hiraeth

noun

1. Hiraeth is a Welsh word which does not translate well into other languages; it is defined as a homesickness for a place to which one cannot return to, or that never was

2. The grief for the lost places of one's past, tinged with a deep feeling of incompleteness and an intense nostalgia; a deep emotional state of longing for what is absent.

Synonyms: Saudade

Applejack Apple's POV

When I awoke from my slumber on the cold, rigid, and orange ground, I found Rainbow Dash still sitting outside of the boulder crevice with her knees pulled up to her chest. She hadn't been able to sleep since what happened last night. She was strangely quiet, but could anyone honestly blame her?

I slowly pulled myself out of the crawlspace, pulling my backpack along behind me closely. When I neared Rainbow, she was unmoving - just staring forward into space. Faint dark circles lined the outside of her ruby eyes. Her multicolored hair was longer now - finally reaching two inches below her shoulders. Her eyes almost seemed lifeless, if anything, hopeless.

"Mornin'." I said to her in a hush. She didn't move or even break contact with whatever she was staring at.

"Morning," Rainbow replied barely audible. I sat down beside her and remained quiet. Rainbow finally broke out of her daze and began tying her hair up into a messy ponytail with a black band on her wrist. When she was finished, she looked over at me, her eyes now expressing curiosity. She wiped specks of orange dirt from her cheeks with her gloved hands. "Where to next, Apples?"

"Oh!" I responded, surprised. Where were we going to head to next? The only other city closest to us was Las Pegasus, so that about narrows it all down. "Uh... Well, where else do ya think?"

"Strippers, and gambling. My kind of place," Rainbow said with a laugh. I smiled and shook my head disappointedly. Of course, that girl had something funny to say. We both shrugged on our backpacks and began walking toward the train tracks to continue our journey. "Wait!"

"What?"

"Check your pockets. For the elements," Rainbow replied urgently. We searched and fortunately found them sitting in our pockets peacefully. I sighed out in relief. "All right... Now we can go."

We had finally reached the bustling city of Las Pegasus... But to our amazement, the city itself seemed to be empty. Although the tall structures and buildings remained in pristine condition, there were no sounds being created by noisy vehicles in the streets. Abandoned cars, trucks, and even eighteen wheelers were sitting still in the highway. The neon lights from the casinos were off.

Only an orange like fog was seen rolling into the streets of Las Pegasus. In the distance of the city, was the mini Eiffel Tower and the famous Sphinx hotel and casino that was decorated with pale yellows and aquamarine colors.

"Uh... I'm gonna take a wild guess here -"

"Me too," Rainbow responded. When I looked over at her, her face was twisted in confusion. Normally, there'd be at least a small group of people like the people we encountered in other towns near our hideout in the Everfree Forest. No... This time it really seemed to be deserted.

The massive entrance structure in between the highway and railroad tracks was the only thing lighting up ominously, despite it being daylight. Each of the small circular bulbs lit up and went out in pairs.

WELCOME TO FABULOUS LAS PEGASUS, EQUESTRIA

We slowly advanced toward the landmark until Rainbow Dash gasped in surprise. I quickly turned over to her only to see her gaping at the tracker on her arm. Her widened eyes provided a small reflection of the map of Equestria.

"It... I don't know what happened! I just check it and now it's working!" Rainbow Dash stammered out. I pulled Rainbow's forearm toward me, accidentally yanking her entire body toward me. I was stunned to finally see the map being shown in front of me. Although the lower half of the map was glitching and turning colors, the other half of the map was clear enough to read.

To our amazement, our friends were actually being shown on the map!

"Flutters... Oh, God... Please be okay," Rainbow Dash said, voice cracking. I followed her broken gaze and surely found Fluttershy's yellow rhombus shape hovering on a mountain in...

"Yak Yakistan?" Rainbow Dash and I said together, shocked.

"What would she be doin' there all alone? The only other person who is actually familiar with that region is -"

"Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow Dash said loudly with a large smile. "Oh, thank God she isn't alone. With Pinkie there, they're sure to be fine."

"If she's there... Pinkie's symbol isn't appearing on the map. Neither is Twilight's... They're completely gone," I said, my brows furrowed in confusion. Rainbow Dash and I looked at each other worriedly. Suddenly, a hot pink rhombus began flickering and flashing all over the map. "What the..."

