Equestrian Epoch: Final Hope

by Michael_Ravencroft

Second Sign: Part 6

Canterlot Days: Dates, Disasters, and Decisions

The morning came as the sunlight started to shine through window of Clay's room. The rays of light washed over the young earth pony colt, rousing him from sleep. He sat up in his bed and stretched out his forelegs, Clay then arched his back, remembering to stretch his newly acquired wings. Clay marveled at his new appendages as the light of the sun gave them a sheen-like sparkle. It was then he remembered what his uncle had told him about the spell.

The spell may only last three days, but after those three days your wings will permanently disappear Clay…

"Three days…will it be enough time…?"

Clay shook his head; he couldn't afford to think that way, not now. He had a date with Firefly, and he was determined to show this filly a good time, and to find out if she was "the one." Clay quickly went to the dresser and slipped on his Wonderbolts hoody, should his Ma or Aunt come in to wake him. That's when it hit him, something was off. Usually his Ma would be waking him up, granted they were on vacation, but she was still an early riser.

Clay opened the door to and looked up and down the hallway, it almost felt empty. The earth pony colt made his way to his Ma's room and knocked on the door.

"Ma, are you awake?" Clay asked.

There was no response.

"Ma…?"

Clay opened the door and cocked an eyebrow at what he saw. Nothing, no pony was inside, in fact the bed sheets were all messed up, as if somepony left in a hurry. Feeling slightly worried he trotted over to his Aunt and Uncle's room and, much as he knew it was bad manners to, barged into their room.

"What the…?"

Just like his Ma's room, Aunt Twilight and Uncle Bright were gone, beds in disarray.

"Oooookkkkkaaaayyy, this is starting to get a little weird now," remarked Clay.

He quickly made his way downstairs to see if maybe they had let him sleep late. As soon as he reached the living room his speculations were unfounded, as the downstairs seemed as vacant as the upstairs.

"Where the hay did they go in such a hurry?"

Just then, Clay heard knocking at the front door. Then he heard what sounded like the door unlocking.

"Hello…? Clay, are you there?"

"Mom!?"

Clay quickly ran to the front door, and sure enough there she was, Rainbow Dash, dressed up in her Wonderbolts uniform.

"There you are I was starting to wonder if you left or something. Nice hoody by the way," said Rainbow smirking.

"T-thanks Mom, so what happened to Ma, and Aunt Twilight, and Uncle Bright," he asked.

"Yeeeeahhhh, it's kinda a top secret thing, royal business. Your Ma went with your Aunt and Uncle to lend them a hoof."

"Really, how come you didn't go Mom?"

"They left really early, that's why I'm here; Twilight wanted me to come and check on you and to tell you what's going on. If you want you can come with me to the Lodge, maybe hang out a bit," asked Rainbow Dash.

Clay was taken a little aback by what his mother said. He always wanted to spend more time with his mother, either just the two of them, or all three of them as a family. Then again, there was still his date with Firefly, he couldn't miss that, not after all the trouble he went through trying to find her, and convincing his Uncle to cast the spell to give him wings. Clay was feeling conflicted, so he decided to gauge her response.

"Well…I kind of had plans today, Mom…I'm sorry," said Clay.

"Oh no, it's alright really. I just wanted to make sure that you didn't freak out because no one was here. If they're not back tonight, you can come to the Wonderbolts Lodge and bunk with me. `Kay?"

"Y-yeah that's cool," said Clay.

"Hey, do you want me to cook you breakfast?"

Clay looked at the clock, it was already eight o'clock and he promised to meet Firefly around ten-thirty. Still, a breakfast made by his Mom, it wasn't exactly something he wanted to pass up. Plus, she seemed a bit eager to do something for him.

"Sure Mom, I am kinda hungry," said Clay.

"Cool, let's see what I can whip up!"

---

Oh man, I'm going to be late!

Clay had enjoyed his breakfast more than he realized. Plus talking with his mother was fun, thanks to him being in school, he didn't get that much time to talk to Rainbow Dash, so he welcomed the chat. However when she left, Clay scrambled to make himself presentable for the filly of his dreams. Brushing his mane, washing his face, and brushing his teeth, practically doing all three at once which was quite an impressive feat. Clay flew through the air as fast as he could, trying to make it on time, or at the very least trying not to be later.

Soon he reached the place they promised to meet, a fountain in the middle of the park. Clay quickly spotted Firefly, and descended downwards like an arrow. The air nearly stung his eyes as the wind rushed over him, when Clay was certain he was close enough he flared his wings, coming to stop and landing on the ground with a bit of a thud.

The faux pegasus panted hard, the exhaustive fast flying having taken its toll.

"Sorry…I'm…late…Firefly," said Clay between pants.

"Usually showing up for your first date late is a bit of a turn off, but…" Firefly looked him over, and smiled coyly, "Seeing as how you pretty much pushed yourself to make it here, I guess I can let it slide."

Clay smiled at that, at least she wasn't writing him off just yet. "So, where did you want to go, how about a fly over to Cloudsdale?"

