September
Chapter 1: Aftermath
Alright so this is just my imagining of what the song September would be like, if it were a fanfic. BIG thanks are in order to ConstableOakTree, TheColourBlue and TechnoNinjaVG for helping me with getting this ready for public viewing.
The ‘Event’
“Ohhhh........ Where...... where am I?”
The unicorn was weak, covered by parts of rubble, roofing, and hay. Slowly, the colt managed to free himself from the rubble surrounding him, only to be greeted by a disturbing sight that was laid out before him.
All around the colt, buildings burned, crumbled, and fell. The corpses of ponies strewn far and wide. A horrid stench was beginning to permeate his nostrils, giving the colt the urge to regurgitate.
“Wha.... what happened here? What happened to everypony?”
The bodies were scarred, the smell of burning flesh filled the air. The stench from the bodies was still attacking his senses making his eyes tears and his stomach churn.
The bodies were also mutilated and broken. Something seemed to have forced their lifeless bodies away, like a shock wave.
Seeing this weird occurrence, he decided to head in towards the centre of town. The effects grew more and more intense the further he went. The closer the colt got to the centre of town, the more bodies he saw around the place, the lesions that had formed on these ponies were sickly and they had been smeared in the blood from their friends or family that lay nearby. There were tears and scars running all across their bodies causing each corpse to look like a mangled, bloody scratching post.
Then he saw the library, once a great and strong tree, covered in lovely decorations for the upcoming Nightmare Night, was now just a twisted black stump. The luscious green leaves that coated the tree were now gone, leaving the tree bare. The windows were cracked and shattered. The door was hanging it by the hinges, barely clinging on to the once lovely decorated door frame.
Trotting up to the door, the colt began lightly pressing his hoof against the door. The damaged door creaked, and with a groan it fell into the darkness. An echo went throughout the whole library.
“Hello? Is-is anypony in here? Twilight? Spike? Anypony? Please somepony talk to me!” he yelled, and a slight crack in his voice could be heard.
But there was no response. Not even a sound, just a low and hollow echo.
The only things left in the library were books and piles of dust. The ladder that was used to collect hard to reach books, had seemingly disappeared. All that was left was a small pile of ash, close to one of the many bookcases lining the walls.
“Maybe one of these books will have some clue to what happened to Ponyville.”
Realizing that the sun was going down, he decided to go up the stairs. As he climbed higher, they creaked and groaned with every step he took. He was treading lightly, unsure of how much the stairs would take. Finally making it up, he started looking for something comfortable to sleep on. The colt managed to find an old mattress, leaning against the wall.
“But I’ll wait until the morning.” he said sleepily. A yawn escaping his mouth.
The colt grabbed the mattress and walked over to the staircase. He threw it downstairs, and he flinched at the thought of doing more damage to his temporary shelter as he was still not entirely sure of how much more the tree could take. Seeing as that the tree was still intact, the colt carefully climbed down the stairs.
Finally succumbing to exhaustion, and with tears filling his eyes, the colt fell asleep.
The sun seemed to rise slower the next day, as if it was saddened by the aftermath of Ponyville. The rays of the sun landed on the colt’s face, stirring him from his slumber. The colt decided that since he is in the library, he might be able to find a clue in here about what might have caused this travesty. As the colt looked through the library, a book caught his eye. Labeled ‘Astronomical Anomalies’, it seemed to remind him of something, something he couldn’t quite remember.
Bringing it down from the high shelf using his horn, he placed it on a nearby table. The sun shone through the window, providing some reading light. As he looked through the book he saw a page which stood out from the rest. A page in the book, highlighted, showing when meteor showers would occur. The date circled in the book had been a few weeks past. Something in the back of his mind thought that this might have had something to do with what happened here. And at that moment, the colt remembered that the local laboratory managed to collect a sample from one of the meteors that hit a few miles out of town. So the colt left the library, on his way to try to find some answers at the laboratory.
Walking through the town, looking at everypony who died; fillies, mares and colts alike, it didn’t seem to have as much of an effect on him as it used to. A strange and disturbing thought had just occurred to him; this didn't bother him as much as it used to. But the colt was distracted, trying to remember something, anything of what happened to Ponyville.
