The fall
Twilight, Stargazer and the others were deep within the Everfree Forest the trees were so thick that it was almost impossible to see a hoof in front of her face. The mares were exhausted so much had happened and they weren’t used to a lack of rest yet Stargazer pressed on uncaring of the struggling ponies behind him.
“That’s it! I am not moving anymore!” Rainbow was angry she had tried to persuade Stargazer to fly straight to the castle and save the princesses but he had merely told her no, stating that if she wanted to get herself killed then he wasn’t going to stop her. But now her exhaustion had caught up with her and she wanted nothing more than to sleep. She plopped herself on the ground with Rarity equally annoyed at being forced to wander seemingly aimlessly for what felt like hours through the dark.
Stargazer glanced over his shoulder not breaking stride looking over to the rainbow pegasus sat on the ground glaring at him.
“Fine. Stay here if you want. While you do that I’m gonna be getting myself as far away from Canterlot as I can” he spoke utterly devoid of any sympathy for the tired ponies. He always worked better alone anyway. He felt a tap on his shoulder making him look down to see the lavender unicorn looking at him clearly exhausted.
“Please Stargazer we can’t go any further can you not wait a bit while we rest? We won’t survive in here without you I know you want to leave but can you not wait until at least morning?” She looked up at him with the face of a foal who lost their parents. He looked into her eyes his face a complete blank making her sigh and turn back to the others sitting down defeated. He had sat down himself looking at the group in front of him, The Earth pony with the hat was sat next to the lavender unicorn obviously trying to give some words of encouragement. The white unicorn was trying to comfort the pink pony who kept screaming through sobs
“We’re doomed!” the stress of everything that had happened had caught up with her. The yellow pegasus had broken out of her trance into floods of tears, the rainbow one holding her giving her a loving look he knew all too well. He sighed, his mind made up
“You’re getting soft old colt” he muttered to himself annoyed at his sympathy for them. He used his telekinesis to rip some branches off the tree’s that surrounded them and put them in a pile in the middle of the group prompting the lavender unicorn to look over to him in confusion. She was sure he was going to leave them to their fate but now he was walking towards them lighting the pile of sticks with a small flame he summoned from his horn.
“Okay then I’ll stay. So what do I call you lot anyway? Seeing as we’re gonna be stuck together for a while. At least till I can get you somewhere remotely safe.” Twilight tried to speak but merely flapped her jaw in shock. He was going to leave them to rot a few seconds ago and was now saying he was going to get them to safety. Applejack was the one to answer his question with her usual friendly demeanour.
“Well my name is Applejack this here is Twilight over there is Pinkie Pie and Rarity and then that leaves us with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy and ah just wanna thank you for staying with us on behalf of everypony.” She pointed to each of her friends making sure that Stargazer understood who was who before taking on a more serious tone with him.
“Now then ah got a question of my own for ya and ah think that you should jus’ answer it got that?” Stargazer nodded not a hundred per cent sure of what she was going to ask but depending on what it was it may just be easier to answer instead of needlessly lying.
“Who or what is that Nightmare thingy? Ah never seen a pony like that before but you seem to be acquainted with ‘im” She was looking expecting an answer he knew he couldn’t give as he sighed. He spoke mainly to Applejack and Twilight, the others being pre-occupied either in their despair or trying to bring them out of it.
“I’m not sure what to make of Nightmare. I have only seen him once in my life and what he said didn’t make much sense. He said he has left a butchered and bloody mark through all of history amongst every world. I’m not sure what to make of that. He could be telling the truth or could just be insane.”
Twilight looked at him as he spoke his words, she couldn’t believe what he was saying. He knew of Nightmare but didn’t know anything about him at the same time! He was merely rambling on with theories and his thoughts but didn’t have any solid facts about the creature. She ran off into the woods not wanting to hear another word out of the Alicorn's mouth. She just wanted all of it to go away none of this could be real it had to be some bad dream and she wanted nothing more than to wake up. She kept running through the darkness of the woods not daring to look back.
Applejack and Stargazer both stood up as Twilight bolted off into the darkness. Applejack was about to chase after when she found a hoof blocking her path.
“You stay here and look after the others I’ll go find her” She merely nodded understanding that she would do more good here comforting her friends instead of getting lost in the forest that terrified her once. Stargazer charged forwards after the unicorn, a small part of his heart genuinely worried for her safety.
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Twilight kept running her aching body screaming at her to stop. She kept running even with her heart telling her to go back to her friends. She kept running not wanting to believe anything happening was real and that she would wake up in her bed soon in her library with Spike and Owlowiscious all of it being a horrid nightmare. She noticed a faint light ahead of her through the trees, she headed towards it either hoping she would find a sane pony or that it would be a way for her to awaken from her subconscious.
As the trees began to thin she saw what was casting the light pure horror seeping over her face. It was Applejack’s home, the building was an inferno. She stood frozen to the spot looking at the sight in front of her. The front door exploded off its hinges with the familiar shape of Big Mac charging out of it and towards Ponyville with a crying Applebloom on his back.
“Where’s Granny Smith?” She was just about to move to try and find Applejack’s grandmother when she was tackled to the ground a hoof placed over her mouth to keep her quiet. It was Stargazer. He hissed a command at her with such urgency that she would do it.
“Stay quiet” He pulled his hoof away from her and motioned for her to follow him staying low all the time. They peered through bushes at the blaze to see five silhouettes emerge from the building then charge off after Big Mac and Applebloom. Twilight turned to Stargazer with a pleading look in her eyes. He sighed knowing what she wanted to do.
