//------------------------------// // The Fall of Ponyville // Story: Planted in the Clouds // by KathAud //------------------------------// To choose the place of your death and the last sight your eyes beheld was more than most ponies got the last few weeks. Cold comfort, but what other kind was there, lately? Applejack climbed to the top of the barn and turned her back to the ugly creatures undulating across what was left of her orchard. She trained her eyes softly on Bloom and Granny’s graves. Digging them was the last thing she and Mac had done together. There hadn’t been enough left of him to bother burying when the time came. There was smoke and fire from the direction of Ponyville proper; signs of a desperate last stand. Fire was one of the few things known to repel the creatures, if only temporarily. She had spied a few Wonderbolts darting down into the town. It gave her a small sense of peace to think that Rainbow Dash might be among them. If Rarity was still out there, Rainbow would find her. She would find her and evacuate her safely to Cloudsdale and at least two Elements would live on. There was still a chance for them and she held that chance close in her heart in these, her last moments. She could smell the creatures now. They were starting to scrape against the base of the barn. At the last moment she thought to turn and face them as they came for her, and she whirled with a sneer on her lips but then the sky darkened suddenly and she glanced up instead. A sizzling black storm cloud thrust into place by two Wonderbolts. The crack of lightning rending the nearest creature. A pair of strong hooves wrapped around her middle and she was yanked off the roof and born rapidly skyward. She couldn’t tell which one it was, only that it was too big to be Rainbow. And Ponyville? She tried to twist her head around to catch a last glance but her winged savior squeezed her a bit tighter. “Don’t look back,” he said, and she believed him.