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// Humanity's Sins 
// Story: Fallen 
// by Rated Ponystar 
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Special Thanks to Shadowsaint007 and Alphamon_Ouryuken for helping pre-read this chapter



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Sunset Shimmer.

I never heard of the name before, but apparently, she was so important to Celestia that she was willing to judge all humanity for her death. I know in history that Celestia only ever takes apprentices once every one hundred or so years, rarely ever two simultaneously or so close to each other. Many of them went to do great things for Equestria, while a few others were mediocre at best. One or two were listed to have died from circumstances, but all of them were given a special place in the Royal Gardens as statues when they eventually passed away. 

"Why did you never tell anyone about her?" I ask with genuine curiosity. 

"Because it was too painful to talk about," Celestia answers with a heavy sigh as I see the sorrow in her eyes. It was similar to the looks mothers have when they find out their children are gone forever. "I've lost ponies I was close to before. It comes with being immortal. My apprentices were always the closest ones to my heart save for Luna, yet none of them were raised by me in infancy like Sunset was. Even Twilight, who I love like my own daughter, was raised by her parents first before I took care of her. Sunset...I raised her when she was a baby."

"I see..." I whisper in understanding for once. I've taken care of baby animals who lost their parents or were abandoned by them. They saw me as their mother despite the fact I didn't look like them. It hurt each time they eventually passed away because I also saw them as my children. "What was she like?"

Celestia answers as a warm and nostalgic smile decorate her lips. "I first met her when she was just a few months old. You know how some unicorns have bursts of uncontrollable magic when they are young? Sunset ended up shining her horn so bright it was like a second sun appeared in Canterlot. When I saw this little filly with such power and kindness in her eyes, I knew I had to be the one to take her in. So I adopted her, much like how I adopted Cadence after her parents died."

For the first time in a long time, I hear the absolute joy in Celestia's tone, and there is a brightness in her eyes. Even her glow seems to be shiner like that of the one I knew before we came to Earth. I have only ever seen her act so proud and caring before, and that is with her family and Twilight. 

"At first, I thought about just raising her as an apprentice, but over time I saw her as the daughter I never had. This was before Twilight, of course. All my other apprentices have been mostly students I cared for, but Sunset and Twilight? They were like my own children," Celestia said with a bright smile. "Sunset was just like Twilight in many ways, only she was more of a hands-on approach kind of learner. Rather than study books, she would go out and practice various spells until she got it right. I sometimes found her sleeping while standing up because of her dedication. She wanted to be a powerful mage and a great pony. Her power was so great that I even considered helping her become an alicorn, especially since she had a talent for using magic from the sun just like me."

"Did you trust her with the knowledge of what had happened to the sun?" I ask.

"Actually, she figured it out. I always did underestimate her," Celestia chuckles, much to my surprise. "Don't ask. It would take so long to explain, but she realized something was wrong and told me that she wanted to help. I couldn't say no, so I brought her on board. When I told her of my plan to evacuate to a new dimension, she helped me find a planet we could settle on. One that wasn't too dangerous or was capable of supporting us. Different realities had different laws of physics after all."

I nod as I remember Discord telling me about that. Having traveled to different dimensions of reality himself, Discord said to me that each dimension was always different in various ways—different laws of time, matter, reality, space, existence, and so forth. There were even dimensions even he couldn't travel to because of those laws. Now that I think about it, did Discord know also of what happened to our old world? I never did ask him to travel back to it, nor did I know if he did. If he did...did he know what Celestia did, and if so, why didn't he tell me? Was he worried it would upset me? Or was it because our world was gone that he couldn't go back?

"Eventually, Sunset and I found a world that was capable of supporting life for us. This one," Celestia sighs as she begins to get darker in her tone. "Originally, I had sent royal guards to scout out these worlds we found, but Sunset wanted this one herself." She started to openly shed tears. "To this day, I will never forgive myself for letting her go on her own."

"What happened?" I ask, dreading the answer.

"She went somewhere in Africa and traveled around, trying to get a feel of the place...we lost contact shortly after but then...when I saw her in the mirror..." Celestia growls and stomps so hard on the ground that the entire stone floor cracked. It starts to get hotter as I can see her once-glorious mane slowly begin to turn from its once-grand rainbow appearance to a sea of flames. "I saw her...dead...no worse than dead...a tribe of savages was eating her...my daughter...my Sunset...was food for these monsters!" 

In an instant, I felt a wave of energy as powerful as the sun blazing in my face. Flames erupted from Celestia's body as her eyes turned black and red. "I WILL NEVER FORGIVE THEM! NEVER! I HAD TO WATCH HER DIE BEFORE MY VERY EYES, AND I CURSE THEM ALL!"