“What...What the hell happened to everypony? Why can’t I remember... The.... There was a flash, and... I think some glass broke. I..I don’t know.” he said to himself, as if he would have somepony tell him the answer. The more he concentrated on the answer to this puzzle the more intense a slight buzzing in the back of his head became.
Then he saw Sugar Cube Corner, once Mr. and Mrs. Cake’s home.
What used to be a place of fun, joy and laughter was now a broken silhouette of a store. The steeple where Pinkie Pie used to live had lost its supports and was teetering on the edge of falling. Just as the colt was watching the silhouette of the building in the midday sun, the wind changed, pushing the steeple too far.
With a creak and a groan the tower kept going, unstoppable now. As the tower fell, pieces went flying in all directions, some whizzing right by him. There was a sickening thud as it hit the ground, one which could be heard throughout all of Ponyville.
After the dust settled, the pony felt both remorse and anger.
“Whatever managed to cause all this must have been very powerful. Too powerful.”
The colt was very confused.
At that moment, he heard a soft rumble, while he felt a knot in his stomach.
“Man, I haven’t eaten anything in a while. Maybe Sugar Cube Corner has some food left.” As he said this, his gaze went down to the ground, and he noticed that there was a small puddle of blood next to him, coming from his leg. “Guess the building must have got me. Hope there’s something I can use to fix this inside.”
The colt nudged the door open, being wary after what had just happened, and trotted inside. As he walked in, he saw a tablecloth which he managed to rip and create a makeshift bandage.
“Well, at least that’s one problem dealt with, lets see if there is any food left around here.”
The cupboards and shelf were cleared out, only cockroaches and small bugs remained, feeding on the leftovers.
“At least not everything is dead.” He scoffed to himself.
Seeing as there wasn’t anything left in the open except scraps, he decided to check the pantry.
As the unicorn opened the big pantry door, using his unicorn magic because of the sheer size of it, he was greeted by another grim sight. It was Mr. and Mrs. Cake, in each others arms, as if they were together when they died. They seemed oddly peaceful, for they were preserved, compared to everypony outside. But, even though they looked peaceful, they were definitely gone now. The only thing which seemed strange about them was that their eyes were still open. So, before checking anything else in the pantry, the colt went up to the two of them, and closed their eyes, as a sign of respect.
Sifting through the remains of the pantry, he managed to find some cookie dough, potato chips, a bag of apples and some clean water. The pony moved on, hoping he wouldn’t need to come back there again.
As the pony moved on through the village, he passed the main hall. The hall’s once large, round roof now was caving in, leaving a giant hole. The hall had many ponies lying on its stairs. They were covered by severe burns and deep lacerations. The hall used to be filled with many ponies, who were full of life and joy. But now all that was left was bodies, blood, and a foul stench in the air. He noticed that the scars and pock marks that occasionally littered the ground were becoming more frequent, and larger as he trotted forward.
“I must be getting closer to the cause of all this.”
Now going from a trot to a slow gallop, the pony could see the clock tower. Somehow it still managed to stand, after all that happened here. But it seemed to have been broken, as the clock seemed to be going in reverse.
The colt didn’t notice the clock tower’s strange activity, as he finally found what he was looking for.
It was an old two story building which was made out of stone. Unlike most of the houses in Ponyville, which were usually made out of wood. The balcony which used to be jutting out of the second floor, some of it had seemed to have disintegrated after the event. It was in a weakened state, and some of it had completely disappeared. However, it was a solid building which had stood the test of time and thankfully, the test of this strange event.
But what interested the colt more was what had happened to the front door. He saw that the big 4-inch thick oak door, had been broken open, and there was a giant log lying on the ground nearby. The log had poles placed in its sides, as if it were to be wielded by a group of ponies. The thing the colt noticed the most was that this was where the largest group of pony corpses were found. This seemed to be close to where the ‘event’ occurred.
As he noticed the bodies, the sound of the clock tower seemed to grow in the back of his head. Slowly the clock tower grew louder, becoming louder with each tick of the clock. Then something strange happened. He started to see figures appear, like ghosts, appearing out of nowhere. They were like distant echos, a memory trying to replay itself. And the tower just kept on ticking ominously in the background of the scene unfolding before him.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
**********
A lone colt stood on the balcony, who seems all too familiar, holding a small device in his hooves.
