( a theme should be nice)
Outside, there seemed to be a war. The soldiers and security officers were galopping in certain directions, while the ground shook violently. Warning sirens just now began to blast off with a wailing roar as strange blackish creatures flew through the air right in front of the townhall's window, only to be followed by three more armored pegasi. I gigantic creature of white, seemingly made frow a sprawling white ink, was destroying everything around it with no emotions on its face. Every now and then, however, a huge sphere would englobe it and begin to erase everything. The most prominent aspect of this scenery, however, was Destitute floating in the air and having that same "water-dissolving away in the current" effect on his body which kept changing from earth pony, to pegasus, to unicorn, and, sometimes, to all three. Above him grew a massive swirling vortex of darkness. Several gigantic worm-like entities swung and writhed out of it while three eyes, placed bizarrely, glew out of this vortex. These same eyes had an uncanny resemblance to Destitute's, however, the middle was flipped to look like some sort of pupil.
Every now and then, a tremor would occur, and something would pop out further from the hole. In the room of the mayor, the group was shocked with what they were seeing. Furrows even lost her appetite, something that has never happened.
"What in the Creator's name is that thing?" Sampian walked forward in a very slow motion, contemplating the vortex as well as Destitute, both who were floating above the city.
"That must be the Nothing." Mond's face scrunched up in a fierce demonstration of disgust and anger. "That's what we have to destroy, but it's with THAT box that we must do it." she pointed torwards the music box that Pencil was holding.
"W-what? No! I don't want to lose this!"
"Stop being such a pussy and use it already. H-hey! Ow! Leggo! Fu-"
"Fuck off, Destroyer. Now I have to burn my mouth for pronouncing such a heinous word. Now then."
The voices echoed out of nowhere, but the group knew who it was.
"Your box won't be destroyed, but it will seal the Nothing off from this dimension. We will intervene when necessary. Nobody can see us. All you must do is help us distract the army as well as the white creature. Mond and Pencil Box shall reach the portal and use the box. Go!"
"Wait!" Pencil Box shouted, but it was too late. The Creator had left.
Sapian adjusted himself and pat Box on his shoulder.
"It's okay. We'll all get out of this alive. Besides, Furrows told me you wanted an adventure, no?"
"Hm."the stallion nodded.
"Then let's go! We don't have much time!" Mond shouted.
"But how do we reach-ah!"
With one swift movement, Furrows and Sapian blasted through the walls, hanging onto the many wires strewn about the city. It was barely a second they got out that more pegasus and flying monsters passed right in front of them, causing the wire to start wobbling. While the two massively powerful creatures were swinging on the string, Mond used her magic to strenuously transport Box and herself to the closest location to the wormhole. Seeing from afar, the white giant noticed Sapian and Furrows, an headed towards their position, destroying buildings on the way. Unfortunately for it, the second it got close to the two that had now reached solid ground on a building's roof, it found itself smashed by a gigantic beam of light erupting from the sky. The two definately had great support.
"Wow. We should hurry up and reach that hole. C'mon. Death isn't around the corner this time." Pencil Box skid off a slanted rooftop and bounced off some weird elastic trampoline, ejecting him higher than normal.
He coawed Mond to follow, but she simply tilted her head to the side and smirked, only to find herself next to the stallion in a heartbeat.
"You unicorns and your cheating magic."
"It isn't my fault that I possess a great skill in magic."
The short coversation already stopped as several of the shadowy creatures slammed right in front of the two. It was abvious one could not touch them, as they seemed to erase tiny portions of whatever they touched. The two began to back up with fear etched on their faces.
"I thought you said death wasn't near!"
"I did. Oh!" Mond nearly tripped over the edge of the building. "Great. Now we're trapped."
"Then we fight to the death!" Box roared as loud as he could, throwing a foreleg in the air.
Mond and the monsters just slowly tilted their heads to look at him in a massive "Dude, what?" moment. As this atmosphere swept on, the creature's felt themselves be swept off just the same as they were rushed by demented red beasts that swarmed out of some opening near the city.