I soon found it hard to breathe from the intensity of her rage before it finally subsided. I took a long deep breath before reaching out for the wine and gulping it down to cool myself. There are significant scorch marks all over the prison, especially under Celestia, who is taking deep breaths to calm down. Once I have my fill, and I could speak again, I ask, "So that's what all this is? Revenge? You've tried to destroy an entire species for the actions of a few who probably didn't know she was sentient? This entire thing? The war, the conversion bureaus, all the suffering, and numerous deaths...all of it was because of revenge?"

"Not all of it," Celestia mutters, levitating the bottle from my hooves and into her own. After seeing it was empty, she tossed it away and summoned another to drink from. "Believe me, after what happened to Sunset, I wanted to stay as far away from this world as possible, but there was no other option. Every other world was too dangerous. This, of all places, was the best I could find. The very same world that my first daughter figure died on." 

"...How did you explain her death?" I ask.

"Magical accident. I made it a closed casket funeral since...well...her entire body was torn apart and eaten," Celestia answered with bitterness in her tone. "It took me years to even move on from her death. Twilight helped me so much since I saw so much of Sunset inside of her. At first, I thought she was just a replacement to help me heal, but over time I saw her as a second daughter and grew to love her just as much, only this time, I was determined to keep her ignorant of everything, so she didn't suffer the same fate as Sunset." I checked the orb and saw that it was still green. "I felt guilty that I was using her over and over again. First to save my sister, then help Equestria, and finally manipulate things so that she and you girls could transport us here. Believe it or not, Fluttershy, but I never wanted my ponies to suffer. Especially you six, who I owe so much. But I guess all our plans can't work out as they hope."

"Why then? Why not later?" I ask, shaking my head. "You still had time to find another solution."

"I thought about it, but after Tirek nearly killed you all, I decided there was no more time to waste. I couldn't risk losing any of you. So not long after you returned from that village out west, I decided to enact the plan." Celestia just shook her head. "The Elements are useless if any one of you was to die. Granted, the next wielders would be chosen once that happened, but I didn't know how long it would take, and I wasn't going to lead anything to chance. So I decided to do it. I-"

"Manipulated Twilight into discovering the theory which led to us using it, combined with the Elements, to take Equestria and the Crystal Empire to Earth," I finished speaking for her while glaring. "All while leaving everyone else to die."

"Yes," Celestia answers while shaking her head with regret on her face. "I am responsible for the end of all life in our world. This I will not deny. I wish there was another way, but I will do anything for my ponies, as I said before. Even if it means dirtying my soul and becoming a monster." 

Shaking my head, I just sit down and try to think of what else to ask. There had to be more to this entire story. "Was converting humanity to ponies always your plan?"

"Yes, but the barrier wasn't. Originally, I wanted to just have Equestria isolate ourselves until World War III happened, and they all killed themselves. Whatever survivors existed, we could have converted and healed this planet so we could live on it. The barrier I saw as a means to force them to convert without more destruction, but I guess I underestimated their stubbornness," Celestia answers while sitting down across from me. She takes a few sips of wine before continuing. "I will not deny that my judgment of humanity was partially based-" The orb started turning red much to her grumbling- "- majorly based on what happened to Sunset." It went green again. "But after observing humanity for many years, I came to the conclusion that coexistence was impossible with them. So I sought to convert them into us. That by turning them into ponies, peaceful and harmonious, they would be able to rid themselves of their evil and become true creatures of light."

She glared downward as I raised my eyebrow. "I saw their wars. The methods they used to kill and hurt each other. Even the innocent were butchered, gassed, enslaved, raped, or robbed of everything for such reasons as religion, race, gender, or nation, even though they were all the same people. Their technology did nothing but ruin the environment they were in nor matter how much they claimed to be "progressive." There was plastic in the water. Trees are cut down by the millions. The air is so filled with smog that you choke on it. Not to mention their cultures and beliefs are either barbaric or outright corrupt. Capitalism. Communism. Nazisim. Nationalism. Socialism. Democracy. Christianity. Islam. Right-wing. Left-wing. All the followers of these beliefs claimed they were in the right, yet all they did was lead to more destruction and suffering. None of these humans cared! Instead of caring for each other, they just care about themselves and focus on making more power, wealth, and comfort so they can be fat and happy on the back of the unfortunate while letting anyone who disagrees with them be slandered, shamed, or killed! And even if they overthrow these people, they just repeat the same mistakes over and over again?! What few good people they had were assassinated or executed by those who feared them!"

