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// Summer Sun Tragedy 
// Story: The Phoenix Princess 
// by Sonic Rainboom Dash 
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Ponyville was just starting to wake for the commencement of the Summer Sun Celebration festivities. Ponies of various ages, colors, and species came out to start setting up for it while others were mostly getting ready for the merriment that the festival would bring.

One pony, in particular, came bounding out of a house that looked like it had been made out of the very baked goods the bakery sold, though, a few weeks after it was built, the local dentist had more patients than she ever had before the bakery went up.

This new pony was an earth pony mare and was as pink as you could get. She had a raspberry pink mane and tail with her coat being a lighter color, while her eyes were a cerulean blue. Her cutie mark was a trio of balloons, with the lower two balloons blue while the middle was yellow.

This pony was Pinkamena Diane Pie, or "Pinkie Pie" for short. Every pony in Ponyville who saw her knew that she always had a smile on her face whenever and wherever she could, though, on rare occasions that smile would look strained or altogether missing.

This morning was one of those rare times when Pinkie had to put on a strained smile, knowing that today marked the fifteenth anniversary of the tragedy that had occurred within the town.



That day, fifteen years ago, most of Ponyville had witnessed a tragedy that happened on the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration. It was close to midnight when a scream was heard from the Everfree Forest while Ponyville was getting ready to watch the princess raise the sun using a specially-made crystal.

Trying to figure who was screaming, the ponies started to get worried. The Everfree Forest was no place for any pony at night, so they began to think that whoever was out was trying to trick them.

After about five minutes (none of the ponies could accurately recall how long it was), some ponies were about to head back inside their houses when they heard a new sound, one that stopped their hearts cold.

"Mommy!"A filly's scream erupted from the forest and was quickly followed by the howl of a Timberwolf. Half the ponies of Ponyville immediately rushed to the Everfree forest, afraid of what they would see when they reached the woods, and what they saw indeed horrified them.

There, at the bottom of a cliff, were three ponies, having fallen from the now dangling broken bridge. It was soon apparent who they were when most of the town's ponies had bought apples from two of them just last week. However, no pony knew who the filly was when it became apparent she wasn't the little filly that hung around the stands trying to help sell apples. The foal's coat was a light mulberry, while her mane and tail were a deep Indigo blue with a violet and rose streak going through the middle. Further examination revealed a horn growing from her forehead, indicating that she was a unicorn, and likely only five years old due to the lack of cutie mark.

It was when they were about to bury the three ponies that a sound caught their attention. At first, the ponies thought that the sound was just the wind, but when a second, much deeper sound occurred, the ponies looked around trying to find out what it was. It didn't take long to find it, but when they did, most were shocked to find that the filly was still alive; if only just barely. She had several lacerations running down her forelegs, with two large gashes running parallel to her back. Her back legs were bent in completely wrong directions; her left leg looked like it should be on her right while her right leg looked like it belonged to a world record contortionist.

All those injuries alone would warrant quick and precise action, but what actually horrified the ponies, though, was when they looked at her head; or what was left of it. The fact that this filly was still alive after having half her face missing, along with an ear and a portion of her horn, was a miracle that she was even conscious, let alone alive.

The ponies quickly got to work freeing the trapped filly as fast and carefully as they could while setting up a perimeter around the ravine. It was as they were about to leave that they heard another scream come from the forest.

They were just about to hurry when the pony screaming ran towards them. The ponies quickly identified this one as the young Applejack. Her orange coat was easy to see in the midnight gloom of the forest. When she finally reached the team carefully placing the unicorn filly on a make-shift stretcher, Applejack surprised the ponies when she started apologizing to the young pony.

It turns out the filly had been stealing apples from Applejack's family's orchard, and she got caught. She then explained that she noticed the filly had visible ribs showing through her skin and had tried to get her to follow her to the farmhouse when she bolted into the forest. Applejack was about to chase her into the woods when her parents caught up with her. They told her to head back to the house and that they would bring the filly back with them when all three of them heard a scream.

Without even thinking of the consequences, Applejack bolted into the forest to rescue the filly. When she reached the area the scream had come from, Applejack was shocked to see the filly struggling to hold on from having fallen through one of the loose boards on the rope-bridge.

When her parents caught up with Applejack, even they were shocked to see the filly struggling. As one, both of them leaped into action. Her mother grabbed the lasso she always carried around in her saddlebag and quickly tied one end to herself and the other to her husband. As they slowly reached the young filly, they heard the bridge creaking and groaning. Concerned the bridge could give way at any moment, Applejack's father sped up to reach the filly before the bridge collapsed.

It was at this point in Applejack's explanation the pony listening to her had moved over to where she was sitting and drew her into a hug. Applejack tried to hold in her tears to finish her story, but after seeing the filly in such a critical condition, all she could do was cry. Sadly, even though the ponies had managed to get the filly to the hospital in record time, time was something she didn't have.

That was the day that the town of Ponyville built memorials for those three ponies. The first was a plaque commemorating the opening of the 'Bright Futures Orphanage,'  'Sweet Apple Memorial Hospital,' and the 'Lucky Sparkle Elementary.' The second was a small statue of a young unicorn with a beaming, welcoming smile and a small stone halo next to a small schoolhouse with a plaque reading 'Dedicated to teaching those who have nowhere else to turn. May they find peace and knowledge here.'

After reading about the tragedy, many ponies took time off from work to have a 'Memorial Day' of sorts; even Princess Celestia took the time to declare it a national holiday, as well as mourn the loss of her sister. Though most ponies had heard of the Lunar Princess, many were shocked to learn that the tails from their youths were in fact real.



Pinkie shook her head to dispell those thoughts and decided that she would let her tears flow another day. As Pinkie was getting ready to head back to the bakery, she passed by Golden Oaks Library and noticed a couple of new ponies coming out of the building and that one of them was a dragon. The first pony was a white stallion whose mane and tail were a mix of three different blues, each lighter than the last. The second pony was a—"gasp"—very familiar pony; One thought to be long dead.