Across the Rift

The group of six ponies (Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash) were just hanging out somewhere in the wilderness. Pinkie Pie was dancing around while the other ponies were just lying down. Of course, Rarity was on a blanket. Then, Pinkie Pie went off for a moment to follow some strange thing. Then, Pinkie noticed something and ran back.

"Hey, every pony." Pinkie stated. "I found something."

"What is it, Pinkie?" Rainbow Dash replied. "Some random thing?"

"It looks like a crack in the ground, but there is something ubber creepy about it." Twilight stood up and stretched her legs.

"I'll go check." Twilight stated. "Besides, my legs were starting to fall asleep." She went over to Pinkie Pie. "All right Pinkie Pie. Where is this thing?"

"Over here." Then, Pinkie Pie showed her the way. The other ponies were expecting something.

"Well?" Rainbow Dash stated.

"You guys, better have a look at this." Twilight Sparkle stated. "Pinkie Pie wasn't joking." So, the other ponies went over to where the others are and they noticed a chasm in the ground. All six ponies looked down into the chasm. It was indeed dark and at the same time creepy; a slight tug was being pulled on them but they didn't notice it. "I don't know why a chasm is at a random place like this." Before long, Pinkie Pie got a twitchy tail and then she vibrated entirely.

"I'm having a bad feelin' about this." Applejack stated. They suddenly heard a large crack. "Uh oh." Then, the ground underneath them broke off and the ponies except for Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy fell in. The two pegasus came flying in after the falling ponies into the chasm. Eventually, the two pegasus caught up with them. Rainbow Dash caught Applejack and Rarity. Fluttershy caught Twilight and Pinkie Pie.

"Is everyone okay?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yeah, but can we get out of here?" Rarity asked. Rainbow and Fluttershy tried to fly upward but no matter how hard they tried, they weren't able to. The falling slowed down greatly through the effort. "Well?"

"I'm trying." Rainbow replied. "But we can't fly up." And with their strength to fly expired, they continued their decent by gliding. "I'm sorry Rarity. But something is preventing me from flying up."

"It's okay. We'll just have to reach the bottom and then climb back up."

"If there is a bottom." Applejack replied. They noticed a ticking sound in the background similar to the sound of a giant grandfather clock. The sound was slow in frequency like one tick per second. "What's that sound?"

"I don't know what the sound is." Twilight replied. They heard the ticking for about fifteen seconds. Then, the ticking stopped. At this point, they finally reached the bottom.

"Well, at least we reached the bottom."

"Hey, we can fly up again." Rainbow Dash stated.

"Uh, thank goodness." Rarity stated.

"Can we just get out of here?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yeah, it's for a best." Rainbow replied. The ponies began their climb back up the chasm walls. "Finally, we made it." They looked around and noticed that it was getting dark.

"We should get our stuff and head back to Ponyville." Twilight Sparkle stated.

"But well, come back out tomorrow right?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Yeah. I guess."

"But there's just one problem." Applejack stated. "Where's are stuff?"

"Uh?" Twilight Sparkle checked and noticed their stuff was gone.

"Some damn thief must have come around and took it." Rainbow Dash stated. "Whoever the thing is I'll slug 'em." Fluttershy noticed something getting closer.

"It seems someone's coming." Fluttershy stated.

"Who's out there? Show yourself."

"You sound hostile." the thing replied. "Are you looking for a fight?"

"If you don't reveal yourself, then, you bet." The thing came out. It was an olive green earth pony with a yellow mane. It had deep blue eyes. It was rather buff. There was a scar over his right eye and there was a sword on his back.

"Uh, hi." Twilight Sparkle stated.

"Hey." The strange pony replied. "You aren't the ones I'm looking for."

"Hey, what do you meet not looking for?" Rainbow stated.

"I'm just looking for a few ponies. They have done me wrong."

"What did they do?"

"They raped my sister!" That scared the ponies. "If you aren't going to help me, then I'll just leave."

"How rude." Rarity stated. The pony sensed trouble.

"They come." He goes for his sword and draws it. Some pony bandits came out and they fought against the pony. The pony took down three of them before he was knocked down. The bandits turned to the six ponies.

"What a pretty face." the leader said to them. "Come here, girly." The bandits attacked the girls. Applejack kicked them around. The ponies were able to fight. However, Fluttershy had to deal with the leader and she was nervous and back against the wall.

"What's wrong girly?" the bandit said. "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just going to molest you. That's all." He grinned a very sinister grin. Fluttershy looked around quickly. The pony lunged at her, and she grabbed something. She closed her eyes and swung it at him multiple times. All the time hitting him and then jabbed him.

When she opened her eyes, she saw her hand on a long dagger. She noticed the blade was in his throat and his neck was cut up and he was bleeding profusely. Blood was coming out of his mouth. She let go of the knife and he fell over dead. The ponies and bandits saw this; they were shocked to find that she was able to do that. The bandits fled after seeing their leader die. Fluttershy looked at the scene in horror. She noticed the blood on her hooves.

"How am I…" She thought. "Supposed to do that?" Fluttershy's eyes got watery. "I'm one of the most kind ponies known. How could I?" She fell down crying. The male pony left walked to her to comfort her.

"GET YOUR HOOVES OFF ME!" she shouted.

"I was trying to help." the pony stated.

"Fluttershy," Twilight Sparkle stated. She walked over to Fluttershy to console her.

"How am I supposed to live with the fact knowing I took another's life?" Fluttershy asked.

"I honestly don't know."

"The kill was out of self-defense." the male pony stated. "The kill was accidental and could not be helped."

"Who do you think you are!" Fluttershy replied.

"Calm down, I am only speaking the truth."

"It's not the best way to put things." Twilight stated. "But who are you?"

"I am Basil." the pony replied. After moments, Fluttershy had to let her sorrow flow like a river. After a while, Twilight was wondering about Basil. "I apologize for what I said earlier."

"It's okay." Twilight replied. "I'm just wondering what happened."

"Well, this is the first time I seen you."

"I don't even know what is going on."

"I can take you to the nearest town."

"That is Pottock."

"Pottock, I've never heard of it."

"It's kind of a moderate size town in the mountains."

"Can you take us there?"

"Sure, follow me." And so, Basil led the six of them to Pottok, his home town.