//------------------------------// // How long does it take for a rainbow to turn black? Apple Bloom second lone chapter // Story: The Source Of Our Chaos // by Pinkieshyrose //------------------------------// Apple Bloom point of view The normally vividly-colored barn house had gotten increasingly dark as my question was slowly answered. Like even nature itself was predicting a terrible outcome to my sister’s fate. I could have asked how long we had been asleep, or how we had even gotten out of the tree house. Why did they look so raw, like their coats have been dyed in dust, or even the mysterious Cutie Marks resting on our flanks? But when I had seen them, it wasn't just the looks that made me worry, it was their obvious expressions, like all the happiness had drained away and would never come back; an unquenchable drought of emotion. It was the look that many tears had been shed, but there wasn’t any less heartache. It was a look that I've seen before out of them only once, but not at this scale. Granny Smith spoke. “She's just gone somewhere. Right Mac?” She said with no emotion. Something was plaguing her, but it didn't seem to be Applejack. Big Mac replied with his standard, ”Eeyup.” He also did not seem worried about that, but something else. “Where?!” I asked, surprised and shocked at their lack of caring. They were now like stone statues; they seemed to have no emotion, then their expression would switch to deep sadness, like a windup toy. “Oh ah, just in the apple field, half-pint probably got shocked by lightning or something.” I was shocked and exasperated. I stood stiff, not believing what had come out of my Granny’s mouth. What had happened to my brother and my Granny? The other Crusaders in the background seemed to be in various degrees of shock. But my jaw was the widest in the room. Scootaloo was the quickest to recover. “Um…Ma’am, how did we get out of the tree-house?” “Oh, that’s easy. A Mail Mare carried ya’ll in her bag while everypony else fled from the weather. It saved us the trouble. Now she's lounging in my room.” She darkly deadpanned. “Granny, snap out of it!” I pleaded, while crying. Scootaloo speedily pushed me and Sweetie Belle away into the kitchen, away from them. “What the hay’s wrong with mah’ family? Why are they acting like this?” “I don't know. But maybe the Mail Pony will?” Sweetie Belle comforted. We headed to Granny’s room. We needed to find out what happened, though the rooms were getting darker, and something told me the sun was still up. We desperately needed to get to the bottom of this. “Maybe Discord’s gone bad again and ‘discorded’ everypony? Like Rainbow Dash's Elements of Harmony stories?” Scootaloo said hopefully. “Didn’t his victims get turned…grey? Granny and Big Mac look raw.” I sadly debated. “Is it me, or is the room getting really dark?” Sweetie Belle pointed out. “Yeah I think, it’s been doing that for a while.” Scootaloo noticed skittishly. “I thought it was just me!” I chimed. We slowly huddled together, shivering in fright like we did in the Nightmare Moon incident before we had been properly acquainted. We then slowly trotted, but stayed close together. The old door to Granny’s room looked slightly more menacing in the darkness that seemed to surround us. “We should probably knock. We don't know if what Granny said is exactly factual now.” We knocked on the door. After several knocks, nopony answered. “Hey, can you open up?” Scootaloo questioned. The door was opened by a grey pegasus with a blond mane that everypony in town knew. She walked into Granny’s chair at first sight. She looked even more tragic than my family members. She wore the expression of a tired old lady, yet she seemed to be bawling. Her eyes and her coat also looked dusty and raw like my family’s had. “You're awake. You have to leave Ponyville now!” She said while crying. Her eyes were constantly crossing and not crossing; it seemed to be her own doing, like she was combating an invisible force. I was starting not to doubt that there was something big going on. The several perplexing things that seemed to not make a lick of sense. But we could just leave her or everypony else. “Why can't I just leave you and mah’ family?” I said, perplexed by her persistence. “Are you okay Derpy?” Sweetie Belle kindly asked. “N-no. And I won't be unless you run far away from this place, you're one of the only ponies not affected!” Derpy sadly stuttered. “By what?” Scootaloo asked. “By-…ugh, it hurts to think now. But it seems to be the only way to fight it. It has an S. Now go!” She face-hoofed in frustration while rocking Granny’s chair, squinting her eyes, and crying violently like she was attacking something within herself. “But we can't just leave you!” Sweetie Belle persisted. “Yeah we just can't. You saved us!” I put in. “Well, I'm not exactly me anymore. It’s like there’s anything to try to make me do something, and he’s…he’s coming back. Please just run, and don't look back. He’s too strong! One look and you're like me, fighting this thing.” “We just can't leave you here like this!” Scootaloo put in. “There’s nothing you can do here. You need to run far away and find somepony to help you, then come back. You’re scared, but I'm more scared that they'll be nopony left to undo this!” “Rainbow Dash is right. You're the greatest pony ever! We are coming back!” Scootaloo hugged Derpy. Derpy twitched during it, but affectionately accepted. “Scootaloo, we still can't leave her!” I argued. There was a heavy amount of thunder rumbling. Huge cracks could be heard! It awakened today’s past. We had to leave. Derpy was right there; there really was no other way out this time. “Thank you for doing this for us!” I hugged her admirably. I desperately hoped she'd be alright. “We can't leave her! There’s gotta be another way!” Sweetie Belle protectively blocked the door. “Look Sweetie Belle, there isn't. He almost killed us the last time!” Scootaloo said calmer than you’d expect, because of the circumstances we were in. “But don't you see! She helped us, so we gotta help her!” She protectively whimpered. I pushed her out of the way for her own good. Scootaloo grabbed her tail, and we ran faster than I've ever ran before. Out of the barn, away from my family, and away from Sweet Apple Acres. We couldn't let that thing get us. It had tried to before, the storm was it, the darkness was it, the thing Derpy was fighting was it. We had to leave. “We have to go back! We can't just leave her!” Sweetie Belle wailed and shed tears the whole way. But she didn't look back, because Derpy wanted it that way. Her new Cutie mark, the flashing circle, seemed to glow bright green. I tried not to listen. This was the only way, even with how bad it seemed. You could say a Cutie mark meant you were growing older, that was probably the truth, or at least it was for me. Because this was one of those times that I've done something that I'll always regret. I was running away from a storm, a new friend, and my closest family, even if we would one day come back.