//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Tales of Equestria // by Lunerpet //------------------------------// It was a hot summer evening, Twilight Sparkle, who was a purple unicorn mare with dark blue hair with pink highlights and magic stars was on her rump which was her cutie mark, her eyes were a darker purple from her coat, Twilight was studying as per the norm for her daily routine, she had a lot of books that she liked to read over and over again, by now she had read every book in her home, but that didn't stop her from enjoying a good book. Twilight was having a normal good day, when out of nowhere the whole building started to shake, Twilight looked around as the shaking got stronger and stronger. “Wha-what's going on so suddenly!?” Twilight heard a loud thud as her bookshelves started to fall around her. “Whoa!” Twilight quickly dodged the heavy shelves and ran to the door but a shelf had fallen in front of it blocking her way. “What's causing this!?” The young mare ran upstairs and found her window was open, she didn't like the idea, but it was the only thing she could do so she ran over to it to jump out the window but the wood floor gave way as the whole library caved in and the earth split around it. “Wahhhh!!” Other pony's watched as Twilight's home crumbled like it was made of paper and the open earth swallowed it as it fell and Twilight didn't make it out, Apple Bloom, a younger sister to one of Twilight's friends was one of the filly's who saw what just happened, she was a yellow mare with a red mane and tail, her eyes were a gold like color and she didn't have a cutie, she was just a normal earth pony. Apple Bloom looked down the crag that now took place where Twilight's house was and saw nothing but darkness. “Oh no, I have to tell Applejack!” Apple Bloom then ran off to find her sister. Applejack was a orange colored mare with green eyes, her mane was blonde as was her tail, she had them tied back and she had a cow girl hat, her cutie mark was of three apples, she was bucking some trees kicking down some apples when the ground started to shake tripping her up so she missed the tree. “Wha-huh? What in Equestria is going on?!” Applejack tried to stand as the ground started to split and quake. “The whole field is shaking!!” A large crack in the earth erupted in the middle of the field and her apple trees fell through it, some trees were hanging on by just some roots, Applejack quickly got to her hooves and ran for it as the ground started to swallow more of the land. Applejack ran to the edge of the trees and the crag stopped just short letting Applejack catch her breath, Applejack wiped her sweat from her brow and took a deep breath, she could feel heat coming from the large rip. “What is going on here?” “Applejack!?” Apple Bloom ran up as fast as her tiny hooves could carry her. “Twilight's in trouble!” “Twilight?!” Applejack turned to Apple Bloom with a look of worry. “What happened!?” “The ground swallowed her house and she couldn't get out in time and-” Apple Bloom was cut off as she finally saw what had just happened to their apple trees. “And what happened here!?” “I don't really know myself but whatever it is, I don't like it” Applejack said. “I want to save Twilight, but we don't know if this will it again, we need to get the Ponies of Ponyville out of town and someplace safe” “But what about Twilight?” Apple Bloom asked. “I'll get Rainbow Dash and see if she can look for her” Applejack said before she ran off towards town. “You get Big mac and granny Smith and get out of here as fast as you can!” Applejack ran into town shortly after and saw all the ponies in mass panic, everypony had what they could carry and was running as the ground was ripping apart. “This isn't good” “You can say that again!” A blue mare pegasus said as she flew up, her mane and tail where multiple colors like a rainbow and she had pink iris's, her cutie mark was of a cloud with a rainbow lighting bolt on it. “This whole place is falling apart and I haven't seen Twilight or even Rarity at all!” “Rainbow Dash?” Applejack looked up to see her. “Apple Bloom told me that Twilight was still inside her home when it fell, where are the others!?” “Twilight's what!?” Rainbow Dash was in a panic now herself. “Applejack, you need to get these ponies out of here, find the others and get them to help you, I have to find Twilight!” “Rainbow Dash wait!” Applejack tried to say something but Rainbow Dash left quickly and down into the hole where Twilight's home was. “Gosh darn it, okay Applejack, let's get these pony's to safety” “Whhhhoooooaaaaa, this shaking is fun!” Applejack heard a familiar voice, she turned around and saw her friend Pinkie Pie, a pink mare with a rose colored puffy mane and tail, and she was shaking all over the place. “Pinkie Pie!? What are you doing, the whole town is falling apart, we need to get out of here!” Applejack said trying to reach her. “Don't worry about me, I'm shaking