The silence inside the halls of Canterlot Castle became very foreboding. Everypony took an early leave for the day, no questions asked, no questions answered. A multitude of armor-clad unicorn and Earth stallions kept a strict watch over the walls of the castle, while the armored pegasi looked down from the skies over the fair city of Canterlot.
Nopony knew exactly why the Princesses ordered a watch on Canterlot of all days, but they knew it was something serious. Not since the Changeling invasion of Canterlot during the royal wedding of Captain Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza had there been a 24/7 watch with a big number of soldiers staring down at the citizens with hardened glares. Only this time, the issue at hoof was not issued to the citizens of Canterlot, nor the guards were informed of the matter.
That was something both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna decided to keep highly classified.
The grand hall of Canterlot Castle echoed with the dainty and regal hoofsteps of Celestia’s nervous pace at the top of the red carpet staircase. She whipped her head towards the windows, her patience and calmness hanging by only a thread as she watched for Twilight Sparkle and her friends to arrive to Canterlot.
Celestia sighed sadly.
She knew something was wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong.
Celestia resumed to pace the top of the stairs with her uneasiness beginning to get the best of her. As the alabaster alicorn turned in her nervous trot, Luna kept watch over her sister, feeling the same unsettling feeling within her. Heaving a sigh of melancholy, Luna went over to Celestia and laid a hoof on her shoulder. “Fear not, dear sister. Have faith that Twilight Sparkle and the others will be here soon,” the dark blue alicorn said reassuringly. “Once they arrive, they’ll be able to resolve the matter soon.”
“That’s just what I’m afraid of, Luna,” Celestia said, not looking to Luna from her drooping head. “For once in my life, I am not sure if Twilight Sparkle and her friends will be able to resolve this matter this time. Twilight has faced many enemies in the past, but this is one foe she may not be able to defeat, even with the powers of the Elements of Harmony on her side. I’m afraid this time, Equestia will fall into ruin.”
“But surely you know that Twilight has saved Equestria many times before as well. If you know your student better than I do, than you must know that Twilight will do everything in her power to prevent His return and--.”
“AND WHAT!?” Celestia snapped at Luna, eyes brimming with scared tears. “What will she do to save Equestria from Him!? What will she do to resolve this matter before He returns!? What will she do to survive His wrath!? Answer me that, Luna!”
Luna shrunk back in terror as Celestia towered over her, glowering into her cyan eyes. Celestia’s raging eyes were like a javelin piercing into Luna’s soul, shattering every shard of hope she had to comfort her sister.
“Celestia?”
“Have you forgotten what He did to every pony and every woodland creature that now reside in the Everfree Forest!? Have you forgotten what He did to you to transform you into Nightmare Moon!? Have you forgotten how many ponies gave their lives to end His reign!?”
Celestia lowered herself into Luna’s face, the latter’s eyes as wide as dinner plates and leaking bitter tears. “Have you forgotten what He did to Terra!?” Celestia asked with her voice cracking at the aforementioned name.
Luna gasped mildly, nearly choking into small sobbing. Her eyes watered as she remembered losing the pony known as Terra to the forces of darkness during those dark times. The thoughts of losing Terra, the images of Luna being turned into Nightmare Moon and the distinct memories of the ponies and the innocent animals subjected to the darkness caused her sadness to fester inside like a deadly disease. Luna couldn’t help but shed a sorrowful tear.
“We... I wished that every day, Tia. For the past thousand years, while I was sealed away in the moon, I wished I could forget the pain and the suffering he subjected us to.” Luna looked at her sister with a face of extreme sadness. “By the nine-hundredth year, I got my wish, Tia. Up until this day, I forgot all the dark times He put us through and I told myself never to look back.
“But now that His dark presence has been felt, we can no longer ignore the fact that His return is almost upon us! The pain we once felt will return along with the near-death of Equestria! There can be no way for us to prevent it from happening again!”
Luna dropped her head down, breaking into tears. Her sobs somehow brought Celestia from her overly anxious stupor. Then Celestia, being a dear and caring sister, trotted over to Luna and pulled her in with her wing in a comforting embrace, joining in with the shedding of tears as well.
