Zodiac Brave Story

by Blankscape

Chapter 9: Trisection

With blackened clouds abound and all-encompassing, this particular early Sunday morrow had truly become the darkest of most mornings.

Countless, cold drops of the heavy downpour danced and stirred haplessly in the restless howls of the wind. Flashes of lightning, whose thunderous booms roared unchallenged through the misty atmosphere, briefly lit the unshifting land beneath the blustery brume.

As they slept, the creatures that dwelled therein waited on the tempest’s passing, agog in their dream-filled respite to move about freely and bask in the bright, sunny atmosphere and warm, invigorating weather of the normal Equestrian day; none more so than the ponies especially, for they themselves had orchestrated this disturbance in anticipation of their beloved Summer Sun Celebration. As intended and scheduled, this cloudy weather would later be broken apart in the afternoon and dissipate to reveal the glorious azure sky once more.

Nonetheless, in addition to prior assignments, Princess Luna dutifully kept to her stewardship of the night sky.

Above the veil of gloom that brought deluge and chilly gale, where the moon cast its soft glow onto feathery white billows, the Alicorn of the Night looked to her work with discerning eyes. Earlier that evening, by her practiced and finely-honed skill, the stars dotted the canvas of the dark sky in twinkling patterns that were breathtaking and magnificent, glistening like polished gems scattered across a vast and eternal yet unreachable indigo sea. Immensely proud of what she saw, a half-smile crept upon her face in spite of some thoughts still lingering on the utter shame of the fact that nopony could appreciate this most recent and devoted attempt to decorate her night. Their guiding starlight and the accompanying moon’s soft glow would all but filter past the overshadowing haze to continue its descent to the sleepy nation below.

Taking the thought to heart, the night-loft pony carefully assessed the detail of her work with the hope of recreating it another evening.

At the end of hours of self-scrutinization punctuated by a sigh of resigned satisfaction, Luna gracefully fell back into the nimbus below; its heavy, damp fog sifted past her feathers and soaked every inch of her fur. She then broke through to the other side and headed for Canterlot, but not before briefly gazing to the blackened canopy of the Everfree forest, suspicious of what secrets lay hidden within. With its twisted branches and darkened leaves swaying in the heavy gust and rain that blew past, the woodland appeared to only shrug at her distrustful glance.

After that brief moment, she took off for the horizon as quick as a shadow.

With the wind still restlessly moaning into the waning night sky, the midnight alicorn gracefully maneuvered through its shifting currents and strong drafts as she closed in and began her descent to the mountainous, castled city. Its peerless, ivory towers and magnificent, gilded turrets seemed to pierce through the black morning even as the storm slightly abated into heavy showers. Far below her, dim candlelight scarcely shone through the wooden window crevices of the working class’s humble abodes as well as past the glossy and expensive panes of the better-off aristocrats and socialites. The flickering tongues disappeared from view as swiftly as she flew past, and the Princess of the Night found herself touching down to the balcony outside her chambers.

Once inside, the alicorn unceremoniously set her regalia to the dresser and hastily magicked herself dry, getting into bed for some well-deserved rest. However, sleep did not come as quickly as she would have wanted. Her anxious mind continued to mull over the fact that not only did the impending festivities cause storm clouds to loom and obscure the beauty of her night sky; as they did every year for the sake of the holiday, the incessant lot of the Canterlot nobility had pestered and succeeded in compelling her beloved sister, Princess Celestia, to take an excessively proactive stance in the preparation, promotion and planning that came with its approach. They consigned so many of their own responsibilities to the elder alicorn that she had no choice but to pass own charge to her lone sibling, a matter privy to nopony but the two of them.

“Selfishly incompetent whelps,” Luna muttered.

‘Clinging to Tia’s primaries at an insignificant furor’s advent. Over a thousand years of experience and wisdom, yet they’ve not learned to manage even the simplest of delegations themselves and have passed their duty’s rightful burden onto my sister’s already heavy yolk...the sheer absurdity of it all.’

