If he could, Ryuk would've frowned at the sight of Celestia and Twilight staring agape at seemingly empty space. Though time was non-existent there, Ryuk knew he hadn't been gone for very long, so he was curious as to what could've spooked the two ponies since he left.
When neither mare answered the Shinigami's question Ryuk walked up to them and, after securing the Death Note at his side, laid a hand on both mare's withers before giving them both a good shake.
"Huh! Wha-?" Celestia said, coming out of her stupor at the same time as Twilight, who shouted, "I didn't do it, I swear!"
Ryuk tilted his head curiously. "Is everything alright, you two?" he asked, genuinely concerned. "Did something happen while I was gone?"
While Twilight began breathing deep to calm her shaking nerves, Celestia returned Ryuk's gaze and gave him a small smile.
"Oh, Ryuk, you're back." She let her gaze fall to the black book at his side. "So, that's your Death Note, is it?"
Ryuk nodded. "It is," he confirmed. The Shinigami then looked at Twilight, who had recomposed herself and was staring sorrowfully down at the floor, then back to Celestia. "What happened while I was gone? You two were all zoned out just now."
Celestia shook her head sagely. "Don't worry about it, Ryuk," she answered. Using her magic she opened the front door. "For now, just find a place to stay for the night."
Ryuk stared blankly at Celestia for a while before shrugging. "Suit yourself," he said, and exited through the open door, which Celestia closed following his exit.
"Princess?" Twilight whispered, earning the solar alicorn's attention.
"Yes, Twilight?" she replied, turning back to her.
Twilight kept her gaze trained on the floor for a few more moments before returning Celestia's gaze. The solar alicorn frowned at the hurt look in her student's eyes. "Everything Fallen Star said," she croaked, "could it all be because of m-"
"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Twilight," Celestia commanded, her expression turning stern as her tone hardened. "I'm well aware of the possible implications of what she informed us, but blaming yourself for events which have yet to unfold is inexcusable for any student of mine."
Twilight shrank under her mentor's harsh gaze. Celestia realized her blunder and took a deep, relaxing breath before continuing. "My apologies, Twilight. The idea that my little ponies would stoop to bloodshed has me a bit riled up, and hearing you beginning to blame yourself for it all isn't helping matters." She stopped for a moment, thinking a few things over, before sighing and continuing again. "Let's discuss this further in the morning. For now, I just want to get a good night's sleep."
". . . Okay," Twilight said weakly, and made for the staircase leading to her room.
“Twilight?” Celestia said.
“Yes, princess?” she replied, turning to look back at Celestia.
"Would it be alright if I stayed here for the night?”
Twilight blinked once in surprise, then tilted her head curiously. “Why?”
“I’ve decided to remain with the group from now on, so I can be at the ready for whenever trouble presents itself to everyone else.” Celestia smiled. “I ask if I may sleep here only because I’d rather be as close to you as possible, if that’s alright?”
Twilight returned the princess’ smile with her own. “Thanks, princess.” The lavender unicorn then lead the solar alicorn upstairs. Sandy was already asleep in the guest bed, her helmet discarded and resting on the floor beside it. The creature was deep asleep as well, curled up in Spike's basket next to Twilight's own bed.
Stepping toward the bed, Twilight suddenly realized something and stopped.
"Twilight?" Celestia said, looking at her confused. "Is something wrong?"
The solar alicorn watched as Twilight scuffed a hoof across the ground and turned to look back at her, her face sheepish and a deep shade of crimson. "I kinda only have one bed to spare," she replied, feigning a smile.
Celestia stared blankly for a few moments before realizing what Twilight was getting at, to which she lightly chuckled and shook her head. "It's okay, my faithful student," she said, settling down on the wooden floor and folding her fore legs. "I will sleep on the floor if you're too uncomfortable with sharing a bed."
"What!? No, no, prin-" Twilight shouted before cutting herself off, remembering there were others sleeping in the room. She lowered her voice to a harsh whisper and continued. "I'm okay with sharing a bed with you." Her blush only deepened. "Really, I am."
