Months ago, ponies on the outskirts of an arid farming village looked towards the west.
They gasped, dropped their utensils, and gathered together in frightened little clusters.
A massive figure swooped in from the Wasteland, carrying something in its scarlet talons. With a leering snout, it gave the farmers a burning glare, then touched down on its hulking haunches. Carefully, it laid out a limp, battered equine figure across the dusty earth.
With a claw, the dragon spread Rainbow's bandaged wings apart, pausing to caress and examine the pegasus' chin.
Nostrils fumed, and the Divine's red eyes shrank.
"If you are truly the vessel of both chaos and harmony..." the creature boomed, "Then you will accomplish more than just the restoration of a dying world. You will restore hope. Here and abroad."
As the ponies gawked, the creature took wing, and ascended towards the jagged mountains towards the northeast.
"I will be watching you from afar, Austraeoh..."
Rainbow Dash murmured something in response.
Only the wind answered, brushing her bangs like a friendly hoof. She reached up, blindly caressing the morning air.
"And I will keep watching over you," that same voice boomed, growing more and more distant. "After all, you restored my sister, even in her dying breath. For that... you have my faith, if nothing else..."
Rainbow Dash's eyes opened.
She saw nothing but lavender.
She blinked.
Dark shadows brushed against the mountain. The sound of leathery wings ripped through the air.
Rainbow stirred, jolted. She sat up with a gasp, looking all around. She heard and felt the rattle of her Loyalty Pendant around her neck.
She was alone, strewn on the mountainside.
Panting, Rainbow Dash stood tall. All of the dizziness was gone, and along with it the disabling waves of pain and numbness. She stared southeast, having to squint, for the sun rose bright and furious over a battered horizon. She saw the carnage of war in every detail: bodies strewn through the bloodied mud, managliders crashed and smoldering, row after row of demolished tents and shell fragments.
Her face grimaced in disgust. She shuddered, hanging her head down low to the ground. Then, slowly—one limb after another—she shook in vehemenent rage. She tilted her head back up, and when she did, she was sneering. Her gaze shot southwest, trailing the southern edge of the lower mountains.
She saw the Steel Wing and the Lightning Bearer fused together as one bloated, burning carcass.
With a deep gowl, Rainbow Dash took off, shot her way southwest, and hurled herself towards the wreckage.
Shell levitated a scimitar along his flank, studying the sharp edges of Arcshod's former weapon. At least... the creature that assumed the figure of his former opponent. Warily, Shell cast an eye towards the collapsed abomination, staring at its cracked carapace. He tongued the inside of his mouth, turned around, and proceeded to climb his way out of the wreckage towards a spare managlider he had seen a few moments earlier.
Not long after, a brisk wind soared by, blowing his graying manes.
Shell stumbled, gasping. He spun about, eye wide, just in time to see a prismatic blur shoot its way into the heart of the ruptured Lightning-Bearer.
"Is it her..."
Shell twitched. Shell hissed in fury.
"Imre, she dares..." He stomped his hooves and bellowed. "She dares!"