ACT I

Chapter One

"Well ain't that just great! This bridge is out, too!"

Twilight Sparkle looked ahead at what Big Macintosh had just remarked about. Just ahead of them was a seemingly bottomless chasm. On both sides of the gap were the foundations of a sturdy wooden bridge but the middle third of the bridge was missing. According to the damage, Twilight guessed that the earthquake had triggered a rock slide which ripped out the middle section of the formerly intact span.

"Darn it!" said the purple unicorn as she stomped the ground in frustration. "This day just can't get any worse, can it? Now how are we gonna get across?"

"Maybe Rainbow Dash can find a way around," said Big Mac.

"Speaking of which," Twilight began, "where the hay is she anyway?"

"Beats me."

Twilight grunted and sat down. Using her magic, she pulled a map out of her small backpack and opened it. They were pretty close to their destination: the hard-to-reach Graystone Village. However, according to the map, they had to cross about three more gaps before they could get to the village. Between the hazards and the rocky terrain, it would probably take them another day, at lease, if the bridges were in tact.

It had already took the trio three days to make it this far mainly because of the cart that Big Macintosh was pulling, which was piled with boxes of food and supplies that were being delivered to Graystone. This village and many others around the Kingdom of Equestria had requested for such supplies after an earthquake had struck those regions, causing moderate damage and a few injuries. As a result, Princess Celestia sent several teams to deliver the supplies to different areas that were affected; Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and Big Mac had volunteered to be one of the teams. Unfortunately, they were assigned to Graystone Village, which was notorious for being hard to get to.

"Who decides to build a village in a mountain range anyways?" Twilight thought out loud.

"Dunno," replied Big Mac as he chewed on a stalk of wheat. "Prob'ly ponies who don't wanna git attacked."

Twilight looked up and scanned the blue sky. A few lazy clouds floated on the cool breeze, occasionally obscuring the mighty sun.

Where is that pegasus, she thought. She pulled out two apples from her pack and gave one to Big Mac who happily accepted the ripe red fruit.

Twilight had thought back to a few days ago, when she and her friends volunteered to aid in the relief effort. They had all arrived at Canterlot after the princess requested their attendance there.

The six mares had disembarked the train after it stopped at the station. They walked through the city of Canterlot, making their way towards the castle. After showing the letter from Princess Celestia to the guards, they were escorted to the main hall where they waited for the princess. Pinkie Pie bounced around impatiently while Rarity flipped through the newest edition of a fashion magazine, Twilight sipped on some tea, Rainbow Dash and Applejack conversed about their rematch, and Fluttershy gazed out the window.

The six had waited for about eight minutes until the princess walked into the hall talking to a tough-looking stallion which Twilight believed to be the sergeant-at-arms. After a nod and a quick bow, the stallion exited through the doors that the mares had entered through. They had stopped what they were doing and bowed respectfully to Celestia.

"So what's the problem, ma'am," Applejack asked the white alicorn.

Princess Celestia led the six mares over to a map of the kingdom and its surrounding area. "Have you all heard of the recent rash of earthquakes in the surrounding regions?"

Twilight nodded. "There were reports of a few injuries and some damage to buildings."

Celestia looked at the map. Several red X's marked the villages and towns that were affected by the earthquakes. "Many of the towns in the regions have sent requests for food, water, and medical supplies to the Shang Xiao Empire and our kingdom. Since both are the closest to the affected regions, we will be in charge of receiving and delivering the supplies to the designated locations."

"That's why we're here, princess," Rainbow Dash replied. "We wanna pitch in and help get those supplies to the villages."

"We...uh...figured that the Royal Guard could...um...use an extra hoof...or two," Fluttershy added.

"Plus," Pinkie Pie began, "we've got other ponies who want to help out. The more the merrier!"

"Excellent," Celestia said. "I'll notify the sergeant-at-arms right away."

"Tell him to let anypony who wants to volunteer know that they should sign up at the Sugarcube Corner," Rarity stated.

"I'll see to it. Thank you all very much."

Twilight and Big Mac had just finished eating their apples when they saw something flying towards them, leaving a rainbow streak behind it. Both of them instantly realized who it was.

"There she is!" Big Mac said.

"Well, it's about time," Twilight commented.

The blue pegasus landed in front of the two equines, panting heavily. After regaining some energy, she spoke.

"Well," she started, "we're not as far from Graystone as we thought, but I saw that all of the bridges between here and there are gone."

Twilight was flabbergasted. "All of them?"

Rainbow Dash nodded. "Every. Last. One. That had to have been one heck of an earthquake.

"Anyways," she continued, " I found an alternate way. A patrolling soldier told me that there's a cave that leads straight to Graystone.."

Big Mac chewed on the stalk of wheat. "Is it wide 'nuff t' fit the cart through?" he asked.

"Sure is," came the reply, "but we'll have to do some backtracking 'cause we passed the entrance."

Twilight walked over to the pegasus and showed her the map. "Can you point it out?" she asked.

Rainbow Dash pointed her hoof at a point further back from their current position. "Should be right there," she said. "The soldier told me to look for a funky-looking rock formation. The entrance should be near it."

The purple unicorn rolled up the map and placed it back in her pack, then tossed a red apple at Rainbow Dash, who caught it and ate it.

"Mmmm. My compliments to the Apple family. I'll go on ahead and see if I can find that formation. See ya there." With that, she tossed the apple core away, flapped her wings and sped off down the winding road towards the location of the rock formation.

"Princess, is everything alright?"

The young white pegasus Guard walked up to the door and noticed that it was partially opened. He slowly opened it. Inside was a very decent room, still not worthy of five stars, but decent, nonetheless. There was a coat of baby blue paint on the walls, a deep blue vanity on the left wall with a wooden wardrobe beside it, a black and white carpet on the floor, and in the far right corner stood a round bed with a white fluffy bedspread on it.

The Guard looked ahead and saw a large open window that led to a balcony that overlooked the town. There he saw a grayish blue alicorn standing on the balcony and looking out over the town, lost in deep thought.

The stallion cleared his throat. "Ehem. Excuse me, Princess Luna. Is everything alright?"

Luna turned with a jolt as if she was suddenly shaken from sleep. She saw the white pegasus and sighed. "Oh, it's just you. Yes, everything's alright, Windshield. Are the others awake?"

Windshield nodded. "Yes, ma'am. The others are downstairs waiting for you."

"Excellent. I shall be down in a few minutes."

The Guard bowed low, turned and walked out the room. He stopped midway and asked, "If you don't mind me asking, princess, what were you thinking about?"

Luna looked back out over the town wall and into the rocky mountains beyond. "Nothing," she replied. "Nothing important..."

"Very well," Windshield replied and exited the room, softly closing the door behind him.

Luna continued to stare into the wilderness beyond the wall. Something did not feel right about that day; it felt like something was coming, something bad. The ominous feeling washed over her like the tiny droplets of a coming storm and it sent shivers down her spine.

Suddenly, she shook her head, causing her blue mane to whip around. It's probably the dinner I ate last night, she thought. I forgot how bad Shang-Xiao dishes are on my stomach. Luna then walked over to the vanity, picked up her brush using her magic, and began to brush her mane one last time before she left.

She had to make this meeting; she did not want to keep Celestia waiting...

To be continued...