She tossed and turned beneath the covers, wishing that her loving sister had been there to greet her as she arrived home, even for a just moment.

‘Tia busies herself attending to patrician agendas while the Elements themselves have undertakings of their own sanctioned by sister dearest.’

Circumstance sadly sought for the opposite of what she hoped and had now included a dull, green crystal to her vigilant watch, though she honestly felt she could hardly keep that vigilance up without any sort of support. For most of the time in the coming celebrations, she would be alone.

‘Not even my Night Guards...would dare speak...to me so casually out of their........impressively reverent respect…...’

~YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWNN~

A mighty yawn escaped her midthought as the twilit horizon turned black clouds grey.

‘Oh, how I wish…there was somepony…'

'for me to…'

'call…'

'out…'

'to... ’

That was her final, languid thought before slumber tightened its grip on her consciousness and lulled her to sleep. Over to the pedestal by the dresser, incased in magick-sensitive glass, the emerald stone entrusted to her watch glinted to life in the dark chambers of the royal pony. As an esoteric mist seeped out of its cracking form and enveloped the entire room, some unascertained scheme had begun to unfold, and the Princess of the Night was unknowingly none the wiser.

Drowsy eyes struggled to stay open against the fresh sting of the openly sober air; after all, they and the rest of the pony these cerulean orbs were attached to had good reason to be tired.

Ever since she had seen Fluttershy off nearly a week ago, Pinkamena Diane Pie, Ponyville’s premier party planner, had been rambunctiously and immensely helpful around town all the while keeping up with her own responsibilities to Sugarcube Corner and her meek friend’s cottage. It meant a lot to everypony in town that the normally scatterbrained mare did her best to not mess anything up, so the Cakes decided to give her a day-off for her most appreciated and surprisingly fruitful efforts.

Today was that day, and, as Pinkie Promised, she would go to Sweet Apple Acres to lend a helping hoof to Applejack and her family as an apology for that little prank a week back. After stretching out a bit in bed, she got up and looked out her window. The dazed party mare saw that the sky had turned a light shade of grey with a hint of orange in the far-off horizon. Down to the cobblestone streets, eager Ponyvillians, who wished to make the most of the opportunity the celebration would bring them, were already up and about their ways in spite of the fading drizzle, attending to what concerned them the most that morning.

‘Uh-oh.’ She panicked as her tired eyes shot out.

A clock didn’t have to tell her. Ever since she moved to Ponyville, the party pony had taken note that, at such a cloud-laden time before the Summer Sun, bustling streets and the orange-tinted horizon together usually meant that it was well past six in the morning, and she was expected to be at the farm by five! The frantic party planner hastily freshened herself up, hurried down the stairs, and took a couple of cookies for her hunger before making her way out. In front of the confectionary establishment, however, she was met by the town’s resident dragon, who, by the looks of his haggard face, would have rather been sleeping in his comfy basket than be out so early in the morning.

“Morning, Pinkie,” he managed past a yawn. “Twilight sent me t-”

“Morning, Spike. Sorry I can’t talk. Gotta hurry!” the party pony interrupted as she nearly blurred past. She stopped though when the young drake caught her by the tail and continued to speak his piece.

“Whoa there, Pinkie! Hold your haunches! Good thing I came prepared. Here, take this,” Spike said as he held out a folded piece of paper which undoubtedly contained Twilight’s message. He was glad to have made the reminder beforehoof so he could quickly resume his retreat in the bliss of slumber.

“Thanks, Spike,” said the pink mare as she took the note and went on her way straight to Sweet Apple Acres.

~YAAAAWWN~

“Wow, even Pinkie’s in a rush this morning... Guess the Summer Sun does that to everypony,” the purple dragon drowsily commented as he trudged back to Books & Branches.

