Chronicle: Arrival

by Therealdraginslayer

Rating: everyone
Tags: Dark, Alternate Universe, Sad, Adventure
Length: 6409

"Life is short; life is brutal; but sometimes, life can be good and happy. Sometimes we need someone else to show us the way."

"Life is short; life is brutal; but sometimes, life can be good and happy. Sometimes we need someone else to show us the way." That's what he was told his entire life, but what if you were the reason life was short and brutal to some? What if your existence or presence only brought pain.

"I'm not worried about you hurting me. I worried that I'll hurt you." That is his life through his eyes.

But sometimes we need a someone to show us what we can't see ourselves.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-03-19 23:30:03 UTC

1: Pain

_____________________________________

It started with a fall. That’s what he remembered. He was falling; he wasn’t falling anywhere in particular, there was just a black void surrounding him.

Why did everything have to start with him falling? Sometimes it was physical; sometimes it was mentally; and sometimes emotionally. But the one constant throughout his life was him falling. Why did it always start like that? Hadn’t he fallen enough?

All he could think about was falling now. The first time he fell he was two. He was learning how to walk. He had seen all of the tapes of his first moments with walking, and he was not impressed by the amount of times he had fallen.

He was impressed by the number of times he got back up. He had fallen eighteen times. He stood back up seventeen times. The one time he didn’t get back up was when he was ready to fall asleep from exhaustion.

But he always got back up. That was what he did throughout his life. He got back up, no matter how hard he fell…

How was he supposed to get up from this? This fall seemed like it would never end; even the point he had started falling from had disappeared against the darkness. How long had he been falling? Where was he falling to?

Was he dead?

That was the question that struck him with a sudden weight he could only compare to a jackhammer against his chest. Was he dead? If so, how did he die and where was he going? Shouldn’t he be going up? No, heaven is upwards and he was not foolish enough to believe he deserved to go to heaven. He was definitely falling, but to hell? Did he deserve hell—eternal damnation?

Had he never helped anyone; had he not lead a righteous life? He was sure that he had. Was he just a bad person? If he was a bad person, Karma would have struck at him; that’s how the world worked.

But what if hell was his Karma? Surely he hadn’t done such terrible things that he deserved to die. Did he do these things recently? He looked back on the past few weeks of his life but…

He found nothing but an empty canvas. It was as though his memory had been wiped. What happened? What did he do?

Maybe this fall would end soon and his answer would be received.

But he fell for hours…

+++

It was sudden. It was unprecedented. There were no words to describe the excruciation he now felt. Pain surged throughout his body, targeting his skin and flesh and bone all at once. He screamed in terror and agony as his skin peeled from his muscle, layer by layer. It faded to dust into the midnight black surrounding him. He closed his eyes, unable to see what was happening to him.

He wanted to get sick, but his stomach wouldn’t let him. His body refused to do as he demanded. His own body was working against him! It was as though he had no control over himself. That only scared him more.

“Aghh!!” he screeched as loudly as he could, straining his vocal cords to broken, abrupt silence.

When all of his skin had finally peeled from him, he felt his bones and muscles beginning to shift. He screamed terribly, feeling his hands and feet shrink into his arms and legs, respectively. He felt his left arm snap first, further blinding him from what he was turning into. Then snapped his right leg, then left leg, then his right arm. They all split in the same areas: just below the knee or just after the elbow.

He could scream no longer. His vocal cords had stretched enough to accommodate his screams for only that long.

With not even a second to breathe, he felt his neck begin to stretch and his spinal cord with it. He wanted to scream but his neck was changing too much. He couldn’t utter a sound. He couldn’t even breathe!

He gasped for air, but there was none. He was suffocating in this darkness.

Someone help me! he cried out internally. But he saw no one. Only pitch black darkness. Someone! Please! But no one came.

His vision began to go blurry and tunnel. He could no longer look down at his body without feeling as though on a skyscraper.

Then everything went black. It wasn’t the same kind of blackness surrounding him. It was the kind of darkness you can only get with your eyes closed.

But his eyes weren’t closed! He was blind!

