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// Thinking of a plan 
// Story: Destitute: A nightmare of the Nothing 
// by The Psychopath 
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In the now haunted town, Destitute and the Dorammo were in full battle, and everything around them began to...change. The landscape would erase with the stallion of black and white, while the spirit of vengeance would mutate it into untold and unspeakable horrors. The black and white stallion could have easily brushed the spirit off, but he was not at full power. He required more orbs, and Duchess would give what it owed. In a place that none can view, the Nothing watched its two entities. The white changeling was making good progress, and a massive portion of the desert was erased along its path. However, it watched in amusement what existence deemed to be something that shouldn't exist, but did. Tortured souls around the town were being morphed into tainted souls, ripe for Destroyer. Not Nothing, but it would have to suffice.

"In the beginning, there was nothing. And in the end, there will be nothing. My two children may have created something that I despise, but they will be rightfully punished when I find them. I have seen countless universes die and wither, only to be reborn anew instead of becoming nothing again. Creator creates these dimensions while Destroyer crushes them, only to have Creater rebuild them once more. I have grown tired of this. They have even gone to irritate me to the point of creating a near infinite , amount of possibilities and outcomes, but no more! Time has no meaning for the Nothing, and it shall devour everything and return everything to how it was. Perhaps transporting my two disciples directly to Duchess can help?"

The skies above the two fighters wreaked open, and a gigantic arm covered in equally giant worms, a similar sight from before, smashed upon the little town, despite the Dorammo tryin to fight back. A soul breaking screach was heard at that precise moment as well. The arm lift back up into the sky, and spoke to Destitute, who was bent and broken in almost every area. He still didn't seem to care.

"Destitute. Cease your futile amusement and get to Duchess at once. I will only transport you a few hours from it. You may be nothing, but your powers have yet to fully replenish. The unknown will have the same action forced upon it. Do not enter the city without its prescence."

The stallion cracked every bone and bodypart back into place, and quickly found himself in front of Duchess...somewhat. There was still a way to go before reaching it. He would not waste time.





The group had stopped within Box's very humble shack. It was another one of those houses embedded into the wall. It took some fumbling, but Pencil Box managed to unlock the door and get inside. The sight, accompanied by his nervous smile, indicated that the inside wasn't very pretty, and it was not. The place had almost no light, it was quite dirty, and the furniture was covered in dust.

"So. Um. Sorry for this appearance, but I never sleep here. I always sleep outside as it's less expensive."

"I can see that." the sapian actually looked delighted. His species was used to this type of living."I'll sleep on the chandelier."

"What? Too late."

The sapian had hooked himself onto what would appear to be a poorly constructed chandelier made from various pieces sloppishly glued together. The creature somehow stayed stuck to the ceiling and refused to move. He already fell asleep.

"Wow." Furrows chuckled."He know how to sleeps well. I also tired."

"But what about dinner?" Box looked insulted.

"I been eating many bones today. I don't need dinner."

"Pfff." Box threw his forelegs out and twisted his head."Like you know anything other then bones."

The diamond dog wouldn't listen, and simply went to sleep on the floor. The stallion looked tired and disappointed, but quickly looked up to see that Mond was staring at him with wlightly wide eyes and a tilted head. She had just placed her luggage against a wall. The stallion gave a "poker face" and looked quickly to both sides.

"What?"

"You seem anxious about something? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, but I've never been good at making food...or eating it."

Mond started to fumble through her luggage after hearing Box's excuse."You aren't used to eating?"

"Nope. Furrows has always been the one to eat bnes, and she can eat a wider variety of things, so she doesn't care, but me? I can't even eat the grass outside." he gave a loud sigh."Being poor and in the slums may give one a heart full of adventure, but the belly remains empty. Hoompf!"

The mare threw a sealed carton full of a fine green salad filled with a variety of flowers and salad dressings at the head of Box, who fell on the floor, moaning.

"What was that for?"

"Look at the contents."

"Why? What's...What?"

Mond gave a smirk and opened up her own carton with magic, lied down, and began to eat. The food felt typical to her, but she couldn't help but notice the stallion's broken efforts to try and open the box.

"Oh. My apologies. I forgot that this was sealed for unicorns. Here." the box broke open, filling the starving stallion's nose with an unknown scent that drove him crazy.

Pencil Box's face upon tasting this delicacy was border-line mixed with insanity. He seemed in ectasy.

