Oblivion could have kicked itself; it really wanted to. First groaned. Long had it desired a way to get at the nutrients found within the shadow realms of the two universes it occupied, and now that it had found out how, the answer seemed obvious in retrospect. First's body, his real, extra-dimensional body, lay on the literal intersection of the physical, spiritual, and dream realms, and the Valley of Death. Before him, he could see the beacon within. It was not ever meant as a beacon, especially not for the likes of him, but First would not deny a gift when he saw it.

The universe-eater swam, for lack of a better term, through the void, only temporarily remembered by void walkers large and small. While Second and Third generally only controlled the feelers of his that father Discord had slipped into the twin universes, First controlled the whole body, which, while mind-bogglingly large by mortal standards, was tiny enough to cause some confusion as to why he was called a universe-eater. What they did not know, what no one besides his ancestors knew, was that it was simply in its larval stage. And he was starving.

Along Oblivion's body, hundreds of mouth-like openings chewed at the fabric of space and time. Anything within that space, which, given that this was the void, was very little, was instantly consumed, and anything within that time and a certain range found itself going faster as its time was consumed. Oblivion's two largest mouths were mounted on two limbs with a harpoon-like appearance. The limbs cocked themselves, ready to fire.

Oblivion moved closer to his target, positioning himself so that his leftmost mouth was aimed at the beacon, and his rightmost mouth was aimed at the mirror image location in the other universe. Quickly, he made sure that he would not bite himself, that his feelers were safe.

He fired. The harpoons sailed through the void at superluminal velocities, impacting the twin universes before any sentient force could react. The hollow-tipped harpoons penetrated exactly where First had aimed, much to his satisfaction. He closed the mouths and pulled, rending the captured spaces from their respective universes.

Inside the shadow realms, it was pandemonium. For those unlucky enough to be caught within the attacked areas, the end came fairly quickly. One moment, they had been minding their own business, and the next, they had found themselves trapped within oblong areas that were totally inescapable. The instant after that, everything imploded; the areas that had once encompassed well over a hundred million cubic miles each had been reduced down to the combined volume of a grape.

For those unlucky enough to be on the external edge of the affected zones, they found themselves sucked into the absolute void before plummeting into the waiting Reaper's maw. However, the danger to those who had not yet fallen through passed quickly, as the holes were quickly but poorly stitched shut, forever scarring the mirror universes.

Of all the creatures that were killed in the initial strike, little XYZ!¡!ZYX had the worst luck. A twelve-legged creature the size of a small dog, it had the unfortunate luck of being perfectly bifurcated by Oblivion in such a way that both halves were conscious long enough to witness their respective demises.

In the physical planes of both worlds, the situation was mildly less dire in terms of the absolute mortality rate, but far more terrifying because of the inexplicable nature of the event. In the shadow plane, it was obvious to any who looked as to why those others had died. To the people of the physical plane, not so much.

Simply, eighty percent of all life forms within a certain area simultaneously dropped dead for apparently no reason at all, having had their souls imploded by the shockwave. The twenty percent that remained would succumb within days to radiation poisoning, for Oblivion's inherently destructive chaos magic would scar the universe in that spot.

On Earth, an area the size of West Virginia, centered within Southern Texas or Northern Mexico and positioned along the gulf coast, was instantly depopulated. Electronic devices failed, planes fell out of the sky, and the South Korean space station was irradiated as it orbited above. The changelings, of which there were only six within the affected area, would all simultaneously fall unconscious.

The exception was Scythirraax, who was horrifyingly aware that had he not been captured, he would have been dead; his home in the shadow realm simply no longer existed. Furthermore, he and several other surviving darklings would have a moment of terrifying clarity in which they would realize that they had known what the cause of the event was, and had forgotten.

In Houston, the shadow drive would switch off, no longer with a source of power.

The region would become known as the unholy land, and though the radiation would not spread with the wind, it would be radioactive for the rest of time. Having been night at the moment Oblivion's harpoon hit, the "angel of the moon" would become synonymous with the angel of death in North American mythology. There would be economic collapse as three major nations lost millions of people, several major port cities, and thousands of square miles of arable land.

On Equa, a similar event occurred in the narrowest part of the sea between The Griffin Empire and Equestria. The moment the harpoon struck, every single magical creature on the planet, that is to say all life, lost consciousness. Changelings everywhere were happy that their disguises had not fallen, but that joy evaporated in an instant then the death toll started to be observed. Major port cities in both nations could no longer be operated due to "chaos sickness." Almost all trade between the two nations was extinguished, as that was the only easy sea route between the two.

The worst effect would not be seen until a few days later, when the bodies started washing up: Sea ponies were extinct. There were few regions in the oceans that could support the aquatic equines, and none were within easy reach of this one. When the harpoon hit, there were a grand total of twenty six sea ponies left alive, and all but one was rendered infertile by the chaos magic.

The unholy land and the dead sea, as they came to be known, shimmered slightly at their boundaries. Within the ellipsoid zones, which extended hundreds of miles up into space and equally far down into their respective planet, color seemed muted, and those that looked in swore that they could see things on the edges of their vision. Life fled from its sight.

There was a body in a tower. The man that had previously occupied it would never know that it was he who pulled the trigger on the event when he had pulled the trigger of that gun.

Two of the aspects of Discord grimaced. They realized that something was not letting them think about a thing that so desperately needed thinking about.

"Oh bother."

It would take time to digest. Oblivion, in his immature size, could only eat so much at once, and he had gorged himself. That said, his body was already visibly expanding as it absorbed all the lives it had taken, all the space-time that he had consumed.

First felt sure now that he would live through his metamorphosis, which was coming up soon. He could feel it.

He could also feel sensation returning to his feelers as Second and Third awoke. They had been numbed by the shock of him striking their universes, and were only now recovering. 'I am sorry about that, little ones,' First thought to his other selves. 'I trust that you are alright?'

The two conferred among themselves and decided that, yes, they were. They then cried out again, not wanting their elder self to go to sleep again. First denied them, saying that he needed to sleep so that they might be protected.

'But what about after?' Third asked.

'After, as in "after our metamorphosis?" What about it?'

Third explained his idea, while First and Second thought about it. 'Theoretically, that could work...' Second mused. Then her manifestation on Equa nodded. 'It wouldn't be too hard to find her, and I'm sure I can find all the needed components here. I already have one candidate in mind...'

'I could stay awake for a time, after our transformation,' First suggested. 'We would have to work fast. Once I transfer the defense to her, I would be trapped until you two could help me. It's the best shot we have. For now, I need my sleep.'

'No! Please don't go yet!'

'Ok, ok. Do you want a story? We'll do a story.'

‘Yes! Tell the one about Dad fighting the princesses!’

Author's Notes:

*Ding* Have a depressing chapter. Shit's really starting to fall apart, isn't it?

Alternate Madness, my editor, is the only one that knows the full story about what's really happening here. He called this chapter extra disturbing because of it. I quote:

Oh my F**********ck! That was one of the most intense feeling chapters I have read yet. That Sh*t was terrifying and knowing [Buy some apples!] make things pretty freaky. It was an awesome read.

.

AM! No spoilers!

But I think I've left enough hints here and there for people to know that something is seriously, horrifyingly wrong here. Dramatic Irony, anyone?

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Superluminal velocities means faster-than-light. Outside of a physical universe, it is entirely possible.