“What are we going to do, Tia?” Luna asked, sniffling hard.
“I don’t know, Luna,” Celestia answered, pulling Luna closer to her chest. She squeezed her eyes shut. Teardrops leaked down her delicate white face as she turned to the windows to the blue skies beyond the stained glass. “I just don’t know.”
All of a sudden, a purple light flashed before Celestia. The light dissipated, and its place, a parchment scroll tied in a red ribbon. Celestia was relieved to know the scroll was sent from Twilight Sparkle. She also deduced that she used her advanced teleportation spell on this roll of paper because she didn’t use Spike’s dragon fire to send her the scroll. He must’ve gotten sick from her flying again.
Though Twilight didn’t have any success using the spell on living creatures, she could still manage to teleport small objects. The object, for instance, was the scroll that Celestia opened with her golden aura. Celestia read the contents of the scroll once, then twice for clarification. After reading the scroll a third time, Celestia’s eyes widened in surprise. Luna’s concern grew ever more slightly as she observed her sister’s shocked reaction to the letter.
“Sister, what’s wrong?” Luna asked.
Celestia kept her shocked gaze to her scroll, ignoring Luna’s question. Of the four times the alicorn read the letter to herself, the fifth reading remained a shock to her.
“No. This is not possible. How can it be so?” Celestia wondered, reading the letter a sixth time. “Am I reading this letter correctly? Have I gone mad with all this pressure I felt this morning? There is no way Twilight mentioned in this letter that a human made his way to Equestria! Not since...”
Celestia gasped as she realized the identity of the human.
“Oh no. Mother help me.”
CRACK!! BOOOOOOOM!!
Celestia and Luna both jumped to a loud explosion, like a giant clap of thunder before they were enveloped in a quick flash of light. The castle shook from the tremor of the explosion; the chandeliers dangled and rung like little crystal wind chimes; and every window, transparent or stained-glass nearly shattered from the high volume of the explosion.
Recovering from the sudden tremor, Celestia and Luna looked around the castle to asses any damages. While there was no real damage done to the castle, except for making their ears ring for about five seconds, Celestia and Luna both spotted an unusual glow shining from out of their windows.
The alicorn sisters looked out beyond the stained windows. There, in the meadow just beyond the borders of Ponyville, was a strange magenta light, expanding slowly, minute by minute. Lightning bolts shot from the light to the sky above and to the edge of the meadow, creating mayhem around that area. Celestia easily recognized the raw magic. She had not seen this much raw power for over ten years ago.
“Tia, what is happening?” Luna asked. “Who is creating such powerful magic?”
“Twilight Sparkle. Something must’ve made her magic run loose again,” Celestia said dryly, narrowing her eyes at the chaotic scene taking place at the meadow. “It seems that we are two steps closer until He reveals himself, dear Luna. If what His minion said 1,000 years ago is true, then this day doesn’t prove good for not only the wellbeing of our subjects, but for the entire Earth as well.”
Luna looked at the side of her sister’s stoic and serious face in worry. The two watched outside the windows of the hall as the magenta light continued to grow bigger.
==================================================================
“AAAAAAAUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!”
*GASP*
“AAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAA!”
Over the loud hum of Twilight’s magic aura and the electrical currents of the flying lightning bolts, Harold’s wailing of despair echoed the loudest throughout the meadow. His eyes were bloodshot from the tears rolling down his face, lifeless even. His upturned head faced the heavens, bellowing out his intense pain.
He couldn’t believe it. He didn’t want to believe it.
But he did.
One minute ago, his newfound friend, a kindly yellow pegasus with an outstandingly long pink mane was struck with adrenaline as she saved him from that lightning bolt. Now she laid there, on the blue-and-red diamond patterned grass, a stone statue with a fearful look on her face. It was because of Harold that Fluttershy lost her life to save him.
