Rainbow Dash was among the far too many still fighting inside the city. One of her wings was hanging at an odd angle, unmoving and definitely broken, her lip was split, there were gashes and teeth marks all over her body, but still she fought. The harbingers were thinning out considerably and, unaware everyone was near the back of the city, Dash was under the impression that they were winning. Once she was free of attackers she headed down the alley on three good legs, out into a more open area. Nopony was in sight but she could still hear them. More specifically, she heard Applejack hollering out a stream of explicatives in the distance. It made the pegasus glad to know her best friend was still alive and uninjured enough to cuss the harbingers out so badly. Figuring on helping, Dash turned in the direction of the clamor. Something out of the corner of her eye made her pause. When she turned to see what had grabbed her attention she caught her breath. Just a few yards away, hovering off the ground on little wings that hadn't been able to fly before, was a small orange pegasus with unruly fuchsia hair and eyes as black as coal.
“Scootaloo.” Dash felt a crack in her spirit. She'd seen many ponies she'd known today but this...this was almost impossible to handle. It had been hard accepting the fact that Scootaloo was gone; they'd never had a real close relationship or anything but Dash had always liked her. The fact that Scootaloo had practically worshiped her didn't hurt, either. But she'd been a good kid. Her desperation for any sort of attention often made her a bit too much for some ponies, but Dash knew what it was like to just long for a place to be accepted, loved, and wanted. Seeing her like this was the last thing Dash would have wished for.
Hearing Dash speak, the little filly turned her face in the direction of the voice and snarled when she saw Dash. Without any hesitation she shot through the air aiming to sink her teeth into Rainbow's already bleeding neck. Without thinking, Dash reared back and kicked out with her good leg. Scootaloo snapped and growled, sweeping around like a hummingbird on steroids. Luckily Dash was just as quick and turned before Scootaloo could get her teeth in her. Dash lunged forward, grabbing Scootaloo by the withers and pinning her to the ground, ignoring the pain that shot up her injured leg. “I don't want to kill you!” she growled harshly. Having to kill Scootaloo, even if it wasn't really her anymore, would be as hard as having to kill one of her best friends. She squeezed her eyes shut, hating the tears that stung behind her lids. “I'm sorry, Scoots.” Doing everything she could to avoid seeing what was about to happen, Dash lifted her injured leg and took a breath in preparation.
“...Rainbow Dash?”
Just as she was about to bring her hoof down the voice broke through her turmoil. Rainbow's eye flew open to look down at the filly in her grasp. What had once been completely black before were now wide, fear-filled, and a beautiful grayish-purple. In a tremulous voice the filly asked, “What's going on?”
“Scootaloo?” Dash backed off and in one quick movement had the small pegasus crushed to her body in a tight embrace. She let herself cry now, no longer caring. “You're alive! How is this even poss-” She was cut off as her neck was bitten into. Teeth sank in deep feeling as if they were cutting off her windpipe. As the bite was released all Dash could do was gasp. She'd never felt a physical pain so great, and when a completely black-eyed Scootaloo lifted a grinning and bloody face to her, she knew she'd never felt an emotional pain so great either. Scootaloo went back in for another bite but was torn from Dash's body as a glowing arrow found its mark in her chest with such force that it threw her aside.
Soarin caught Dash's head in his forelegs before she hit the ground, his eyes wide in fear. “No no no, Rainbow. Rainbow, open your eyes. Open your eyes!” Soarin shook her body. “Don't do this to me, Rainbow, please don't do this to me.”
Other harbingers were drawn to the commotion but Soarin didn't move. Behind him came the thunder of heavy hooves and more arrows were loosed. A pony completely encased in metal reared back on her hind legs, arrows shooting from holes in the bottom of the armor over her right foreleg. The pony circled Soarin and Dash, protecting them as best as it could. Arrows worked well enough until the harbingers got too close, then the other hoof was raised and fire shot forth. The pony wheeled and kicked, alternating between using fire and force to drive the enemy away.
