The Saddest Story

by MemoryLane

Chapter Four

Twilight’s mind was a sea of confusion, depression, and sickness.

Her heart had been thumping for the last twenty minutes. It was roughly 11 o’clock after all. Her mind wasn’t able to process just how much time had passed, however. After Prose—Twilight’s good friend—had killed herself, she had initially been in a horridly brutal state of shock. While the mare was certain that only two minutes had passed, she didn’t comprehend that her mind had remained frozen for a much longer period of time than she originally thought.

It took her fifteen minutes to snap out of it. When she did, she still didn’t know what to do. Just a few moments ago, Prose was alive and well. The mare even smiled to her as Twilight left the room. She was only planning on being gone for a few minutes, and she was.

Twilight was desperate, unable to accept the harsh reality that lied in a bloody mess underneath the massive pile of books and splintered wood. Deaths that weren’t relative to old age, or even some other natural cause, were very uncommon. In fact, Twilight had never known of anypony around her in her entire life that had died prematurely. For this reason, Twilight was at a complete loss as for how to feel.

More tears streamed down the unicorns face. Her eyes were wide with unrelenting fright. Twilight’s horn was aglow as she flung books and pieces of wood to and fro in a useless effort to save Prose.

¨N-no...¨ The words poured out of her mouth, as if she had taken a drink of water but refused to swallow. ¨T-this can’t be...¨

Pieces of wood and paper flew everywhere, drenched in the darkness that the clouds outside provided. The more Twilight removed, the more blood that the mare uncovered. The more blood that she uncovered, the less hopeful she became.

Twilight’s common sense knew what she didn’t want to admit. Prose was most certainly dead—killed by Twilight’s own pride and joy. There was no way that Prose could have survived. After all, it was Twilight’s bookcase. She knew exactly how heavy it was.

Unfortunately, Twilight just could not accept it.

¨Please...¨ Twilight groaned as she choked on the tears. The words constricted her throat. ¨What happened… Prose?¨

Twilight stopped. She had removed about half of the debris before giving up. She could see a sliver of cerulean blue—Prose—at the bottom of the pile. Unfortunately, the more she uncovered, the more blood Twilight came across. Twilight had a feeling that seeing the body would only make her feel sicker than she already was.

She paused.. The scent of iron filled her nostrils, like she was swimming in a pool of liquefied rust. Tears continued to stream down her face as she tried to piece together what had just happened in the last twenty minutes.

None of it made any sense. Prose was a very happy mare, from Twilight’s perspective. She didn’t look suicidal in the slightest. However, depression isn’t easily discernible by mere sight. Maybe Prose was very dispirited after all. Moment’s before her death, she said it herself. Those fateful words: “I’m so sad, Twilight”, would hang in her consciousness for the rest of her life.

Twilight refused to accept that as well. Prose was not depressed, despite the obvious signs. She knew the mare for a while now, and Prose had no reason to just up and end her life out of the blue. That, and the fact that Prose was too mature to try and gain attention and an audience from her suicide.

Nothing was making any sense. She needed to contact the hospital, or the police, or something first. She was incredibly doubtful that Prose was still alive, but she couldn’t rule out the possibility. Since Twilight hadn’t gotten to Prose yet, she could very well still be breathing underneath the now smaller pile of books—suffering.

She needed help. She didn’t care who, but preferably a doctor. How was she going to bring Prose to a hospital? If Twilight tried to move her as she lay underneath all those books and sharp pieces of wood, she could get injured further—if she was still alive. Teleportation was out of the picture. If teleportation is done by two unicorns, it saps a little bit power from both. That could prove fatal.

She had no choice but to leave her friend behind, and go search for help.

Twilight stood straight, and stared down at Prose’s makeshift book grave. “I’m so sorry, Prose,” Twilight murmured, more tears falling down her face. Her eyes grew red. “I thought we were friends. I’m sorry you were so sad. I… I didn’t know…”

Twilight would have given the world for a mere breath as a response. “I should have done something to help you… if you can hear me, then I’m going to get help. If you can here me, please stay strong.”