Harold could barely breathe with his crying depriving him of his oxygen. Fluttershy’s sacrifice reminded him too distinctly about that dreaded day. That rainy day when Harold’s life changed for the worst. The day when he became a broken body containing a scarred, beating heart. The day that happened only one month ago.
The day that Lana died.
February the 14th, also known as St. Valentine’s Day.
The holiday on Earth that brought hearts together was the day that shattered Harold’s fragile heart in a sick, ironic way. He remembered that day well like it was yesterday. As he bawled up towards the blue skies, the images and the buried pain from last St. Valentine’s Day began to eat their way into his brain.
As clear as crystal, Harold saw himself falling onto his backside on the street crosswalk onto the other side of the lane. He remembered the terror he felt as he saw the yellow Camaro’s fender inches away from Lana. Harold never did see the face of the driver’s shadowed figure, but he remembered the scared look on Lana’s face just before the Camaro hit her square on.
Harold saw himself now, cradling Lana’s head in his lap. Her face was decorated in bright red bruises and painted with crimson trickling down the left side of her face from her hairline. The pouring rain did nothing to wash away the blood from Lana’s visage, nor did it comfort the pain coursing through Harold’s upturned face.
Then there was that image. The image of Lana’s final smile as she closed her eyes for the last time.
Now, as the lifeless stone body of Fluttershy laid under the barrage of lightning bolts, Harold felt he was reliving the exact same moment in a world full of ponies. Harold dropped his down. His tears dripped from his chin and formed a small puddle of the bitter liquid on the grass as his sobbing’s volume matched with the hum of the aura.
As for Rainbow Dash, she took this loss harder than the human’s exhibitions of sorrow. The sadness of losing Fluttershy, her one and oldest friend was overwhelming. The burning rage towards Harold boiled deep inside her. The pain of a newly broken heart nearly made Rainbow Dash stagger as the ex-pegasus shot her upset glance to Harold.
“What do you have cry about!? This was your fault that Fluttershy’s gone in the first place!!” Rainbow Dash snapped. Harold’s familiar pain was too great for him to hear the former pegasus proceed to chew him out. “I hope you’re happy with yourself, Hue-Man!! I just lost my best friend because she had to stick her neck out for you!! Now you have the guts to cry over her dead body!? If it weren’t for Fluttershy protecting you, I would’ve loved nothing more than to... to...”
Rainbow Dash felt a lump form in her throat before she could she could finish confessing her urges to beat Harold into a pulp with her very own hooves. It felt like the spirit of Fluttershy held her violence back, as the timid pegasus’s voice echoed through her head.
******************************************************************************
"Yes, Rainbow Dash, I knew that he was the creature warned you about. But do you want to know something else? I knew that he was at my cottage all this time! That's why I had to stall you two for time until he made his escape! The nerve of you both for treating him like some wild animal!”
"I was afraid you would take him to Princess Celestia and throw him in the dungeon. I couldn't let you two do that to a child because I thought it would be a bit unethical if you did."
"All I care about right now is for the wellbeing of my friend. I mean, just look at him. This poor boy has been through enough as it is, and both of you are treating him like he's some common enemy."
"Look, I know this may sound exaggerated, but that 'thing' you're referring to, Dashie? He's called a human, and I know this may sound crazy, but deep down in my heart, I can see that he is a gentle soul! He wouldn't want to harm anypony unless he was provoked! Now look at what you're doing! All you're doing is keeping him locked away like an animal against his freewill and acting like a bully! Have you two no shame!?"
“Because that’s what friends are for, Rainbow Dash! And as a friend, I’m going to do everything I can to help him on his journey back to his own world so he could fulfill a promise he made to somepony near and dear to him! If you can’t accept that, then I'm not coming with you to Canterlot!”
"Twilight, if helping a friend means facing a punishment from Princess Celestia herself, then that's something I have to take."
“Rainbow Dash, please stop! Violence is never gonna solve all of our problems!”
“Please, Rainbow Dash, don’t hurt him! It wasn’t his fault that Twilight’s magic went out of control! This was an accident and you know it too! Please, Rainbow Dash. Don’t hurt him. Twilight wouldn’t want you to hurt him and neither will I.”
