A Princess' Despair
I was beginning to lose the one thing I had been trying so desperately to cling to.
Cadence and I searched every inch of the ruined town and after I don't even care how long anymore, we still hadn't found anything. As my worry grew, so to did my irritation.
There had been no sign of Spike or the other girls -- not mention any of the other citizens of Ponyville. What we did find only made the situation worse and alluded to things I didn't want to imagine.
A broken and nearly unrecognizable pair of violet sunglasses.
A mangled, blackened harp.
A charred mailbag that had somehow managed to remain completely intact.
We found several other things like this all over town and with every object we stumbled across I began to grow more and more worried. It got to the point where I started to snap at Cadence over minor things.
She of course had called me out on it and I'm grateful that she did.
There's no point in getting angry over what I can't control.
I didn't want to admit it, but I preferred the anger over the fear and sorrow. It wasn't fair of me to take my stress out on Cadence though, so I reined in my irritation.
There were a few landmarks left that I recognized such as the Town Hall and Sugarcube Corner -- both almost completely destroyed, but still somewhat familiar.
I used those and a few other partially intact places to navigate my way through town, but still found no sign of Spike or my friends. With a heavy heart, Cadence and I flew to the one place we had yet to check.
Sweet Apple Acres.
As we made our way to the no doubt barren farmland, my thoughts drifted to the other Princesses and I idly wondered if they had found anypony else yet. Then I remembered that they most likely would've communicated to me or Cadence if that were the case.
"Hey, Twilight?"
I turned to the pink alicorn flying next to me.
"I was just wondering," she hesitated for a moment before continuing, "why was I the only one that lost the connection to the Magic I embodied as a Princess?"
My eyes widened as I realized what she was saying.
"I mean, Aunt Celestia and Aunt Luna are still connected to the Sun, Moon and Stars -- and you're still connected to Magic in general -- but why was I cut off from my Love Magic?"
I stared at Cadence as I tried to think of an answer.
"Well, I..." I bit my lip and looked away, "I don't really know, Cadence. I'm sorry."
I was lying.
I had an idea, but I didn't want to tell Cadence -- not yet.
Not while we still had some hope left.
"We can... discuss it more when we meet up with the other Princesses," I said, trying to move away from the subject, "for now let's just get to Sweet Apple Acres."
Cadence eyed me for another moment before turning away.
"Alright, Twilight," she finally replied, "we'll talk about it later then."
I winced at the tone in Cadence's voice.
She doesn't believe me.
She didn't push the issue, but I knew she didn't believe I had no idea. Again, for some reason I found myself strangely annoyed by the whole thing.
I thought she was relieved to be free of her Love Magic. Why is she wondering about it now?
I shook my head and tried to focus on the task ahead.
We flew in silence for another few minutes before I saw the broken remnants of the gate to Applejack's farm. I was surprised to see that -- while the countless trees were charred, withered, and more or less reduced to giant twigs sticking out of the ground -- every single one of them was still standing.
That alone managed to bring a small wistful smile to my face -- a smile that was quickly wiped away by what I saw next.
Unlike the trees in the fields, the barn and family house themselves weren't so resilient.
"Twilight," Cadence began, giving me look of concern.
"Come on," I interjected as I flew down to the remains of the barn, "we didn't find anything downstairs in Rarity's basement, but Applejack has a cellar. They might be hiding out down there."
"And... if there's nopony there?" Cadence asked tentatively.
I didn't answer.
We landed just outside and I lit my horn as I trotted around the perimeter of the barn. I found the door to the cellar around what I guessed was the back.
"Cadence, over here," I called out, "I found it."
She trotted over and I went to pull the cellar door open.
It didn't budge.
I felt my spirits lift a bit.
Maybe they locked the door to keep out whatever that thing was!
I immediately picked up on the error in logic and quashed the thought.
Of course they wouldn't have had the time to do that, seeing as the monster appeared and destroyed everything in a matter of seconds. Having realized that, my mind continued to piece together more painful realizations.
They wouldn't have had the time to do anything. Whatever that thing did, it happened only seconds after it appeared.
If the blast radius had reached this far out...
Nopony would've had time to do anything.
Still...
With a grunt of effort, I yanked the door open with my magic and heard the metallic snap of a lock breaking from within. I took a step back and looked inside, but all I saw was inky black darkness.
Not a good sign.
I redoubled the light at the end of my horn and motioned for Cadence to follow me down. We trotted downstairs and I had a sinking feeling we wouldn't find anypony down here.
Maybe it was the complete and utter silence of everything other than our hoofsteps on the creaky wooden stairs, or maybe it was the fact that there was no light other than the ones coming from mine and Cadence's horns.