Firefly flinched at that, she looked away nervously while the filly rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah, about that, maybe it's better if we just hung around here? I mean, I want to go, but my dad would kill me."

"Oh, no problem, we can have it around here."

Clay and Firefly began trotting, nowhere in particular, yet. The two of them just mainly talked about their respective lives, with Clay leaving out some key details about his parentage, and the fact that he was an earth pony with false wings. Luckily though, Firefly didn't find it weird that a pegasus was working on a farm, being a pegasus herself and living on the ground in a mansion. From what he could gather, Firefly, not so much despised, as she was annoyed and angry at her father. Apparently after her mother died, who was amazingly a Wonderbolt, Firefly's father had become overly protective of her. Forbidding her from doing any aerial tricks, and just learning the basics of flight, but from what Clay saw a while back, she was doing more advanced moves than what was considered basic flight.

It did, however, get a little embarrassing when Firefly went on about his mother Rainbow Dash. The way she talked, despite her daredevil like attitude, about the Co-Captain of the Wonderbolts, was akin to a squealing fan filly. Clay had to look away from Firefly, so as to hide his reddening cheeks.

"So Firefly, did you…I don't know, want to see a movie or something," he asked.

Firefly's eyes lit up at the suggestion, "Seriously, I was just about to ask you that! There's this one movie that came out today, and I've wanted to see it ever since I first heard of it!"

"Well what're we waiting for, it's my treat so let's get going," said Clay.

The two of them took off into the air, flying over the shops and pavilions. Clay had to admit, the way Firefly seemed excited about this movie was kind of getting him excited too. Although Ponyville had a movie theatre, there was only one, and it didn't get as many movies as would some of the bigger cities would. Soon the movie theatre came into view, both Firefly and Clay circled around it, slowly descending to the sidewalk. The pink pegasus filly ran up to the marquee and beckoned Clay to join her. Once he got there Firefly pointed to the poster of the movie she wanted to see. When Clay saw it, his expression deadpanned slightly.

"War in Equestria…?"

"Yeah, trust me; it's not some documentary or anything. It's about what happened during the War of Darkness, but mostly it follows the stories of the Knights of Harmony, and what they did during the War! I heard the actors and special effects are supposed to be killer!"

Something in the back of Clay's mind was telling him to probably go see another movie, and there were many choices. Casabronco, Harry Trotter: And the Society of the Firebird, the second Deragon movie, Oldest, and there was even a Doctor Hooves movie. But, one look at Firefly's eyes sealed his decision about what movie they were going to see. With a sigh, Clay walked up to the ticket counter.

"Two for War in Equestria please."

Clay took the tickets into his mouth and trotted to the doors, just then, Firefly zoomed towards him and enveloped him in a tight hug.

"Thank you Clay, I promise this is going to be awesome," said Firefly.

Clay's heart raced from being hugged by the filly, a slight blush appearing on his face. Firefly went and opened the door, with Clay following close behind her.

It's just a movie; I've heard plenty of Ma and Mom's old war stories, how much different can this be, he thought.

---

***Meanwhile, in a far off land***

The Griffon Kingdom was known for its military strength, being an aggressive race, they took whatever chance they could to prove their strength, speed, and agility. It was because of this, that they were called upon to help at the final battle of Calamity's Fall, and in so doing, had become a great ally to the Equestrian government. So when a mysterious plague-like disease starts killing off a couple hundred thousand innocent griffons, it's a big deal.

Currently, the Knights of Harmony were called upon to lend what aid they could to their aerial allies. The Kingdom was divided into city states, each ruled by a monarch of the region, with the High Emperor, and the capital, sitting in the center. Ofieldai, as well as many other middle rim cities, were being besieged by a virus that spread quickly, no one knew exactly who or what caused this disease to come into being, but the fact remained that this bug needed to squashed, and fast.

Twilight had erected a powerful, self-sustaining barrier around the middle rim cities. Much to their horror, most of the outer rim cities had been lost before they arrived, almost two million griffon citizens, males, females, children, only one fourth of their population.

Bright Blade and Applejack were busy searching the outer rim cities, surveying all that they could. They could tell that their armor was protecting them, but not one to take chances, Twilight had fixed them with some breathing masks, and an added layer of disease preventive wards. The two knights trotted through the quiet city, the only thing that even made noise was the wind.

"This…this is awful," said Applejack.

"Can't believe this…so many…"

What was truly horrifying was how fast it killed the citizens; they were all just going about their day, completely oblivious to what was happening, until it was too late.

"Twilight can't find any record, in griffon or pony archives, about a disease that kills this fast," said Bright Blade.

"Or this painfully, judgin' by the looks on their faces," commented Applejack.

"We need to find something; this is the place, reportedly, where the disease started."

"Yeah…she said somethin' about a 'Patient Zero?'"

"It's the first carrier, barring that; we need to check if there are any environmental causes for the virus."

"Gotcha."