******************************************************************************
All at once, the voices of Fluttershy came crashing down on Rainbow Dash. She grit her teeth down hard and yelled out mourningly to the sky, unable to bottle up her feelings any longer. Rainbow Dash threw herself over Fluttershy’s cold stone body and wept hard into her granite hair.
She was sorry she couldn’t save Fluttershy from a horrifying fate. She was sorry she couldn’t take the hit instead of her friend. She was sorry she wanted so desperately to beat Harold for causing Twilight’s magic to go berserk by accident. Most of all, she was sorry she wasn’t there to help stop this madness.
Now, in her sickening feeling of conflicting rage and despair, Rainbow Dash was reduced to hugging the statue of Fluttershy and shedding bitter tears. Her cries were not as loud as Harold’s, but it was nonetheless, heard from a quarter of a mile away. The volume of the crying was proven as Rainbow Dash’s ears perked up and swiveled to the far distance of the meadow.
“Twilight!? Fluttershy!?”
Rainbow Dash lifted her head and gazed towards the meadow’s distance. Through the distorted vision of her tear-stained eyes, she spotted shapes of orange, white and pink gallop over the small hill beyond the radius of the lightning storm. Rainbow Dash cracked a relieved smile as she saw her friends, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie come into clear focus, wearing worried masks on their scared faces.
As the three mares galloped to the meadow of the magical chaos where Pinkie Pie predicted moments before it happened, she, Applejack and Rarity were rudely met with lightning bolts striking near them in an erratic pattern. Applejack ducked away from a bolt, her Stetson hat flying in the air and landing back on its owner’s head. Rarity yelped dramatically as she skidded away from each striking bolt that hit the ground. Pinkie Pie jumped jovially into the chaos, singing her little tune while she jumped over and under the lightning bolts.
Rainbow Dash’s saddened face instantly transformed into a face of reassurance. “Guys?” Suddenly, she jumped up and cantered off towards her friends with the magical lightning bolts shooting alongside the cyan pony without grazing her or the mares she ran off to. Tiny droplets of tears trailed behind Rainbow Dash as she launched herself at Applejack. “Guys!”
“Rainbow Dash!? What in tarnati--OOF!”
Before Applejack could finish her question, Rainbow Dash tackled her Iron Pony rival. With the speed of her hooves and the force of the impact, both mares were spinning in circle of blurred orange, blue and rainbow colors. The spinning mares hit a rock sticking out of the ground, flew up in the air and landed at the bottom of a small hill. When the dust finally settled, Rarity and Pinkie Pie looked on and saw Rainbow Dash hugging Applejack in a vise grip, sobs muffled into her chest fur.
Applejack hacked a cough from the force of the impact. Looking down on the tomboyish pegasus clinging tightly to her chest, Applejack wriggled her forehooves until they popped out of the grip and pushed Rainbow Dash off of her.
“Rainbow Dash! What in Celestia’s name is goin’ on here!?” Applejack yelled as she glowered down at the cyan pony on the ground. Her stern expression turned to worry as Rainbow Dash looked at her with her big, glimmering, tearing eyes. “Rainbow Dash?”
“Oh guys! I’m so glad you’re all here!” Rainbow Dash wept. She quickly hugged one of Applejack’s hooves, who pulled it away out of her grasp.
“Rainbow Dash! Just what in tarnation is goin’ on!?” Applejack asked. “Why is there lightning shootin’ all over like Trixie’s fireworks!?”
“And darling! What in the name of Celestia happened to your magnificent wings!?” Rarity gasped, pointing to the empty space between her mane and her Cutie Mark.
“And why is there super-delicious peppermint twist sticks left out in the field when there is nopony else to gobble them up!?” Pinkie Pie asked frantically. She jumped in the air and revved her hind legs to dash to the candy cane trees in the chaotic lightning storm, only to have Applejack’s lasso tied around her tail before she could take off. Pinkie Pie ran in the air for about five seconds before she bellyflopped on the ground.
