And The World Fell Silent.
By Satriark.

A catchy beat played loudly into the crisp night air.
Twilight Sparkle sat in a circle in the familiar Apple family barn with her friends chatting merrily about good moments and shared opinions.
A few days earlier, Rainbow Dash had finally been accepted into the Wonderbolts, and Pinkie Pie threw a fantastic surprise party for her.

“I must congratulate you again for making the team, Rainbow. We’re all very proud of you.” Rarity said sincerely, and everypony else nodded in agreement.

Rainbow Dash blushed. “Aw thanks you guys. You’re really the best friends a pony could ask for.”

The group giggled and embraced in a group hug, and proceeded to talk and dance into the early morning.
Twilight walked home in a shaky trance, filled with a mix of sleepiness and alcohol. I really should’ve drunk less, she thought to herself before bursting through her front door loudly. She winced, realizing that Spike was already asleep.
She walked carefully up to her room and looked around to see him lying snoring in his bed, and Twilight sighed with relief.
She walked over to him and looked down onto his peaceful, sleeping figure.
She smiled and kissed him on the forehead, before hopping into bed.
Twilight grinned and lay with her eyes closed. I really do have the best friends, she thought. She rolled over and looked down at Spike again.
And the best baby dragon ever.
A curious thought crept into her consciousness.
I wonder if he considers me as his mother.
I mean, he hasn’t met his birth mother, so I guess I’m the closest he’s got.
She smiled and a tear of joy sprung into her eye.
I hope he does, because I consider him as my little baby boy.
She rolled back over with new found content with her life, and sleep embraced her.

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Twilight jumped out of her slumber and gasped.
Cold sweat beaded her forehead and she was shaking. She had had a nightmare, but couldn’t remember what it was.
Whatever she had dreamt, it must have been terrifying.
Morning light illuminated the room, slicing through the darkness.
She sighed and looked up at the clock. It showed thirty seven past six in the morning.
That’s odd, that’s roughly half an hour after I got home last night, she thought. She made a mental note to get a new clock, and clambered out of bed.
She yawned and stretched, ironing out the last wrinkles of sleep from her body, and opened her curtains.
Her familiar backyard graced her vision, accompanied with the view of the far away mountains.
A strange feeling overcame her body, and tickled the edges of her mind.
She stood there for a few seconds trying to let the idea enter her consciousness.
Finally it burst through and filled her brain.
There was no noise.
No bird’s chirped, and no crickets creaked. No train’s thundered past in the distance, and no ponies we’re chatting outside in the town.
It was completely, utterly, silent.

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Twilight looked around her room, filled with the need to re-familiarize herself with her surroundings.
She did a double take on the room and sighed; trying to convince herself she was being silly. Another thing that was off was that Spike was gone.
He was usually never up this early, and when he was he would always snuggle up with Twilight in her bed.
She smiled again, her mind filling with precious memories of the adopted mother and son. When she argued and argued with her parents to let her keep him.
The way she used to bathe him and change his diapers, and when he learnt to walk.
When he spoke his first words, and when he began helping Twilight with her studies.
She remembered when they made the trip to Ponyville, and he fell in love for the first time. She remembered all the things he got up to, and the adventures he joined in on.
The years that she spent here with her friends and her ‘Spikey Wikey’ were the best of her life.
Twilight felt tears of joy threatening to well up again, and she hastily held them back and coughed, regaining her composure.

“Spike! Are you still here?” She called out, feeling a desire to hold him close even though he hated it.

She heard no response and pouted in disappointment.
He’s probably out with Rarity or Rainbow, she thought.
Twilight bounded down the stairs and walked into the kitchen. There was no mess left by Spike when he made his breakfast, which was odd.
A slight motherly panic set in, but she quickly dismissed and buried it.
She cooked herself some breakfast and ate quickly but her appetite was gone after the first few bites, and she left the uneaten eggs on toast sitting on the counter.
She walked into the bathroom and brushed her hair and teeth, still wondering where Spike had gone.
She finished up and set out the door into the cool morning air and gasped with surprise.

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Ponyville’s streets were empty.
Nopony was out enjoying the morning sun, or going to work.
No fillies were playing in the park, making the most of their lazy Sunday morning.
A chill shook its way down Twilight’s spine, and she shuddered. It was creepy seeing the town like this, and Twilight felt extremely out of place.
A low fog hung over the town, adding to the oddness of the situation.
She was rocked with a sense of nostalgia, back to when Zecora first came to Ponyville and everypony took shelter from the unwanted intruder.
Maybe somepony else has walked in and scared everypony into hiding, she thought. She walked down the streets slowly and looked side to side, staring through everypony’s windows.
The curtains were drawn, and no sign of secrecy or hiding was evident.
In some houses, uneaten meals sat on tables with cutlery sticking out of them.
It seems like everypony had just dropped what they were doing and disappeared.
She spun around nervously, desperately searching for any kind of life. The silence hung heavily in the foggy air, unbroken since when she awoke.