"I knew that if Equestria was to come to this land, they would seek our resources, land, and maybe even our magic. They take what they want, and they care less who they hurt or kill doing it. We would be at war with them eventually just to defend ourselves or find ourselves in a proxy war with one of the other super-powered nations to influence us like they have done so in the past to the lesser nations," Celestia continued pacing back and forth. "Not to mention that I couldn't risk my subjects falling prey to their sick and twisted beliefs. How soon until fillies and colts wanted to focus on getting the latest technology or entertainment filled with nothing but violence and sex that would corrupt them into delinquent youths? Or what if they started following humanity's religions and disapproved of things in Equestria because we don't follow some made-up god's laws? What if business ponies became more greedy after seeing how powerful and influential the corporations are in certain countries? What if I had to face worker revolutions because they read a book some nutpot made in the 19th century? How long until friendship and harmony are replaced with materialism and selfishness?"

"I've learned the truth about these humans," Celestia looked up and snarled. "Mankind is only just capable of destruction. They never learn. They never learned from the first two world wars or the Cold War. They never learned when they built the nukes. They never learned in all the revolutions, collapses, genocides, and more. They keep making the same mistake over and over again with different weapons, excuses, and methods. They are a wheel of utter hate, greed, and selfishness that never ends. When that wheel breaks, they'll all be dead by their own hands, and it will be no less than they deserve because they failed to be a decent group of people! They failed their home planet and their own societies because they are nothing but children who want more and more. Humanity is doomed, Fluttershy. Even if they defeat us, they will die by their own hands. I gave them the only hope they had to save themselves."

 Her eyes started to glow white again. "They could have become like us! We who achieved total peace and harmony! We who stood against the darker natures of the past and built a better future! We were the greatest civilization in all of our world before it ended! They could have been part of this better future I had planned for us all, but even that wasn't enough, and now they come to slaughter us all because they couldn't accept the gift that I gave them! The better path! And you and all the other traitors are to blame for this!"

She took a deep breath and lowered her head. "Please, Fluttershy. You have to know that I'm right. You are smarter than you look. You've seen what they can do. Why can't you just accept that I am right?! 

"Because you're wrong," I say with disgust in my tone. "You claim everything you have done is for the greater good, but all I see is a selfish mare who tried to play god. And you don't think humans have ever done that? Whatever tyranny they've done, they've convinced themselves it was for the greater good. That whatever sins they commit will all be worth it in the end. Sounds familiar? If you say the means the humans used corrupted the ends, then what about your actions? And if you say you know better, the war proved there were a ton of blind spots in your judgment. You didn't foresee the humans breaking the barrier down, disrupting the use of magic, killing alicorns, or retaliating with nuclear weapons. Who's to say what else you've blindly missed? How about the ponies who disagreed with you, rebelled, and join the other side? What about all the other races in Equestria that you tricked everyone into blaming humanity for killing when we all know you did it. Did you see that ponies would lose their minds? Their hearts? Lose those closest to them and wonder why their so-called goddess isn't doing anything? You act as if you're completely infallible, but, as I have said before, as someone who claims that they are not a god and that there are no gods, you have the EGO of one."

I close my eyes and shake my head. I have heard enough. I know now what Celestia really is, and while a part of me pities her, I cannot accept what she is saying because she is wrong. I stand up and bravely look at her. "Listen to me, Celestia, because I think it's about time someone told you the real truth. Every race that has ever existed in the history of any reality has always had problems. You think ponies were always great? We never speak about the times before Equestria, save for its founding, and learned how horrible we were to each other. From what I've heard you talk about, it sounded like ponies were the very same thing once that you accuse humanity of being. No doubt we've been to war, raped, and ruined others' homes, as well as our own, because of greed, power, and hate. How many lands did we also take over in the name of Equestria when we finally came together? How many changelings, griffins, minotaurs, diamond dogs, dragons, and more, peaceful and otherwise, were kicked out because they were deemed dangerous or because we wanted their land?" Celestia didn't answer. No doubt it was because of the orb that was glowing around us. "And how many of our own kind have sought to change things because they believe it to be better? Our history books tell us that they were either insane, rebels, or ignorant, but I bet they had many followers until you took care of them, am I right?" 

"It was for the good of-"

"It was for your own selfish pride, not for the good of Equestria," I interrupted her with a snarl. "The only ones who have ever made choices for Equestria are those who are in control of it, such as you and Luna. Not the subjects. You never once let Equestria advance itself to the point where it allows the common pony to decide their fate and what direction to go, for good or ill. You always made it so that you were the one who was in charge and was the one who knew best. Maybe even more so than your own sister."