“Settle down there, Pinkie Pie! This ain’t the right time ta think about eatin’ sweet stuff, this here’s serious business!” Applejack chided as she spat her lasso out of her mouth. She turned her attention to the tearful, wingless Rainbow Dash lying flat on the ground. “Rainbow Dash, what’s goin’ on with this crazy weather, and why are yer wings missin’... and why are ya cryin’?”
Rainbow Dash wiped her tears away from her eyes and sniffled. “Alright. Alright. You all know about Princess Celestia’s letter to Twilight, right?” Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie all nodded simultaneously to her question. “Did she ever tell you guys what she wrote in that letter?”
“Eenope.”
“Nuh-uh.”
“I’m afraid not.”
“Well, Princess Celestia said that some alien creature was gonna bring down Equestria! So when Twilight and I went to Fluttershy’s to pick her up, Spike saw the creature stalking around in her backyard! We chased him all the way down here and...” Rainbow Dash buried her face into her hooves. “...and he did something to Twilight.”
“What did he do ta Twilight?”
“I don’t know, AJ!” Rainbow Dash snapped, shocking Applejack a foot backwards. “I don’t know what he did and how he did it, but that creature caused Twilight’s magic to go haywire! We all pitched in to calm her magic down but things got out of hoof! That creature was about to be hit by Twilight’s magic, then Fluttershy... she... she...”
Rainbow Dash was cut from her story as she felt herself compelled to sob into her hooves again. She pointed her hoof to the field over the top of the hill, gesturing the three other mares to witness the chaos Rainbow Dash referred to.
Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity peeked over the top of the hill. Past the mound and into the lightning was a field plunged into an array of madness, much more chaotic that Discord’s reign over Ponyville. The grass was a blot-like mess of bright multi-colored diamond pattern quilts. The trees nearby were either tall pieces of candy, giant houseplants or floating in midair. The fish bloating like a balloon were lifted high up into the sky. Not surprisingly, the passing clouds became levitated piles of cotton candy.
In the center of it all was none other than Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight squirmed greatly in her own magic, subjected to every painful throbbing headaches that surged through her horn. The pain was weakening her mentally and physically at the minute, by the minute.
Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie caught the glimpse to their right of what they assumed to be the “alien creature” Rainbow Dash mentioned. His head was drooped down, letting his slightly long brownish-blonde hair block the views of his tear-stained eyes. His clothes, much to Rarity’s disgust, were wrinkled and stained with dirt. Lying at his knees was a statue of a pegasus pony.
There was something about the statue that seemed familiar... too familiar.
Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie all squinted to get a better look at the statue. The stature had a long mane and tail reaching past her underbelly. Her big shy eyes had shrunken pupils etched in the center. Their eyes were caught by three butterflies pictured on her flank.
Then the three mares gasped.
They lost their composure as they soon realized the statue lying at the creature’s knees was Fluttershy. Although they weren’t exactly there when the incident with Twilight’s magic began, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie developed the sad picture of how Rainbow Dash’s story would’ve ended. It ended with the cost of their dear friend’s life for the life of the alien creature.
“No,” Applejack whispered. “Is that statue...?”
“Yes.”
“And that creature,” Rarity whimpered. “Is that...?”
“Yes.”
“And Twilight?” Pinkie squeaked. “Did that mean-meanie pants...?”
“Yes.”
The mares were abruptly brought to tears by the horrifying confirmation of Twilight’s magical rampage and of Fluttershy’s lifeless form. Rarity covered her mouth with her hoof in shock. Applejack placed her hat to her chest and bowed her head down. Pinkie’s mane deflated from its usual puffy form as her tears poured from her eyes like a fountain. The three mares joined Rainbow Dash with mourning their fallen friend, all four mares huddled in a pile of saddened orange, cyan, white and pale pink
Then Applejack grit her teeth hard. She snarled an angry cowgirl’s growl as she slammed her Stetson hat onto her head. “Why, that no good, two-bit varmint!” Applejack yelled, snorting steam from her nostril. “How dare he come ta Equestria an’ put our friends in harm’s way! Ah oughta buck him to Appleloosa so cousin Braeburn can buck him to the badlands!”
