It was beautiful day in the area of Maretime Bay. It was an almost painfully average day in the Earth Pony town, with its homogenized citizens mulling around and going about their day to day business. There was nothing out of the ordinary about this day, at least not the the Earth Ponies in the town. However, not even 3 miles out of the town, something very out of the ordinary was happening.
Raw, immensely powerful magic was building up in mid air, swirling and coalescing into a structured form. It was dome shaped energy construct, with spell runes and ley lines all over it, with a large opening on its bottom. Out of the opening dropped the tall, imposing form of Princess Twilight Sparkle.
The time portal above her blinked out of existence, and the majestic alicorn, her ethereal mane constantly flowing as if blown by a magical breeze, stood firm as she looked out at the Earth Pony town before her with a look is disdain. However, this disdain eventually melted away into pity and sorrow.
"Don't worry, my little ponies," Princess Twilight said softly, "You're suffering is almost over." She then looked down at the large cobalt bell hanging from round her neck.
"So, I was thinking," Princess Twilight concluded, "That establishing one day a year where everycreature plays harmless, well meaning pranks on each other would be right up your alley."
A large desk dropped from the ceiling of Canterlot Castle's conference meeting room and landed right in front of the Draconequus, who was sitting in an executive's chair and looking over some papers. An aged Discord, slightly wrinkled under the eyes and a having slightly silvering mane, adjusted the thick glasses he was wearing and said, "Hmmm. . .your offer has some potential. . ." He then turned to his left and asked, "What do you think?"
A second Discord, this one dressed in a business suit, nodded slowly and said, "I'm on board. . .And you?"
The first two Discords turned to a third Discord to their right, who held a comically large lollipop and wore a multicolored propeller beanie cap. "Close the deal! Close the deal, NOW!"
There was a flash, and Discords two and three vanished, and the first one sitting behind the desk then stamped the stack of papers on the desk in front of him. "SOLD!" he said with glee.
Twilight levitated the stack of papers over to herself, looking at the ink stamped image of a smiling Discord giving a thumbs.
Discord chuckled as giddily danced around excitedly, "Ooooh, I've got big plans for this new holiday! I'm thinking pies that taste like cakes, cakes that taste like pies! Freezing hot sauce and spicy milk! Sneezing powder that makes you sneeze confetti! Or maybe-!"
DONNNNNNNG!
Discord was so busy brainstorming prank ideas that he didn't see the magic absorbing beam coming. It struck him right in the back, knocking him down to the ground as his magic was ripped right out of him. Once the horrible ordeal was over, Discord rolled his weary body over to see Princess Twilight holding Grogar's Bell with her magic.
The alicron nodded solemnly and said, "That should be just enough to pull this off." She then fastened the bell to the golden regalia around her neck and said, "I'm sorry Discord. I promises that I will return your magic after I get back. There's just something I need to do."
In spite of his depowered state, Discord managed to narrow his eyes with a rare level of seriousness and asked in a low tone, "And you couldn't just ask me to help you because?"
"You never would have agreed to it," Twilight answered without hesitation, her head hung low and her eyes unable to look at who she was talking to, "No one would have agreed to it. If anycreature else knew, they would have tried to talk me out of it, or to stop me. But that's because they couldn't possibly understand. Nocreature could ever understand how this feels."
Discord peered around the room and said, "I suppose that explains why Spike isn't here. . ."
"I gave him the day off. He and Gabby need to make the most of their remaining time together, after all," Twilight replied.
Discord rolled his eyes and said in a voice loaded with sarcasm, "Oh, you are too kind, your Royal Schemeing-ness."
The Princess of Equestria ignored the verbal jab and proceeded to follow through with what she had planned to do. She raised her horn up high, and Grogar's Bell started to glow as she tapped into its collective power. Magic built up around the tip of Twilight Sparkle's horn as a strong breeze whirled around the room, the sound of it getting louder and louder.
"I will save the future of Equestria from a fate worse than death!" Twilight declared loudly as a portal in time came into being above her.
Princess Twilight looked up at the Sun shining above her. It was the very same Sun that she had raised and lowered several times before. The land it shone down upon, however, was most certainly not the same.
"It's been a long time, hasn't it?" she asked the great ball of warmth and light, a wistful expression on her face, "I've been gone for a long time, haven't I? Did you miss me?"
Twilight got no response from the Sun, not that she really expected one. Then Twilight sighed and said, "Well, I've got one more job for you. One final lowering. The final Sunset of this . . . miserable world. And as Pinkie Pie would say, 'it's gonna be a doozy.'"
