An Empty World

by The_Unnamed_Pawn

Chapter 5

Spectrum had never been a particularly hard worker. That was his excuse for taking a nap when he should have been working anyway. Sure it wasn’t a good excuse, but hey at least he wasn’t lying.

Of course, it wasn’t like Spectrum was just telling everypony he was playing hooky either. That was why he’d chosen to take a nap on top of Smokey Mountain instead of somewhere more sensible like say, his house. Of course, the scenery was nice and relaxing, so that was good. He always had trouble getting to sleep in his bed at night. Most ponies would say that was because of his midday naps, but he was sure it was the scenery.

Up in the mountains on the other hoof everything was so peaceful. Plus, everything in the place, from the birds floating around, to the wind rushing around him, to the pegasus in the distance pulling a cart full of toads, was sure to lead to some wonderful dreams.

“This is the life,” Spectrum sighed as he laid back on a particularly pillow-like rock. He took one last look at the cloud city in the distance and closed his eyes. “Today is going to be a good day,” he thought just before he drifted off into dreamland.

*****

Spectrum slept for far longer than he thought he would. Typically somepony would’ve found him by the second hour. After all a light purple pegasus with a rainbow on his flank wasn’t particularly hard to spot. Usually it was Starsong who caught him. She knew all of his hiding places. Nopony came today though. For once, the stallion woke up naturally; it was weird.

As Spectrum blinked the sleep from his eyes he noticed that the sky had gone gray while he was napping. At first he thought it was a storm, but that didn’t match up. Not only was there nothing scheduled today, but Spectrum knew storm clouds; and this was no storm cloud. Clouds were puffier. This was sort of flat; like normal sky only the wrong color.

Confused, Spectrum rolled to a stand and took a look into the distance. Cloudsdale looked wrong too. The clouds were still there mostly. But all of them were black, and the rainbow falls had disappeared. “Now that’s what storm clouds look like,” Spectrum thought.

Rather than think too long on the strange sky and the new Cloudsdale, Spectrum decided it was probably best to take a look at it for himself. The pegasus took a deep breath and gave his wings a good stretch in preparation. He took off shortly after his stretch, but he was immediately required to divert his course straight back to the ground when he noticed a large red lizard flying towards him.

Spectrum watched in wonder as the creature flew over him. Time seemed to slow down as it did. At least, it slowed long enough for him to identify the lizard. “That is definitely a dragon,” he thought. It was right after that thought that time sped right back up, and Spectrum watched the dragon fly into the side of the mountain. It left behind a nicely dragon shaped hole once it had; one that led straight into more gray sky.

“Next time watch where you’re going!” Spectrum turned to see a pony shouting from in front of him. Time slowed down again as he got a look at her. The mare was absolutely stunning. Her coat was a beautiful ivory complimented by a magnificent auburn mane tied in a bun. Adorned on the mares flank was a quintet of bees. Time sped up again once Spectrum got a look at the mare’s eyes. They were a piercing pinkish color.

With time back to its normal flow the mare was free to speak again. “Hey you,” she said with a devilish grin aimed straight at Spectrum, “Did you see a dragon fly past here?”

Spectrum paused before answering to take a look at the hole behind him. “Did you just throw a dragon through a mountain?” he asked with a turn back to the mare.

The mare paused to take a look at the hole herself. “Well what d’ya know? Looks like I did.” The mare laughed a little after saying that. It was at this point that Spectrum decided he was dreaming.

“Mind if I ask what he did to deserve it?” Spectrum asked nonchalantly. He’d decided long ago that it was more fun to go along with dreams than to try and fight them.

The mare didn’t respond. She was too busy looking at the hole. She even poked at it a couple of times. A bit more of the rock came loose when she prodded it. Spectrum noticed as she prodded the hole that the mare’s hooves were wrapped in cloth. “Ah, horseapples,” she cursed, “I was almost impressed for a minute. It looks like this mountain’s just really thin.”

Spectrum followed the mare to get a better look at the hole. She was right; the rock around the gray sky was as thin as a cracker. He decided to try chipping the rock away himself. It was as brittle as a cracker too. “Huh.” That was all he said. He couldn’t expect anything to make sense in a dream after all. Still it was kind of weird.

Spectrum was quickly snapped out of his stupor by a punch to the face. “Huh? That’s all you have to say?” Spectrum rubbed his cheek turned to see the white mare staring at him. She spoke with anger, but for some reason she was smiling. “You see somepony toss a dragon through a mountain and you’re not even impressed?” Spectrum didn’t respond. He was too busy feeling his cheek. That punch felt too real. “Well?” the mare demanded.

Spectrum shook his head and looked out into the distance. His gaze focused on the distant city of Cloudsdale. If this was real then what happened to it? Spectrum contemplated this for only a few moments before another punch knocked him to the ground. The subsequent fall smashed a couple of rocks, but only because they proved to be just as brittle as the mountainside.

