//------------------------------// // Desolation // Story: Gears in the Void // by Lab //------------------------------// A sound like two coconut halves banging together echoed through the empty streets I trotted, my head hung so low it almost brushed the opposite curb whenever I crossed the road. The dreary greys and browns of an apocalyptic wasteland surrounded me. At first, I’d called out every few moments, but as time went on and my throat grew sore and dry, I resigned to just plod on with what few dregs of hope remained. Solitude wasn't a foreign concept—I’d spent a lot of time on my own, even with Dave popping in now and again to offer his two cents. My contemplation reminded me how I still felt distanced from the diamond dogs and townsfolk. Alone, even in Ponyville. The traces of friendship I shared with a few wouldn’t progress far, I saw that now. It was mostly my fault, but how could they possibly relate? Nearly all of what I knew was an entire universe away. My grief, doubt, and guilt lay behind me, scattered to the winds. This was just another nightmarish hurdle to leap, but how could I? Dave and Luna, the real reason I’d made it this far, were missing, and I didn't even know where to start looking. They could handle themselves—Dave with his axe and Luna with magic and whatever she felt like throwing with it—but my worries about their safety remained. Small twinges of pain shot through my leg as the spell wore off, but the gradually building, dull ache meant barely anything. At least it was something different. The towering buildings obscured most of the overcast sky, not that there was much to see in the endless clouds. No warming sunlight bounced off the countless windows, and no breeze ruffled my fur or mane. This wasn't the city I'd taken refuge in—nothing contained a shred of familiarity. No signs told me what lonely road my hooves trod, and no billboards tried to guilt trip me into changing my stance on something pointless. Normally, a silence this eerie was just a prelude to an attack, but the usual tension was absent from the air. I turned left, if only to have my hooves make a different motion for a few moments. "Bored." I drew out the word and huffed with equal parts exasperation and depression. The quiet was too much! I’d take the moaning over the silence—I needed something, anything. My journey continued in that vein for an eternity. It was worse than a trip to the DMV. The few buildings I’d entered to take a break from the streets were also empty and unremarkable. "There has to be something I can do other than talk to myself. Wait, I know a way to get somepony to show up, even if it’s just to tell me to shut up," I muttered. I took a deep breath and sang, "I've got a lovely bunch of coco—" From an alleyway, a conglomerate of moans echoed, its distaste in my choice of music very apparent. Shit, that wasn’t exactly what I’d meant. I’d said somepony, not somezombie. Being alone was starting to look a lot more enticing when a small crowd of zombies poured onto the street. Unfortunately, it didn't stop with just them: hundreds of zombies made themselves known as the horde swelled in size. I immediately turned and bolted from the growing cloud of undead, shouting mixed curses and apologies. As the spell on my leg wore off more and more, the pain only grew, until my gallop turned into an awkward hobble that just barely kept me ahead of my pursuers. I opened the door to a building I hoped would have a rear exit. Dead hands grasped at me as they swarmed through the office, and I immediately slammed the door shut. "Nope!" With zombies rapidly approaching from ahead, I was grateful to find the next building appeared empty. It wouldn’t stay that way, so I pushed everything I could quickly move in front of the doors. The barricade and the glass entrance wouldn't hold, but it would slow them down long enough for me to secure the second floor. Leaving out a different exit wasn't an option given the number of zeds, and this generic office building was as good a place as any to establish a foothold. The thought of settling into a base of operations drove my mood down further, but this was not something worth risking. There was no trouble searching the first floor. A sea of cubicles dominated most of the floor, but none of them had the personal touch I would usually find, but it was a relief I didn't find pictures of the employees' families. It was like the building had just been finished and nobody had found a chance to work there yet. The sterility was unnerving, and the bland whites, browns and greys grated on my eyes. The most depressing discovery of all was finding my anatomy made it near-impossible to entertain myself by scooting around via office chairs. Damn this pony posterior! As I entered the stairwell—elevators are nearly impossible to escape—I heard the distinct sound of shattering glass and hungry moaning. The second and third floor went ignored, and would be searched much later. Floor four, the accounting offices if the placard was correct, was occupied, but it wasn't anything a quick trip-and-stomp couldn't fix. The fancy, and therefore heavy, furniture packed into the downward stairs would work well enough on the off chance they got that far. "Well, this is familiar." I sighed as I rested on one of the remaining couches. "Never had a hidey-hole this comfortable or well-lit before." Having electricity was a little weird too since it was one of the first things to go back then, and Equestria didn't have that technology yet, but I sure as hell wasn't complaining. I wanted to sing Ninety Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall, but zombies apparently dislike music. Moping in lazy circles delayed facing the upper floors. Who knew what waited up there? There hadn't been much resistance so far, but I'd seen zombies stashed in all sorts of crazy places. If it weren't for my hooves, I would have thought I’d never left in the first place. It wasn’t like I did much other than make a mess of things during my stay. Maybe it’d be best