Twilight closed her eyes and held her horn up high. She smiled, "I owe both Starlight and Fluttershy for helping me with this, even though they'll never realize it. Starlight for her time travel spell, and Fluttershy for those times when she's talked about having to put suffering animals to sleep."
She harnessed the power of Grogar's Bell once more, and she seized the massive ball of fire with everything she had. Then, she began to pull and pull and pull. With all her might she wrenched the Sun downward. Not down below the horizon like she had done so many times before, but down towards the land itself.
"It'll be over soon," the solemn princess whispered with her eyes closed, "Once I've pulled down close enough, this world will fall into the Sun on its own for the rest of the way. These creatures won't have to live in a world without Friendship and Harmony anymore. This horrible existence will finally be over-."
"PRINCESS TWILIGHT SPARKLE!?" a voice cried out in amazement and disbelief.
Twilight opened her eyes and turned around fast. A young female Earth Pony had stepped out of the trees nearby, and was staring at the alicorn in wide eyed amazement. The pony had an orange coat, with white fur around her purple hooves. Her mane and tail were the same purple color as her hooves, and said mane was long and braided. As for her eyes, they were a bluish green hue. She also had a light blue saddlebag with a couple of colorful buttons pinned to the strap.
"I can't believe it. . ." the young pony said, her eyes still wide at the sight of her greatest hero and role model, "It's you. . .you're really here. . . but how? It's been over a thousands years! Maybe even two thousand! How? Why? Are you here to-."
"Enough," Princess Twilight said firmly, her brow furrowed seriously at the youngster standing several yards away from her, "This doesn't concern you. Just . . .go."
The young pony blinked, visibly confused by the fabled alicorn's woods and mannerisms. "But. . .what are you. . ." she began, but her voice trailed off when she noticed how large the Sun had become. "W-what!? What happened to the Sun? What is? . . .Princess Twilight, what are you doing?"
Forcing herself to not allow the look of anguish on the young pony's face to create any sort of emotional response, Princess Twilight forced a commanding frown and said, "You need to leave. Now."
"Are you gonna. . .drop the Sun on Equestria?!" the Earth Pony exclaimed, now utterly confused and bewildered, "Why would you do that!? You're the greatest ruler Equestria has ever had. Why would you ever do something like this?"
Anger suddenly flared within Twilight, and she shouted down at the youngster in the Royal Canterlot Voice, "IF YOU TRULY KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT ME, YOU WOULD ALREADY KNOW THE ANSWER TO THAT!"
The force of the voice pushed the young Earth Pony down onto her knees. She held her head down low and trembled in fear, her mind reeling from all the new yet terrible information being revealed to her in such a sort time.
The suffering of the youngster finally got through to the powerful alicorn. It was enough to calm Twilight down enough to unfurrow her brows and look down at the girl with sympathy. "You seem to know a little bit about me," she said in a softer tone, which calmed the youngster enough to lift her head up to gaze upon the powerful alicorn. Twilight nodded and said, "I'll tell you why I am doing this. I trust you will understand."
Twilight took a moment to gather her thoughts, then she said, "You must at least know of everything I accomplished with my friends. How we fought so many evils together with the power of Friendship, how we brought Harmony to the world, uniting all of its races together in peace. Aside from that, we all just . . . were friends. Best friends. We spent so much time together, helping each other, enjoying our company. And we helped so many others achieve that happiness as well."
Twilight's eyes became misty as she went on, "My reign was so peaceful. . .so full of hope. . . so happy. . .so perfect. With everycreature getting along so well and working together. . .it was a utopia. . ."
Twilight's misty eyes became cold and hard as she said, "Then the visions happened. Visions just like my mentor and predecessor Celestia had. But these visions were different. Perhaps it was because I was the bearer of the Element of Magic. Perhaps it was because I inherited the magic of both Celestia and Luna. Maybe I was just naturally was more powerful than Celestia. It doesn't really matter why. All that matters is that the visions were longer, more detailed. . .they showed me Equestria's future. This future. This terrible future."
The young mare cocked her head and said, "But. . . it's not that bad."
Twilight's wings flared out, and she shouted back, "You have no idea what my friends and I have been through! How hard we've fought! The dangers we've face! How hard we all worked! We united the world, and brought Equestria into a golden age. And how am I rewarded?"
