Twinkleshine was sitting in Sugar Cube Corner when it happened.
The actress was there with the rest of her troupe; celebrating their latest triumph in Ponyville town square. The troupe hadn’t planned the celebration at first, but thanks to the prompting of a pink mare who’d attended the show they were given the place for free. Twinkle hadn’t spoken to the fan herself yet, but the mare was busy collecting autographs, so they would inevitably meet soon enough.
Twinkle would probably be last on the list though, considering where she was seated. The unicorn never really enjoyed the party atmosphere. That is to say, she didn’t participate in it. She did enjoy watching the show however, and her position from the corner window allowed her a view of everything.
The unicorn smiled and sipped her tea as she watched her fellows dancing and singing. She was only broken from her revelry when prodded by a pink hoof from the seat across from her. Prompted by the prod, Twinkle turned to see the fan that had opened the store for them grinning ear to ear.
Twinkle shot her the smile she reserved for her fans; a simple lifting of the lips and a closing of the eyes. The actress liked to refer to it as her sincerest grin. “Hello,” she said, “I take it you’re this Pinkie Pie I’ve heard so much about.”
The joyous mare nodded enthusiastically. “That’s my name don’t wear it out. And you’re the mare who played Summer Night right?” Twinkle nodded. “You did a really great job.”
“Thank you,” Twinkle said with a blush. Something about the way this mare talked made her smile widen a bit. And of course the fact that she was complimenting her certainly helped. “So I take it you’re here for my autograph then?”
Pinkie nodded, and Twinkle was pretty sure she spoke. The mare’s lips moved anyway, but the unicorn didn’t hear anything. She was going to ask the mare to repeat herself, but, after a moment, she didn’t see anything either. Pinkie was gone in the blink of an eye.
Twinkleshine decided she must have nodded off and turned to look for the pink mare amongst the rest of the crowd. Strangely though, the rest of the crowd was gone too. Had she passed out and missed the party? Did that make sense?
In something of a panic now, Twinkle sipped her tea and turned to the window. Just as she expected nopony was out there either. What surprised her was that it wasn’t just the ponies that had disappeared. The landscape in the distance had vanished too.
And more was disappearing by the second.
Some sort of gray cloud was fast approaching the town, and everything from the land to sky seemed to be disappearing into it.
Now in full panic, the unicorn found herself frozen. Not just by the gray cloud approaching from the distance, but also by the black ring speedily overtaking her vision.
The last thing Twinkle saw before everything went dark was teacup shattering on the floor.
*****
Twinkleshine sipped her tea and took another glance out the window. Everything was still gone. Just gray sky and a few plots of land sitting in nothing. The ponies were still gone too. Wherever they had spontaneously vanished to clearly wasn’t giving them back.
The shock that caused Twinkle to spill her drink before had finally worn off. At least, that’s what she told herself as she drank from the shivering cup. To be fair though, magic was like that sometimes. After losing consciousness it was typical that it wouldn’t work as well. Those who called it an old mare’s tale just hadn’t ever fainted before.
Twinkle nodded as if in confirmation of the landscape not being a nightmare, turned back to the table. Specifically she turned back to the compact had been laid out mere moments prior. The mirror presented her with a strangely calm white unicorn with terribly messy pink mane.
Once again, the mare nodded at the problem and pulled a comb out of her bag. She had to look nice for the harbingers of the end after all. It might be insulting if she wasn’t properly made up. As Twinkle combed her mane back into an acceptable curl and bob, she couldn’t help but wonder which harbinger it would be that came to collect her, or if there would be any harbinger at all.
Twinkle dropped her comb, and broke another cup, when the bell over the door rang. She stopped just short of shrieking once she turned to see the intruder. A lithe black pegasus with a long silvery mane was standing in the doorway. “Oh,” she said, sounding both relieved and, oddly, disappointed, “It’s just famine.”
“E-excuse me?” the harbinger asked from the doorway.
“Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to be rude. It’s just that I was kind of expecting Death or maybe War,” Twinkle said quickly in apology. She resumed combing her hair before speaking again. “Then again I suppose it does make sense considering how I’m in a sweet shop and all,” Twinkle continued, thinking aloud.
The pegasus approached Twinkle cautiously after that. “Y-you think I’m one of the harbingers?” she asked.
“Please don’t mumble ma’am it’s very unbecoming of a god,” Twinkleshine responded. She’d heard the mare of course, but she was never one to listen to mumblers, gods or not. Besides, there were more important things to do at the moment. “I’m very sorry about the mane,” Twinkle said, turning back to her mirror, “I’m afraid the apocalypse took me by surprise.”
