Chapter 1: Late for the party
Music
Equestria wasn't what it used to be. Where was everypony? Me and my colleague, Sunset Shimmer, stepped into the portal expecting no less than at least a guard, but the portal room was empty. The air in the room was dead. We traded worried glances, and stepped out of the room. The hall was empty as well, but the air in here smelled... different. Neither of us could identify the odd smell, but it was rather sickening, like rotten eggs, or expired milk.
"Where is everypony?" Shimmer asked, a hint of concern in her voice. We continued to walk down the hall, curious as to what the hell that smell was. I turned a corner, and leaped back in terror. A guard laid on the floor, presumably dead. Blood trickled out of his mouth, and his eyes were bloodshot. "What is it?" My colleague asked, just prior to seeing the corpse. She screamed, and recoiled in horror. Curious as to what happened to him, I moved my hoof to touch him, only for Shimmer to pull my hoof away. "No! He might be sick. That's why we're here, remember?"
"Yeah, yeah, I know." I growled. We had received a message from Princess Twilight Sparkle requesting help with some illness. There wasn't a lot of details, so knowing Twilight, it was probably urgent. Apparently, even in our rush to leave, we hadn't arrived in time. "Well, it was fun, but we were tooo late! Time to go home!" I turned tail to leave, but Shimmer stopped me.
"No! We can't be sure!" she snapped. I sighed, and turned back around. "We can't go back, anyway, because the portal would have closed by now." she reminded me. I nodded.
"Well, what now?" I asked.
"I say it's time we leave, Crescent." she said. "After all, we won't get anywhere just standing here."
"Didn't you just say the portal closed?" I sighed.
"I mean outside." she facehoofed.
"Oh."
The world outside seemed even more dead. The city of Canterlot was silent. No birds, and no wind. The grass was dead, and the trees and bushes were bare. The air had a slight chill to it, even though winter ended months ago. What happened? The sky was practically flooded with clouds, a good sign that the pegasi hadn't done their job in a long time. I gulped at a startling question: How many died? Sweat rolled down my forehead.
"Where is everypony?" Shimmer mumbled, wonder and concern present in her voice.
"Let's hope somepony's still alive." I responded, nodding. We trotted down the street, unaware at the time of how dangerous the city was. I hadn't been looking where I stepped, and tripped on on object jutting out of a crack. I toppled, and shook my head.
"You ok?" my colleague asked. I nodded. I turned to see what I tripped on, to see a machete hilt poking out of a crack in the dirt. Using my magic, I pulled it out to reveal a dusty blade.
"This may come in handy." I said aloud. We continued to walk. After an hour or so of walking through the street, we turned a corner to see a mound of bodies, all slightly swollen, with blood leaking from their jaws. The corpses had blank expressions on their faces, like they had lost emotion by the time they died. It's like they were just stacked there in preparation to be... burned. I shivered, and Sunset Shimmer had a look of horror on her face.
"I think we were too late."
I was surprised I hadn't vomited yet, as the overwhelming smell of decayed bodies seemed to follow us everywhere. My colleague, on the other hand, wasn't doing so good.
"Are you ok?" I asked Sunset Shimmer, as she seemed to be finished puking. She nodded, and we walked into the quaint town of Ponyville. There wasn't any bodies on the road, and a shockingly small amount in Ponyville, which was a good sign. "Well, with such a lack of bodies, that means that somepony survived..." I thought aloud. Sunset Shimmer nodded. "But why do I still smell decaying flesh?"
"Beats me." my colleague replied, not very curious as to why. This wasn't like her usual self. The gray sky above us set the mood to an everlasting effect of depression. The town was silent, so we were extra surprised when something knocked over a trashcan in a nearby alleyway. We jumped.
"What the hell?" I mumbled. "Wh-what was that?" We cast glances at eachother, and cautiously trotted over to said alleyway. Nothing. I looked at Shimmer, and she shrugged. I raised an eyebrow, and turned around to look around. A figure darted around a corner, and I gasped.
"What is it?" my colleague asked. I pointed with my hoof towards said corner.
"I think I saw somepony..." I mumbled. "We should leave." I started walking towards the town's main gates. Shimmer hesitated for a moment, and then followed.
The two of us were shocked to see that the moon had begun to rise, and the sun had begun to set.
"Wh-who's doing that?" I stuttered, confused. "Are the princesses still alive?!"
"Most likely." Shimmer had a hint of hope in her voice. I shared that glimmer of hope. We trotted across the countryside, almost blindly stumbling through the dark. We needed shelter soon. I used my magic to light the way, and we soon found some sort of building to take refuge in. When we got inside, we realized that this building was in fact a trainstation. "Well, we might as well sleep here." my colleague mumbled, clearly depressed by the situation. I wasn't so happy myself, what with having to sleep in a damn waiting seat. I closed my eyes, and prayed for rest.
My eyes flickered open, and I looked around in shock by how bright it was. When my eyes finally adjusted to the blinding light, I saw that I was still in the trainstation. But something wasn't quite right. The smell of flesh was much stronger than before, and I found it very concerning. I then realized with horror, that Sunset Shimmer was nowhere to be found. The light outside was also brighter than expected.
Suddenly, my head pounded, and I fell to the ground in pain. I closed my eyes, only to realize in horror that I could see a very much mutilated sunset shimmer staring back at me. My eyelids flew open in shock, and my heart raced. I closed my eyes to find a different image, this time the horrific scene to be my own self, lacking the eyes and left ear. Blood dripped from my mouth, and I opened my eyes again. I closed them one more time to see a pile of corpses, each of them recognizeable as my past teachers, family, friends, and enemies. This time when I opened my eyes, I was back in the spot I had gone to sleep, and it wasn't nearly as bright.
A nightmare... I mumbled in my thoughts. But if Luna's dead, that's impossible! "I'm far from dead, Crescent moon." A new voice echoed through my head. I shook my head in surprise. My eyes darted around the room, and I finally spoke.
"Who was that?" No reply. My eyes rested on my sleeping colleague, in her same spot. I sighed in relief.