The two of them made it to the center of the city. Applejack stood still, and then closed her eyes; the armor started glowing as her crystal cutie mark shined. Beneath her hooves, a wave of orange energy rippled through the ground, it reached out further and further, even beyond the outskirts of the city. Bright Blade flew up, about twenty feet into the air, his armor glowed too. His crystal cutie mark was shining, as it funneled its energy into his horn, sending out waves of golden energy over the skies of the city. Through their combined efforts, the two of them felt the air and land, searching for any abnormality, any hint or clue of a viral disturbance.

After about ten minutes Bright Blade and Applejack cancelled their energy waves, Bright landed next to the earth pony mare, sighing disappointedly.

"Nothing, what about you AJ, find anything?"

"Zilch, nothin' at all…Shoot!"

"Guess we go to the theory of a deliberate viral attack," suggested Bright.

"Ah don't like the idea of any creature willingly makin' this happen," said Applejack solemnly.

With a nod the two of them continued onwards. Applejack, despite the multitude of death around her, was glad that they were doing this mission. It helped get her mind off of certain things, things that she was regretting, things that could jeopardize her friendship with two of her friends, and the relationship she had with a certain rainbow maned mare. Lying wasn't her thing, but Twilight had said to forget about what happened, problem was, she couldn't, and it reflected in her armor. Applejack could tell that the Armor of Honesty was lacking some luster; it felt foreign to her, almost nagging her to tell the truth.

"Applejack, are you alright?"

"What – Oh yeah Ah'm fine, really!"

Bright Blade raised an eyebrow at that statement, mostly because Applejack's lips puckered and her eyes stared off in another direction.

"Applejack, I know what's eating you," said Bright Blade.

Applejack flinched, had Twilight told him.

"You had a fight with Rainbow Dash didn't you?"

Or maybe she didn't tell him and he's coming to his own conclusions.

"Y-y-yeah, Ah did. Ah…Ah said some things to her…accused her of stuff Ah had no proof of…and then Ah…"

Bright Blade stopped trotting, and placed a hoof on Applejack's withers. "Hey, don't worry AJ, if you want, I'll go and have a talk with her when we get back."

"No, no, please don't BB. You just tend ta Twilight, Rainbow's mah marefriend, we'll figuring somethin' out. Thanks though."

Bright Blade smiled and he seemed to let the issue slide and the two of them began trotting along. Now Applejack just had to figure out a way to patch things up with Twilight, which was going to be hard, seeing as how she didn't talk to her too much.

"By the way, do you know what's up with Twi? She doesn't seem like herself since last night, did something happen between you two?"

That one question hit Applejack harder than Eclipse's bashings; she tripped over her own hooves, sending her flying face forward into the dirt.

"AJ!?"

Before Applejack could say anything, a feeling of dread washed over them both. The earth pony mare shot up back to her hooves.

"Bright…ya feel that?"

"I do, and I don't like it…"

Suddenly a green mist started form on the ground a few feet ahead of them. The mist built up more and more till it was a sickening green cloud mass. The cloud of green mist washed over the dead bodies of the griffons, just as quickly as it covered them. A flock of birds flew overhead, the cloud shot towards them, engulfing the flock. Soon the birds fell out of the sky, ten plopping thuds, hitting the ground before them.

"I think we found the cause of the disease…"

"That ain't half the story Bright, look behind us!"

Bright Blade turned around; the mist cloud was amassing behind them, but not just to their rear. It rose over the rooftops, oozed out of the windows, and seeped out of the dead bodies, surrounding them.

"What the hay is this stuff!?"

"Reckon ya summon one of those swords before we get overwhelmed," suggested Applejack.

"Yeah, gotcha! Behold you blackhearts, the power of my –!"

Just as soon as Bright Blade started the chant the green cloud swelled up, spiraled, and shot towards them. It was a tornado of death heading straight for them. Applejack jumped in front of Bright and stamped the ground hard, the earth beneath them rose, transforming into a dome of solid rock around them. The green mist swirled together into four tornados, each one assaulting the dome with vicious strikes.

Inside Applejack was sweating, although earth dome was solid, it was being held together by her energy, which for some reason, was lacking.

Look at you, defending the love of the one you have wronged…

Shut up, this ain't the time to be hearin' yer nonsense!

He's so oblivious, trusting you, believing in you, and yet all you do is lie to his face, do you even deserve to be called honest…? Liar, Liar, LIAR!!!

Applejack felt something snap within her, the Armor of Honesty lost its glow, and then suddenly, it retracted. Bright Blade stared at Applejack, her body left bare. The earth pony mare stood there stunned, this had never happened before.

"Applejack, tell me I didn't just see, what I thought I saw!?"

"Meh…meh armor, it's gone!"

"Well recall it before the dome –!"

Too late, the dome of rock started to crack, fissures appeared in every direction, its crumbling only being aided by the turbulent pounding of the virus ridden wind outside. With one strike from the three tornados, the dome shattered around them. Bright and Applejack looked up, as the green clouds coiled, like looming snakes ready to strike at their prey. The clouds reared back, and dove right for them; Bright Blade stepped forward, calling upon his magic.

