Rift in Ponyville

by xnaturalblue

2

Fire Bolt was frozen. She couldn’t move in the slightest. The horror that washed over her confirmed something that she could no longer deny through gritted teeth – she was still holding onto hope that everything would go back to normal. Nothing would be normal again without Equestria’s ruler of the past several millennia.

“Dead?” She turned slowly, facing Sonar Moonshadow’s pale expression. “How did she die? Does anypony know what happened?” Bolt blurted out, panic rising in her throat.

“I don’t know if I believe it, but apparently it looks like something… mauled her?” The rise in tone at the end of his voice didn’t sound like a question, but rather an optimistic assumption of dismissal. “I don’t know how anything would have caught her off guard or overpowered her, though. It’s all fishy.”

Fire Bolt was now sitting on their shared couch too, her mind racing through millions of thoughts per second. “Where even was she? What about the other princesses?”

“The Everfree Forest. Tangled up in some thorns. A lot of, uhh…” Moonshadow paused to swallow loudly. “A lot of blood and stuff around her throat. Apparently, the stallions who found her fainted on sight.” Confusion struck Bolt, overpowering the terror.

“Wait, she was nearby? And none of the other princesses have shown up?” Sonar Moonshadow shook his head. “That’s… that is bizarre.” Her head was swimming as she struggled to articulate an appropriate response.

Bolt could remember the day the Nightfall began like it was fresh, and no matter how distressing it was, she couldn’t afford to let the memory slip.

It was reaching noon. The sun beamed brightly overhead, casting a golden glow upon Ponyville. It was a perfect day, filled with the vibrant colors of blooming flowers and the joyful laughter of ponies.

Bolt had embraced the day with unbridled enthusiasm, performing elegant aerial acrobatics high above the town. She weaved between fluffy white clouds, feeling the rush of adrenaline coursing through her veins as she picked up more and more speed, training to reach higher altitudes. The sky was always her canvas, and she painted it with her graceful maneuvers and wide wingspan for her own peace, and secretly, for the earth ponies and unicorns below.

Descending from the clouds to take several deep breaths, Fire Bolt landed in a soft meadow, the gentle grass tickling her rough hooves. She basked in the sunlight, closing her eyes and relishing the warmth on her coat. The cheerful songs of birds serenaded her, adding to the symphony of nature that Bolt felt like she could just swim in. She could almost fall asleep at that moment, completely lulled by the sounds of wildlife and the warm blanket of sunlight tucking her into the plush grass and exhausted from her flight.

After a few moments of indulging in the sensation, Fire Bolt took to the skies once more to fight off the temptation of sleep, racing alongside her fellow pegasi once she reached flight level once again. Their laughter filled the air, echoing through the azure expanse. The town below bustled with activity, ponies going about their daily tasks with a usual spring in their step.

But then, as if nature itself had paused, a strange darkness began to descend. The vibrant blue sky transformed into an inky blackness, and the once radiant sun had simply vanished from sight. It didn’t set gently into the horizon like Celestia usually allowed it, rather it seemed to fizzle from sight in a blurry retire, and the moon started to slowly emerge from its usual resting spot. Fire Bolt's heart skipped a beat as confusion shrouded the land, but she tried to keep from panicking. The suddenness of the change left her and the other ponies in stunned silence.

Gone was the warmth and radiance, replaced by an eerie stillness and silence broken only by the flapping of wings. The colorful hues of Ponyville dimmed, making way for shadows that danced and clawed at where sunlight had just touched. Bolt's orange mane stood on end as a sense of foreboding settled upon her, and not a word was spoken as far as she could hear. It made her feel sick.

Driven by confusion, her wings flapped, carrying her higher into the darkened sky, desperately searching for answers that she wouldn’t find by staring at the atmosphere. The stars, usually reserved for the night, glimmered brightly against the black canvas above. They blinked at her sadly as if the universe itself mourned the loss of the sun.

Fire Bolt's thoughts raced, trying to comprehend the sudden shift from day to night. What had caused this… unnatural phenomenon? What had extinguished the sun's warm embrace that she had just been bathing in? Determined not to succumb to fear, Fire Bolt rallied her courage with a gulp. She landed back in Ponyville, her hooves thudding against the cobblestone streets roughly. Ponies that hadn’t been soaking in the sunny day just moments before emerged from their homes, their faces etched with worry and confusion. 

She didn’t even realize that she had subconsciously landed next to Sapphire Swirl, her half-sibling, who was distracting and making the younger ponies laugh with an anxious fervor that was only detectable to Bolt. Sap shared a look with Bolt, a light sheen of sweat on their pale green forehead, just below their purple semi-mohawk of a mane. The expression was burned into Bolt’s mind.