“I’m afraid I have to agree with you, Applejack,” Rarity concurred. “Have you taken a good look at that thing? His mane looks so rancid and his garments are... ugghhh... so garish, not to mention filthy. I’m sorry, but that creature has got to go!”
“Yeah! I say we go over there and teach that mean Mr. Alien Pants a lesson by giving him a one-way ticket to the moon with my Party Cannon!” Pinkie Pie screeched angrily, earning two agreeing chants from the cowgirl and the fashion designer.
“Hear, hear!”
“Wait!”
Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie galloped no more than 3 steps when they were blocked from their path by the wingless Rainbow Dash. Her eyes were narrowed down, puffy and crimson from her shedding tears. Her cheeks were soaked to the skin as a reminder of the sadness she felt from minutes’ past. Heavy breaths were hissed through gritted teeth as Rainbow Dash glowered at them with her defensive stance.
“Are you guys crazy!? You can’t go rushing in the meadow just to give that guy a good thrashing!! If you go out in there, you’re all going to end up like Fluttershy!!” Rainbow Dash yelled, pointing to Fluttershy’s statue form.
“But what are we supposed ta do now, Rainbow Dash!? If we can’t go out in the meadow we’re nothin’ but sittin’ ducks out here!” Applejack rebutted.
“Ducks...”
Pinkie Pie pouted her lip sadly, pulling a happy photograph from her mane of her and Fluttershy sitting together in Sugarcube Corner, smiling like there was nothing wrong in the world. Fluttershy had a nice vanilla milkshake sitting on the table while Pinkie Pie sipped her strawberry milkshake in her hooves.
“I remember when Fluttershy cared the little duckies so much, she would lead a bunch of them to the lake so they could live like a family...” Pinkie Pie suddenly clasped the photograph to her chest and wailed herself another fountain of tears. “I MISS FLUTTERSHY ALREADY!”
As the bubbly pony wept for Fluttershy yet again, Rarity trotted over to her and pulled her in for a comforting embrace. Her mascara ran down her face in synchronization with her flowing tears as she gently rubbed the back of Pinkie’s back.
“Pinkie Pie, I miss our dear Fluttershy as much as you do,” Rarity assured the weeping pony. “But we must put her death aside for the sake of saving Twilight’s life. If we don’t stop Twilight from releasing anymore magic right now, then we may lose another dear friend in no time at all.”
“And that’s not the worst of it,” Rainbow Dash added. “If Twilight keeps using her magic, it might spread to Ponyville. Heck, it could even spread throughout all of Equestria and that’s gonna make a certain draconequus very happy! We have to stop Twilight before she turns Equestria into Discord’s newest playground!”
“So how do ya propose we do that, Rainbow?” Applejack asked.
Rainbow Dash turned her gaze to the sad form of the human, who miraculously was still alive and kicking in the field. She looked on emotionlessly as she saw the human rocking himself back and forth. He sung a tune to himself, but she couldn’t hear the words he mouthed.
“Don’t worry about that, AJ. We already had a plan forming when things went horribly wrong with Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash answered, looking away from the traumatized human. “Besides, with all of you guys here, I’m gonna need all the help I can get.”
“Rainbow, in all my life, this must be the first time Ah’ve heard ya asked somepony ta help ya out,” Applejack said tilting her Stetson hat over her eyes. “But an Apple never refuses ta help a friend in need. Ah’m more than willin’ ta help you sort this situation out.”
“Indeed,” Rarity replied with a slight smile of determination. “I cannot bear to live with myself if I allow this commotion to continue without me to help clean this mess. You may count me in.”
“Ooh, ooh! I wanna help! I wanna help!” Pinkie Pie piped up, her sadness suddenly switched to happiness. “I’m not gonna lose anymore of my bestest-best friends today! I promise to help my bestest friends in any way I can! That’s my Pinkie Promise!”
Rainbow Dash knew there was truth within her friends’ promises. She cracked a sporting grin and pulled her friends in for a huddle. “Alright guys, let’s do this thing. We’re not doing this only for Fluttershy but for Twilight as well.”
