The household of Dawn Rose was a cacophony of sound. The nurses bickered with each other, Dawn screamed in agony, and above all the rest, the crying of a filly could be heard. The little pony had been born only a few minutes previous and Duly Noted was trying desperately to calm and quiet her.
She had been born in a lake of blood, her mother shouting and panting laboriously. The nurses had quickly toweled off the tiny baby, revealing little purple eyes, an orange coat, and a short pink mane and tail. She had been uncooperative, wriggling and squirming away from her mother. Duly had managed to snatch her up and now hovered in the air, cradling the finally silent filly in her forehooves.
As the sun flooded the house with light, Dawn Rose grew still. Her breaths came quicker until they suddenly stopped and her twitching hooves fell limply onto the bed. Duly knew she was dead even before a nurse nodded in confirmation of the unspoken question. Silently, they busied themselves about the body, cleaning it thoroughly before wrapping it in a sheet. The medical ponies carried her off, back to the hospital, chatting quietly off other cases as they flew.
Duly followed them, filly still wrapped in his grasp. The somber group landed just outside the hospital doors and a nurse turned to him.
"We'll take care of the baby until her father can return for her", she told him. "I'll inform him of his wife's passing." She took the baby gently from Duly Noted and disappeared into the hospital with her fellow compatriots.
Duly was just about to depart when he happened to catch a glimpse of a newspaper nearby, fluttering in the breeze. Shrugging, he decided he might as well catch up on the times. As the headline on the front page caught his eye, his brow furrowed in concern and his pace quickened. He snatched the paper up, scanning the cover story. When he had finished, his face was as white as Nurse Redheart and his trembling hooves could barely hold up the newspaper.
"This is going to be amazing!" Sunset squealed as she hopped lightly on her train seat. "And I can't wait until mommy gets here with my new brother or sister!" She turned eager eyes to her father.
Duskwing smiled delightedly at his daughter. One of his and his wife's greatest concerns had been that Sunset would resent them for having another child, but there was no sign of that. "I can't wait either", he told her, hugging her close to him.
Hours passed uneventfully and daughter and father watched out of the window as plains whipped by. Sunset's eagerness never dimmed and she kept up a steady stream of chatter, Duskwing butting in at intervals.
The train gave a sudden jolt and screams emanated from the front compartments. A sudden flood of ponies stampeded into their car, all pushing and shoving, trying to get to the back of the train. Without a moment of hesitation, Duskwing grabbed his daughter, racing through the train, trying to stay ahead of the mob behind him. When he was a few cars away, he set Sunset down gently, looking directly in her eyes. "Keep running. Don't stop, okay? You have to do this for me. Get as far back as you can." With that, he turned, racing back the way he had come.
Sunset, confused and scared, obeyed her father. She raced as fast as she could towards the back of the train.
Duskwing was trying to guide a couple of the more elderly ponies toward the rear when the second train hit their own. The explosion instantly killed the majority of the ponies, flames eating up the remaining cars.
Sunset was hurled into the early morning air; she tumbled head over hooves through the air, too stunned to even try and fly. She was rocketing towards the ground when she finally unfolded her wings. It was too late to do much good. The small filly managed to slow herself down, but she still slammed into the ground. Sunset felt one wing snap under her and one leg was wrenched out of its socket. Debris from the train blasted backwards, giving her a dozen gaping wounds. She tried to stand, but she fell with a cry of pain. Before she blacked out, she cried, "Daddy!"