Rarity and her friends stood on the platform of the rundown station as they watched their train drive off until it was nothing but a pink speck in the horizon. To their right were the Macintosh Hills; a fair sized mountain range with an unfinished railroad track running through it. The four approached the entrance away and was greeted by a cool breeze.
"Brrr." Fluttershy shivered. "That's really cold."
"So...what now?" Trixie asked.
"I guess we have to go in and see what's on the other side." Rarity replied. Trixie narrowed her eyes slightly at the white unicorn.
"You aren't seriously going to make us walk down this path, are you?" she asked. "These rocks look like they would fall at any minute."
"Do you know of another route we can take, Trixie?" Rarity asked evenly.
"Err...no." Trixie replied. Lowering her gaze to the ground.
"I will agree that this path doesn't look safe." Rarity said. "But we have no other choice. I'd rather go through here than having to climb up these mountains. We don't even have the gear to do so!"
"Ooh! Ooh!" Pinkie Pie suddenly said, jumping up and down frantically for their attention.
Rarity sighed. "Yes, Pinkie?" she asked.
Pinkie Pie stopped her jumping and grinned. "What if we just turn around and follow the tracks home?" The others face-palmed and shook their heads.
"That's pure genius, Pinkie." Trixie said. "But we can't go back because we were brought here on a QUEST!"
Pinkie Pie lowered her head and shuffled her hooves. "Oh yeah." she muttered.
Rarity rolled her eyes. "Look." she sighed, "We'll just take this slow, alright? And the first thing something goes wrong we bolt outta there. Got it?" The two other mares nodded. Rarity nodded back. "Good." she said. Gesturing with her hoof, the two other ponies wandered into the great mountain range that was the Macintosh mountains. As they trekked, walking with caution in fear of a possible rock slide, Rarity thought back to her torture secession with Twilight. She debated on when she should tell her friends of what had become of their adorkable egg head. It was starting to weigh down on her too much, and she knew eventually that she needs to fess up one of these days.
She looks over her shoulder to her friends. Trixie and Fluttershy were walking with worried looks on their faces as she stared at the large rocks all around them while Pinkie was humming to herself without a care in the world. She secretly envied her happy personality; not having to worry about raising a little sister by herself or make clothing by a due date. She wondered how her other friends are doing now? She hoped they were all right.
It was nearly evening by the time they reached a part of the mountains that wasn't located on the map provided to them by Cadence. The landscape changed vastly into a wintery kind of wonderland with nothing but snowy mountain after snow mountain.
"Brrr." Pinkie stuttered, her teeth chattering slightly as she hugged herself to keep warm, Fluttershy huddling up beside her. "It's cold out here."
Trixie exhaled, whispy smoke coming out and disappearing in front of her. "And I thought my heart was cold." she remarked while hugging herself as well.
"If your heart was cold, you wouldn't have rescued you me back in Sombra's dungeon." Rarity said. "Now come on. Let's find some shelter before it gets dark."
"Yes!" Trixie gasped in agreement. "Hopefully we can get something cooked up, too. I'm starving here." Rarity chuckled.
"I agree. What do you say, Pinkie Pie?" But when both unicorns looked over in the direction of the pink earth pony, they were shocked and angry to find her happily munching away on a bag of chips Rarity brought along for all of them to SPECIFICALLY share. "PINKIE!" she practically shrieks, causing the other pony to stop midway in brining a chip up to her open mouth. "What on Earth are you doing?! You're not supposed to be eating that yet!"
"I wasn't?" Pinkie asked while munching on the chip.
"No!"
"You pink idiot!" Trixie hissed as she stood beside Rarity, glaring at Pinkie Pie intensely. "Before we know it you'll be eating all of our food! We don't exactly have a lot, you know."
"T-Trixie..." Fluttershy suttered. "There's no need to be so harsh towards her..."
Pinkie Pie let out a whimper, her ears flattening against her skull. "I'm sorry...but I was hungry."
