Chapters Twilight ran as fast as she could; the noise of her hooves hitting the cobblestone echoed loudly through the alleyway. Taking a glance behind her, she tried to catch a glance to the thing chasing her. When she saw nothing, she slowed and just trotted along. Her wings itched painfully as they bled from many of the feathers having been violently plucked from her flesh. Resisting the urge to stop and scratch, she pressed onward.
Windows and doors on the decrepit buildings were either boarded up or broken. Most plants were dry and brown. The only green from some of the ivy climbing the cracked stonework of the buildings and the street. The sky was dark and full of clouds. This didn’t look like the Ponyville Twilight remembered.
Twilight shouted in pain and dropped to the ground. Her head was violently pounding. She couldn’t remember why everything looked this way. Why couldn’t she remember? With her eyes clenched shut in pain, she gasped for breath. It took a few minutes before she could wrench her eyes open.
Getting up on shaky legs, Twilight scanned the surroundings in fear that something heard her shout. Sighing in relief at the lack of movement, she went onwards. She knew she had to get to the castle; there had to be a clue or something there. There was still a small pounding in her head, flaring every time her hooves hit the ground.
The once grand castle stood crumbling. Twilight felt a few tears burning the corners of her eyes as she gently brushed her hoof down a crack in the wall. Swallowing her grief, she pushed open the doors. The rusted hinges squeaked loudly, echoing down to the dilapidated town below. Once she entered, she closed the doors. She had to barricade the doors. Her horn sparked a few times as she tried to levitate over a bookcase. Not matter how hard she focused, she couldn’t seem to muster up enough magic to levitate even a small book. She had to opt to manually push and drag a couple bookshelves over to the door to hold them shut.
The air inside reeked of mold and dust. Racking her brain, she tried to pull some memories from the interior. No matter how hard she tried, there was nothing. With a deep breath and a sigh, she moved through the halls. There was a small glimmer of hope that maybe someone was in the castle. ‘There had to be,’ she told herself. Spike. Starlight. Anyone.
But there was no one.
Entering the map room, she sat down in her chair. The map glitched a few times on the table before sputtering away. Twilight screamed in frustration. Nothing was working. She couldn’t fly, she couldn’t use magic, and she couldn’t use the map to find her friends. Slamming her hoof onto the table, dust shot up from the contact.
Hours passed as Twilight paced the room. She had gathered what lore books and medical books she could find. There had to be something that caused this. The first thing she did was open one of the lore books. A small note fell out.
Twilight,
As you have probably already noticed, nothing is the way you remember it. I promise that the reason for it has saved your life. But now it is up for you to stop it. I have left a few notes here and there to help you out. Places I know you will search to find answers. I knew you’d open this book first. Look at the page I marked for you. I know it’s dog-eared but I didn’t have a choice. I hope you can save use before it gets too far.
Twilight
Twilight stared with her mouth agape. It was her writing and her signature. She did this? Slowly lowering the note, her gaze shifted to the book. Opening it, she waved away the dust. Flipping through the pages, she found the one with the folding over corner. She smoothed the corner as she read the contents of the page.
She poured over the words. Unnamed beasts of old, ponies twisted by their greed and forced to wander Equestria, feeding on flesh and turning those who had just as much greed in their hearts. The was a small drawing of the creature. It looked quickly scribbled, but what Twilight saw looked like the creature that she previously ran from.
But what did this have to do with her memories? There had to be more than this. This book states that all of these creatures were either killed or banished to Tartarus. There just had to be more. None of this made sense. Skimming through the rest of the books, there was nothing else on the creatures.
Maybe there was another note hidden somewhere? Twilight had to look to make sure. She searched every nook and cranny of the castle but came up with nothing but dust. Why couldn’t she have just told herself where to look? ‘That would be too easy,’ she told herself. Whatever this was, it was obvious that it was big and dangerous. Even worse than the monster she just ran from. Shuddering at the thought, she sat down.
Twilight absentmindedly scratched the wounds on her wings. She felt so alone; the company of books, which normally sated her, did nothing to quell her feelings. She stewed in her thoughts, going over every place she could’ve placed another note. A wave a panic went over her as she realized that every place she thought of meant she had to leave the safety of the castle. She took a deep breath and stood on shaking legs. An empty pit formed in her stomach. It hurt. It took her a moment to decipher what the pain meant. She was hungry.
Twilight wasn’t expecting to be hungry. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten and the fear and panic of being chased had faded, leaving her to feel other emotions and senses. She was starving. Running to the kitchen, she threw open cupboards and cabinets. Everything she found was either moldy or eaten by rats and bugs. There was nothing to eat in the castle.
