A World Of Echoes. Book 1.
A World Of Echoes.
By Sabrina Alexinia Berk.
Prologue.
Air rushes past. Time drifts slowly by. The world seems in a constant dance, never caring for the whims of those whom reside on it. Calmly and quietly Death reaches out; and we all fall into its embrace. Like slumbering fillies and colts next to their mother. The curtains draw to a close, and we all let out a sigh and relish our freedom from the cold uncaring world.
The buildings fall. Hoof prints in the dust of the once beautiful town. Nothing moves, nothing changes. The only thing showing evidence that this world is not a photograph are the flames, smoke, and the smell of rotting flesh.
Screaming children. Burning in their schools, churches and clubhouses. Broken bones. Blood. Gore. Mayhem had struck. And only one had survived. Only one.
Only Fluttershy.
Chapter 1. An Average day.
The day had started as normal as usual. Celestia brought the day and with it the hustle and bustle of any other average day in ponyville.
Fluttershy exited her cottage and began her walk towards Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie had invited her as well as everyone of her other friends to an all day party. They were supposed to party as long as the sun was up. This was made to be a challenge due to it being the one day a year that the sun didn't set until the end of 2 full rotations of the sky. This was of course compensation for Nightmare Night. The darkest night in all of Equestria.
But it wasn't an average day was it? No, something was off.
That is when she heard it. An explosion like she had never heard before. The wind rushed at her as she saw the brightest light she'd ever seen. The light was so bright that she looked away to keep it from blinding her. Suddenly the wind picked up slamming into her and knocking her off her feet, flinging her back hundreds of yards.
Branches, vines, small animals, all these things and more she saw just before slamming her head into a zap apple tree and knocking her out cold.
Chapter 2. A Sky Blue Horror.
She awoke to the sound of cracking branches; looking above her she saw what appeared to be the dead remains of a pegasus looming above her, its brilliant mane ablaze with fire as its skin rotted and fell off at an unnatural and alarming rate.
If Fluttershy had ever in her exsistence screamed a real scream without holding back, the scream she let out now was sure to have been much louder. She struggled to escape the vines that held her captive but the struggling just made the vines grow tighter and the body of the pegasus draw ever closer. It was then that she noticed the identity of the horror that dangled in front of her face.
"R-Rainbow?"
The vines snapped and slammed the cyan mare at Fluttershy's hooves.
"No...It...it cant be you...you could escape anything. IT CAN'T BE YOU!!!" She screamed in terror.
"Fl...Fluttershy..."
Rainbow's body began to stir and lift itself up.
"Fl...Fluttershy...listen-"
Fluttershy screamed in terror and kicked out as she now saw that the eyeless, hairless, rotting corpse that was Rainbow Dash...was still alive.
"Listen Fluttershy...It wa-wasnt Pinkie's fault...we all should have been more careful. We-"
She began coughing horribly and threw up blood, her stomach, bladder and intestines emptied releasing a massive ammount of blood, shit, vomit, and piss. She was dying. Yet she regained her composure even still.
"it doesnt matter now I guess...I may be the fastest flier in all of Equestria....but I just wasn't fast enough...I'm sorry Fluttershy...I love you-"
She fell to the ground a crumpled mess...her life gone..an empty vessel now.
Chapter 3. Mare About Town.
After escaping the Everfree Forrest and saying her final goodbyes to Her friend, Fluttershy headed off towards the scene of that massive flash. She had to know what it was...what had caused it.
As she walked she could feel the air getting hotter and hotter, but it did not stop her. She needed to find the others.
Along the way she saw more of the same grotesque sights she had seen with Dash. The fields were on fire, the sky was red and the air smelled of smoke and rot. Bodies lay all over, rotting flesh, fire, eyeless holes and the only real difference between these ponies and Dash was the mere fact that Dash was alive when Fluttershy had seen her. These ponies all laid lifeless.
Chapter 4. School Haze.
The dance of the macabre and the grotesque. The rain was acid. The hearts of the innocent wilting like flowers in the heat. But the air was alive! Electric, moving, breathing....and all together unnerving. The souls had been released to play among the stars. And play they did, and forever shall. Screams that seemed to come from nowhere jolted Fluttershy from her state of unwilling assumption making.
Did it matter how it happened? Not really. The world would have to continue weather or not it had been this action or another that had led to the destruction that had occurred.
She was almost to Sugarcube Corner when she heard it. Laughter. It echoed from everywhere at once, the complete silence. Fluttershy stopped and looked around her, her hooves had begun to ache from the heat so she had begun to fly.
