Silph could only watch helplessly as Slenderman stabbed his tentacle through Applebloom’s chest. How could he have been so slow? He could have prevented this. He could have taken down Slenderman before he even caught Applebloom.
He could have stopped the whole ordeal, altogether.
If he had just gone and confronted the Crusaders before they got the first page rather than try to talk them away with a faceless voice, he could have kept all three of them from dying. Instead, Slenderman got all three of them, only the third one was taken right before his eyes. He let his guard down and the fillies payed the price for his mistake.
“No...” Silph said to himself, even though no one could hear him or was going to hear him. “How could this happen? How could I let this happen?” Just as tears began appearing in Silph’s eyes, his horn began glowing a greenish color. “Slenderman... how could you?” As Silph’s sadness turned to anger, his horn began glowing brighter and his wings extended. “I won’t let this stand...” Silph somehow levitated into the air and his whole body began glowing the same color as his horn.
“What’s going on?” Slendermane asked, getting up.
Silph continued to rise into the air and glowed brighter than ever. “I WON’T LET THIS STAND!” Then, out of nowhere, he unleashed a massive pulse of magic, sending Slendermane flying at least several miles away.
Slenderman put the dying Applebloom down and turned to Silph. “How dare you, Silph, you traitor!”
Silph turned to Slenderman. “So what if I am a traitor? What you’re doing is wrong and you are going to pay for it!” Silph then fired a massive ball of magic at Slenderman, who tried to block it. However, Silph’s rage was too powerful for Slenderman to challenge and he was sent flying into the air. After this happened, Silph slowly stopped glowing and lowered to the ground. “Woah,” he said to himself. “Did I seriously just do that? Did I even use magic at all, just now?” He silently questioned what just happened for a few seconds before he remembered that Applebloom was dying. “Applebloom!” he shouted, flying over to where Applebloom lay, barely alive and a massive hole straight through her body.
“Silph?” Applebloom asked weakly as Silph flew to Applebloom’s side.
“I’m so sorry, Applebloom. This was all my fault.” He began tearing up, once again. “I should have been faster, more decisive... but look what happened.”
“Silph, you did what you could, and I forgive you for that.”
“No, I could have done more. I could have easily saved you as well as your friends.”
“Silph, please, just listen to me.” Silph kept quiet and listened intently. “You need to promise me one thing. One thing before I pass.”
“What is it? What can I do for you?”
“The reason you wanted to save us was because you thought peace was possible. I need you to make sure you’re right. I need you to make sure that me, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle didn’t die for nothing. I need you to promise me... that the suffering ends.”
Silph held Applebloom close to him, and he could literally feel her slip away into the darkness. “For you, Applebloom, I’ll make sure your sacrifice won’t be for nothing.” He closed Applebloom’s eyelids with his own hooves and whispered two final words:
“I promise.”
End of book 1