I’m sorry…please stop. I’m sorry.

But no one could hear his cries, even if he could vocalize them. There was no one around, no one to care for him. He had never felt so afraid before, yet he refrained from shaking. He needed to be strong. He would make it through this. He had to. He needed to focus on something other than the pain. He wanted to make it through the agony…

So he looked to the darkness.

Why did it feel so familiar, the darkness? It scared him. It racked his body to the core, but he couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was that was scaring him. He wasn’t scared of the dark, so why was he so afraid?

He began to wonder if when people died they say the same empty darkness and felt scared, but in their own ways. Would they see their most primal fears? If so, what was he supposed to see? Why did the darkness scare him so much?

Swiftly and unexpectedly, two thin objects shot straight out of his back, spilling blood against the back of his muscly, skin-peeled head. Muscle and flesh began to from around the new limbs, but he couldn’t move them. They remained behind him, erect and preposterous. Was he really going to hell? Was he to become yet another one of Lucifer’s minions—to take a monstrous new form and await Judgment Day to prey upon the innocent?

He began to wonder what form he would take. A spider-esque abomination or maybe a fleshy and decaying winged monster? At least his thoughts were numbing the pain somewhat. Thinking about things always made him hurt less.

But what came after could not be ignored. Not with thinking, imagination, or will-power. He felt his lower jaw jump forward, elongating out of socket. He tried to suck in a breath, but he still suffocated in the nothingness around him.

Oh God, please. Stop…Someone help me…

But no one came. No one ever came. He screamed his entire life for someone, but no one ever came.

He closed his eyes, finally realizing why he was so afraid of the emptiness. He closed his eyes and let himself finally give in…

2: Meteor

_____________________________________

Twilight looked to the sky and smiled. It was a beautiful day in Ponyville. The birds sang their lovely tunes; the clouds were drifting lazily through the air, but no one seemed to care; the streets were clean and proper with shops beginning to open.

She looked ahead to the Carousel Boutique and saw her new friend Rarity opening up shop. She waved and was waved back to, but that was the extent of their first meeting that day. Rarity walked back into her store, brushing her luxurious blue mane with a levitating soft brush up and down her locks.

The purple mare trotted down the sidewalk, quickly becoming embroiled in the crowds of the mid-morning errands everypony had. She worked her way through the ever shifting maze of ponies and found the little store she was looking for. It was a rather small building; it was quaint and not easily missed, but it still attracted few customers. Across the top was a sign reading in dark letters, to contrast the bright colors all around, Antiquities.

Twilight pushed the door open and walked in curiously. She was immediately greeted by a short, fragile looking mare dressed in a tunic that was tied unevenly around her waist. There was a nametag on her left-side chest; it read: Hello, my name is Antique.

“Hello, Miss. Is there anything I can help you with? Would you like a cookie? I just baked a few. I’m still dressed in my baking outfit and…”

Twilight held up her hoof and shook her head. “No thank you. I’m just looking. You never know what you might find in an antique shop.”

“Are you a collector?” the old mare asked casually, trying too hard to create conversation. But Twilight was all too happy to oblige and create small talk with the mare.

“No,” she started, taking small glances at racks of knick-knacks and trinkets; “I don’t typically collect things. I just find that you can find something important to history in shops like this.”

There was a moment of silence after Twilight spoke. She could sense a looming, ominous feeling of stress coming from the mare. She looked around the store once more and realized what was wrong. The store was in bad shape; partial peeled paints, curling wood, nails here and there protruding like traps ready to snag a random passerby.

“So are you new here? I don’t think I’ve seen you around town before.”

“Yes, I am. I just moved here two weeks ago and decided I could go for a little shop visiting. You know, get to know my new neighbors.”

“Well, that’s just so sweet of you to do that! I know a few of the local shops have been struggling a lot recently.”

“Why?”

“Well, the whole ordeal with Luna’s ordeal. It scared off most of the tourism and therefore most of our revenues.”

Twilight nodded and looked to the old mare behind the counter. She ate a cookie slowly, spreading crumbs across her face. She tactfully wiped her maw with a napkin. “I’ m sorry. I wish I could help.”