The crumbling buildings and burning tree houses all held the same dark secret. Nothing moved. Nothing remained. No one had survived.
The schoolhouse was rubble and flames, twisted and disfigured bodies lie mixed in with the scorched earth as blood seeped into the cracks of the dry earth boiling on contact.
The heat was immeasurable now but Fluttershy continued onwards, not wanting to give up hope on her friends.
Chapter 5. Confetti Crater.
When she turned the corner her heart sank, the only thing left of Sugarcube Corner was a crater that stretched a mile wide and lots of confetti.
She flew as fast as she could towards the center. It was there she found them. Her friends bodies lie in a heap. AJ curled next to Big Mac. And spike being held by Rarity. Nearly everyone in town was here. No one moved. There they lay, lifeless. The world had been destroyed by who knows what. Who even cared at this point? Fluttershy certainly didnt anymore. Everyone she ever loved or cared for had been taken from her.
She lowered herself to the ground, her hooves hissing and groaning as she did. The pain was immense but that thought was far from her mind at this point. A building nearby collapsed letting out a loud crashing whoosh as it slammed into the earth. The sound reverberated through the quietness. The world had never seen such quietness. It had become a world of echoes. The world of echoes in fact.
Chapter 6. A Normal Day.
"Dance child dance!" Cries the world. And we do; lest we die. Yet it is only when we refuse to be a marionette for the malice filled puppet master that we are ever free. But freedom has a high price. The price for true freedom...is to die.
Fluttershy's hooves exploded and she buckled to the ground, her tears evaporating as she cried them, her skin melting and her fur catching fire. And just when she couldnt take any more pain, when she thought she too would die.......She woke up.
"Was it all a dream?" She wondered.
"Was any of it real?"
Eventually Fluttershy got out of bed and began getting ready for the day.
She left her cottage and began her journey to sugarcube corner.
It was an average day aside from the party Pinkie had invited her and everyone in town to. An all day party that lasted as long as the sun was up. A perfectly normal day Fluttershy thought to herself.
But it wasn't a normal day was it?
Echoes Of The Past. Book 2.
Echoes of the Past.
By Sabrina Alexinia Berk.
Parts of this book happen before and during the events in "A World Of Echoes"
Prologue.
Today the sky rained down the last rain I would ever see in this world. But far be it for me to know this until it was already too late.
Jumping from lilly pad to rock and back again, I watched a frog. He sat alone on the surface of the lake. And silently I wondered to myself... "Where are his family......and does he even care that they're gone?" How so alike he and I are in retrospect...now that it is all over... I can see myself as clearly as I could see that frog...
"Where is my family.....and should I even care that they are gone?"
Chapter 1. One Sunny Day.
Rising from my afternoon nap, I opened my eyes only to see the focused stare of Pinkie Pie.
"Whoa!!!" I shouted as I fell off of my cloud bed and crashed into the ground.
I quickly looked around to make sure nopony had seen that and began to pick myself up. All I would need is for another jerk to start calling me Rainbow Crash. Pinkie did her usual snorty laugh and untied the balloons holding her suspended in the air before bouncing down the closest trees limbs and sliding to a stop in front of me.
"Oh Dashie! You always were the best at crash landings." She snickered.
"Hey! If you had been startled awake and fell out of bed you wouldn't have landed any better!" I said before jumping into the air. "Why are you here anyways?" I said as I began rubbing the knot that had begun to swell on my head.
"Why; don't you remember silly? Today is the day of the Summer Sun Celebration Party! And I have just the perfect way to spend it! Didn't you get my invitation? Oh wait, I didn't know where to send it so I decided to hand deliver it. But then there was cake and-"
"PINKIE!!! Just tell me why you're here!?" I shouted in irritation at the flighty mare's incessant rambling.
"I want to show you guys how I do it!" She exclaimed in excitement.
"Do what? be annoying in 10 seconds flat?" I muttered exasperatedly.
"No silly! I want to show you guys-....oh but thats supposed to be a secret....listen Dashie its crazy amazingly fun and I really think you would enjoy it. There is so much amazingness that I'm getting nervouscited just thinking about it!" She said as she began hyperventilating. I had never seen Pinkie this excited in all my years of knowing her.
"All right Pinkie. But when does this party of yours start?" I asked.
"Well that depends on you Dashie! Don't you remember that the weather factory said you need to create a rain storm to account for the extra sunlight?"
This had completely slipped my mind and my face surely must have shown it as I bolted up into the sky racing towards the cloud dispensary.
