//------------------------------// // Destination: Ponyville // Story: Shattered Rainbow // by TheMajorTechie //------------------------------// In the days leading up to the two sisters' journey towards Ponyville, Rainbow Dash, together with Spectral Glider, pushed themselves harder than ever before. The former struggled at first to even flutter, but the latter soon found herself buzzing about --literally-- with excitement. Within a couple days, they vanished from their home as a scheduled storm rolled by underneath the floating city. "Shh." Rainbow said as she and her sister tiptoed from their respective rooms. "Don't wake up mom and dad." Spectral nodded, following closely behind her older sister as they neared the door. Quietly, the two carefully left the house, Rainbow making sure that the lights were turned off before leaving. Soon enough, the sisters found themselves peering over the edge of the city limits, towards Ponyville far below them. Rainbow turned to her sister. "Ready?" she asked. "Yup!" Spectral squeaked in excitement, "This is fun!" Rainbow nodded, and signaled with a hoof for her sister to follow. Rainbow was the first to leap from the city limits, and though she was now weighed down by the rather flimsy prosthetic, she made do with what she had. Behind her followed her sister, and the two spiraled down to Ponyville. From the corner of her eye, Rainbow spotted the tops of nearby apple trees. She made another signal to her sister, and the two turned towards the rather small plantation. She smiled as they neared the treetops, remembering her lazy days of sleeping atop them in her supposed dreams. "Sis," she began quietly, "Ever slept on a treetop before?" Spectral Glider shook her head. Rainbow Dash landed on a tree with a heavy thud. "Come on!" she continued, rustling some leaves with a hoof, "Try it!" Reluctantly, Spectral landed carefully on the same tree, warily looking around every so often. "Whatcha nervous about?" Rainbow grinned as she laid back, "We have plenty of time to find Celestia." "I..." her sister stammered, "Aren't we in somepony else's home?" Rainbow shrugged. "Maybe. Though technically we're just on their land." As the two talked quietly over whether or not they should stay the night on the treetops, two simultaneous events happened: Not too far away in a faded barn across the plantation, the lights flickered on. Secondly, far above in the home of the sisters, a sleepy mother stumbled her way towards Spectral's room, curious on why the filly hadn't jumped into her parents' bed. "Come on," Rainbow teased, "It's soft! See?" she continued, smothering her face in a branch of leaves. Spectral gave one last nervous glare, and proceeded to faceplant in the treetop, crying out in pain as she smacked herself with an apple. "AY!" A faraway voice screamed, "WHAT'RE Y'ALL DOIN' ON THIS HERE PROPERTY OF THE APPLE FAMILY?!" "Uh oh." Was all Rainbow said before lifting from the tree. She turned to Spectral, who was still rubbing her forehead with a hoof. "Go." Rainbow mouthed, before a loud bang echoed through the trees. Spectral watched in horror as her sister flailed towards the ground.