Abysswalker: The Darkness Grows

Canterlot High

Music Room

Sunset Shimmer, grew lost in thought as she strummed her guitar, trying to find her rhythm for the band practice day. “Sunset, sunset?” Someone snapped their fingers in her face as she came out of wherever her mind had gone too. “Yo, sunset you there?”

“Hm?” Shaking her head, Sunset turned staring at Rainbow Dash as she saw the girl frown at her. “Sorry are we about to start.”

“More like end sugar.” Applejack stated, putting her bass away.

“Really?” She turned towards the clock checking the time. “But its still a bit early.”

“Yeah, but nothing sounds right.” Rainbow Dash muttered, crossing her arms for a moment. “So let’s call it a day girls.”

“I agree.” Rarity muttered as she looked out the window, seemingly staring at something in the distance. The room fell silent after that, the seven girls growing trapped in their own thoughts as they recalled what was said earlier in the day.

“I can’t believe it’s gone.” Fluttershy muttered as she hugged her knees.

“The portal isn’t gone, Shy.” Applejack muttered. “It’s closed.” She corrected the girl as she settled down, adjusting her hat as she did so. “I just don’t know how in tarnations that’s possible.” She confessed. “Ah mean, Twilight - Princess Twilight managed to find a way to open it from her side right? How can someone just close it from this side?”

“Magic.” Sunset said offhanded as she continued strumming her guitar. “Magic opened it, but magic can close it too.” Sunset stated. “But who… what has that kind of magic at their disposal, and on this side of the portal?”

“I thought we were the only ones with magic.” Pinkie Pie muttered, oddly calm in contrast to her usual manners.

“It’s… not that we’re the only ones with magic.” Sunset corrected the girl. “It’s more that we’re the only ones who we know can use it.” She reached for her geode, raising it to the light. “Gloriosa had Equestrian magic too until we stopped her, who’s to say she’s the only one whose learned to harness it.” Sunset muttered.

“And Principal Celestia said that the magic has been coming from the other world to this one right?” Twilight - their Twilight muttered as she twiddled her thumbs.

“Equestria.”

“What?”

“Equestria.” Sunset said. “That other world is called Equestria.” Sunset stated as she stopped strumming her guitar and frowned. “But yeah, magic has been filtering into this world for a while now, at least, that’s what Principal Celestia said at the auditorium.” She paused in thought. “To be honest, I wasn’t even aware it could do that.”

“Really?” Pinkie pipped in as she twirled one of her drumstick.

“But when I think about it, it makes a bit of sense.”

“How so darling?”

“When I was in training, my teacher told me that magic runs throughout the world, we draw from this sort of… grid to fill our reserves and then we’re able to use it. She said it was stronger in some places and that allowed us to draw upon even more magic to use.” She paused as if in thought. “But she also said that there were places where the background mana was weaker, and even in some places it was completely gone; in that case it would be completely impossible to use magic.” She paused again, seeming to shiver at a bad memory. “That was the first lesson I managed to recall when I came to this world, cause my magic was just…” Sunset went looking for the word. “Not gone, at least not at first, but after a few short weeks I realized mana wasn’t “flowing” in this world, the wellspring it all came from was dry.” She seemed to continue thinking as everyone listening.

“What did that feel like?” Fluttershy whispered.

“Terrifying.” Was Sunset’s answer.”I’ve been able to use magic ever since I was little, it was a part of me…” Sunset muttered. “And when I came here, it felt like part of me was dying.” She shivered again. “But after the Battle of the Bands, it felt like the part of me I was losing was “back” I was too happy to question it, but now? Now it’s all starting to make a bit of sense.” Sunset muttered. “Magic in this world was gone, and now it’s coming back.”

“And that’s not a good thing.”

“It should be, but if what Principal Celestia said was true, it’s not the only thing that’s coming back.” Sunset stated as she continued staring at the ceiling.

“What’s coming thou?” Applejack asked as Sunset shook her head, not really knowing how to answer that.

“I don’t know.” She finally confessed. “All i can say is, it’s “coming”, and Princess Twilight won’t be able to help us deal with it, unless she can figure out how to open it again.” Sunset her paused. "Should see even try opening it to begin with." She looked to the girls for a moment. “If its open, more magic from Equestria will just filter in, and if that happens...”

“It might make things worse.” Fluttershy whispered as Sunset nodded her head.

“Man this sucks!” Rainbow Dash kicked air. “This sounds like a magical emergency if I ever heard one! And one Princess Twilight can’t help us out with!”

