//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: An Empty World // by The_Unnamed_Pawn //------------------------------// The first thing about the attacker that drew Twinkle’s attention was, unsurprisingly, the knife held in its mouth. That probably would have been enough to stop Twinkle from diving at them, but it was by far the least shocking part of the pony. The thing had no face. In fact, it also lacked both a mane and a tail. The only distinguishing features were its pink color and the dagger set in its mouth, or, more accurately, set in its skull. Twinkle was left gawking at the strange pony for a good five seconds or so before it turned to face her and she snapped out of her stupor. By then, however, it was too late for her to react when the creature began its charge. It was only the last minute interference of Dew Drop that probably saved the mare’s life. Twinkle never screamed or struggled as she was lifted. Her body seemed to have gone completely numb. As a matter of fact, the unicorn felt just like she had when the world had started to disappear. Twinkle could even see the darkness closing in on the edges of her vision. Yet somehow, she was still conscious. For the second time Twinkle heard the laughter from her imagination and the island sank. This time though the mare was given the chance to see it, for lack of a better word, fall. It turned out that when she had described the landmasses as disappearing beforehoof, she had been far more accurate than she’d expected. The plot did fall for a moment, but not for long. It was almost as if the strange empty grayness actually consumed it. It was like watching a picture fade at super speed. First the edges became clear, than they vanished and the fading proceed further. It took less than a minute for it to totally vanish. The most frightening part of the strange disappearance however was not that of the island, but of the pony. It happened quickly just like the island’s disappearance, but not quickly enough to prevent Twinkle from seeing it. The pony didn’t just disappear all at once. The emptiness devoured it just like it had the rest of the island, and the unicorn could swear she saw it struggle as it vanished. The darkness edged a little further inward as Twinkle thought about that happening to the ponies of her troupe. Twinkle was only vaguely aware of the landing, and only because it was just slightly less rough than the previous three. She did however manage to regain control of her limbs shortly afterward. At least, it felt like it was only shortly afterward. “Are you alright?” Dew Drop asked once Twinkle had righted herself. After glancing to her right the mare noticed that Dew was still holding one of her hooves. Twinkle responded to her savior’s question with a smile and a nod, but no words. Dew stared at her doubtfully, but didn’t argue. “Are you okay?” Twinkle asked back as she absentmindedly turned to get a better look at their newest landing. It wasn’t quite as empty as the previous one. There was something of a barn sitting on the far edge of the plot. The actress recognized it as the restaurant that she and a few members of her troupe had eaten at before the performance. She was quite thankful for that. Food was a good way to calm the nerves. “I’m fine I think,” Dew responded, drawing Twinkle’s attention back to her, “I think I could probably use a rest though. The next island’s kind of far up.” The unicorn glanced upward to confirm her companion’s statement. The next island above them was indeed high up, and it appeared to have some sort of building on it. No doubt she’d be unable to convince Dew to move to another island. Twinkle nodded to the island and moved toward the restaurant. “A break’s a good idea,” the mare said as she tossed open the door. Dew followed right behind her of course. “You take a seat,” she continued with a nod to one of the tables, “I’ll go get us something to eat.” With that, the unicorn turned away and moved to what she assumed was the kitchen, still ardently refusing to glance back to Dew. Once alone, Twinkle to a moment to pause and breath. The smile left her face for the consideration as her mind wandered back to the struggling mannequin. The mare did her best to push those thoughts away for the moment though. She still had to smile for Dew after all, and she definitely had to make up for her near black-out earlier. Twinkle found that most of the food still in the building was, thankfully, dry. Although she had never been much of a chef, the actress was able to throw together a couple of lily and lettuce sandwiches from the food in the cupboards. Along with a handful of hay, that made a decent meal. It took her more time than