Th-thump. Th-thump. Th-thump. The zebra's eyes snapped open and he groaned, holding his head in his hooves. He blinked groggily, looking around as he heard his heart begin to beat harder and harder. His head was pounding harder than he ever could have imagined possible, filled with some sort of emptiness he couldn’t explain, as if something had been taken from him. He seemed to be sitting in the throne room of Canterlot Castle. Or....what was left of it. Half of the ceiling collapsed, rubble strewn across the room, decaying corpses trapped underneath it all. They were outfitted with the Canterlot Royal Guard armor. What had happened? Ysmir stood, every muscle in his body screaming in protest from the motion. He felt like he had been squeezed to a pulp, like he should be dead. But of course, he wasn’t. Obviously. he kind of wished he was, though, every nerve in his body screamed at him, ridiculing him for existing right now, very upset at him. VERY upset. He looked over his body to see his side wrapped up, most of the pain centering around it. He raised a hoof to take the bandage off, but a sharp flare of pain told him that it wasn’t a good idea.
He raised a hoof to his muzzle, hissing as he felt a split in his lip. Moving his hoof up, he felt he spot his eyebrow piercing should be, but it was gone, replaced by a scabby mess. The zebra sighed, annoyed that he couldn’t remember anything. The destroyed room around him didn't stir even the faintest memory in his head, he hadn't the slightest inkling of an idea what it was all about. He winced as he limped towards the door, squinting at the sunlight filtering through a thick cloud of dust all above Canterlot. Filtered sunlight poured into the long hallway from more holes in the walls. Looking out if them showed nothing but collapsed buildings, destroyed city blocks, rubble, and death. No signs of movement. Of life. Of...anything substantial. It was a destroyed wasteland. He limped down the hall, ignoring the bodies of guards thrown against the walls like ragdolls, looks of fear...no, more than that. Of pure, primal terror on their decaying faces. It unnerved the young zebra greatly. Not just anything could give a pony an expression like that….then again, not just anything could lay waste to an entire city with naught but ease. He stepped over this terrified corpses and headed for the door at the end of the long, sprawling hallway. He pushed open the door, groaning in pain. As it opened, he had to take a rest, sitting down beside the door. His head felt like hell, and he was extremely thirsty. The zebra sighed as he leaned against the oak door wearily, resting a moment before finding the strength to continue. He let his thoughts wander.
Whatever did this had to have been powerful. Immensely so. Enough to overpower even the Princess’ most powerful defenses. Enough for them to flee and let their own city fall to pieces, leaving the citizens to fend for themselves. No...the pincesses wouldn’t have done that...would they? There had to be a good reason...there HAD to be. His hoof touched something that slid away from him. He looked over to see a rolled-up paper, charred slightly and torn at the edges. But intact. The stallion picked it up, rolling it in his hooves. he was completely against invading others’ privacy….but was here really any privacy anymore? What if it helped him figure out what was happening? He unrolled it, his eyes scanning the words hastily scribbled on the paper. "Dear Princess Celestia. I'm going to send this using a bottle of his fire Spike left behind. Hopefully it works. I haven't seen him since he went to investigate the disturbance in White Tail Woods. And I'm afraid I never will see him again. He may have gotten new bravery lately as he got older, but I’m afraid whatever’s out there is too much for him to handle. I told him not to go...but..." Dried up tears stained the page here. Ysmir's heart skipped a beat; White Tail Woods? Was his hut okay? Verlore? If he had been at the epicenter of this ordeal, was he involved? Had a spell gone wrong? He flicked his ears and continued to read. "There was a loud...I don't know how to describe it. Something between an explosion...and a scream of terror that sounded from the heart of White Tail Woods. Spike went to investigate, taking his trusty armor and dragon fire pistols he's grown so akin to." Again, the page was stained with tears. Who was Spike? The name sounded familiar, but he couldn't place it. The name didn’t sound pony...perhaps a gryphon? What would a gryphon do with dragon-fire pistols, though? He decided it must be a dragon, and faintly remembered a story abou a young dragon terrorizing Ponyville due to not being aware of his Vice dragon nature. "Now trees are being..trampled. The entire forest is trembling. Something big, some kind of monster, is coming from that area and it's heading straight for Manehattan. And if it keeps that direction up, Ponyville won't be too far behind.
