When I woke all was gone.
When I screamed for help, only silence replied.
I know you are out there, waiting for me.
Ready to leave this farce behind, to start over from the beginning.
I'm ready.
Find me.
I just pray you were safe when...
Everypony Has Gone To The Rapture.
Chapter.1. Fluttershy.
I hope you are awake by now.
Don't be afraid of the silence around you.
This is all that is left, the light came from the sky.
It kept a safe distance away at first, but soon it would come closer.
As if studying us, it learned our deepest thoughts and fears.
Perhaps it knew us better than we knew ourselves.
Don't be afraid.
Find me.
The world seemed to spin as her melodic voice slowly faded away, my head was ringing loudly as I groaned with a small huff, my whole body aching from the night before.
Vision once out of focus and hazy became sharper, the sight of old Burger Barn wrappers and the scent of half eaten food hitting me like a train. I extended my tongue out slowly in a slight gag, my hooves wobbling as I stood up.
Where was I?
I glanced around the small area I found myself in. Hay covered the floor in a filthy fashion, no longer fresh or lively but growing green from overuse. A cracked mirror hung upon a old wooden wall at a odd angle, I walked over to my reflection to only see a shattered image.
Wobbling side to side I pushed through the filth around me. My hoof firmly against the wooden door leading outside as I took a second to catch my breath. Placing weight against the frame it swung open as the sun from sky nearly blinded me.
I lifted a hoof to block out the shimmering rays, a large pulse pounding deep within my skull. I gazed back to the small carriage I had exited, my brain feeling as if it were going to escape my skull.
The carriage was nothing special, if anything it was on the verge of falling apart. Paint peeling of the sides at a swift rate as the wheels were cracked and warped beyond repair.
"Hello!" I screamed out around me, the light dying down as everything came into view once more.
It was Ponyville. Or at least looked like Ponyville. The houses still stood and the market was still filled to the brim with odds and ends. The streets were clean as the shops were open, with doors edged open wide.
Yet silence was all around. No children ran across the streets nor did the elderly trot around the market. The stores were empty and the houses cold. Nothing was being shared nay news being told.
All around was nothing. Just myself all alone, among what was once a busy small town. My hoofsteps echoed around for what felt like miles, each step I took deeper into the town, felt as if I were entering a whole new world.
"Where is everypony!?" My voice felt rasp as it escaped beyond my lips and into the empty void that was the world around.
My heart within my chest began to speed up. Hooves were growing weak as I took slower steps deeper within the town. Time felt slower and even though the sun shined brightly above, I felt a cold chill run down my backside.
"Oh dear. Why are the children sick?" A soft spoken voice echoed from the door of a open shop.
"I dunno. The doctor is trying to find out and Mr.Whooves is studying the odd lights at his place." A voice with a sound of innocence and naiveté replied.
My ears perked up at the sound of other ponies. Better yet ponies I knew. They were the voices of Fluttershy and Derpy, and they were coming from within the post office. Rushing inside my mane flustered beyond repair I glanced around the empty room, my heart slowly sinking within my chest as nopony was around.
Had I heard the voices in my mind?
Eyes falling to the floor before me I sighed aloud in worry. Yet suddenly out of thin air it happened, slowly at first and then as if knowing it was under watch happened more quickly. Two bright glowing orbs floated in front of me softly, one was on my side of the Mail Mares counter, the other on the opposite.
I gently walked closer unsure of what was happening, lifting a small hoof I tapped the orb closest to me. Only for it to phase through completely as if made of gas, yet to the touch it felt as warm as the sun itself. Swiftly pulling back a few steps I watched the orbs float, they looked so peaceful and calm, I swear I could hear something coming from them.
Voices.
"I do hope they will all be fine. I've spoken to Twilight at the castle, she seems worried." Fluttershy sighed aloud from the orb closest to me.
"I've been doing all I can. My herb remedies just seem to have no effect." Fluttershy sounded as if she were about to cry.
"It will be ok Flutters. Mr.Whooves has it handled! He loves this type of odd stuff, if he can't find out what is happening nopony can!" Derpy giggled happily as I could hear her gently click her hooves atop the counter.
"I do hope so. I do hope so."
The voices seemed to just fade away from my ears. I watched in awe as the lights floated high into the air before me, phasing through the ceiling and simply vanishing. I rushed outside to see if I could catch which way they had gone. But nothing the lights were nowhere to be seen. My spirit was crashing within my chest once more.
What had happened here?
Where was everypony?
I knew the lights had something to do with it. I just had to find more of those floating orbs. If I could then I prayed to Celestia herself I could piece all this back together. Solve where everypony had gone and maybe save all my friends. I could feel a fire burning brightly within me, stomping my hooves upon the ground roughly I rushed off to Mr.Whooves place.
Past the market and through the streets I ran. My hooves echoing around for miles in the silence of this world. Mane was flowing behind me like a wild storm, eyes watching even for the smallest of movements. Anything that would tell me that it was all ok. That I wasn't all alone in this horrible place.
"Mr.Hooves! I need help! PLEASE!" My voice screamed out for a pony to listen, my hooves weak from the dash placed upon the wooden door firmly.
I'd lift my right hoof and thump against the frame softly. My forehead upon the door, my breathing wild as I struggled to catch my next breath. Eyes darting upward to a open window above me, I decided to yell one more time. Yet to my shock I felt warmth beyond compare, a orb floating through the door passed through me as well.
I screamed in shock as I tumbled to the ground in fear. Watching as a second orb followed the first. The first was a voice of a stallion, polite and calm. The second was Fluttershy once more, though this time her voice was filled with dread.
"I'm not sure what is happening." Mr.Whooves sighed in worry his orb floating away down the street.
"Anything will be of help. What do you have so far?" Fluttershy asked politely in tone her orb floating in place.
"Nothing." He whispered.
"Mr.Whooves?" She asked in a cracking voice.
"NOTHING! I know nothing! These lights we see, they are something else!" He screamed back in anger his orb flying closer to the second.
"Something else?" She pressed on with fear in her voice.
"They know everything. They whisper and they talk as I try and work, I can't tone them out!" His voice snapped loudly.
I watched in awe as smaller tiny orbs appeared in the sky above the first orb. Slowly they wafted in the air circling him, watching and following his every move. They were keeping close to him and shining ever so brightly.
"No! Leave me alone! I must work!" His orb screamed as it rushed to his door swiftly.
"Mr.Whooves there is nothing here?" She replied in a scared tone.
"They are here. You will see them soon, you will hear them soon." He spoke his calm tone returning.
"Mr. Whooves?"
"Yes Fluttershy my dear?"
"Your muzzle."
"Hmmm?"
"It's bleeding."
The lights above faded away into nothing. I watched as my heartbeat began to steady in my chest, the orbs fading into the abyss as well. Within a few moments I was alone again. No closer to a answer or a solution. Just alone with my thoughts and the echoes of those around me.
