//------------------------------// // All That Remains (Is the Pit) // Story: End Of Peaches // by Dash The Stampede //------------------------------// "They're gone...They're all gone..." A single set of hoofsteps echoed through the barren landscape, kept company only by the whispers of her fallen comrades on the winds. Peachy Tea could not believe her eyes, for they deceived her with their visions of empty fields, the grounds covered by discarded pits and leaves. Trees were bent at unimaginable angles, some having fallen or snapped clean in two. A gentle breeze carried on it the souls of thousands of peaches, their dying wails forever etched into Peachy's memory. The farm pony walked through the desolate scene, her hooves crunching the twigs and leaves beneath her as she came upon a shadowed figure on the ground. Trotting closer, her heart stopped as she realized it was her nephew, laying prone, his eyes wide, and incoherent babble spouting from his mouth. The colt seemed to be holding onto something, curling his legs around whatever he was sheltering. Peachy Tea gently made to move one of his legs to see what he was guarding. A small, round object came into view, its ethereal sheen of gold radiating outward from the pony. "Y...you have...one left?" Peachy stuttered. It was not possible! How had one survived? The mare silently reached out for the fruit, its fuzzy surface shimmering in her eyes. "That means...this could be the last peach in all Equestria!" Peachy was laughing before she knew it, the rumbling of her chest and the aching of her sides the only indicator as she belted out her disbelief as a wave of chuckles. Her laughter grew more pronounced, echoing through the silent orchard, her guffaws scaring off the birds from the trees around her. Little did she know that the birds weren't the only thing her laughs alerted. A soft, almost imperceptible clink of metal on rock echoed through the trees, giving Peachy means to halt her laughter. She sat up straight, frozen in fear. "No...Anything but them..." Peachy whispered to herself, sitting as still as possible to avoid detection. She snatched up the Last Peach in her hooves, curling up around it, and shivering with anticipation. Another clink, followed by the light hum of a magical aura igniting were the only things Peachy could focus on as she lay prone, awaiting Judgment Day. The clinks soon turned into crunches as the hooves' owner stepped over the innumerable twigs and leaves beneath them. Peachy cracked an eye in a vain attempt to view her pursuer, her eyes freezing open at the sight of four immaculate-white hooves, spindly legs that led to a lithe form, its wings outstretched and its horn alight. "Hello, my little pony. I believe you have something of mine?" Princess Celestia stood tall over the cowering pile of leaves that sat before her, the face of a mare barely noticeable among the shreds of green. "The privilege of eating the Last Peach falls to your Princess. I have come for my claim." Celestia stepped closer, her horn lit with a golden aura, tendrils of magic snaking out and brushing the leaves off Peachy's body. "Y...your Highness.." Peachy shivered. If she was all that stood between the Last Peach and its imminent demise, she figured she would fight to the end. "P...Please..have mercy on it! We have nothing left! If you eat that peach, you'll never have another peach so long as you live!" Peachy felt the stream of tears flowing from her muzzle before she noticed she was crying. Peachy curled tighter around the Last Peach, cradling its golden glory from the Sun Princess. "I am afraid that is not an option, young pony." Celestia sighed, visibly irritated at the interruption to her Grand Feast at the hooves of a simple farm pony. She lifted the mare in her aura, the Last Peach falling from Peachy's grasp like its brothers before it, and into the grip of the Princess. Celestia looked upon the Last Peach with a sigh. She knew she had earned the juicy ball of goodness, but it felt wrong...taking away her ponies' livelihoods. She shuddered, imagining herself as a tyrant leader, taking from her ponies at will. She, the benevolent ruler of Equestria, nigh immortal, with more influence on everyday life than the Sun itself, was considering taking everything from her ponies... And it felt good. Too good. Celestia looked down at Peachy Tea, the mare's eyes wide as the alicorn brought the Last Peach to her mouth, the fruit wavering before her as her aura faltered. Peachy's heart spiked with hope. 'Maybe she's seen what I'm saying! Maybe there is a chance-' Her thoughts were cut off abruptly by a deafening crunch above her. Peachy's vision blurred, tears prickling her eyes as Celestia bit into the Last Peach, its saccharine juices flowing down her face, her eyes alight with joy and satisfaction. A faint "Mmmm" resonated from the Princess' throat as the Last Peach unwillingly gave up its heavenly bounty. Celestia bit down again, spraying the mare with the juices of the last of its fuzzy kind. Peachy could only sob in abject horror. "W...why?" She croaked, her voice garbled with the phlegm of sadness and shock. "You...you monster..." Celestia froze. She had been called many a name, vulgar, sexual, or otherwise, but monster...it implied so much more was beneath that perfected public mask than could ever be imagined. Celestia shivered in delight. She had been considering a new public image... As she bit down on the final remains of the Last Peach, its flesh all but removed, and its juices all lapped up, she smiled. She certainly hadn't planned on becoming a monster in her ponies' eyes, but as her stomach grumbled in satisfaction, she supposed it was a good change. Perhaps now she could convince Blueblood to give up his monopoly of the cake industry... 'Mmmmm...cake.'