"You dare-"

"You've said you didn't trust the other races because they were greedy, selfish, and because of past wars. Is that not what humans have also done? You claim they care about themselves, but your selfishness has hurt others just like them. For all the zealotry you hate about human faith, you've made ponies so religiously devoted to you and Equestria they would rather end their own lives than live in a world where you do not exist." 

Celestia went stoic as she snarled at me, but I don't care if she blasts my face off. "And there have always been bad ponies in history. Sombra was a pony until he rose to become a dictator. There was our version of Jack the Ripper two hundred years ago in Canterlot. Your own sister nearly created an eternal night which would have killed us all if it happened."

"My sister-"

"And let's talk about you giving the 'light of friendship' to the humans. Why didn't you do that with the griffins? Or the dragons? Why not try to turn these enemies into allies or friends? Because friendship is about getting others to forgive you and to forgive them. To learn about each other and accept each other's differences. To find harmony despite being so diverse and different. What you keep talking about isn't friendship. It's order. Order in which you control everything, rule everything and decide everything like a tyrant because you think you are the only one who knows best. We could have helped humanity learn better, be better creatures. Instead, you decided to wipe them out because of the actions of a few instead of a majority. Most humans want to live in peace and just go about their day without fear of anything. It's true, they make mistakes, elect the wrong people, or listen to the wrong person, but that's what life is about. It's about learning from your mistakes, and the life of any civilization or race takes a long time to learn."

"I know that they have done horrible things. Things that I wish I never learned were possible. But for every horrible thing I see, I also see hope. I see children who want to make the world a better place. Adults who fight to give their children a future where they do not starve or go cold. Humans out there work as hard as they can to end war, suffering, and greed. And elders who give their knowledge to the next generation so that they can make better choices in the future. And they have. They've improved so much since their ancient days. Yes, there are new problems here and there, but they also fixed old ones."

I then think about something Discord told me once about all the races he's seen since he existed. Those who have come and those who are gone. He's lived far longer than anyone thought possible and knows how various races rise and fall in time. "A good friend once told me that a race is like the lifespan of a single being. It starts in infancy, becomes a child, grows up before reaching its final stages, and ends with either a glorious final breath or a whimper. Discord had seen the various races of our world start and end, including ours, and do you know what he told me?" He pointed at Celestia. "He told me that ponies were still just children. We never grew up compared to the other races. We lived in a fantasy setting and refused to move on from it because someone didn't want things to change and tried to deny our potential because they were afraid of pain and suffering. Two things that you need to learn so you can grow up as an adult."

"And humanity wasn't a child?" Celestia growls in disgust.

"And Equestria isn't? No, humans were like children, but you then changed everything," I point out. "You forced them to realize that their past grudges and petty arguments were worthless in the face of outright annihilation. They pushed aside everything and came together for the greater good of their people. They finally saw themselves as humans and not the various tags they've given each other. They finally wised up because of you. You made them grow up, and that's why they are winning." I sigh in sorrow as I think about how we've evolved since Equestria was founded. "We could have grown up too. I don't know if you're to blame, the council you talked about, Starswirl, or all of the above. But even though Equestria was united, we didn't grow up. No, we refused too, and part of it is on you, but also on us for allowing it to get this far. We're so scared of things changing that we just refuse to let anyone change out of fear. Not just us or humans, but the other races as well back home. As one human I know has commented on it, it was a sugar bowl world, but all sugar rots eventually, or the bowl breaks from decay. What we had wasn't going to last forever, and someday we would have fallen apart, or someone bigger than us would have taken over."

"No, that's not true!" Celestia desperately says with determination. "Equestria will always survive! It will always be pure and true! I will never let it become anything less!"

"And that's the problem, Celestia," I say with a shake of my head. "You. You. You. I realize what you are now. You are not a demon. Or a monster. You are a broken child who was forced into power at a young age and never grew up. You are afraid of losing this power because, deep down, you are nothing without it. You've made your entire life all about being the ruler of Equestria to compensate for your losses. While I think there is a part of you that cares, loves, and is kind, there is also a large part of you that is selfish, paranoid, and hateful. In the end, you're just a brat. Nothing more and nothing less."

There is a long silence between the two of us. Celestia stares at me with wide eyes, and I just stare back at her with nothing but content that I've said all I needed to say. I figure there is no going back at this point, and she'll either just kill me right here and now or make it a public execution. Yet deep down, I am smiling because I won. I rejected them all and kept to my principles. 

Celestia sighed and dismissed the orb. "It seems I really do have no choice but to do this." I tilt my head in confusion as her horn glows and chains appear on my limbs. "Come. It's time to see what your stubbornness has cost you."