//------------------------------// // 1. Awake // Story: Gone // by Baritone //------------------------------// “I am Princess Celestia, co-leader of Equestria. If you seek answers, I cannot explain the disturbing events of late. I don’t know if anyone will ever hear this but...it’s over. I’m sorry. I am the only left.” A warm breeze swayed the trees surrounding Ponyville. The sun glowed and cast long shadows across the writhing grass on the meadow floor. Amongst the sea of swirling green, a pony slept peacefully. Her chest rose and fell gently, rhythmically, hypnotically. Her breathing was synchronized with the calm movements of the trees and the clouds hung in the sky like cotton candy. The little pony stirred, her purple form rolled onto its side. Silence. Twilight awoke, her ears twitching sporadically. Her breathing picked up and her lavender eyes unveiled themselves. The scent of flowers immediately demanded her attention. Daisies and dandelions drew her from her reverie as she shook away her sleepy daze. She took note of the morning sun, it must have been early...but why was she out here? It didn’t take her long to place where she was. Twilight was on the outskirts of Ponyville, her home. She saw the town not too far away, if only she could remember how she arrived in the first place. Her query forgotten, Twilight began towards the sleepy town, her hooves brushed against the vegetation as she went. She searched for an answer as to why she had slept outside but none came to her. “What a strange morning…” she said to no-one in particular. Her stomach wailed in a cry for attention. First order of business is breakfast. She thought to herself. Twilight decided she would visit the market on her way back to the library. Applejack would surely be glad to see her, it wasn’t very often that she had to fix her own breakfast. Maybe she took advantage of Spike a little too often...her mind wandered as the serenity elicited her to reflect. Smiling to herself, Twilight listened for birdsong. Much to her surprise, she heard none. At this point in the day, the birds should be very much awake. Perhaps it was earlier than she had initially thought. Now that she thought about it, Ponyville seemed a little too quiet as she approached. The residents of Ponyville weren’t idle foals when it came to the morning. They were hard working, early rising folk. As Ponyville crept towards her, Twilight didn’t hear the typical hustle and bustle of market day, she didn’t hear anything. Her ears twisted all directions, yet she detected nothing. Perhaps there was some kind of holiday on? It wouldn’t be out of character for Mayor Mare to just declare a holiday and give everyone a ‘day off.’ It was a Monday after all. Ponyville crept a little closer, still no signs of life. Twilight was now less than twenty metres away. Twenty more hoofsteps and she would be back in the town she knew and loved. She couldn’t help the feeling of unease as she entered Ponyville. The windows of buildings stared at Twilight like eyes, she was convinced she’d caught them looking. As well as this, she couldn’t shake the unsettling feeling growing in her gut. Moving through the familiar labyrinth, she continued. Twilight gingerly trotted through Ponyville towards to the marketplace where she intended to meet Applejack. The friendly farm pony could surely lift her spirits, if not, she could get something to eat. Her stomach wailed again as a reminder of her hunger. Applejack’s stall was seeming more appealing by the second. Twilight eventually came to the large market square in the centre of town. Her eyes scanned the area for ponies, she saw none, all Twilight could see was their unattended stands. This was certainly odd. Usually Ponyville was alive with bustle, but everyone had simply vanished. Twilight knew where Applejack would usually set up her apple stand, she went around the abandoned stalls, making a beeline for her friend's stand. When she arrived at Applejack's usual location, she was stunned. Applejack was also missing. Applejack never missed market day. As a diligent pony, Applejack would surely not allow herself to miss it. By this logic, her absence couldn’t be sheer coincidence. Of course, that wasn't even the beginning of it. No other ponies were present, every stall Twilight laid eyes on was vacant. Twilight recognised Carrot Top’s stall by the carrots strewn across the floor, it was certainly unlike Carrot Top to just abandon her stall. It looked like she had literally dropped everything and left, it made no sense. It was like Ponyville had turned into a ghost town overnight. The purple unicorn paused momentarily and scrunched her nose, straining her brain for information. This was certainly weird...even by Ponyville standards. The empty stalls, empty streets. Everything seemed empty. "Why can’t I remember yesterday?" Twilight mused. Twilight left the marketplace in her wake as she headed