Another reason to go outside was added to the mental checklist. Twilight took another deep breath, trying to calm her fears of going outside. She was going to run to Sugarcube Corner. It was the closest place and had to have something in it. Running through battle plans and trying to think of a way to barricade the doors of the bakery, she walked to the door of the castle. She looked at the bookshelves in front of the door and gulped in fear. She slowly took down her barricade.
The barricade was down. There’s no going back down. Twilight swallowed back her fear with her ears flattening to her head. She tried to quietly push the doors open, their hinges still squeaking loudly. As soon as she could squeeze her way through, she ran and hid. If those things were out there, it could hear her. She waited for what felt like an eternity. She stepped out of her hiding place.
A howl ripped through the air making the fur on Twilight’s neck stand on end. She cowered back into the bush she was hiding in. Along the side of the building, a large creature slowly stalked around. It was twice the size of a normal pony. The hide was dripping an inky black substance that sizzled and evaporated once it hit the ground. Large sharp teeth filled it’s mouth. There was a twinge of panic as Twilight realized that there was fresh blood on it’s fangs as it panted and sniffed the air. When it moved, the muscles and skin ripped and tore spattering even more of the inky fluid.
The eldritch abomination sniffed the castle door, using its large raptor-like claws to pry them open. The hinges cried in protest but they couldn’t resist the strength of the creature. The hinges gave way and the creature ripped the door to the ground. It clatter loudly. The creature entered the castle.
As soon as the creature was out of sight, Twilight took off running as fast as she could down the path into town. She didn’t stop. Jumping, over a broken wall, she hid on the other side. Catching her breath and listening for anything chasing her, the eerie silence made her ears quietly ring. Sweat dripped down the side of her face and she wiped it off, smearing dirt down her face. She sat and leaned against the wall.
While resting, Twilight decided that maybe she could test her magic again. It couldn’t be out forever. Could it? She shook her head to banish the thought. Focusing on a rock, she tried to levitate it. Her horn sparked and sputtered. A faint aura appeared around the rock. More sweat rolled down her forehead as she exerted herself. The rock twitched before Twilight had to stop and gasp for breath.
She wanted to stop and cry. Cry for everything she’s lost. Cry for everything that’s happened. Cry for everything that’s going to happen. Swallowing her grief, she stood up and took a deep breath. ‘There is no time for this,’ she told herself. ‘I have to get a grip on my emotions. I can’t afford to feel anything right now.’ Yet no matter what she said to calm herself, there was an ever present sense of dread sitting heavily at the bottom of her stomach.
Peeking over the wall, Twilight looked around. It didn’t look like there was anything moving aside from some dust blowing in the wind. Stepping out, she slunk down the road. Her eyes scanned the area, looking for anything. Animals, ponies, a monster. As far as she could tell, she was the only thing alive.
Twilight saw nothing until she finally got to Sugarcube Corner. The once brightly colored building has been dulled by dirt. The sign was hanging down, a large claw mark obscuring the name of the bakery. Her eyes snapped up to the roof. It was partially caved in on the left side. But on the right, Twilight thought she saw a large dark mass move past the window. She felt her heart skip a beat as fear crawled up through her throat. There was something in there.
She stood and stared at the window, thinking that maybe the shadow would come back. Straining her ears, she tried to listen for anything to confirm her theory of something being in there. It was still silent. Walking forward, she went to the broken door. The plans she had for the barricade where scrapped. All of them depended on there being a functioning door. It wasn’t safe to stay in the building.
The thoughts were cut short by a slow rumble in Twilight’s stomach. She had almost forgotten that she had come all this way for something to eat. Taking a deep breath, she entered the building. Her steps were light and slow as she tried to keep herself from making too much noise. The last thing she wanted was to announce her presence to whatever might be listening. She made her way to the display cases.
Shattered glass littered the floor, the source being the broken display cases. Anything that once resembled food had been either eaten or smeared on the destroyed pieces of furniture. Twilight bit her lip in a soft panic. If the creatures already ate everything in here, who’s to know if there was anything left to eat anywhere in the town. She walked into the kitchen.
Messy was an understatement. The monsters had obviously been in here. The room had been torn to shreds. Nothing inside was recognizable. Twilight’s heart dropped as she sifted through the wreckage. All she wanted was food. She soon felt anger bubble up from within but it quickly faded as she knew there was nothing she could do about it. Her ear twitched as she thought about checking upstairs. There was a creature upstairs and she didn’t have anything to defend herself with.