Chapter 2. Making It Rain.
In order to account for the extra sun I would need to post up and interconnect over 100 clouds all which would activate simultaneously and bring down a torrent of rain which would account for the massive amount of heat brought on by the sun not only lasting longer but being brought closer to the surface than most days.
I would need at least an hour and a half to do this properly at my usual pace of flight. I had only 10 minutes until the rain was supposed to begin.
Kicking it into overdrive I launched myself through the sky, even reaching the barrier of sound at times but never going any faster lest I blow the clouds away with my awesomeness.
5 Minutes in I realized that some of my clouds were drifting away as they had not been interlaced enough. "Oh Celestia please help me!"
10 minutes, 9 seconds. I complete the weave and launch the storm. Just not fast enough.
Chapter 3. The Frog and The Weather Mare.
Standing underneath the clouds now I admired my work. Even for a rush job like this one there were only a few misfiring clouds, very little wind, and I had still managed to keep the splitter clouds from causing any electrical discharge. The fastest weather pony in all of ponyville! And possibly Equestria as well.
"Ribbit"
What in the name of Luna was that? I wondered to myself as I began to survey my surroundings.
"Ribbit"
Turning to face the nearby pond I saw him, A big green bull frog sat on a lily pad staring at me almost as if he was angry.
"Oh yeah? You think you're a tough guy huhn?" I said to the bull frog before I rushed over to him, frightening him into jumping into the water.
"Yeah! Not so tough now are you?" I said before sitting down next to the pond.
Eventually the frog would return to his lily pad and stare at me some more before relaxing and returning to his normal froggy behaviour.
I looked towards the sky, the only real home I had ever known. And I wondered aloud. "I wonder if this frog feels the same way about his pond?"
Jumping from lilly pad to rock and back again, I watched the frog. He sat alone on the surface of the lake. And silently I wondered to myself... "Where are his family......and does he even care that they're gone?"
Chapter 4. The Warning.
Suddenly Pinkie Pie, slammed into me hugging me as tight as she could without breaking bones.
"Pink...ie....you're....strangling-"
"Oh! I'm sorry Dashie. But you had lost track of time and the rain should have ended 30 minutes ago.
"Oh my gosh!" I shouted before bolting off once again to return the clouds to the dispensary.
When I finished collecting the clouds I began to head towards Sugarcube Corner. But on the way there I stopped by Twilights place in order to see if she was going to go as well. Much to my dismay she said that no she would not be present as she and Princess Celestia had detected something strange happening in the atmosphere and that Zecora may be able to help them in some manner.
I didn't really pay much attention. something about the temporal vortex of time and space becoming rigid and brittle. In any case she warned me not to do anything that may upset the balance, and she made me promise to tell anyone that I found about this issue as well before she ran off to the everfree forest in order to speak with Zecora
I agreed that i would tell everypony at Pinkies party seeing as almost everypony was going to be there. Even Fluttershy would be coming and she NEVER attended these kinds of events.
Chapter 5. Breaking The Fourth Wall.
"Fillies and Gentlecolts! Stallions and Mares! Thank you for coming to my Summer Sun ExtravaganzParty!" Shouted Pinkie to the audience, enticing a mighty roar from the crowd.
This was amazing! Pinkie had gone all out with this party. Applejack was catering. There were streamers hanging from the streamers even! Pinkie sure knew how to party.
Unfortunately Fluttershy wasn't around so I just huddled next to Rarity and Spike during the opening part of the party. But before I began enjoying myself I decided to get the whole warning ponies thing over with so I approached the stage only to watch Pinkie Pie bounce into the spotlight and announce to everyone that she was going to teach them something amazing.
Rarity and Spike decided that they would rather go outside for a bit of fresh air then they would come back and ask Pinkie in private what it was she wanted to show them. I however figured it was worth waiting for so I stood back.
"Oh I'm so nervouscited my hooves are tingling! Anyways today I am going to show you all how to experience something so awesome, so amazing, so incredibly superduperific that you wont be able to stop doing it!" She exclaimed before standing on her back hooves and waving her left front hoof in the air in a circle.
"Watch closely now!" She said as the circle in the air that she was drawing started to glow. she then made a horizontal slash through the circle and then put a dot above the line and below the line.
Suddenly a bright light started emitting from the circle and it opened up into a world we had never seen before, there were these strange creatures dressed in odd clothing with barely any hair on their bodies.
