The Dawn of Hatred

by Thomas Hunter

The Funeral

All too soon, the next day arrived, and with it came Rainbow Dash's funeral. Almost all of Ponyville showed up for the somber event, with several of Rainbow Dash's Cloudsdale friends showing up as well.

The event was flashy and over the top, just like the cyan pegasus would have wanted. Even though Rainbow was only a member of the reserves, the Wonderbolts showed up, and performed a special tribute. Usually reserved for full-fledged members, the routine which they flew was beautiful, and was designed to make it readily apparent that one member was missing. After the graveside services concluded, and everyone who wanted to say something about their departed friend had spoken, the Wonderbolts presented the family with an Equestrian national flag. A visibly shaken and broken-hearted Scootaloo accepted it with trembling hooves. She clung to it as though it were a lifeline, as if it and it alone could rescue her from this tragedy. Closing remarks were made, and then everyone disbanded, on their way to the meal that was being held for family and close friends at Twilight's palace.

In spite of this, Twilight remained for a few minutes more and numbly watched as the casket containing Rainbow Dash's body was lowered into the ground. This was it. Her friend was dead and would soon be buried. When she had become a princess, Twilight had, with much difficulty, come to terms with the fact that she would eventually outlive her friends, but in all of her wildest imaginings she could never have dreamed of this. Never this.

Twilight lost track of time sitting there alone, listening to the sound of the three grave diggers shoveling dirt into the grave.

Plunk. Plunk. Plunk.

With each shovelful hitting the casket, Twilight's resolve grew stronger and stronger.

Not. One. More.

She would not let any more of her friends die.

Not. One. More!

She would do everything in her power to subdue Radiant Dawn.

Not! One! More!

And if she couldn't find a way to subdue him…

NOT! ONE! MORE!!

She would… she would….

“T-Twilight?! What are you…”

Twilight slowly turned toward the terrified voice. Fluttershy stood a few feet away trembling from head to toe, staring wide-eyed at Twilight as if she were some kind of monster. This confused and disturbed Twilight. Why would her friend ever look at her in such a terrible way? She quickly took in her surroundings.

Her face was wet. She had been crying. No surprise there.

At some point without realizing it, she had stood up, every muscle in her body as taut as a bow string.

The gravediggers were nowhere to be found even though the grave was not yet full. Their shovels were strewn haphazardly on the ground, as if they had dropped them fleeing from something that had frightened them. But, if they weren’t shoveling any longer, why could she still hear the cadence of the shovelfuls of dirt hitting Rainbow’s coffin?

The land around her, previously covered in soft, green grass was now scorched black and cracked, devoid of life. Floating above her, encased in some black and purple magic, rocks and dirt flew in a whirlwind of motion. Who was using such terrifying magic? With a knot in her stomach, she looked up and, to her horror, she saw her horn ensconced in the same black magic as the rocks.

The sight terrified Twilight, snapping her completely out of her cloud of blind rage, and breaking her singular focus. Rocks and dirt flew in every direction. Some debris which had been floating particularly high in the sky came plummeting down to the ground.

“FLUTTERSHY!”

Twilight dove and tackled her friend, sending them both tumbling several feet. Milliseconds later, a large rock plunged to the spot where Fluttershy had been standing, narrowly missing its would-be victim.

“Ngh-Fluttershy, are you okay?” Twilight inquired as she rose to her feet.

She stretched out a hoof to her friend.

Fluttershy dragged herself away from Twilight.

“Wh-who are you? And what have you done with Twilight?!” Fluttershy asked, staring at Twilight in abject horror.

“What do you mean, Fluttershy? It’s me! I’m Twilight! Your friend!”

“You are not, you…you liar!” Fluttershy said, seeming to gain a little confidence and adopting an accusatory tone, “Twilight would never use magic like what you were using! It was pure evil!”

Of all the pain Twilight had experienced in the past two weeks, nothing she had experienced had cut her so deeply as Fluttershy’s piercing look of horror and her accusatory words did now. They eviscerated her already bleeding soul.

Tears poured anew down Twilight’s already tearstained cheeks.

“Fluttershy…it’s me!” Twilight gasped between heavy sobs, “I don’t know what just happened! PLEASE! YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE ME!”

