Never Go Outside

They say the calls of the Warbler in the late days of midsummer will tell you how cold the coming winter will be. The temperature, the state of the wind, maybe even the length of it- according to a few Pegasus ponies-

The light tune of a single bird echoed quietly through the calm, peaceful air. A butterfly or two fluttered about across the sky, dancing in the glinting light of the sun. Here and there, a small deer or a squirrel would walk or scamper about the mossy cobblestone and marble bricks of the northernmost streets of Canterlot.

It was like a looking at a painting...the peaceful canvas of Canterlot stroked and touched by the brushes of serenity and tranquility. Splashed on its higher rises were the ethereal blues of the whispering sky, sprinkled with the marshmallow colors of clouds and the rumbling mountains that they covered.

And it was all brought together by the city, the focal-point of the masterpiece. Its many buildings covered by vines and growth, nature's signature method of taking back the developed lands and turning them back into the wilderness once more.

Ruined buildings and towers spiraled upwards, gently teetering in the wind but never falling, broken and smashed market carts littered the area.

Just one simple month...to change everything.

They still talked about it, the ponies of Equestria, still feared those times, still wondered if their home was ever truly going to be fully safe to live in again. Many were still afraid to go out at night, and the ones who did always traveled in groups. They all talked about it, all remembered it...

...but only one, continued to live it.

Down the street from the caved-in structure of a coffee shop, a small doe raised her head with perked ears. The thudding of the tiny creatures heart could be heard steadily growing, adrenaline pumping in its veins. It was a basic animal instinct, of course, to sense when predators were coming close...to know that a hunter was entering the area, and it was time to run.

Most still wonder exactly how these animals could possibly know such things, but know them they do, and all too well. The doe looked about slowly, turning its furry head in every direction. It had stopped in the middle of its meal when a sense of chill grasped the creature's heart in a near paralyzing grip. It knew danger was coming...but from where, it did not.

The grass clamped in the doe's mouth was starting to turn bitter. It gently let the grass fall to the ground as it took a few steps backwards, its brain and heart saying the same simple message: Run.

The small doe did not have to think twice in listening to two such vital organs as the quiet hiss of magic could be heard in the air. It started as a sharp hiss, growing into a light hum. The area near the doe had begun to darken, forcing the tiny one to finally bolt away as fast as its legs could carry it. It had only just crashed through one of the smashed-in market stalls when the loud thunder-crack of magic erupted in the middle of the street.

All around the painting rapidly changed. The animals had all fled, chirping and yelping in alarm as the air of peace quickly turned into an air of danger. The canvas was splattered with menacing colors, all of which were the symbols of death.

It was a definitive mark, a signature color that had come to be horrifically feared amongst the known populace of Equestria, of its ponies and its other inhabitants. It was the ever-so-alarming color of red, thick and gleaming with brightness.

The threats of harm were carried through the ruined city of Canterlot as its animal populace quickly retreated, surrendering the area yet again to the world of Ponies.

Or, in this case, one pony.

The hum of magic quietly dissipated as the sounds of hooves against marble sounded loudly off of the ruined buildings. It was the sound of a pony that disturbed the tranquil peace of the demolished city, a visitor to a memorial.

The pony walked at a calm, passive speed, one hoof gently in front of the other. Despite the alarm raised by nature...if one were to look to this one particular pony, all one would really see is just a simple traveler.

A form cloaked and hooded with colors of brown, hooves bandaged with white strands of cloth that were smudged and scuffed with dirt and dust. The pony carried with it a sense of a passive, calm individual.

Each hoof carefully and mathematically placed and walked upon, each movement full and smooth as the pony continued to move down the streets of Canterlot.

It looked about from time to time, swinging its head forth and thro to survey and take in the destruction. It was a vivid, dark memory in this pony's mind...a memory that was as fresh as the scars that lay in wait just under those bandages.

A memory that played back over...and over, an endless tune on replay. A memory months old now.