“Epona!” The brown unicorn came running when summoned, gasping when she saw Dash in Soarin's grip. “Get her up on my back. I have to get her out of here.”
“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh.” With a quick upward jerk of the head, the face of the armor flipped up to reveal big turquoise eyes and a buttery pelt. “Is Rainbow okay?”
“She'll be fine,” Soarin barked. “Epona, please!”
Epona's horn glowed, her magic surrounding Rainbow Dash and lifting her into the air as Soarin got to his hooves. As soon as he had Dash on his back he took wing. The unicorn looked at the armored pegasus with sympathy. “I'm sure she'll be fine. Come on, we still have the others to find. Try flying this time.”
“Oh no... I don't think I can...I mean, I think you should have picked somepony else for this.”
“It's easy.” Ignoring Fluttershy's quiet mumblings of protest, Epona walked around back of her and kicked something on the side of her back left hoof. Flames shot downward from all four hooves, sending Fluttershy screaming high into the air. Epona watched her and yelled, “Steer, you have to steer! Just lean in...” But Fluttershy was gone from her line of sight. With a sigh, Epona trotted off to find her.
Big Macintosh was the first to look up when Fluttershy sailed overhead, screaming as loud as anypony had ever heard her. “It's okay,” yelled Epona as she trotted through. “Everything's fine! Carry on!”
Fighting alongside Applejack, Merry May, Scribes and Braeburn, the five war beaten ponies were finishing off the last of the animated harbingers. There was no sense in going after the wandering spirits because bodies were getting back up faster and faster, though they appeared to care little for the small group. Somehow they all knew the best action was at the back of the city.
“Dagnabit,” cried Applejack, checking her flank. “That's gonna leave a mark.”
“That's nothing!” said Merry May, pointing to a long gash across her forehead. “I'm going to look like I have a unibrow for the rest of my life!”
“Should we just let them go?” Scribes stood in between Big Macintosh and Braeburn, watching the harbingers move deeper into the city.
“I reckon we should make our way back there,” Braeburn sighed.
“No, you shouldn't.” Everypony jumped at the sudden appearance of Twilight, Celestia and Luna.
“What's goin' on?” Applejack asked.
“We're going after the Revenant,” Twilight told them. “Shining Armor has a shield up at the back of the city and the harbingers are pressing in. There's no way for you to get in and no way for anyone to get out and come get you.”
Big Macintosh frowned. “I'm goin' after Fluttershy an' that dang mech suit Epona created.”
“Big Mac...I haven't seen Clover.”
The stallion nodded. “I'll look for him, too.”
“Thank you.”
“Everypony else,” said Celestia, “stay close together and keep a wary eye out. It will only be a matter of time before these bodies begin to move again.”
Applejack hurried to hug Twilight before the unicorn rushed off. “Be safe now, y'hear? We're all gonna have one big party when this is done, just the six of us, remember?”
“I remember. I'll see you soon.” As Twilight turned to join the waiting princesses, she couldn't help but feel like every step she took from Fillydelphia was a step farther and farther away from the hope for a return to the life she remembered. Even on the worst nights when she was gripped by the worst fear she'd always managed to hold onto just a bit of hope that one day...one day it would all be okay again. Now she wasn't so sure.
“So what's the plan?” she asked, purple eyes on the tall black flames in the distance.
Luna looked at Celestia but the older alicorn kept her gaze forward as well. “We'll know when we get there.”
Now Twilight glanced up at Celestia. “Um, forgive me for sounding doubtful, Princess, but...that's it?”
“We know nothing of this enemy than what we have been told, Twilight. The best way to for a plan of attack to to truly know what you are up against. Once we know that we will know what must be done.”
Conversation dropped and for awhile there was no sound but that of their hooves flying across the ground. The flames seemed to burn darker the closer they got and Twilight fought to keep herself from giving in to the dread and hopelessness she felt. What would they do if the Revenant couldn't be defeated? What would they do if they couldn't figure out exactly what they were supposed to do?