strictly necessary to finish thanks to her periodic munching, and, of course, her still obnoxiously unstable magic didn’t help. Not trusting her magic, Twinkle balanced the tray of food on her back and headed back to the dining area. The mare made sure to put a smile back on her face as she headed out and called out to her companion. “Soups on,” she said jokingly as she dropped the tray off. Dew Drop had at some point acquired a cup of coffee while Tinkle had been working. The unicorn would have asked where she’d gotten it, seeing as the only boiler was in the kitchen; however she wasn’t given the chance. “You think there are more of those things out there?” the blue mare asked her mug, instantly diverting the unicorn’s attention away from the subject of coffee. “We can just run again if they do show up,” Twinkle said with a cheerful nod as she bit into her sandwich. Dew responded with a nod of her own as she took a bite of her hay. “If you feel like it though, I did see some knives in the kitchen. I can’t use them, but you might be able to.” Dew nodded and took another bite of hay. “Are there any other flowers in there by the way?” she asked with a mumble through her mouthful, “I’m don’t really like lilies.” Twinkle sighed, but nodded. “Thank you.” With that the pegasus stood up and headed to the kitchen herself. The unicorn took note of the fact that Dew Drop appeared to be wearing a new set of azure saddlebags as she walked away. “Where did you get those?” Twinkle asked. Dew paused at the kitchen door. “From the pony at the table before us.” The pegasus spoke sadly, but not distinctly more than usual. Perhaps she was finally adjusting to the situation. With that, the blue mare headed into the kitchen without another word. Twinkle was able to finish her meal alone while she waited for Dew Drop to return. Eventually she even moved on to the other sandwich. There was no reason to let it go to waste after all. There wasn’t any noise from the kitchen, so the mare found no real reason to worry. Still, she had to admit she felt kind of lonely. This was hardly her first time eating alone, but the empty restaurant didn’t do much to provide entertainment. Twinkle hastily finished the second sandwich and stood up, tray in questionably stable magic field, to head to the kitchen. The pegasus was busy packing when Twinkle entered. The saddlebags were stuffed almost to bursting with the food she’d thrown into them, and one of them was torn open by a knife that had no doubt been tossed into it without a thought. “Your knife tore open the bag, dear,” Twinkle commented with a smile as she tossed the tray into a nearby sink. Dew jumped a bit after hearing this and jumped into the sack to pull the dagger out, and the moment she removed it dozens of the flowers she had poured into it instantly flowed out of the now open hole. Dew mumbled something in disappointment, but Twinkle actually couldn’t make it out for once. If she had to guess though it was probably something along the lines of, “I’m sorry.” Twinkle shook her head. “You wouldn’t have been able to carry it anyway I suppose,” the mare said with another slightly more jovial smile, “After all you haven’t even gotten used to my weight yet. This would probably just throw you off even more.” “We might need the food though,” Dew mumbled as she wrapped a dishcloth around her knife. Twinkle nodded and took another look at the saddlebags. They had a set of lilies on the clasp; that was oddly appropriate. “I don’t think we’ll need a whole restaurant though,” the unicorn said with a smile and a nod towards the bag, “Maybe just enough for a couple days. That should be light enough if you don’t pack any oats.” Dew glanced back at the bags and nodded. The pair spent the next hour, as close as Twinkle could tell, picking and choosing the flowers and other vegetables they would bring with them. The pair eventually sorted on an assortment of lilies, daisies, lettuce, and rose petals for the undamaged bag. The knife would also be placed there now that it was reasonably safely wrapped. The other bag was used to store a pair of bread loaves. Hopefully that wouldn’t be quite enough to widen the rip, but it would help offset the weight of the other bag. Twinkle made sure to use the underside strap when she attached the bags to Dew Drop. That would keep them safe during the pegasus’s wild flights. That was, as long as the pair didn’t tumble again. “We should probably get you a weapon too,” Dew commented while Twinkle tightened the strap. “I wouldn’t trust myself with a knife right now dear,” Twinkle responded. Her magic had become slightly less shaky since her meal, but holding a knife with anything less than totally stable magic