//------------------------------//
// Letter 
// Story: Safe 
// by Princess_Celest1a 
//------------------------------//

Twilight felt the breeze run through her mane. “Rainbow! I think I’m doing i-” suddenly, one of her wings gave out. The Alicorn spiraled through the air. She ran into a tree with a sickening thud. Twilight sighed. “I’m never going to get the hang of this, Rainbow Dash.” Rainbow Dash put on a fake looking smile.
“You’re getting a lot better, Twi, really.”
“You’re just saying that,” said Twilight dejectedly. Twilight used her magic to open the door to her home. Spike immediately ran up to her.
“Twilight! Urgent letter from Princess Celestia!” Twilight immediately opened up the letter. “My dear Princess Twilight” the purple Alicorn read, “I need you and the rest of your friends to come to Canterlot at once.”
“That’s it?” said Rainbow Dash. 
“Be quiet.” said Twilight, “Let’s go gather our friends.
_____________________________________________________________________

The friends bowed before Princess Celestia. “Twilight.” Said Celestia, “We are now the same rank. You no longer have to bow before me.” 
“Oh, s-sorry, Princess,” stuttered Twilight.
“It’s quite alright, Twilight.”
“So why’d yah call us here, Princess?” said Applejack.
“Follow me.” said Celestia simply. They followed Celestia down one of the many hallways of the palace. Celestia stopped in front of a painting on the wall. On it there was a white unicorn who seemed to be caught in a big swirl of black wind. The unicorn was obviously trying desperately to cast a spell to get rid of the wind- it didn’t seem to be working. The black covered most of the painting, and the unicorn’s white coat was bright against the black. The look of terror in the unicorn’s eyes was unmistakable. 

“Why, what is that ghastly black wind?” said Rarity.
“That,” said Celestia grimly, “is Zarta.” The ponies shifted uncomfortably.
“W-what’s it doing to that unicorn?” whispered Fluttershy. Celestia looked out of the window into the distance.
“That unicorn lost her battle.” said Celestia, not really answering the question.
“Why are you showing us this, Princess?” said Twilight, who wasn’t sure if she really wanted to know the answer.
“Because,” said Celestia, still gazing into the sky outside of the window, “Princess Luna and I believe Zarta has returned.”
“So?” said Rainbow Dash, “we just go out, find this ‘Zarta’ thing, and kick its butt!” Celestia spared the pegasus a sad smile.
“I’m afraid it’s not that easy.” There was a thud of hooves against the floor, and then the sound of cantering. Princess Luna burst into the room.
“Dear sister,” she said, “we must go. Our time grows short.”
“Come, My Little Ponies,” said Celestia, “we will follow my sister.” She trotted away after Luna, and the other ponies quickly followed.

Celestia and Luna, along with the rest of the ponies, rode in a chariot pulled by two of the royal guards. They had been riding for a while, and now the land below them looked dead. The ground was riddled with cracks along its dusty surface, and there was not a drop of water in sight. 
“Princess?” asked Twilight, “Where are we?” Luna was the one who answered.
“We do not know for certain. We are only following the trail of Zarta.” Twilight looked down. She could now see that within the natural cracks in the ground, there was also a long, thin, black tendril sneaking across the land. The substance, whatever it was, seemed to be throbbing. It looked almost alive.

“So what is this ‘Zarta’ thang anyway? What’s it do?” said Applejack. Celestia answered this time. 
“We do not know for certain. All we know is that it does not kill them, but a pony that has the misfortune of coming across Zarta loses the will to live- they become a shell of their former selves.”
“Well,” said Rainbow Dash, “why don’t you just ask them what happened?”
“They no longer speak.” said Celestia sharply. No one dared to ask any more questions after Celestia snapped like that. “I wonder what happened,” Thought Twilight, “why did she react that way?” 

A few hours of awkward silence later, the guard started their descent. Twilight looked hopefully at the land beneath them, but despite how far they had traveled, the land looked as dry and dead as ever. The black tendril snaking across the land seemed to have grown in size. With a loud thump, the chariot hit the ground. All the ponies jumped out.
“Return back to Canterlot.” Celestia commanded the guards, “We will signal when you need to return.” Twilight looked at her princess nervously. 
“Should I apologize for earlier? Should I even bring it up?” Taking a deep breath, Twilight walked up to Celestia. 
“P-princess,” started Twilight nervously, “I’m really sorry about what Rainbow Dash said earlier. She didn’t mean it and-”
“Twilight.” Celestia gazed at her kindly, “It’s quite alright. What she said just brought up some bad memories, that’s all.”
“D-do you want to talk about it or-”
“Maybe another time- maybe.” said Celestia. Suddenly, there came a ground shaking rumble from the distance.
“In here!” shouted Princess Luna, pointing to a cave with her hoof. All of the ponies followed Luna into the cave. Luna and Celestia used their magic to block off the cave entrance.
“That should keep us safe, at least for a little bit.” said Luna nervously.
“Relax, dear sister.” comforted Celestia, “It will be okay. I have dealt with Zarta before.”

A roaring come from outside of the cave. All of the ponies except for Celestia and Luna huddled together in fright.
"I-is that Zarta?" said Fluttershy. 
"I believe so." said Celestia gravely. Fluttershy gave a squeak and hid under Pinkie Pie.
"It's okay, Fluttershy," said Pinkie, "maybe Zarta wants to play?" Pinkie looked unconfident. The fear in everyone's eyes was evident.
"Everything should be okay." said Luna, "At least for the night."
"N-night?!" Fluttershy squeaked and hid under Pinkie again. Another huge roar came from the outside.