“It’s okay. When things settle down, ponies will start to come back and keep the wealth spreading again. All the other shops will be back to normal in a few months.”

“And yours?” Twilight replied, catching onto what the mare was getting at.

“Well, not many ponies care about history anymore.”

Twilight sighed and nodded. “It’s a shame. History is one of my favorite subjects.”

“Oh, you go to school still? Where?”

Twilight became prideful within that single moment and rushed to the counter. “Well, I don’t mean to brag, but I have the greatest teacher and mentor in the world.”

“Who? Cheerilee?”

“Nope. The princess herself!”

“Oh! So you’re Twilight Sparkle! I’ve heard so much about you. You came and freed Princess Luna from Nightmare Moon, didn’t you?”

Twilight blushed and nodded. “Yeah.”

“Well, thank you for bringing back the princess.”

Twilight smiled, but wasn’t sure why? She had done something great by bringing Luna back and recovering the Elements of Harmony, but she had also inadvertently caused a great deal of distress on the citizens of Ponyville. Now that Luna’s return was a known fact throughout the kingdom, ponies believed her new home was Ponyville because that was where she had first appeared as Nightmare Moon.

And ponies still only saw Nightmare Moon, not Luna.

“Are you okay?” the mare asked worriedly, nudging Twilight with her hoof.

She looked up quickly and nodded. “Yeah. I’m just thinking.”

“About what, darling?” She gave a concerned look that could not be faked. It brought a smile to Twilight’s face.

“Nothing. So…do you have anything of grand historical significance?”

“Well, sure. I have a trombone used by Starswirled the Bearded’s student.”

“Starswirled had a student?” Twilight asked confusedly. It was a curious notion to believe Starswirled had a student, even a secret one. Twilight knew just about everything about the legendary Unicorn mage. The only thing nopony knew was when he was born and where he was buried.

“Oh, yes. There’s actually a grand tale about the student. It started one thousand-five hundred years ago…”

Within that moment, the entire began to shake and tremble as though suddenly afraid. Twilight looked around, watching random items fall from shelves and the glass windows begin to crack down the middle and spread outward like curled, dead trees in winter.

“Earthquake?” the mare exclaimed fearfully, uncertain of what to do. She quickly ducked under the counter.

“Ponyville’s not near any major fault lines. If it were an earthquake it would be unnoticeable.” Twilight looked around wildly and said, “Stay under the counter!”

“Okay!”

The purple Unicorn leaped out the front door and saw the civilians scatter like mice, excitedly running for cover. The ground shook violently still…

But it made no sense. It couldn’t be an earthquake. It was impossible to feel it. The closest major fault was just outside Canterlot, but even if the quake were strong enough to break a seismograph, it would still be unnoticeable.

Then her shadow began to grow right before her eyes. Soon, long black shadows consumed the colorful world around her. She quickly turned around and saw a horrific sight. A massive ball of fire hurdled towards them at an incalculable speed. It blotted out the sun for a moment, but that did not stop heat from reaching Ponyville. Twilight could feel the bright embers roasting her as it passed overhead.

Twilight shrieked fearfully when an ear-splitting roar concussed through the air just as the meteor passed by, shattering windows and quieting the screams of terror-stricken ponies. Twilight knelt down, covering her ears, as the fireball finally passed overhead after several seconds of lingering above.

It was strange, and Twilight couldn’t help but think of it. The “giant” meteor wasn’t that large. After calculating the distance overhead and how large it looked, she concluded that it was the size of an Earth pony, maybe two. It also moved relatively slowly overhead. It had a blistering heat, but wasn’t bright. Most meteors would blind anypony if they were as close as Twilight was and looked directly at it.

That’s so weird…

But the most terribly confusing thing about it wasn’t how it looked, but how it sounded. There is a uniform sound that meteors make when entering the atmosphere, a singular noise that they all make. Most sound like an explosion, i.e. breaking the sound barrier or tearing through the air; others sound like an extremely loud whistle; few, if any, sounded like this…

This one sounded like a person, a person screaming in pain. It sent chills up and down Twilight’s spine that she could not ignore. It cuddled her blood and stiffened her back. She had never heard someone in so much pain and she couldn’t compare it to anything else. This meteor was in pain!