"We're all hungry, Pinkie." Rarity sighed. "Food is running low back in Ponyville. And with the recent attack on Manehatten, ponies are now focusing their efforts on helping the survivors there."
Pinkie Pie said nothing and instead focuses her attention on the open bag of chips on her lap. She blinks, and begins to dump the remaining chips out. "What are you doing?!" Trixie screeched in alarm.
"Getting rid of the problem." Pinkie replied as she watched the chips and empty bag fly away in the wind. Her tone wasn't cheerful anymore, and her eyes showed no emotion. The three mares stood in silence, silently telling themselves that they'd been a little harsh on the earth pony. Once the chips were out of sight, Pinkie Pie stood up and started to make her way down a naturally made path. "Come on." she said, let's find some shelter." The two unicorns looked at each other before following after the earth pony.
A shadow suddenly flew overhead, piercing the cold wind and causing snowflakes to swirl madly. The three ponies stopped in their tracks and instantly snapped their heads up.
"What was that?" Trixie asked.
"I don't know." Rarity answered while blinking away a snowflake that landed on her eye and running down her cheek like a tear. "A bird perhaps?"
"No." Fluttershy suddenly said, her eyes not leaving the sky. "It was too big to be a bird."
A loud screech was suddenly heard over the wailing mountain winds, echoing throughout the cast wintery range. Trixie turned her head and squinted her eyes at a faint outline in the dull gray clouds. "What on Earth?" she mutters to herself. The outline quickly began to take shape, and Trixie screamed. A dragon black as night and looking like a spawn from the underworld itself came gliding down in their direction with his maw parted and sharp teeth glinting dangerously.
"RUN!" Rarity screamed.
The ponies wasted no time scrambling down the rocky path. While mindful of their steps, they still rushed because of how frighteningly fast the dragon was coming at this. His white eyes were fixed on them and gleamed dangerously while purple smoke spewed from the corners. The three mares continued to make their way down, sliding and almost tripping over rocks occasionally, until they finally reached the snow covered floor.
"Quick! Into the storm!" Rarity shouted over the dragon's roar. "We can lose him in the blizzard - stick together!"
"RARITY LOOK OUT!" Pinkie screamed.
The white unicorn spun around just in time to see a giant boulder suddenly come bouncing down in her direction. Her eyes widened, but closed quickly as she was suddenly shoved out of its path and landing roughly on the snow. She groaned softly and looked down to finding Trixie lying on her. The blue unicorn looked down at her the same way she did when she found her maimed and bleeding.
"Get your white ass up and let's go!" she shouts.
Rarity quickly regained her senses and nods. With help from Trixie and Pinkie, she was back on her hooves. The trio then galloped into the storm, huffing and struggling to manage their breathing as they ran. Above them they could hear the dark dragon screech in rage as it followed them from above. Trixie stopped briefly and casted an attack spell at the dragon, which snarled in pain when it struck it's chest, but quickly resumed the chase.
"Can't you two teleport us out of something?!" Pinkie yelled.
"We wouldn't make it far!" Rarity yelled back.
"We can't concentrate with a giant dragon flying after our tails!" Trixie added.
The four continued to run, literally, for their lives. Fluttershy was on the brink of tears from the presence of the dark dragon flying not far behind. The dragon flew with murder on his mind.
Memories of his brother and elder cousin beating him almost to a pulp caused a rush of malice to surge throughout Surp's body. As he flew after the ponies he thought back to the legend of a Grimdark, a fellow Dragon of Eternal Darkness that's a legend amongst his kind. Not much is known about him other then he is currently sealed within the body of a pony somewhere in Equestria. The legend was always a source of motivation for him to press forward. One of these days he'll make his "family" pay. Being uncaring towards one another is in their nature after all. He wouldn't mind snacking on the fresh batch of eggs one of the dragonesses recently laid right now. But first things first: he has pony blood to spill. With a loud shrill, he swoops down with his claws outstretched and eyes fixed on the yellow pegasus in front of him.
Rarity looked over, gasping as he closed in on her friend. "Fluttershy! Duck!"