“Fine but we are not going into the town we are just gonna observe.” She nodded at him, she just wanted to check if the other ponies around the town were still alive. He stood up being sure that they wouldn’t be seen by anypony and lead the way to Ponyville staying on the edge of the forest.
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They crawled up onto a hill that overlooked the small town Stargazers mind recalling a conversation he had with Celestia long ago. Twilight looked out over her home. The peaceful town was being destroyed with bodies littering the streets. she noticed that what she had thought were silhouettes of ponies before weren’t that. They seemed to be pony in shape but had no features on them almost looking like one of Rarity’s mannequins but were black. The same black that is seen on the cusp of death. Looking for signs of life she noticed the majority of the town being led away by Mayor Mare and Cheerilee, Applebloom and Scootaloo near the back along with the town’s other Foals. She was thankful that Sweetie Belle was with her parents. Then a pang of worry struck her.
“Is this happening everywhere?” Her mind spoke to her like it wasn’t part of her. She focused her attention on the town trying to see what had happened to Big Mac. She noticed him along with a few others she recognised fighting off the assailants trying to keep their attention away from the fleeing citizens.
Big Mac was at the front of the group taking on the majority of the pony-like creatures using his front hooves along with his back to deliver devastating blows to them. Along with him Twilight noticed the town's watchmaker, who she only knew by the name of Doctor Whooves, who was alongside the massive Earth pony kicking any that he could find, clearly exhausted and injured but not giving up. She also saw the town's mailmare Derpy Hooves throwing rocks and any other heavy object she could find on top of the attackers being weighed down by the many items in her bags. Surrounded by a pile of the strange attackers was a familiar purple and green shape that Twilight recognised as spike. He had a wooden pole that he was using to beat the creatures furiously. Twilight was shocked, she had no idea that the little dragon was capable of doing such things. She yelped as one of the assailants snuck up behind him ready to pounce and kill him but he turned and spit out a ball of green fire at it making the creature collapse and slowly burn away, he flipped over the attack of another jamming the pole into the back of its neck causing it to collapse and convulse.
Doctor Whooves slammed into a pony heading for Big Mac’s rear, him being focused on the group of six in front of him. The pony flew through a nearby window making it shatter on impact Whooves landing on the floor just outside of the building hurt by the attack he couldn’t get up before four more came towards him and began tearing him apart the brown pony’s death screams echoing over the hill. Big Mac looked over to see his heart torn out of his chest and whistled as loud as his lungs could manage. Derpy threw one last rock at a pony before following in Big Mac’s wake. Spike leapt up onto the massive pony holding onto the large wooden collar he always wore as the small group charged off in the same direction the town’s other citizens had gone earlier. The assailants turned back to the destruction of the town having lost their prey, they began setting buildings on fire and knocked weaker structures down.
Stargazer put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder as the look of dread on her face became more apparent and signalled her to leave and get back to the others. They crawled away from her hometown and headed back into the forest which seemed strangely safe at this current time and headed towards the small campfire.
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As they found their way back towards the others led by Stargazer’s exceptional sense of direction Twilight threw her arms around Applejack crying on her shoulder the site she had seen mere moments ago causing her to breakdown.
“AJ! Oh I'm so sorry I. Your home Granny Smith It….Its…Its horrible!”
“Hey what’s the matter sugarcube?” Twilight sniffled as Applejack lifted her head up looking into the purple eyes of her friend trying calm her. Making Twilight pull herself together and tell her friend what happened this time making sense.
“Ponyville got attacked by these…..Things, they were like ponies but they were something else they burnt down you’re farmhouse Big Mac and Applebloom got out but. Granny Smith. I think she’s dead.” She fell back onto Applejacks shoulder as another wave of tears broke through. Applejack looked to Stargazer hoping he could explain better than the unicorn who was distraught with everything had happened over the course of the night.
“The town was attacked. A lot of ponies are dead, the creatures began destroying the entire place but it looked like quite a few got out in time. That big guy helped hold back the creatures long enough for the others to escape and I believe your Grandmother is dead.” He paused for a moment seeing the look of dread appear on the pony’s face then looked to the others. The yellow pegasus had fallen asleep still whimpering to herself whilst Rainbow Dash cuddled her whispering loving words in hopes to comfort her. The pink and white ones were huddled together sleeping the pink one silently crying. The orange pony seemed to be the only one holding the group together, he had to say something to keep her together or the entire group would break down and then they would die.
“she didn’t suffer” He thanked that he had learnt to lie over the years as Applejack took solace in his words and let a smile crawl over her face remembering her grandmother fondly.
“Well then. I think we best get some rest. Its gonna be a long day tomorrow Applejack and we are all gonna need our energy” He indicated towards Twilight who had fallen asleep in her arms being both physically and mentally exhausted by the events that had passed. She nodded as she laid Twilight down took her Stetson off and took a spot not too far from the fire falling into a deep sleep almost as soon as she hit the ground.
Stargazer looked at the group before him. Apart from the cracks of the fire there was nothing but silence.
“Oh Star what have you got yourself into?” He questioned to himself wondering why he took pity on these mares. He could leave now, just stand up and walk off. His mind was screaming at him to leave them but a twinge in his heart made him stay. He decided not to question his heart anymore, it just made his head hurt. He slowly lowered himself to the ground and looked up at Canterlot letting himself slowly fall asleep.