Whatever the case, we hadn't seen anypony so far -- though I did pick up the tantalizing scent of apple cider as we descended further. We reached the bottom of the cellar soon enough and looked around.
I had never actually been down here and was surprised to see that the cellar itself was larger than I expected.
Maybe they are down here somewhere after all.
"Look at all this cider," Cadence mused aloud as she swept her gaze over the countless barrels lining the walls, "was it getting close to cider season?"
"It was," replied grimly, "not that it matters now," I trotted ahead down one of the uncluttered paths, "I'll check down this way, can you search the other path, Cadence?"
The pink alicorn nodded and trotted off in the other direction.
Though the cellar was big, it wasn't that big, and I soon came to a dead end with nothing and nopony to show for the search. After looking around for a moment more, I sighed heavily and killed the light surrounding my horn.
For the next few minutes I just sat there in the dark, ruminating on the last few hours since I had arrived in the desolate ruins formerly known as Ponyville.
From somewhere in the distance I could see the tell-tale light blue glow of Cadence's horn and my eyes settled on watching that light move about the cellar, stopping briefly every now and then before moving on.
They're not here.
They were never here to begin with. I already knew this and searching anymore would be pointless.
I snorted.
I bet Cadence knows there's nopony here either and just wants to humor me.
I shook my head and rose to my hooves.
"They're not down here," I muttered to myself, "we searched everywhere and I haven't--"
"Um... Twilight?"
My stomach turned.
I didn't like the hesitation I heard in Cadence's voice. I once again lit my horn and made my way back to where I saw Cadence's light. As I trotted closer, that feeling of dread I had manage to push down thus far had begun to resurface.
I picked up my pace, tripping over random tools left on the floor in my hurry to get to Cadence. I eventually made my way over to the pink alicorn who had her back turned to me. When she heard me arrive she looked over her shoulder and winced before turning back to whatever she was looking at.
"What is it, Cadence?" I asked, knowing full well I didn't want to know the answer, "w-what did you find?"
"Before I show you, I just want you to know that if you--"
"Just show me!"
Cadence flinched away and sighed before stepping aside.
...
...
...
"Twilight? Are you..."
"Stop."
"Twilight, please, if you just let me--"
"Cadence," I asked in a strained voice, "just... just wait for me outside, okay?"
Cadence went to speak again, but decided against it and nodded silently before trotting away.
I sat there in that spot for I don't know how long.
Just sat there.
I couldn't take my eyes away from the proof that nothing would be okay.
There was no hope left.
I couldn't find any of my friends.
None, save for one.
As I wiped away the ash from her Stetson and brought it out of the cellar, I felt myself go numb.
I didn't cry, that wouldn't have helped.
I didn't question the fact that she had been down in the cellar when the blast had hit Ponyville -- it didn't really matter. All that mattered was that she was gone, just like all the others.
Just like Spike.
Just like the other girls.
Just like Shining Armor.
Just like my parents.
"Let's go find the other Princesses."
"Twilight," Cadence whispered, pressing a hoof to her tear streak face, "I'm so sorry."
I nodded once and took off into the pitch black sky.
I didn't look back.
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nice work.
This looks great. I really like how you handle the ponies' emotions. I look forward to see what exactly will be intense.
Hmm... Still no clue as to who or what caused the blast that decimated Equestria...
8838179
It sounds like a nuetron blast. It is the kind of cosmic event that can so utterly strip a planet of ALL life.
8838990
Ether that or some massive multi million megaton nuclear event.
Time to drink our problems away girls
8858046
neutron bomb is just a type of nuclear bomb that rather produces radiation than heat. Thermonuclear warhead may be re-tuned to be one. Would make everything radioactive in certain range, so this is not the case.
no! not vinyl!
no! not lyra!
no! not derpy! anyone but derpy! noooooo!
So apparently everything have been incinerated...
Did they just had some sort of exterminatus?
At the beginning of this story I promised myself I wouldn't cry, I already broke that promise.
Shiny, no doubt. Props to Cadybutt for asking the million-bit question. Maybe that's insight into what force did this?
Derpy, Vinyl, Lyra, AJ, all gone................. i swear on how fucking Adorable Toothless is as my profile picture I WILL SHOW THAT ARSEHEAD WHY YOU SHOULDN’T UNDERESTIMATE THE WRATH OF A NIGHT FURY!
i mean for fuck shake it fires Plasma beams instead of fire!
Ok, so AJ was in the cellar at the time the...thing happened.But why was the door locked?Considering she didn't know what would happen, I doubt she would just lock the door...
Oof. This seems like someone decided to turn over a giant radiation gun and pointed it at Equestria.
10500550
Considering the state of the buildings? It probably melted and charred a little.