Hakkyū

by Trenzalor


Arrival

It was nighttime. There was a great commotion in the crystal castle. Ponies wanted to know what's going on. There were ponies clambering for the attention of the local authority figure. The main six had their hooves full trying to calm down the crowd that hand gathered around the castle to try to get answers from the princess. Twilight looks to the sky, wondering what to do now...

earlier that day

Twilight was walking for the center of Ponyville looking for Fluttershy. As she walks along she notices something odd. Now, it was a rather pleasant day in Ponyville. There were only a few clouds in the sky and it wasn't too hot or too cold. The bird were singing. The flowers were blooming. It was an all around unmemorable day. However, Twilight still managed to notice something out of place. You see, normally the Everfree forest would be making some amount of background noise. A manticore roar, a timberwolf howl, or the hiss of a cockatrice. However today is was completely silent. Twilight was off to see Fluttershy to try to ask her if she knew what was going on. As Twilight walks she sees everything in Ponyville going according to how it should be, but the dread of a silent Everfree hung over the town like a plague. Usually if the Everfree went silent it meant something big was about to happen. It so far has only reacted like this for two other events: Discord and Tirek. Twilight saw that everypony was taking the sudden silence about as well as they could. Things seemed to be going as well as they could considering the looming threat of some kind of a catastrophe. Twilight starts to hurry along so she can hopefully get some answers soon rather than later. She soon reaches Fluttershy's hut and knocks on the front door. She doesn't here and answer. Twilight knocks louder this time. Fluttershy still doesn't seem to be there. Twilight is starting to get a little worried.

"Fluttershy, are you alright?"

Timid footsteps walk up to the door and open it. Fluttershy seemed alright on the surface but something was certainly wrong. Twilight walks inside of Fluttershy's hut.

"Fluttershy, are you alright."

Fluttershy closes the door and walks over to Twilight.

"I'm fine. It's just that some of my animals ran away."

Twilight gasps in shock.

"Do you know why they did it? I'm sure they had a reason."

Fluttershy shakes her head in sadness.

"No. If they did I didn't get the chance to ask what it was. I've been asking the others why they left and all that I could figure out was that they're really scared of something. That's about it."

Twilight thinks about what this new information could mean. If the other creature are scared of something she may need to start preparing for something really big to happen.

"What creatures left? Maybe that has something to do with it."

Fluttershy thinks for a moment, recalling who wasn't there when she went to give everyone their food.

"Well, it was mostly my more intelligent animals. Harry the bare, Luis the wolf, and the ferret twins. Animals like those. Only a couple stayed. I'm really worried Twilight. What if the place that they went is really scary. What if they're hurt."

Twilight rests a hoof on Fluttershy to reassure her that everything will be alright.

"I'm sure that they're fine. Right now however we have more pressing matters. Whatever they're so scared of is so scary that it could force them to run away from you. We should probably prepare for something big."

Fluttershy nods and starts gather some of her stuff.

"I guess you're right. I just hope that they're okay."

Once Fluttershy finished gathering some of her stuff her and Twilight start heading back to the crystal castle. Once there Twilight helps Fluttershy settle into a room and heads back out to try and find some more of her friends. Twilight heads for Sugercube corner to try to locate Pinkie Pie. Maybe she has some answers with her pinkie sense. However, when she gets there she sees that the place has been wrecked. Twilight runs over and tries to see if anypony was hurt. Around Sugercube corner is Mr. and Ms. Cake, as well as a couple other ponies. Twilight runs over to the cakes.

"What happened here."

Ms. Cake is the first to answer, worry clearly evident in her voice.

"It's Pinkie Pie! She just suddenly started going crazy and soon the place looked like this. We don't know what's going on."