This pony could only diagnose itself with something well known as, insanity. It had read the books, gone over the events in mind, and at the end of the day...the answer couldn't be anymore clear. It was nothing to be ashamed about, according to this particular pony.

The others seemed to have developed some form of it in the past month when the weapons had finally been relinquished, when Canterlot finally grew quiet.

It was because of this fact, that the pony had returned to Canterlot, for one reason: Closure.

To be relieved of the ghosts...cleared of the guilt...forgiven for all the sins. But deep down, residing in its soul, this pony knew forgiveness was never an option.

Inequality, sacrifice beyond measure, murder...could these things even beforgiven?

It was doubtable.

The hooded pony stopped suddenly halfway up the street of the broken city square. Its cloak fluttered softly in the breeze that had picked up, drawing a light sigh from the lone wanderer. It looked up to its left, hooves a mere two-foot distance from the first step up a long, winding marble staircase that ascended a large, dark tower.

The structure itself was still intact, a shattered window here and there. Its walls were littered with decay and signs of the horrible events that had resided. A dark smudge on the door shown, that now in the heat of the sun, looked like nothing more than a smear of dirt.

The pony knew better though...after all, blood had been a common sight that fateful evening...

The hooded walker took a few more moments to take in the sight of the tower before turning and placing its hooves up on the first steps. With the same, calm manner of walk, the pony made its way up the winding staircase, ascending towards the large dome resting at the top.

An entrance, surprisingly intact, greeted the lone wanderer as it gently rested on its flank. A set of double doors, faded in color from their original blue. It was a door the pony often remembered walking through quite often, if only to move to and from the Royal Castle.

The pony quietly lifted a bandaged hoof towards the door, pushing the both of them open at the same time. The doors creaked loudly as they swung inward, banging loudly against the inner walls. The massive room inside the dome of the tower was well lit from the light of the sun, a pair of staircases resting in front of her.

One wound down into a large living area, complete with tattered and old couches and a dirty fireplace. The other staircase led upwards towards a single plateau which held several towering bookcases, a statue or two, and an old, shattered hourglass.

Nostalgia poured over the wanderer like a bucket of icy water, drawing it to shiver slightly as it got to its hooves and moved inside. As the pony made quiet noises against the wooden floor, it was as if the ghosts of the past had been disturbed, the small echo of old voices rising out of the dust to confront the intruder.

"Spike! Spiiiike!? Spike?" Twilight Sparkle shouted and called, finally noticing the baby dragon sprawled out on the floor in front of her. "There you are!" She said, quickly galloping up the wooden steps and towards one of her large bookcases "Quick!" She commanded, bowing down to look at the lower shelves "Find me that old copy of Predictions and Prophecies!"

The hooded pony moved quietly up the steps to the higher floor, looking about at the carnage of paper and books that littered the floors without care. The whole library portion of the tower was in utter ruin, just like the rest of Canterlot.

The sounds of the past and the feelings of dread were still present in the tower. Its scent gave the aura of a simpler time, a time where fright and worry was not a constant factor to those who went outside during their day...

"For you see...the mythical mare in the moon is in fact, Nightmare Moon!" She whispered, walking past her hourglass and the sand it quietly sprinkled into its basin. She never broke her confident stride as she went on, "And she's about to return to Equestria, and bring with her eternal night!"

Finally, the hooded pony sat in front of the shattered hourglass, looking towards the serrated edges of its lower dome. It could see the reflection in the higher glass, the white mask that was pressed against its face, staring back. With a quiet movement of a gentle hoof, the pony reached up, and removed the mask.

The sun was quick to illuminate the violet fur of a gentle mare, the thin scar that passed over her left cheek, and the purple horn signifying her as a unicorn. Eyes closed, the mare took in a deep breath and exhaled it out calmly.

It had seemed like an eternity since she had done that, simply breathed, took in the peace. Breathed out disease.

She felt tears brimming on the edges of her eyelids as she slowly peeked her eyes open, exposing to the sun the brilliant shine of those violet jewels....and the sweet blood reds that filled where her normal whites would be.

