An Exercise in Futility

by Crystal Static

As I weep.

An Exercise in Futility

As a pony, I have always been a bit different. Not in how I look or how I act, but how I think and feel. As a pegasus, I have always had more interest in the everything in the world besides flight and the weather. How is it that a simple pegasus like I could identify more with the unicorns of old, scholars and explorers, than the warriors and athletes of my own race? At least that is what other ponies always ask me, albeit with smaller words and less polite tones. I play along and pretend to be what society demands, but I will always be different.

Ever since the events of the Thousandth Summer Sun Celebration, I took to researching the history of ponies; not to learn of the past, but to try to protect the future. At first, I didn't find much, but in the months following the escape of the very Avatar of Chaos himself, I started to see patterns. Nothing overt, but if you looked close enough, you could almost hear the whispers of what was left unsaid. After several days of hard struggle, the Sun and Moon managed to subdue the mad centaur's form, and banished him into the hungry abyss- the passage I discovered that from said nothing of how they subdued the beast, nothing of damages or casualties, and nothing of any measure to make sure the beast stayed locked away. I assume that the 'Sun and Moon' that were described are none other than the celestial sisters themselves, but at the same time, why not just say as such? I found many such passages, actually, not even passages, just a few lines about some evil or monster being fought with great struggle then locked away. Nightmare Moon, Discord, the Changelings, what other things did the royal sisters lock away in their rush to secure their throne?

I had a friend who was in the audience during the Changeling Invasion, fifth row back, right side. She told me everything she saw that day, and do you know what she witnessed? A Royal Princess beaten and cocooned, the entire Royal Guard shattered like glass upon the ground, and a near complete takeover by a Dark Queen. It could have easily went so many different ways than it did, if the couple was interrupted before they were able to cast their spell, if the Dark Queen looked back to her prisoners a few seconds sooner, heck, if she just properly restrained the element bearers, we would all be trapped in green pods right now.

After hearing my friend's story, I looked back at Nightmare's return, Discord's escape, and at other events in history and realized, it is only a matter of time before one of these locked-away villains return, and win. Judging by the lack of preparation on the Royal Family's part, I have no illusions that this cannot be sustained.

---

In the two weeks between my last entry and now, I managed to form a list of potential evils that we could face in the near future. Things locked away by the Royal Sisters. The most of these are things we have already witnessed, but I'm listing them anyways for the sake of convenience.

First off, we have Discord, Avatar of Chaos and the sole surviving Draconequus. He is the Avatar of Chaos, with power over change, entropy, and pretty much anything involving quantum mechanics. Originally, his duty to the world was to balance out against the Avatar of Order, but that was before his capricious mentality drove him to seize power over most of the known world. Locked away in stone by the Royal Sisters using the Elements of Harmony, he eventually escaped as the magic holding him faded. I use this as a baseline for things banished or locked away by the Elements, as anything that they would be used on would most likely be a similar level of threat to the world.

A little bit after Discord was imprisoned, we have the Crystal Emperor, King Sombra. Avatar of Hate, the crystal unicorn Sombra rose to power using corruptive hate magics. While hate magic on it's own isn't evil, it often is considered grey at the very least, and at the most black. Sombra was a master of hate magic. He killed all but one of the Crystal Empire's royal bloodline and enslaved the entire empire in a mad quest for power before the Royal Sisters banished him to the icy north. Sombra was a devious pony though, and in his last moments before he was banished, he performed a soul-binding on the entire empire, forcing it to disappear for the duration of his banishment. It is only a matter of time before he returns, if the time it took before Discord returned could be considered the normal duration.

Actually, this next one happened before Discord was locked away. The Changelings, which are actually the corrupted remnants of the Flutterponies, who eradicated the Smooze before it could consume the world. These guys are a bit more difficult to explain. Initially, the Smooze was something that was ravaging our land from the south, a creation of darker magics by an evil witch, consuming all in it's path and sowing despair among those who gaze upon it. The Flutterponies, who inhabited the land we now call the Equestrian Badlands, were empathic ponies who spread love and joy among the land. In those times before the Smooze, a union of ponies blessed by a Flutterpony would be considered sacred and unbreakable, and rarely were the bonds even shaken. But I digress, as ponies of love and joy, they were uniquely poised to fend off the Smooze when it came. The Smooze was stopped when the queen of the Flutterponies channeled all of the love magic in their kingdom into the heart of the Smooze. Doing so eradicated all but the core of the evil slime, which was tossed into the nearest active volcano to be destroyed. But while the Smooze was stopped, it's affects on the world it spread across were long reaching. The taint of the Smooze slowly corrupted the Flutterponies who tried to remain in their home of Dream Valley. Eventually, their ability to spread love was inverted, turned into a parasitic need to absorb love magic. At which point they were sealed away by the Royal Sisters. It makes sense that they wouldn't have attacked us immediately after returning, but instead waiting to mass their forces and organize into a proper army, which recent history reflects.