We followed the pink rhombus from Vanhoover... to Baltimare... To the swamps... to Appleloosa...

"What in the -"

Rainbow Dash and I were suddenly knocked backwards onto the ground with a powerful force. Rainbow Dash crash landed on top of me. I gasped out in pain and attempted to sit up. Rainbow and I looked to the direction where we were once standing, and found a familiar face and figure looking around in surprise.

"Pinkie Pie?!" We shouted out in unison. Pinkie Pie looked over at our voices. Her long and hot pink hair fell straight down to her waist. She was wearing a black, torn up long sleeved shirt. She was wearing black denim jeans with her favorite pair of pink Converse. A black bandana was tied around her head. Her blue eyes brightened up instantly when she saw us.

"Oh my gosh! Hey g -" Almost as quickly as she noticed us, her figure disappeared once more in a blinding flash of white light. Applejack and I scrambled over to get on our feet, struggling to find our best friend. There was nothing in sight.

"The tracker! Check the -"

Once again, we were knocked down with another intense blow. Rainbow Dash cursed under her breath and we once again found Pinkie Pie - this time, she was on top of us both.

"Hi guys!" Pinkie Pie smiled happily. The black bandana around her head popped off. Her hot pink hair suddenly burst into the familiar curly and wavy locks we grew to know. Before we knew it, Pinkie had wrapped us both in a painful group hug.

"As... happy as we are to... See you..." Rainbow Dash choked out beneath Pinkie's lethal embrace. Pinkie Pie giggled and released us both. Rainbow and I gasped out for air and sat up with Pinkie's help. "How did... How did you..."

"I don't know! I've been having a bit of a hiccup with this whole teleportation thing. I've been hiding out in Yak Yakistan with Fluttershy and Rarity -"

"Rarity? Where is she? How is she doing? What -" I began, but was cut off by Pinkie Pie laughing.

"Normally, I'm the one who asks all the questions! Heehee! Naw, Fluttershy was with me right before I wound up here. About two weeks ago, the three of us were ambushed by these meanies dressed in all black with helmets. Rarity got separated from us... I'm really sorry, AJ. We tried to find her, all over Yak Yakistan but didn't find anything. Prince Rutherford was friendly enough to lend a helping hand - he even sent a search party for her and everything -"

"That's great and everything - but we've got a tracker here. The same one that Twilight would use when we would be sent to all these crazy places to solve friendship problems or whatever," Rainbow Dash said with a smirk. Pinkie Pie giggled and eyed the device on Rainbow's arm. Pinkie and I leaned forward and looked at the map once more.

"Okay... Oh, lookie there!" I said loudly with a small smile. I pointed over at the upper left hand side of the map. A purple rhombus was floating just above one of the two islands of Luna Bay. She must have been hiding there.

"Oh no..." Pinkie Pie said, voice faltering greatly. She pointed across the map. A green rhombus hovered above Dragons Lair. Spike...

"Okay... We'll get everyone together so we'll be strong enough to rescue Spike. We can't go if we're low on numbers. He's survived this long - I'm sure he'll be able to go on a few more weeks without us," Rainbow Dash said thoughtfully. She bit her lower lip and began looking over at the map once more. "No sign of Twilight though... Or Sunset..."

"I would have said Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, but with what happened to them back at Canterlot..."

"There's no way they could have survived that..." Rainbow Dash said sadly. The three of us looked down solemnly. Rainbow closed the flap of the tracker shut and straightened out. She looked over at Pinkie Pie with a curious look in her eye.

"So... Teleportation, huh?"

"Yup! It's hard to control sometimes. Fluttershy and I have been practicing my ability for the past few days since I discovered it. Not only that - I guess the radiation from the bomb got to me, because now I have the same power as you! Now we can finally have a fair race!" Pinkie Pie giggled and hopped in place. Rainbow Dash's eyes widened in surprise. Pinkie looked over to me, "Have you had any new powers, AJ?"

"Well... Not that I know of... I still got my super strength. That oughta count for somethin'," I responded with a sigh. Pinkie stared over at me for a while and smiled.

"I think you'll find them sooner than you think!"