"Its like watching a play only in your own home!" squealed Pinkie. "And the best part is-" She said as she stuck her hoof into this strange new portal and her hoof emerged in the world of that portal, shaped like on of these creatures high hooves. "You can go inside of it and have fun like you're a part of the play yourself!"
All of the crowd sat astonished yet amazed at this new magic portal. But something in my head said I had better tell everyone what was happening.
"Pinkie, are you sure this is safe? Twilight said something about-"
"Twilight is a big chicken! Even more so than I was on Nightmare Night!" Pinkie interrupted me by saying. "Why don't you try it Rainbow?"
"I don't know Pinkie, it seems kind of dangerous."
"Are you afraid? I didnt know you and Fluttershy were going to start acting like each other." Mocked Pinkie Pie.
"I'm not scared! I just....i don't know how to do it..."
"Alright then watch me!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie.
She then closed her original portal and began rotating her left hoof in the air like a circle and as before it started glowing. But this time everypony in the audience was mimicking her. And at that very moment, I knew something bad was going to happen.
Chapter 6. Dual Reality Implosion.
I jumped away from the stage and started flying as fast as I could to get away but the vortex behind me had begun to pull me ever closer to it.
Chairs went flying behind me I could hear everypony screaming, bones snapping, blood splattering as the shrieks of death became ever more evident.
Whatever this was it was pulling us into a small ball inside of us and crushing everything it grabbed. I could feel my feathers starting to pull themselves off one by one and I knew that I had to get away...somehow... I streaked through the air. a rainbow of colors behind me as I broke the sound barrier and a sonic boom was created......but it still wasn't enough.....
I had barely moved 50 feet away from the vortex when the brightest light I had ever seen erupted behind me. Even breaking the sound barrier was nothing compared to the speed I encountered now. I knew where I needed to head to now...the everfree forest....maybe the princesses could do something about this?
20 minutes away.
Faster and faster I flew, closer and closer I saw it coming. I could feel the fur on my body begin to catch fire but it didn't matter as long as I got there in time.
10 minutes away.
"I LOOKED BACK! OH CELESTIA WHY DID I LOOK BACK!? MY EYES! THEY FEEL LIKE THEY"RE MELTING RIGHT OUT OF THE SOCKETS!!!!"
5 Minutes away.
"I CAN'T SEE! OH SWEET MOTHER OF CELESTIA I CAN'T SEE!!!!"
1.9 Minutes away....
I slam into a tree. I can feel my skin burning and bubbling, I think I'm starting to rot away, at least the part that isn't below the tree line.
"MUST GET FURTHER INTO THE FOREST!"
My wings....oh my poor wings....I know already that one of them is broken... My head feels like its on fire and I cant feel much of my skin or fur left on my upper torso. I begin pulling myself further into the forest. I feel a large chunk of skin rip off of my body and I hear the snap of bone as the wing I couldn't feel is ripped from my body as I fall from the top of the tree, entangling myself in vines. I then black out.
Chapter 7. The Frog and The Broken Mare.
I feel myself drifting...I dont know where I am...someone is screaming....
Today the sky rained down the last rain I would ever see in this world. But far be it for me to know that until it was already too late.
Jumping from lilly pad to rock and back again, I watched a frog. He sat alone on the surface of a lake. And silently I wondered to myself...
"Where are his family......and does he even care that they're gone?" How so alike he and I are in retrospect...now that it is all over... I can see myself as clearly as I could see that frog...
"Where is my family.....and should I even care that they are gone?"
The screaming has stopped...
"R-Rainbow?"
Fluttershy...It was fluttershy....
The vines ensnaring me snap and I slam into the ground...my body I can feel is physically on fire now but I almost feel numb to it.
"No, it can't be you! You could escape anything! IT CAN'T BE YOU!" She screamed in terror.
"Fl...Fluttershy..." I start to say as I began to stand up. "Fl...Fluttershy....Listen-
Fluttershy screamed in terror and kicked her legs outwardly as she realized who I was. And that I was still alive.
"L....Listen...Flutter..shy.....It wasn't Pinkie's fault we all...should have been more careful...we-"
My body stopped me mid sentence, I began hurling up blood and the liquefied remains of vital organs, my bowels then emptied as shit and piss began pouring out of me....It was then that I knew I was dying.....and that it wouldnt be much longer now.....
"It..It doesnt matter now I guess.... I may be the fastest flyer in Equestria.....But I just....wasnt....fast enough........I'm sorry Fluttershy..........I love you."
And then all was dark.......
Until I opened my eyes....
And saw the focused eyes of Pinkie Pie.....
...........and fell out of my bed......