towards the Golden Oaks library. The eerie feeling that hung over the town remained but she knew there was a reasonable explanation to all of this, she just had to find it. Maybe Spike could shed some light on the situation? Hopefully the young dragon wasn’t too shocked by everything that had happened. The trot to the library didn’t take too long, the sound of Twilight’s hooves hitting the path filled the silence. Her eyes scanned the structures around her expectantly. Unfortunately, she was completely oblivious to the obstruction in front of her. Her right hoof clipped the boxes in her path, Twilight tripped suddenly, her hooves scrabbled for grip and she fell. Twilight winced as the din rang in her ears overpowering the deafening silence. That racket would surely attract attention... again, Twilight looked around at the homes of her friends. She expected someone to come galloping out to inquire about the noise. When no one came, Twilight decided to investigate. To her right, Twilight noticed a door moving in the breeze. She made her way over and pushed it open stepping her front hooves through the gap. Twilight peeked through and spoke. "Hello?" Twilight called out. "Is anyone there?" No reply. Twilight walked inside the home closing the door behind her. She made as little noise as possible. Walking into the hallway, she noticed how messy everything was. Leaves had blown into the hall and were collecting at the bottom of the staircase, Twilight wondered how long the door had been open like that if leaves had collected so much. The kitchen was visible on her left so that's where Twilight went first. A few plates and dishes were sat dry in the sink, a cereal box was left out on the sideboard and the morning paper was left alone at the table. Twilight picked the paper up in her magic to check the date of the paper but instead made an unsettling discovery, the paper had been partially doused in blood. Twilight stared at the stained red paper for a few seconds, it was unmistakable. Why on Equestria was there so much blood here? Twilight shivered, she didn't want to know the answer to her question. Instead, she refocused her gaze on the headline of the paper. "ABDUCTION IN CANTERLOT?" "That certainly doesn't sound good," she said to herself. Intrigued, Twilight looked over the rest of the article. ...many fear abduction to be the cause of the recent disappearances in Canterlot. ...Captain of the Guard, Shining Armour, gave a statement as the missing pony count rose to sixty. "The guard is aware of the situation and we are pushing to find the missing ponies and those responsible. The law will be upheld." "Good luck, big brother," Twilight said. Upon closer inspection, the date of paper showed a week had gone by. If that were true, Twilight was missing a large gap of time from her memory. Twilight remained still for a few seconds, lost in thought. She wasn't sure how to handle this information. Twilight walked back to the hallway and called loudly up the stairs in another attempt to find the home-owners. She surely would have woken someone that time. When Ponyville remained quiet once again, the anxious pony decided to leave the house. If she were honest with herself, she may have admitted being too scared to go and look upstairs. Being the level-headed pony she was, she suppressed this and made her objective getting back to the library. Twilight galloped away from the house not stopping to look back. She needed to see Spike. A short amount of galloping later, Twilight was outside her front door. The comforting branches of her tree home ushered her in, Twilight swung open the door with probably a little too much force, stepped in, then slammed the door closed. “Spike?!” She called out. No reply, Twilight started up the stairs to their room. He must still be sleeping. She arrived at the bedroom, emotions running wild within her. Twilight grasped the door, her magical aura enveloping the handle. She willed it forwards despite the anxiety to be utterly shocked. Spike was gone. Twilight was in a state of panic. She uprooted furniture, she flung pillows, she tore through her home desperately trying to find the young drake...but she couldn’t. The naive lavender pony had tried to write it off in the marketplace, but now, after visiting the house and seeing...this... she was left staring into the face of reality, she had to acknowledge that something was indeed wrong. Twilight wanted to cry, she was an emotional train wreck. She couldn’t think of anything that might make her forget how utterly defeated she felt. She wanted Spike back, she needed her friends, wherever they were. That’s when she saw it. In her time of darkness, she saw the light. Twilight couldn’t explain what she was seeing. Before her, a phenomenon of light danced. It wasn’t light from the sun, that much was obvious. It was a swirling golden orb that radiated a light of its own. As well as this, It