“What was that for,” Spectrum complained half-heartedly as he got back to his feet.

“You weren’t answering me,” the mare said, smiling derisively, “I figured you needed it.”

Spectrum just sighed and shook his head. After a moment he glanced back to Cloudsdale. “What are you doing here anyway?”

“Wrestling dragons. What does it look like?” The mare let out another laugh as she trotted up to Spectrum’s side and shot him a smile. “What about you?”

“I was just napping.” Spectrum responded with another sigh.

Again the mare laughed. “Slept right through the end of the world? That’s a story for the ages.” Spectrum turned to her. This time he bore an angry expression. The way she spoke seemed almost happy, and it was definitely mocking. “I’m Bee Bee by the way,” she said, “But you can call me Stinger.” She extended a hoof once she’d finished.

Spectrum turned away from Bee Bee, but extended a hoof anyway. “Spectrum,” he said. Stinger gave his hoof one firm shake and pulled her hoof away. After a moment she followed the pegasus’s gaze to the cloud city.

“That’s your home I take it?” Stinger asked. Spectrum nodded in response. “Is it always that awful?” Spectrum shot her another angry look. “What,” she said grinning at him out of the corner of her eye, “You can’t tell me that looks like a nice place to live”

Spectrum shook his head and took another look. It certainly didn’t look pleasant. “It’s usually much nicer,” he said.

“Well it’s ruined now.” Stinger shrugged and started trotting onward. Spectrum just stared at her as she walked away. It was only a few steps before the mare turned back to him. “Are you just gonna sit there, princess?”

Spectrum shook his head and continued staring. “Where are you going? Everything’s gone.”

Stinger sighed and trotted back to the stallion. Spectrum immediately backed away, expecting another punch. After seeing that he wasn’t going to let her near him, Stinger stopped. “The clouds are still there right. Maybe there’s something over there.”

Spectrum took another look at the clouds in the distance. “And how do you expect us to-” he would’ve finished with the words, “Get there,” but before he could the breath was knocked out of him and he was flung onto his back. The ground instantly gave way below him, and Spectrum found himself staring into the gray abyss hidden inside the mountain. Needless to say, he started screaming.

“Ah good to see you do have emotions,” Stinger chuckled from above the stallion. Right now, she was all that was keeping Spectrum from falling into the abyss.

“The hay are you doing!?” Spectrum screamed.

“Sorry,” Stinger said cheerfully, “I kind of forgot about how brittle this mountain is.” Stinger attempted to pull Spectrum back up, but all she managed to do was snap off some more rock. “Huh.”

“Huh!? That’s all you have to say?!” Spectrum shouted. Stinger continued to drag him backwards. No doubt it was intentional; he couldn’t fly properly as long as she pulled him like this. “Why are you doing this?”

“I can’t exactly walk on clouds. I’m gonna need your help for that, and I didn’t want to waste time convincing you.”

“And what are you planning to do now?!”

Stinger smiled. This time it wasn’t quite what somepony would call devilish. That is, not unless you wanted to insult the devil. “Well I think this is a pretty convincing argument. You agree to help me, and I toss you out of there. You don’t and my grip might just slip.”

“Alright! Alright! I’ll help you.” Spectrum shouted desperately. To his surprise, Stinger didn’t ask him any more questions. She simply tossed him upward just as she said she would. In his surprise it took Spectrum a moment to right himself, but he managed to get himself hovering before he crashed again. Stinger was dusting herself off when he landed. “What is wrong with you?” Spectrum asked accusingly from his place beside the mare.

It was after a hoof struck his face for the third time that day that Spectrum realized landing right next to Stinger wasn’t the best idea. “I just save your life and you insult me,” the mare complained, “Talk about gratitude.” Spectrum rubbed his cheek and stepped aside, deciding he would stay at legs length from now on. Stinger just snickered as the pegasus backed away and started walking up the mountain path once more. “Grab your stuff and meet up with me so we can get going okay?”

“I don’t have any stuff,” Spectrum responded as he joined Stinger in her trot.

“Not even a weapon?” Stinger questioned. “Funny you look a little bit frail for hoof-to-hoof.”

Spectrum sighed. He couldn’t deny that she was right. “Well I didn’t exactly think I’d end up having to fight anypony today.” He then paused for a moment. “Come to think of it, do I have to? Can’t we just fly to Cloudsdale right now?”

Stinger laughed. This time though it wasn’t cruel, at least not intentionally so. It seemed as if she genuinely found what Spectrum had just said hilarious. He actually had to wait for her to calm down before she explained herself. “Oh boy,” Stinger wiped a few tears away as she spoke, “Do you really think you could carry me all the way there, and Discord knows how much further by yourself? Please tell me you’re joking.”