was asking for trouble. “It doesn’t have to be a knife,” Dew said. When Twinkle finally finished binding the pegasus and stood up, she found that Dew already had something in mind. Sitting in the blue mare’s hooves was a rolling pin. “I know it’s not much, but it’s probably better than just using your hooves.” Twinkle sighed and nodded. “If it makes you feel better I’ll keep it with me,” she said, levitating the kitchen tool from Dew’s hooves and in front of her mouth. “If that’s settled than we should probably get moving again. You ate right?” Dew nodded. “Good.” With that, the unicorn moved the rolling pin into her mouth and headed out. This time it was almost unsurprising when the pegasus grabbed Twinkle before she was able to even leave the building. What was quite shocking was Dew’s choice of exit. Twinkle only realized they were heading through the window after hearing the noisy crash of breaking glass. “Sorry,” Dew exclaimed as she righted herself, “I thought the window was open.” Twinkle would have complained that going through the window was completely unnecessary, but doing so would have doubtlessly caused her to lose her weapon. And as the pegasus pulled them closer to their next stop, it became clear that she would most likely be needing it. The next island was smaller than the previous ones. Altogether it was just large enough to hold the tree that sat on it, along with a pair of the faceless ponies from earlier standing in front of the door. Dew Drop displayed a surprising amount of sense when she veered away from the building just in time for the pair to avoid crashing into the monsters. However, Dew’s speed once again proved to be a near, if not definitely, fatal problem for Twinkle. When the pegasus made her turn at such a high speed, her grip loosened almost immediately and the white mare was flung high-speed into the tree-house door. The doors flew open as the unfortunate unicorn crashed into them, and she found that she only stopped sliding once she’d hit the far wall. The rolling pin was lost during the impromptu flight, so the moment after Twinkle could get back on her feet she scrambled to find it. However, she was unable to find it before the faceless pair at the door began their charge. Instead, Twinkle decided to make use of the only thing she could. Lying around her was a mound of books that had fallen from the back wall she’d smashed into, and, without pausing to think about how ineffective it would likely be, the unicorn began hurling them at her attackers with both her hooves and her magic. The ensuing barrage of books did almost nothing to stop the charging pair. The only thing that even gave them pause was an absurdly large set of books that the ponies actually had to sidestep. The pair was only stopped at the last second by an unexpected interruption. Of course Twinkle wasn’t shocked to see that Dew had come to save her; the pegasus was likely planning to risk her life for a stranger before she’d even lost the unicorn. What did surprise her was the blue mare’s dramatic and curiously effective entrance. With an incredible scream Dew Drop burst through the library window at full speed and smashed straight into the side of one of the knife-wielding ponies. The struck pony was instantly flung straight into the side of its fellow and both were sent tumbling into a snack table on the other end of the tree. Dew skidded across the ground toward the pair, but was able to stop herself just short and draw her weapon. A ring of flowers surrounded Dew Drop as she drew the knife from her bag, leaving Twinkle more than a little confused by the sheer unbelievable showmanship of the mare’s entrance. It was only the rather clumsy movements of the creatures under the table as they attempted to stand that reminded the unicorn that all of this was actually happening. Feeling that this would no doubt be there best chance to destroy the monsters, Twinkle used her magic to lift the largest book she could find, a humongous black tome simply labeled “Atlas,” and moved toward the still prone creatures. One of them managed to lift themselves just in time for a smack to the lack of face from the mighty atlas to knock them down again. The second pony rose for a similar treatment seconds later but this one was clever enough to avoid the swing and move in for a counterattack. The creature never got to finish its counter though, as a nearby pegasus forced it against the wall before it could even get into range. Immediately after immobilizing the creature, Dew moved in for the killing blow. The creature didn’t struggle or flail as the dagger was plunged seemingly effortlessly into its head. It simply vanished the second the hilt had reached