‘If there’s any food up there, that beast is going to need some luck if it wants to get between it and me,’ a thought flashed through Twilight’s head. She shook her head hard to banish the thought. When she opened her eyes after the shaking, she was already climbing the stairs up. Her ears flattened to her head as she ascended. Taking a peek around as soon as she could see, the room was empty. She thought about calling out for Pinkie or one of the Cakes, but fear kept her mouth glued shut.
The room upstairs seemed relatively untouched compared for the destruction on the lower level. Twilight searched the room, ever so slowly making the room as messy as the main floor. She soon found one small cupcake, hidden under the half crushed bed. Surely the work of her old friend. Twilight ate the cupcake, savoring the flavor on her tongue. She couldn’t help but shudder at the feeling of her stomach finally having something in it instead of just being completely empty. Not wanting to waste a single morsel, she ended up licking the crumbs off the floor.
Twilight froze. What was she doing? Licking the floor? She stopped and her head snapped up. Bringing her hoof up, she slapped herself a few times. It was the only way she could think to knock some sense back in her head. She just wanted the cupcake so badly. It was the only thing she’s eaten in so long. There was no telling how much longer she’d have to wait for the next piece of food to cross her path.
There was a small noise; Twilight just thought it was her. Freezing, she strained her ears, listening to the surroundings. A floor board creaked downstairs. Panicking, Twilight ran and hid under the bed. She tried to stay quiet but the floorboards protested at her sudden movement.
The sound of ragged breathing slowly ascended the staircase. A creature came up. It looked the same from the other one but the eyes held a different light to them. The last one just seemed full of anger, this one full of sadness. The creature moved to the window and longingly gazed out. The ooze was viscous as it dripped onto the floor. Neither Twilight nor the creature moved.
Maybe this was her chance to escape. Slowly crawling out from under the bed, Twilight slowly walked over to the stairs. It was all quiet except for the uneven breaths from the creature. But right as she got to the stairs, the floorboards creaked loudly. Twilight froze.
The creature turned, baring its teeth. A broken growl tore through its throat, spattering ooze. It took a few steps towards Twilight before it stopped. It just stood and stared. Its snarl slowly faded as it lowered its head to look Twilight in the eyes.
There was something familiar about the creatures bright baby blue eyes that Twilight couldn’t seem to place.
Author's Note
yea so i don’t think im ever gonna write anything like the cupcake scene ever again mmkay that was weird i don’t even know why its there it just fit
The large creature slowly inched its way towards Twilight. Feeling her heart leap into her throat, Twilight tried to swallow her fear. A deep breath exposed her to the scent of rotten flesh that was wafting off the creature. It felt like forever as the beast stared into Twilight. There was a brief flicker of familiarity in the beast's eyes before it faded.
Twilight was frozen in place as she watched the creature stand up on its hind legs. It roared loudly, shaking the few remaining rafters. With a surge of adrenaline, Twilight ran between the abomination's legs towards the stairs. One last glance at the creature made Twilight want to vomit.
The creature wasn't entirely black like Twilight first thought. There was a small glimmer of color on the haunches. Faded hues of blue and yellow peeked through the oozing gash on the beast's side. The creature turned, snarling. It dropped back down to all fours and slowly approached the alicorn.
"Pinkie Pie..... I know that's you! Please! Don't do this!" shouted the frantic pony. The creature just took a few steps towards her, its long limbs quickly closing the distance. "Can't you remember all the fun parties? All the adventures we went on?" Twilight pleaded. She wanted to cry but there was nothing left in her body to cry.
No matter how much she begged, the ragged and beaten form of her once friendly companion kept approaching her. For one second, it looked like it wasn't going to attack. Twilight felt a small twinge of hope that Pinkie remembered. But it all came crashing down when the abomination swiped at her. Managing to leap back, it only swiped her muzzle. The wounds burned and sizzled as the ooze flooded the wound. With a yelp and another step back, Twilight fell down the stairs. Acting on instinct, she tried to flap her wings to catch herself. She landed hard on her side, a loud crack echoed throughout the room as pain flooded her body. Standing, her right wing hung limply to her side. In a panic, she ran behind the counter and slammed the button on the bottom of the counter. The floor opened and Twilight fell again. She tried to land on her hooves to save her wing. With the fading sounds of a roar above, the hole closed.
The room she was in looked untouched. Pinkie's old secret party room was as every bit messy yet organized as it was the last time Twilight saw it. Taking a deep breath, she tried to walk into the center of the room. Pain shot up from her hooves from the hard landing and her wing was throbbing horrifically. She could slowly feel the adrenaline rush fading from her mind. The more the fog lifted, the more pain she felt from her injuries.