"Your face says otherwise," Celestia pointed out, suppressing a giggle. "But with utmost seriousness, Twilight, I'll be fine." She sighed wistfully. "Remember that my authority and status both mean nothing here, to which I'm no different from any other guest." She rested her head in her fore legs and closed her eyes. "Goodnight, Twilight."
Twilight stared briefly in shock at her, amazed by how easily Celestia was willing to give up sleeping in an actual bed in favor of her bedroom's dirty, wooden floor. Eventually she nodded in acceptance and climbed into her bed, pulling the covers up to her chin and resting her head against the pillow, facing towards Celestia.
"Goodnight, princess," Twilight whispered, and shut her own eyes.
Nope . . . nope . . . nope . . . that’ll likely kill me . . . nope . . . nope.
How hard can it be to find an unstoppable force of destruction amongst all these realities? *sigh* Don’t lose your cool over this, Aza, just keep searching.
. . . Nope . . . nope . . . nope . . . nope . . . hmm, I’ll save that for later . . . nope . . . nope . . . ooh, this looks promising.
While Celestia, Sandy, and the creature slept soundly in their respective beds Twilight hadn't been able to get so much as a wink of sleep since climbing into bed seven 'hours' ago. Quite the contrary, in fact; the lavender unicorn was more restless than she’d ever been in her life. Twilight's mind was aflutter with nothing except everything Star Fall had spoke of earlier, and she'd done her very best to push all the unwanted thoughts out so she could fall asleep. But no matter what she tried, the tale of evil and destruction which the white pegasus had weaved continued to haunt her conscience like a mental parasite, sucking away any chance she had of falling into sleep’s soothing embrace.
Eventually, Twilight sighed in defeat and pulled herself out of bed, taking care to step softly on the wooden floor so as to not wake any of her guests. Keeping her noise level to a minimum, she trotted across the room and out onto the balcony, whereupon she sat down and stared thoughtfully up at the starless sky.
The only reason why Celestia and Luna wouldn’t seek the Elements’ aid is if they were either lost or proven to be unreliable against an enemy. Judging from Fallen Star’s story the former seems more likely, but that doesn’t explain why nopony would even remember them. If ponies a thousand years in the future know about me and my friends then why don’t they know about the Elements? After all, we aren’t of any particular importance otherwise, and even if that was to change we’re still best known for wielding the Elements against Nightmare Moon and Discord, so ponies should still have a record of them along with us.
The lavender unicorn rolled onto her back, shifting her gaze to the top of Golden Oaks. The only plausible explanation is that we intentionally buried all traces of their existence, and the only reason we’d have for doing that is finding out they were harmful or unreliable in some way, shape, or form. Twilight furrowed her brows. If that’s true, then I must’ve documented whatever it was in Harmony Theory. Or wait, it could’ve been an alternate Twilight Sparkle that did it. But then why would Aza bother to bring Fallen Star here if she doesn’t come from the same space-time continuum as me? Is Aza only trying to make me think I’m going to help bring about the Schism if me and Celestia return home? All I would have to do is refrain from studying the Elements and all would be good. Wait, no, if an inherent danger existed in them and revealed itself I’d still have to study the Elements for diagnostic purposes. She sighed and rolled back onto her barrel, staring up at the starry sky. I'm not going to be able to sleep until . . .
Twilight blinked. She blinked again. She then rubbed her eyes and gave her head a good shake, thinking she was seeing things. When she returned her gaze skyward, however, she saw the same thing as before. Whereas the sky was previously pitch black with nothing except the moon to break up the darkness, a total of five stars now dotted the sky and helped the moon to light it.
“Wha-?”
Twilight was interrupted from her confused stupor by the sound of scampering feet emanating behind her. She quickly turned her head just in time to catch a glimpse of the yellow creature’s lightning bolt tail disappear down the stairs. The question of what the stars were for was temporarily forgotten as Twilight ignited her horn and teleported into the library’s main room. She reappeared right in front of the creature, who skidded to a halt at her sudden presence and backed up slowly, baring its teeth.