Once at the farm’s gate, the party pony stopped momentarily to catch a breath as she was greeted by the Apple family pet, Winona, who proceeded to greet the panting mare by rearing on her hind legs and giving her a lick on the face. With her bearings about her, she patted the canine on the head and made her way to the back of the barn. There she found a relaxed Big McIntosh sitting by an empty pitcher.

“Hey there...Big Mac... Sorry I’m late... Is Applejack still...expecting me?” the panting mare uneasily greeted as she wiped off sweat from her face.

“Eeyup,” the red, Apple stallion simply answered.

“Is she mad I’m late?” the pink mare almost whimpered with pleading eyes and anxiously clasped hooves.

“Hmm…don’t think so. Pretty much done with mah breakfast, so let’s go ‘n find out.”

The pair headed into the orchard and soon found the honest Apple loading a basket of Autumn Glory cultivars onto one of the nearby carts that still had room. However as she was about ready to haul the batch back to barn for storage, the apologetic party pony cut her off and unleashed upon her a flurry of incoherent ramble while flailing her fore hooves about. Applejack had to forcefully rein in her frenetic friend before she could get her to calm down.

“Hold on there, Pinkie Pie! Settle down, will ya?” she demanded, holding the party pony down prone by her withers.

“Oh Applejack, I’m so, so, so, so, so sorry for being late!” Pinkie Pie tearily apologized as the cowpony eased up and helped her to her hooves. “I even Pinkie Promised to come in extra early! Please don’t be mad at me!” Big McIntosh, who in his leisurely gait had just caught up to the mares, lightly smirked at the sight.

“Sugarcube, ah only wanted you to come over ‘n help for the day. Imposing that part of the promise on yerself was all you, remember?” Applejack recounted.

“B-but it was still a Pi—“

“But nothin’,” she interrupted. “Pinkie Promise or not, ya still gone ‘n done more than yer fair share of work ‘round town to deserve a good night’s rest and the benefit of the doubt. A good load’s off everypony’s withers with you goin’ all about town, lendin’ a hoof in even a mite helpful way.”

“But I—“

“AhI said but nothin,” she interrupted again with a hint of annoyance escaping in a sigh.

“If it means that much, ah completely forgive ya for comin’ in late. Now if ya don’t mind, could ya help me ‘n Mac tow these carts here back to the barn?” the cowpony mellowly concluded. Her proposition was met with a tight embrace of gratitude accompanied by an even faster battery of ‘thank you’s” from the relieved party pony.

“...thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you so much, Applejack!” she expressed as she loosened her Pinkie grip and took to the rein of one of the nearby carts. “Now I won’t have to put a cupcake in my eye, and, not to mention it being a complete waste of a perfectly good treat, believe me that it would hurt a lot!” That last made the Apple ponies scrunch their brows in bewilderment, but they chuckled in response and shrugged it off to just her being Pinkie Pie.

As the afternoon sun reached its steady peak in the newly cleared, blue sky, the two Apple ponies thanked the party planner for her hard work by treating her to a generous serving of pies, fritters and apple juice for lunch. Feeling invigorated once more after her meager breakfast, Pinkie kindly insisted to offer more of her time to help around.

About an hour or so later, the pink mare had called it quits so she could check on Fluttershy’s cottage, and the Apple farmers bade farewell to the temporary farmhoof. Having familiarized themselves with their mistress’s friends, the animals around the verdant patch of property eagerly scampered off to meet the slightly less energetic housekeeper as she closed in from a distance.

“Golly, you little critters must be really hungry to come all the way out just to meet me!” Pinkie happily commented as several of them urged her to come inside.

She found herself in an abyss and her entity silently floated in the in the middle of it for what seemed like a maddening eternity.

For in this darkened void, absence reigned supreme.

