“Big Macintosh, get up. Please get up!” Raindrops looked around nervously, the one blue eye not swollen shut trying to take everything in. “Big Macintosh, please.” She nudged him again, whimpering. “I can't go by myself, I'm too scared. You have to help me find the others!” The big red stallion didn't move. “Please don't be dead!” She nudged him again, harder this time and teetering as she tried to keep weight off her broken right foreleg. This time his breathing changed. He took in a deep breath and his entire body shuddered. “Oh my gosh, Big Macintosh? Big Macintosh, can you hear me?” She hopped around from his back to his head, her wings fluttering as she went. Green eyes were open to slivers and Raindrops cried in relief. Her yellow coat and blue mane were tousled and dirty, cuts left welts everywhere on her body. Big Macintosh didn't look any better.
“Applejack,” he managed groggily.
“She isn't here,” Raindrops answered. She looked around again. “Nopony is here. I don't even know where here is. But we're not safe here! We have to move before they find us!” Her voice cracked with panic. “We have to find the others! Please, Big Macintosh. Please get up!”
He lay still a moment longer, possibly trying to find the energy to get up. But before Raindrops could beg again he was shifting, lumbering to his hooves. He staggered and swayed, and Raindrops did her best to steady him. As he leaned on her she instinctively put her injured leg down, her own full weight and that of the stallion too much for her. With a sharp cry she crumbled under him. Big Macintosh managed to keep himself upright and bent his head to examine his companion's leg. “It's broken,” she told him unnecessarily.
“Can you fly?” She nodded and he straightened to give the featureless land a look. “Where in the hay are we?”
“I don't know. I woke up and everypony was just gone. I was flying for hours before I found you.”
“You didn't see anypony else?”
Raindrops paused, swallowing hard. Her gaze flickered downward. “I saw the Mayor.”
“Where? Why didn't you bring her along?”
“She was...she was dead.” Voice just above a whisper, Raindrops swallowed again. “I almost couldn't tell who it was. But her glasses....”
Big Macintosh cursed. He stared out at nothing, clearly trying to gather his thoughts. “You said we ain't safe here, that somepony might find us? Who are you talkin' about?”
“Not somepony,” Raindrops whimpered. “Something.”
“Beg your pardon?”
“Do you remember what happened? In Ponyville, right before Twilight's spell?” Big Macintosh opened his mouth to respond but then paused. His eyes took on something faraway as memories came through, memories Raindrops shared. When realization hit his eyes went wide and he looked down at the yellow pegasus. Raindrops nodded. “They're here.”
“Sweet Celestia. C'mon. We gotta get movin'.”
Raindrops flapped her wings and took to the sky, hovering just to Big Macintosh's side “Where are we going to go?”
“Don't really know,” the stallion admitted. “But I know we can's stay here.”
Eight Hours Ago
“Lame.” Rainbow Dash lounged back on the grass, her forelegs going behind her head as the tip of Applejack's hat fell down to cover her eyes. “I've seen beetles with better tricks than that. Give it up, Pinkie Pie. You're never going to out-trick me.”
“Don't you worry, Dashie. I still have tons of tricks left”
“Do I look worried? Besides, I just pulled the all-time best prank on Applejack. She never even saw it coming!”
Pinkie bounced up and down. “What did you do? What did you do?”
“Well” Rainbow Dash peeked out from under the hat. “I waited until she was out alone in the orchard so it would be easier to sneak up on her. When she was...”
“Rainbow Dash!”
Both Pinkie and Dash turned at the sound of a familiar voice. “Oh snap. I'll tell you the rest later, Pinkie. Gotta go!” With a speed most of the other pegasai envied, Dash took off into the air with a trail of color. An orange and blonde blur followed quickly after.
“You get back here with my hat this minute! The beatin' you're gonna get when I catch you...”
“Catch being the operative word!” Instead of keeping on in her straight pat, Dash pulled up and did a tight loop so quickly that Applejack was completely confused when Dash disappeared. “Looking for somepony?” Dash teased from behind. Applejack skidded to a stop and wheeled but Dash was already back up in the air. “Too slow. As usual.”
“Dag nabit, Rainbow! Gimme my hat back!”
“What's it worth?”
“You know what it's worth!”
Dash pulled the hat from her head to examine it. “Relax, Applejack. I'm not going to hurt it.”
“I know nothin' of the sort. You're reckless by nature, Rainbow! I can't trust you further'n I can throw you!”