and grooving!” Pinkie Pie said as she was shaking with the ground. “Pinkie, come on, this is no time for games!” Applejack said right before more of the ground broke around them. “We have to move!” “Weeee!” Pinkie was having a blast as the ground ripped around her. “Oh I think that means it's time to go!” Pinkie hopped over to Applejack as if nothing was happening, Applejack quickly grabbed her and bolted out of the town with the rest of the remaining ponies, they ran up to a hill and Applejack turned back to see Ponyville get swallowed whole by the earth. “Ponyville...is gone...” “Well that's not fun, I wanted to shake some more!” Pinkie Pie said annoyed. “Pinkie? Don't you understand? It's all gone...the farm, the town...” Applejack's eye's suddenly widened as she noticed some ponies were missing. “Oh no! Where are Fluttershy and Rarity!?” “Their...” Pinkie was about to speak but stopped when she realized she didn't have the answer. “I don't know actually” “What if they fell in with the town!?” Applejack panicked now and Pinkie put a hoof on her. “Don't worry, I'm sure their fine, but right now we need to find a safe place for everypony here” Pinkie said making sense, which was odd but anything was possible. “You're right Pinkie, but we can't just leave the others” Applejack pointed out. “And we won't, but the ponies of ponyville need us don't they?” Pinkie Pie said. As they were talking a blue earth mare walked up to them, her mane was a good long length and it was styled into a braid on each side, her tail was long and flowing like a blanket of snow, her eye's were purple and she had a sunhat on, on her rump looked like a pair of sugar cookies and they both had Christmas themes on them, one had a Snowflake and the other had a red cap on it and they were surrounded by snow making the area around her rump white. “Excuse me?” “Huh?” Applejack turned to the pony and raised an eyebrow. “Who might you be?” “That's odd, I don't remember seeing you before” Pinkie said. “Well actually I just got to town before all this happened, my name is Winter Sugar by the way” she spoke with a calm and lovely voice. “I came from Canterlot actually, and I was thinking it would be a good idea to get these pony's go the city, it's probably safe there” “That's a good idea, Pinkie you and Winter Sugar go and get everypony to safety, I'll stay here and look for the others” Applejack said as she readied herself. “Well okay then” Pinkie wasn't sure about splitting up, but she knew one of them had to stay and search for the others. “Be careful Applejack” “Don't worry about me, you all get going” Applejack said before running off. “Come on Winter Sugar, let's get going” Pinkie said as she turned to the other ponies. “Okay everypony, we're going to head off to Canterlot, let's go!” Pinkie and Winter then began to lead the other survivors out of the crumbling valley that was once their home, Pinkie looked back at the gaping hole that was once her home. “I can't believe it's gone..” Winter looked back at her and walked over to her. “I'm sorry about you're home..” “It's not the home that I'm sad about” Pinkie said shaking her head. “It's all the memories I had with all my friends I had here..and it's all gone..” “Well it's not all gone, you're friends are still here right?” Winter asked. “Yeah I guess you're right, I can always make more memories with my friends, but what about their homes? Where will they live?” Pinkie asked as they began to walk again. “I'm sure if we ask the princess sisters, they can find them a place to live until they can build a new home” Winter Sugar said. “I'm sure everything will work out” “You know what? You're right Winter Sugar, thanks” Pinkie finally smiled again and they walked with the large group towards Canterlot. Applejack finally reached Fluttershy's home, however when she got there the whole building was in a wreck, the ceiling had fallen through and the inside was just rubble. “Fluttershy!?” Applejack called out in worry. “Are you in there!?” She didn't hear anything in the house which only worried her, she looked around the outside and it was quickly all around. “What happened to Fluttershy?” Applejack walked to the front of the house and noticed hoof prints. “Huh?” Applejack looked at the hoof prints and saw that they went to the forest. “Did she go into the forest?” Applejack quickly followed the hoof prints hoping her friend was safe, she walked at a good pace keeping her eye's on the prints until she was deep in the forest and the prints ended, however she saw a yellow feather on the ground, she look a closer look and knew that it belonged to Fluttershy, but she didn't know where she was. “Fluttershy ran into the forest? But she's so scared of this place there is no way she go here first” As Applejack walked further she saw other tracks but they weren't normal, and each track looked almost bug like. “What in Equestria is that? I've never seen tracks like this” She followed the new tracks