“Don’t panic,” Twilight said in a placating manner, “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Pika-chuuu,” the creature growled.
Is that all it can say? Twilight wondered.
“Listen, whoever, or whatever you are,” she said, taking a single step forward, “I need to-Ahh!”
Twilight cut herself off as the creature suddenly darted forward, a white light trailing from its back, and around her to the door. The sudden action was enough to make Twilight falter, and she fell hard on her rump.
“Oww,” she moaned.
The creature, meanwhile, reached the library’s front door, hitting it head on but failing to break it open.
“Pika,” the creature said simply.
Twilight turned around just in time to see the creature’s lightning bolt tail turn as hard as steel. She then watched as the creature swung its tail dead center into the wooden door, instantly smashing it to pieces. Twilight normally would’ve been shocked by such an action, but she’d taken it upon herself to take care of the creature and letting it out into this alternate Equestria would be inviting trouble.
As soon as the wood pieces finished clattering to the ground, the creature made a mad dash for the outside world beyond, only to be restrained by Twilight’s magic. The creature struggled hard against its magical restraint, thrashing every which way in a futile attempt to escape.
“It’s no use,” Twilight calmly informed the creature. “Now, like I said I need to-”
Twilight once again cut herself off, this time in response to a sparkling of electricity emanating from the creature’s red cheeks.
“Pika-CHUUUUUUUU!” The creature shouted as it let loose a large mass of lightning straight towards Twilight.
“Ah!” she cried, and jumped to the side to avoid the strike, which collided with the wooden floor and left a big, black scorch mark.
The sudden loss of concentration caused Twilight to lose her magical grip on the creature. Now free, the creature dashed through the obliterated doorway, only to disappear in a flash of green light.
“Wait!” Twilight cried. She rushed forward through the doorway herself, only for the sight of Ponyville to be replaced by a clear, blue sky meeting the ocean along the horizon. Before Twilight could comprehend what had happened, she felt herself fall. It was a short drop, however, for she impacted her rump on a wooden surface once again. “Oww.”
After once again recovering from the pain, Twilight stood herself up and took stock of her surroundings. Right away she realized she’d been relocated onto a boat out at sea, plainly obvious by the ocean water she could see over the stern, as well as the gentle bobbing motion she felt the boat make under her hooves. A swivel chair was bolted to the deck in front of her, a safety belt wrapped around it, indicating someone had been sitting in it. Hooked onto the belt was a fishing rod, its line cast into the water.
What kind of fishing boat needs this setup? Twilight wondered.
Her ear flicked in response to a noise from behind her, and she turned around to see the yellow creature preparing to smash through a glass window inside the wheelhouse with its tail. Twilight sighed and trotted into the wheelhouse, instinctually blinking when the creature smashed the window sending glass shards everywhere. It then hurried through the hole it made and, with a good spring, jumped up onto the fly bridge above the wheelhouse.
“Good luck trying to escape,” Twilight whispered sarcastically. She took a moment to survey the equipment lining the wheelhouse, and found it too alien for her to use. With another sigh, Twilight trotted back outside and stared up at the sky.
“Aza!” she screamed. “Where did you put us?”
No answer came.
“Aza!” she tried again.
Still nothing.
Stomping her hoof in frustration, Twilight ignited her horn and teleported up onto the crow’s nest. She squinted her eyes against the sun’s light and swept her gaze across the oceanscape in search of any land stretch she could possibly find. But a full three hundred and sixty degree turn revealed sight of nothing but endless ocean.
“So much for giving us a break,” Twilight grumbled.
“Pi-pikachu!”
Twilight peered over the side of the crow’s nest to see the creature staring up at her in anger. Twilight shot it a furrowed gaze in return.
“I’m going to guess you’re not happy about being stranded in the middle of the ocean,” she said. “Well, neither am I, and if we’re to have any chance of escaping from this unscathed we need to work together.”