it. Both Dew Drop and Twinkleshine paused to stare, shocked, at the empty space left by the creature for a moment. They both probably would have been left pondering it for far longer had the second faceless pony not chosen that particular moment to rise and move in for another attack. Dew was still dumbstruck by the sudden disappearance, so it was left to Twinkle to smack down the creature once more with the atlas. This time the unicorn moved to take out her enemy’s legs first. This monster collapsed instantly after it was struck, and the unicorn raised the tome above her head for a follow up attack. Twinkle lowered the book with all of the force her magic could muster onto the prone pony’s head, and once again the creature vanished less than a second after the impact hit it. This time the unicorn was left staring at the spot where she had plunged her weapon while Dew stared on in amazement. “It really didn’t take any effort,” Twinkle thought aloud as she stared at the book. It was as if the thing had disappeared before she’d even lowered the atlas. The pair stayed like that for some time before either of them finally spoke again. It was Dew Drop who eventually broke the silence after glancing away from the empty space and to the upper floor. “I’m going to go look upstairs for somepony,” the blue mare mumbled as she walked away from the scene of the fight. She didn’t make any effort to retrieve the knife from the wall before leaving. Shaken free from her revelry of the floor by her friend’s words, Twinkle took the opportunity to look around as well. She didn’t make an effort to follow the pegasus upstairs though. Instead the unicorn decided to further examine the scene of the fight, primarily because she was confused by the presence of a snack table in what appeared to be a library. A brief examination was all it took to explain the appearance of something like that. Hung above the room was a banner reading “Welcome to Ponyville” and various balloons and streamers decorated the building. Twinkle was mildly confused by how she had failed to notice these decorations when she’d first entered, but considering the stress she’d been under she wasn’t terribly surprised. “There’s nopony up here,” Dew yelled from the top floor. Twinkle had never heard a yell sound so much like a sigh before. The unicorn once more considered berating the pegasus for risking their lives for no reason. However, doing so would be meaningless and take far too much effort for the moment. So instead, she slapped on a new smile and shouted back, “Then we should pick up the food and get going. Was there anything else useful up there?” Dew shook her head as she floated down from the top floor. “I’m sorry. There was nothing but a bed and a bunch of books.” The pegasus kept her gaze downward as she moved to collect the spilled flowers. Twinkle noticed a few tears fall from her face, but didn’t comment. Apparently the young mare wasn’t getting as used to this as the unicorn might have hoped. Of course, she didn’t try to talk about it, so at least there was some progress. While the pegasus worked quietly to pick up the plants. Twinkle was busy retrieving the pair’s weapons. The first thing she picked up was the atlas. While the rolling pin was no doubt a loss, the book had already proven to be an effective weapon. Besides, it probably wouldn’t hurt to have a map of Equestria handy. The dishcloth was on the ground along with the flowers, so Twinkle rested the knife on top of the heavy tome and moved back to the pegasus in order to wrap it. The unicorn decided to use her hooves to wrap it. Her magic was beginning to function properly now-perhaps the stress of the battle had been a good way to jumpstart it-but she still didn’t trust herself with a sharp knife just yet. “We aren’t going to need all of it,” Twinkle reassured the mare who was busily attempting to pick up every petal that had spilled. Dew Drop nodded and raised her head just in time for Twinkle to hand her the knife. Dew accepted the weapon cautiously, not surprising considering what she’d just done with it, and put it back into her bag with the flowers. The pegasus then proceeded to head outside. Twinkle tossed the book onto her back and followed. In the end, the pair had to go up to the balcony in the back of the library in order to find the next set of islands. The group that they saw consisted of an entire two landmasses: one which was tiny, contained a train, and didn’t appear to be held by any balloons; and one that was large, empty, and surrounded by approximately fifty balloons. Empty that was, apart from roughly a dozen of the monsters from before. “Do you think the train still runs?” Twinkle stared at the station