“I’m. Not. A. Harbinger.” The pegasus spoke decisively and without mumbling this time, making sure to emphasize each word; yet somehow she did so without sounding rude. It was as if she genuinely believed that the unicorn couldn’t hear her. “My names, Dew Drop,” and then she went right back to the mumble.
“Alright,” Twinkle responded without glancing up from the compact, “In that case could you go get me a fresh tea? I’m afraid I dropped mine. The pot should be right behind the counter” The pegasus glanced to the nearby teapot and nodded. Twinkle was actually surprised by how quickly Dew Drop moved to the task. She had figured it would take more convincing than a simple request.
Once Twinkle was confident her new guest was no longer facing her, she tore her gaze away from the mirror in order get a better look. Dew Drop was lithe but hardly starved, and her cutie mark was a drop of water; hardly befitting the pony of famine. Additionally, upon closer examination, the mare’s coat was more of a dark blue than an actual black. The young mare stopped to grab a pair of white frosted cakes on the way to the tea. That hardly made sense for the embodiment of starvation; particularly if one of the cakes was, as Twinkle suspected, for her.
It didn’t take long for Dew Drop to return to the table with the treats and two cups of tea. The mare’s balance was remarkable considering how she carried the four plates on her wings. “So you think this is the end of the world, Miss?”
“Twinkleshine,” the unicorn introduced herself. Dew Drop had just placed the first pair of plates on the table and was turning in order to serve the next pair. Twinkle however was kind enough to levitate the other pair onto the table herself. Her magic was still a bit shaky, much to her annoyance.
“Are you okay?” Dew asked, evidently catching the shaking of the plates before they hit the table.
Twinkle showed the filly her well-trained smile. “I’m just fine. Thank you.”
Dew nodded, but didn’t return the grin. Instead she turned to look out of the nearby window. “I’m sorry. I just thought that this whole thing might be getting to you. Considering how you thought it was the apocalypse.” She paused for a moment after that. Twinkle would have filled the silence, but her mouth was filled by an obnoxiously dry bite of cake. “It’s not you know,” Dew continued, “The apocalypse doesn’t look like this.”
Twinkle flushed her cake down with a delicate gulp of tea during the pause that followed Dew’s second statement. “I’m afraid I must disagree,” the mare said once she had swallowed, “I mean how could it be anything else? There’s nothing left but a few rocks,” Twinkle said as she pointed a hoof at the window for emphasis.
Dew shook her head. “No there’s more out there than that.” The mare stared down at her cake when she spoke, and gave it a sizable bite once she had finished. Either her cake was much more moist or she simply wasn’t bothered by the dryness, because she was able to swallow it quite quickly and continue, “Plus, you know, the harbinger’s never appeared. That doesn’t seem right.”
“Go back a bit,” Twinkle said, paying no attention to the mumbling, “What do you mean there’s more out there.”
“There was a castle in the distance,” Dew spoke without looking up. Twinkle took a moment to examine why that was, and noticed that the mare appeared to be tearing up. “There were alot of houses left over too.”
“Are you okay dear?”
“You’re the first pony I’ve seen,” Dew Drop continued, seemingly without hearing her. It was then that she stopped talking and broke down into sobbing. Twinkle was admittedly thrown off. Dew Drop had been so composed mere moments ago.
“It’s okay dear,” Twinkle said comfortingly. She offered Dew Drop a hoofkerchief from her bag, and the mare graciously took it. Once her tears had been nicely wiped away, Twinkle raised Dew’s face up in order to show her the well-trained smile she wore once again. This one was from her ‘comforting’ collection. “Don’t worry. Remember their in paradise now right? Only the bad-“
“You’re wrong,” Dew interrupted. The sobbing had stopped now, but the tears were still streaming. “I told you this isn’t right. Wherever they are it’s not paradise. They’re just…gone.” The pegasus turned her face down again and resumed crying. Twinkle made no effort to keep her face up. She simply moved her hoof away once it was made clear that Dew was going to start up again.
Besides, Twinkle genuinely wasn’t sure how to respond. The way that Dew spoke made it seem too true to deny. This “apocalypse” wasn’t right. “So what do propose we do about it?” she snapped at the crying pony, “If this isn’t the end, than we should be able to fix the world right?” Twinkle wasn’t sure why she snapped at the pony in front of her. It seemed like the right thing to do. There was no reason to get all depressed about the apocalypse if you could just accept that it was the end right?
“I-I think we can,” Dew’s sobbing was once again put on hold as she spoke, “I don’t know how, but we can.” The pegasus suddenly stamped a hoof on the table and another teacup crashed on the floor. “If we couldn’t, then we wouldn’t be here!”