It clicked in her mind. She was badly injured. Looking back, she tried to examine her wing. It was hanging down her side, the bone having broke through the skin and jutting through. Blood had dried around the wound yet it was still bleeding profusely. Laying down, she tried to set her wing so the bones were at least back in her body in the vain hope she could fix it. No matter how hard she tried, there was nothing she could do.
Twilight's head spun through the pain. Her thoughts frantic as she tried to think of anything. Spells crossed her mind but with her horn on the fritz, there was no magic she could do to fix this. There was nothing she could remember about what to do without magic. Staring at the wound, she realized only one thing. This broken wing would only prove to handicap her.
Digging through the room, Twilight looked for anything that would help her with her wing. Passing by a mirror, she glanced at it. Doing a double take, she really had to take in her appearance. Her muzzled was covered in blood and ooze. She was certain the wounds were going to become infected. But then, she finally realized why her magic wasn't working. There was a large crack in her horn, starting from the base up to the tip. Once again, she wanted to cry. There was only a blank look on her face as she stared at the pony she's become.
Twilight abandoned the mirror and kept digging. She ended up finding a large knife. Fighting back a panicked sob, she clumsily held the weapon in her hooves. Clearing a table, she lit a few candles and then laid her battered wing on the table. Gently holding the edge of the blade to the base of her wing, she tried to think of anything else she could do. But there was nothing.
Holding back a scream, Twilight began to cut at her own flesh. Going in between the snapped bones, she tried to go as fast as possible. She felt her muscles rip and tear under the dull blade as she pressed harder. She couldn't help herself as she vomited when she felt the knife smack into a bone. Leaning onto the knife, she pressed hard until the hollow bone cracked and she could go through it.
The wing was off and Twilight stumbled away from the table. Hyperventilating, she grabbed a candle. She brought the flame close to her wound. The scent of burning flesh stung Twilight's nose as she cauterized her wound. It took an eternity as the low heat burned her wound shut. When it was finally done, the candle fell to the ground. Twilight grabbed some of the cloth on one of the shelves and made a makeshift bandage.
Twilight fell on the ground hard, still panicking as she convulsed in pain. It wasn't long before the fog clouding her mind took over. Blackness crept through her vision and she passed out.
Do you know what’s it like to plunge from the sky into an inky abyss? The cold pressing fear in the back of your mind only grows when you truly realize the gravity of the situation. For some, flight is nothing more than a secondary instinct. A quick flick of the wings and they soar. But for our dear Twilight, her wings lay in a state of disarray. One plucked and the other a mess of static. There wasn’t anything she could do to save herself as the black pit quickly approached. Clenching her eyes shut and hiding her face, she braced for the shadows to swallow her.
Eyes heavy and head pounded, Twilight slowly opened her eyes in the dark room. The only light in the room was the moonlight filtering in from a small hole in the ceiling. She got up only to stand on shaky hooves. With a deep breath, she had to look around the room for anything. Something for defense? Offense? She found a knife. An attempt to use magic caused sparks to fly from her broken horn.
The room flickered with the sparks as they scattered to the filthy floor. A piece of paper caught a spark and started to burn. Panicked, Twilight tried to stomp it out. The burning from the small flame didn’t even register as pain. It was miniscule at this point compared to everything else.
She picked up the paper with her hoof. It might be one of Pinkie’s. She’d be mad if she knew Twilight burned one of her files on somepony. After all, she took pride in knowing everything about everypony.
Pinkie. Information from before her impromptu nap came flooding back. Pinkie wasn’t Pinkie anymore. She was one of those things. Twilight felt tears prick her eyes. Her dear friend had been twisted beyond recognition. But there wasn’t time to mourn, not now. Twi shook her head lightly as to not exasperate her lingering headache. Bringing the paper to the spotlight of moonlight, she examined it.
It was a folded sheet of paper, on the front of it, it said “Twilight”. Twilight’s heart stopped for a millisecond as she recognized her hornwriting. Another note. She unfolded it to read the contents.
Twilight,
Pinkie is fading fast and I don’t think I can save her. The disease is eating at what makes her Pinkie. Her joy soaked caring. It’s not just greed that can turn ponies anymore, I’m afraid. I theorize it to be any intense emotion. It doesn’t bode well for the rest of my friends. I fear I may be the only one left uninfected. I don’t know how.
We have to f
The rest of the note was burnt. Twilight felt the tears returning. There wasn’t much she could do to hold them back this time. The warm tears felt cold on her burning cheeks. With a shaky sob, she dried her face off a took a deep breath. Folding the note back up, she laid it on the table. There was an odd feeling in her stomach that she's read it before. She didn't want to think of how many times she did. She didn't want to think of how many more times she may read it.