"D-d-d-d-demons!" Box trembled as he pointed at the unholy spawn attacking the Nothing's workforce.
Humorously, several of the larger, winged demons weilding swords and maces smiled at Box while they passed, giving him the looming feeling that he was still going to the Abyss. Mond said nothing, but simply tucked on the stallion to make him run faster, the box clutched tightly on the unicorn's back with magic. Every time some creatures would pass, either the soldiers of the city would tackle them into nearby walls or directly off buildings, or the demons would bodyslam the monsters through the roof and further down. After trial and error, the two finally reached the highest point of the city, which barely even reached the opening. Before any actions could be taken, a massive tremor shook throughout the lands, and the creature came further out of the hole.
Its body was covered in swirling black worms of a grayer hue than the body, while the body itself was almost dragon-like in apperance. The face WAS swept forward like a dragon's, but it also didn't seem to resemble the reptile. There were also the three eyes it possessed. One was near the right corner of the nose, another was at the typical spot on the left side, and another was on the top of the head. These places still had giant worms swirling about them, but nothing more, aside from the enormous arms and hands plowing away at everything they landed on, effectively erasing them completely. It was an enormous monstrosity. If seen from afar, it was certain that its whole girth could destroy the entirety of Duchess. However, when it saw Pencil Box, its booming mockery could be heard several kilometers across.
"What? Why are you laughing?" the stallion trembled even more than before.
"Because you believe you can destroy the Nothing, which doesn't exist. My being as you see it is as all inderior life forms perceive me: as best as their tiny minds can. Neither mortal or immortal can see me and not become immediately erased within the Nothing."
Mond stepped in:"Then why do you try and destroy everything? There is no point. You simply erase things and return to your own dimension?"
"Dimension? The Nothing has no dimension. I do not have an existence, therefore, I need not a dimension."
"What? If you don't exist, how can you do all these things?"
"Such is the way of the Nothing. Destitute."
The stallion, who was floating in the air underneath the portal, lunged at Mond, and missed her by a hair as he punched through a building, creating an uneven tunnel through everything. After this event, a wide but thin fog flew across the floors of the city, giving an ominous feeling. As Mond leaned forward, Destitute came back out, strange tentacles having formed on his back. With her magic, the mare grabbed the box and threw it at Pencil.
"Go! Use it! We'll hold them off as best we can. Oh no-"
Destitute dragged the mare down with it through the collpasing portion of the neighboring building, only to find himself being launched across several meters from his initial starting point, with Mond following after. It wasn't long before the Nothing turned its attention back to the small stallion, who was just moments away from having a heart attack. It didn't help when the Nothing's mouth opened, revealing the same swirling black hole as within Destitute's mouth, but with the bodies of the giant worms popping out of the holes every now and then.
"..."the Nothing was swinging from side to side as its eyes looked at the stallion and his box."You do not know how to operate it?"
"I-"
"Ha! Hope makes way for nothing as it is realize to be a lie and a failure. You shall become nothing. Your world shall become nothing. And that box shall be taken elsewhere. Now. Become inexistant."
The hand reached ever closer to the stallion as its immense girth envelopped everything around it. It looked like the entire sky was falling. As Pencil Box felt himself fading, he heard a strange voice:
"Remember what your father taught you."
Pencil Box inexplicably found himself back in his father's workshop, the decorated box in hoof.
"Now then, son. This is how you open it. You click on the four heads of the flowers in the middle of each side, then you push on the top, and when it begins to open, you spin these silvery cogs."
As the stallion did just these actions, the beautiful box spun open and revealed a most beautiful melody to the ears of the tiny colt. His eyes widened just as his mouth, and he watched the box gears spin around as it depicted a scene that was indecipherable to anypony who ever saw the interior. It depicted a black smog crossing over plains and cities, and making them disappear. Once it reached a lone creature, it prepared to lunge at it, until said creature lifted a box towards it. The box emitted music notes, and the cloud retracted as it writhed and twisted, only to quickly disappear. It was a fun looking paper theater, but neither the colt nor the stallion knew what it meant. Pencil just stared at the box and saw himself being lifted into the air by his dad, only to hear him say:
"I love you son. You're the best kid a father could ask for."