After it passed overhead, the meteor slammed into the Everfree Forest, miles away. Twilight stood up slowly and looked towards the crash site, and trembled terribly. Directly ahead of her was a cloud of dirt and dust blowing through the air, carrying with it shattered glass, trees, and animals unfortunate enough to not be holding onto something when the impact-shockwave came.

“Twilight!” Within a fraction of second, a blue form, tinted with rainbow, blue into Twilight’s side and smashed through the door of the antique shop. The purple mare hit her head against the counter, falling unconscious.

+++

She could sense a few things, despite being in the dead of unconsciousness. She felt strange things coursing through her in her dream: blatant, unsettling, and disgusting feelings that she couldn’t put definitive words to. Twilight could only compare one feeling to the feeling she got when she was caught lying to Celestia about not completing an assignment. She felt so shameful.

But there was something else surging through her blood. It was the same emotion she felt when she didn’t get a birthday present from her parents last year. They sent one and it was simply late for weeks, but Twilight felt terrible. She had believed no one loved her, not even Celestia, who had forgotten completely.

And strangely, a memory of herself as a filly burned into view, but it was like she was watching it on a screen. It was gray, black, and white, colors she seldom saw by alone.

She recognized it as her bedroom when she was a filly, having just moved to Canterlot. She sat by her bedroom window, watching others play down below with sparklers and toys in the warm sunset. She hollered down at the fillies and colts below, catching their attention for a brief moment, but they all looked back quickly to keep playing, twirling their sparklers into circles and off-set shapes.

She raced from her window, to the stairs, and to the door; she carried a few sparklers in her maw and wrapped a scarf around her neck snuggly. A soft voice from the other room called out: “Don’t forget your glasses, Twilight.”

“Okay, mommy!” Twilight rushed back to her bedroom and levitated her glasses onto the bridge between her snout and eyes. She looked out the window once more and saw the fillies and colts still playing. She became excited. It was her first day in Canterlot and she was eager to make friends.

Within moments, she was already outside, rushing towards the crowd of children. But before she was even ready to light her sparkler, she already heard the sounds of taunting and laughing.

“Hey, gals, look! She’s got four-eyes! Why don’t you go hang out with that stupid girl over there? She’s got stupid eyes too.”

Twilight only looked at the fillies and colts laughing at her. Her legs shook violently and the sparkler dropped from her mouth. She lowered her head and ears, sadness overwhelming her as everypony laughed at her.

“I…I can’t help it…”

“Four-eyes! Four-eyes! Nerd!” they all taunted and hollered callously.

“But I can’t help it…” Twilight muttered, lowering her chest to the ground in a submissive form. She felt the tears quell up in her eyes and she slid the glass off her face, leaving them behind as she rushed back into the safety of her home.

What were all of these feelings she was experiencing? Shame? Unwanted? Lonely? She had felt these things before, but never at the magnitude of that moment.

+++

“Twilight! Wake up!” It was an echoic voice, and Twilight’s vision was tunneled, blurred, and odd; she hadn’t had vision like that in years. She thought she was staring at a rainbow, except this one was missing a few colors.

Twilight turned her head back and forth, looking around wildly for the owner of the antique shop. “Antiques?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash replied. “There’s a lot of them.”

“No,” Twilight started, pushing Rainbow Dash off her carefully. She rolled to her hooves and looked around. “Miss Antiques?”

“Yes?” the familiar voice replied, still hiding underneath the counter.

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

The old mare’s eye peered over the counter and a small crease around her eyes formed, indicating a smile. “Why that’s very thoughtful of you.”

“What happened?” Twilight asked stupidly. She knew that a meteor had flown overhead, but she wasn’t sure about much of anything else. Maybe Rainbow Dash had seen something that Twilight couldn’t.