There was nothing to perceive, no light that would shine, no surface to touch, nor gravity to be felt. Neither were there any traces of her wings, her horn nor her hooves; not even the merest sensation of breath to fill her non-existent lungs. She panicked and tried to look around, but her efforts had failed her as she had forgotten there was no vessel to possess her vision. She was helpless, unshifting, and utterly unable to sense anything or react to the barren stillness that surrounded. She was simply something that was aware in a world that had nothing to offer, and the bleakness of it all threatened to consume her sanity as chilling despair made itself known in the essence of her soul.

For the first time in her long-lived life, Princess Luna, the Goddess of the Night, felt an immaculately unbridled sense of fear. She was fragile and vulnerable in a crippling unknown, and this frightened her immensely.

And then, there was a stirring, an unsteady ripple in the darkness in front of her that parted horizontally and receded to reveal……..more of the frighteningly endless darkness.

‘How is that any different from before!?’ she anxiously called out, but she had no voice to be heard with, and her panicked pleas dejectedly echoed throughout the confines of her vessel-less mind, further bewildering her. Then the tear closed in on itself and twisted its fabric to mend the schism. Unseen tears began to well at the sight of the event, and she cried out in forlorn desperation.

‘No, wait! Stop! Tia! Somepony! Anypony! Please, help me!!’ she mutely pleaded as the rift disappeared.

There was no response.

The Sunday afternoon had only just begun, and the brilliant blue of the sky had returned, heralded by a pleasantly warm breeze, all courtesy of Ponyville's excellent weather team. Such an atmosphere would be the most perfect kind of setting to take a stroll in; to appreciate the simple and meager sights and sounds; to gallop, tumble and play out in the open; and to enjoy a relaxing picnic with friends and loved ones.

That is, if you weren’t a certain impatient, orange, pegasus filly.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders had all been gathered at the clubhouse, and Scootaloo looked to the ceiling lying opposite to the thinking spot in unwanted boredom while the others tended to the crusading list. Her mind began to wander back to recent events as she caught sight of a distinct polychromatic trail dashing off into a far distant cloud for a nap, wondering why exactly she was stuck here in the boring clubhouse doing nothing.

Earlier that season, summer break had just begun, and she, of all fillies, had suggested that they do away with their homework right from the very start so they could go on crusading to their heart’s content. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle had already prepared a sizable list of ‘excitingly safe’ ideas on their free time while the pegasus filly had come up with hers during the time she whittled away the mundane hours of school or suffered a lack of inspiration for new scooter tricks.

Though being the instigator of said course of action, the pegasus filly apparently lacked the motivation to actually come up with something worth calling progress. Instead, she’d often fantasized about how awesome her cutie mark would look or being high up in the marshmallow clouds with her idol, Rainbow Dash, and flying as well as she did; such daydreams would usually follow up with a nap with the filly hoping to enter said fantasies. Other times, she’d scribble and doodle of new tricks as her friends diligently kept to their work, scoffing at the lethargic member of the club for being just that. Her process was slow to nonexistent at best, and, in six days’ time, the two others had managed to finish both their assignments before Scootaloo had even approached the second half of the first subject.

Just as the other two had finished their parts, Babs Seed had come over from Manehatten to partake in the festivities with her favorite cousin, having finished her own summer assignments beforehoof. Seeing the state of her fellow crusader, she decided to pitch in with the rest to help the unenthused pegasus with her share of work. With three additional minds to the task, Scootaloo managed to finish everything in nearly half the time it took her friends. Staring at the compiled stack of homework, the quartet bumped hooves in relief of their accomplishment which now freed them for the rest of the summer.

But unfortunately for them, the idle pegasus had been given charge of the notepad containing all their ideas and unintentionally used every single sheet of paper as doodle parchment, any vestiges of which were all thrown away long before Babs had arrived to help, never to be seen again. Being the only member of the branch and still awaiting on the two others who might consider joining, the Manehattenite herself didn’t have much of a list to get on, and the only solution was to come up with another list of crusading ventures.

Right now, they had been in the clubhouse for the better part of the morning, and the weather team had finished clearing out nearly all of the Ponyville's airspace. “Is it done yet?” the orange pegasus impassively asked as she rested on the floor.