Twilight's magic flared up, her horn and Grogar's Bell both pulsating with magic, "With visions showing how EVERYTHING that we did, EVERYTHING we've ever worked for, would mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! It would've been bad enough if the world would have simply gone back to the way it was before the Elements of Harmony were rediscovered, but NO! It was going to be even worse than that! Earth Ponies, Pegasi, Unicorns. . .they would be split apart and segregated as they had been before the very first Hearth's Warming Eve! Before the very founding of Equestria itself!"
Twilight's head dropped low as she shut her eyes tight, tears squeezing out of them. "All of the magic is gone. All of it. The weather factories, the farms made bountiful by Earth Pony magic, the School for Gifted Unicorns. . ." Twilight body shuddered as she said in a whisper, ". . .My School of Friendship. . . Friendship and Harmony are dead in this world, only to be replaced by paranoia and distrust." Twilight's eyes blinked open and she said coldly, "It's only fair that the rest of the world dies with it."
The Earth Pony's jaw dropped at this.
"I put my heart and soul into giving the ponies of Equestria their happy ending, only to have it crumble into dust!" Twilight hissed, "This future. . .this world is just terrible. It should not exist! I can't accept that everything my friends and I did was meaningless, so I need to make my happy ending the happy ending! This world will end in Harmony, one way or another."
The Earth Pony starred at Twilight in horror. "No. . .no!" she cried out, "That's terrible! Princess Twilight, you can't do that! How is destroying the world Harmony-like at all?"
"It isn't," Twilight answered, "But if I put a stop to this. . . miserable world now, I can spare everycreature from this miserable, cold existence. This world is in pain. It needs to be put out of its misery. My Age of Harmony will be the true ending, and this nice looking nightmare will just be a small footnote. The poor souls of this world will be in peace. They'll find Friendship and Harmony in their next life."
"But. . .but. . .but. . ." the youngster stammered out, "But it's not like this world is hopeless! Things can get better. The three tribes can become friends again-."
"No they can't," Twilight said bitterly, glaring angrily at the Earth Pony, "If my little ponies are willing to turn on each other and betray the ideas of Friendship and Harmony after everything I've done for them, then there's point in even trying to bring them back together. They'd just go back to fighting again before long anyway. Better to put an end to all this suffering and break this vicious cycle once and for all."
"I can't believe this," the Earth Pony said in a voice tinged with despair. Her eyes were wide and beginning to shine with tears, but then she shut them tight and shook her head a few times. Then she opened her eyes and got back up onto her hooves. With a determined look on her face, she declared, "No! I can't let you do that! I can't let you destroy the world!"
"There's nothing you can do," Twilight said, sounding rather impatient.
"Yes there is!" she shouted back, "I still believe in Friendship and Harmony! I can-!"
"Stay away from me!" Twilight shouted as the Earth Pony took a few steps forward, and she fired a beam of magic at the ground right in front of the youngster as a warning shot.
The pony shied away from the blast, but after the dust settled, she shook her head and continued to step forward.
"I want to change the hearts and minds of the ponies of Equestria," she said in earnest, "Other Earth Ponies call me a misfit, but that won't stop me. I will never give up on bringing everypony back together again, no matter." She got into charging position and scrapped at the ground with her right forehoof. "And you won't stop me either!"
Visibly frustrated, Twilight's horn sparked and she said, "You have no magic. No power. You can't imagine the power I have! Come any closer and I'll tear you apart!"
Twilight punctuated her threat with another blast in front of the Earth Pony, but she simply charged right through the dust cloud and shouted, "It's not just this world. You gave up on Friendship and Harmony too!"
"I warned you!" Twilight shouted as she fired a massive beam directly at the charging Earth Pony. The blast exploded in a burst of dust that enveloped her. Twilight's breathing was heavy as she repeatedly told herself that the pony was simply knocked unconscious by her attack, but her breathing nearly stopped altogether when the dust cleared.
There was another pony standing to the right of the youngster. She was a pale lavender unicorn with purple hooves and a long frizzy blue mane. Her eyes were purple, and she had a colorful charm bracelet around her front left hoof.
The unicorn stood with all four of her hooves firmly planted on the ground, a slight sparkle to her horn as she huffed and puffed as if she'd just finished running a marathon.
"Izzy?" the Earth Pony said in surprise, "I thought you were hiding?"
The unicorn named Izzy switched from exhausted determination to smiling joy in an instant as she turned to the Earth Pony and said, "What, and just let you get blasted? No way, Sunny! I'm with you, bestie!"
