"Everypony all set?"
Levitating her saddlebag onto herself, Twilight Sparkle looked around at her friends and all the other bags they had prepared for their picnic. Now that they'd all finally managed to catch a break from a world-threatening disaster, along with the School of Friendship being closed for the weekend, Twilight, Spike, Starlight and the others decided to put their day off to good use by relaxing and having lunch on a blanket in the sunshine. Trixie was even joining them with a paper bag of fresh teacakes she'd managed to bake herself.
"Yes indeedy!" Pinkie Pie beamed before eagerly pointing to all the saddlebags of food set on Twilight's castle floor, "We got the blanket, sandwiches, apple dumplings, teacakes, hors d'oeuvres and extra delicious triple chocolate strawberry fudge double marshmallow cupcakes by yours truly!"
"Oh! Hang on for one second!" Widening her eyes, Starlight turned and made a dash down the crystalline hallway, "I almost forgot my spice collection!"
Once Starlight turned the corner toward the castle kitchen, Rarity straightened the rim of her sunhat and gave a blissful sigh. "This picnic idea of yours was simply splendid, Twilight!"
"I'll say!" Applejack piped in, heaving her saddlebag bulging with apples onto her back, "It's so rare these days that we get to take the load off." Giving a swift brush of her mane, Rainbow gave a confident chuckle.
"For good reason. Y'know, with us being the heroes that we are."
"Well everypony, let's make the most of it." Twilight stated with a playful smile. "You never know when another big situation might come looking for us to be solved."
Spike pulled his backpack straps over his shoulders before looking over at Trixie. "And thanks for tagging along, Trixie." The magician smiled back, waving her hoof modestly.
"Think nothing of it, young dragon." She replied in her traditional dramatic fashion, prompting Twilight to roll her eyes as she held back a grin. As much as the unicorn still proudly used her boastful tone, Twilight had come to be amused by it. "It was the least the Great and Powerful Trrrixie could do for her bestest friend in all of Equestria."
"What the... TWILI-"
Everyone's head turned sharply toward the sound of Starlight's voice crying out from the kitchen before getting cut off mid-sentence. No other sound followed.
"Umm... Starlight?" Fluttershy called softly. "Are you okay?"
Her 'bestest friend in all of Equestria' instincts kicking in, Trixie dropped her teacakes from her magical aura and sprinted down the hallway toward the kitchen. Bursting in through the door, she looked around frantically, her horn charged up for any potential threat waiting for her.
"Starlight, what's wrong? I heard you shouting! Is everything al..."
The magician's eyes stopped darting around as they finally came to rest on a flutter of grey flakes in the corner, dancing slowly in the air.
"...right?"
Trixie snapped out of her confusion as a frantic pounding on the front door suddenly echoed through the castle. She turned tail and made her way back to the others just as Twilight finally opened up the door.
She nearly lost her balance as Lyra Heartstrings reached through the doorway and grabbed her shoulders, shaking violently. The aqua unicorn's eyes were wide, tears of terror streaming down her cheeks like a pair of waterfalls.
"Twilight! Please! You've gotta help us! I-I ran here as fast as I could!" Lyra's grip on Twilight never loosened, even with Rarity quickly placing a comforting hoof on her shaking back.
"Lyra, darling, please! You must get a hold of yourself!"
"I don't understand, what's the matter?" Twilight asked worriedly, looking into her friend's horrified golden eyes.
"I-I-I don't know what's happening or what's making it happen! B-But it's horrible!" Lyra cried out, "Some of the ponies in town are just... d-disappearing! Bon Bon's disappeared too! Please, you and your friends have to do something! Anythi-"
Lyra never got to finish before her aquamarine hooves on Twilight's shoulders faded to grey and crumbled.
Twilight, her friends, Spike and Trixie all took a jolting step back as the unicorn's whole coat turned grey and her entire body disintegrated. In the blink of an eye, every part of Lyra had broken apart into pieces of dust, blowing away in the light breeze until there was nothing left.