for awhile and ended up in a meadow, there she saw something moving in a bush nearby. “Fluttershy? Is that you!?” Applejack walked over to the bush and looked closer. “Fluttershy?” The bush moved and something jumped out into the meadow, Applejack quickly turned and saw a weird looking insect, it was as big as a full grown pony, it had large pincers and it had a bone like shell that shined almost like polished rock, it's eye's were solid green and it had six legs, the back of it had a strange symbol carved into it but Applejack didn't recognize it, it's pincers moved as if talking as it looked at her but it only made a clicking sound. “What in the world is that? I've never seen anything like it, it can't be part of the Everfree forest, can it?” Applejack questioned before the bug creature slammed it's pincer into the ground and suddenly dug into the ground making the ground shake around them as it went down into the tunnel it was making. “Whoa! What the?!” Applejack looked at the tunnel it made. “Wait a minute..was that the thing causing the earthquake's?” As Applejack was looking at the hole it made a tree was shaking and a golden pegasus mare with a rose colored mane and tail, she had cyan colored iris's, the cutie mark on her rump was of three butterfly's was shaking in the tree's branch. “Is...is it gone?...” Applejack heard a small whisper and looked up at the tree. “Fluttershy?” Fluttershy clung to the tree and looked at Applejack, seeing her calmed her down a little though. “Applejack?...” Applejack walked under the tree she was on. “What are you doing up there? We were really worried, the whole town became a sinkhole, everything is in chaos!” “I...I saw this weird looking bug as big as me, so I went after it...” Fluttershy said quietly. “It was so strange looking, but when I got close to it...meep..” “Well you should come down, do you know where Rarity is by any chance?” Applejack asked. “Rarity?” Fluttershy thought about it for a bit and shook her head. “I'm sorry, I don't think I do..” “Great, now I'm even more worried” Applejack said as Fluttershy managed to get down from the tree and her bunny angel popped out from under her wing. “I'll tell you what's been going on so far as we walk” “Okay then” Fluttershy said as they started to head out the forest. Meanwhile Twilight awoke in the wreckage of her home, her back leg was caught under a shelf, she had a splitting headache and her vision was blurry “Ugh..” Twilight tried to get up but couldn't with her leg stuck, she tried to focus on her horn to cast a spell but it only caused her headache to worsen. “Ow..” Her horn flickered and fizzed out as her head throbbed in pain, she tried to move her leg but it was no use, it was feeling numb but she kept trying to move it. “Ah...come on...I have to get free...” Twilight managed to use her magic once more causing a splitting headache but she worked through it and the bookshelf lifted off her leg just enough for her to get free, she moved out of the way and her magic couldn't hold it anymore and it fell again, Twilight's head was in a lot more pain then before and her magic couldn't work right. “I hope the others are okay..” Twilight held her head as she stumbled out of the rubble that was her home. “Fluttershy...Applejack...Rarity...Pinkie Pie...Rainbow Dash...Spike...I hope their okay” Twilight Sparkle looked around what seemed liked a cave of some sort but she couldn't really tell due to her vision being blurry, Twilight shook her head trying to clear her head but it didn't work very much, it really only made her more dizzy, she stumbled around and saw some shadow's move in what seemed like a tunnel in the distance. “Huh?” Twilight stopped and took a breather, she leaned against a rock and closed her eyes trying to stop the dizziness, she felt a strong source of cold as she leaned her head against the hard surface. “I wonder where this is?...” Twilight opened her eyes seeing clearer now and she looked at the rock she was leaning against and saw it wasn't a rock at all, it was a large ice wall she was leaning against, which would explain why her head wasn't in so much pain, Twilight looked at the ice wall. “It's beautiful...was this under Ponyville all along?” Twilight noticed some cracks in the ice from the earthquake, and it looked like it could break any minute, she looked into the ice and saw some sort of pony figure frozen inside. “Whoa, wait a minute, somepony is trapped inside!?” Twilight felt another shake and fell on the ground, her headache got only worse and she felt sick, while she was on the ground she felt like she was in a pool of water, she looked up to the ice wall and saw it had been melting. “All this ice...melting?” She felt her head pulse as the ice cracked and the figure seemed to move ether that or she was so dizzy she was seeing things, Twilight laid her head down having no strength, all she heard was some wings flapping before she couldn't keep her eyes open and passed out.