//------------------------------// // 2. Alone // Story: Gone // by Baritone //------------------------------// The sunset on Ponyville felt cold as the sun dipped beneath the distant horizon. The only evidence of that light still existed was the golden tendrils that hung in the air, gyrating slowly. The web of lights weaved in amongst each other gracefully, without a care. Beneath them, Twilight’s body stirred. Her eyes fluttered open. She was dazed and could hardly move. The gravity fought against her for power of her limbs, yet the purple pony was able to win the small battle. Shakily, she made it to her hooves. As she became more aware, she couldn’t see anything but the unnatural web of light before her. Everything else was pitch black, completely bathed in darkness. Gazing into the spiderweb of light, she couldn’t help but appreciate its beauty. The light reached out to her with its frail arms, expectantly. Twilight denied it this time, her previous encounter with the light fresh in her mind. She couldn’t understand what was going on, and that terrified her. She was seemingly alone, with not a pony in Ponyville. Nightmare Moon brought her close to her friends, Discord was reformed and Tirek, even after absorbing all of the magic in Equestria, was defeated. This, this felt like an aftermath. The warm sun was a reminder that Celestia could always see her and it had been removed from the sky almost instantaneously. Looking into the night, she could tell that even Luna’s stars were different. They appeared in random places, unorganised. Luna’s night typically shone with beauty, yet this just seemed dull in comparison. Twilight was downtrodden, she would have closed her eyes and bawled if it weren’t for a small sound. Quietly, it echoed. Twilight strained her ears to catch the small sound until it grew into something she recognised. Tears. Twilight heard the tears of a young, exhausted drake. A bulb lit inside her head, Twilight knew what it was... “Spike?” A southern accent drawled. “What are ya doin’ out here on your own?” Twilight looked up, that voice was familiar too. “Nothing, Applejack. Just sitting.” "Sit...bench..." Twilight thought aloud. She cast her eyes into the darkened park. Her eyes wandered to the park bench’s frame. She expected to see Spike but instead the light had manifested itself into a golden wireframe shape on the seat, it beared an uncanny resemblance to Spike’s small body. Another form came into Twilight’s field of vision, this one was pony-like. “Spike, if you need to talk to me, I’m here for you. You know that, right?” “Mmhmm…” At the figure's hooves, the light glowed gently as if it had weight and was pressing into the ground. Twilight's eyes keenly observed the glow figure as it moved over to the small one on the bench. She anxiously waited until the pony figure spoke again. “Darn it Spike, you can’t bottle yerself up, I miss her too y’know.” “I know Applejack, I know. I just can’t believe that she’s, that she’s…” “Spike, stop.” The voice was soft but Twilight recognised her friend’s authority all the same. “I know this has been pretty rough on you and it’s been hard for me too, but we can’t just throw in the towel and give up hope. We’ll see her again soon, I promise. After all, she wouldn’t just up ‘n leave without saying goodbye to us. I know it, Spike. She wouldn’t.” “That’s why I’m scared Applejack, she didn’t tell me anything...she’s just gone.” The two figures sat mulling over their thoughts. It wasn’t long before a kind voice spoke up once more. “I’ll take you back to the library if ya like, we’re both pretty tired. I think we’ll both feel a whole lot better after some sleep.” “I’m not a kid, Applejack.” “You don’t have to be a kid to need a rest, Spike.” “Okay, just give me a second. I’ll be right behind you.” “Sure Spike, take your time.” With that, the pony form trotted away leaving the one small figure alone on the bench. Twilight’s eyes were transfixed on the lone figure as it stood up and slowly walked away. The strands of light disappeared leaving Twilight in complete darkness. She couldn’t believe what she had just witnessed. Those were her friends.Twilight noticed a light coming from the hillside, as she looked, the sun rose above the hill and perched itself in the same spot it had occupied before. Despite its warm glow, it did little to shine light on Twilight's mystery. *** Twilight struggled to comprehend what had just happened. By the evidence put before her, she determined that the light was the by-product of incredibly powerful magic. What she had witnessed left her scared and confused. The light had shown her images of her missing friends, did that explain their absence? Did the light have something to do with the strange