“Finally. Finally, it’s done, hahaha. It’s finally Done! HAHAHA”
BANG!
Out of nowhere, a great sound was heard. The colt looked down to see that a group of ponies were trying to break the door down.
A shout arose from the crowd below the balcony.
“Stop him! He’s Trying To Kill Us All! Stop Him!”
The colt above became very angry.
“NO! No. I’m going to save you! I’m going to save you all! DON’T YOU TRY TO STOP ME!”
As he says this, he pulls a lever, which places a heavy beam in the locking mechanism, preventing the ponies from entering. After doing so, the colt disappears inside the building.
**********
The colt finally came around, in a bit of a daze, still in a state of confusion as to exactly what just happened.
“Wow, that was..... interesting. But it-it seems so real. I think I'm starting to remember what happened here.”
The colt contemplated running away from the disaster’s possible origin site, and just finding somepony who could help him. But still, he was intrigued, he was on a quest to find out the answer to what happened in Ponyville and this may be his only chance.
So onwards the colt went, into the open room that was the laboratory.
There were over-turned tables, broken machines and glass everywhere. As well as many pony corpses inside. The thing that took the colt by surprise was that on the second level there seemed to be a wall of glass. It lined the whole of the second floor’s balcony, blocking the staircase to the second floor. Strangely enough, it seemed to still be fully intact, except for a small hole, right at the top of the stair case. But, all the other glass in the building had been broken.
“What kind of glass is this? Everything else is broken, but this is still mostly intact”
This troubled the colt the most of all, as it seemed unnatural. He ignored it for now and climbed through the hole in the window and walked along the second floor, looking through the debris spread around the floor. And as he did, something caught his gaze.
A small green glint from under a pile of rubble. The unicorn walked over to where the mysterious light source was coming from, and using his horn, cleared the debris from the foreign object. It was roughly the size of a baseball, and had the same color as an emerald, but it had a faint aurora about it, as if there was a presence with it. And next to the green rock was something strange, but all too familiar. It was the small device he saw in the colts hooves before.
And once again, the clock tower began to grow louder. And the echoes returned once more. These ones began to seep deeper and deeper into his head becoming louder with each strike, causing the colt to remember more with every passing second.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
**********
The crowd appeared once again, and they had managed to get into the main area now.
They were clamouring in the room, trying to get at the colt, who was up above, behind the 'special’ glass. At that moment, the colt started to talk.
“Get Away From Me! THIS IS YOUR REDEMPTION DAY EVERYPONY!”
The crowd was now getting agitated, trying to make their way up the already crowded stairway.
The colt spoke up again.
“GO AWAY FROM ME! STAY AWAY FROM ME! Go Awayhehehahaha!”
The crowd was now getting anxious, trying to get at the colt. They managed to create some cracks in the window, slowly breaking their way through.
Then the colt spoke up for the last time.
“You Can’t Touch Me Now!” As he said this, he tapped on the window, as if he knew they couldn’t break through in time.
“You See this Button here?” He said, pointing to the device which was in his hoof.
“I’M GONNA PRESS IT!”
And as he did this, all that could be heard was screaming.
Screaming as the ponies were engulfed in flame, which seemed to have a strange green tint to it.
Then a shock wave, which engulfed all sound, came and broke through the cracks of the glass, and pushed the colt out the window, into the building below.
**********
Once again, the colt regained his composure from what he just witnessed, suddenly remembering what happened that fateful, late September day. And as he did, saw a figure on the far wall, in a window. As he walked up to it, he was met by a face he knew all too well. The pony who caused all this pain and destruction.
The colt had bright blue eyes, a light brown coat, and a dark brown mane with a red stripe going along the outskirts of his mane. And his cutie mark was a microphone with a pair of headphones surrounding it.
The pony who did all this?
“It was...Me. I did all this.”
Looking at the reflection in the window, the pony had a feeling go through his body. One that was strange, but familiar, and welcoming.
“And you know what?” he said, with a crack in his voice.
The colts expression went from remorse to something, a bit stranger, a different state of mind.
A smile grew on the colts face, going from ear to ear.
“I regret nothing.”