Sparklepocalypse

  Twilight Sparkle stared feverishly at the wall opposite from her as she sat in her throne. She had gotten lost on the way here from her bedroom. Again. The surrounding seats, which were nearly identical, might as well have been empty, as no one spoke. At all. Not a word.

  A large, young dragon sat in the center of the circle formed by large white crystal chairs. He broke the silence with constant munching sounds. A smaller seat waited, vacant, next to Twilight's imposing harmony butt rest. It was clearly meant for Spike, but he insisted that he be on the floor, surrounded by bored, uninterested ponies, so that he could punch out holes in the milky white rock imbedded in the floor, which had a shape resembling that upon Princess Sparkle's flank, and stuff chunks of it into his eating hole. Twilight's horn glowed constantly, repairing each gap that the dragon made.

  The doors magically slammed closed.

  Twilight's back straightened. Her gaze shifted slowly from the dull navy wall to the ponies that used to be her friends: a blue pegasus, looking around and huffing in agitation and impatience; a pink earth pony, staring straight ahead blankly; a yellow pegasus with layers of grime smeared across her coat and dust and dandruff stuck in her oily, tangled mane; a frail, pathetic orange earth pony; and a very light gray unicorn, who was filing her hooves and not paying attention to anyone else in the room.

  Twilight drew in a breath, and, reluctantly, started to speak.

  "All Elements of Harmony present?"

  Silent nods spread across the room, some grim, some uncaring, some shaky. Rarity, however, did not move her head. Instead, without looking up from her filing, said, "You forget, darling, that we aren't Elements of Harmony anymore. Those objects don't exist." She paused to blow dust off her hooves.

  Twilight looked at her, raising a brow.

  "Well, they do, but not to the pony world, you see. They're in a tree, darling," said Rarity, as if the fact that the magical jewels were embedded in a tree meant that they were officially non-existant. "And thank goodness for that. Those necklaces were so hideously tacky."

  "Yes, I understand, Rarity," mumbled the alicorn, returning to her slouching position, horn still glowing.

  Fluttershy blew a strand of grime-laden hair away from her twitching eye, around which was a loose ring of bumps and small pimples. She gazed in Rainbow's general direction, and croaked something with a throat so sore that nothing coming from it could be registered as a word.

  Rainbow Dash returned her dreamy stare with a harsh look so fierce that it alone made Fluttershy turn her head at the very glance and whimper. The blue pegasus sat hunched in her chair, throwing sour looks at the surrounding ponies. Her mouth was scrunched tight, a sign that she had decided to say nothing.

  For a while, nopony spoke. There was no sounds to be heard but those of Spike chewing, looking around with interest at the six ponies, and Rarity still filing her hooves, bits jangling in a large pouch around her front leg.

  Applejack shifted in her seat, shaking ever so slightly. Her skin was drawn tightly over her bones, her blonde mane was disheveled, and her has was missing. There were dark circles under her eyes. Her usually bright irises were dull and grayish. Her voice trembled as she spoke.

  "So... what do all you gals want 'ta talk about?"

  Twilight watched, horn glowing, as the silence continued.

  Pinkie Pie's mouth started to open. Suddenly, everyone's gaze shifted to her, full of excitement. She hadn't talked since who-knows-when now, and the other five formal friends had all but forgotten her voice. Even Rarity looked up from her hooves and gasped.

  She then yawned.

  Twilight had nothing to ask. If she were to wonder how Fluttershy's animals were doing, she would get a creaky, distorted version of something that sounded like "Angel's dead" or "Starving" or just a little "Hm?". If she were to ask, "Hey, Rainbow, how's the weather doing?" she would get a glare or sneer, maybe a small "heh", and occasionally a look that said "I could clear the sky in ten seconds flat if I wanted to, but I don't". Applejack would never answer any of her questions honestly, as she was too scared. Rarity, when asked about her business in dressmaking, would either cringe or make a snide or hurt remark on how jealous Twilight must be to ask her about how to get her precious gold. Pinkie Pie never answered.

  So she did the only thing that she could.

  She ran out of the room, screaming, and ran around the castle until she found a small, empty corner that she could sit in and rock, while canting exactly what she howled as she pummeled out of the throne room:

  "I'm gonna end it all! I'm gonna end it all! I'm gonna end it all..."