"Omni Shield of the Just!!!"

Bright Blade's shield spell immediately appeared before them, it expanded, taking the place of the rock dome from earlier. The virus tornados smashed against the barrier, grinding and spiraling like a drill, trying to pierce through. Applejack watched as Bright struggled to keep the shield from collapsing, whatever these clouds were they were powerful and relentless.

"AJ, I think now would be a good time for you to summon your armor and make us an escape route, like RIGHT NOW!" Bright shouted.

Applejack kept trying to summon her armor, but it wouldn't appear, almost as if it was refusing to do so.

"Ah don't know! It's like it won't listen to meh! What about teleportin' us outta here," said Applejack.

"AJ, I'd like to teleport us out of here, but right now I'm too busy trying to stop this thing from turning us into dead, diseased, corpses! I'd figure something out, quick before we're both dead," shouted Bright.

Applejack tried to think, what was keeping her from using the armor. She thought hard, trying to recall anything that would have made this happen. It wasn't until one word popped into her head, "Liar…" It all made sense, her Element was Honesty; her armor was connected to this one trait that she held in high regard, and right now, she was lying about something serious. This situation reminded her of the Discord incident all over again, that the truth would break apart the friendship Applejack had with her friends, but right now, it threatened to cause a rift between Twilight, Bright and herself. Unfortunately, this wasn't the time to worry about the consequences, especially when their lives hanged in the balance. There was only one choice open to her…

"Bright Blade, there's somethin' Ah need to tell ya!" Applejack shouted.

"It can wait AJ! Concentrate on your armor!"

"This is about my armor, but it's also about Twilight and meh too!"

Bright Blade turned his head to look at the earth pony mare, her face was darkened, which only made him worry even more about what Applejack had to say.

"Last night, when Twilight came to check on meh, Ah…Ah…" Applejack felt a lump form in her throat; she swallowed hard and braced herself for the worst. "Ah kissed Twilight!"

The shield wavered for a few seconds, which matched with the shocked expression Bright Blade had, but then suddenly it grew brighter, now bolstered by an anger building behind his emerald green eyes.

"YOU WHAT!? Why would do that, why would Twilight," he shouted.

"She didn't, Ah forced mahself on her! But then she punched meh, and snapped meh out of it! Bright Blade, ah'm sorry, ah'm really sorry!"

Bright Blade looked as if he were at war with himself; Applejack figured he was wrestling with the idea of wanting to throttle her, and keeping the both of them alive.

"Why, Applejack, why would you do that to her, to the both of us!?"

"Ah…Ah wasn't thinkin', ah was so paranoid that Dash was probably cheatin' on meh that Ah lashed out! Ah never meant to do that, and Ah hate mahself for doing that…Ah never meant to hurt either of ya…you and Twi are mah best friends…and the last thing Ah ever wanted to do is hurt you two!"

Suddenly Applejack's orange apple crystal began to shine, enveloping her body in its radiant light. The three green tornado clouds stopped their assault, drawing back as if scared of what was happening to Applejack. Bright Blade cancelled his shield spell and watched as AJ rose into the air, lifted by the power of her Element. When Applejack was at least seven feet into the air her body shined with the power of her Element. A giant flash of light blanketed the area, making Bright Blade shield his eyes with his wing.

The light started to dissipate, with Applejack floating gently back down to the ground, fully armored again. Once she touched down, AJ swayed, making Bright rush quickly to her side, propping her up. Applejack opened her eyes and gasped at what she saw ahead of them, prompting Bright to do the same. There, off in the distance, was the green mist, but it was different. It took the shape of a pegasus pony, with large intimidating wings, and glowing orbs of yellow light where its head was. A feeling of dread washed over the two knights, was this a new Envoy, or had Polemos returned in a new form?

Before either of them could find out the answer to that, the green mist rose up and evaporated, with no trace left to be seen. Both Applejack and Bright let out a sigh of relief.

"Applejack…about what you said…"

AJ flinched yet again, but turned to face the alicorn stallion.

"Bright, Ah'll understand if you never want to speak to meh again, just…"

"It's…I guess…I need to talk to Twilight before I say or do anything else. C'mon, I'll teleport us back to the Safe Zone."

Applejack just nodded, Bright's horn glowed with golden mana, enveloping them in a bubble. In a flash of sparkling light, they were gone.

---

***Back at Canterlot***

Who in the hay directed this movie…!?

This phrase kept repeating in Clay's mind throughout the entire film. It was a decent movie for the most part; the actors looked just like his Ma and Mom, and all his Aunts and Uncles, which was probably due to the use of an illusion spell. So far, for being a true story, it was less then truthful.

For one thing the actors, although they did match their characters, were a little too good at their roles. Twilight acted like a quiet bookworm, Pinkie Pie was sporadic, Rarity was even more of a diva, if that were even possible, and Fluttershy was cowering half the time, Bright Blade's actor…overly dramatic.

