiding place. “Be glad we escaped their patrol.”

Apple Bloom started to protest, but she stopped when she noticed a familiar shape fluttering in the breeze. A brown hat lay pinned under a pile of stone. “Applejack,” the filly muttered as she brushed aside the debris and examined the Stetson more closely. “Zecora! I found Applejack’s hat!”

“Come out of there, you foolish mare,” Zecora called, but Apple Bloom has already moved deeper into the rubble. If Applejack’s hat was here, Applejack couldn’t be far away. She shifted a few broken beams to the side before she felt a strong set of teeth clamp around her tail and yank her back. “Get out and go stand by the cart,” Zecora hissed, fixing the filly with a glare. “This place is going to fall apart.”

“But I found Applejack’s hat!” Apple Bloom repeated, holding the dirt-covered Stetson as evidence. “Maybe she’s in there somewhere.”

“And if she is, what can you do?” Zecora asked. “Your sister died protecting you. It would therefore be unwise to bring about your own demise.”

Apple Bloom hung her head. “I’m sorry, Zecora. I just thought…”

Zecora’s gaze softened, and she placed a hoof on the filly’s shoulder. “My dear, I know just how you’re feeling. This loss has left your young mind reeling. I understand that you must grieve, but for now, we both must leave.”

Apple Bloom looked back at the pile of rubble. In her heart, she knew Applejack was in there somewhere, buried in Nightmare Moon’s destruction. “Do you think…” she started. “Do you think one day… we could come back and give her a proper burial?”

“When it is safe, we might return,” Zecora answered, nudging Apple Bloom toward the cart. “For now we simply must adjourn.”

Apple Bloom followed Zecora to the cart, Stetson still in hoof. She took one last look at the building, trying to memorize it so she could find it again. “Don’t worry, Applejack,” she muttered, placing the Stetson on her head as the cart began to rumble down the road. “I’ll come back. I promise.”