Author's Note
this was hella scary to write. i'm even surprised it came from my own imagination! i actually refuse to read it over, that kinda says about how scary it is for me lmao
lights
1:09 am.
Twilight Sparkle sat in her chair in the Golden Oak Library. What was she doing, you may ask? The unicorn was doing nothing but catching up on her reading. Her appearance was quite neat; a smooth mane, a well-cared-for tail and a glistening coat, due to the fact that she was fresh out of a warm, relaxing bath. Twilight thought it was, indeed, a perfect night. The night itself even proved it to her.
She had a window open next to her desk so the soft breeze could caress her mane freely. The wind was at a stable speed too, so the light pages of her books wouldn't flip on their own. She had a scented candle right on the edge of her desk. The fire danced and created shadows on Twilight's face and definitely made it easier to read the books. And something about the windy night just made Twilight happy. Was it the smell of nature? Maybe the glowing light of the candle? Or perhaps it was the perfect temperature? Either way, there were a lot of things that made this night special.
Twilight lowered her right hoof that was holding up her face and turned around, careful to not let the chair squeak. She got up from her seat and started walking towards the middle of the library, where a little, sleeping dragon rested. Twilight tilted her head and smiled. She made sure he was warm and tucked him in with his favorite blanket before returning to her seat.
Suddenly, the wind grew a bit stronger. Strong enough to blow the fire off the candle and flip the pages of Twilight's book. This made Twilight frown since she hadn't yet bookmarked the page she was at. The moonlight piercing through the window was the only source of light remaining. As Twilight started to reignite the candle again, the light outside started to shine even more.
"Huh?" Twilight blurted out to herself. She stuck her head out of the window, looked up, and gasped in amazement. When she pulled her head back, a huge smile was plastered on her face. She sprinted towards the sleeping dragon and started shaking him vigorously.
"Spike! Spike, wake up! You've gotta see this! Come on, wake up!" Twilight trilled.
Still half asleep, Spike yawned and stretched out his arms and smacked his lips. "Twilight? Wha..what time is it?"
"Who cares? You need to come outside with me!" Twilight blabbered. Using her magic, she picked up the purple dragon, opened the door and floated him outside, keeping him close within her reach.
"Hey, where are we-" Spike started. Twilight then dropped him on the ground just right beside her. "Woah."
There it was. Just between the two and moon, right there in the middle of the sky. A radiant, luminescent trail of light with shimmering shades of purple floated through the lonely air just right above them. It was nothing like they've ever seen before. It was angelic. The light seemed to stretch from the north all the way to the south. Before Twilight knew it, the citizens of Ponyville woke up and went outside to check it out. They all stood there in awe.
"But how?" Spike wondered aloud. He looked towards his side up at Twilight, after not hearing her say anything. Twilight's expression looked different. Just a couple minutes ago she was so excited and bubbly. Now, her face stood straight. Her eyes were widened and her pupils grew smaller. Her mouth dropped open and scared breaths escaped from her tongue.
"Twilight?"
Finally taking her gaze off of the sky, Twilight turned to Spike.
Without warning, she picked him up and threw him on her back, galloping away from the library and towards the edge of the town at full speed.
"Twilight? What's going on?!" Spike whimpered nervously. He frantically turned around after hearing a few echoing screams and shouts from the ponies behind them. Everypony outside started following Twilight, followed by more and more ponies.
"We need to get out of here!!" Twilight panted. "NOW!"
"But why? W-What's happening?!" Spike warbled.
"It's gonna catch up to us!"
Spike squinted his eyes. He started to see a big, dark shadow emerge from near the library and consume a few of the ponies who didn't run. The wails from them evaporated into thin air, leaving nothing of them left.
"Twilight, where are we going?!"
Twilight couldn't answer. She was too focused on getting her and Spike out of there. She didn't stop. She couldn't stop now. Spike could see that the shadows were catching up to the ponies, consuming them one by one. And as it did, the lights got a bit darker in color.
"Twilight!" A high-pitched voice sounded from behind.
At once, Twilight recognized the voice. "Pinkie Pie?! Where are the rest of our friends?!"
"They must've gotten away already! Except for Rarity!" Pinkie Pie huffed, trying to catch up to Twilight.
Spike broke a sweat. "Rarity? She didn't get eaten yet, did she?"
"I-I don't really know," Pinkie stammered, slowing down with tiredness. "All I heard was her soul-scratching scream and... and it just disappeared along with the Carousel Boutique."
"No." Spike tightened his grip on Twilight's coat as tears started to fall from his green eyes.
"Spike, there's nothing we could've done," Twilight sadly sighed, her speed accelerating as she heard more shouts and shrieks from behind. "We need to focus on getting out of-"
Pinkie Pie's disappearing screech was heard from a few meters away. Spike clenched his eyes shut as Twilight, now starting to cry, sped up faster and into the Everfree forest. She still didn't stop till Spike couldn't see Ponyville anymore. What was there to see though? Everything was gone. Rarity. Pinkie Pie. Everypony. Seemed like only the two of them made it.
Twilight was gasping for air as Spike hopped down from the mare's back. She collapsed to the ground and sobbed into the grass. Spike checked his surroundings, looking for ponies who could've possibly made it. There was one, just to his right.
He tapped Twilight's head and Twilight looked up from the ground and looked to where Spike was pointing. A slim alicorn's silhouette was walking past them a couple meters away, her silky mane wavering in the wind. Twilight stood up and started to walk towards it. Spike followed.
Suddenly, the alicorn stopped in its tracks. As Twilight caught up, she recognized the alicorn's appearance. "Princess Luna...?"
The alicorn turned around. It was, indeed, Princess Luna. Although Twilight couldn't be sure since she looked different.
Princess Luna looked like she was rotting. Her hooves and legs were now nothing but bones and little pieces of dust and blackened flesh. Half of her face was disappearing too, her skin crumpling and fading away right then and there. Princess Luna approached Twilight, revealing the other half of her body.
It was all bones.
"Princess Luna?! What-"
Luna stood a foot away from Twilight and faced her. The unpleasant smell made Twilight grimace as she started shaking in fear.
"Wake up, Twilight," Princess Luna bellowed. Her voice sounded like it was... glitching.
"You need to get out of here!" Her voice now sounded like she had an extremely parched throat and grew weaker as she started to rot faster. Twilight and Spike started backing up and sprinting away from her, but the shadows were there to greet them.
Twilight woke up in a cold sweat. There she was, back at home, in her chair.
"I must've fallen asleep while reading," Twilight chuckled nervously to herself.
Suddenly, the candle went out.
Twilight's smile slowly faded as she hesitatingly looked out of the open window.
There it was again.
The purple light.
Then..
Then that means...