“HELLO? IS ANYPONY THERE?” Twilight yelled out at the top of her lungs.

Her voice echoed through the ghost town, and no response was made.
Twilight swallowed nervously and began to sweat.
What is happening?
Where is everypony?
Thoughts dashed through her mind as she ran as fast as she could to the nearest familiar house, Sugarcube Corner.
She knocked on the door and waited. One minute went by, then two, then five.
She walked around and knocked hard on the backdoor. There was still no response. Frustrated, Twilight walked around to the window and wiped away the morning dew, and stared in.
Nopony was inside, and window was freezing to the touch.
She looked around inside noticed something odd. The Cake family clock sat in the same position as it had for years, but it was the time itself that frightened her.
The clock was stuck on thirty seven past six, the same time as Twilight’s own clock had shown twenty minutes ago.
She gasped in shock, and stumbled backwards.
She sat on her rump and was frozen with fear.
Loneliness and confusion washed over her as she struggled to make sense of the situation. Why was their clock stuck on the same time as mine?
She quickly got her senses back together and decided to go to Rarity’s house to check for somepony there.

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She knocked vigorously on Rarity’s front door.
To no surprise, nopony answered the door.
She frantically checked all the windows and peeked in. The lights were off and the boutique sat empty.
Twilight sighed, and a tear tumbled down her face onto the ground. She gasped and jumped up, suddenly filled with new hope.
Maybe they’re still at Applejacks Barn!
She galloped as fast as she could towards Sweet Apple Acres, hoping that her friends were still there.
Apple Trees came into view as she approached the farm and lump of nervousness gathered in her throat as she slowed to a walking pace and entered the property.
The Barn stood unopened on the hill, and she slowly approached it.
She closed her eyes and readied herself. She slowly pushed open the Barn door and it groaned in protest as its old hinges gave in and turned. She felt the stale air from the Barn waft out and she opened her eyes.
The familiar scene from last night still sat there untouched, with one exception.
Nopony sat around the table, or anywhere else. The Barn was empty. Twilight broke down in tears, and collapsed to the ground in frustration and sadness.
Why have they all left me?
Where is my Spike, my little baby boy?
Twilight lay in her loneliness, sobbing softly for a few minutes.
After a while, she slowly stood up and sniffed.
She wiped her face with her hooves and coughed.
Once she had cleaned herself up, she cleared her thoughts and decided on what to do.
She decided she would go to Canterlot, the Princess would know what happened to the residents of Ponyville, she was sure of it.
Twilight walked back to the Library with her head hung and heart heavy.
She opened the door and peeked inside. Her breakfast still sat on the table, collecting dust. She quickly cleaned it up and grabbed some food from the pantry and put it out on the table. She rushed upstairs to her room and walked to her closet. She grabbed a sweater and boots, and put them on.
She turned to walk out of her room, but something stopped her. She looked down at Spike’s bed and walked over to it.
She sat down next to it and put her hoof on it. There was no friendly remaining warmth from Spike’s body, and the usual smell of her little boy wasn’t there either.
Twilight was overcome by a feeling of loneliness and grief, depressed that she couldn’t find her best friend.
She hastily bounded down the stairs and packed a bag with the food for the trip.
She was filled with hope that Celestia would be able to fix everything, and reunite her with her friends.
She walked back out into the cold morning air, the fog was still out. She looked back up at her house one last time, and set out towards the capital city.

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The walk was very uneventful.
Nopony walked by her, no beautiful bird songs were heard either.
It was only her, her thoughts, and the cold fog that refused to dissipate.
She didn’t feel hungry throughout the entire journey, which was strange as it was a day long hike.
As she neared the city, she looked up at the sky.
She couldn’t see the sun, the fog was too thick. The light shimmering through seemed about the same as it was that morning. She guessed she had been walking for at least eight hours, so it would’ve been around seven o’clock.
This didn’t compute with her, because at this time of year it was normally nearly dark by seven.
It seemed that the sun had not have moved at all.
She gulped in worry and fastened her pace towards the ever looming city walls.
As she approached the archway that led into the city, she knew something was wrong.
A pit of worry and fear had settled in her stomach.
There was still no sound.
There was no white noise of hurried city folk talking. No wagons pulled in or out of the city, and no animals could be heard either.
She knew not what had befallen the city, except that Ponyville had the same fate.
She ran through the arch in the wall and into the city square.
All the houses lay untouched, freezing in the ice cold fog.
No fancy ponies strutted about in their designer clothing, and no sales ponies like the Flim and Flam brothers annoyed the pedestrians to try and make a sale.
The usually lively, buzzing city lay dead at her hooves.
There was nopony here.
Nothing was here.