The color shone like a gleaming ruby, completely bathing the whites of her eyes in color. It was this color that rang the alarms of the creatures, the triggers of danger developed in their soft, tender hearts.

This color that had been repeatedly splashed and spilled in and on the canvas of Equestria for over five months.

Twilight Sparkle let her eyes slowly wander across the ruined insides of her old tower, the place she used to call her home before she had been sent by Princess Celestia to Ponyville to oversee the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration.

So many memories, so many good times, now muddled and clouded by horror and fear. She shuddered, getting to her hooves and slipping the mask into her saddlebags and quietly walking over to an old study desk.

It was littered with the usual assortment of items, many of which were old bottles of ink and several scrolls of paper that were scribbled with notes and drawings of experiments. She quietly shifted her hoof through the pile, looking for anything of interest, when her hoof hit something solid.

Frowning, Twilight pushed a few of the notes away to reveal a small, rectangle shaped device with five small buttons dotting one side.

"I remember this..." she whispered, her voice hoarse and weak. "I wonder..." She picked up the old device, gently pushing the correctly labeled button and waiting.
She listened to the steady 'whirr'that the device made as she waited, amazed that despite its disuse, the recorder still worked. When it finally hit the beginning of the tape, Twilight hit another button labeled with a small sign indicating to play a recording, and listened as a younger version of her voice happily chirped through the speaker:

"Good morning Twilight! This is Twilight! Well...you already knew that, but whatever! Anyway, today I learned that the properties of certain chemical compounds can be derived from-"

The pressing of the button labeled to stop the recording halted the voice of the younger Twilight, the unicorn once again rewinding the tape for a few seconds until the device clicked again, signalling that the tape had been rewound.

She looked up towards the massive window that almost made up one entire wall of her tower, noticing many panes had been shattered, but a few still remained. She smirked as she lit up her horn with magic, the low hum of her power purring in the air.

She looked over towards the giant curtain resting on the far left of the window and began to pull it across the room, concealing the window from view and bringing a complete darkness to her
tower.

"Oh I remember this..." Twilight quietly whispered, her voice barely audible, even to herself. "The feeling, the darkness, the rules..." She quietly looked down at her old tape recorder, illuminating the small area around her with magic as she looked at the small button that was labeled with a red circle.

She sucked in a breath as she pressed it, waiting a few seconds before opening her mouth and speaking.

"My name, is Twilight Sparkle. I am a unicorn. I am a veteran. I am the enemy.
The land you know as Equestria is a land of magic and friendship, a land where ponies can be free to roam happily and make friends whilst living in peace and harmony under the benevolent rules of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,”

She walked as she talked, speaking quietly into the recorder as she made her way back out of her tower and shutting the doors firmly behind her. The sky above was only just starting to turn a dull grey when she finally set her hooves down onto the firm pavement of the streets below.

“but the land you once came to love and cherish is gone. It's been gone for months now, turned into something I don't think you'd quite recognize, or even believe existed if it was explained to you.” she paused, clenching the device tightly in her hooves, hating every word she said.

“Sometimes it's hard to believe myself, hard to believe the stories that I was told. I don't think I could have ever believed them either, if I didn't already live them...”

The wind howled as Twilight made her way down the ruined streets of Canterlot towards the upper district, her cloak flapping harshly in the wind as the unicorn tried her best to keep the dust out of her eyes.

The weather around Canterlot had begun to act rather harshly since that fateful day so seemingly long ago, but it was barely a month. Perhaps it had been the inconceivable amount of magic that had been discharged in the once glorious city.

Maybe the aura of such intense magic had disrupted the balance of nature, causing the whole area to act in a way similar to the Everfree Forest...

“I cannot tell you exactly what has happened, not yet. But believe me when I say... history, cannot repeat itself... never again."

Unpredictable.

She looked down at the recorder still held firm, tape rolling and catching every fateful word she said. But yet she could barely find herself to continue.