Sunny the Earth Pony looked back and forth between the shocked Twilight Sparkle and the giddy Izzy several times before saying, "But. . .but how. . . how'd you. . .?"
Izzy made a confused face and looked up at her sparkling horn. The sparkling then stopped, and she pouted and said, "Huh. I dunno. Felt kinda weird though. Like, danger made me wanna hide, but I just had to dash to your side. . .and then poof! We were safe." Izzy then gave a big smile and stood nose to nose with Sunny. "Craaaazy, right!?"
Princess Twilight finally regained her ability to breathe, and she shakily reached her right forehoof out to the two young ponies. "Wha-? How are you doing-? You don't have any ma-? Is that-? It feels like. . ." Twilight's eyes widened as she sensed a familiar, warming sensation emanating from the two ponies before her, ". . .the Magic of Friendship. . ."
Twilight stood in awe of the Sunny and Izzy for a moment, but then her awe turned into burning anger as she slammed her forehoof down hard and shouted, "No! No, it's not enough! You aren't enough! It's not enough!"
Izzy tilted her head in airheaded confusion, while Sunny reached a forehoof out to Twilight and said with a smile, "You see, Princess. There's still-."
"Everything my friends and I did was still undone," Twilight interrupted, both her horn and the bell hanging from her neck glowing white in response to her building anger, "It's not fair. . .not just to me. . .but to you girls too."
Izzy just snorted and said, "Well yeah. Life is sooooo unfair. It keeps things from being boring."
Twilight gritted her teeth at this and said, "But everycreature was so happy. I gave them the keys to true happiness, and the lost them. Everything fell apart. You and your tribes have lost out on so much joy. This future is a perversion of everything I worked so hard to make."
Still smiling, Sunny continued to reach out to Twilight and said, "But we can fix it. We can make it better. Maybe even better than it was before."
Tears ran down Twilight cheeks as she shook her head and said, "But things are worse than they have ever been. And with no magic, not even the Windigoes can come back to remind them. I can't accept that this is going to happen. I can't live with the knowledge that this world will be trapped in a cycle of Friendship and Harmony rising only to be killed over and over and over. . ."
Twilight then raised her head up high, and black lightning crackled around Grogar's Bell, and then spread to her horn. "A world like that isn't worth living in! I need to put an end to it! I need to end things on the highest note possible!" Twilight cried out in desperation.
With a flap of her wings, Princess Twilight Sparkle was airborne, and a sphere of magic was building up around the tip of her horn. With tears running freely down her face, she shouted, "If you two really believe in Harmony, then just let me end this story! LET ME CLOSE THE BOOK!"
Somehow, not only did Sunny and Izzy know what was coming, they also knew what they needed to do. So, after turning to each other, meeting each others gazes, and nodding, Sunny held out her right forehoof to Izzy, and the unicorn wrapped her bracelet adorned left hoof around the Earth Pony's hoof.
The distraught alicorn cried out in anguish as she fired a massive beam of magic down upon the two younger ponies. The beam enveloped the two completely, but somehow, the two of them were protected from the beam's searing energy.
"JUST LET ME END THIS!!!!" Twilight screamed as she unleashed all the power she could spare upon the two little ponies below her, "I WANT MY HAPPY ENDING!!!!!!"
Her beam quadrupled in size, incinerating the grass and scorching the earth. After several agonizing seconds, Twilight finally let up, leaving Sunny and Izzy standing in a small circle of green grass amid a larger circle of burnt ground.
Twilight gasped for breath, nearly hyperventilating as she slowly landed back onto the ground. Not even two seconds after landing, Twilight's legs trembled, and then she collapsed. Sobbing into her forelegs, Twilight barely managed to get out the only thing she could think of saying, "I'm. . .I'm sorry! . . .I'm. . . I'm so sorry. . ."
Then, just when Twilight had not nothing else could possibly happen that would be as unbelievable as what she'd already experienced, she suddenly felt herself being hugged on both sides. Twilight lifted her face from behind her forehooves and turned to her left and right to see Sunny and Izzy embracing and softly nuzzling her.
The three of them simply stood there for a minute or two. Then, Sunny asked gently, "So. . .do you feel better now?"
Twilight blinked at the orange Earth Pony, then she sniffled and nodded slowly, "Yes. Yes I do. . .Um, what we're your names again?"
The Earth Pony got up and stepped back before bowing and saying, "Sunny Starscout, your Majesty."