“Wait,” Spectrum interjected, “Didn’t you say you needed me?”

Stinger nodded and got moving again. “You can’t trust hippogryphs. I need an insurance policy. Plus, who knows if I need to go somewhere in that stormy place? I can’t exactly take something that big inside anywhere.”

Spectrum shook his head and followed along. “Why a hippogryph? A pegasus isn’t good enough for you?” He was back to speaking nonchalantly again, but he could still manage a quip.

“Well you aren’t,” Stinger chuckled. Spectrum chose not to even look at her this time. It was best not to give her the satisfaction. “And I’ve tried a dragon already,” she continued, “You saw how well that worked out.”

Spectrum nodded. “And what makes you think a hippogryph will work better?”

“Geez you’re boring,” Stinger said without answering his question. “At least crack a smile when I make a joke. Don’t make me dangle you over a hole in the mountain again.” It was at this point that Spectrum noticed that Stinger had somehow managed to sneak her way beside him.

Spectrum immediately maneuvered himself away from her, only to find that he was then facing a cliff edge. With it being too late to stop her, Stinger threw a leg around his neck. Spectrum actually felt himself sweat as he stared at the emptiness below him. However, the fear only lessened slightly when Stinger pulled him back onto the path.

“Well fear wasn’t quite the emotion I wanted, but I guess it’s something,” Stinger said, her devilish smile widening.

Spectrum didn’t speak again after that. He simply walked along with the mare while she smiled at him. After a minute of this he finally began to relax again. It didn’t seem like Stinger was planning to hurt him again, and she couldn’t hurt him too badly even if she did right? With a deep breath, Spectrum regained his placid expression.

Perhaps it was because of this expression that Stinger chose that exact moment to suddenly tighten her grip and pull Spectrum aside into a nearby cave. Spectrum was sure she only did it to draw his questioning look, but that assumption fell apart when he realized that Stinger was smiling but not even looking at him. “You stay right here,” she said.

After a moment, Spectrum looked to where Stinger was staring. Sitting not far from the cave was a sleeping dragon. It looked identical to the one that Spectrum saw being tossed into the mountain earlier. Stinger began to slowly approach the dragon while Spectrum stared. “What are you doing?” the stallion asked, apparently unaware of the volume of his voice.

The dragon’s eyes instantly shot open, and Stinger turned to glare at Spectrum with what he saw as her first look of genuine anger. Spectrum was only peripherally concerned about the dragon as a result, and even this distinctly minor concern became a non-issue mere moments later.

The dragon rose slowly and Stinger moved quickly. Before the beast could even unfurl its wings the mare had struck it three times in the stomach and caused it to curl over in pain. Stinger instantly followed up the barrage with a powerful upper cut that knocked the dragon into the air. The dragon roared in pain as it flew. Stinger even rubbed her hoof after the dragon was a fair distance away.

The dragon didn’t stay stunned for long however. It wasn’t long before its wings had finished unfurling and it righted itself in the air. Rather than attack immediately, like Spectrum was terrified it would since Stinger was busy rewrapping the cloth around her left hoof, the dragon took its time to hang back and rub its injured snout.

The dragon only became hostile again a few moments later. And that was probably at least partially caused by Stinger continuously shouting, “Bring it,” and, “You gonna just float there,” along with a variety of colorful insults; mostly revolving around the dragon’s filthy scales and questionable parentage. Regardless, once the dragon had finished rubbing its snout, it let out a roar and dove towards Stinger at top speed.

Apparently this was exactly what Stinger had been expecting. With a skillful leap so strong it cracked the mountain, Stinger jumped at the beast and wrapped her legs around its neck. From there the mare used the dragon’s momentum to toss it straight downward and through the brittle rocky floor.

Thankfully time had slowed down again while Spectrum watched the spectacle. Otherwise he might not have registered that Stinger was headed straight for a hole in the ground in time. He barely did as it was. In the end he only barely managed to catch her as she fell through the gap, and even then they sank slightly.

“Was all that really necessary?” Spectrum complained as he strained to lift Stinger out of the hole and rest her on the ground as gently as possible. The mare was surprisingly very heavy, so this took much more effort than Spectrum expected when he caught her.

“Hey he might’ve attacked us.” Stinger spoke cheerfully. It was clear she didn’t believe this herself, and she definitely didn’t expect Spectrum to believe it. “Besides it was fun!”

Spectrum gave her an annoyed look as he set her down, but didn’t say anything. Stinger didn’t even notice while she was dusting herself off though, so he made sure to keep it up until she did. The time he was sure he was out of her reach though. He was in midair. Eventually Stinger did notice the glare though, or perhaps she just finally deigned it worthy of acknowledgment because it wasn’t going away, and sighed. “Look princess,” she said, “If it makes you feel better, think of it as saving a butterfly instead of killing a dragon.”