“Eeyup.”
“Absolutely.”
“LET’S DO IT!”
“Alright." Rainbow Dash pulled the three mares closer into a more tightening huddle. "Listen up, girls, ‘cause here’s what we’re gonna do.”
==================================================================
Harold couldn’t breathe.
His breaths were drained away slowly with every cry wailed from his newly broken heart.
Even if he could breathe, he would only have a little bit of time to suck in the oxygen needed before he could sing the verses of “Goodbye Blue Sky” to himself in a slurred tone. He rocked himself back and forth slowly as his consciousness faded from the lack of oxygen with his crying, bit by bit.
He figured he would pass out with the lack of oxygen and go about the rest of the day subconsciously like a stringless puppet. He figured a lightning bolt could help put him out of his misery and reunite him with Lana in the afterlife. He figured that this Princess Celestia would lock him in the dungeons for accidental regicide and lock him away in the dungeons until the end times arrived. Maybe he would be executed for such a heinous crime.
Either way, he didn’t care.
He was gonna die one way or another for those crimes.
This was not the first time he thought such depressing thoughts. Harold went through this phase many times, but this deep layer of depression was similar to the feeling he felt for a week after Lana died. After the burial ceremony in the old cemetery, Harold fell deeper and deeper into the abyss. His parents, Ahab and Deveraux DeMatt, refused to bury their only daughter at the foot of the apple blossom tree in the mansion gardens because it would “desecrate the beauty of the gardens their people worked so hard to make.”
The apple blossom tree was like Paradise on Earth for Harold. It was the premiere place for him to hang around with Lana, playing with each other, having picnic lunches on the weekends or taking long naps under the shining sun. The butlers, maids and gardeners all agreed that seeing the two of them together underneath the apple blossom tree somehow made their day brighter.
But since Lana’s death, the tree was nothing but a sprout of forking wood. No blossoms had bloomed since that terrible day. Neither had Harold’s spirit, not for nearly a month at least until the night he decided to run away from home. Now it had been only five days since his departure from New York City and already he slipped back into the dull grey clouds of his mind.
Truly, Harold was a broken youth.
But then a noise snapped him from his harrowed stupor. To Harold, it was the sound of eight... twelve... no, sixteen hooves beating upon the transmogrified grass and into the field of chaos. Reluctantly, he looked up from the grass that bore red-and-blue diamond patterns and saw the last pony he wanted to see. He saw Rainbow Dash gallop into the heart of the storm, followed by three more mares covering her back.
It didn’t take a genius to know that the other three mares were Rainbow Dash’s other friends.
The first mare that caught Harold’s eye was the orange Earth mare. Her blonde mane was tied in a red tie, hidden underneath that brown Stetson hat. Her eyes were like emeralds, her cheeks dotted with white freckles. Her Cutie Mark depicted three red plump apples moving rhythmically with her hind legs. Harold could tell that pony was from the countryside.
The white unicorn mare also drew his attention. Her delicately curled indigo mane and her baby blue eyeshadow mixed well together with the alabaster coat, like she was a walking mixture of blueberries and vanilla yogurt. Her Cutie Mark was a trio of light blue diamonds. Much to Harold’s chagrin, he could tell by the state of her mane, tail and makeup that she was a sort of ritzy pony.
Then there was the pink pony. With the exception of her cerulean eyes and the three balloons as her Cutie Mark, Harold saw that everything related with this pony was pink. Her entire coat was colored pink. Her poofy mane and equally coiffured tail were both colored pink. Even her personality was tickled pink. Harold figure that this particular pony would stand out easily in a crowd.
But with the three mares and Rainbow Dash cantering into the chaos, Harold knew they were there to help Twilight Sparkle curb her of her pain. They must have formulated a plan while Harold kneeled in the same spot without ever having a lightning bolt even graze an inch of his skin. Now their plan was in motion and there was nothing Harold could do to help.
Nothing except watch the entire ordeal resolve from the sidelines.