“A meteor came down and crashed in the Everfree,” Rainbow Dash replied, taking a look towards the dust covered road. “The blast kind of blew dirt everywhere.”

“Okay…” Twilight started, heading towards the door. “We need to get a task force to clean the air before somepony suffocates out there. The dust won’t settle on its own for hours.”

“I can get that done in ten seconds flat…”

Why was it always ten seconds with her? Was it just a favorite number or a score to be won? Twilight shrugged off asking.

“Get going and when you’re done, get all of the girls with their Elements just in case.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I need to write to the princess. She needs to know about this.”

+++

Twilight coughed violently as she flung herself through her front door. The dust had made it all the way to Twilight’s library! What a distance! She rubbed her eyes and rushed up the stairs to her right, taking shattered glass window in the loft.

This was very peculiar and she hadn’t noticed it before, but the windows, all of the windows, had blown outward as thought smashed from the inside of buildings.

She shook her head, catching herself before she hypothesized over it for hours. She rushed up the stairs and slammed through the door to her bedroom. She could see Spike curled up underneath her bed. Their eyes met briefly before he hastily clawed his way out from under the rather large, square bed and fly into Twilight’s open hooves.

She cuddled him tightly, but Spike did not object. He trembled with fear just as much as Twilight was.

“Oh, Spike I was so worried about you!” Twilight exclaimed. “Are you okay?”

“I…I think,” he replied quietly. His voice trembled. “What about you?”

“I’m fine…”

“What happened? All of the windows blew up and something really loud flew overhead.”

“I don’t know…”

“Was it Nightmare Moon? Did she take control of Luna again!?” Spike spoke so quickly it almost made Twilight’s head spin.

“Spike, calm down!” she exclaimed. It only worked to keep him slightly quieter. “I…I actually don’t know if it was Nightmare Moon or not. It looked like a meteor, but it acted nothing like one. Rainbow Dash is getting the girls together with the Elements of Harmony, just in case. But right now, I need to write a letter to Princess Celestia.”

Spike scrambled away to the nearby desk, eagerly waiting for Twilight’s words, hoping for some warming protection from Celestia to come quickly.

Dear Princess Celestia

Something has happened in Ponyville that requires your immediate attention. Plus, come as soon as you are able. Preferably in the next hour. Ponies may be hurt.

Your Student,

Twilight Sparkle

“Is that it?” Spike asked, rolling up the letter anyway. Twilight nodded and no sooner did Spike light it aflame with his small poof of green, magical fire. The letter burst into ash and drifted through the window.

“Now Spike, where did I put my Element?” Twilight inquired impatiently. She quickly began pulling books off her shelf and eventually knocking the shelf down onto the new pile below. She rushed to her bedside drawer and searched carefully.

“I think it’s in the book case downstairs. You put it in a hallow-book for safekeeping.”

Spike watched Twilight dart out of the room and the sound hooves clipping down the wooden stairs remained the dominant sound throughout the library, but Spike could still hear Twilight whispering worriedly to herself.

Books fell from the shelves yet again until one specifically loud one was followed by metal hitting the floor.. Spike watched the door open magically, and Twilight escaped through into the dusty outside, screaming, “Stay here, Spike!”

Oh please be safe…he whispered inside his head. He suddenly coughed and choked grossly until he spit out a green flame, identical to the one he used to send Twilight’s letter. He grabbed the letter out of mid-air and unrolled it quickly.

His eyes went wide and he screamed for Twilight, but she was too far gone.

+++

Twilight came upon Rainbow Dash flying through the sky in a stroke of luck. The newly formed dust patrol was already wrapping up and the roads were almost visible again. Twilight could breathe regularly now; that was a massive improvement. Her crown, encrusted with the Element of Magic, glinted in the shine of the sun, blinding Rainbow Dash momentarily but caught her attention.

She saw a blue streak through the sky and hollered up at the Pegasus. She stopped in her path and glided gracefully in circles.

“Have you talked to the girls?”