No response. Twilight was almost positive that Prose was dead, however she just couldn’t seem to let go of that little sliver of optimism that clouded her judgement. She glanced down further, towards her hooves, and let out an “oh”.

The Shutterwell book sat only a few centimeters away. The title was covered in blood, as were some of the pages. Twilight magically picked up the book, and let out a shaky breath. “For you, just in case,” she quivered. She set the book down on the top of the pile. It was Twilight’s gift to the late Prose, who died way too young. She had a feeling that Prose would have rathered a book on her grave, more so than flowers.

When the book was set neatly on top of the pile, Twilight couldn’t bear it anymore. She ran. She bolted out the door with speeds she never knew she could reach.

---

The moment Twilight opened the doors and wandered outside, she knew something was wrong.

The air was cold and nippy, pretty close to what Twilight had expected to accompany the overcast that shrouded the town. Whenever a wind strode by, she felt herself violently shiver For September, it was unnaturally chilly. Luckily, it was supposed to warm up later in the day. For now, the tears that had previously crawled down Twilight’s cheeks were currently freezing against her face.

Everything was loud, like the entire town was talking at once. Many ponies were running around in a panic. Some ponies were carrying their belongings in their hooves, while others were carrying ponies entirely. Screams and desperate cries for help filled the air. There were fires blazing, enveloping houses and buildings all around her. Twilight could smell blood and smoke in the air.

It was all wrong. Something strange was happening. Ponyville looked like it was experiencing the end of the world. The only thing Twilight didn’t know was why. Everywhere she looked, Twilight saw fear and panic manifesting and reigning free all over the town.

She ran as fast as she could. She wasn’t exactly sure where her end goal was, but she had to investigate. She needed to find her friends, as well as Spike. Unfortunately, they could all be located anywhere among Ponyville’s initial panic. The shifting of her visions and colors made it near impossible to try and keep an eye upon any one pony.

Twilight’s path went from erratic to strategic. She made her way to key points that she’d needed to investigate while also going in a counter clockwise direction around the town. While passing through Rarity’s boutique, Fluttershy’s cottage, Sugarcube Corner, Rainbow Dash’s cloud house, and Sweet Apple Acres, Twilight was beginning to grow nervous.

Her friends, her rock, were nowhere to be found. They weren’t where Twilight had expected, leaving her with an endless amount of variables that hurt her brain to even consider. They had to be somewhere.

Twilight wasn’t sure what triggered Prose’s sudden suicide, and everyone’s sudden panic. She hoped her friends and Spike were alright. The thought of him running about in the madness in front of her wanted to drive Twilight to tears.

She shouldn't have sent him out to the store. She should have told him to stay at the library instead. Though Twilight couldn’t have known about the transpire of events, she could admit she was glad that Spike wasn’t subjected to the unnecessary brutality that was Prose’s suicide. It was very unlikely somebody like Spike would be able to handle that kind of violence.

The more the mare traveled around, the more Twilight began to develop of phobia of the entire town. While most of the ponies were running, Twilight noticed a few ponies walking, actually milling about. Each and every one of them were crying blood—it poured down their cheeks and chest, and spilled onto the floor. They seem indifferent to the situation at hand, untouched by the sheer pandemonium that struck the town. While they constantly got pushed or shoved by a hurrying pony, they barely turned to look. They looked around, as if they were searching for something.

Twilight was watching one of them. A blue mare in the middle of a small crowd of ponies in the middle of Town Square. She kept looking towards the sky, down to the floor, and anywhere in between, all while blood slid down her face. Twilight watched on with a grimace, but she felt compelled to watch—and collect a small amount of research and simply observe for a moment. If the mare started to do something dangerous, like Prose, she’d intervene in an instant—

CRACK!

“Waaah!” Twilight cried. She was so preoccupied with the other mare that she failed to notice the stallion above her, who was perched upon the roof of house she was standing under. Twilight had no time to see it occur, but when she turned, all the mare saw was the mangled, broken body of a yellow stallion who had also jumped.