When it came to the scenes with his Mom and Ma, those were hard to watch. Though they got their personalities down, the actors didn't seem too concerned with displaying the passion between them. Clay had to turn away several times when the movie showed his adoptive parents making out. Firefly on the other hoof, Firefly was watching the movie with such intensity that she shushed Clay a couple of times. Just as well, his reddening face was the last thing he wanted her to see.

Clay leaned over towards Firefly, "You sure this is accurate?"

"Shh! They're about to take down the bad guy!"

At least the special effects are decent, thought Clay as he turned his attention to the movie.

After about another forty minutes, the movie ended. All the ponies, including Firefly, were all abuzz from the movie. Some were talking about their favorite couples in the show; others were fixated on the mind blowing special effects. For Firefly, it was a bit of both; it was weird to see her smiling and crying a bit as they exited theatre.

"Firefly, what's up," asked Clay concerned.

"What – Oh it's nothing, it's just, when they all thought Bright Blade had disappeared, and then he came back as a real pony…" Firefly began to sniffle a bit, "So what did you think, did you like!?"

Almost every bit of that film was inaccurate, the actors were too involved with their roles, the special effects were awesome, but nothing was like what Mom, Ma, or even what Aunt Twilight and Uncle Bright told me! Speaking of which, watching actors playing my parents, kissing and running their hooves over each other, while my fillyfriend is sitting right next to me, was the most embarrassing thing I've ever had the displeasure of witnessing!

"It was great," said Clay with a big smile.

"Awesome –" suddenly a grumbling noise interrupted Firefly. She quickly placed a hoof to her belly and blushed in embarrassment. "Sorry, guess I'm a little hungry."

"Well then, let's do lunch."

---

Clay and Firefly had headed to a little restaurant, nothing too fancy, but still a respectable establishment. They decided to take a late lunch, considering that the movie ran two plus hours long. They had both ordered a daffodil and daisy sandwich, with extra crispy hay fries. While their order was being made, Clay and Firefly decided to take this opportunity to get to know each other a little better.

"When I went home, Germane said that somepony, a Wonderbolts recruiter, came over, I'm guessing that was you, right?"

"Yeah it was."

"So, does that mean you are a recruiter, or did you just say that to get past Germane," asked Firefly, a rather coy smile gracing her lips.

"W-well, not exactly no…you want the truth?"

Firefly nodded, still holding her smile.

"Yes, I just said that so I could see you…sorry if I got your hopes up…"

"Clay, it's alright. Actually it's really sweet, I've never met a colt who would do something like that just to see me, then again, not many colts have risked their lives to save mine," said Firefly.

"So that's what you want to do when you get older, join the Wonderbolts?"

Firefly sighed; she used her hoof to play with the straw of drink, moving around in little stirring motions.

"I'd like to, I want to, but my father probably – no – definitely won't let me."

Clay was confused by this information. "I don't understand, you're good flyer, really good, with some training you could join the Wonderbolts no problem!"

"Because he's too afraid that I'll end up like my mother, he's afraid I'll get hurt and die!" Firefly slammed her right hoof on the table, shaking the drinks, and causing a few ponies to look in their direction. "I guess he was right…if it wasn't for you, I'd be lying dead in the hedge maze…"

"It was just the one time; at least you know what not to do right?" Clay asked, trying to help Firefly see the glass as half full.

"Yeah I guess…Well, enough about me, what about you?"

Clay spluttered a bit, having taken a sip of his shake.

"Me, well uh, what do you want to know?"

"Well, anything, what are your parents like?"

Clay cleared his throat, preparing himself to give as vague a description as pony possible.

"I'm actually adopted. My mom is a pegasus and my, other mom, is an earth pony…" Clay prepared himself for the gasp, and look of disapproval or disgust that he was sure to follow after revealing such information. Surprisingly, he did see any of that when he looked at Firefly.

"What's wrong," she asked.

"Nothing…it's just…you're okay with me being raised by two moms and only one an earth pony?"

"Not at all, my father's an earth pony, and my Mom taught me that if you love somepony, then that's all that matters, whether they're two fillies, two colts, a colt and a filly, or even a dragon and a pony. Why do you look so surprised?"

Clay just stared wide eyed at the pink pegasus, he expected Firefly to be similar to Sky Tearer, but in reality, she was the complete opposite!

"Oh, sorry, it's just I wasn't expecting you to be so accepting, thanks," said Clay.

Firefly smiled warmly at that remark. "No problem, so what do you do when you're not here in Canterlot?"

"I work on a farm, with my Ma, spend time with my friends and cousins, and fly whenever my Mom's home."

"Well, that explains why you're little more muscular than your average pegasus. So is your Mom not around as much," asked Firefly.

"Her job keeps her busy, but I'm hoping she'll be around a lot more –"

"THE END IS HERE MY FELLOW EQUINES!!!"

Clay and Firefly, along with a few of the patrons, stared in the direction of a unicorn stallion staggering about. His eyes were wide and shifting constantly, his mane was unkempt, but wore clothes that would indicate that he was one of Canterlot's nobles, but his behavior would say otherwise.