All anypony could do was stared in horror at the spot where Lyra once stood. Twilight staggered, Spike hugging her foreleg tight. Rarity began to hyperventilate while Fluttershy's own breathing became ragged. Rainbow, Pinkie and Applejack wrenched their disbelieving gazes away from the rest of Lyra's remaining ashes to look at each other in utter terror. Trixie clamped her hoof over her mouth to contain her urge to scream.
Until that hoof began disintegrating too.
"Wh-What's going on?!" She cried out, drawing everypony's attention to her body rapidly fading in colour and shattering. "SOMEPONY HELP M-" Trixie's mouth was the final part of her to disappear.
Wrenching their shell-shocked stares away from Trixie's fluttering ashes, the remaining ponies and dragon raced out of the castle, down the steps and towards Ponyville.
Every street they sprinted down, they caught sight of ponies turning to dust while their friends could do nothing but watch in shock. Roseluck and Lily Valley both fainted on the spot as Daisy eroded before their eyes. Derpy's body dissolved piece by piece while Doctor Whooves stared helplessly, before he too shared the same fate. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon held each other in a tight and terrified embrace before the pink filly dissolved in her friend's grip.
Finally reaching the town centre, the eight friends all gazed around in different directions, bewilderment and terror flooding their souls as more kept disappearing.
Mayor Mare. Cheeriliee. Berry Punch. Shoeshine. Cranky Doodle. Sea Swirl. Golden Harvest. Snips. Caramel. Royal Pin.
Whether they gave a scream, a choked gasp or had no time to react at all, none of them were spared.
"Wh-What the heck is this?"
Nopony could answer Rainbow's question in time before her own body began to flake away.
"Your Majesties! Something is causing ponies all over Canterlot to turn to dust!"
The poor guard charging into the throne room just barely delivered his message before he too disintegrated into nothing before the horrified Royal Sisters. Luna quickly snapped out of it and turned to her sibling.
"We must get word to Cadance and Twilight at once!" Nodding, Celestia hastily levitated a scroll and a quill over to herself and began to write.
"Whatever is causing this, we must all stand together to combat it!" The sun princess proclaimed as she tried to keep her composure, the quill flying over the paper.
Until they both fell from her aura and onto the marble floor as Celestia's horn broke apart into ash. Her brilliant white coat rapidly turned brown as her whole body began cracking.
"Sister!"
Luna frantically tried using her own magic to hold her sister together, but it proved futile as the Alicorn crumbled regardless. Tears stung her eyes as she let her aura die down, helplessly watching Celestia's remains float to the ground.
Not even five seconds had passed before Luna's body also shattered.
Shining Armor clenched his teeth as he tried to block out the thousands of piercing screams outside the castle. He'd made it to the throne room just as the last of his guards disappeared, Cadance in her throne desperately writing out her message on her scroll.
"We need all the help we can get, Twilight." She pleaded quietly before finally rolling it up and, with a blast of magic, sending it off.
"Is there even a way to stop this?" Her husband asked, glancing out the window at their panicking subjects. "We don't even know why this is happening!" Cadance opened her mouth to give the best reassurance she could, but a shrill sound cut her off.
"MAMA!"
Both ponies' eyes snapped wide open. Without a word, Cadance and Shining Armor sprinted out of the throne room and down the corridor toward their daughter's bedroom.
They flung open the doors just in time to see a small gust of ashes fluttering away from an indent on the bed's blanket and out of the open window.
Their breath caught in their throat. The couple stared frozen at the spot where their child had been. At last, Cadance collapsed to her knees and buried her head into the blanket, her pained wails muffled only slightly as her body convulsed with each sob. Shining Armor lay a trembling hoof on his wife's shoulder while his own tears flowed uncontrollably.
From his ideal comfortable dimension of Chaosville, Discord stared with a mixture of shock and perplexity at the multiple bubbles floating all around him. Each one displayed a different selection of inhabitants from various areas of Equestria.
And all suffering the same epidemic.
A teary-eyed Marble Pie ran to her father for comfort in one bubble as the dust pieces of Limestone and Cloudy Quartz floated around them in the breeze.
Fizzlepop Berrytwist and Grubber's sky-high adventure with Celaeno's crew and Capper quickly turned nightmarish, leaving none but Capper and Boyle aboard the airship.