“You may not be as fast as me but you're pretty strong.” Dash put the hat back on her head. “Which means you could probably throw me pretty far. If you could ever get your hooves on me of course. So by your own logic you can trust me quite a bit.”
Applejack growled.
“Okay, okay. Don't pop a vessel or anything. I was just having a little fun.”
“Rainbow, get down here.”
“Not until you promise to chill out.”
“Rainbow, get down here!”
She looked down at Applejack with a scowl but found herself catching her breath. Applejack was no longer glaring up at her but staring right past her with wide, terror-filled green eyes. It was a look she'd never seen before and one she found herself praying she'd never see again. Rainbow Dash turned her head to look up and saw what it was that had her best friend so terrified.
It had been beautiful just seconds ago, pale blue and only dotted here and there with fluffy white clouds. Now, directly above where Rainbow Dash hovered, there was a hole in the sky. There was no other way to describe it. It was as if the atmosphere above them was some gigantic puzzle and a piece was now missing. Dash shot downward to land beside Applejack. The orange earth pony took her hat back but her gaze never left the blackness above them. All around the pair Ponyville had fallen completely silent. Even the usual ambient noise of the animals had gone mute. All attention was on the piece of the missing sky.
Rainbow Dash stood closer to Applejack, who only blinked in reply. “What in the hay do you think it is?” she whispered. Rainbow Dash just shrugged. Usually she'd be the first in the air racing to investigate. But something about this was frightening.
“I bet the egg-head would know,” she finally whispered. But half the town drew in a collective gasp, stealing their thoughts away. Another hole appeared in the sky, this one closer to the center of town. “We gotta find Twilight.”
“You find Twilight. I'm gonna go find Apple Bloom.”
Dash looked at Applejack with worry filled eyes. “Applejack...”
“I know, sugarcube. Me, too.” She pulled Dash into a tight embrace. “Go find Twi.”
They parted and split ways without looking back. Nothing like this had ever happened before in Ponyville, at least insofar as Rainbow Dash knew. And though Twilight hadn't been there nearly as long as the rest of them had been, the purple unicorn was so well read that she was bound to know what was going on. As it turned out she was not hard to find. While Dash flew toward the library Twilight was running at top speed right for Dash.
“Twilight!”
“Rainbow Dash! We have to get everypony out of here. Quick!”
“What's going on?”
“This is going to get really ugly, really fast.”
“What is?”
“Just listen to me! We have to get everypony into groups. A pegasus, a unicorn, and an earth pony.”
Dash made a face. “Huh?”
“There's no time to explain! Just help me before it's too late.”
Somewhere back in town, someone screamed.
Both ponies moved, running and flying back toward Ponyville proper. Another hole in the sky appeared, this one right in the path Dash was on. She banked left just in time to avoid crashing into it or flying through it, whatever would happen. Below Twilight was already barking out orders. Ponies were gathering themselves into groups when they could think clearly enough, many of them scattering as another hole appeared. “Stop running!” Twilight was yelling.
And then the ground started to shake.
Ponies scattered like a light turned on cockroaches. “No! Wait, where are you going?!”
Another scream, this one entirely too familiar.
Rainbow Dash dove and headed for the little pinto colt that was running as quickly as his little hooves would go. Something was chasing him, something nearly invisible. It made the space around it ripple like the reflection on the surface of a pool of water but had no distinct shape. “Hang on, Pip!”
“Pipsqueak, down!”
Seemingly out of nowhere, Princess Luna was also on a course for the colt. He dropped as soon as she told him to and she flew right over him, head down. Her horn pierced the ripple-creature and a horrible scream filled the air. “Get him out of here!” As Luna lunged to attack the nearly invisible enemy, Dash scooped Pipsqueak up and crashed right into a brown unicorn with a white mane and tail. She clearly had the same goal in mind and the three of them tumbled together.
Luna reared back and kicked out with her front hooves. She made contact with her unseen enemy and the space it took up seemed to implode on itself. Like a vacuum it sucked the air, everything around it into nothingness. Luna struggled to get away from it. Berry Icicle, running by, was not strong enough. She was sucked into the vacuum and disappeared with a gut wrenching scream. And then it was gone.
“You!” Luna called to an earth pony, Nurse Tenderheart. “To Rainbow Dash this instant.” The blue mare did not question the princess and ran to join the entwined group. Luna looked directly at Rainbow Dash, her dark eyes full of sorrow. “Don't die,” she told the pegasus. Luna's horn glowed softly and a cold feeling spread over Rainbow's body. Then there was blackness. And nothing else.