"They're coming, THEY'RE COMING! We'll all be killed, slaughtered by the droves, and the Princesses are hiding the truth, them, and their Knights of Harmony!" The stallion spat on the ground, as if mentioning the Princesses or the Knights left a bad taste in his mouth.

"What's his problem," asked Clay.

"They've been popping up a lot recently. Ponies who are saying that the 'End of the World' is starting, and that the Princesses are hiding the truth from us, some nonsense like that. But…they're usually street ponies, not like him," said Firefly, pondering this event.

The wild eyed stallion made his way towards the restaurant, making it a point to get in almost everypony's faces as he shouted his message.

"There's sickness spreading, killing without reason, all are just the beginning! We must do something; we must appease the powers that cause this!"

One of the waiters had had enough of the unicorn's ramblings and decided to do something about it.

"Sir, you are disturbing our customers. I must ask you to leave immediately or I'll be forced to call the Royal Guard," said the waiter.

At the mention of the Royal Guard, the wild eyed stallion stared at the waiter, causing the server pony to shudder under his gaze.

"You're working for them aren't you!? You're working to silence the truth! I won't let you!"

Without warning, the unicorn stallion conjured his magic, focusing it, and unleashing it upon the waiter, sending him flying against the wall. An audible crack could be heard among the hushed silence that hung in the air, but the crack did not come from the wall where the waiter landed, it came from the snapping of his neck. The waiter's body lied there on the ground, motionless, eyes wide open in shock.

Clay and Firefly's minds took a moment to register what had just happened, they had just watched the waiter who had served them get killed in cold blood.

"The sins of those with power, with nobility, and who live in ignorance, THEY MUST SEE!!!"

The stallion used the same spell once again, this time aiming at a mare patron that was still staring and stunned. He grabbed her with his telekinesis, and slammed her face into the table, breaking it in half. The mare screamed in agony as others came to help her, but the insane stallion was not done. A few passerby earth ponies saw the commotion and galloped toward him in an effort to bum rush the unicorn. Unfortunately for the earth ponies, the insane stallion was aware of what was coming. He sidestepped one of them and turned around to face the second. Using the momentum of the rushing earth pony, the unicorn stallion thrust out his horn, piercing the Samaritan pony in the chest and killing him instantly.

"He just…he killed them…" said Firefly stunned.

"We need to go, right now!" Clay shouted.

Clay and Firefly moved back and flared their wings, just as they took off the insane unicorn saw them out of the corner of his eye. Using his telekinesis yet again, he gripped Firefly's tail, dragging her back down to terra firma, knocking the wind out of her lungs as she landed hard on the ground.

The winged earth pony turned around and saw what happened to Firefly, he quickly descended to the ground and stared angrily at the psycho unicorn.

"Let her go!!!"

"The death of innocence, the death of all, suffer the children!"

The unicorn brought Firefly close, floating helplessly in front of him. Firefly could feel the killer focusing his magical energy on a point of her body, near her chest. The pink pegasus filly's eyes looked to Clay, pleading for him to help her. But Clay knew too well that the unicorn would kill her before he could even get close to save Firefly.

"UNTO THE BRINGERS OF THE END I GIVE TO YOU –!!!"

The psycho unicorn didn't get to finish his sentence as a beam of blue light smashed against him, sending him flying through the window of the restaurant. Firefly was released from the telekinetic hold, prompting Clay to rush to her side. The earth pony colt looked around for the source of the attack, thinking that a Royal Guard or Knight Corp. Paladin had come to render aid. When Clay heard the approaching hoofsteps he immediately turned to their origin, and was shocked to see who they belonged to.

Trotting towards them was a unicorn filly, with a blonde mane and tail, gray coat, and a cutie mark with two crossed swords. A look of intense, focused fury radiated from her eyes. Her horn glowed pink as she held a sword in her telekinetic grip. In the center of the blade were three crystals, the top one was blue, the second violet, and the third green. The filly carefully approached Clay and Firefly, not taking her eyes off the direction the psycho unicorn flew. Her concentration was broken however upon reaching the couple, the filly stared slack jawed.

"Clay!?"

"Dinky!?"

"RETRIBUTION!!!!!"

Clay, Firefly, and Dinky watched as the unicorn jumped through the window and galloped for them. Dinky floated the sword into her mouth, biting down on the leather hilt and dashed for her opponent. The psycho unicorn tried to use the spell from earlier, but as soon as he did, the violet crystal on the Dinky's sword glowed, neutralizing the telekinetic spell. The gray filly then jumped into the air, spun around, and smacked the other unicorn with the flat of her sword. What happened next astonished Firefly.

Clay took off behind Dinky, cocking back his right hoof. When Dinky hit the unicorn stallion, she quickly ducked away and let Clay finish him off. The winged earth pony thrust out his right hoof and delivered a powerful punch to the psycho stallion's face, courtesy of his years working at Sweet Apple Acres. The one-two of Dinky and Clay was enough to send the stallion to the ground, knocked out and groaning in pain.