The unicorn got up and hopped backwards, then said with a smile, "Hi! I'm Izzy! Izzy Moonbow!"
Twilight smiled a warm, genuine smile. The first one in quite a while in fact. Then she said, "Heh. You remind me of Pinkie Pie, Izzy. And Sunny, you remind me of Applejack. . .and maybe even of myself."
Sunny's eyes widened and she said, "Wow. . .I do? Really? You think I'm a little like you? That's amazing!"
Twilight hung her head in shame and said, "I'm surprised you're taking that as a compliment. . .after what I nearly tried to do here. . ."
"I forgive you, Princess Twilight," Sunny said in earnest, "Everypony makes mistakes. Some big. Some small. I've caused a few problems in my attempts to reach the hearts and minds of the ponies in Maretime Bay. Anyway, I get that you feel like everything you did got ruined, and that all hope is gone. But that's not true. Friendship and Harmony are like Hope. It can't ever truly die. It's sad that things have changed for the worst, but as long as we're willing to help change things for the better, things will never be truly hopeless. It's kinda like what Izzy said before."
"Ooooooh! What did I say!?" Izzy asked with intrigue.
Sunny giggled, and then continued, "If things were always perfect and nothing went wrong, life would be boring. They're be no challenge, no reason to try harder, no reason to push ourselves. Maybe that's why things are the way they are right now. Ponies stopped trying hard to keep Harmony alive. But if Izzy and I can inspire ponies to trust each other again. . .to try harder to make friends and understand others. . .then maybe we can bring things back to the glory days of when you were still around. . .maybe even better."
Twilight stared at Sunny, slowly making sense of everything she had said. "You're right. . ." Twilight said in a hushed voice, "How did I not see that?" Twilight hung her head and said, "When I had my visions of this future. . .of a world where magic had left Equestria and Harmony between the races had gone, it never occured to me that there would be those who sought to bring it back. I never even gave this future's younger generation a chance. I judged you all so harshly, and would've condemned you all to obliteration before you could even prove yourselves. How could I have not seen my own foolishness. Your words are all true, but I should've already known all that. Why didn't I. . .?"
Twilight's voice trailed off as her eyes were drawn to the glowing cobalt bell still hanging from her neck.
"Could it be. . .?" Twilight muttered to herself, "Perhaps. . .Grogar's influence. . ." Twilight immediately shook her head and said, "No. That doesn't excuse my decisions and actions. Good thing to keep in mind though."
Twilight then stood up and said, "Anyway, I believe there are a few things I need to do. I imagine the creatures of this world are panicking over how close the Sun is to this world. I need to fix this. Luckily, with the power stored within Grogar's Bell, I should have no trouble not only moving the Sun back into its proper place, but also erasing this ordeal from everycreature's minds."
Then, without further ado, Twilight raised her horn up into the sky and unleashed a massive flash of light. When it faded, the Sun was back in its proper place in the sky. Even the patched of ground that Twilight had blasted was back to the way it was.
"Uh-oh, it didn't work!" Izzy said nervously, "I still remember everything that happened!"
Twilight chuckled good naturedly and said, "Oh, I excluded you and Sunny from the spell. It's only fair that you two remember what happened here. Although it might be best if you keep this a secret."
Sunny smiled and nodded. "Oh, we will! We won't tell a soul! Cross our hearts and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in our eyes!"
Twilight was delighted as saw Sunny accurately go through all the motions as she said the rhyme. "Ah-ha-ha-ha! Oh, of course the Pinkie Promise would still be around after all this time!"
The trio all shared a good laugh at this, and there was nothing but warm feelings as they sat underneath the warm Sun on such a beautiful day.
After the laughing died down, Twilight gave the pair an encouraging look and said, "Sunny. . .Izzy. . .you're gonna do alright. Anything you do together is gonna be just find. Draw strength from each other, make new friends that you can rely on, make sure they can rely on you, move on from arguments and disagreements and learn from them, accept and appreciate your differences, and follow your hearts. Do all this, and I truly believe that you can save the world."
Sunny was beaming with joy and pride, and she said, "Thank you, Princess Twilight. We will."
"Uh-huh! Uh-huh! You betcha!" Izzy said as she nodded her head energetically.
Twilight smiled back, and she tapped into the power within the bell once again, and the spherical, rune inscribed time portal reappeared. The Princess of Friendship rose up, vanished into the portal, and with one last flash, vanished and left this new Generation to seek out its destiny.