Twinkle was actually shaken by the conviction with which Dew Drop spoke. Luckily the pegasus’s head was still turned downward though, so she never managed to see just how shaken Twinkle was. “Alright,” the unicorn said, quickly regaining her composure, “So what is it that you think we can do then?”
Dew Drop responded by shaking her head and standing up. “I don’t know, but we have to do something.” As she spoke, Dew moved toward the door and tossed it open. He voice was once more subdued after her sudden outburst, but the same conviction seemed to have a hold. “I think it has something to do with the castle though. We just need to get there.”
Twinkle moved to join Dew at the door. She did indeed see the castle in the distance. At least she assumed it was a castle, really it was too far away to be sure. As she stared, Dew was already walking out the door onto the little left over land outside. Strangely, Twinkle didn’t even consider stopping her. She just followed along.
Perhaps it was curiosity that spurred her on, or maybe it was hope. However, were you to ask Twinkle, she would have told you it was something more in line with pity. Dew needed her help, and she felt compelled to give it; regardless of whether or not it really made sense.
Twinkle didn’t struggle when Dew grabbed her and lifted her into the air. Once again it wandered through Twinkle’s mind that the pegasus was simply a lying harbinger. Otherwise, why would she feel so compelled to follow her to a place she wasn’t even sure was real.
Her confidence in that thought faded somewhat when Dew dropped her with an audible thud on the very first island they flew over.
“Sorry,” Dew Drop said as she landed daintily beside the once more disheveled unicorn.
Twinkle stood up and smiled. Although this was less her well-trained actress smile, and more of a don’t-scream-at-the-sensitive-mare smile that she had practiced during her time as a bridesmaid. “Next time please warn me, okay?” With that, Twinkle attempted to magic her comb out of her bag, in order to fix her doubtlessly ruined mane, only to realize she had left it back at the sweet shop. “Could you go fetch my bags, dear? I think I left them back at that little store.”
Dew shook her head. “I’m sorry.” That was all she said. Twinkleshine was confused for a moment before the pegasus pointed back toward where they had just been. Once Twinkle followed the hoof, she saw that the island they had just been on had vanished, along with the little shop.
Twinkle’s first inclination was to ask where the building had gone. She stopped herself just short of uttering that, however, after realizing how foolish it sounded. Instead, she chose to say, “Why did it vanish just now?”
“I’m sorry,” Dew mumbled once more, “I think I popped the balloons.” Twinkle’s response to this rather curious statement was nothing more than a confused glance. Dew hastily pointed upward upon spotting the gaze.
Once Twinkle did decide to follow the hoof she found herself looking up on a curious sight. Floating above the island was indeed a trio of colorful balloons; well one blue balloon and two yellow balloons. The unicorn suspected they were connected to the plot of land by strings of some kind, but she couldn’t see any against the gray background.
“Th-they’re really sensitive,” Dew Drop continued, “They can pop just by touching them.” Twinkle immediately heard the barely withheld tears in her voice.
“Well I suppose it doesn’t matter now,” Twinkle sighed, turning back to face Dew with another smile. That was a lie of course and both of them knew it, but it did seem to reassure the young mare somewhat. At least she was holding back the tears a bit more easily.
Dew moved to pick up Twinkle for the next flight a moment later, but Twinkle waved her down before she was able to grab her. Dew hovered for a moment. “I promise I won’t drop you this time,” she said apologetically.
“That’s not the issue here,” Twinkle responded. She continued to wave for Dew Drop to land, but the pegasus continued hovering. “It’s clear that you can’t fly that far, so we need to plan our route. We can’t go back after we leave an island right?”
Dew landed and glanced downward. “I don’t always pop the balloons,” she mumbled. Dew Drop continued talking from there, but Twinkle paid her no more attention. Instead she turned to look into the distance. There were only four plots she could see within trustworthy distance, about ten she could make out altogether.
“Alright I think I have it,” Twinkle said, turning back to smile at the still mumbling pony. “If you can take us to that one over there,” she pointinga hoof at the appropriate landmass, “I think we should be able to get farther.”
Dew paused and turned to look at the island Twinkle mentioned. It was lower than this one, so the jump would be easy to make. However, it seemed the pegasus wasn’t interested. Instead she pointed to another plot; one farther up with a schoolhouse resting on it. “I think we should go there instead.”
Twinkle nodded. “You know dear,” she said as comfortingly as she could, “That seems-“
“There may be survivors,” Dew said, cutting the unicorn off. Once more her voice was filled with conviction. This time it was more quiet, however. The conviction seemed to come more from the look in her eyes; close to tearing up, but with no water actually flowing.