“Sssssstop.”
All three mares skidded to a halt, clouds of dust rising into the air before them. Though the fire had still been far off just seconds ago it now burned high and menacing right in front of them. From the middle of the flames they could see a shape, or it was a shape that continuously changed forms. It looked like a pony one minute, then a dragon the next, then a gryphon, a cow, a dog, a mule...it just kept changing as though it couldn't make up its mind what it wanted to be. “Cccccccelessssstia....”
Celestia narrowed her eyes as she stared into the heart of the fire. “You know me.”
“Yessssss.”
“Then you will know of that which I am capable. You will also know I have an equally powerful sister.”
“Yesssssss.”
“And you must know this will not end well for you.”
A laugh that seemed to come from the very center of the earth echoed around them, deep and haunting. “My children live while yourssss die.”
Luna huffed. “Enough of this snake-like whispering, you're hurting my ears.” Her horn glowed and she sent forth a magical pulse not unlike the spell she used to check for harbinger spirits. But this one was like a cool wave of translucent water that doused the flames and left the ever-changing shape in the middle hovering alone in mid-air.
“End this now, Revenant,” demanded Celestia.
“No.”
All three flinched back in surprise. The answer came in a voice much too recognizable to ignore. Celestia's ears flattened and her eyes narrowed. “Chrysalis.”
The changing shape molded itself into the familiar form of the Changeling queen and Chrysalis grinned down at the alicorn. “Precious little princess. I almost had you.”
Luna snarled. “It's not her.”
The shape changed to Nightmare Moon and glowered down at Luna, three times her normal size. “You are so weak. To think you and I were ever one and the same.”
“We were never one and the same.”
“It's not her,” Twilight reminded hastily.
“And you.” Nightmare Moon shrank and returned to its shapeless form, its voice dark and resonating. “What are you afraid of, little filly?”
“I'm not afraid of you.” She had been. Just moments ago this thing was the thing she feared above all else. But standing there before it Twilight somehow felt her fear turning to strength, doubts to resolution. “You've killed hundreds of ponies, gryphons, and dragons, not to mention the other species we don't even know about. Do you have any idea how many lives you've ruined?”
“You mistake me for someone capable of remorse.”
Luna pawed the ground. “And you mistake us for ponies incapable of kicking your-”
The flames rose up again with such a ferocity that it forced the three ponies back several steps. “I will devour every last one of you. My children will eat from your flesh, drink from your veins and sleep in your skins.” From the flames came forth ponies, a familiar face for each mare. Twilight's mother was the first to step out of the fire. Her eyes was black and her laughter was dark. Before Celestia came a pale pink earth pony with beautiful pastel colored ringlets. Then came the last pony from the fire to stand in front of Luna, a light blue pegasus with a long blue and purple mane. Twilight was definitely effected seeing her mother but it was nothing compared to the princesses seeing their own mothers. It had been generations. Like Twilight's mother their eyes were black and their mouths were open in twisted grins.
Others floated out of the flames, spirit bodies with no physical thing to touch. They circled around the three living mares and filled the air with whispers of mocking laughter. They threw themselves at the three trying to find a way inside, to take them over. Their attempts left searing cuts on their bodies and forced them to look away from the dark versions of their mothers, to turn and fight. Each harbinger spirit that was slain only laughed and attacked all the more.
“Celestia.” The alicorn heard the sweet voice of her mother but did not turn toward her, choosing instead to lunge for another spirit. “My baby. Is that really you?” Celestia glanced toward the towering flames to see her mother standing there still, but her eyes had changed they were softer now, a rose colored hue to them. They were the eyes she remembered and it was enough to shake the alicorn.
“Mother?”
Twilight's mother was calling to her as well now, trying to get her attention as her daughter fought to keep herself alive. “Twilight, my precious little girl. I have missed you so much.” Still having her wits about her, Twilight bucked out with her back legs and sent the mare sailing back into the flames.
