> Where is Everypony > by Lighttone GryphonStar > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1: Dragon's Oblivious > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Early morning was met with an intense cold. Spike timidly opened his eyes and spotted the clock. It was nearly noon, far too late for his liking. He groaned and stood up, tapping on his sister's bed. When there was no answer, he shrugged and assumed she must have already woken up. This was strange since she was usually the over-sleeper, not him. He walked over to the dresser only for the next oddity to catch him off guard. All of Twilight's supplies were gone. Her morning books, noon books, and even evening books. The massive assortment of reading glasses for every hour and even her eyedrops used to ensure she wouldn't miss a wink of reading. It was all gone, save for a few small things that she rarely touched at all. "Twilight?" he called out, wondering where she went. There was no response. The door to her room was still shut, but her window was wide open. That at least explained the coldness in the room. Running over to the bathroom, he checked inside but found nothing there either. Her toothbrush was gone, but not the fresh paste he bought yesterday. Weirder yet, random objects like a hairbrush, and her deodorant was missing. All old, nothing new had been taken. He rolled his eyes at the strange occurrence and went about his business. He needed to relieve some morning pressures and take a bath. No, just the business and a quick shower considering how far into the day it was already. Either way, it took about an hour to get all that done. Soon enough, the dragon stepped out and looked around, hoping his sister was back. She didn't seem to hear him in the shower. Thinking it was strange as ever since he became an adult she would become offended at the mere idea of him using her bathroom. It was strange that she wasn't yelling at him to stop or to use his own. She never showed up at all. "Maybe she left the castle without telling me?" Spike mumbled. It didn't seem likely but as he moved through the halls it quickly became clear that had to be the only option. He was her number one assistant and she was a bit too obsessive about her work. Just running off without a word wasn't too strange, yet there was even a message tagged to the fridge. The dragon went about his day as normal. He made himself breakfast, ate, and then went to work. Taking most of the day cleaning up the castle from top to bottom. This was where he noticed another oddity. Starlight's room was also empty. Her stuff is in the same state as Twilight's with all newer objects left in place and everything else missing. Sure, she barely visited the castle ever since she started bedding with Sunburst. But Twilight always told him to keep her stuff tidy up and current. Just in case she had to come back to stay, or if Sunburst needed a break from her... friendship. There wasn't even a letter, or a sign, or anything. It was just empty, just like the rest of the castle. "Okay, just a little concerning." As the hours ticked by, the dragon began to grow a bit anxious. He was almost done with his chores and it was getting late. It was nearly evening and Twilight wasn't home yet. Odder still everything outside was eerily quiet all day. Normally he could at least hear ponies moving about, chatting with each other and just living their lives. Instead, it was just... silence. It was at this point he noticed the birds weren't chirping. He opened the window and saw no movement on the streets or anywhere. Twilight's pet owl wasn't even flying about. Everything was just... dead silent. Ignoring the rest of his work, Spike rushed to the front door and threw it open. Only to confirm the roads were empty. Leaning out, he could feel a coldness, but no wind. Not a breeze, no movement, nothing. Looking up, he could see clouds in the sky but they weren't moving either. It was like the whole world had stopped. Yet the Sun and Moon were still moving. This wasn't some sort of time spell or illusion. It was the real thing. "What is going on?" Spike wondered, slowly stepping outside and closing the door behind him. His steps were soft and careful as he walked down the road. His concern turned to mild panic as he headed to Rarity's boutique. His mind was no longer on his chores at all but on the strangeness going on around him. The dragon needed to find answers and soon. He couldn't explain it, but there was something deeply wrong. His body tensed up as his walk slowly turned to a full sprint. As his pace quickened, so did his heartbeat. A nervous feeling overtook him causing his breathing to quicken. ****** Maybe it was luck that Spike stopped his chores halfway. He had yet to reach the Room of Friendship. Maybe then he would have gotten his answers far sooner. He could have stumbled upon the blood-splattered table. He would have known what had happened to Twilight. Seeing her wings strew over the walls with all her feathers plucked out. Her head was firmly smashed to pieces in the center of the bloodbath. Spike was completely unaware of it all. Unknown a long bony beast dropping down from the ceiling. The disfigured monster was draped in the bloody flesh of other ponies. None of the decay ever reached the dragon at all, due to the glowing barrier around its body. Lowering to the table it slurped up the bloody mess so fast like it never happened. Licking up every bit of spilled fluid, before adding Twilight's corpse to its collection. As soon as the table was spotless, the creature stood tall and took a deep breath. Swinging over its tail, it looked at Starlight. Her head gripped shut in his stinger claw. Barely alive, she struggled and whimpered silently. Her eyes glared at the monster spotting Spike in the distance. Her horn glowed in an attempt to charge one final spell. Maybe to stop the beast or to get Spike to safety. Her hopes shattered as the monster bit off her horn with ease. She fell silent, blood spraying over her face. The creature followed this ripping off her arms and legs just as violently and fast. Before the life in her eyes faded, the monster splattered her skull on the table too, right in the same spot Twilight had been previously. This was slowly followed by the same actions of slumbering up all her blood and absorbing her corpse. The process was swift, clean, and quiet. It never said a word at all, just