Clay and Dinky looked at their work, panting from the endeavor. They looked at each other, smiled, and hoof bumped.

"Clay…" came Firefly's voice, "Who is this filly?"

And now, much to Clay's dismay, came the awkward situation of explaining to his new fillyfriend who Dinky was, as well as trying to make sure that Dinky doesn't blow his identity, and answering this best friend's questions about why he had wings in the first place.

---

Well, it wasn't as bad as Clay initially had thought. Firefly was actually cool around Dinky, although she'd never admit that she was jealous for a few seconds before Clay told her who Dinky was. Dinky on the other hoof agreed to not to reveal Clay's earth pony identity, but she promised the two of them were going to have some serious words later.

It was starting to get late and with all the excitement the two of them had went through, Clay thought it was best to fly her back home. The two of them touched down a block away from Firefly's house; the pink pegasus turned to Clay and smiled at the winged colt.

"Clay, I know I thanked you and Dinky a lot since we left, but, thank you," said Firefly.

Clay blushed at the praise.

"This makes it the second time you saved my life."

"I didn't, Dinky did. There was nothing I could do; he would've killed you before I even flapped my wings…"

Firefly brought her hoof to Clay's cheek, making him stare her directly in the eyes. She then leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. It wasn't anything big, a butterfly kiss, but for Clay, it was something great, wonderful. The pegasus filly drew away, her face blushing fiercely.

"Firefly…"

"We're still on for the Wonderbolts show tomorrow…aren't we?"

"Y-yeah, yeah we are!"

Firefly nuzzled Clay's neck, "Good, I'll see you there."

Firefly opened her wings to fly the rest of the way towards her house.

Clay did a hoof pump and shot up into the air, letting out cries of victory and joy that the filly he had a crush on returned his feelings, and she even kissed him!

"WHOO-HOO!"

Clay continued to soar over Canterlot, happy as can be, with the setting sun in the distance. This was going better than he could've hoped; nothing could go wrong, no, not with how good he was feeling. Soon he approached the area over his Aunt and Uncle's house, Clay aimed himself downwards and slowly descended to the ground, where a gray unicorn filly awaited him, her hoof tapping on the cobblestone road. Clay winced at the look Dinky was giving him; he knew there would be Tartarus to pay.

"Dinky I know what you're going to say…"

"Do you? Do you really?"

"Look if it's any constellation, my wings will be gone the day after tomorrow, I plan to tell Firefly before they disappear," said Clay.

Dinky sighed, "Clay, there are a lot of ways to go about asking a filly out. And what will your mothers say when they find out you have wings!? Ugh, tell me, who's the idiotic unicorn that agreed to cast the spell on you, and please tell me you didn't pay somepony to do it!"

Clay would've been a little offended by that last statement, if it wasn't for the fact she demanded the name of the one who gave him the wings.

"It wasn't a unicorn, it was an alicorn," he said with a smirk.

"Well good, now tell me the name of the idiotic, moronic – wait – what did you say!?"

"An alicorn gave me my wings."

Clay could tell that Dinky was running through the number of possibilities of which alicorn could've given him the false wings. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were out, and Princess Cadance was with Prince Shining Armor out of Canterlot for the past week. That's when Clay saw it, her irises shrunk, Dinky's left eye twitched along with her ear.

"S-Sir Bright Blade…?"

"Eeyup," answered Clay, mimicking his Uncle Big Macintosh.

"And…And I just called him a moron…"

"And an idiot, don't forget that."

"I can't believe I just said that," said Dinky facehoofing herself.

"Said what," said a voice from behind Dinky.

Clay and Dinky looked up the stoop and saw Bright Blade standing in the doorway, upon which he quickly closed now seeing that Clay was the one there. Dinky jumped and stood next to Clay, looking very apologetic, although the Knight of Hope had no idea why.

"So Dinky, I see you found out about Clay's wings," said Bright.

"Yes sir!"

"It's okay Uncle, I explained what's going on, Dinky agreed to keep it secret."

At that moment, some, of the tension that Clay's Uncle seemed to be holding lifted away.

"Good, and here, put this on." Bright Blade levitated the Wonderbolts hoody to Clay, catching it with his left hoof. "I was getting a little worried that you'd show up without this. Anyway see ya later you two."

Clay and Dinky watched as Bright Blade trotted passed them, "Uncle Bright, where are you going?"

"I need to have a talk with your Mom."

Clay was a little worried with how he said that, Bright didn't even turn to look at him when he spoke. The earth pony and unicorn both watched as Bright Blade spread his wings and took off into the sky.

"What do you think happened," asked Dinky concerned.

"I don't know…"

---

***Later that night***

Rainbow Dash was busy practicing her routine for tomorrow's airshow. She was using the obstacle course to work on her precision and timing, Rainbow felt like she was lagging and that wouldn't do. She zoomed through the rings in rapid fire succession, zigzagged around some cloud pillars, and dodged multiple heavy clouds rolled up into balls and launched at passing by racers.