The creature only continued glowering up at her. Twilight charged up her horn and teleported down to the fly bridge, making sure to put as much distance between herself and the creature so as to not provoke it again. It worked, for the creature refrained from attacking her, though refused to avert its eyes from her or drop its expression of rage.
“I can quickly show you all of what’s happening,” Twilight continued, speaking slowly so the creature could process her words, “but only if you trust me when I say that’s all I’m going to do.”
The creature stood stock still for a while as it judged the sincerity of Twilight’s words. Twilight waited patiently, not wanting to rush things and risk being burned to a crisp by the creature’s electrical powers.
It’s going to take some work keeping this thing under control, Twilight noted wryly while she waited.
“Pika-pi,” the creature responded, relaxing its posture.
“Does that mean yes?” Twilight asked.
The creature nodded.
“Great,” Twilight said with a smile. She lit up her horn and approached the creature, who stayed in place but still gave Twilight a look of suspicion. “Now, I promise this won’t hurt at all.”
The creature fidgeted as Twilight lowered her horn to its forehead, clearly hesitant to believe her. Its fears were proven unfounded, however, as the touch of Twilight’s horn to its forehead heralded no pain in the slightest, only a wave of memories showing everything regarding the situation and what Twilight had experienced as a result. The creature stared blankly ahead as all the memories came rushing in, the sheer amount almost too much for its brain to process all at once. When the transfer was complete the creature continued to stare blankly ahead, now more out of shock and disbelief than mental strain.
“Hey,” Twilight said, “are you okay?”
The creature shook free of its stupor and nodded. “Pika-pi.”
“So, what’s your name?”
“Pikachu.”
Twilight tilted her head, confused. “That’s your name?”
Pikachu nodded.
“Is it the only thing you can say?”
Pikachu nodded again.
“Well, um . . .” Twilight shifted uncomfortably. “. . . Are you a male or a female? Nod once for male and twice for female.”
Pikachu nodded once.
Twilight smiled momentarily before settling into a frown at a new realization. “It’s going to be hard to communicate beyond yes or no questions,” she noted.
Pikachu didn’t reply, rather sighed in exasperation. Suddenly, the boat rocked to one side, causing both to lose their balance, with Twilight landing on her barrel instead of her rump for a change. The boat rocked back and forth gently in the water for a few moments before standing still again.
“What was that?” Twilight asked herself.
“Pika-chu,” Pikachu muttered.
The two stood up and peered down to the water, looking all along the boat’s length on both sides, but saw nothing.
Something else is definitely here with us, Twilight thought, shifting attention to the stern.
“Pi-pikachu!”
Twilight looked back at Pikachu, who was facing the ship’s bow. Following his gaze, Twilight saw movement a little ways out in the water. She squinted her eyes to see it better, but it was unneeded as the object was moving straight towards the boat, allowing her to see it better as it came closer. Twilight’s eyes shrank to pinpricks when she realized exactly what was coming straight for the boat; the triangular fin was a dead giveaway.
The shark swam just to the side of the boat along its entire length, affording Twilight and Pikachu full view of its twenty-five foot, dark green body. Its tail bumped against the side of the boat a couple of times as it passed, sending small vibrations through the boat that Twilight and Pikachu couldn’t tell apart from the shivers that went up their spines from seeing the enormous predator.
Ponyfeathers, Twilight thought with a whimper.
All was destruction.
Equestria, once a land of magic and harmony, now a barren wasteland devoid of life. The Canterhorn, once a majestic, awe-inspiring peak upon which Equestria’s capital sat, now a shell of its former beauty. The crumbled remains of Canterlot lay buried in a shallow grave of mountain rocks.
The surrounding landscape was charred beyond recognition. Entire forests were burnt to a crisp and once grassy plains now sat unmoving in the wind’s pull, having been incinerated to the roots.
The normally bright blue sky was enveloped in billowing dark clouds moving of their own accord, blocking the sun’s rays and shrouding the land in perpetual darkness.