Twinkle was going to argue, but Dew didn’t give her time. The pegasus had already grabbed her and taken off by the time she got out the first word. This time Twinkle did struggle for a moment, but after seeing that there was no longer land beneath them she stopped. Instead she opted for simply complaining. “Could we at least discuss this next time?”
“I’m sorry, but it wouldn’t have led anywhere. It would’ve just been wasting your time if I went alone.”
The pair ascended quickly. Unfortunately as far as Twinkle could tell, it was Dew’s speed that seemed to explain her aim, and distracting her midflight with conversation hadn’t helped. Twinkle didn’t even notice that they hit the balloons at first, as she confused the quiet laughter that emanated from them for a figment of her imagination. It took her a few moments to realize that there was far more empty space below them than made sense.
Twinkle would have reprimanded the mare carrying her for her clumsiness, but she was interrupted by another loud thud after the pair hit the ground. Dew kept her promise and didn’t drop her. However, as compensation the landing was even rougher thanks to the fact that Dew Drop didn’t let go and didn’t slow down. The fact that the pair slammed into a wall was probably all that kept them from rolling off of the edge.
“Next time, just let go.” Twinkle grunted from her position below the window. Dew Drop’s reply was nothing more than a moan from inside of the schoolhouse. It was at that point that she did let go of Twinkle though, and fell the rest of the way through the now broken window.
“How did that even happen?” Twinkle continued angrily while pulling herself to a stand.
“I’m sorry,” Dew mumbled from inside the schoolhouse, “You’re heavier than you look.”
“I fail to see how that has anything to do with slowing down before landing,” Twinkle complained. She did so mostly to herself, luckily avoiding a lecture on inertia from the mare she was complaining to, due to the fact that she was currently circling the schoolhouse in order to open the front door.
What Twinkle saw was precisely what she expected to see when Dew Drop had originally grabbed her. Although, Dew was lying teary-eyed on the ground for an admittedly different reason than Twinkle had predicted before the pair had crashed.
The schoolhouse was totally vacant. Save for the desks and chalkboard the building was completely empty. Were it not for the broken window, a pony could say that this building hadn’t been touched before Twinkleshine had opened the door.
“I knew that this was a waste of time,” Twinkle said with a sigh. Dew nodded in confirmation as the unicorn approached her and helped her up. “Are you okay, dear?”
Dew shook her head, but stood up nonetheless. “It should be getting easier shouldn’t it? The empty buildings?”
Twinkle paused for a moment to stare at the mare. Again she found herself flushed with pity. The anger faded away for the moment, and she put her calming smile back on. “It will dear,” she said with a sigh. While her face was well disguised the exasperation still showed in her voice.
Dew paid no attention to Twinkle and headed out the door, stopping just at the edge of the island. “Where’s the next one?” she asked.
Twinkle joined her and took a look at the nearby plots. None of them had buildings on them, and all of them were lower than this one. There were about five of them in total. “That one,” she said, pointing to the largest section.
The second trip went about as well as the first. In fact one could probably say it went worse thanks to the fact that there were no buildings to stop the pair from rolling off the edge this time. That luckily didn’t even enter the equation however, as the speed with which the pair hit easily kept them from actually rolling.
It took some time for the dust to settle, and during that time quite a few thoughts ran through Twinkle’s now pulsating head. The vast majority of them involved decking the pony that had just nearly killed her. The rest of them consisted of her wondering whether or not she would be able to do so with the aforementioned pony crying and apologizing.
What threw Twinkle somewhat was that she didn’t actually hear such an apology. “Are you okay?” the mare asked while pulling herself to a stand. It took her some time to realize that Dew was no longer holding on to her, but she merely excused that as the pegasus being just as shaken as she was. It wasn’t until the dust cleared that she began to worry.
Twinkle was able to find her companion easily enough once the dust had settled. Dew Drop was standing in the ditch she’d made when they landed. The concerning part was the terrified look on the blue mare’s face. Twinkles first reaction was naturally to try and get a look at what had frightened the mare, but when she did she saw nothing but the same empty space.
“I-I’m sorry,” Dew muttered, prompting Twinkle to face her once more. “I-I thought I saw something just now.”
Twinkle attempted to ask what it was Dew had seen, but was cut off before she could get past the “w” in “what” by the sudden reappearance of the dust cloud and a rather loud “thud” that came with it. This time Twinkle didn’t have to wait for the dust to settle for her concern to mount. The new pony silhouette and the screams of her companion were enough to cause that.
Twinkle simply stood still while the silhouette charged Dew Drop. It was only after Dew’s second scream that it seemed to register that the new pony was attacking. Suddenly pulled back to her senses, Twinkle readied herself to retaliate. It was about once she got into pouncing position that the dust cleared, and she froze in her tracks.