“You are not my mother!”
Luna was shaken the most by the familiar green-eyed gaze of her mother. She stood there and took the attacks from the harbingers, just staring at the smaller pegasus with sorrowful pain on her face. “Little Luna,” her mother cooed, “don't cry. Everything will be all right. We'll be together soon.”
“Come closer to me, Celestia,” whispered the pink earth pony. “Let me see how you've grown.”
As if under some sort of trance both Celestia and Luna were taking slow steps forward. “No!” Twilight yelled. The harbingers felt like they were all over her now, trying to find a weak spot in her willpower but she was fighting with everything she had. She launched herself at Celestia, ramming her body into the alicorn's side. “It's not her! Princess, listen to me!” But Celestia gave no answer, only kept moving. Twilight tried the same tactic with Luna and when she got no result again, ran around to try and grab her face to make eye contact. “Luna, that is not your mother!”
“Get back!” both harbinger mares hissed as one. “First we will consume their bodies and then we will consume yours!”
Twilight lowered her head as a fierce wind picked up, her horn glowing. “Not if I have anything to say about it.” The aura around her grew and grew, the magic lifting her into the air. Something inside fell into place and she knew she didn't need a fancy tiara reminding her of the power of magic. She knew it all along. Every laugh shared with her friends, every hug, every tear, and every moment of comfortable silence. They were all magic and they were more powerful than she could have ever guessed. Eyes that were closed now opened, white light shining from them like beacons against the black flames.
Luna and Celestia blinked, the spell that had come over them broken by the purity of the magic in the unicorn between them. They looked at one another and shared a nod, then they sprang forward, heads down and horns going straight through the harbinger mares and into the heart of the shifting shape. They made contact at the same time and the Revenant screamed, but his screaming turned to laughing. The sound grew in decibel until it seemed like he was all around them, taunting.
“Twilight!” Celestia cried, trying to be heard over to strong winds. “We need you!”
Suspended only by magic, Twilight pulled her hooves in close to her body, lowering her head as though moving into fetal position. Then she shot forward like a bullet leaving a lavender streak in the air behind herself. Her horn sank into a cold floating mass directly between the horns of the alicorns on either side of her. Now the laughing stopped and the scream was no longer mocking but terrible in genuine pain and defeat. Twilight's magical aura came to a head and exploded from her body, washing the entire landscape in a white glittering light.
At the very back of Fillydelphia the light rushed toward them, through them, and past them. Uncertain of what was going on, everypony looked around in confusion until someone cried out, “Look!” and pointed to the wall of the shield. Every single pony that had been trying to claw their way in now slumped to the ground, falling in heaps of tangled limbs, some directly on top of one another. Where eyes were still open the black faded to reveal true colors from the ponies they had once been while they were alive.
“Do you think they did it?” Cadance asked, looking at her husband.
He pursed his lips. “There's only one way to find out.” He took a breath, preparing himself to leave the protection of his own shield but stopped before he could even get close. Pinkie was already out there poking at bodies with her hoof.
“I think they're all dead. I mean really dead, not like the fake dead. Though if something is dead doesn't that mean it can't really move or eat or breathe or talk or try and make other things dead?” While Pinkie rambled on, Shining cautiously released the shielding spell. Ponies piled up along the edges tumbled inward and those closest scuttled back with screams. None of the harbingers rose, none snarled or tried to bite. Every one of them lay prone and lifeless for good.
Twilight felt as if she were floating. She could hear voices around her and somehow knew they were calling to her, but didn't know how to follow them. All the times she'd felt exhausted before were nothing compared to what she was feeling now. A nose nuzzled under her chin and she giggled, not because it tickled or felt funny but because it was the first thing she could think to do. The nose moved again and she blinked, finally figuring out how to open her eyes. “Twilight?” Princess Celestia and Luna stood over her, their manes knotted messes, their faces cut and bleeding, but they were looking at her with concern. “Twilight, can you hear me?”