if I stayed there. My thoughts were betraying me, trying to drive me further into depression, and I spoke aloud just to have something else to focus on. "That's enough of that. It's high time I cleaned up the rest of this place." The next few floors only had five enemies between them, and they went down without trouble. It was too easy to get back in the groove of sweeping and clearing, a thought that left an uncomfortable feeling in my gut. All went well until the eighth or ninth floor—nobody bothered to number the damn things—where I opened the door and found what couldn't be less than fifty pairs of eyes turning in my direction. "Sorry, I didn't know there was a meeting," I shouted over my shoulder, scrambling up the stairs and praying to any invisible pink unicorns that may have been watching. Some small bit of luck let the stairs continue all the way to the roof, where I'd hoped I could jump to a nearby roof. It was a terrible idea, even without my leg, but with how fast they followed there wouldn’t have been time to blockade any of the higher floors. Going lower was even less of an option. You know you’re having a bad day when your only option is to jump off a building. A brisk wind blew my mane into my eyes as the roof access door slammed open. The air was still earlier, but there was always wind this high up. Unfortunately, there was nothing to hop to. In fact, there was nothing except an endless plain of fog expanding ever outwards, and I knew there weren’t that many stairs. "I'm so sick of this dream crap." Should I take out as many as possible or just let gravity end it quickly? I’d really wished I could have fixed everything. Live alone, die alone. At least I wasn’t leaving anyone behind. Maybe it would have been better if I’d never come to Equestria in the first place. The leading zombie was bucked into his friends. The damage was minimal, but it did slow them down. "If you want a snack, you're going to have to work for it." I couldn't make a difference in Ponyville after an entire week, but I'll make one here. However small it will be. Something protested against the thoughts, pushing against a mental barrier. Zombies covered most of the roof, and even more were shambling out of the building. I bucked two more zombies as the circle shrank further, doing my best to ignore that my leg felt like it was on fire. Tall Order's words echoed through the air, and despite how quiet they were, they came in clearly over the clamor. "As a friend, I can't let you do this. If it weren't for you, we would have had to walk back to town and there's no way we could have escaped without your cart." Slivers of hope shone through the cracks in the wall. I remembered that! They really were my friends, weren't they? My body was on autopilot, doing everything it could to keep those rotting hands from getting hold while my mind wandered. Knowing my end was near filled me with calm. A hand clamped onto my tail, and nothing could shake him loose as he pulled me in, time slowing as his bite neared. The knowledge I’d actually had friends was a small comfort. Just as I let out a sigh of resignation, my tail was released and some of the zombies fell back. Next to me, a being made of light blue energy recovered from the fierce kick that saved my flank. It didn’t need to be a perfect copy for me to know who it was. Tall Order. The figure nodded and pulled me to my hooves before toppling a few more dominoes. A searing beam blasted a large chunk out of another zombie, and I couldn't help but smile at the shimmering, white figure.Vinyl Scratch. The wall weakened further, whole chunks crumbling. "Sure, Sweetheart, I was just about finished. I'll head down the cafeteria and have them send some food up. Go ahead and tell her friends they can see her now." Although Redheart's voice made me flinch, the thought of the visitors I’d had that day made me smile. A small tan figure joined the fray, throwing punches left and right. And if I was thinking about Spot, I couldn't forget Fido or the rest of the pack. The lumbering silhouettes of the pack tore into the crowd. And Pinkie Pie, of course because— The wall vaporized. "I'm friends with everyone!" cheered Pinkie Pie, who looked like herself instead of an outline. "Hiya Gears! I was wondering when I'd get to come help! Blech, these guys stink!" It was too much to let go without asking, "Pinkie, are you actually here?" All the zombies were now wearing party hats. And so was I, oddly enough. "Of course, silly! The Mirror Pool is sealed, so there can only be one Pinkie Pie." Her eyes shifted back and forth. "Accept no substitutes." The horde was no longer advancing, and we were actually pushing them back. It was slow, but progress was progress, and it didn't look like they could even be hurt. "Holy deus ex!" Pinkie gasped. I facehoofed so hard I slid backwards. "I'll be right back. I'm going to grab Twilight and Spike." "I can understand Spike, but are you sure Twilight considers me a friend? I thought I just irked her." This was hardly the place for discussing friendships, but things had stopped making sense as soon as Pinkie had shown up. She scoffed. "Oh psshaw. Of course you're friends with Twilight. And that's not even everyone who's invited!" In one of the more disturbing things I've seen that night, she literally pulled herself out of the dream. As in she grabbed her tail and soared into the distance while shouting, "Whee!" "Dream or not, I'm going to pretend that didn't happen. Who else could I possibly consider a friend though? I haven't been here that long." But I did have one who had been with me longer than I'd been in Equestria. "Bout time you remembered me, kid." Dave grinned. He was ready to join the fight, but stopped when he saw the festive headwear. "Pinkie Pie?" "Pinkie Pie." I sighed. "What are those things?" shouted a terrified, young voice from behind us. I turned to see a purple dragon cowering behind a confused and disgusted—confusted—lavender alicorn. I disliked turning my back on zombies, but the phantasms had no