"Nick, I need to check another hunch," I said, trying to be as upbeat as possible.
"I am getting tired of your experiments, Mike," he said dejectedly.
"Princess Celestia, I want to thank you and the Elements for helping out as much as you have. I will see if I can find another way to help Nick in this matter. I would like to speak with you again sometime, but I have another hypothesis I would like to test."
"Very well then, Michael, we shall return to our realm. Good luck, Michael, I hope you find a solution to his problem. If not, you may contact me to make the necessary preparations for Nick."
"Thank you once again, Princess." I watched her teleport herself and the Elements back to Equestria, leaving Nick and me standing by my car.
"Mike, what are you going to do now?" Xaviera asked.
"I'm going to teleport Nick and myself to Equestria -- this should be a different universe we're going to, and I think Princess Celestia in that universe will be able to help Nick."
"Mike, this is starting to make me worried -- maybe I can stand to be Rarity for five years, I think."
"Speak for yourself, darling, the thought of being with you for five years is absolutely horrible!"
"I am trying my best, Rarity, I will see what I can do. Nick, hop on my back, it's time to go."
Nick reluctantly hopped onto my back, and I underestimated the weight. "Oof! I guess I'm not quite as strong as I thought," I groaned.
"Michael, darling, are you saying I'm fat?" Rarity asked almost threateningly.
"No, Rarity, just that I'm not used to having a pony on my back. Let's go," I said and teleported us to Ponyville, at the front door of the big tree that doubled as Twilight's house and the library. It was dark out, and I was wondering what was going on.
"Where is every pony?" I asked.
"This place looks deserted," Nick said.
The front door of Twilight's house was off it's hinges, but everything was so dark it was hard to see. I cast an illumination spell to get a better look at things. I went into the library to see what was going on. Books lay on the floor in piles, but it looked as though they hadn't been touched in awhile. Ripped pages lay scattered on the floor, some book bindings torn in half. It looked as though some of the books had been burned as a heat source.
"Hello? Twilight? You here?" I asked, fairly loudly. I got no response.
"Mike, this place is giving me the creeps," Nick said.
"Gotta check upstairs, see if Spike's still here," I said. The chill air of the night was starting to affect us. Nick was starting to shiver a little, and I was feeling uncomfortably cold. "Maybe there might be something we can put on to keep ourselves a little warmer," I offered.
"We could go to my boutique and see if I have something there," Rarity stated. "And maybe my little Opal is still there, too!"
"We'll head there next," I said. "Nick, you coming?"
"Uh, stairs give me a little trouble," he said flatly. "I think I'll wait down here for you."
"Okay, I'll be back down shortly. Spike? You here? Spike?" Again, no answer. Twilight's bed was bare, no cover or sheets, no pillow either. Even Spike's basket was empty. "What's been happening here?" I asked no one. I went back downstairs, my little ball of light leading the way. "Spike's missing as well," I said dejectedly.
"Well, let's head through town, see if we can find anybody," Nick said.
"Any pony, Nick? Oh, sorry. I couldn't find anything for us to put on, either. Let's hurry, it doesn't seem very safe here."
We trotted quickly through town towards Rarity's boutique. The streets were deserted and the air eerily silent -- the only sound was that of the wind sweeping through dead trees and open windows with curtains wafting gently through them. The odd door creaking on a single hinge could be heard as well. After fifteen minutes of mostly silent trotting, we made it to Sugarcube Corner. The place was dark like all the rest of the houses we passed. I entered through the open doorway and checked around. Any foodstuffs had long since been pilfered or spoiled. I went upstairs to check for Pinkie Pie. I checked the rooms and found a couple of small pony skeletons, one a small pegasus, the other a small unicorn. I opened another door and found what looked like Pinkie Pie. Her body had wasted away to skin and bones, her coat nearly as white as Rarity's. Her eyes were wide open, her pupils looking like small dots, her hair straight and flat. She looked like she was in catatonic shock. I waved a hoof up and down in front of her face to see if her eyes would follow the movement.
"Pinkie Pie? Hello? Earth to Pinkie Pie, you in there?" I asked, half-jokingly. I put an ear to her chest to see if she was even breathing or if her heart might still be beating. Her mouth was open, but no sound came out. It looked like she had been frightened to death, as there were no vital signs. She had held out longer than any of the others. I made my way back downstairs to find Nick snooping around as he had lit up an illumination spell.
"Hey, Nick, did Rarity teach you how to do that?" I asked.
