The White Void

by Sealcake


Nap

Walking was something Rainbow didn't like to do, not because of despise to the other races, but because it gave her time to think about things. Like the way she had acted when she saw the first green sign; flying straight forward, abandoning her friend. Or the mix of feelings when she thought Twilight was dead; anger, sadness, guilt...

'Wait a moment,' she thought, 'if she wasn't really dead...' She felt a cold hoof between her forelegs, but looking at them only informed her that she was walking. She shivered, even if Twilight hadn't died back in the '2 miles' zone, her fainting seemed too serious to be a simple reaction to exhaustion and the feeling Rainbow got when she touched her still hoof...

Rainbow shook her head. Trying to dissipate her thoughts, she looked at what was in front of her; a purple butt. Blushing awkwardly, she looked to her right, where there were no butts to distract her. She wasn't into mares, after all.
But being distracted from the only thing that wasn't white made her think about the events of before again; how motionless Twilight's body was, how she puked on the floor, how tired was she when she arrived... how tired...
Rainbow's eyes widened, they have been walking since Twilight got up, which was seconds after she fainted for overworking her body. How could she, a pony that didn't practice sports or similar, a pony that breathed with the mouth while doing exercise, recover so easily? Was that magic? But Twilight had said that magic couldn't work there because there was a lack of magical frequencies to use it, right?
With the gears in her brain working at 100 mph, Rainbow didn't notice that Twilight had stopped walking and collided with her, putting a stop to her thoughts.

"What the...?"

"There aren't any more signs, Rainbow," Twilight said, deadpanned.

"What?! You gotta' be lying, right?!" Dash yelled, rubbing her nose.

"No, there aren't signs."

"But that's impossible, we saw them appearing, there have to be more of 'em!"

"I have been counting the seconds, Rainbow. We have been walking for more than two hours, there AREN'T more signs..." Twilight said, turning around to face Rainbow Dash, tears staining her face. "The Void has tricked us."

Rainbow's jaw hung open, then, slowly, she closed it. "Oh, you got me with this one, Twi!" she said, laughing, "I thought you said that there... that there weren't more signs..." her voice lowered as she saw Twilight's sad expression, her laugh morphing into a nervous one. "Oh..." She lowered her head, face darkened by her colorful forelocks.

Twilight sat, ears dropped.

"Why would the Void do that?" asked Rainbow, catching Twilight's attention.

"I... I don't know," answered Twilight, grabbing her head with her hooves. "I just want to take a nap."

In a silent acceptance, Rainbow sat down next to her friend and hugged her. "Me too," she said, a tear running down her cheek. "I am tired." She smiled at her friend, who in return did the same. "Goodnight, Twi," she said, before closing her eyes and driving off into a dreamless sleep.

"Goodnight," said Twilight, her eyelids weighing more than before. Just as she drived off to the incredible imaginary landscape waiting for her, she caught a glimpse of a dark cloud of smoke far away in the distance.
She just hoped than when she woke up, she would find herself in her warm bed, in her library and with Spike preparing a mug of hot cocoa.
Oh, she hoped.


"Spike, wake up, Spike!" Apple Bloom, somehow, managed to shout and whisper.

"Nnnghnhgn," the dragon answered, turning around in the guest bed. "No... not the bees."

"Spike!" yelled the filly, this time, awakening the dragon. "Spike, look!" She pointed her hoof at the window, where a blinding purple pilar could be seen above the trees and fog, but due to the distance between the farm and the town, it seemed more like a thin bright line than a magical pilar of destruction. "Fireworks!"

"Fireworks, Spike!" repeated Scootaloo. "Fireworks!" She shook Spike with her hooves.

Spike, still sleepy, opened his eyes. Before him were three blurred spots, one white, one yellow and one orange; that took the shape of Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo after a few blinks.
Spike, having been defeated by the fillies, got out of bed and stumbled towards the window.

With his mind half asleep, he asked, "Since when is that there?"

"Dunno, Scootaloo heard a loud boom and woke me up," said Apple Bloom, sitting near Spike. "It has been there for, like, minutes!" she exclaimed.

Spike observed how the enormous 'firework' changes its form from a pilar to swirling lines of purple that joined together in the top.

"What kind of firework is that?" he asked to no one. He had never seen something like that, only small fireworks that always exploded in hundred of fragments, but that thing looked like it was being controlled.
Just as he started to notice how beautiful the thing -that has taken the shape of a spiral- was, the extreme of the top went down in a straight line, in a movement far too... strict, like it was being forced to do so.

"What the-?"

Seconds after the thing disappeared, the sound of something collapsing was heard in the distance, shaking the trees of the farm.

"Awww, it's gone," said Sweetie, disappointed.

"Back to sleep," said Spike, waving his claws. Just as he was getting in the sheets, Scootaloo went and pushed him, throwing him to the floor.

"We can't go to sleep!" she exclaimed, "they're throwing fireworks in Ponyville and I want to see it!"

With his face still on the floor, Spike said, "Sleepover, fog, Applejack is overprotective, sleep."

"But mah' sister isn't here! She is with Pinkie doin' crazy recipes!"

"Big Macintosh," Spike continued. "Sleep."

Apple Bloom scowled and tried to move the dragon, but Spike was already snoring.


"What was the reason ya' need me here, Pinks?" asked Applejack, watching as said mare ran through the entire kitchen, opening cupboards, carrying bags of flour, and pouring milk in some bowls. "Ya' seem doin' pretty well."

Pinkie, potentiated by the powerful miracle that was caffeine, stopped and said, "But you're the one who makes the best pies!"

"Ah' know, but-"

Applejack was suddenly interrupted by Pinkie's movements. She looked at her friend, whose tail was twitching, her eyes fluttering, her ears flopping and more. Applejack was speechless, knowing full well that that meant that the Pinkie Sense was at work.

"That was a big one!" Pinkie exclaimed after her body stopped its weird movements, "something unexpected is going to happen!"

"Somethin' like?" she asked, wondering what was that has caused the Pinkie Sense to went like that. It wasn't a matter of time until a loud explosion answered her question.

Pinkie's smile dropped. "It's something bad."