Yet another evil, before the Changelings, was Tirek, the Devourer. He was a cruel centaur who pulls magic from his victims and absorbs it, increasing his power. From my research, I managed to discover that he had laid waste to about twenty percent of what we now call Equestria before he was banished to Tartarus by the Royal Sisters. Many ponies don't realize that after thirty-six hours without magic, the equine body will start to shut down, resulting in certain death shortly before the forty-eight hour mark. Tirek rampaged for weeks before he was stopped, and yet this fact has been swept up in all manner of folklore and wive's-tales. Tartarus is guarded by the Cerberus, which is one of the few intelligent animals capable of surviving without magic in their systems, that are also train-able enough to prevent a weakened magic-leeching centaur from escaping a secure hole to a parallel realm, assuming the beast doesn't leave the Obsidian Gates.

Then there is Grogar the Necromancer. There is very little I could find about him, just that the tolling of his bell reaps the souls of mortals. That and his realm is blocked from connecting to our realm by the Elements and the Royal Sisters.

What little else I could find wasn't conclusive enough to add to this list, but there were hints of more. Honestly, I feel the most immediate threat would be Tirek, mainly because the only things keeping him locked away are the Obsidian Gates and a giant three-headed-poodle. If he were to escape, it would be months before we would even know. It would take him time to get near any form of civilization, and then he would have to figure out how to take magic without alerting anypony. After he reaches a certain point, he would most likely throw away all subtlety and start assaulting entire population centers.

---

Okay, it's been a while since I last made an entry. Tirek had managed to escape Tartarus. He managed to absorb most of Equestria's magic before he was stopped, thankfully before there were many casualties. I'll be honest, I thought I was dead. I had no magic in my body, I could barely move without extreme difficulty, and I was in Canterlot on a book run at the time. Without magic, pegasi can't stand on clouds… My best friend was in Cloudsdale at the time… Damnit, why didn't you listen to my warning Rainy! Why did you insist on staying in that deathtrap of a city? I told you that it was only a matter of time before Tirek escaped! Why wouldn't you listen?!

Sorry, I lost it a little bit there… as you can tell, this isn't really the best time for me. All I can say is that I have flown up to the edge of the sky and looked down at this world we live in. I gazed upon the world and I saw. In that moment, I realized the futility of everything. The mistakes of the Royal Sisters will bring ruin upon us all, and there is nothing we can do about it. After that realization, I wept. I wept not for myself or my friends, but for the future and all who will suffer from that which we cannot stop.

When I am done here, I plan to take this journal, make copies of it, then give a copy to the head writer for Equestria Daily News, a copy to Twilight Sparkle of Ponyville, and the original to the Princess of the Sun herself. After that, I'll probably drink myself into a coma or play chicken with the ground in a steep dive. And barring any unforeseen complications to my plans, you will never hear from Foggy Wind ever again.

Comments

[Blake Skies]

Speaking as a sufferer of depression, I can attest to the struggles many go through in fighting this horrible curse. I can definitely agree with the need to drink my self into a coma, though taking a Swan Dive towards the ground is not something I plan on doing in the immediate future. And while I am a tough drinker I find that my happiness is spawned from the show in a fandom that promotes friendship and camaraderie.

I'm not saying that I feel your pain Crystal, but I do understand some levels. I've also found it relaxing to be apart of the writing community here.

This story, I hope, is a VERY good representation of the struggle some go through and I wish you the best in your fight and hope you one day over come your demons

[Crystal Static]

7523934 Yeah, I wouldn't actually swan-dive into the ground... I'd do a flip if anything. I just had a bug to write something kinda deep with a tragic ending... Kinda a recurring thing in my one-shots, now that I think about it.

~Crystalline Electrostatic~
5:3_8/30/2016

[alarajrogers]

Decent, but since Tirek can't fly, I can't help but think that if Discord had taken him to Cloudsdale the death toll would have been much too high for Discord to be forgiven afterward just because he had a change of heart, as happened in canon. I mean, less than a year later Discord was invited to the Gala and then later Rainbow Dash was laughing and joking around with him. I don't think that would have happened if his actions had killed most of her home town.

[Last Talon of Gawd]

Heh, almost sounds like the beginning of The Enclave...

[Crystal Static]

7526415 No idea man, I wrote this in an hour or so at around 3 in the morning. Regardless, I do hope you liked it.

~Crystalline Electrostatic~
1:29_31/8/2016

[Last Talon of Gawd]

7526419

Well He's not Dunbell or Hoops and there isn't a war going on but if he really believes Equestria is doomed and has sent copies of documents to people urging them to abandon hope for the sisters and the rest of Equestria's problems then an Enclave prototype is on the horizons.

[Crystal Static]

7526478 Oh. Well, when you put it that way it kinda is like that. At the time, I was just thinking 'try to warn as many ponies as possible that things could go horribly wrong'... But now I have shameless sequel fuel. Thanks, although I may just go full dark mode and have Grogar win, regardless of what groups form to try and prevent it.

~Crystalline Electrostatic~
2:3_31/8/2016

[ClassieLassieDatizzJazzi]

story is kinky like when I get it on with your mom

[DerpTape]

Is it neglect or just poor memory after a few millennia? Either way, a intriguing take on immortal getting scolded for not taking the long view on things.