Blood stopped pouring from his eyes, and immediately began to dry against his body. However, a little bit of it slithered down from his nostril. With glazed eyes that seemed to stare straight into Twilight’s very soul, and many misshapen joints that were impossible for even a profession contortionist to imitate. Twilight grew sick.

Holding a hoof to her mouth, she swallowed the bile that had made its way up her throat. She forced herself to look away, and she didn’t feel the urge to check for vital signs.

She turned back to the blue mare in the crowd. Unfortunately, she was now gone—unless she was on the ground just out of Twilight’s view.

Why? Why was everypony doing this to themselves? Twilight wasn’t sure, and now she knew that Prose’s death was not of her own doing. Prose killed herself not due to a depression Twilight didn’t even know she had, but for some other reason. Somehow, whatever Prose went through, a few others were as well.

What if it was a disease? What if it was airborne? Whatever was going on, it was making ponies take their own life. This was her conclusion. The more hypothesis’ that crossed Twilight’s already aching brain, the more nervous she became.

It was then that a loud shrieking sound pierced through the mayhem. In fact, she was surprised that she was even able to hear it. “Twilight! Over here!”

Twilight turned. In between the doors of a small house on the corner of the street, Rainbow Dash was calling to her, waving a frantic hoof around. “Come over here, Twilight! Hurry your flank!”

Twilight obeyed. The familiar feeling of her skipping heart had brought her to her senses. Losing the mass of bedlam to her peripheral vision, she sprinted to the house. She paid little attention to the ponies that rammed into her accidentally.

Slipping through the crowd, Twilight made her way to the bricked building in a matter of 50 seconds. Not a moment after she passed through the door, it was slammed behind her and dead bolted.

For some reason, Twilight was panting and sweaty. Maybe making her way through that crowd took a bit more effort than she originally thought. Maybe she had forgotten to breathe upon seeing one of her friends call to her. Maybe she was still a bit sick from seeing the mangled corpse of that stallion who had jumped to his death right next to her.

Or, she was just out of shape.

“Thank goodness! You’re alright!” said a voice from behind her. Twilight didn’t even need to turn around to know who it was: Rarity. The unicorn in question put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder.

“We’ve been looking for you,” said Rainbow Dash, who was hovering near the door with Rarity. “Do you have any idea how worried we’ve been?”

“I… I’ve been searching too,” Twilight huffed, finally lifting up her head. “I’m so glad.... we’ve found each other…”

Twilight took in the sights. Overall, the house seemed to be very average when compared to most of Ponyville’s homes. While Twilight was now in the livingroom, she could see clearly into a kitchen lined with various appliances. The floor was made of wood, and the walls were the color of apricots. There was a small rug in the center of the room.

There were various couches and chairs that were littered with ponies that Twilight wasn’t even familiar with. An older orange stallion was sitting on a wooden stool in the far corner of the room, eyeing Twilight curiously. A mother and her filly were seated on the beige colored couch. The child was sobbing uncontrollably, and the mare was trying her best to hush her. A young blue stallion in business attire was seated on one of the stairs that lead to the second floor. Twilight deduced these ponies were stragglers that took cover from the chaos like everyone else. Either that, or one of these ponies were the actual owner of the house.

Seated next to the mother and filly was Pinkie Pie. Cradled in her hooves were Pumpkin and Pound Cake. The two had their eyes closed, and were sucking on a bottle Pinkie had given them.

Pinkie’s face was splattered with blood. Her eyes were emotionless and inexpressive. She rocked the two babies methodically.

Applejack and Fluttershy bolted into the livingroom from the kitchen. Fluttershy’s mouth was, at first, open when she took in the sight of Twilight Sparkle. However, it quickly shifted into a relieved smile.

Behind the two of them, another purple mare emerged from the kitchen. She bore a gigantic frown.

