Where is Everypony

Early morning was met with an intense cold. Spike timidly opened his eyes and spotted the clock. It was nearly noon, far too late for his liking. He groaned and stood up, tapping on his sister's bed. When there was no answer, he shrugged and assumed she must have already woken up. This was strange since she was usually the over-sleeper, not him. He walked over to the dresser only for the next oddity to catch him off guard.

All of Twilight's supplies were gone. Her morning books, noon books, and even evening books. The massive assortment of reading glasses for every hour and even her eyedrops used to ensure she wouldn't miss a wink of reading. It was all gone, save for a few small things that she rarely touched at all.

"Twilight?" he called out, wondering where she went.

There was no response. The door to her room was still shut, but her window was wide open. That at least explained the coldness in the room. Running over to the bathroom, he checked inside but found nothing there either. Her toothbrush was gone, but not the fresh paste he bought yesterday. Weirder yet, random objects like a hairbrush, and her deodorant was missing. All old, nothing new had been taken.

He rolled his eyes at the strange occurrence and went about his business. He needed to relieve some morning pressures and take a bath. No, just the business and a quick shower considering how far into the day it was already. Either way, it took about an hour to get all that done. Soon enough, the dragon stepped out and looked around, hoping his sister was back.

She didn't seem to hear him in the shower. Thinking it was strange as ever since he became an adult she would become offended at the mere idea of him using her bathroom. It was strange that she wasn't yelling at him to stop or to use his own. She never showed up at all.

"Maybe she left the castle without telling me?" Spike mumbled. It didn't seem likely but as he moved through the halls it quickly became clear that had to be the only option. He was her number one assistant and she was a bit too obsessive about her work. Just running off without a word wasn't too strange, yet there was even a message tagged to the fridge.

The dragon went about his day as normal. He made himself breakfast, ate, and then went to work. Taking most of the day cleaning up the castle from top to bottom. This was where he noticed another oddity. Starlight's room was also empty. Her stuff is in the same state as Twilight's with all newer objects left in place and everything else missing.

Sure, she barely visited the castle ever since she started bedding with Sunburst. But Twilight always told him to keep her stuff tidy up and current. Just in case she had to come back to stay, or if Sunburst needed a break from her... friendship. There wasn't even a letter, or a sign, or anything. It was just empty, just like the rest of the castle.

"Okay, just a little concerning."

As the hours ticked by, the dragon began to grow a bit anxious. He was almost done with his chores and it was getting late. It was nearly evening and Twilight wasn't home yet. Odder still everything outside was eerily quiet all day. Normally he could at least hear ponies moving about, chatting with each other and just living their lives.

Instead, it was just... silence. It was at this point he noticed the birds weren't chirping. He opened the window and saw no movement on the streets or anywhere. Twilight's pet owl wasn't even flying about. Everything was just... dead silent.

Ignoring the rest of his work, Spike rushed to the front door and threw it open. Only to confirm the roads were empty. Leaning out, he could feel a coldness, but no wind. Not a breeze, no movement, nothing. Looking up, he could see clouds in the sky but they weren't moving either. It was like the whole world had stopped. Yet the Sun and Moon were still moving. This wasn't some sort of time spell or illusion. It was the real thing.

"What is going on?" Spike wondered, slowly stepping outside and closing the door behind him. His steps were soft and careful as he walked down the road. His concern turned to mild panic as he headed to Rarity's boutique. His mind was no longer on his chores at all but on the strangeness going on around him.

The dragon needed to find answers and soon. He couldn't explain it, but there was something deeply wrong. His body tensed up as his walk slowly turned to a full sprint. As his pace quickened, so did his heartbeat. A nervous feeling overtook him causing his breathing to quicken.

******

Maybe it was luck that Spike stopped his chores halfway. He had yet to reach the Room of Friendship. Maybe then he would have gotten his answers far sooner. He could have stumbled upon the blood-splattered table. He would have known what had happened to Twilight. Seeing her wings strew over the walls with all her feathers plucked out. Her head was firmly smashed to pieces in the center of the bloodbath.

Spike was completely unaware of it all. Unknown a long bony beast dropping down from the ceiling. The disfigured monster was draped in the bloody flesh of other ponies. None of the decay ever reached the dragon at all, due to the glowing barrier around its body.

Lowering to the table it slurped up the bloody mess so fast like it never happened. Licking up every bit of spilled fluid, before adding Twilight's corpse to its collection. As soon as the table was spotless, the creature stood tall and took a deep breath. Swinging over its tail, it looked at Starlight. Her head gripped shut in his stinger claw. Barely alive, she struggled and whimpered silently.

Her eyes glared at the monster spotting Spike in the distance. Her horn glowed in an attempt to charge one final spell. Maybe to stop the beast or to get Spike to safety. Her hopes shattered as the monster bit off her horn with ease. She fell silent, blood spraying over her face. The creature followed this ripping off her arms and legs just as violently and fast. Before the life in her eyes faded, the monster splattered her skull on the table too, right in the same spot Twilight had been previously.

This was slowly followed by the same actions of slumbering up all her blood and absorbing her corpse. The process was swift, clean, and quiet. It never said a word at all, just simply went about its work. Once finished, it realized it was too late to take out Spike too. The dragon was already out of sight. It tilted its head, making a loud crack. It was the only sign of emotion it showed at all. Crawling over to a tiny gap in the ceiling, it squeezed its massive bony form into the tight space. Gone, like it was never there at all.

Spike was running on his own. Completely unaware of the horror that he had woken up to. He was oblivious to the monster, the murders, and the deaths that were just outside his sight. He was still blissfully ignorant of all that had happened before he awoke.

******