"Remember..."
Pencil Box found a tear leaking from his eye, and many more followed shortly after. With a struggle of strength, he pushed on the four flowers. The Nothing stopped and wondered what was going on, but by the time Pencil Box has spun the cogs, it was too late.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
A soothing and beautiful melody echoed throughout the world of Equestria as Pencil looked up with a teary fury at the Nothing who was now beginning to dissolve and being reabsorbed by the hole in the sky. It tried desperately to erase the stallion, but every strike that was supposed to reach Pencil Box became a dissolved mess. The monsters were also being reabsorbed into the Nothing, while Destitute flung by as well. One of hs tentacles hooked onto a rod protruding from the building Pencil was standing on. The stallion stepped forward, the music box in one foreleg, and said, with a face of great seriousness:
"This is payback for what you did to my father. Become one with the Nothing as you already were."
Pencil approached Destitute with his box, and as it approached the stallion's face, the music tore away the right side of the face, specifically, the eye. However, only bits and pieces of white and black flung away. The music box slipped from Pencil's arm as he looked more closely at the eye of this creature. It was a brown eye with a soft brown coat surrounding the rest. The ominous feeling Pencil had as he stared at this emotionless stallion was overwhelming, despite the whole hoard of monsters being reabsorbed into the nothing.
"D...dad?" Pencil thought out loud.
Destitute forced a smile, which was accompanied by some strange sound making one think of cracking, or a burnt piece of bread being broken apart. As the black and white stallion gave what was possibly the only emotion he would ever have, the rod broke and cast Destitute straight into the portal. Pencil tried to grab him, but dire consequences would arise.
"DON'T LOOK AT THE PORTAL!" the disembodied voice yelled.
Too late. Pencil Box passed out.
One week later. One whole week, and finally, Pencil reawoke, Furrows chewing on her bone next to the stallion's licey bed.
"What happened?"
"You become unconcious after looking at hole. Mond and Sapian bring you back here, while two-left eye pony helped your soul return to body. I stay by and helped heal you and clean you. It not hard work."
"What about-"
"She return home. Said she have present for us when you awake."
*ding dong*
"Ah. That must be present. Let's go."
"But my head still hurts."
"Stop whining."
The diamond dog grabbed the sickly stallion by the tail and dragged him down the stairs, his head bumping off the steps, the sounds being accompanied by a monotonous "ow" sound. Pencil was thrown at the door, where the kncking continued.
"I'm here! Hold on." he opened the door. His jaw dropped."What are Celestia's royal guards doing here?"
Right in front of the two's house stood several royal guards, with two heavily armored guards protecting what looked like a brown bag on a small plank of wood. Everyone around was wondering what was going on.
"Her royal majesty, Princess Luna, sent us to escort your rewards to award you of the heroic duties you performed."
"Heroic duties? But I didn't do anything."
"She says otherwise. She told us that you stopped the annihilation of our world, and that she bore witness to it all."
"Bore witness? What's in the bag?"
"One million bits, to be exact."
A loud breaking noise could be heard, and Furrows popped out from behind her friend, her jaw agape. The royal guards didn't seem to take too well to her prescence.
"We will wait here and help you install yourselves into your new home, as well as escort your rewards. We will wait for you up top. Whenever you're ready, come join us."
"Yes...sir."
While the royal guards walked away, Pencil turned around and wonderd.
"What's the matter?"
"He said that Luna saw what we did. But how? She wasn't he...MOND?!"
Meanwhile, at the castle, Luna was looking out a window in the hall, towards the direction of Duchess, a look of satisfaction ornating her calm and serene face. Celestia saw her during one of her strolls and commented on this:
"Luna, what are you doing?"
"Nothing."
"And why did you remove a million bits from our treasury? Does it have something to do with tht bizarre music I heard while I was away?"
"Maybe."
"Hmmm. I don't know why you have just suddenly done these things, but I trust you did them for a reason."
"Definately."