Chapter One: Nightfall
The moonlit streets of Ponyville were calm and placid as they always had been, each paved path gleaming with the silent bliss of the night sky. Each shop had closed its doors for the evening, settling as if each individual building let out a sigh of relief from a productive work day. The local townsfolk followed the example that the sun had recently set, as neighbors and friends began to simultaneously retreat to their homes, awaiting the bright dawn of another promising morning.
Though the hustle and bustle of the town's majority had died down to a near-mute whisper, there was one unique house that hadn't yet become dormant and dim like its surrounding neighbors.
In the midst of dozens of other homes remained a brightly lit library; its inhabitants seeming to refuse to let the day end in its present moment.
Twilight paced around the library lobby as usual, as if there was an intention to brand a noticeable rut into the solid floorboards beneath her. Not paying attention to the irrelevant weathering under her hooves, she gave a focused stare into a partially rolled-up scroll, which seemed to spiral inward into all of eternity past what was visible. Ink and quill at the ready, she meticulously reviewed each and every particular date that was scheduled and already revised once or twice, in order to make certain that there were no misplaced dates or errors in the planning of upcoming events.
All the while, Spike was lazily seated in a chair that had began to grow cobwebs and collect dust, implying that it had been stationed there for quite some time. Perhaps this "schedule-check" was a nightly routine for both Twilight and the baby dragon, and the decrepit wooden seat had been a part of it for as long as the not-so-rare occasion had gone on.
"Alright, let's review," Twilight said aloud, "Lunch with the mayor is scheduled for next Tuesday, followed by my appointment at the spa with Rarity and Fluttershy later that afternoon. Wednesday morning will include Spike's bath..." she paused, glancing over at the baby dragon for a split moment.
"Huh, wha......uhh......" Spike groaned, attempting to stay awake while his friend droned on as she always did. To no avail, of course. Within a second, he'd gone back to a light sleep, allowing his ears to be spared of the boredom-inducing lecture.
With a small chuckle, Twilight continued to give a verbatim reading of her near-flawless schedule, ignoring the fact that her audience had lost all interest in listening to the narration. About thirty minutes had passed before the end of the calendar was reached, signaling the completion of yet another error check.
Spiraling the scroll back into its wrapped form, Twilight felt more than contempt with her work, fairly certain that the days ahead would have no unexpected surprises or drawbacks, due to the careful planning that had taken place. As the violet unicorn prepared to finally end the day with a few hours of rest, her meticulous eye caught a detail that no other pony would have noticed.
Looking out of the nearest window, Twilight noticed that the illumination from the night sky began to dim, blocking out the light from the moon and stars above the town, as the paved roadways began to lose their shine and tint.
"That's odd..." Twilight stated.
Stepping out onto the library balcony, Twilight gave a partially confused gaze into the sky, focused on the oncoming storm clouds that were rolling through from the direction of Canterlot. The pegasi hadn't scheduled a storm until next Thursday, which had obviously made the instance even more unexpected. Not only was the timing of this storm's arrival odd, but also the storm itself.
The eerie clouds that were rolling in seemed far from normal. Their shade was that of an opaque black, with an extremely condensed texture that made them impossible to see through. What made them even more bizarre was the fact that they didn't seem to move by themselves.
Instead, they appeared to expand and multiply.
Twilight's eyes instantly shot into a shocked and worried state, as she froze in place upon the realization that had just made itself present. The horrifying discovery sent chills throughout her spine, causing her pupils to shrink down to near nothingness and her jaw to hang agape.
This was truly terrible; a nightmare in reality.
A storm would conflict with the schedule.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no..."
Twilight brought herself back to her physical reality as she sprinted back into the library lobby, hyperventilating and reciting the same two words like a broken record. She quickly retrieved her extensive list for yet another revision.
"If it rains, Rainbow Dash will get stuck with clearing the clouds tomorrow, and she'll be too busy to come to the picnic with me and Pinkie in the afternoon. The weather conditions will be too inconvenient as well, so we'll have to call it off completely!"