Repeating the story that changed the lives of every pony in the world was not going to help anything. Who would hear her? What would it matter?

“What’s the use...” she mumbled, clicking the tape off and dropping it to the floor, hearing it clatter against the stone as she continued walking.

~

Twilight walked through the destroyed gates of the Royal Castle, the ruined fortress in front of her drawing pained groans out of her lungs along with the tight tugging of her wounded heart. It was sad, she had often thought... the last memory she had of the castle was how horrifying it looked like surrounded by thousands upon thousands of howling... things.

Ponies...

…more like monsters.

She quickly moved up to the massive double doors leading inside, noticing they were both blown wide open. She stepped inside at a brisk pace, the torn apart foyer revealing itself to her as her purple and blood red eyes adjusted to the sudden dim light.

She scrunched up her face, the smell of decay reaching her nostrils. Although most of the bodies had been removed... the scent was still very prominent in the old castle.

She shook her head quickly, pushing herself forward and quickly trotting up the large staircase in front of her, one destination labeled clearly in her mind. As she progressed, it became harder and harder to move about the halls as more and more piles of rubble presented themselves as obstacles.

As the minutes dragged by, Twilight continually hit wall after wall of rubble, frowning and grumbling as her progress was repeatedly halted by the boulders. She stopped at one such wall, igniting her horn at last with frustration, Twilight sent a strong pulse forward and managed to dislodge a few of the larger rocks.

They rumbled and rolled onto the marble floor with heavy and loud thuds, allowing a good-sized peephole in which the unicorn could stare through.

Peering through, Twilight could at least see her destination before her, though it was still a good distance away. "Alright...I guess there's really no choice but to cheat..." She grumbled, staring closely at the high-rising, ruined chair in the room at the end of the hall.

She ignited her horn once more, narrowing her eyes at the large chair. The calculations came together quickly in her mind and with another crack of magic, she disappeared in a brilliant flash and reappeared inside the room, landing in the exact spot she aimed and calculated for.

Twilight sat upon the throne, her eyes cast downwards onto the area in front of her. The throne room was in the same state as the rest of the castle: ruined, dusty, abandoned..

The tapestries had all been torn to shreds, the carpet had been eaten away by bugs and other creatures, and the windows had all been shattered, letting in gleaming rays of sunshine that illuminated the millions of dust particles floating about in the air.

She had often wondered what it would be like to rule Equestria... heck, she almost did at one point. One simple movement of her magic, one quick thrust...and Equestria could have been hers. Hers to rule alone, and unchallenged. But no, the decision had already been made, mercy had reared its head, proclaiming dominance over revenge...

Twilight sighed, turning to her right slowly and looking at a tiny spot next to the throne, the marble marked with two letters, "T. S." She smiled as she remembered those days, the days she sat next to Princess Celestia at the throne and pretended that she was also in charge of Equestria.

Celestia had always laughed at the way Twilight tried to mimic her, turning her head all regal and prancing about the throne room like she had a stick up her rump. Simpler times, they were.

Twilight shuddered as the familiar feeling of closing walls seeped into her mind and vision, and with a hurried turn and the swish of her cloak, she hurried out of throne room and towards the rear areas of the castle.

The violet unicorn continued her walk down to the backside of the castle, heading towards the doors that lead to the back gardens. She had hated the gardens ever since Discord led them on a wild goose chase through the Royal Maze all those months ago.

It was here though that everything ended... that peace returned to Equestria. It was always ironic to Twilight, how everything fit together. How the place where an age of Chaos and Disharmony began, was the place where another age of Chaos and Disharmony would end.

Her saddlebags jingled loudly as she pushed her way out of the doors and into the gardens. The plants were mostly dead and dried up, with a few stragglers still holding on for the hopes of life amongst a sea of death.

It was funny to her really...she never knew plants and ponies could have so much in common.

With a heavy sigh, Twilight made her way into what remained of the overly massive hedge-maze that Discord ran them through all that time ago. It was still an uncomfortable place to be for poor Twilight, the unicorn remembering the terrible feelings she had of the walls closing in on her helpless form and the way all her friends had been savagely turned against her.