“Yeah! We’re all going to Fluttershy’s cottage! Come on!” The blue Pegasus sped off towards the Everfree, no doubt arriving faster than everypony else. Twilight galloped down the main street, watching stores shut their doors and board their windows in case of another disaster. Children were pulled off the streets, parents fearing that the dust had not yet been completely blown away.

“Stay in your homes!” Twilight screamed. “It’s not safe! Celestia will be here soon!”

Though she didn’t see it or intend the reaction the Ponyville denizens made, Twilight’s cry of Celestia’s coming soothed much of the fear embalming the residents of Ponyville’s Main Street, eliciting a few from their homes. Twilight Sparkle rushed to her new friend’s home, crying out hope and warmness.

+++

Twilight arrived at the same time as Rarity and Applejack. Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash stood at Fluttershy’s front door, adjusting each other’s Elements. Twilight looked at all of her friends and nodded after counting them out. Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty, and, finally, Magic.

“So what’s the plan Twilight?” Rainbow Dash stood at attention directly in front of Twilight. Her chest was pushed outright and her back was straight. She had the posture of a Wonderbolt.

“We need to head towards that meteor and find out what it is…”

“Is a meteor just a bunch of rocks and gas?” Pinkie interrupted, pulling a decent sized rock from seemingly nowhere. “We kind of already know what it is, silly!”

“This is different, girls.” Twilight thought of a way to explain her hunch, but in reality she couldn’t even explain it to herself. She wasn’t convinced enough to believe it was Luna, but she knew there was something different about it.

“How so?” Applejack added, accent thickening her words.

“I…I don’t know, but I don’t want to leave this to chance. If it is something evil, we need to take care of this before Celestia arrives, or at least keep it at bay.”

“But it’s just a rock…”

Twilight shook her head. “Please, girls. I need to do this. I…I need to make sure it isn’t Nightmare Moon.” She hadn’t lied completely, but Twilight still felt guilty for saying it. It was as though she had already convicted Luna.

At least it created the desired effect in her friends. Fluttershy shook fearfully and Rarity trembled in her oddly fashionable camouflage boots. Her tail hair was still growing back to its previous luxurious state, but that didn’t stop Rarity from making her new look work with her.

But they all nodded in agreement. They needed to check the crash site, just to be sure.

“Let’s go then,” Twilight said, taking the lead into the forest. She looked back briefly and saw her new friends following closely behind her. She smiled knowing they were there.

+++

The fog was thick and unsettling, blurring the trodden path through the forest. It was strange that there was a distinguishable path in the Everfree at all, but Twilight didn’t want to think about it. She needed to focus all her attention ahead of herself. She didn’t want to accidentally lead her troupe into a fast moving river or a bear’s den.

“Rainbow Dash, can you do anything about this fog?” Twilight coughed. The fog was getting thicker and thicker as they went deeper and deeper, closer and closer to the site.

“I’m trying!” Twilight turned around, bumping heads with Rarity, who was tailing her closely. She saw Rainbow Dash fluttering her wings as fast as she could, but without the combined strength of several more Pegasi, the fog would not shift.

“Ah think this migh’ be a bad idea, Twili,” Applejack said. “We can hardly see and it’s getting hard to breathe.”

“Yes, Twilight, I agree. We should really head back to my cottage and wait for Celestia.” Fluttershy’s hoof rubbed Twilight’s shoulder comfortingly.

Twilight searched her head for a solution that wouldn’t involve retreating from the forest. She could only think of teleporting, but she couldn’t do that with other ponies yet. And even by herself it was exhausting. She rattled her memory in hopes of finding a solution.

“Girls, get close to me,” Twilight demanded. The other five ponies came close to her. She made a face of concentration and suddenly her horn glowed brightly. She groaned quietly through her teeth and suddenly a large, transparent pink orb burst to life around the ponies.

“Ooh!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed excitedly. “It looks like bubblegum!”

Twilight groaned and shuddered as the fog was evacuated from the bubble they were in. She collapsed quietly to the ground, trembling with anxiety. “I…hate…that spell…”

“Come on, Twili,” Applejack reassured. “We can turn back. Ya don’t need ta keep this magic goin’ if it hurts ya.”

