//------------------------------//
// Prologue: Begin the Song 
// Story: The Everfree Crusaders 
// by wanderingmagus 
//------------------------------//

Warm light flickered from the campfire as the Crusaders and twins settled down for another "night" in the abandoned dragon cave. Noises and smells came in from the entrance some hundreds of hoofsteps away, but the tired ponies paid them no attention, having long since learned the foalishnness of trusting any senses outside the Everfree. As the older mares pulled out tattered blankets which could almost have once been capes or parts of dresses, one of the twins, Pound Cake, spoke up.

"Miss Belle, could you sing us a song?"

Sweetie Belle sighed, smiling at the foal. It had become a ritual of sorts, singing songs to drown out the maddening and chaotic noises before going to bed, but it still held meaning for the mare. After all, singing was her talent, even if her cutie mark had been seared off by the "falling star joke" Lord Discord had pulled on the outskirts of the Forest years ago.

She had already run through her repertoire of what she considered foal-appropriate songs, however, so she gently asked, "What song would you like to hear, Pound?"

The foal thought for a moment, then complained, "I can't decide, Miss Belle! All your songs are good!"

The unicorn giggled softly at the compliment, but before she could reply the red-headed Earth Pony across from her spoke up.

"Sing us the one about our home, Sweetie."

She glanced over to the speaker in mild dismay. Of the Everfree Crusaders, Apple Bloom had taken the loss of just about everypony in Equestria outside the Everfree the hardest. Sweetie Belle felt that she for her own part had dealt appropriately enough with the “loss” oft her older sister and estranged parents.  The twins had been too young to understand much and had long since accepted being raised by the Crusaders as something normal, and Scootaloo... was Scootaloo.

The purple-maned pegasus had always been the most adventurous of them all, even before they had Cutie Marks, and despite all the warning signs she had taken her scooter as far as the Whitetail Woods chasing her once-loyal idol  nearly at the cost of her life and sanity before turning back.  She had been stone-faced ever since the Last Day, but Sweetie Belle thought she already dealt with her emotions about the situation privately.  At least she had stopped throwing food into the little altar she had built, and was willing to let the zebra Zecora keep her idol’s feather for her.  Apple Bloom, though, had been going in and out of depression for what must have been years, even refusing to answer to the name of “Apple” for a while before conceding that it was the name she was given and she damn well should honor the memory of her family by using it, and Sweetie was worried the Earth Pony might be suffering another relapse.

"Apple... a-are you sure you want to hear that one? I mmean, I don't think that's... appropriate for-"

"We all need to hear it, Sweetie" interrupted a voice.

As everypony turned to see who was speaking, Scootaloo calmly came forward from out of the side cave where she had been checking on the supplies. There was a look of sadness mixed with determination on the pegasus's face. "The twins are going to have to learn about their, our, everypony's past eventually."

Sweetie Belle swallowed.  The orange pegasus rarely spoke, but when she did it truly meant she was serious.  THe white unicorn glanced back and forth between the twins and the mares uneasily, but with both the other Crusaders agreeing on this, and the foals looking up to her, she couldn't find any other argument against the song. With a resigned sigh, she nodded. "All right then." As Apple bloom pulled Pound Cake close and draped a blanket over Pumpkin Cake, Sweetie took a breath, and began to sing.

Far over the Canterlot Mountains tall,
To Luna's Keep, Celestia's Hall.
Timberwolves howl in the dark;
The Dragons come, leaving their mark.
The clouds turn pink,
Our spirits sink,
Equestria falls to Discord's might...