It took a full day of darkness and hushed rumors of Celestia falling ill and Luna taking over for the newspony to reach Ponyville, only to report that all three princesses, when approached out of confusion from the phenomenon, were entirely gone. Not a trace was found anywhere in any of the castles, no packed bags, splatters of blood, missing valuables… nothing. 

Nopony knew who deemed the neverending night as the Nightfall, but it caught on quickly, and every day Ponyville got more and more timid.

Fire Bolt snapped out of her memory, focusing on the words Moonshadow was stuttering on. “I don’t know if I should believe the newspony. Something feels… bad. Like, in my stomach, it- it feels scary and… and dark. I think I’m sensing something but I don’t know what the hell it is.”

She tilted her head. “You can sense something with the Nightfall?”

“No, not quite, it’s like… it’s like I can feel who it is, but they’re far away, and I know them. I’m not feeling Celestia, I know it. But something… gah, I can’t explain it, nevermind. But I don’t like it.” Sonar Moonshadow was beyond special, and Fire Bolt believed every word out of his mouth. She trusted his judgment, and if his senses were detecting something bad, then she knew that she should be worried, too.

“I’m going to get Sap over here. We need to make sure everyone is safe, especially if there’s somepony mauling princesses.” She started, hopping off the couch and heading towards the door once that she had just entered.

“Wait, wait!” Sonar followed her to the door. “If there’s a ponykiller out there, I need to go with you!” 

“I appreciate it, Moonbeam, but they’re just a few streets down. I wanted to fly it anyways, and I was just out there a minute ago.” Bolt leaned up on the tips of her hooves to press a kiss to his cheek before turning to kick the wooden door open.

He stared at her for a long moment, his lips pressed into a firm line as he realized that flight would indeed be quicker, and usually safer. “Be safe, okay?” His unseeing eyes were filled with anxiety, and she couldn’t do anything but keep that promise.

“I always am.” Fire Bolt shut the door behind her gently and entered the darkness once again, her heart beating with a mix of curiosity and trepidation. Something felt amiss in the air, an unsettling breath in the wind that lingered like a shadow. Nothing had been quite right since the sun fell, but something in the atmosphere was now… wrong. Ignoring her unease for the sake of getting back inside quickly, she spread her wings and took flight once again, the wind whispering through her tangled mane.

As Bolt glided through the skies of Ponyville, her keen eyes scanned the desolate streets below. The already scarce street population was now looking like zero, and a complete silence had overtaken every street she peered at from above, broken only by the distant rustling of leaves and the occasional hushed whispers of the wind. Something told her that everypony was in hiding.

Descending towards a cobblestone alley she knew to be only a short few steps from Sapphire Swirl’s cottage, Bolt's hooves clicked against the ground softly. She cautiously tiptoed forward, her senses on high alert. Something is incredibly wrong, she thought, as the smell of iron and decay lingered in the air, mingling with the faint scent of fear.

In the dim light that filtered through the towering buildings, Fire Bolt's eyes widened with horror as she turned a corner and stumbled upon a gruesome sight. A young-looking teal pony lay sprawled across the ground, his body battered and mangled. Deep claw marks marred his once vibrant coat, now stained a deep red, his open eyes vacant and lifeless as the streetlamp that shone on him like a mocking spotlight.

Fear clenched Fire Bolt's heart, but a strange and uncharacteristic determination burned within her beating chest. She knelt beside the fallen pony, studying the gruesome wounds, ignoring the animalistic instincts that were screaming at her to move. It was painfully clear that something dark and sinister had befallen him, as the marks didn’t look like those of a griffon or a bear. Who or what could have wrought such violence upon such an innocent soul? She realized as her stomach sank that whatever killed Princess Celestia was likely now in Ponyville.

A cold breeze brushed against Fire Bolt's coat as if it was whispering the secrets of the death into the night. Her normal instincts finally kicked in and she spread her wings, ready to take flight and race home with bile rising in her throat quickly. But that weirdly fierce sense of persistence overcame her fear once again; she couldn't turn her back on this tragedy, not when the safety of Ponyville was at stake and children wouldn’t be spared. A small wretch clawed its way past her throat at the smell of blood, and she suddenly noticed hot tears streaming down her face and into the fur of her chest. It now made sense why everypony was inside: they all felt that weird warning in the air that she felt when she stepped outside, but it seemed that she was the only one who stupidly ignored it. Well, herself and the young colt at her hooves, and that realization drew a new sense of petrified horror down her spine. She was next.

Tearing her eyes from the youngling, she covered his body with a newspaper out of respect for a temporary solution and forced herself to race on foot to Sap’s cottage.