A grey pegasus mare flew lazily yet fairly fast through the sky, a mailbag at her side. It was a lovely day to fly through the skies of Equestria. The sun was shining, the sky was a beautiful shade of blue, the clouds hovered beautifully, and a blur shot towards the mare. It was all very picturesque.
"Wait? Blur?" The wall-eyed mailmare asked herself.
Said blur suddenly smacked into the mare, sending her cartwheeling across the sky. She hugged her mailbag tightly against her chest.
"Sorry!" The blur called back, already fading out of sight.
The mailmare managed to correct her flight path with a few struggled flaps. She then pointed out her mailbag and yelled after the blur, "Please be more careful! These letters are for the citizens of Ponyville and it's imperative that they all get delivered! And they will, or my name isn't Derpy Muffins Ditzy-Doo!"
There was no response from the blur, so Derpy simply shrugged her shoulders and happily continued along her mail route while humming to herself.
***
Scarlet Thorn carefully shifted the flowerpot over, and wiped the offending dirt it had left behind off of her pristine counter. She then smiled at the pretty flower growing from the pot, although she wasn't quite sure what type of flower it was exactly.
"Well whatever the case, I sure am happy Lily Valley and Daisy recommended you to me. Such a lovely flower." The mare said with a smile.
The orange angular petaled flower seemed to perk up at the comment as the green-eyed pegasus watered it.
Around the flowerpot, the kitchen had been restored to its former glory. All the food was put away, the trash picked up, the dishes drying in the rack, and the counters wiped down. Scarlet was rather proud of her ability to clean so thoroughly and quickly. But of course, there was still the ceiling. Luckily for the mare the partially hardened batter was only above the area she had been mixing. Unluckily for the mare she couldn't reach.
For a pegasus, this shouldn't have been a problem. But for a pegasus like Scarlet, it was a dreadful reminder of what she could never achieve. Scarlet Thorn had been born with a rare wing disorder known as angel wing. She would never fly. Her condition was rare, but not unheard of. In fact she was sure that she had seen a little filly in Ponyville with the same condition. And it wasn't limited to just pegasi either. She had once read that sometimes a unicorn is born with an abnormally small horn that would render them magic-less for the rest of their lives. Not that it mattered terribly much to the pegasus mare, as she had long since grown accustomed to living a flightless life. More so she was just glad that it hadn't been passed down to her son.
A sudden frantic knocking caused Scarlet to jump into the air, and then slip on her freshly mopped floor. The mare brought herself onto shaky hooves. "Just a moment please!"
She scurried over to the front door and opened it, and was immediately thrown onto the ground. The black and white dragoness atop her suddenly grabbed her by her brooch and shook her violently.
"Scaaaaaaarlet Thoooooooorn!" The reptile wailed, practically hyperventilating.
"Soooound-Ooooff, whaaat's goooiiing ooon?" Scarlet managed to get out through the shaking.
The little dragoness, Sound-Off, pulled out a scroll from behind her wings. Although it had been broken, Scarlet recognized the royal lunar seal. "This! This is what's wrong!"
Scarlet quickly snatched the letter from the dragoness and swiftly glided through its contents. Her eyes widened with alarm, and she grabbed Sound-Off's arm. "We can't talk here."
"Where are we going then?" Sound-Off inquired.
"Some place nopony can overhear or eavesdrop." The pegasus answered, leading the reptile into a rather large but otherwise empty room.
"Oh no." Sound-Off moaned. "Not there. Anywhere but there!"
Scarlet nodded her head, and pulled what appeared to be a silver dog-whistle out from underneath her shawl. "It's the safest place."
The white mare brought the whistle to her lips and filled her lungs with so much air that it hurt before releasing it all into the whistle. The air was absolutely silent for a few minutes and then there was a sudden tearing sound, as if the flesh of the universe itself was being ripped apart. This was followed by a loud thud as something big and heavy dropped to the ground behind them. The hot air on the back of Sound-Off's neck chilled the dragoness from scale to bone. And she slowly turned around.
There was not a lot that could pose a threat to a dragon, let alone scare one. For the most part it was only other dragons. But there was one creature that among dragons was greatly feared. In fact, any living creature in all of Equis would have to be just plain stupid not to be afraid of it. And unfortunately, one such monster just so happened to have landed right in that very room. One very much alive and very much real, Tartarus Chiroptera.
They were essentially ginormous bats that could outrival a Bugbear in size. With long horns, spikes, tusks, saber teeth, and claws; not to mention an almost chitinous and starved-looking ebony body. However it wasn't its size or protrusions that the Tartarus Chiroptera was known for, but rather the long tail that ended in a deadly looking ax and a complete immunity to magic. They were nicknamed the executioners of Tartarus for a reason after all, and not even an alicorn-magic absorbed Tirek would fancy meeting one. The Tartarus Chiroptera suddenly lunged forward with a speed that would put Rainbow Dash to shame, straight onto Scarlet Thorn. And then proceeded to lick her cheek with a giant wormy tongue, followed by a loving nuzzle.
"Slasher! Slasher quit that!" Scarlet scolded, wiping the slimy black saliva of her trusted friend off of her otherwise snow-white coat. "I missed you too already, jeez."
Sound-Off could only watch in an odd mixture of fascination, awe, and total fear. Of course it was far from the first time she had met Scarlet's- for the lack of a better term- pet, and it definitely wouldn't be her last. Still, it was something she seriously doubted that she could ever get used to. So it came as no surprise when she began to babble out, "Tar- Tar- Tar- Tartarus Chiro- Chiro-"
Scarlet stopped her with a gentle hoof before she could make a fool of herself, and the dragoness realized that she had been shaking. "Relax Sound-Off. It's just Slasher. You've known him for years. He knows that you're his friend."
The Tartarus Chiroptera turned to the much smaller reptile and growled. The growl, which could hardly qualify as a growl, was deep and gravelly. A series of clicking followed the end of it; it was definitely not something that belonged to this world.
"Well, he at least knows you're not food." Scarlet unhelpfully admitted, climbing onto the custom made saddle already attached to the monster's back. "If what I read was true, then we're almost out of time. Let's go."
When the dragoness failed to so much as blink, the mare leaned over and seized her scaly friend again by the arm. Before Sound-Off was even in the saddle Slasher had shot off upwards towards the high ceiling, and just when it looked like they were about to hit it there was the sound of the universe being torn apart again and the dragoness and pegasus mare were gone.