Visions of greyed out ponies and angry snarls made Twilight blink for a moment, throwing off her concentration.

There was a long pause as Twilight finally made it to the back exit of the maze, and into the wide open park-like area before her. She felt a lump form in her throat as she beheld the large stain before her yet again, remembering how tragic that night really was. Some days it bothered her...some days it didn't.

Either way, the full weight of the sacrifices made during the past few months always hurt the hardest when Twilight slept, when her mental barriers came down and the nightmares crept inside.

She shook her head of the weary thoughts, “History, a horrible thing. A story that will forever be continued to be written.” but this time, she had made sure to halt the story that destroyed everything...

"As for me...well..." she mumbled while still casting her red and violet eyes towards the dried blood upon the ground.

"That story is still being written..." Twilight finished with a quiet sigh, slowly lowering herself onto her belly and tucking her legs underneath her own form. She got as comfortable as possible before finally turning her head and observing the rest of the garden area.

The many statues of famous ponies and past foes quietly watched over the area, only adding more to the uncomfortable nostalgic feeling that Twilight was getting rather sick of. She had picked the shade of Nightmare Moon as her resting point, igniting her horn and lifting out a small book that was labeled with the picture of a compass on the front.

She had often referred to this book for her future plans, her plans to get out of Equestria and run.
The world had only just recovered from too many disasters...she didn't want to make things worse by adding more misery to the burning pyre of Equestria.

It was because of this that Twilight scanned and read through every location and map labeled in the book, hoping that she could find some kind of land or area where she could flee and finally find peace.

Somewhere she could go to be safe, while still being within close enough range to make it back to Equestria...just in case. Equestria was still weak from the previous months...the never-ending days and weeks of chaos, horror, and madness.

How could they survive another incident? Could anyone survive it again? It was these thoughts that constantly assaulted Twilight's logic, empowering the desires of her heart to stay and help out in the rebuilding and recovery process.

It drew a sigh out of the depressed mare as she flipped another page of the guide, a large, cane-shaped land mass appearing before her eyes.

"Hmm... Zebrica..." She began, a small smile stretching on her lips. "Seems nice enough. Maybe I could finally look into that Zebra Cultural thing that I always read about!" She closed her book, getting to her hooves quickly as she prepared to summon her magic, and begin her complicated teleportation spell.

It would have to work in light bursts, quickly popping her in and out of dimensional planes and sending her across a great distance fairly quickly. As long as she did her geography and math right, she'd be able to avoid teleporting directly into a mountain or another object, and splicing herself through.

She shuddered at such a thought, and did another recalculation just to be sure. If it was one thing she learned over the past few months...it was that you couldn't be too careful about anything.

Her horn gleamed, and her magic filled the air with light humming as an aura of rose magic started to cover her form. Just before she could release her spell, however, a sudden voice interrupted her, causing her to jump slightly.

"If I were you...I would have killed her..." the voice hissed, a sarcastic and sinister rumble to its tone.

Twilight whipped her head about in every which direction as she shouted "Hello? Who's there!?" How did it know about her choice to let her live Who could have known? "Show yourself! I'm warning you!"

"Bit of a sad thing I guess..." It went on, ignoring Twilight's threats. "I mean, look what she did to you! Did anypony ever seal her away when she did something naughty? Nooo...of course not...I told her I'm not as cruel as she thinks..."

It was only then that Twilight started to remember that rumble...that sarcasm...that sinister laugh she could hear clear as day, and feel a cold wave of fear crash through her because of it.

"I know that voice..." Twilight whispered, turning her head slowly to look behind her, towards the one statue she had always hated looking upon.

The statue that contained the source of her misery for the past five months. The statue that now cried tears of blood as a deep, rumbling chaotic laugh echoed from the shocked expression etched into the stone, and the sinister words that echoed forth from it.

"After all...I didn't turn ponies into MONSTERS."