"Wait - so about this teleportation thing... You're able to bring someone to teleport with you, right?" Rainbow Dash questioned, walking closer to Pinkie. The pink haired girl frowned and shook her head. Rainbow sighed in defeat.

"Maybe it can work if I get more experience... But as of right now, I haven't been able to really do that... Speaking of which... My teleportation tends to go haywire sometimes. I'm not sure what causes it. They're like... Like hiccups!" Pinkie Pie giggled to herself. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and began walking into the city of Las Pegasus. "Where you heading to, Dashie?"

"First... I don't really want to hear that nickname right now... Secondly, I'm off to rescue my girl. I can't handle knowing that she's been left by herself. As much as I want you to teleport back over to her, I know we all have to stick together... And as for you," Rainbow Dash said, looking over at me with a determined look in her eyes. "We're going to get Rarity back first since she's first up on the map."

My heart stopped for a moment. I was genuinely surprised that she would actually put a hold on her lover just to find mine first. We were all best friends, but this was truly the peak of Rainbow's element of loyalty. She's always full of surprises...

"Count me in," I said with a small smile.

???'s POV

I had barely reached the entry of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna's former castle in Canterlot. The entire structure had turned to ruin the day of the bombing. They would have made it out alive if they hadn't been ambushed by a second group of attackers. These men fully intended to terminate the two princesses, and did so with a simple flamethrower. Burnt to a crisp, the two sisters didn't make it out alive... Or so everyone thinks.

A whistle escaped my lips and formed a jazzy tune through the silent remains of the castle. The majority of it had been brutally destroyed. The once pristine pillars and mosaic artwork were now replaced with rubble and debris throughout the castle. The marble flooring was littered with broken statues and chunks of cement. Vines and weeds began growing into the former castle, suffocating its last bit of beauty.

As I continued my small journey through the castle grounds, I found a hidden cellar door beneath a tree that had fallen over. I grumbled, annoyed, and with a snap of my fingers, the obstacle had disappeared. I pulled open the cellar door and began climbing down the long cobblestone stair case until I reached the bottom.

The bottom was the very room where both Celestia and Luna had been murdered. It wasn't ideal, but at least they had the decency to try to save themselves. The air was putrid and reeked of burnt hair and blood. Decay was clear in the atmosphere, but what else could have I truly expected from this crime scene? The stone walls of the small room were slick with ash from the intense heat. And of course...

There, in the far end of the room, was Celestia and Luna's corpses. They had died holding each other's hands. Tragic. Their bodies were stiff and charred like a burnt slab of steak. I looked down at my wrist and checked the time. One more minute until midnight. A blood moon was out this night. It was time. ~~~~

Excitedly, I sat myself down on top of a throne I had instantly summoned with a second snap of my fingers. I crossed one leg over the other casually and rested my forearms on the wooden arms of my throne. I stared at their bodies, anxiously waiting. Until finally...

It began with a small but abrupt twitch in their fingers. There was nothing for a solid ten seconds until the twitching grew more intensely to the point where their bodies were now convulsing as if they were having a seizure. The elder sister opened her mouth first, gasping and choking for air. A devilish smile grew on my lips.

The younger sibling followed the same action. Soon after, the blackened skin began flaking off their body, revealing a new layer of flawless skin. Both of them began levitating in the air slowly until the remaining burnt flesh trickled down their bodies. Their scalp was last.

Beautiful iridescent hair began poking and clawing its way out of the burnt flesh from the eldest sister until all her gorgeous locks had returned. Beside her, royal blue and black wavy hair began flowing out of the younger sister's scalp like a waterfall in the night sky. When they touched the ashy ground, a set of clothing appeared on their bare body. Celestia was now wearing a white, regal gown, while Luna was wearing a similar dress but in black. Finally. They were reborn.

"Sister..." Luna said suddenly, her voice hoarse and strained. Celestia eyed her sister and wrapped her in an embrace that almost touched my own cold heart. I cleared my throat before straightening myself out against my throne. Luna scoffed and rolled her eyes when she saw me, but Celestia's gaze was enough for me.

"Welcome back, my queen," I said with a smirk. Celestia smiled sweetly in my direction and advanced me, her sister following behind.

"It's been too long, Discord..."

"The wait was worth it."