"Yeah, she's really scared, Mike. She wants to get to the boutique as soon as possible."
"Pinkie's upstairs, but she's not responsive -- no vital signs -- her body's gone totally white with fear."
"Michael, darling, please try to revive her! For my sake, please!"
"Okay, Rarity, I'll go back up there and see what I can do. Without any vital signs, I fear it might be too late for her." I returned to the room she was in to find her still in the position she was in when I had left. There had been no change in her condition, but I trotted up to her body. My horn glowed as I concentrated my healing magic through it and slowly allowed the magic to affect her body. Some color started to return, and I could hear her ragged breathing and a faint heart-beat. I continued to heal her, and in fairly short order, she had been revived.
"Twiley! Oh, Twiley! It was terrible! You gotta save the others!" she cried, hugging me tightly.
"I'm not Twilight, I'm Michael," I said.
"Never heard of you before," she said. "But since you healed me, I can trust you. My Pinkie Sense tells me you're a good pony! Who else is here with you?"
"Nick slash Rarity is downstairs," I said.
"What? Who's Nick?"
"He's in Rarity's body."
"Twiley, what's going on?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing, Pinkie -- where is every pony? Why does Ponyville look like a ghost town?"
"Twiley! Nightmare Moon killed everything! It's been night time ever since the Summer Sun Festival! We tried to stop her, but we failed! She killed -- wait a minute -- she killed YOU! How did you make it back?"
"That explains quite a bit. Pinkie Pie, I came from another universe, and Rarity here as well." I told her about the two us having woken up as ponies as well as Nick's situation.
"Rarity! You mean there's somepony else in there with you?"
"Pinkie, darling, it's terrible! I want to be free of him!" Rarity pleaded. "Princess Celestia says I might be stuck with him for another five years! I can't think of anything worse than that!"
"I can, Rarity. I fear we might be facing Nightmare Moon without the rest of the Elements. I have been working on a secret-weapon type spell, but I am hoping not to use it -- I haven't tested it out yet, and I'm not sure if it'll work."
"Is that Twilight talking or you, Mike?" Nick asked.
"Nick! It's just me, Mike! How many times do I have to tell you?"
"I keep forgetting your situation is not the same as mine," he said as Rarity face-hoofed in his mind. "Ouch, stop that, Rarity, it hurts!" Rarity face-hoofed again for good measure.
"Hey, Pinkie, got any food here?" I asked. My stomach was starting to complain, as I had forgotten to eat at the party.
"Twiley, the food's been gone for a few months. I can't even pull things out of my pocket dimension anymore, I've run out."
"Okay, we'll have to keep checking. Nick, we're heading to Carousel Boutique now."
We trotted over to the boutique, and much the same greeted us. Rarity's supplies had been recklessly strewn about the shop, and Rarity called out for Opal, who seemed to be missing. There was no trace of Sweetie Belle either. Nick allowed Rarity to go upstairs to her room, again casting an illumination spell. Rarity was mortified at the sorry state of her room.
"Twilight, darling, my room has been ruined!"
"Rarity, this is an alternate universe. We can try to straighten things out, or do you want to try another universe?"
"How are you able to do that?" Nick asked.
"What's all this about alternate universes?" Pinkie asked. "I still don't understand it, even after Twiley tried to explain it to me."
"Maybe some time I can explain it to you. Right now, I think we need to head to AJ's place."
"She's not gonna be there, Twiley," Pinkie said.
"Well, how about Fluttershy?"
"I dunno, Twiley. She flew off to Cloudsdale to stay with Rainbow, but I dunno if there's any pony there, since I've been hiding for the past few months."
"You two wanna come with me so I can teleport us to Cloudsdale?" I asked.
"Twiley! You know how far away that is from here?"
"Yeah, it's about 22 miles or so," I said confidently.
"But, can you teleport all three of us there?" Pinkie looked at me with a puzzled look.
"Let's stand in a circle and join hooves. We can go that way," I stated. I then teleported us there. This town was also deserted, and once again we were met with the eerie silence of no living thing save for the wind whistling through open windows and doors.
"Pinkie, Rarity, are either of you familiar enough with this place to know where Rainbow might stay?"
"You're not going to get the chance to find out, Twilight Sparkle!" came a female voice from seemingly nowhere. A purplish mist swirled around and formed itself into a large black alicorn bedecked with lunar symbols.
"Nightmare Moon," I said, almost nonchalantly.
"I don't know where you came from, Twilight, but just as easily as I killed you before, I will kill you again!"