“Princess?” Twilight gingerly rolled to her side, taking her time getting on her hooves. When she was sitting, she touched a hoof to her head. What happened?”
“You had your awakening, I believe.”
“My awakening?” Twilight looked up at Celestia in confusion. “I'm not sure if you've noticed before or not, but I've been using magic for a few years now.”
Celestia laughed quietly. “Yes, I have noticed. A magical awakening, in most unicorns, is the day they first learn how to do magic. I was there to witness your first one. In very rare cases when there is a unicorn so gifted in magical abilities, there can also be a second awakening, a moment when she fully comes into a power that has been long dormant within her. Twilight, in helping us defeat the Revenant you have reaching your full magical potential!”
Twilight looked up at her, expression blank for a moment as she took the information in. Then, slowly, her ears drooped and sadness filled her eyes. It made Celestia frown in confusion. “Why does this news seem to sadden you?”
“My full potential? That means I'll never get any better?”
“You'll never be any more powerful,” Luna corrected, “but you will always continue to better yourself, Twilight. There is still so much for you to learn. Now, perhaps, it will simply come much easier.”
This seemed to perk the unicorn a bit. “So it wasn't like a sudden, 'Holy crap, I know all the magic that ever existed ever' kind of thing?”
The sisters shared a laugh. “No, my faithful student. There are many things you have yet to learn.”
“Oh, thank goodness!” Standing, Twilight looked at the charred crater behind them. “Do you think he's really gone?”
“I'd like to believe so.”
Twilight looked up at Celestia. “But you don't think so.”
“One can never be too certain.”
“Come,” said Luna, “let's return to the city. There is much to be done.” With a glowing of her horn, Luna teleported all three of them back to the city gates. Where there had been horrid, nightmarish noises from every darkened street and empty building before there was only silence. They could see the dragons in the sky above the back of the city and silently agreed it was where they should go. Celestia wanted to walk though Fillydelphia to make sure the harbingers were no more and to help any living creative that may be in need. As soon as they were through the destroyed gates, Twilight ran from the alicorns to the place she'd seen Clover fall. Now there was nothing there but rubble and the twisted pieces of the remnants of the canon. Returning to the princeses, Twilight could only hope he had made it out alive or that Big Macintosh had found him and helped him to safety. The thought of having to say goodbye to Clover now, before they'd even really been able to explore what they could be to one another, just wasn't something she could handle.
“Oh dear.” Twilight hadn't really been paying attention as they walked, her thoughts on the group at the back of the city, and hadn't noticed the small group up ahead. At Luna's quiet exclamation she looked up and immediately saw the familiar green coat of Merry May with Scribes standing next to her. Their backs were to Twilight and the princesses, as were Applejack's and Braeburn's. Braeburn had a foreleg around Applejack in a comforting manner and the orange earth pony leaned into her cousin as if needing his support. A knot formed in her stomach. What were they surrounding? Then she heard the sound on the wind, the unmistakable cries of a heartbroken mare. They were high pitched and soft even in their distress, and Twilight knew before she could even see her that it was Fluttershy weeping. No, not Big Macintosh! Twilight sped up her pace and felt momentary relief upon seeing a glimpse of the stallion's red coat. But then, who was Fluttershy crying over?
Hearing someone approaching, Scribes turned to Twilight with tears in her eyes. “I'm so sorry.”
“Sorry?” But looking past the pegasus she could see. Fluttershy had flung herself over a body, a coat of the palest gray with a long, curling purple tail. “No.” She didn't have to see the unicorn's face to know it was Rarity. Hot stinging tears filled her eyes faster than she knew was possible. Running forward she was about to join Fluttershy when the full picture came into view. Laying perfectly still under Rarity's top foreleg was Spike, his head tucked up under her chin as though they were simply taking a nap together. But Twilight knew better. Suddenly she couldn't breathe. It felt like a fist had closed over her throat and every ragged sob that passed her lips was fought for. She must have tried to pull Spike from Rarity's protective hold because suddenly Applejack and Big Macintosh had a grip on her, trying to keep her from flinging herself forward.