Twilight wailed and then collapsed onto the ground in a ball of mind-numbing sorrow. Between each desperate sob, she repeated her plea, over and again, until all she could manage was a simple, “Please…”

Just as Twilight became convinced that her sorrow would swallow her whole, somepony embraced her, hesitantly at first, then pulled her in close and gently began stroking her mane.

“There, there…it’s okay, it’s all going to be okay,” Fluttershy’s familiar, soothing voice calmly reassured Twilight.

Twilight nuzzled into her friend’s chest and whimpered, trying to catch her breath. Fluttershy continued to soothe her until she calmed down and had regained a semblance of composure.

“Thanks Fluttershy,” Twilight whimpered.

Fluttershy blushed, “Good or evil, I just can’t sit by and do nothing whenever somepony is hurting as badly as you are.”

Twilight’s heart warmed at the purity of Fluttershy’s actions. Not just anypony would have gone out of their way to comfort someone who they thought might hurt them. Fluttershy was truly special.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“Well,” Fluttershy replied, “When you didn’t show up at the castle, everypony started to worry, so I volunteered to find you.”

Twilight frowned, “How long has it been since the funeral ended?”

“About thirty minutes.”

“Thirty minutes?!”

Fluttershy nodded.

“Wow. No wonder everypony was looking for me,” Twilight said, “We’d better head over there so that they know I’m alright.”

“Well…um…about that…I was wondering if you’d be willing to go back alone,” Fluttershy said bashfully, “You see, I don’t like crowds…and um…I thought that since most of the ponies who would usually be at Pinkie’s hospital room are at the castle now, I might go see Pinkie Pie instead…”

Twilight smiled, “I understand, Fluttershy. Tell Pinkie, Maud and the Pies hello for me.”

“I will,” Fluttershy said, reciprocating with a gentle smile.

--------------

Exhausted, and emotionally drained, Twilight steeled herself on her way to the castle. She purposefully took a longer route, and walked slowly so that she would have time to regain her composure. Everypony would be looking to her for strength, so she couldn’t show up looking out of sorts.

After several minutes, she arrived at the castle. Twilight was as composed as she would ever be. She took a deep breath, and opened the door.

“Twilight!”

Twilight was flooded by ponies from all over Ponyville, all expressing concern, asking where she had been, and if she was okay.

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Thank you all,” Twilight said.

She was beginning to feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of ponies who were hugging her and checking on her well-being. Although, she soon realized that some very notable ponies were missing from the crowd.

“Where are Applejack and Rarity? Has anypony seen them?” Twilight asked.

“They were here,” Applebloom answered, “but Rarity left to go see Pinkie Pie pretty soon after the meal started, and then after a bit Applejack went to check on her.”

Twilight was stunned—pleasantly surprised, but stunned. Applejack made sense, after all, she had almost kept a constant vigil on Pinkie since she had been injured. But Rarity had refused to visit Pinkie Pie at all. Up until this point, she wouldn’t even acknowledge Pinkie’s state. Maybe the funeral and facing Rainbow’s death had given Rarity the courage to face Pinkie Pie’s mortality. Good. Pinkie Pie needed Rarity.

“Twilight?”

Applebloom’s voice snapped Twilight back into reality.

“Huh? What did you say, Applebloom?”

“I asked if you knew where Fluttershy was,” Applebloom looked at Twilight, concern etched across her young face, “Are you sure you’re alright, Twilight? You don’t look alright.”

“I’m fine,” Twilight responded, “Actually, I’m doing better now that I know that Rarity is…”

Twilight froze.

“Everypony is here.”

“Twilight?”

“And my friends are all over there…unprotected.”

“You’re scarin’ me, Princess.”

Twilight put her hooves on Applebloom’s shoulders, “Applebloom, I need you to find as many of the royal guard as you can. Tell them to go over to the hospital…now. Can you do that for me?”

“But-“

“Applebloom!”

Applebloom flinched, “Yes, I can.”

“Good. I have to go. Now.”

“What’s going on?”

But before Applebloom could finish asking her question, Twilight had disappeared in a flash of purple and black.

Comments

[Bahamut Omega]

Don't see this ending well for Twilight considering the tragedy tag. In a tragedy it is often preordained that things won't end well for its hero after all.