simply went about its work. Once finished, it realized it was too late to take out Spike too. The dragon was already out of sight. It tilted its head, making a loud crack. It was the only sign of emotion it showed at all. Crawling over to a tiny gap in the ceiling, it squeezed its massive bony form into the tight space. Gone, like it was never there at all. Spike was running on his own. Completely unaware of the horror that he had woken up to. He was oblivious to the monster, the murders, and the deaths that were just outside his sight. He was still blissfully ignorant of all that had happened before he awoke. ****** > Chapter 2: Dragon's Concerns > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spike ran into the boutique. His breath was so heavy and it felt like he was being chased. Yet, even after looking back for the tenth time, there was nothing there. Still, his heart was beating faster than it ever had before. He had run faster than any other time in his life. His mind was racing a mile a minute as he tried to figure out what was going on. He turned his attention back to the building. The doors were open, and the lights were on. But just like the castle, it was silent. Walking inside, his gaze shifted around. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. At first glance, it appeared the same as ever, but he could sense a subtle wrongness to it all. He couldn't tell what was off, but his gut told him something was amiss. "Rarity?" he called out, expecting his friend to answer back. Just like before no answer came. Only utter and very unnerving silence. Her being away did make more sense than Twilight. She had multiple shops to run, and customers to meet, in town and out of town. But she also had a sister who had a habit of being dropped off at her doorstep without warning. Even as a full-grown adult, Sweetie Belle would find herself just as alone as Spike was currently in the boutique. However, he could hear a single note of her soft music playing. Alone the mare wouldn't hesitate to fill the place with her songs and voice. Yet as Spike stepped inside, he found a lack of this presence too. It was all just as empty as everywhere else. The further he wandered inward stranger and more familiar things got. All the newest dresses were perfectly in place, but all the older ones were gone. There were still some of her works in progress, but none of the completed products were older than a month, especially a year. Clothing wise that wasn't too strange as Rarity was a generous mare, often giving away any clothing that didn't sell. But there was one thing Rarity would never part with. Spike's eyes widened and rushed through the backroom. He ripped open the door and looked around the record room. This left him utterly shocked. There wasn't a single blueprint left. All her greatest designs, both big and small are gone. There were a few recent notes that could have been written up not but hours ago, but everything else was gone. "That's impossible," Spike muttered, "Why would she move them? All those pieces were filled with so many memories..." He slowly walked over each empty slot, and his memories played. From all the hours the two would spend on each piece to the many cuts and stabs he would heal in helping her. The mere fact that all of it was gone left him in a flood of emotional confusion. Why would she remove them all? Where was Rarity and Sweetie Bell? Why didn't either of them answer when he called out? These questions filled his head, causing his chest to ache. His mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. Yet his feet carried him to the deepest end where a chest stood untouched. It was their greatest shared memory. Something Rarity held close to her heart. She wouldn't let anyone near it, not even Sweetie Belle. The only one allowed near it was him, for he was the one who gave it to her. If she took all this stuff away without warning why was this still here? It was a question that shook Spike the hardest. His claw trembled as he reached forward, slowly lifting the lid. His eyes widened upon seeing what was inside. Much to his confusion, despite how long she kept this, it was still here. This completely broke the pattern, but that was what left him in utter horror. Pulling it out revealed the Fire Ruby. A gem symbolizing Spike's ever-lasting love for the mare. It was abandoned by Rarity's disappearance. And the worst part, it was completely shattered. Nothing more than pieces and the chain they were barely held onto. "No, no, no!" Tears tipped in his eyes as his legs kicked back. He wanted to throw it away, deny its shattered and destroyed form. yet it would never leave his hand. This was his symbol, his proof, and now it was nothing more than pieces. Spike was lost in a whirlpool of confusion consumed by ever-growing sorrow and neglect. It carried him out of the room, through the halls, and out the door. His feet moved on their own, taking him further and further from the boutique. The tears blinded his vision, his breath became shallow, and his mind raced with thoughts and emotions. Yet his body refused to stop. It continued to carry him away from the shop and toward the center of Ponyville. The tattered remains of the Fire Ruby dangling from his fingers. His mind was in such distress and unaware of the shadowy figure trailing from house to house. Watching him, stalking him, and waiting for a chance to pounce and snap away his life too. It only stopped upon seeing the Fire Ruby in his hand. Echoes of Rarity's gruesome demise played in its mind. It could feel her bones struggling within its black mass of corpses. Somehow, it could sense her desire to protect Spike even from beyond the grave. The creature tilted its head, a cracking sound coming from its neck. This silence the memories of her last words and her attempt to fight them off as they devoured Sweetie Belle right in front of her. With a shrug, the monster slithered away. The dragon, still completely oblivious, stumbled back until his back hit a tree. He leaned against it, slowly slipping down. His eyes came upon a treehouse. He could feel his heart tightening at the sight of the structure. This was the CMC's clubhouse. His hand loosed on the broken gem. His tears dripped down his face, his sorrow fading in the denial and hope that somewhere he could find somepony. The Fire Ruby's remains fell out of his hand as he climbed up the ladder. ******