“Nearly there. But maybe if you helped us, we would’ve finished this earlier,” Sweetie Belle argued with her head up from the trio’s huddle.

“Hey, it’s not my fault you want to try out safe things. If you ask me, my ideas were much cooler and twenty percent more awesome,” the orange filly countered, smirking that she quoted her idol in that response.

“We wouldn’t ‘av tried most of ‘em anyway. Sweetie ‘n ah promised our sisters t’lay off the more reckless stuff after our last crusade,” the Apple filly reasoned.

“So what were you’z guys up to last time dat Applejack had t’step in?” Babs wondered as she looked up from the list.

“Umm…” Sweetie Belle hesitated. Apple Bloom intervened and sheepishly answered for her.

“Last month, we fancied ourselves gettin’ ‘dam engineer’ cutie marks and snuck into the town’s dam. We kind of messed up some sorta doohickey and cut the power for about an hour. Applejack and Sweetie’s sister, Rarity, grounded us till the end of school after that. Scoots here only got off with half that time.”

“Yikes, no wonder we’re only puttin’ down the safe stuff,” the Manehatten filly thought out loudly.

Thirty minutes later, the list was finished and the fillies were en route back to the farm.

“So, what’s first on the list?” said Scootaloo as she tried to fidget it from Applebloom’s saddle bag.

“It’s synchronized swimmin' by the river,” answered the Apple filly.

“What!? That doesn’t sound awesome in the least. More like dainty if you ask me,” she protested, halting her trot in annoyed surprise.

“Well, think about it this way,” the level-headed unicorn of the group suggested as she looked to the miffed pegasus. “Not only is it safe because it’s the water, it’ll be fun and refreshing. I also heard that it’s supposed to be a physically demanding and challenging sport that--”

“Physically demanding and challenging?” The winged filly interruptingly perked. “Why didn’t you say so? Let’s get moving, pronto!” she eagerly exclaimed, running past and ahead. The rest of the group shared a chuckle at the sight before they rushed to catch up to their excited friend.

It didn’t take long for Pinkie Pie to feed all of Fluttershy’s animals and perform a little sprucing up to the ponyless home. But when she finished the all chores of the household, instead of her happy-go-lucky bouncing gait, she strode out into town in a slightly unsteady trot with eyes fidgeting from side to side and a very convincing façade of a smile. Something had happened in the cottage, and if it was serious enough to cause the normally jovial mare to act this way, then it was definitely bad.

The party planner rushed to her home and workplace, the Sugarcube Corner, but was unexpectedly met again by Twilight’s assistant, Spike.

“Hey there, Pinkie. I’m here for th—“

The dragon once again stalled the impatient party pony as she passed him by, grabbing her tail to get her attention. The mare in question stopped in her tracks to look back at the annoyed drake.

“Sorry, Spike. I’m in a bit of another hurry here. Could you make it fast?” she excused.

“Huh… Pinkie Pie still in a hurry…well, that’s another thing that’s new,” he passively commented as he let go of her tail.

“Umm…”

“Oh Yeah! Sorry about that. I’m here to pick up the gift.”

“Huh?” the pink mare responded, having no idea what he was talking about.

“I take it you didn’t read the note?” Spike deadpanned with a facepalm.

“Oh, that! Give me a second.” The party pony then reached into her mane and pulled the piece of parchment out to read it.

Twilight needs you to whip up a large batch of Nana Pie’s special secret recipe cookies to give to Zecora as thanks for the medicine she mixed up for Fluttershy. She said to make it extra sweet and have more than one kind since Zecora only ever eats plants she forages from the Everfree. Twilight will pay you later.

“Oh…”

“Have you even started making any yet?” Spike deadpanned once more with arms crossed and a foot tapping an impatient staccato.

“Don’t worry, Spike. Just give me a minute,” Pinkie assured as she entered the bakery. Five minutes later, she came back out to give Spike a large jar filled with the afforementioned confections.