Twilight quickly made swift strokes of her quill, almost as if practicing an advanced form of swordplay, as she rewrote and revised the ink-saturated parchment. All of time seemed to melt around her, as she hypnotically focused on each letter and character of her calligraphy, making certain that there were no conflicting errors, overlapped dates, or unnecessary typos.
"TWILIGHT!"
The familiar voice snapped Twilight out of her worried trance, as she glanced over her shoulder at the balcony doors, which were still left completely open from her recent episode. Barely visible in the sky was a cyan-colored pegasus with a wild mane sporting seven colors, flying at blinding speeds underneath the cloud cover towards the library.
Bolting in through the balcony doors came Rainbow Dash, panting and exhausted from the race from Cloudsdale. Despite rocketing through the doorway like a missile, she was able to come to a complete and controlled stop on all fours, without any momentum to throw her body to the opposite wall.
"Twilight...*huff*... something's happening... something...*huff*" Dash panted, trying to squeeze words through the demands of her lungs.
"Dash! What's going on? There wasn't supposed to be a storm scheduled until Thursday!" Twilight replied, focused on the importance of her regimen.
"I don't know... We didn't plan this..."
"Didn't plan it? How could it not be planned? Is everypony in Cloudsdale sleeping on the job today?" Twilight responded, frustrated from the grief that had been cast upon her.
"They're gone... Everypony in Cloudsdale! Completely gone!" Dash yelled, with a mix of anger and terror.
"Gone? What do you mean they're 'gone'?"
"Gone! Vanished! Disappeared! POOF! Cloudsdale is completely abandoned! It's a ghost town!"
"Are you sure? Have you checked everywhere?"
"As much as I could, yeah! I looked in every house, on every cloud... everywhere! I had to leave as quickly as possible to get here after it happened!"
"There could still be somepony that you missed. There has to be..."
"There's no way. Not anymore."
"What do you mean?"
"It's the reason I had to bolt here. I didn't know where else to go! I didn't know what to do!" Dash screamed, obviously shaken and disturbed by something.
"Take it easy! Just slow down and tell me what happened." Twilight responded, attempting to calm the frightened pegasus.
"Listen, we have to do something fast. If we don't hurry, they'll--"
Rainbow Dash's explanation was halted by a sound that chilled her and Twilight to the bone. Something that Dash had experienced in Cloudsdale, and that had followed her all the way down to the town where all of her friends had resided. The mere resonance and pitch was enough to make any creature shudder and shake in pure terror.
Screaming. Ponies screaming outside the library.
Bloodcurdling screeches. Horrifying shrieks. First delivered by one voice, then followed by another. Then another. And another. Ponyville quickly became an amphitheater hosted by a lingering choir of terror and dread.
"Oh, no..." Dash whispered, her words quaking as she tried to mutter them.
"W-what... what's going on?" Twilight stuttered, trembling on her hooves.
"Shut all of the doors and windows! Keep the lights on!" Dash responded, hell-bent on keeping this unknown terror at bay.
The frightened duo quickly did as Rainbow Dash had instructed, making sure to shut every single opening to the horror show that was occurring outside. Every light source was activated, every candle and lantern lit up to a near sun-like quality.
Though the security was foolproof, it provided no comfort, as the two horrified ponies stood in place next to each other, subjected to the flurry of shrieks and cries from outside. Colts, mares, and fillies all took place in the chilling song. No same voice screamed twice. Everypony only had the chance to let out one final and fatal cry of terror before the unknown pestilence silenced them completely.
For several minutes, the screams and cries continued to blare from the town. Some were familiar, some were well-known. It didn't matter. Almost every voice sounded out once, followed by a mute silence. After what seemed like an eternity, the choir had ceased, leaving Ponyville in a plague of complete quiet.
The shock still rang in the minds of both Twilight and Rainbow Dash, as they continued to tremble and quake in sheer horror from what had happened all around them. Through the silence and muteness, Dash was only able to whisper a small sentence through her terror and shock.
"... It's here..."