“No,” she replied quickly and defensively. “I’m fine. This bubble will last us about a half-hour. If by then we haven’t made it, we’ll turn back.”

Applejack nodded and rubbed Twilight’s back carefully. She helped Twilight to her hooves and helped her forward. Twilight smiled weakly and went on her own.

“Let’s go. We don’t have much time.”

+++

Twilight’s mind raced with possibilities. Not of what the meteor was, but what would happen if it was Luna’s doing. Had it simply been an accident? Was it on purpose, an attack upon Equestria by Nightmare Moon? What would happen to Luna if this was the case? Would she be sentenced to the moon for another thousand years?

Twilight felt a twinge of pain through her being after imaging Luna on the moon for another one thousand years. She must’ve been so lonely. No friends, no letters, just complete darkness for half a day then blinding light for the other half. No one to say “hi” or “nice to see you”.

It suddenly resonated with Twilight in a way she never imagined possible.

“Are you okay, egghead?” Rainbow Dash asked, trotting ahead of the pack. She was the only one that had noticed the way Twilight’s head hung lower than before, too low to be called exhaustion.

“What did you call me?” Twilight whispered calmly. She faked a smile to make sure Rainbow Dash wouldn’t see her sudden distress. It might throw everypony off to see their “leader” troubled.

The blue Pegasus smiled, believing the name she had given Twilight was welcomed. “Egghead, egghead.”

Then it was as though Rainbow Dash had never asked what was wrong with her. It felt a little odd, but she didn’t dwell on it. Twilight had more important things to worry about.

“Girls! Look!” Pinkie Pie shouted, pointing a hoof out to a large gash in the ground just ahead of them. Fire burned from the ground, illuminating the path much more than before. They galloped ahead and followed the rocky gash, extinguishing the fires with the pink bubble as they passed over it, further into the forest.

…they walked and walked and walked and walked and walked. It was all Twilight thought of. They had been walking for ages it seemed. When she looked back to see her friends, they all looked exhausted, struggling to keep going. They all slowed their pace, allowing Fluttershy and Rarity to keep up.

…then they walked more and more and more and more. The bubble should have disappeared by now. Twilight looked back once again…

Fluttershy lie on the ground farther back and outside of the bubble. The rest of the group remained completely still.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight exclaimed, running back for her. The bubble enveloped Fluttershy and she reached down to help her…

The yellow mare faded to dust right before Twilight’s eyes, sending a wave of shock and horror through her.

“Fluttershy?!” Twilight exclaimed hysterically. She looked around wildly, much like the way she had when looking for the antique shop owner.

There was no one! Not a soul was around. The fog had completely surrounded the pink bubble she had created, blocking any view of anything. Not even shadows peered through the blanket of gray.

“Girls?” Twilight cried out fearfully, looking around at nothing. “Applejack! Rainbow Dash! Rarity!” There was a pause as she took deep breaths. “Pink-ie p-pie?” She gasped for air, breathing and choking at the same time. She inhaled and exhaled quickly and furiously, but there was too much air in her already. Twilight began to choke and hyperventilate. She put her hooves to her throat limply.

Twilight stumbled to the ground, falling to her side. She curled up into an awkward ball and watched as the bubble began to blur and tunnel away from her. Twilight breathed quickly and greedily, but she couldn’t control it. Her head began to ache and feel light-headed.

“Somepony?” she whispered in a coughing pattern. “Anypony…”

Twilight looked up and saw the bubble protecting her slowly begin to fade, spiraling in strips downward. In its wake was the all-consuming gray fog, descending slowly and ready to take Twilight into its deathly hold.

“I feel so cold…” she muttered to herself, looking all around for her friends one last time. They were just behind me…

Her eyes didn’t widen with realization; instead, they remained the same.

They left me. They wanted to go home and they left me…I…my friends…

Twilight closed her eyes and cried a little, feeling the gray fog cover her coldly.

+++

Everything is black, white, and gray again, but the gray is much more dominant. Why was there so much gray, regardless of its many shades? It was such an upsetting color to Twilight but…why? It’s just a color.