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She walked deeper into the city, looking around at all the houses. A clock tower stood high into the sky, piercing the fog. Twilight stared up at the tower, straining to make out the time that the giant clock hooves pointed to. A gap in the mist let in the sight, and Twilight gasped. Thirty seven past six.
What had happened at thirty seven past six this morning?
Why were all the clocks stuck on this particular time?
She felt a shiver crackle down her body and she ran as fast as she could towards the palace. She burst through the front door and looked around the palace reception room.
Nopony manned the counters, and the room was empty of life.
She gulped and ran towards the normally guarded stairs that led up to the Princess’s quarters. Fueled by adrenaline, the hefty climb unaltered her progress.
She eventually reached the door at the top of the staircase and fell into it. It swung open, unlocked and she fell on her face.
Panting and struggling to catch her breath, she opened her eyes and stood up.

“Princess Celestia, where are you?” She yelled, frantically searching the room.

She looked in the royal bed, the bathroom, and everywhere.
Finally, she burst out onto the balcony overlooking Equestria. She was above the fog and looked out over the lands.
The deathly cold white blanket covered the earth as far as the eye could see.
The clock tower pierced the sheet of mist and reached up towards the sky, still showing that time. It was the time that followed her everywhere.
Thirty seven past six.
Her mind finally accepted that everypony was gone, forever.
All of her friends, her mentor, and her parents, all were gone.
But worst of all, so was her son.
Her beloved baby dragon, her little baby boy.
Tears streamed down her face as her heart was crushed with unbearable feelings of sadness, and loss.

“WHY? WHY HAVE YOU TAKEN EVERYPONY ELSE, BUT LEFT ME HERE ALONE?” She yelled at the unchanging sky.

Her piercing cry shattered the silence and echoed.
She wailed with grief and pain, and collapsed onto the balcony floor.
She lay there for hours, sobbing and crying.
Unable to take the pain of losing her only child, she slowly stood up and walked towards the balcony edge.

“Condemn me, no longer.” She whispered into the air, and fell.

She fell silently, and was absorbed by the fog.
She hit the ground with a sickening thud, and the world fell silent.

The Unicorn Twilight Sparkle was found dead in her bedroom the night after her party at Applejack’s.
An autopsy later confirmed that her extreme magical feats had proven too much on her heart, and it had failed.
She passed away peacefully and painlessly in her sleep.
It was estimated that her time of death was around thirty seven past six in the morning.

Spike took the makeshift stage in the park, where Twilight’s funeral was being held.
He cleared his throat and spoke into the microphone, forcing back tears.

“Twilight was a good friend, and a great pony.
She raised me to be the dragon I am today. I’ve never told her this, and now I never will.
I thought of her like a mother, and I was her son.
She’s the only mother I’ve ever known, and I’m glad.
I’m glad I got to be part of the life of one of the best ponies I’ve ever met. I’ll miss you Twilight.
I’ll miss you…
mommy.”

Spike left the stage and walked down towards Twilight’s coffin.

“You’ll be in my heart, always.”

A tear rolled down his cheek and he walked away, his head hung low.
He didn’t want to be there when they put her in the ground. He had said his goodbyes and that was enough.
He soon made it back to the library, his former home. He was staying with Rarity, which made him slightly happy in the darkest of times.
He looked over to the nightstand that stood next to his and Twilight’s bed.
He walked over and picked up a photo frame and looked at it.
It was a picture of Twilight and Spike at the Canterlot fun fair. They were so happy together, but now separated forever.
He sat down and cried, letting tears of grief and loss stream down his face.
He had lost his mother, and he felt so alone in the world.

Twilight jumped out of her slumber and gasped.
Cold sweat beaded her forehead and she was shaking. She had had a nightmare, but couldn’t remember what it was.
Whatever she had dreamt, it must have been terrifying.
Morning light illuminated the room, slicing through the darkness.
She sighed and looked up at the clock. It showed thirty seven past six in the morning.
That’s odd, that’s roughly half an hour after I got home last night, she thought. She made a mental note to get a new clock, and clambered out of bed.
She yawned and stretched, ironing out the last wrinkles of sleep from her body, and opened her curtains.
Her familiar backyard graced her vision, accompanied with the view of the far away mountains.
A strange feeling overcame her body, and tickled the edges of her mind.
She stood there for a few seconds trying to let the idea enter her consciousness.
Finally it burst through and filled her brain.
There was no noise.
No bird’s chirped, and no crickets creaked. No train’s thundered past in the distance, and no ponies we’re chatting outside in the town.
It was completely, utterly, silent.

The End