Oh, I looked up the thing you told me to in your note Spike got just before he left. Why did you want me to look up such a random subject? Either way, I'll send notes about it when I study up a bit more. You know how I like to be thorough. I'll send more updates if I can...but stay safe, Princess. I'll gather up the girls and we'll intercept whatever it is before it reaches Manehattan. Without the actual Elements of Harmony, though....I don't know what we're going to do. Your faithful princess, Twilight Sparkle." Ysmir set the note down with shaky hooves. Some sort of...monster had rose out of the woods and was threatening Manehattan? Where had he been? Why the hell couldn't he remember!? He should have helped stop it! Did he? Argh, the mystery was making his head spin painfully. Thinking about it just gave him a headache. He sighed, taking the note with him. He looked up at the spiral staircase, knowing it led to the princess' bedrooms, and the watchtower. If they were alive, would they be there? He winced as he began to climb, his breath coming in ragged gasps. Everything hurt so excruciatingly....hopefully he could make a potion soon to ease the pain. But he had to power through it, to figure out what was happening. His nervousness refreshed, he continued up the stairs, panting in pain as he reached the top. He coughed and knocked on the door gently. He heard nothing inside, just the eerie, stilled silence that was omnipresent. He gently pushed the door open, peering inside. The most noticeable feature was the gaping hole in the wall, leading to outside. He looked across the huge room, decorated two completely opposite ways. He ran his hoof along a wall of drawings, all seemingly by young fillies and colts. This must be Celestia's half of the room. The drawings all depicted her, in amusingly rudimentary styles, crayon marks making stick-figures with radiant manes that were usually the wrong color. Ysmir smiled weakly. It was adorable that she kept all of them. There was no sign of the Princesses. He assumed that was a good sign. He found no clues as to where they might be, and eventually gave up with a sigh. He trotted over to Luna’s half of the room, running his hoof along the similarly decorated wall, rudimentary drawings of the lunar princess, although there were substantially less of them.
He found a rolled-up scroll on her bed, half-concealed by the blankets. It looked just like the one he had found earlier, and decided that if it was left here, they wouldn’t mind if he took it, right? He did so, typing it to his foreleg beside the other one.
After another once-over of the room, Ysmir sat made his way to the door, looking back over his shoulder one more time, before limping out the door. Hearing it click closed behind him he slid against it to the ground, closing his eyes. He remained there for a few minutes, trying to regain his composure from the traumatizing things he had just witnessed. The zebra opened up the note, reading it slowly. "Dearest Princess Celestia, We're in Pinkie's balloon now, on our way to Manehattan. I really should design her a better balloon, this one is rather mangy at this point, covered in dreadful, unmatching patches.... That's besides the point. Twilight is busy right now, trying to contact anyone in Manehattan with her magic. So she told me to send a status update to you. I'll be brief, as we're almost there." The handwriting was very different from the first note, in addition to the wording, Ysmir noticed. He read on. "Well, every pony is scared, as they should be. Spike's disappeared, and we can't contact the city....it's all just so unnatural, like a bad dream. I hope we wake up from it soon, but...to be quite frank I don't think we will. I see smoke on the horizon and that is not good news." The writing became increasingly sloppy suddenly, random streaks of ink jetting through it as if the writer had been severely jostled as they wrote. "Something just hit the balloon. Pinkie Pie is doing her best to land it safely, but even she can't hide her fear. I will end my note here, dearest princess. Wish us luck, darling! ~Rarity." Ysmir rolled up the note and tied it to his leg with the first note. He was left with many questions and very few answers at this point, and he didn't know how to continue. He stood up and made his way back down the stairs, deciding to brave the destroyed cityscape to make it back to his own hut. If he found out anything along the way, all the better.
The sore stallion made his way back down the stairs, hissing or groaning at every step. He decided he needed to find some sort of plant he could work with; this was just getting unbearable. Stepping over some dilapidated corpses of royal guards, pegasi and bat ponies alike, he found the huge door leading outside.
He pushed against it, straining his forelegs as he did so. It wouldn’t budge; there must be something blocking it from the other side. He sighed, tapping his forehead against it gently as he thought. There was no way he was going to force this door open, especially if it was enchanted with protective spells as he figured it would be. The Zebra was lost, trapped, there was no way to get out without falling a huge distance. His eyes slowly drooped closed as he slid down the door, eventually coming to lie on the ground.
A quick nap couldn’t hurt….
~~~
A warmth...a soft, kind warmth flowed over the groggy stallion. He felt some of his pain fade away as he felt a weight rest upon his back. Something tenderly pecked at his ears, and he flicked them in annoyance. Ysmir opened his eyes, looking around him. Night had fallen, how long had he been asleep? He coughed some dust up, standing shakily.
His ears perked up as he felt a familiar weight on his back, snapping his head around. “Verlore!?” he murmured in Zebrican, naming the cursed raven he had found and befriended some time ago. He had not seen her since he woke up, and he feared for the worst.
A glowing red head sitting atop a warm, orange and red body greeted him, tilting her head slightly. It was a phoenix. She looked up at him hopefully, feeling a kindred connection with him. She could not die, and had outlived the apparent apocalypse. Ysmir smiled softly, petting her head.
“Do not worry, little one. You can travel with me. I bet you miss your owner, don’ you?” he said, still speaking his native language. No need to speak Equestrian here, after all. The phoenix chirped and nestled against his mane. Ysmir tried the door again, with the same results: Stuck fast. He sighed, looking for another way out.