“Hahahahahahahahaha!”
From high above, a cackle reverberated throughout the landscape, reaching across the land to every single corner of Equestria. But there was no one to hear it.
Suddenly, a figure emerged through the clouds. Its presence would’ve brought untold levels of despair and dread to any who bore witness to it, but this was literally impossible now. The figure was equine in shape, and covered from head to hoof in concealing darkness. Its mouth slowly opened, revealing teeth sharper than that of a normal pony, more akin to a dragon’s.
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
Another, much louder, cackle reverberated throughout the landscape. The figure descended to the scorched earth below, landing gracefully upon the decimated remains of Canterlot.
“All is destruction.”
The equine surveyed the landscape for what could’ve been forever. It was impossible to tell since time itself was no longer relevant. The equine gazed upon the land’s destruction, its expression one of satisfaction underneath all the shadows which shrouded it. It continued its observation while picking up a sharp piece of wood from the rubble it stood upon.
“This is the end.”
It plunged the wood into its chest.
“No!”
Celestia sat up with a gasp, panting heavily as a bead of cold sweat ran down the length of her body. Her heart rate spiked for a brief few moments, only to slowly settle down once again as the solar alicorn herself recovered from the nightmare. Some deep, calming breaths and Celestia was recomposed.
“Land’s sakes, Celestia, what’s gotten into ya!?”
Celestia gave a firm shake of her head and looked up to see Sandy staring down at her with a concerned expression. Noticing the brightness of the room, Celestia turned to look at the window and saw that it was daytime. She took a moment to sit up on her haunches an, after rubbing the sleep from her eyes, replied to the squirrel.
“My apologies, Ms. Cheeks.” She gave her a small smile. “It was just a nightmare, that’s all.”
Sandy tilted her head. “Must’ve been some nightmare,’ she mused. “Y’all were tossin’ and turnin’ in yer sleep fer a while there; nearly scared the livin’ daylights outta me.”
“Now you know how I felt just now,” Celestia chuckled. She looked around the room, and quickly noticed Twilight, as well as the creature, were missing. “Where are Twilight and the creature?”
Sandy shrugged. “Don’t know,” she admitted. “Ah figure they’re probably downstairs are somethin’.” She regarded the solar alicorn for a moment, noticing how pensive she seemed. “Are y’all sure everything’s alright, Celestia?”
Celestia fidgeted, her lips pursed as she shied away from Sandy’s gaze. “It’s nothing which should concern anyone except me and Twilight,” she replied.
Sandy would’ve pressed her to elaborate, but a call from downstairs interrupted their conversation.
“Celestia!? Twilight!? Sandy!?”
Celestia turned to the staircase. “We’re upstairs!” she called back.
The sound of three pairs of footsteps rushed up the stairs, and a moment later Samus, Yugi, and James emerged at the landing. Yugi and James’ faces held expressions of concern while Samus’ helmet concealed her own.
“Where are Twilight and the creature?” James asked, a little more hastily than was typical for him.
“We don’t know,” Celestia replied, shaking her head. “Why do you ask?”
Yugi pointed back down the staircase. “The library’s front door was ripped to shreds when we arrived,” he explained. “There’s also a scorch mark on the floor that looks like something burned.”
Celestia’s eyes went wide with surprise. “Oh no,” she muttered.
Before anything more could be said, the solar alicorn charged up her horn and teleported downstairs. She rushed to the front door and, after a brief inspection of the damage, shot through the doorway and into the corpse-ridden streets of Ponyville.
“TWILIGHT!” she shouted, using the Royal Canterlot voice for the first time in so long. “WHERE ARE YOU!?”
No answer.
“TWILIGHT!”
Still nothing.
Celestia took to the air and began searching from above Ponyville for her student as the others stepped out of the library themselves, careful to avoid stepping on splintered wood pieces.
What happened here? Yugi wondered.
It’s impossible to say for sure, the pharaoh replied. At any rate, we should help Celestia with searching.
Right.