“What’s wrong Twily? How’s my favorite nerd doin’?” Shining Armor said, patting the couch for Twilight to sit next to him. She had just run in through the front door crying. Her eyes widened quickly, and she ran towards the nearby stairs. “Twily?” she heard close behind her, hoofsteps chasing her.

She wept fearfully, childishly fearing the worst, and flew through her door. She slammed her door shut and levitated her reading chair under the doorknob, wedging it between the door and floor. The door budged slightly and Shining’s voice called out, “Twily? What’s wrong? Come on. Talk to me.”

Twilight shook her head even more, not caring that her brother couldn’t see her. She, without pausing, crawled underneath her bed fearfully. There she put her back against the wall, curled into the fetal position, and cried softly. She covered her face with her hooves and tears rolled to the carpeted floor. Thankfully she was rather small and could easily fit under the bed. There was a lot of room for her to wipe her cheeks.

“Shining, come down here,” Twilight’s father said at the bottom of the steps. Hoofsteps leading away from Twilight’s door eased Twilight slightly, but she still heard the children yelling at her, calling her names. She felt her arm and winced as her hoof passed over the tiny bruise that blended with her coat.

“What’s wrong with Twilight?” Shining’s worried voice rang through the house dreadfully. “Is she mad at me? I’ve only been away for training for a month. I wonder how she’ll do when I’m gone for months at a time…”

“That’s not it, sweetie,” their mother said sadly. “Twilight’s been having some problems at school.”

“Like what? She’s not failing her classes, is she? She’s the smartest pony I know, and she’s only ten!”

“No…” Twilight strained her ears to hear what her father was going to say, hoping he wouldn’t tell the truth. She didn’t want Shining Armor to come back. She didn’t want anyone to talk to her. They’d only make fun of her or hurt her or…or…make fun of her.

“She’s being bullied…” their father said quietly, not realizing just how acoustically sound their homes was.

“What? By who?”

“Everypony by the sound of it. Her teacher says that she stays inside during recess and doesn’t participate in class…” Their mother sobbed quietly and quickly regained her composure, but her voice still cracked. “She came home the other day with bruises up and down her arms. We keep trying to talk to her about it, but she won’t talk. She just runs up to her room and locks us out.” Twilight and Shining’s mother began weeping softly. “I just don’t what to do! I want to protect my baby!”

“It’s okay, Mom,” Shining Armor said. “I’ll go talk to her…”

Shining Armor’s hoofsteps approached Twilight’s door again. She shook violently and fearfully, closing her eyes tightly yet again, like there was a monster coming for her. She had heard their conversation, but it did not help ease the tension she felt as Shining Armor approached…

+++

Twilight opened her eyes again. Her vision was yet again blurred, but she could still make out the distinct colors and shapes of her friends lying on the nearby ground. Fire crackled and the ground felt like sand…no. It felt like dirt that had been finely grained to feel like sand. Who would do that though?

She looked around weakly, vision becoming clear again. It took her a moment, but she quickly realized that she and her friends were all lying in a large crater, carved out with an even bigger hole near the center.

How did they get there? Why were they here? They left her to die and now they were lying on the ground like nothing had happened…unless they had never left in the first place. Maybe it was all just a test. A test from Nightmare Moon to tear the Elements of Harmony from them!

Twilight quickly checked her head for her crown and sighed when her hoof touched something metal. She stood up slowly, stumbling to keep good footing on the sandy ground. She looked towards the center. The bowl wasn’t large, not even a fraction of the one they were all in, but in the center Twilight could see something rising and falling slowly.

As she approached it, she felt her vision blur more and more until it was nothing but the way she naturally saw things. She peered over the edge of the bowl and watched in horror as the blurred mass at the center screamed horrifically in its eternal agony. She shuddered fearfully, unsure of how to react…

But it disappeared. It didn’t fade off and it didn’t echo. It simply ceased to exist in such a way that made Twilight wonder if she was still dreaming…but the scream was enough to make her fall backwards…

Only this time she felt like she would fall forever.