“What?” Spectrum questioned, and Stinger pointed upwards. The pegasus looked up to see that a pink butterfly was indeed flying by. What this had to do with the dragon he wasn’t sure, so he asked. “Where did that thing come from?”

“Every one of the things I’ve pummeled has had one of those on their backs,” Stinger responded. Spectrum turned to see that she had already started walking uphill again. Spectrum landed beside her and joined along. He kept his eyes on the butterfly the whole time though. It was floating up towards the top of the mountain. Maybe Stinger had freed it.

“Wait,” Spectrum paused for a moment, “How many things have you beaten up today?”

This actually caused Stinger to halt as well. She even rubbed her chin for a moment before turning her head back towards Spectrum. “Just beaten up?” she asked the pegasus.

“Fought in any way,” Spectrum clarified. He’d managed to slip back into his monotone, but the face he wore did denote curiosity; along with a touch of disapproval.

Stinger paused for another second before continuing. “Well let’s see: There’ve been three bears, two dragons, a couple wolves, and a bunny. That’s eight butterflies I think.” Again she paused. “But I think the bunny might have had two,” she mumbled.

“You beat up a bunny?” Spectrum questioned.

Stinger instantly perked up and showed her devilish smile again. “Hey this was no ordinary bunny, Spec.” The mare chuckled before turning away and trotting uphill again. “That little devil tried to kill me before I even punched it.”

“So the only thing that gave you trouble was a bunny?”

“I never said that,” Stinger smirked, “I just said it punched first.”

Spectrum sighed and followed the mare. He didn’t speak again for some time. Luckily, he didn’t need to. Stinger was busy recounting her epic battle with the bunny while they walked, so she was too distracted to either punch him or insult him. Spectrum tuned her out for the most part. He even came close to nodding off a couple of times as they walked. Stinger might have thought he was boring, but boy could that mare ramble.

Spectrum wasn’t sure how long it was until Stinger stopped talking; he was nodding off again when it happened. The only reason he even noticed was because Stinger hit him again. She hit him more lightly than he would have expected though. It was just enough to alert him. At least he thought it was as close as she could get to alerting him without hurting him.

When Spectrum opened his eyes he saw that somehow they had wandered into a meadow. “A meadow in the middle of a mountain…huh…” he thought. After taking a glance around the empty and really quite serene meadow, Spectrum’s eyes wandered to the mare beside him. Something struck him about what he saw. Bee Bee actually looked upset. Not scared exactly, but at least worried. “What’s-”

Before Spectrum could finish the second and most important word of his sentence, he was silenced by Stinger smacking a hoof across his lips. “Shhh,” she hissed. Spectrum nodded to assure Stinger he’d be quiet, and the mare kindly removed her hoof. She gestured upwards with it immediately afterwards. Spectrum followed the hoof without hesitation. If something was scary enough to get this psychopath worried, it was doubtlessly terrifying.

Spectrum was momentarily disappointed when he saw it was nothing but a swarm of birds. The disappointment left quickly though, when the stallion realized that the flock appeared to not only be circling them, but also contain quite an odd variety. Everything from buzzards to hummingbirds to falcons and eagles could be seen in the swarm, and not one of them seemed to be interested in anything but the two ponies beneath them.

“Should we be-” again Spectrum was interrupted just before his most important word. Due to this he made sure to shoot Stinger an annoyed look, but she simply shook her head when he looked in her direction. Next she motioned for the pegasus to glance downward. Spectrum obeyed, albeit this time more reluctantly. This time he was greeted by a much more mundane, and yet somehow just as surprising sight. Stinger was digging into the ground below them. Inside of it was dirt, not sky.

When he looked up again Spectrum saw Stinger nodding. He wasn’t sure what she was nodding about, but the smile was back on her face. He quickly shook his head just to be safe. Once he’d made sure his point had gotten across, thanks to the dour expression that Stinger now wore, Spectrum added a bit of clarity by mouthing, “You can’t just beat them all.”

Stinger nodded and mouthed something back before donning her devilish smile again. Spectrum was pretty sure it was, “I know, you’ll help.” Before the pegasus could argue, Stinger turned her head and gestured to a nearby branch dangling from the rock wall. It was already half broken off. Evidently the mare didn’t have much confidence in him. Otherwise she may have pointed to a sturdier looking branch a touch closer to the pair. Not that Spectrum disagreed with her of course.

Stinger turned back to Spectrum and smiled once more, prompting another shake of the head from the pegasus. Her response was a nod and a quick jerk of the head once more to the branch. After that, she didn’t give the stallion any more time to argue. Stinger jumped straight into the middle of the meadow.