“He's not dead!” she screamed, straining against the forelegs that held her back. “He's not dead!” And then she was sagging against Applejack, so overcome by her sorrow that she could do nothing else. Applejack held her, composed for the most part, and rocked Twilight the way anyone would rock a crying child.
Seeing the princesses, Fluttershy turned a gaze on them that was uncharacteristically venomous. “Bring them back!” she demanded through her tears. “You have the power, bring them back!”
“We can't,” said Celestia gently. Though she did not cry there was a deep sorrow in her eyes. “Life is not a gift we are capable of giving to one who has lost it.”
Applejack frowned. “No offense, Princess, but it ain't like they lost a hat or a bit or somethin'. They didn't lose their lives, they were taken from them.”
Twilight pulled free from Applejack, more in control of herself now but no less heart broken. She went to Rarity's head and pushed strands of purple mane from the unicorn's face. Looking at Fluttershy, Twilight wrapped a hoof around her head and pressed her forehead to Fluttershy's in shared grief. They would forever be bonded together in the sadness of losing their very best friends. Then, ever so gently, Twilight lifted Rarity's leg with her magic and pulled Spike free. Tears that hadn't stopped increased once more as she held her baby dragon to her, not caring about the blood she would get on her. With the others there surrounding her she buried her face in the cook of his neck and wept.
Others had banded together to go back out into the city to find survivors and look for missing loved ones. Pinkie Pie was helping tend to a wounded gryphon when she saw her friends and the princesses approaching. The pink pony let out a small sigh of relief upon seeing them all safe and sound, but her attention was drawn to the sadness on their faces. Then she saw the makeshift cot that Big Macintosh was pulling and the motionless unicorn unmoving atop it. As soon as she realized it was Rarity Pinkie cried bitterly. Rarity had been the first friend she'd made in Ponyville her own age. Losing her was painful and indescribable. Then she saw Spike and completely lost it. They had grown so close in the past several months that the loss of him hit her almost as hard as it hit Twilight.
As the only area of the city left mostly undamaged and unhindered by bodies, the back of Fillydelphia had been quickly designated as the place to bring the injured and the dying. Raindrops, thanks to the quick help of Gorlois and his subjects, had made it out alive. She was helping bring the injured in when she saw two stallions approaching with a gray stallion draped over their backs. She instantly recognized the messy dark gray mane and hurried forward. “Spectrum?” Hovering just slightly off the ground, she took his face between her hooves, panicking. “Spectrum, can you hear me?” He moaned and she let out a small happy cry. “Okay, you're going to be okay. Bring him right over here.”
Bodies of loved ones from the sew settlement were being extracted from the masses and moved aside so families could mourn properly. Rarity and Spike were not the only ones they would weep for. Doctor Whooves held Dinky tightly as together they wept over the loss of Bubblecup. Lyra lay among the lost, as did Nurse Tenderheart, Octavia, and Gilda. Unable to leave Spike, Twilight sat beside him miserably. She couldn't bring herself to do anything more until she heard her name being called. Looking up, she saw Clover limping her way. Once again she was crying, but she was running through the moving crowds of ponies to get to him. They met with a forceful impact that knocked Clover back on his haunches. He wrapped his forelegs around her as tight as he could and held her as she clung to him. From where they were he could see the source of her sadness and knew no words offered would make it better. So they stayed together there as ponies moved all around them.