Twilight runs into the ruins of Sugarcube corner. Inside she soon finds Pinkie. The sight she sees is an absolute shock. Pinkie Pie's body is glowing pink and she's literally bouncing off and through the walls. Twilight tries to use her telekinesis to grab Pinkie but the force of her movement quickly break Twilight's telekinetic grab. Twilight goes again to grab her with her telekinesis, this time putting much more energy into the magic. Twilight is able to stop Pinkie. Twilight speaks quickly with strain in her voice.

"Pinkie, what's going on?! Why are you doing this?!"

Pinkie's answer is jumble due to her constant movement inside of the magic but she is able to talk. Her voice is filled with worry and is distorted by her shaking.

"I don't know! My Pinkie sense is making me do this! I can't make it stop! Something is coming, and it's the worst doozy that we've even gotten."

Before she runs out of energy Twilight teleports Pinkie to a very strong room in the castle the might be able to keep whatever's going on with her under control. Twilight then heads over to Applejack's to try to grab her. She comes to Sweet Apple Acres and soon discovers that it seems like all of Ponyville isn't doing so well. Sweet Apple Acres seems to have been hit hard by the vampire fruit bats. Speaking of which, she can see a large group of them flying to who knows where. Twilight casts a tracking spell in hopes that the bats will lead her to where the other creatures are. But that's something she'll have to deal with later. She heads over to Applejack's house, being careful not to step in any rotten apples. She soon reaches the large building and knocks on the door. Applejack answers the door. Needless to say she seems rather irritated.

"What do ya want?!"

Her tone immediately softens when sees that's it's Twilight she's talking to.

"Oh, sorry Twilight. I didn't know it was you. The damn vampire bats just ruined an entire harvest! If you'll excuse me, I'm a little mad. What is it?"

Twilight rolls her eyes and ignores it.

"I need you to come with me."

Applejack walks out and closes the door behind her.

"What's all this about?"

Her and Twilight start walking towards the castle.

"I'll explain once everypony gets to the castle. Rarity and Rainbow should be arriving soon."

It was late afternoon by the time they got back and the sun was just setting. On the way to the crystal castle Twilight's and Applejack's cutie marks start to glow and flash. They both pick up the pace and start running to the castle. When they get there they see more than they expected. Not only are the rest of the mane six in the throne room, but also: Spike, Starlight, Sunburst, the other princesses, Discord, Zecora, and the Pillars. And to top it off, all of their respective indicators were not only on the table but they were also not. Their marks were hovering on the ceiling. Pinkie, having calmed down looks back so hard she falls over. Celestia and Luna were performing their duties just as Twilight had arrived. Twilight was in shock.

"What are you all doing here?"

Starswirl is the first to answer.

"It would appear that we have been summoned."

Luna chimes in.

"Yes, but for what? We were woken from our sleep for this so we hope that it's important."

Twilight walk over to the map.

"It's never called this many ponies before. Whatever's about to happen, it's bigger that we could possible handle alone."

Outside, everypony hears a commotion. the all look outside to see that ponies have gathered to star at the sky. They all look out from a balcony to see what they're all looking at.



























































No, it's impossible. Something like that can't exist. All 20 ponies look up and see what can only be described as a massive expanse of pure madness. Hovering above the sky, the moon, even hovering above the stars themselves, was a massive disk that seemed to go on forever towards the horizon. The night's sky was half covered by the enormous object. It was just an expanse of white. Nopony could believe their eyes. Even the stars had been devastated. Only about 5000 of the billions that used to make up the sky remained. Where the rest had gone was anypony's guess. Everypony was in shock. A crowd soon began to gather to demand answers.

Current time

Twilight managed to settle everypony done and is holding an emergency town meeting. Everypony sits and waits in anticipation.

"Attention everypony. I know you may be scared, but there's no need to worry. Whatever this is, it doesn't present a clear and present danger. Please go back to life as if this had never happened."

Everypony leaves a little unsatisfied and nervous but none the worse for ware. Twilight and the rest of the ponies summoned by the map meet in the castle. There will be much to discuss.