“Wow, are these it? How’d you make them so quick?” the purple drake asked as he lifted the lid to inspect the jar’s contents, noting that the treats smelled refreshingly familiar.

“I was expecting a new pony to come into town earlier in the week, and I wanted to give them an extra-special Pinkie Pie-approved warm welcome by serving them these, but they never came. So, I asked Twilight to cast a preservation spell on the whole batch and gave her some.”

“So that’s where Twilight got those cookies,” he recalled. “Wait a second, how’d you know somepony would be coming into town?”

“Pinkie Sense, silly,” the party planner explained, as if it were completely obvious to everypony she knew; which it wasn’t. She had put on a genuine smile upon answering his question, looking happy and forgetting the problem at hoof for the moment.

“Right… And this somepony is?” the young dragon continued.

“I don’t know exactly who, but my Pinkie sense told me it was somepony really important. Probably as important as the Princesses themselves even.”

“Really? Somepony as important as the Princesses?” Spike skeptically questioned.

“Yeppity yeppers!” Pinkie bluntly exclaimed with a grin. She lost that grin however as the problem she had almost forgotten came back to mind from the verge of negligence.

“Don’t you think that’s a bit too farfetched? I’m me—“

“Sorry, can’t talk anymore! In a rush!” The pink mare had zoomed to her room too quickly for the message to echo out to the business’ first floor and, more importantly, the receiver of the message himself. So Spike, who had his eyes closed that whole time, had been abruptly and impolitely left at the store’s entrance to finish his theory of the instance of Pinkie Sense.

“--an somepony as important as the Princesses coming here to Ponyville? I mean, come on. There’s nopony as important as them. They raise the sun and the moon after all. Maybe it was actually the Princesses themselves who were about to come here, and they just had some important meeting that had come up su…dden…ly?” he trailed off at that last bit.

His eyes were open and the party pony was no longer there. He looked to the left, then the right; then up and down; then, finally, his rear. In punctuation of the conclusion he came to, he uttered two words before making his way back to the library with the sweets:

“Rude, much?

Meanwhile in her room, the rude party pony had her head stuck in a closet, rummaging for something that wasn’t there.

“Oh, I knew it was a bad idea to skip out on restocking my emergency stash of carrots,” she said to nopony in particular as belongings and party supplies were haphazardly tossed out of their rightful places. Then the party mare knocked a hoof softly to the side of her head in silliness of forgetting something so obvious.

“The kitchen! Why didn’t I think of that in the first place?”

Heading down to first floor, she sifted past the light crowd of consumers and Mr. Cake who was handling the counter to enter the kitchen, greeting him as she did. There, she found Mrs. Cake attending to the many stoves that were set with goods still baking inside.

“Mrs. Cake, is it okay if I ask for some carrots?” she asked looking into the business fridge, not to be mistaken with that of the household’s to its left.

“Go right ahead, deary. So long as whatever you take, you restock later, okay?” she passingly permitted as her attention was more focused to the timers before her. “Also, you better get a good night’s rest. Tomorrow, things’ll start getting real hectic, what with all the tourists flooding in.”

“Sure thing, and thanks for the favor! See you later,” said Pinkie as she took what she needed and left the kitchen. Weaving past the same light crowd and out of the establishment, she checked the saddle bag she brought with her from her room for the inventory needed for the endeavor ahead.

“Let’s see here; Butterfly net? Check. Spare net weave? Check. Capture sack? Check. Spare sack? Check. Cardboard box and a spool of brown yarn? Check. A dozen carrots? Check. Everything’s set,” she confirmed, munching on a carrot before taking off to town in a determined gallop.

“Time to find Angel.”

Several more maddening eternities passed, and the so-called Princess and Goddess of the Night lay there in the stagnant and unshifting abyss; within that agonizingly long period of time, she grew infinitely frightened and disoriented.