After going through the course about five times now, Rainbow Dash rested on large cloud, gazing out towards the course. Moving fast often helped her when she needed to think, focusing her thoughts through physical exertion. Now it was the opposite, she wanted to drown out all the things that echoed in her mind, as long as she kept moving, as long as Rainbow Dash flew faster, let her body take over, she wouldn't have time to hear her voiced fears. But when the fears weren't echoing in her mind, the voice of her marefriend prevailed over them, her words still bouncing around in her mind.

"Damn it Applejack…why would you say something like that?"

"Good question, better question is are you going to talk to her about it?"

Rainbow Dash whirled around and watched as Bright Blade flew down and gently landed on the cloud.

"B, what're you doing here," asked Rainbow.

"I came to talk to you Rainbow, and before you ask, no, Applejack didn't ask me to. I'm here as a concerned friend."

Rainbow Dash turned away from Bright, "Are you going to ask me to forgive her, well I won't! I can't say I'm sorry for something I haven't even done!"

"Rainbow Dash, I know you wouldn't do that to Applejack. You love her too much, just like I love Twilight, if you two would just talk this out…"

Rainbow just snorted in frustration, "Forget it…" she opened her wings and took off. Only to stop part way, jerking her back. The pegasus mare looked behind her to find that her tail was caught in Bright's telekinetic aura.

"We're not done talking Rainbow."

"Jeez, does everypony have to keep stopping me by grabbing my tail," she groaned in annoyance.

"Do you even know how messed up this has made Applejack, do you!?"

"No, it's her own fault!" Rainbow Dash flapped her wings faster, trying to escape the telekinetic hold of Bright Blade's aura, even considering calling on her armor to zoom up into the stratosphere.

"She kissed Twilight!"

Rainbow Dash stopped flapping wings, she plop onto the cloud and slowly turned towards the alicorn stallion.

"What did you say!?"

"It happened the same day as your fight. Apparently, from what Twi told me, she's regretting it, everything."

Rainbow looked away dejectedly.

"I only know this because when we were out on that mission the Princess had us on, her armor broke off, all due to her not telling the truth about what she did, or how she felt. If that doesn't give you any indication, then I don't know what will," said Bright.

"So what, do you want to make out with me to get back at Twi and AJ…?"

"LIKE HAY I WOULD!!!"

"What, I'm not good enough or something?"

Bright was starting to turn just a tad shade of red as his breathing became heavy, eyes narrowing.

"Now you listen Rainbow –!"

*THWACK!*

Rainbow Dash blinked and in the next moment Bright Blade was gone, the aura holding her tail had vanished. When next she blinked, there was a yellow pegasus mare standing with a fierce look in her eyes. She then turned to the rainbow maned mare and placed her hooves on her shoulders.

"Rainbow Dash, are you alright!"

"Spitfire?"

"Oh thank Celestia, I thought that stallion did something to you, he didn't did he," she asked with a low tone in her voice.

"I – what – no he didn't! Spitfire, that was Bright Blade, you know, my friend!"

Spitfire did a double take her gaze shifting from Rainbow, and off into another direction.

"Oh geez, I bucked up," said Spitfire.

Rainbow turned in the direction that Spitfire was looking. Flying towards them was Bright Blade, looking a little peeved off and rubbing his jaw with his left hoof. Bright made it back to where he once was and groaned from the throbbing in his jaw.

"Next time, Captain, look before you kick," he suggested.

"Sorry, I just saw you and Dash arguing and I just assumed that you were some crazy fan colt who broke in."

Bright cocked an eyebrow at that. "And this happens often?"

"Once or twice, a month…"

"B, I think you should leave, please," said Rainbow Dash.

Bright wanted to continue this conversation, but not with Spitfire present, plus he wanted to get some ice on his jaw. With a heavy sigh he turned his back to the pegasus mares and prepared to take off.

"Rainbow, promise me you'll at least talk to her, after the show tomorrow or during, just talk."

Saying his peace, Bright Blade flew into the night sky, leaving both leaders of the Wonderbolts team alone. Spitfire wanted to inquire further about what was going on, but one look at Rainbow Dash told her otherwise, so the two of them went to the Lodge, in order to rest up before the big day.

"They are all gone, mine family and friends, taken by a disease that ran rampant through our homes! Neighbor had turned against neighbor, paranoia feeding their sickness! There was a being set before me, I knew not what it was, but somehow it seemed amused by these events! I asked of it, 'What has befallen my home and kin!?' The being turned to me, spreading its large and terrifying wings and spoke one word… 'Pestilence…'"

- Arala 19:13

Comments

[Sharky]

Yay dinky showed up and kicked flank also loving how you are playing up the clay relationship and mergeing it into the story it feels natural and thats from someone who read both storys

[Michael_Ravencroft]

2837294 Believe me, I had to confer with Brawney Hooves (aka Lonely Shadow) to make sure I did his character justice, and so far I've hit the nail on the head every time.

[Tales Trails]

I know this story the 4 "ponies" of the apocalypse?