"You okay?" Mond asked with concern.

"Where did you get this? I think my tongue doesn't work anymore."

"It's from Canterlot castle."

"WHAT?!"

"Perhaps I shouldn't have said that."

"Well...you ARE a unicorn, and unicorns are typically royalty in Canterlot, unless we count the burning city..."

"Burning city?"

"It's a leged about a city made by earth ponies long ago, who somehow managed to make a castle float above a dormant volcano, who actually looks pretty active."

"Interesting. I've never heard of that one."

"Yeah? Well I've got more. Um...that bed is upstairs, so you can sleep in it. I'll sleep down here."

"You don't need to-"

"I insist. That thing taught me the error of my ways, so I've vowed to attone for them."

"DAMMIT!" a faint voice echoed through a few creases in the walls.

Both ponies looked around in confusion.

"What was that?" Box wondered.

"I don't know. Probably your neighbors. What about your stories?"

"Hm? Oh yeah!" Box jumped back into reality after an idea flew through his mind." Well then. Let's see-"




The next morning, the group was wide awake and stretching in the alleyways. Other "slummers" were doing just the same. It seemed that, as opposed to typical beliefs, the inhabitants of the slums were not aggressive due to their shared hardships. Mond noticed this as one of the slummers shared a piece of bread with a complete stranger. The sapian was the first to open the conversation:

"So, I know where we need to go to get within the townhall without being seen."

"How you manage that?" Furrows added as she chomped on another bone.

"I sneaked out of the house while you all slept and met up with certain contacts. There's a dance floor near the left wing of the townhall called 'Opi Style'."

"Opi Style?" Mond scratched her head.

"Yes. I know it's weird, but we still have to get there. The building is still up there, and only you and I are practically unknown. Your friends have a much more sinister reputation."

"We have no choice, so we go." Furrows shouted as she ran with extreme speed up the stairs of the slums and into the main city."

"Great. Well. Let's go."




Outside of the city, near one of the entrances, two guards lay upon the floor, their tongues sticking out, and their eyes overturned. They looked dead, but a keen eye could see that a white hoof had to do with this predicament. The cold breeze of the wind swept through the grass, and gave a fun spectacle of grass "dancing". However, the flowing air stopped as soon as it hit the open, blue metal doors left ajar by the intruder. Destitute calmly walked through the city as he looked around at what most normal characters would be awe-inspired by. He felt nothing, and saw only vibrant colors that shouldn't exist. On this feeling, he went lower in the main city, literally shoving everybody that passed, and angering a passing Minotaur, who, despite his envy for a fight, found himself catapulted into a building, forcing the watchers to flee in fear, until the stallion opened his mouth and his eyes. The combined pressure and ear-piercing scream both cracked the ground, windows, and buildings, but also managed to peel away orbs from one half of the collapsed group, and make contact with the others, resulting in the orbs switching appearance, and become devoured by the stallion.

From a height came the fying eyeball. It landed on Destitute's head, asking for a scratch, which it received. The small creature nestled itself in the stallion's mane with a bit of tucking. The sight of this thing scared everybody off, but, even that was nothing for the sight, of the white changeling burrowing out from the ground. This rose to the typical "Ah! A changeling!" scream. It cared not, but it began clicketing and making weird noises, which everybody around understood, bizarrely:

"The object we search is not over here. I have already searched. Perhaps in the lower levels shall we find the desired object, or, atleast the key to activate it."

The unknown constantly flicked its head from side to side as it "spoke", bringing in strange feelings within the urrounding observers, who quickly fled. Destitute just nodded and continued his pathway forward with the unknown. That is...until-

"Halt! We saw what you've done. Stop moving and come quietly, or we'll have to use force." spoke the chief of the city police, also know as the "leutnant" by Pencil Box. "Please. Resist us. It's always so fun to deal with punks like you who think they look 'cool' dressed up and colored creepily."

Leutnant was accompanied by three other officers, and all four wore riot armor, and held both spears and short swords.

"I shall deal with them. Continue your passage."the unknown said to Destitute, who bared no mind to this speach.

"Heh. Ha! Well then, let's go!"

Seen from an angle that showed only the location that the ponies once were, one could see, a mere second after their movement, a bright flash, followed by the spears plopping onto the ground and slowly desintegrating into nothingness. A sad wind actually managed to flow through the city despite its size and shape. Something bad was going to happen, and nature knew that all too well.