and asked the pegasus. Dew Drop didn’t respond for a moment, so Twinkle chose to take a glance at her. Sure enough, Dew was staring at the other island. “You know that’s not a good idea.” “There are at least a dozen survivors down there,” Dew said, the quiet conviction slipping into her voice, “We can’t abandon them.” Twinkle took another look at the island. Admittedly the mare couldn’t make out more than the vague shapes of the ponies on the plot, but it still worried her. “It’s too risky Dew,” she said, turning back to the pegasus with a calm smile, “We’d be overwhelmed in-” the unicorn stopped after realizing the pegasus was no longer standing beside her. With a sigh, and a surprisingly genuine smile, Twinkle grabbed her atlas and prepared for liftoff. The pegasus apologized with a strangely sincere, “Sorry,” as she lifted Twinkle and rocketed toward the larger of the two islands. Twinkle kept her eyes closed and wrapped her forelegs around her book as tightly as she could in preparation for the incoming landing. Dew let the unicorn go just before hitting the ground, and the unicorn slammed into it at what could hardly be considered a comfortable speed, as usual. Twinkle didn’t even pause to think about the pain from the landing however. She was too worried about the fact the Dew Drop had let go, most likely in an attempt to fly away from the island. In haste, she stood up and levitated her atlas above her head while she stared at the group still cloaked by a newly formed cloud of dust. To her surprise, none of the creatures moved in for the attack. Of course this made sense once the dust cleared, and the beasts were revealed to not only be unarmed but also to have faces. Twinkle found herself staring flabbergasted at the crowd as Dew landed beside her. Not just because of how unlikely it was that the island had actually in fact been full of survivors, but also because of who those survivors were. “Thank goodness you’re okay Twinkleshine. For a second there, I thought you were the only pony that wouldn’t make it.” That was spoken by a light yellow pony with a short pink mane; none other than Pink Lady, the founder of Twinkleshine’s acting troupe. “Y-you guys are okay?” Twinkle smiled as she spoke. It was truly genuine too, not a hint of acting in it. The mare had to admit it was kind of strange. She’d never thought she would actually smile when she saw the Pink Tyrant, but seeing so many ponies alive was too much for her. She almost let herself tear up, but stopped herself. As an actress, she could at least control that much. “I can’t believe it.” “So who’s you’re friend Twink,” somepony in the back shouted. Twinkle couldn’t actually see the pony, but the voice was distinct. Besides, only one pony in the troupe was allowed to call her Twink, Meadow Song. Twinkle actually felt a tear fall upon realizing he was there too. “I’m Dew Drop,” the pegasus beside her said without the slightest hint of excitement. Instead, the conviction from before still filled her voice. Twinkle turned to look at the mare just to be sure, and found that a smile hadn’t crossed her lips. “Is something wrong, dear?” the unicorn asked. Dew Drop turned to face her friend. The look on her face seemed strange. If Twinkle didn’t know better, she’d have said it was pity. “Do you know all of these ponies, Twinkleshine?” Twinkle turned back to the crowd and nodded. “I think so,” she said. As far as she could see everypony there was from the troupe. “Is anypony here who isn’t from the troupe, Lady?” she asked the yellow pony at the head of the crowd. “Just one,” Pink Lady responded, “The fan from earlier’s okay too.” Twinkle nodded and turned back to Dew Drop with a smile on her face. Dew continued gazing pitifully at the pony beside her, but that was only because she couldn’t see through the unicorn’s smile either. Twinkle had seen the fan disappear herself. “Can I see her,” Twinkle said turning back to the crowd, “I never gave her my autograph before.” This summoned a riotous laugh from the troupe, one that Twinkle took part in despite it being clearly out of character for more than half of the ponies there. Mentally, she smacked herself for being taken in. Pink Lady had never been that nice to her. The tyrant wouldn’t have even greeted Twinkle joyously had she just seen her explode. Sure enough though, the fan moved to the front of the crowd instantly and skipped her way to the pair. The first thing Twinkle noted as odd was the new necklace the pink mare was wearing. It was truly a lovely piece; a simple gold choker with a single upside-down, tear-drop shaped lapis lazuli embedded in it. She was sure that the mare hadn’t been wearing it before, but that concern was