Standing on the Treehouse of Harmony's balcony, Sandbar tried in vain to reach out and catch the ashes dancing away in the wind while Yona could only hyperventilate in terror.
Even Autumn Blaze of all creatures had no words at all, witnessing half of her village disappear before looking down at her own hoof turning into flakes.
Looking into a bubble on his left, the draconequus released a thankful sigh as he saw that his dear friend Fluttershy hadn't suffered the same fate in Ponyville. Though the Pegasus was sobbing uncontrollably as she scooped up Rainbow Dash's pieces in her hooves. Discord finally gave in, rolling his eyes with a childish groan.
"Oh, alright, I suppose this particular situation does call for my help this one time."
Holding up his eagle claw, he put his fingers together, ready for a snap to teleport him directly to Ponyville.
Until his hand started to break apart into dust.
Discord glanced down, bewildered at the fading colour and crumbling skin travelling up his arm and across his whole form.
"Well this certainly feels different from the stone treatment."
The last calm words uttered by the Lord of Chaos.
"Applejack! HELP US!"
As Twilight and Fluttershy tried uselessly to put their friend's together, Spike and the others all turned to see Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle sprinting at them, the fear clear as daylight on the fillies' faces.
"Something terrible's happening to Ponyville!" Sweetie Belle cried out, tears pouring down her face. Apple Bloom grabbed onto her sister's tightly who pulled her into a hug with her free foreleg.
"Scootaloo's disappeared! B-Big Mac and Granny Smith have disappeared too! What in Equestria is happen-" Applejack's breath caught in her throat as her sister crumbled in her embrace. The farmpony covered her mouth with her hooves, muffling her building sobs while Sweetie Belle cried into her own sister's coat. Rarity rubbed her sibling's head with a trembling hoof, still looking around in horror at the massacre around them. Pinkie Pie suddenly let out a huge gasp.
"Mr and Mrs. Cake!" With that, she turned tail and darted off toward Sugarcube Corner in a flash of pink. In no more than a couple of seconds, the party pony had arrived back with a wailing Pound Cake in her grasp.
"They're both gone! Pumpkin Cake too!" Biting his claws in terror, Spike finally turned and seized Twilight's leg, shaking it vigorously.
"Twilight, we can't let this keep happening!" The dragon cried out. "We've gotta stop it!" Finally dropping her friend's ashes, the Alicorn got up as her face wore an aghast expression.
"How can we if nopony knows what's causing it?" She asked, her gaze darting around wildly at the turmoil still happening around them. "This all just came out of nowhere!"
Applejack shakily rose to her hooves, fresh tears still pouring from her eyes as she tried to look determined. "Well we gotta do something!"
"Like what?" No sooner had she asked that, Fluttershy gasped at the chilling feeling of her wings beginning to decay. Everypony could only watch in silent horror as she fearfully glanced backward at her entire body fading away into the winds. Nothing was left behind.
"Rarity? No! Please, no!"
Sweetie Belle desperately clung to her sister who returned the hug, her white coat gradually began shattering into ashes as well. The remaining ponies observed the scene.
"Sweetie Belle, listen to me." The unicorn said in a calm yet firm tone. She tearfully accepted the inevitable as more of her fragmenting body was devoured by the breeze. "It's going to be alright. I prom..."
The filly clenched her eyes shut to avoid watching the remnants of her sister floating away. Applejack, Twilight, Pinkie and Spike all held back their own sobs.
Until Spike noticed one of the scales on his arm begin to flake. She noticed it too.
"Spike..." Twilight breathed in horror. Quickly the dragon ran over and clutched onto the Alicorn's foreleg who, in turn, pulled him into the tightest hug imaginable. Spike quivered in her grasp as more scales on his back crumbled away. Both his and Twilight's eyes flooded with tears. Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Pound Cake let their own tears flow freely as they joined in the embrace.
"D-Don't let it take me too! Twilight, please!" His next plea came out as a pitiful whimper.
"Don't leave me."
Shutting her eyes before more tears could drench her cheeks, Twilight whispered into his ear the most comforting words that came to her mind.
"I'll never leave you, Spike. Ever."
The last loving thing the young dragon ever heard before crumbling away.