Ch1: Before the Dawn - WIP

Chapter 1:  Before the Dawn

A MLP : FiM fanfic



"It's too late for me."

"No!  You can't say that, you just can't."

"You saw what happened to the others!  The Gre-" The voice faltered, replaced with a fit of coughing.  "I… I just won't make it.  There is nothing you, nothing I, nothing anypony can do for me.  I'll be gone, just like… just like all the others."

"Y-You're lying.  The Great and Powerful Trixie wouldn't let a mere disease take her.  You can fight it.  If anypony can fight it, you can.  Just… put that stubborn head of yours to work.  Come on, you'll see. You'll pull through."  The purple mare was close to breaking down, but she knew better.  If there was to be any hope to be seen, she had to be it.  She was fighting back all of her doubts, all of her reason.  All to cling to false hope.  Again.

She knew the disease that had taken her companion was incurable.  Many have tried – oh Celestia knows all too well – but it was denial that she clung onto for dear life.  Trixie's life.

Yet the showmare gave no response.  She was breathing, but that was all she could manage as her eyes fluttered shut.   Lying on that bed within the wooden walls of the library, The Great and Powerful Trixie was slowly fading away.

Twilight's mind was reeling.  She had seen the virus at work and how many lives it had claimed.  But there were five others; five memories that still burned within her heart and mind.  The lives of her beloved friends.

First it was Pinkie Pie.  Why did she have to be first?  She was so livid, so energetic, so… full of life.  Yet, her spark was the quickest to fade.  All that brightness of her ever cheerful smile – the smile that could bring joy and laughter to everypony she had ever come to meet – was gone in a flash.  Just like that.  Every sunrise after that night was a little bit dimmer.  And it seemed no pony in Ponyville smiled the same way again.

Second was Fluttershy.  It was so tragic…  Everypony lost a piece of themselves the day we found her lying in her cottage.  It was Angel Bunny that came to me and even he had tears in his eyes as he led us to the pegasus.  The usual spring in his step was all but nonexistent.  Fluttershy had drawn up instructions on how to care for every single one of her animal friends that have come to depend on her.  She knew she was going… and still, she couldn't bring herself to trouble anypony else.

Then it was Rarity.  Of course, it had to be her next...  When she had found out what had happened to her dearest friends, she locked herself away in her room, wailing and crying away.  She had sent her sister away to Canterlot at the first signs of trouble, but that's Rarity for you: ever observant.  She was, after all, the first to notice and the first to spread the word.   If she was still around, we probably could have found something.  Some way to fight back.

Rainbow Dash was next.  Hard headed to the end, she was.  She had soared through the air, running through every trick in her repertoire, despite how much we had pleaded for her to rest, but she wouldn't have any of it.  Something within her screamed at the world.  Her dreams of becoming one of the Wonderbolts would never come to be.  She pulled off another Sonic Rainboom that day… and the last.  Rainbow Dash brought us all our cutie marks all those years ago.  She was the seal to our destined friendships.  Now, the fastest flyer in all of Equestria was gone.

Applejack was the last.  She was strong in body, in mind, and at heart.  She was actually the first to catch the disease, but she wouldn't let it take her.  She had a family to look after.  Granny Smith, Applebloom, and even Big Macintosh depended on her.  It was after Rainbow had moved on, did she just… give up.  The strongest mare and the most stubborn pony in Ponyville… gave up.  She left us as she sat under her favorite apple tree; under her beloved Stenson hat.

Many others fell in the time span.  Many that were close to Twilight, but it was the passing of these five ponies that rang out the loudest; the resounding thunder over the tormenting storm.

And now, in the darkest night in Ponyville history; under the starless night and moonless sky, this infamous showpony came knocking at the door.  Why did you have to show up?  Why now?  Why… here?

The blue unicorn lying upon Twilight's bed called upon her magic.  Her horn glowed a faint violet; just enough to bring over her magician's hat and letting it fall upon Twilight's lap.  "Nopony can help…  At least… not now."

"Stop.  You need to rest," Twilight choked out.  She hadn't noticed her own tears rolling down her cheeks as she was recalling her late friends.  It was just a matter of time before another is lost.  It didn't matter what she said or what either of them did.

Fiddling with the wide brimmed hat, something rolled out.  "A scroll," Twilight mused, levitating it up and quickly unraveling it.  Her eyes darted left and right as she scanned its contents.

"But this… that's impossible.  How did you-"  Her eyes fell upon Trixie… or rather… the body that once held The Great and Powerful Trixie.  She was no longer breathing.  She was not breathing.  She isn't breathing.

The scholarly unicorn crushed the scroll under the grip of her magic.  Why did she feel so much weight with this passing?  She had hardly spoken with the other pony in the past.

Her eyes focused back upon the crumpled paper.  The brightest light within the darkest night from a completely unexpected source.  Her eyes showed no sadness as she brought about the star studded cloak and draped it over her old self-proclaimed rival.  She had no more tears to shed.

The last of the Elements of Harmony pulled herself up.  

"I think it's time I wrote a letter."