The only option he could see were the various holes in the ceiling and walls. It was a wonder the place hadn’t collapsed yet! He stuck his tongue out in concentration and jumped, Philomena flapping her wings and grabbing his pelt, leaving the stallion waving his hooves in midair.
“Well, well, aren't you a strong one.” he chuckled, letting her carry him over the crumbled wall and down to the street below, resting once more on his back. “Thank you, phoenix. I would have been stuck in there without your help.” He said, trotting down the street.
It was even worse up close. He had seen the destruction from the holes in the castle, but now that he was amongst it, it put a heavy weight on his heart. Buildings were toppled like dominoes, skeletons lay in piles strewn about, carriages were crushed with the remains of ponies trapped inside….whatever had done this, it had felt no mercy for anything it had encountered.
Ysmir climbed over a collapsed building, pushing some rubble out of the way and hopping through some sideways windows. He had two halves of his mind operating separately; one was looking for any sort of plant he could use to ease what remained of the pain, and the other half focused on finding more of these notes he had been finding, or any other sort of clues.
After an hour or so of searching, using the phoenix as a light source, he gathered there was nothing to be found. The zebra stallion sighed and trotted towards the exit to the city, planning on heading to Ponyville, then Manehattan, then his own hut to see if he could find anything.
Lost in his thought, the stallion tripped over a small piece of black equipment. Standing up and dusting himself off, thankful that no one could see that, he bent down and picked up what had tripped him. He had seen things like this before in the city, though he knew next to nothing about them. It was called a video camera. He fumbled with it, opening the folding screen and pressed every button he could find.
After a few minutes of this, Philomena rolled her eyes and leaned over his shoulder, pressing the rewind and play buttons on the device, eliciting a blush from the technologically inept stallion. He grew silent as the shaky camera footage began to play, depicting a still-intact Canterlot. The screen was filled with ponies running and flying away, though the camera angle didn’t quite reveal what. “Oh Celestia…” The camerastallion said, getting jostled around by the panicked ponies around him. “It just came up out of nowhere, man! I don’t know what it is, but it’s…” he stopped, the camera flipping upside down as if he had lowered it.
“W…..where did it go?” He murmured, picking the camera up again and waving it around, apparently looking for the creature. Ponies all around him were slowing in their flight, looking around just as he was. There was a rumbling, slow and steady, causing frightened screams and gasps to start up again.
As the camera pointed to the edge of the city, the part overlooking a sheer drop to the valley below, a dark shape was rising over the edge. It had climbed up over the mountain and was now gripping the edge like a ledge, pulling itself up. As it rose, a giant pair of eyes glared down at the city, and namely, the stallion holding the camera. He screamed, dropping the camera and as it landed, facing him running away, the picture cut out just as a shadowy appendage encroached upon him, cutting the camera to static.
Ysmir slowly lowered the camera, wincing and panting suddenly. He squeezed his eyes shut and gripped his head, excruciating pain bolting through his entire form as forgotten memories flashed through his mind in bits and pieces. They were incomplete, just vague flashes of emotions and images. A knock on his door, laughter, humbleness, honor, food, sleep….what did it all mean!?
After the visions and the pain subsided, he took his hooves off his ears as he suddenly realized he had been covering them due to the piercing ringing that was inside them. He opened his blurry eyes, panting softly as he began to regain his composure. Blinking tears of pain out of his eyes, they fell upon a small scroll that was rolled up and placed neatly in front of him.
That….that hadn’t been there before. There was no way. It looked just like the other two, he WOULD have noticed it….wouldn’t he? He tentatively trotted over, picking it up and examining it closely. He could feel the faint remnants of magic that quickly faded away. Had it been teleported here for him to see? The questions just stacked higher and higher, and he clenched his teeth in anger and irritation as he unrolled the note to begin reading it.
"Dear Princess,
We all got separated in Manehattan. We ran off without a plan. Everyone went everywhere and now I don't know where my friends are.
There's this huge...thing. It's crazy. It's just like a big shadow with no real shape, the only feature on it being its big, hazel eyes. You'd expect a demon to have red, or even yellow eyes, huh? Funny how that works.
I don't even know if this letter is going to find you, or anyone. I'm just gonna put it in a cloud and kick it as hard as I can. I think Applejack had Spike's bottle."
The writing was much steadier than the others had been. Whoever wrote this was probably better at suppressing their worries that the others had been.
"We could really use your help, Princess. You haven't see this thing...it's scary. And I'm fearless. Yeah, it's THAT bad. Send help to Manehattan if you can.
Rainbow Dash."
Ysmir rolled up the note and tied it to his leg. Very little had been answered so far. All he could gather was that he was reading the notes if a very important group of ponies if they thought they could stop whatever the threat was.
He sighed, an action that was quickly becoming a habit. "I guess the next step would be to see Manehattan. It all seems to end up there." He said to his Phoenix friend.
And with that, the stallion walked out if the city, heading to figure out what exactly was happening.