Fluttershy immediately fell to the snowy ground, letting out a choked sob as the dragon swooped over her before getting back on her hooves and catching up with her friends. They didn't know where they were running to, or how long they've been running. They just wanted to lose the dragon that's so bent on killing them.
"OH NO!" Pinkie cried out.
Their galloping slowed to a stop as they reached a dead end - a mountain face.
"Celestia damn it!" Trixie screamed. "Now what are we gonna do?"
"I..." Rarity panted, the cold and falling snow not helping. "I don't know..."
Trixie narrowed her eyes at her. "Don't tell me you're expecting us to fight him-"
"WHAT CHOICE DO WE HAVE?!" Rarity screamed, tears of frustration brimming her eyes. "What choice do we have..."
Fluttershy whimpered and sniffled while Pinkie Pie wilted sadly. The Earth suddenly shook beneath their hooves. They slowly turned around and were soon met with the massive dragon standing over them. Fluttershy finally broke down and started to cry in fear. Pinkie Pie was shaking to the point one could actually think they're hearing her bones rattle. Trixie cowered in fear while Rarity simply looked up at him in defeat and shame.
Sweetie Belle will be fine without her. She has Spike and her friends to aid her. She can trust Spike. She knows he'll do his best to protect her and keep her safe. With that in mind, Rarity closed her eyes and bowed her head in defeat.
A chuckle rumbled in Surp's chest. He raised his claw, ready to make the killing blow.
...
Twilight watched with blank eyes as Amber Leaf fell to the floor in a pool of her own blood. The dead mare stared back at her with glassy eyes and a bleeding hole in her chest. Amber Leaf wanted to die. It's why she wasn't hesitant when Sombra told her to come into the throne room to tell her that he no longer has any use for her.
"Sir..." Nightmare Moon said, her voice slightly stuttering. "Why did you have her executed?"
The dark unicorn didn't take long to answer. "She knew too much." he replied bluntly as Blackfire stepped back from the fresh corpse, his raven resting on his back. Sombra nodded over to two guards and they immediately removed the body from the spot. Nightmare Moon's eyes remain fixed on the body as it was dragged away and out of the room with a fresh trail of blood being left behind.
"Don't worry." Sombra added, "Her body won't be put to waste. The Changelings haven't eaten in a while after all." He punctuated the sentence with a laugh as he turned to leave, Blackfire and Twilight by his side. Twilight stopped and looked back at Nightmare Moon, finding her still standing where she was.
"Aren't you coming?" she snapped impatiently. "We don't have all damn day."
Nightmare Moon closed her eyes and sighed heavily. She can imagine the disappointed look on her sister's face right now. Wherever she is...
Sister..., she thought sadly, Please forgive me for all I've done... For all those lives who've died by my hooves... Celestia... I miss you so much... I'm so sorry...
"NIGHTMARE MOON!"
The alicorn snapped out of her thoughts and looked over to Twilight, who was now glaring at her angrily. "Stop daydreaming like a little filly and move! We must plan for our next assault." A smirk slowly stretched on her muzzle and she chuckled darkly. "Those fools won't know what hit them when the sky turns to darkness and the dragons fly in~. I can't wait to see the carnage."
Nightmare Moon didn't reply.
X.X
I'm not gonna guarantee anything anymore. While thank you to my patient readers, I've honestly lost all interest in this fic. I'm not BIG into MLP anymore. The fandom is just too big and vast for me. I just wanted to point that out now. The requests for me to continue are starting to drive me crazy!
I can't take it any more. I want to be able to write my other fics in peace without being asked to update this one. I said I'd finish it, but I'm beginning to doubt I can. Especially since I'm no longer into MLP and lost interest in it entirely. But I won't leave you guys hanging. I already have a ending in mind.
Anyway. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
I can't guarantee when the next chapter will come up. I'll work on this fic when I want to.
P.S. Grimdark belongs to my very good real life friend: Pikafan003. Check out his YouTube channel. He does readings of this fic. Be sure to show him some love.
And Pikafan003? Sorry for the long wait ;)