pushed quickly aside in favor of the more concerning second change to the mare. Just like the creatures before, the troupe’s big fan was not wearing a face. Oddly none of the other illusions seemed to notice the distinct lack of features though. Otherwise they probably would have attacked upon sending their obviously fake doppelganger out. Twinkle turned back to her companion and nodded, though she still wore her smile. This time Dew Drop returned the nod, and quietly reached into her bag. There were at least three pegasi in the group, so Twinkle was sure they wouldn’t be able to get away. However, if her hunch was right, the faceless pony might have been the only real one there, or maybe just the only one that might actually want them dead. It was the only hope they had anyway. The pony took another hop closer to them, and Twinkle set up a field around her atlas. One more hop and she would be in range, and the moment she was Twinkle would knock her off the island. That was her plan anyway. As it turned out, that wasn’t Dew Drop’s plan. At the end of the penultimate bounce, Dew once again drew her dagger-again with the accidental flowery flair-and dove towards the monster. Unfortunately, the monster apparently predicted as much, and managed to halt her forward motion just in time to avoid the dagger slash. The only thing that Dew managed to do was sever the necklace. Thankfully the illusory ponies behind the mare were not more of the same monsters. Unfortunately, they weren’t purely mirages either. As the group faded, what was left was a collection of limbs that moved to attack both Twinkle and Dew drop the second that the pegasus severed the trinket from their assailant’s neck. Five of them struck the ground around Twinkleshine, and at least three were only deflected by the quick placement of the mare’s atlas. Thankfully the weapons appeared to be more like stiff poles than actual flexible limbs, because rather than reach around to grab her they floated back up and swung themselves at the unicorn. The mare was able to fend most of them off with her book, but thanks to the pole’s stiff movements, each hit that did land was nothing more than a bruise rather than a debilitating grip. Dew Drop meanwhile had not trouble avoiding the missiles thanks to her speed. However, that same speed was not aiding her on the offence. The pink pony was able to nimbly avoid every single one of Dew’s charges with seemingly no effort. Each time it was just a near miss, but Twinkle couldn’t help but think that was intentional. In fact, it almost looked like the monster was dancing. What Twinkle did note as she watched the assault was that the creature seemed unwilling to move away from her pendant. The mare seemed to be alternating between a hop back and a leap forward with every one of Dew’s charges, and it never moved more than a foot away from the thing. Desperately hoping she was on to something, Twinkle dove for the necklace. What followed was a pain so intense it was practically numbing as the weapons above her dove into Twinkle’s back. Thankfully the atlas absorbed some of the damage, but the pressure still nearly crushed her. All the book did was slightly weaken the intensity of the blows in favor of spreading the pain more efficiently across the mare’s spine. Still, the unicorn had managed to catch the chain and store it under her just in time. Now she couldn’t let go of it even if she wanted to. Which was good, because after just the first assault she really wanted to. The plan worked well enough though, as it seemed the faceless mare had taken the primary offensive into her own hooves by gleefully joining the missiles in pounding on the tome. Dew moved speedily as ever, and impaled the monster almost immediately after the third hop. Twinkle couldn’t see this herself of course. Really she couldn’t see much of anything. The darkness had returned in almost full force, just barely keeping her on the edge of consciousness for some reason. She only knew that the mare had been skewered on the third leap because that was when the pressure finally alleviated. It was some time before Twinkle became wholly aware again, but she did feel herself being carried away from the island, and she kept her grip tightly on the necklace for some reason. It was important to the monster, so it had to be important for the world right? She was also able to see the island sink, though she didn’t hear a laugh this time. The balloons had already popped by the time they’d left she guessed. Dew must’ve hit them on the last fly-by. When she finally felt the feeling come back, Twinkle was alone with Dew Drop once more; on a bench on the railroad platform. And she could hear a train coming.