Ace trotted by Twilight's side. They didn't know where they were going, but they were going somewhere. To Ace, it didn't matter, as long as they somehow fixed this. "Come on Ace, you've got to say something." She said, hoping for an answer.
"No, I don't." Ace stated, almost instantly noting he just contradicted himself. He looked away, feeling stupid.
She smiled and giggled a bit.
"Goofball." Twilight jokingly called.
"Yup." Ace answered, blushing.
Their conversation stopped when they saw a familiar void in the distance where the Everfree forest should be. The world seemed to trail off into the empty space. Some ponies were scattered off near the distance. One group caught both of their eyes. It was the main six, except for Twilight. They were standing in front of Discord, looking as if they were about to fight. Discord seemed to have been snapping his talons right as they froze. All six of their bodies looked cracked and dry, all of their eyes were missing, no blood.
This stopped Ace and Twilight.
"What happened to them!?" Twilight exclaimed.
"I guess this happens when somepony freezes in time." Ace replied rather unsure.
"You mean you're not phased by this?" She asked, shocked.
"I even saw this with Celestia herself. Everypony is like this now." He answered blankly.
Twilight shuddered. They stood there for a while, then cantered toward the void. When they set hoof into the void, it was different. It was more warm than cold and empty. There was a bare minimum of a horizon. The skyline was a grey, bordering a black. The ground was bare pitch. They trotted further into the emptiness. They felt some sort of presence, as if they were being watched. It gave them both chills down their spines. Twilight grew uncomfortable by this presence.
"Ace, I think we should turn back." She advised, worriedly.
"Why's that, Twily?" He asked, not looking towards Twilight.
"Please." She pleaded.
They looked behind themselves. Something was behind them, something terrifying.
They looked behind themselves and saw a giant, menacing statue. A wall had closed behind it. They were trapped, no way out. Suddenly, the figure raced towards Ace. It hit him in no time, pushing him into the distance at breakneck speeds. Twilight galloped towards their direction, although nowhere near the speed they were going. Minutes seemed like hours, hours seemed like days. She eventually got to where they were. There was a wall, and on that wall, was Ace. He had been crushed, although still barely alive. His blood was everywhere on the wall, a few bones protruded through his legs and back.
"A-Ace... Are you... Alive?" She asked, horrified.
"Am... I..?" He inquired, having lost too much blood to reason, not to mention a giant crack in his skull.
Twilight was speechless.
"Tw- Twi..." He stuttered.
"Ace? Ace!?" She desperately called, tears in her eyes.
"Twi... I... I..." He stopped, sighing his final breath.
She came closer and closed his eyes with her hoof.
She heard hoofsteps in the distance. They became progressively louder. A figure started to appear. It was dark grey, with a black mane and tail with red tips. It slowly became more recognizable. It was Ace!
"Twily!" He exclaimed.
"Ace!" She almost squealed.
They embraced, standing on their hind legs. He was very short of breath.
"Twily... I think... I think I just died." She felt him shudder.
"You did! how are you back?" She questioned.
"I... I Don't know..." He answered, terribly confused.
They trotted the opposite direction to where they were, in the hopes of finding their way out. Although it was to no avail as the walls had closed with them in it. Ace had finally caught his breath when Equestria suddenly reappeared, still frozen. They trotted to Ponyville to see if anypony hadn't been frozen. The paths were completely empty, devoid of any ponies at all. They galloped to Twilight's library. Everything above the first floor had crumbled, rotting. The papers were everywhere. An old cup of tea from Sugarcube Corner had been replaced with blue mold, the mold washed out of the cup onto the table it was on. A paper by the door read 'HELP ME' In scabbed-over blood.
Twilight was severely depressed about her library being in complete shambles.
"Ace, How are we ever going to get things back to the way they were?" She asked.
"I haven't the slightest clue." He replied.
They left the library and trotted over to the other half of it. They saw multiple fragments of purple and green. Two shards of what looked to be green slit-pupil eyes were among the rubble. It seemed that a frozen Spike had been shattered from the library's collapse.
"Sp-Spike?" Twilight stuttered, trembling. "C-Celestia help us!" She shrieked.
"Calm down, Twi. I'm sure that Spike will be alright after we fix this." Ace attempted to calm her, a hoof on her shoulder, although it failed miserably.
"You're... Sure!?" She exclaimed as she pushed his leg off of her. "Sure, we can fix this." She pointed to Spike's shards. "Sure we can fix this." She ranted on her hind legs, waving the front two toward the sky.
"Calm down, Twilight, please." He pleaded.
"Do you expect me to calm down when everything is wrong with the world!?" She continued.
"No, but I expect you to take responsibility in fixing what has been wronged, instead of yelling at nothing." He asserted coldly.
Twilight glared at him.
"Now come on, let's go try to fix this." He asked.
They trotted toward another missing piece in the world. This time, things were different. To the farthermost side was a glass door. Naturally, they trotted towards the door. Ace used his horn to turn the knob, it was a very archaic door, round and flat. It seemed almost from the human-era. Ace stepped into the door.