issue holding the line. "Zombies. Pinkie, did you actually pull them out of their dreams?" That facehoof was much more gentle than the last one. "Of course! Well, I pushed Twilight out of hers because it was the only way I could interrupt her b—" "Badminton game! I was playing badminton." She chuckled nervously. "But how did you get us here Pinkie?" "That didn't look like badminton. It looked more like—" "Pinkie! Just tell us how we got here so we can get out sooner." If Twilight blushed any brighter, Celestia might get confused and raise her in the morning. “I hope I can’t remember this come morning.” "Fiiiiiine. It's a dream, so I get to make even less sense!" Spike grumbled to himself, "Didn't think that was possible." Twilight gently smacked him with a wing, though she obviously agreed. "This looks more like a nightmare than a dream. Did she drag you here too, Gears?" "Not quite. This is my nightmare-memory thingy. Well, this one’s a little bit more nightmare than memory. I still don't know how Pinkie got here considering how much energy it took to send me." Twilight frowned as she looked around. "We shouldn't be here. Just being in another pony's dream like this is all sorts of wrong." Her eyes widened with worry as she saw Dave. "Why does that one have an axe?" Dave, having returned to the fight and given up trying to understand the situation, called back as he swung through an ethereal diamond dog to reach the zombies on the other side, "Not a zombie. I'm Dave. Nice to meet you, Princess." "...Likewise." Her eye was twitching and a few strands of her mane frazzled. "Gears, this one had a gun, so either get Moonbutt here or teach Sparklepants how to use it." Oh, shit, I’d forgotten about Luna! "I wasn't sure if I could count Princess Luna as a friend." The mere mention of the Lunar Princess was enough to allow her entrance, and she chuckled. "We've had quite the adventure this night, Sterling Gears. I would be ashamed if you couldn't." At her graceful appearance, Twilight gasped and bowed, missing Luna's eyes rolling. "How nice of you to join us. Got one here with another gun and some clips that should work with the other one." Another powerful swing through a dog-shaped shield. "Kinda nice being able to take these guys out while safe." Luna giddily snagged the weapon and ammunition, and she deftly reloaded her empty handgun despite the fact me and Dave hadn't taught her. She smiled and took aim. "Ha ha! The gun has been doubled!" Okay, she was probably having a little too much fun, but I was still sure my heart had just exploded. "Sorry Twilight, Luna's best princess now." Twilight was too befuddled to be insulted. Spike and Twilight jumped as Luna's salvo began. Recovering quickly, Twilight asked with ravenous curiosity, "Princess Luna, what are those devices you're using?" She tilted her head as she looked between her weapons and her sister's student. "They are nothing you need concern yourself with as they have no place in the real world." Thankfully, the glance she shot me went unnoticed by Twilight and her assistant, and I nodded in agreement. "Pinkamena, what have I told you about interacting with dreams in this manner?" "Oops, sorry Princess." No, she wasn't. "It was just so gloomy in here!" Luna sighed and rubbed at the beginnings of a headache. "Be that is it may, with Gears's realization she wasn’t alone, I am all that is keeping this place held together. I can not release it until the three of you are back in your own dreams." Pinkie smiled sheepishly. "Okey dokey lokey." A door covered in pink polka dots appeared on the roof with a “poof” sound and a puff of smoke. Spike yelped in protest as she grabbed his tail in her teeth and tossed him through, the door vanishing as she did so. Twilight backed away from her friend, like one would with a wild animal. "Thank you, Pinkie, but I'll just walk out." "Silly Twilight, you don't have to walk. You're already standing on your way out." Twilight cried out in surprise as she fell through a trapdoor. "Say hi for me!" Pinkie climbed into her party cannon and waved her goodbyes before disappearing in a blast of confetti, leaving a contrail of candy and party supplies. I'm sure that even the zombies were shocked, because the moans actually ceased for a few moments. Luna and I stood there, our mouths hanging open, until she said, "The pink one scares me." "I don’t blame you. Are we really finished? All the baddies aren't even gone." "Oh, yes. One moment." Her horn glowed and the world dissolved into the ether of the subconscious realm. Gone was the diseased sphere, a peaceful darkness remaining in its place. "It feels good to have my strength back, even if I will miss those guns. They proved quite useful in that situation. Sterling, you have to remember your goal was to confront your fears, and that's not always synonymous with confronting your enemies." Dave lazily backstroked through the air, a satisfied smile on his face. "Glad that's over with. Nights are going to be so much easier now." He noticed Luna was distracted by something. "What's up, Luna?" "There's something else present. It feels similar to what's been attacking my night, but the differences are far from subtle. Aha!" A sapphire sphere appeared, highlighting and containing a writhing mass of darkness. "Fascinating. If I had to guess, I would say this being nurtured your nightmares. I'll have to do more research, but I believe this will help us against our current foe." "That thing was inside my head? Don’t be gentle with your research." My glare failed to ignite it, unfortunately. “What do we need to do now?” "Your task is complete. I can undo the spell so you can have what little night remains to sleep normally. I, however, have a princess and a dragon to convince they were only dreaming. Then I need to find Pinkamena's dreams and berate her." She shuddered heavily. "Farewell, David, I fear it will be difficult to speak with you again. Sleep well, Miss Gears." "Thanks, Luna." Her horn lit up one last time. It was the best sleep I ever had.