disappearances? It had to. Shaking, Twilight got to her hooves. Thoughts were buzzing inside her head and she needed to know the truth. Her will pushing her forwards, she galloped back through the town to her wooden home. The streets were still very much quiet. After her experience, she had a justified reason to be suspicious of the silence. With the houses rushing past her, she almost didn’t notice her lack of breath. Twilight arrived back at the library feeling like she’d run a marathon. Unfortunately, she had science on the brain and a bath wasn’t going to keep her from her work. Twilight fished a few sheets of paper and a quill from her desk using her magic, if the situation had the potential to be dire, Princess Celestia would need to know about it. The problem was that she didn’t know where Spike was. She would have to send the letter herself. Calmly, Twilight selected a book from her shelf on long range teleportation. With her current power, she would be unable to send herself as her magic wasn’t strong enough. She would be able to send a letter with a bit of effort, Canterlot wasn’t on her doorstep anymore. After skimming the book, Twilight scrawled the necessary words onto the paper and folded up the message into a scroll. The spell needed some level of focus, so she closed her eyes and envisioned Celestia’s throne room. White pillars, stained glass, a golden throne, Twilight pictured the immense room in her mind. She could even imagine the sun princess sitting stoically conducting her day court. With a poof, the message disappeared and Twilight smiled at her small victory. It wasn’t the answer to her mystery, but at least she had started the ball rolling. The Princess would know what to do, she always did. Scanning her upturned room, she decided the next order of business was to devise a plan. Twilight’s message surely wouldn’t get an instant reply, so perhaps some level of investigation would be required to truly work out what she was up against. Levitating a few helpful objects together, Twilight packed a small saddlebag to help her with her investigation. First, she packed some quills, then her favourite pristine white paper, an assortment of inks, some sandwiches she whisked up without a second thought and a spellbook. With these helpful items at her disposal, she would surely be set for her investigation. Twilight stood by the window gazing outwards. The town almost looked peaceful from her position but she knew otherwise. It didn’t her long to notice something else abnormal about the town. Once again, Twilight could see little ball of light meandering its way through the town. What should she do? If she didn’t follow it, she wouldn’t risk another possibly dangerous encounter with those balls of light. She’d be fine and she could carry on her day working out a plan. What if she did go? Surely this little ball of light had something to do with all of this. If she were lucky, she might even get some answers. Weighing it up in her head, there was no clear best option. Both decisions had their pros, both had their cons. Unfortunately, she had little time to waste. More likely out of desperation, rather than out of logic, Twilight made up her mind. She picked up her saddlebags and with her ears perked and her resolve steely, Twilight dashed downstairs. She couldn’t risk losing that little shimmering ball of light. Despite her uncertainty, she knew it was most likely her best shot at finding answers. She was going to follow that light, even if it wasn’t the safest option. Out the door she went, into the unknown. This would surely be her making. Twilight had searched for the better part of an hour, yet she had somehow lost the light shortly after leaving her home. She wasn’t sure how she’d done it, but she knew that she wasn’t happy with herself. No! She couldn’t give up hope! That was against her nature. She would not be defeated yet, especially when there was so much at stake. Twilight would just put her nose to the grindstone like she always did. She simply wouldn’t be beaten just yet. After looping around Ponyville, Twilight had ended up on the outskirts of Applejack’s farm. Disturbingly, she still hadn’t seen anypony. Fortunately for her, the light wasn’t far away. She caught a glimpse of it winding between the trees in the distance and Twilight took this as great encouragement to press on. Up the dusty path she went, following the white fence she had become quite familiar with after many visits to the farm. Nothing seemed wrong until she came face to face with light. It hovered before her, just begging her to interact with it. Twilight immediately pulled out her quill and did a sketch of the anomaly. She studied the way its arms drifted through the air as well as its