Yugi turned to the others. “C’mon, we need to help her,” he said, then took off running down the street.
“I’ll check the south side of town,” Samus said, and began running down the opposite street.
James turned to Sandy. “Should we check the forest?” he inquired.
Sandy nodded. “That’s about the only place left to check . . .” Then Sandy noticed something; specifically, someone’s absence. ‘Hey, where’s Ryuk at?”
The Shinigami had decided to leave Ponyville upon realizing all the houses were ‘boring as hell’ and look for a more interesting place to stay.
It was a new idea for the god of death to take up a residence as his own. In the Shinigami realm, where residence was a useless concept due to Shinigami having no possessions other than Death Notes, he would typically wander aimlessly throughout the dreary landscape looking for something to keep him from getting so bored that he dropped his Death Note into the human world.
Again.
The only time a Shinigami could ever claim to have actual, structural lodging as their own was when they dropped a Death Note into the human world and it was claimed by a human. The Shinigami would essentially live with that person as was required of them until they either relinquished ownership of the notebook or the person reached the set time of their death, but never would the Shinigami think of that place as ‘home’.
The idea of having a house all to himself was a new, but all the same interesting, idea to Ryuk. Even if Ponyville didn’t appeal to his tastes, he was willing to scour all of Equestria until he found a place which did. He spent the whole night searching, moving east on foot so he could better see everything. He passed by plenty of towns along the way, yet none had a place which appealed to him, to which he’d just keep walking non-stop.
I should ask Celestia and Twilight if there’s any ‘haunted’ mansions in Equestria. Ryuk chuckled. Those were always fun to mess around in and scare people.
The sun had risen by the time Ryuk reached Equestria’s east coast. The salty smell of sea air filled his nostrils as the Shinigami crested the last sand dune prior to the beach. The ocean stretched out before him, brightly illuminated by the rising sun. The water was very calm with only small waves gently lapping the shoreline, and the air’s placidness was broken only by a very slight breeze that Ryuk couldn’t see reflected across the sand below him, rather he felt it through his hair.
Hmm, well, looks like this is it. Ryuk shrugged his shoulders. Guess I’d better go back and see how the others are doing.
Ryuk was about to turn around and head back the way he came when a slight flicker of movement out in the water caught his attention. Turning his head toward the spot, he held a hand up to his forehead and squinted against the sunlight. A portion of water, about five hundred yards from the beach, was churning violently and creating a foamy mass upon the water’s surface.
As Ryuk continued watching the action his curiosity as to what it could be grew exponentially. Remembering that the eight group members, and the unintended addition of the two worm monsters, were the only known life forms on the planet, the Shinigami was especially excited to see what new addition the sentient universe had abducted from its home. That curiosity gave way to awe as a dark shape began emerging slowly from the water, silhouetted perfectly against the rising sun behind it.
Ryuk’s amazement, however, turned into concern as the figure didn’t stop rising out of the water. It continued growing, reaching a hundred feet in height as it took on a more definitive shape. Ryuk’s eyes would’ve bulged out of their sockets if they could, and the Shinigami took a tentative step backwards as the colossal figure before it reared its enormous head, revealing two large reptilian eyes that seemed to bore straight through him despite not even facing in the Shinigami’s direction. Such was the power they spoke of, and Ryuk was on the verge of whimpering just at the sight.
Crap, he thought.
The Shinigami took to the air out of reflex, and fear, wanting to get away from the creature without delay. Flapping his wings as hard as he could, the Shinigami made a mad dash back the way he had come, intending to warn Twilight and the others of the gigantic monster that had joined Aza’s game.
Unfortunately, Ryuk’s decision to fly allowed the creature a perfect view of the fleeing Shinigami. Having sighted other life after being lost and confused in an empty ocean for longer than it was comfortable with, the beast let out an earth-shattering roar and stepped out of the ocean onto the beach. After taking a moment to stretch its massive limbs, shaking entire buckets of water off which bombarded against the sand, the monster gave chase.