“What about your journal darling?” Rarity asked. “Can you still get a message out to her?” Sunset seemed to think before reaching for her bag, pulling out her journal as she opened it.

“I don’t know, I can try and see what happens, but... I can’t make any promises.” She pulled out a pen and took a breath. Hoping more than she had in a good while that someone answered.

“Dear Princess Twilight.

I feel like everytime I try contacting you it’s because something bad is happening on this side of the portal. Hate to say it, but… somethings happened again, or it’s been happening for a while now. I need to talk to you. Please get back as soon as you can.”

“Alright that should do it.” Sunset muttered before closing the book and took a breath.

“And now we play the waiting game.” Pinkie said in a tone that showed she was trying to lighten the mood. A silence followed. “So what do we do now?”

“Well, practice feels like a bust.” Rainbow Dash grumbled. “Anything to talk about?”

“Actually…” Rarity muttered as she looked to Sunset. “Were Winona and Tank acting strange yesterday?” Rainbow Dash and Applejack looked at each other for a moment, obviously taken back by the question.

“Well… yeah Tank would hardly come out his shell, even when I brought out his favorite food.” Rainbow confessed.

“Winona wouldn’t stop barkin’ at shadows.” Applejack admitted. “And when I put a hand on her to try calmin’ her down… I swear on my name I ain’t ever felt so tense.”

“We thought so.” Rarity muttered as she and the girls explained how their own pets had been acting yesterday. “Twilight dear what about Spike?”

“He wasn’t himself either. When I got him alone to ask him what was wrong, he said something was outside with us.”

“Ok, that can’t be coincidence.”

“It probably isn’t.” Fluttershuy spoke up. “Some animals are said to sense danger, its how some can avoid predators.”

“I’ve heard about that.” Twilight spoke up. “Some believe it might be due to their heightened senses that grant them this form of precognition. Supposedly they can even predict when natural disasters like earthquakes are about to happen.”

“You think that’s what was happen?” Applejack asked. “Our pets were tellin’ us something bad was gonna happen around us?”

“I can’t see any other way to explain it.” Sunset muttered before looking towards the window. “They know something bad is coming, but what though?” She muttered before putting a hand behind her head. “That’s the question right now.”

Canterlot City

The noise was coming back.

The screaming, the curses.

He tried drowning them out, but, well he knew from experience that that was near impossible. They filled in the silence that danced across his mind.

Raising a hand to his head the Abyss Walker tried breathing, tried clearing his head a bit as he walked the streets of Canterlot.

“I need something to drown them out.” He muttered. “I need to quiet them for a moment.” He told himself before glancing around, spying “ghosts” swimming around him like groupies around a superstar.

He walked on. He walked for what felt like hours.

He didn’t know where he was going, he didn’t care either. All he needed to know was that his feet were guiding him somewhere. He walked miles in a day, took in the city for what it was. Greeted the few who were kind enough to notice him. He entered a music shop for a bit, sampled what musicians this world had to offer.

Many were good, but they didn’t suit his tastes.

He walked past an animal rescue center; refusing to go in as rescues rarely took to him.

He visited the mall; wandered in and out of stores to see what they had to offer.

“I’m BORED!”

The Whisper in his mind shouted as he just shook his head. “What do yu want me to do about it?”

“Let’s go kill something I wanna feel some warm blood.”

“No.” Abyss muttered as he leaned against a street light and seemed to stare across the street, eyes looking into a reflection cast by a window as he stared at the twisted mockery that was sharing his form. “We don’t have a target to focus on, and we don’t do innocents.”

“I don’t care.”

The reflection shouted.

“I am bored, show me blood!”

It shouted again.

“I want to hear screams!”

“I wanna feel bones crack!

“I want you to turn this city into a red ocean!”

“I refuse.” The Abyss Walker stated as he turned his head to look at another building and saw a closer incarnation of his twisted shadow. “You’re hunger… our hunger, our hate… the people here will not be our outlet.” He told his shadow.

“You will sate my hunger.”

“You can’t be satisfied.” Abyss glanced at the still red light as the windows started to crack. “Don’t.” He told his shadow. “Calm down.”

“Or what?”

“Do you want to be chained up again?” The shadow continued to growl as the glass continued to crack.

“Chaining me up does nothing.”

“It angers you.” Abyss muttered before staring into the distance. “Huh…” he muttered before glancing at his reflection. “You felt that right?”

“How could I not?”

“There’s a shadow hunting, and at this hour no less.” The Abyss Walker muttered as the light turned green. “You’re in luck, we have something to hunt down now.”