Applejack watched from a distance as Celestia told Fancy Pants about Rarity, then looked around in a sinking realization that not all of them were there. “Has anypony seen Rainbow?” Heads lifted to also look around but no one said anything. She called to Luna who was a ways down enjoying a sullen reunion with Pipsqueak, asking if either of them had seen the pegasus. When neither could say that they had, Applejack began to get anxious. She hadn't seen Pokey, either. It wasn't that she didn't love Spike or Rarity, she had loved them both dearly, but besides her immediate family Rainbow Dash and Pokey meant the most to her, and the thought of losing both of them was enough to have her racing through the crowds calling their names. It was Soarin who found her first, calling to her from across the open area.
“She needs help!” he was yelling. “Get Twilight!” And then he was gone. Knowing Twilight was in no shape to help anypony at the moment, Applejack ran back to find Celestia, then made her way back to where she lost Soarin. “Over here!” he called when he saw them again.
Rainbow was on her back on the ground, a bandage over her neck that was already well soaked through with blood. Upon seeing the princess, Soarin looked up at her with wide, fear filled eyes. “You have to do something. She's dying!”
Gently motioning Soarin aside, Celestia stepped forward and removed the bandage. She flinched back, not expecting to see such extensive damage to both fur and muscle. “Go get Twilight,” she told Applejack quietly.
“Princess, I don't think -”
“Go get her.” Celestia lifted her head to meet the earth pony's questioning gaze. “She needs to be the one.” Applejack clearly wanted to do anything but, yet she pursed her lips and hurried off, leaving Soarin and Celestia alone with Dash. “She's lost a great amount of blood,” the alicorn observed. “It is a wonder she is still alive at all.”
Soarin gave her a watery smile. “She's a fighter.”
“Indeed she is.”
When Applejack came back she not only came with Twilight but with Clover, Fluttershy, Big Macintosh, Pinkie Pie and Braeburn as well. Looking ragged, Twilight stood at Celestia's side and looked down at Rainbow. “I can't,” she whimpered. “I'm so tired.”
“Twilight, listen to me. Rainbow Dash is dying. She needs your help.”
“Can't you help her?”
“Yes, I can. But it is you who must.” Celestia stepped back, a look on her face that left no opening for argument. Sluggishly, Twilight stood by Dash's face.
“I can't lose you, too, Rainbow.” She lowered her head, horn glowing and gathering magic. As before when she'd healed Fluttershy a bright pulse of light filled the area. As it faded everyone gathered in close to see if it had worked. Rainbow's eyes flew open and she gasped as though coming up for air after being under water for too long. Crying joyously, Twilight threw her forelegs around her friend and embraced her. The wound was closed and the fur knit back together. Dash would live. They wouldn't lose her.
Applejack carefully backed away from the group so as not to draw any attention to herself. The sense of relief she felt over knowing her best friend was going to live was impossible to describe. It was almost enough to bring her to tears. Almost. She trotted through the crowds now looking for Pokey. She'd seen Apple Bloom earlier and knew she was safe with Cadance so that was one less thing to worry about. She was careful as she went, looking for the blue coat and the curly silver mane that was so unique to Pokey. She asked everypony she passed and still he was nowhere to be found. The only other option was to go out into the city where chance of survival on his own was not impossible, but unlikely.
Her hooves moved swiftly over the broken cobbled streets, her voice echoing off destroyed buildings. Each time Applejack called his name she felt a little less hopeful. Maybe it really had been too much to believe in. After all her talk of never finding anypony she could see herself having any sort of relationship with she went and found a stallion she could genuinely care for. And now he was taken from her just like that. She should have known life wouldn't have been that kind to her.
Defeated and ready to turn back, Applejack called his name more time before turning around. She hadn't expected to hear her name in return.
Turning to her right she saw Pokey walking slowly down one of the side streets in her direction. He was limping severely and had a small gray filly on his back, but when he saw Applejack he gave her half a grin. “Hey, I know you.” Applejack ran toward him and, in anticipation of what was coming, Pokey magically lifted the unconscious Silver Spoon from his back and set her down on the ground before Applejack was throwing herself at him. There in his embrace she finally allowed herself to break down.