“Twilight!” Applejack exclaimed. “You’re okay! Thank heavens! With all o’ this chaos, here I thought we’d never find ya.” Applejack pulled Twilight in for a hug, in which the rest of the girls—except for Pinkie, who might not have even realized that Twilight was there—joined.

“I’m fine,” Twilight muttered, the moment their group hug broke. “All that matters is that we’re all together.”

“Do you know what’s going on?” asked Fluttershy, with watery eyes. “Everything just… ponies just started…”

“Dying,” Rainbow Dash finished. “Everypony just started dying.”

“It’s the Celestia-damn apocalypse outside,” said the business stallion on the staircase. Most of his body was covered by a bright blue suit. He bore a black, slicked mare and green eyes. Twilight and her friends turned to look at him. Only Rarity and Applejack had to gall to give him a rude stare.

“This… this isn’t the apocalypse,” Twilight said. It was getting difficult to speak over the crying filly on the couch. However, she wasn’t going to say anything. If that filly saw similar things to what Twilight saw, she couldn’t blame the child. “But… I don’t know what’s going on.”

“So, we’re all gonna die?” said the purple mare. Her short green mare sticking to her cheeks. She looked at the group of six, as if they had all the answers and were labeled as mere messengers. Before somepony said something, she spoke up again. “What’s going on outside, exactly?”

“Please, watch what you say!” shouted the mother, whose filly had heard her remark. The volume of her crying increased. The purple mare apologized.

“We need to stop and think,” said Twilight. “If we all start predicting the future, nothing good can come out of it. I… we’re all going to be perfectly fine!”

The orange stallion in the corner of the room raised an eyebrow, but hardly anyone save for Twilight noticed this.

Then, Twilight remembered something. “Erm… where’s Spike? He’s with you all, right?”

Everyone in the room turned to look at one another. Even the ponies that Twilight didn’t know knew of Spike. After all, he was the only dragon in town. But even still, they only gave blank stares.

“Twilight, we haven’t seen him,” said Rarity. When Twilight let out a nervous whimper, Rarity fought to correct her statement. “Well, we haven’t. But I’m sure he’s alright.”

“He’s a smart dragon, Twilight,” Fluttershy added. “He knows what to do. We’ll find him safe and sound, I’m sure.”

Twilight nodded. They had a point. Spike had the spirit and willpower to do anything he desired. Twilight had taught him well, and she had complete faith in the baby dragon. She knew deep in her heart that he was out there, fine. The only thing that bothered her was the variables that could come into play. He could be out there doing anything. Life was unfair and cruel, but she hoped that it would hold off to at least give Spike a helping hoof.

She wanted to hold her dear Spike. She didn’t know what she would do if something happened to him.

“Look, I know you’re all still having a buddy-buddy moment and all,” said the orange stallion in the corner of the room. “But will someone fill us in, here?”

“What do you mean ‘fill you in’?” barked Applejack. “We don’t know anything more than you do.”

“Well, not exactly,” Twilight admitted. It was at this moment that everyone turned to look at her, even Pinkie Pie and the crying foal and her mother. When the foal heard this, she let her crying shift into restrained whimpering. “I’ve been doing some thinking, but I still don’t know the cause of it all. Let’s just all get situated first. Then I’ll explain what I know.”

Comments

[INACTIVE_ACCOUNT]

Please tell me Pinkie's face wasn't splattered with her own blood. Kill anyone else just please don't kill Pinkie.

[Ignis Cursor]

PinkiePie, only pony brave enough to cradle two babies with blood on her face B)

[Jerky]

well, shit got real.

[electreXcessive]

Wow. I've got to say, even with the over the top blood stuff at the beginning, this has really managed to capture a really creepy feel to me. I was wondering if you wouldn't mind if I wrote a story similar to this. I've had this story idea for a while about mysterious deaths happening in Equestria, but it's more an auditory cue that does it. I'd dropped it for a while because I knew I couldn't get it done by Halloween, but this story has inspired me to pursue that idea again.

[MemoryLane]

5291568

Thank you for reading!

And I do not mind one bit. Go ahead. Haha.

-Cyneryk