One moment, she lay in bed, having just come home from attending to the night, and then the next had her trammeled in an insufferably lightless prison. She could not conjure stars to illuminate the darkness because there were none to evoke; neither was she able to control or manipulate the fabric of space because it was not a dream. In that immeasurable span, she struggled, shouted, lashed out, kicked, screamed, and sobbed. Now, the hopelessness of the situation had taken hold off her, and insanity was not far behind; she’d only need to invite it.

Then suddenly, there was another stirring, that familiar ripple that signaled a horizontal tear in the void to her front. The alicorn looked to it dejectedly and merely heckled it as it developed like before.

'Thou mockest us with thine apathetic instance for our inability to act towards thee!?' Luna vehemently cracked. The echoes of her message reverberated back into her, and she stifled an imaginary tear in her next hateful response.

'Such efforts art utterly futile now for mine insanity hath donned upon us centuries ago!!'

Again, there was no response. She hung her head low in defeat and let loose a river of anguish in the form of a sobbed uproar that would shatter those that heard it.

But the rift did not close in on itself as it had done before. As if to answer her long forgotten hopes, the blackened roof of the world beyond the tear turned ever so slightly an almost imperceptible shade lighter over the days. As time unheedingly unfurled, a faint image of something to the left corner of the tear sluggishly began to appear. Once the waterfall of her sorrows had run dry as it always did before, Luna took notice of the object. Quizzically and skeptically taken aback by its meager appearance, against all odds, hope began to fight against the puissant force of despair, and she allowed logic to reign over her once more.

In the following years, the captive awareness relentlessly observed the speck as it unhurriedly progressed and enlarged by the most miniscule of amounts, evolving into the shape of a small, sharp protrusion by the end of the decade. Overcome by impatient curiosity, she trained herself to decelerate her temporal senses to match its level. It had taken another half-decade, but her efforts were rewarded, and it started to move faster.

The protrusion had become a clawed limb of sorts, soaked in blood. To the right of the schism, another limb had come into vision. The rift alternated focus between the two arms at which the extremities seemed to flex and shudder in emotion. Then the rift closed shut as the limbs were drawn closer, and its force pressed against her awareness followed by a stretching sensation and the rush of warm breath beneath from where the tear had appeared.

‘What manner of creature be this?’ the alicorn wondered as events silently unfolded. ‘Am I…seeing and feeling as it does?’

As the pressure lifted, she felt a gripping sensation to the region below which she assumed to be its waist and the neck of it arching backward. As she felt its breath intensify and tears run down its face, the rift had opened once again to the sight of countless, suspended, dim, white marbles fluttering in the air above. Its lungs began to ache and the pearls of sorrow were felt impacting its folded legs. Even without sound, Luna could tell it was crying, and she felt empathic toward this vessel, the first living soul she had seen in a span of time at least a thousand times greater than her own life.

Luna wished to speak out, to learn of this creature’s troubles and lend a helping hoof, but current circumstance would not let her do so, and being in such a deafeningly inadequate and helpless state did not sit well with her. Irregardless, nothing was all that she could do, and the alicorn begrudgingly abided to her silence, knowing her intentions would only echo back cruelly and remain unconveyed.

Then the being’s vision shot open, and its gaze swept the immediate area, stopping at the notice of a sight most gruesome and blood curdling. It would have made even her sister, Princess Celestia, shudder in complete distress. Her vessel painfully staggered to its feet and steadily closed the distance to get a better look. Drenched in its own blood, there lay in front another creature that had been mortally injured, its throat ripped open and its left arm and lower half missing. Her vessel knelt down to it and simply stared in disbelief.

The dying figure’s eyes flittered to life and struggled to move its head. The alicorn’s vessel went closer and their gazes met for a final moment, teal eyes to emerald. A forlorn smile crept upon its pale face, but the grin quickly faded as it peaked, and its eyes went dim as life left its mangled body.

There was nothing left but a corpse.