Her mind traveled back to the knife. What good would a weapon do, especially something so small a measly as a knife. The monsters would have to get close for her to use it and she knows that she wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight if they were. She found the knife next to her disembodied wing. Fighting a retch, she tried to reach for it to pick it up.
Twilight's body shook like a leaf in the wind. The closer she got to the weapon, the more she could feel the pain spreading through her body. With a deep breath, she grabbed the handle. Immediately, her body retched again and she felt the bile rising in her throat. She dropped the knife and stumbled backwards, falling flat on her butt. She sits, panting as she wait for the nausea to subside.
There's no dancing around the subject, she couldn't take the knife with her. At least not that one and she didn't have the means to go find another one. Standing on unstable hooves, she raises her hoof to her chest and took a deep breath. Extending her hoof out in front of her, she exhaled. A simple action yet calming enough to help clear her frantic mind.
Now she only had one objective, get out. She strained her ears and cast her eyes upward. All was still. All was quiet. Maybe Pinkie finally left. Or maybe she was lying in wait. Twilight wracked her brain, she thought that there had once been a back way out of this room.
Stumbling in the dark, Twilight moved to the back of the room. She regretted not being able to have a candle. A soft breeze came from somewhere. Using her other senses, she tried to follow it. Losing count of how many times she tripped, she came to a wall. A few sparks from her horn illuminated enough to show her a door handle.
With heavy dread, she slowly opened the door and looked up at the night sky. The night sky. Twilight felt like crying. That had to mean that Celestia or Luna is still okay. She added a mental note in her head to find a way to get to Canterlot. But for now, she wanted to check on her friends. There was a slim chance that at least one of them is okay. But that's all it took to at least give her a glimmer of hope. The closest place she could think of was the Boutique. Maybe Rarity was okay. Spike could be with her too.
It was enough to get her moving as she silently stalked forward. Tentatively sniffing the air, she tried to catch any scent of rot coming her way. She kept her hoofsteps quiet.
The shabby ruins of the the town seemed even creepier now than they did during the day. Her instincts where on high alert and her ears swiveled around trying to catch the sound of anything. The deep eerie silence of the town did nothing to quell her fears. Seeing the two creatures, she couldn't figure out where everyone else was. Unless they got eaten, then it makes sense. She shuddered at the thought as she pressed onward.
Trying to stay in the deepest shadows, her entire trek is slow. It was both in part from the pain rocketing up from the wound on her side and part from the terror that she might get caught. Making the bend to see the Boutique, it was in every bit of disarray as everything else in the town was. The windows were all boarded up from the inside, but sizzled claw marks suggested something tried to get in anyways. One of the pillars in the front has been knocked down and it lay snapped in half on the ground. Following the trail of scratches up the building, it was clear to see that something had climbed up to the top. Whatever had did that had taken a bite out of one the pony statues and had taken the head off the other one.
Twilight can't help but feel a pang of melancholy. The one beautiful home of her friend reduced to something so meaningless and decrepit. She walks to the the front door and gives a good tug on the handle. Something stopped her from opening it further, but a quick investigation proved it wasn't a lock. Maybe it had to be a barricade and if it was a barricade, someone could be inside. The warm feeling of hope surged through her body, bringing new life and energy to her battered and broken body. She knocked on the door and let her ears flit as she listened for any sort of sound. Shuffling in the building, even hoofsteps from behind her.
Silence answered her knock after what felt like an eternity of waiting. The feeling of hope was starting to fade. With a deep breath, she just tried to chalk it up to the fact that she didn't knock very hard in the first place. Walking away from the door to go around the building, she thought that she could find another way in. She had to be smarter than those beasts wandering the town, there had to be something.
She froze in place upon getting to the back. Her ears lay flat on her head as her jaw drops in surprise. The entire back half of the building was torn to pieces. What wasn't torn by claws, was eaten away by the acidic ooze that came off the creatures. Fabrics and sewing supplies lay scattered across the area.
A hoof goes to cover her mouth as she chokes back a sob. Any hope she had quickly faded as the reality of everything around her was starting to sink in. Her friends were gone, either dead or eaten. The town was destroyed and monsters prowled the streets. She sinks to her haunches, unable to keep herself upright anymore.
She can't remember what happened.
Why can't she remember what happened?
Why is so important that she can't remember?
Her eyes move up into the sky to stare the moon. The soft glow attempted to spread a sense of calm across the twisted scene. A single tear falls from her eyes and drops onto the earth below.
She can't understand why she's the only one left.
Author's Note
how's that for a hiatus