was three-dimensional. Twilight wasn’t sure whether she could call it light. It broke all rules of physics and magic that she had been taught in Princess Celestia’s academy. Twilight’s analytical mind went to work. It had to be a form of magic. No regular light source was capable of creating this. Twilight determined that a magical scan was necessary. If she used her magic in such a way, she could determine an origin. In theory, if Twilight could do that, then she could discover who cast this spell and why it had manifested itself in her home. Twilight lit up her horn and attempted a magical scan of the light. As she prepared herself for the spell, the light flew away. As if on a whim, it had floated away leaving a trail of light in its wake. Perplexed, but not discouraged, Twilight followed the mysterious orb. Down the stairs it went, Twilight in pursuit. The orb paused at the bottom of the stairs and phased through the front door unimpeded. Twilight’s unnerving experience outside had her feeling skittish but her interest was piqued. The bookish pony was defenseless against the allure of mystery. Twilight found herself compelled to follow. After following the trail of light the orb was emitting, Twilight eventually found it.The orb had gone as far as it wished to go and remained stationary in the centre of Ponyville’s playground. There was no indication of why the orb had stopped. What Twilight found more disturbing was the amount of magic the orb possessed. She hadn’t noticed it initially, but after being in its presence for a longer period of time, she noticed that the orb possessed a great amount of inert magic. “Why did you bring me here?” She said, as if she were expecting a response. Twilight gazed at the orb and raised a hoof to touch it. Leaning closer, the orb came to life. It glowed brightly as she edged closer, the light seemed more and more blinding, Twilight couldn’t see her hoof in the dazzling glare. She pulled away, unsure of the consequences that would follow if she activated the inert magic within the orb. Twilight took a moment to think, the orb hadn’t tried to attack her and it hadn’t acted aggressively. The magic imprisoned within it seemed strong, but it was completely inactive. Surely if it were to attack her, she would be able to defend herself anyway. She was Princess Celestia’s personal student after all. Did it really pose a threat? In Twilight’s eyes, not knowing the origin of the orb was a good enough reason to cause concern. Until she knew what it was, she would have no business with it. What if the orb was in some way linked to what she had experienced? It did seem convenient that the strange orb just appeared at the same time as the mysterious silence. What if there was a connection? “What am I supposed to do?” Twilight asked. The orb stared back at her impassively, its golden glowing arms orbiting its rounded face tantalisingly. Twilight decided she simply couldn’t let the orb disappear. If that happened and the orb was in some way connected to her current situation, she would be responsible for allowing this anomaly to slip away! What would Princess Celestia think? On that note, Twilight acted. Her horn glowed a lavender tinge, Twilight felt her magic flowing within, she was ready. She cast her magic onto the orb, she felt out the dome structure she wished to form and lowered it until it completely encased the orb. It struggled at first but she felt it succumbing to her entrapment spell. The glow weakened and weakened until it was nothing but a twinkle. Twilight released her spell, the magic nullifying properties taking full affect and trapping the orb. Twilight released the air she had been holding in her lungs, she felt far safer knowing that the orb was contained. She was still uncomfortable, but she had a lead she could study -the orb-. Happy that the orb was contained, Twilight turned to leave but didn’t get far before a cracking sound begged her immediate attention. Alerted by the sudden noise, she turned and inspected the orb’s prison. Incredibly, it had expanded to a giant size. It was so large that Twilight's prison spell was now being put to test. The magic bubble groaned showing visual signs of stress, when the magical field was stretched to its absolute limit, it then began to disappear. The orb was taking in the magic from Twilight's prison like nourishment, absorbing it as a sponge would. Needless to say, Twilight couldn’t believe her eyes. The orb kept on expanding, Twilight’s prison was the key to releasing the orb’s powerful inert magic. Twilight attempted to cast another spell but it was too late, the orb began siphoning magic directly from the source. The purple pony felt the affects instantly as her knees weakened and she collapsed. The orb continued to drink away her magic reserves, Twilight was struggling to keep her eyes open. She thought she had passed out when the world went dark. If only.