body. They were quite a sight to behold. Twilight also studied its magical potential once more. She needed to know if it were different to the orb she had previously encountered. Twilight’s fears were confirmed. This orb was identical to the one she’d found previously. It had huge reserves of inert magic, just waiting to be triggered. For all intents and purposes, it was identical to the first anomaly. In truth, she wasn’t too eager to experience its magic after her last encounter had gone pear-shaped. Twilight winced at the thought of the pain. She had a couple of options. Now that she had successfully tracked down the orb, she could make her observations and leave. She wouldn’t consider the trip a loss, she had studied the orb somewhat and perhaps what she had seen would be helpful to her studying. With her new information to hoof, she might even get some concrete facts about these orbs! She wasn’t being cowardly at all! Was she? Even though she experienced a great deal of pain whilst interacting with the last orb, it gave her something valuable. She got to see her friends. There was a large gap in her memory and the orb seemed to play out a scene that may have taken place during her memory’s absence. She heard Spike’s voice and Applejack’s! She was sure of it! It’s like the orbs had taken snapshots of her friends lives and they were being played back to her. Perhaps interacting with the orbs truly was the only way that she would get answers. It was a difficult pill to swallow but perhaps the situation did indeed call for desperate measures. The answers were lying within the light, all Twilight had to do was find them. Twilight knew there was no more time to waste. Even if she was scared and confused, she accepted that this was possibly the only way of truly knowing what was going on. Bracing herself Twilight charged up the smallest amount of magic she could muster and caressed the light. Instantaneously, the light responded to her. It grew in size but she didn’t feel the same pain as before. Eventually the light stopped growing and Twilight had to pour more of her magic into the swelling ball. Despite her fear, the thought of her friends powered Twilight onwards. No matter what, she’d help them. More and more she charged her horn, sparks flying off in different directions. Her head strained and she had to concentrate to maintain the flow of energy she was feeding the beast before her. Twilight’s efforts were rewarded. Eventually, the light grew until she couldn’t see anything but pure white and then it faded to pitch black. When she opened her eyes, a wireframe pony figure of golden light sat on the path before her. It didn’t speak but it had Twilight’s attention. The way it was sprawled across the path implied it was in pain. It clutched at its head and Twilight thought she saw droplets of liquid light leaking from the figure’s nose. Then, it spoke. “W-what are you? I know you can h-hear me,” the pony figure stuttered. Twilight recognised the deep voice as Big MacIntosh. He sounded like he was in a lot of pain. A humming filled Twilight’s ears as she watched the scene unfold, almost as if the light was replying. “I k-know you’re in my head. I can feel you.” The pony figure on the ground clutched at its face seemingly to no avail, another droplet of light splashed onto the ground beneath the figure. “Ah suppose you’ve won now, got Granny ‘n Bloom, Applejack’s missing, now it’s just me... and you still haven’t had enough.” The hum returned, far more audibly this time. “Do your worst then, ah think this apple’s baked anyway.” Twilight felt tears sting her eyes. Just watching the figure roll in pain was enough to upset her. But this was Big Mac, he was good friend. And it seemed like he was dying. “Ah’ve had enough of your games,” the figure of Mac spoke. “Ah’m going home.” Mac heaved himself to his hooves with the utmost effort his weak body could manage and she watched him trudge slowly towards the farmhouse as his figure slowly faded. Blackness fell upon the land, it blanketed everything, Twilight feared it might stay that way until she witnessed the sun slowly climbing back into the sky. She stood on the dust path with tears staining her cheeks. Had she just watched the final moments of a friend? She was powerless to do anything and he just faded away into thin air. Upon closer inspection of the path, Twilight noticed two small stains in the dirt. They were small, red stains. Too small for to notice if she wasn’t paying attention, but they were there. Twilight remembered the droplets she’d witnessed coming from Mac’s face in the light vision. There wasn’t a moment to lose. Twilight raced up the path towards the farmhouse in the hopes she wasn’t too late. She needed to find Big Mac.