//------------------------------// // Carmilla // Story: My Little Final Destination // by Pyrotechnic //------------------------------// “After it was all over, only Dash and I were l-l-left. I remember feeling the absolute hopelessness of knowing that you all were gone. It was more than just a glimpse of the future. I felt the emotions, felt the fire burn everypony around me.” Twilight’s shocking revelation horrified all of her friends. Rarity had her mouth open and looked absolutely horrified, while Fluttershy was cowering nearby. Dash had explained certain elements of the “vision”but seemed to be in some kind of shock. Anypony who knew Dash would be shocked at the quiet, almost timid nature of the show-off pegasus. Fluttershy herself even found the sight of her oldest and greatest friend timid a strange turn of events. “I read a few books on the nature of premonitions, and even what to look for when having them, but this felt different than what I read. It almost seemed to be real. I am so glad that you guys are alright.” While Twilight relieved the horrors that she had seen, Applejack was nearby, ready to comfort the unicorn if need be. Although Twilight seemed to be doing better than Dash was, the unicorn would occasionally stumble over her words or falter and shiver a little. Applejack always would be quick to place a supportive hoof on her friend, or share a hug when she started shivering. Though Twilight never mentioned anything or glanced at her, the farm pony was extremely grateful to comfort her traumatized friend.. “Attention, passengers! We will soon be reaching our final destination of Canterlot. Please gather your belongings before leaving. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna will be gracing us with their presence at the last stop. Thank you for choosing the Friendship Express,” a feminine voice called out cheerfully over a magical speaker. Twilight cheered up considerably at the mention that the Princess would be at the station in Canterlot. Celestia never greeted them in her vision, so maybe it was just her imagination after all. “Princess Luna is meeting us at the station?!” Dash had effectively broken her depressed mood. Only Twilight and Pinkie seemed to pick up on her sudden mood swing. Twilight was certain that there was something going on between Luna and Dash, but wasn’t quite sure what. Soon, the train grinded to a halt, the wheels squeaking. Twilight gently extracted herself from Applejack’s comforting embrace and ran off to greet the Princess. Applejack, slightly disappointed that Twilight wasn’t nearby, couldn’t help but notice the oddity of the Princess dropping everything just to greet them at the train station. Then Twilight had some kind of weird premonition. Applejack was suspicious of the whole thing. However, maybe Celestia really was there and there was no reason to think otherwise. Twilight was the only one who seemed to be in a chipper mood. Dash, effectively traumatized, barely said anything while Twilight was explaining things. Twilight was elated once she saw the familiar figure of Princess Celestia. Princess Luna stood next to her, dwarfed by her sister. Celestia greeted, “Hello, my most faithful student!” Twilight trotted up to her excitedly. “Princess, what are you doing here? Don’t you have important business to attend to?” Celestia grinned and leaned conspiratorially toward the unicorn. “Twilight, did you forget that this is supposed to be a relaxation day? Did you read every aspect of the letter carefully? If you recall, I was going to treat you and your friends to a relaxing day in paradise. This included a personal escort by royalty.” She paused to share a significant look at a currently-smiling Luna, who was grinning evilly as Rainbow Dash whispered something in her ear. Celestia added, “Besides, I am sure that there will be absolutely no impending disasters while I am away. Luna wanted to come and greet all of you, so I felt it necessary to make a personal trip.” “Did you inform anypony of your visit?” Twilight asked. Celestia frowned a little. “I didn’t want to alarm anypony at the castle, so I had Cadence run things in my absence. Only a few ponies know of this. In fact, I am under a disguise spell that will show anypony else a completely different pony. The illusion is only broken by the six of you and, of course, Luna, who is under a disguise as well. This was difficult magic which required my full attention.” A chill washed over the group. Dash, who had been whispering excitedly with Luna, shot up in alarm. “You didn’t tell anypony about this trip? Like, at all?” Celestia, worried, turned to stare at Dash. “What seems to be the problem, Dash?” All six of the ponies now grew worried. Maybe, that wasn’t just a premonition, and maybe they weren’t out of it yet. Dash said, “Princess, I had a very strange vision. It was the scariest thing Twilight and I had ever seen. In it, we watched our friends die shortly after leaving the train.” Celestia’s worry intensified. Luna was trembling slightly. Celestia asked, “So, you had a premonition? Somehow you two had the same vision?” “Yeah, and we were greeted by this strange mare on the train,” Twilight answered. “What kind of mare?” To say Celestia looked worried would be a severe understatement. She focused her now intense gaze on her student, making Twilight’s stomach churn with worry. She had never seen Celestia so nervous. Twilight said, “She was oddly-colored. She seemed to be an Earth pony, but she wasn’t like any I had ever seen. She had red and black streaks in her mane and green fur.” The panic in Celestia’s eyes threatened to overwhelm her faithful student. She turned to Princess Luna. “Dear sister, it seems Carmilla has struck again.” Luna shook her head in fear. “I thought we stopped that horrid mare, sister.” “You can’t stop somepony like Carmilla.” Twilight seemed to be forgotten as Celestia and Luna argued for a while. Just who was this Carmilla that they were talking about? After a little more debate, Celestia finally turned back to Twilight and her growingly-concerned friends. “Twilight, the mare you and Dash are now being targeted by is one of the few beings in Equestria who can truly scare an immortal being. Her name is Carmilla, but we are not aware if that is her real name or just one she goes by. “Discord himself fears her. She doesn’t follow any sort of rules--not even the natural order. I want you to tell me everything that happened.” Celestia had regained control of her panic and was doing her best to put on a brave face, though failing to do so. While Celestia and Luna led the way to Canterlot Castle, Twilight and Dash, for the second time that day, recounted the traumatizing premonition. They were somehow successful at holding back tears as they relived the experience. Both alicorns grew more and more worried as time went on. Finally, Twilight wrapped up her tale and turned expectantly to her mentor. “So, just what is going on? Who exactly was that mare? Carmilla just doesn’t sound like a proper name to me.” “Debate among yourselves exactly what it is about that kind of knowledge you want to hear.” A low voice echoed around the ponies. Twilight and Dash jumped violently, much to the confusion of Celestia and Luna. “What? Where did that voice come from?” Twilight, in a blind panic, struggled to place where she had heard the voice. “Oh, I am everywhere, Miss Twilight Sparkle! Celestia won’t be able to see or hear me, only you can. Shall we get rid of them so we can chat?” “No!” Twilight shouted, shaking her head vigorously. Instantly, her vision blurred. When it re-focused, she was standing on the same street she had been previously. Something, however, was terrifyingly different. Princess Celestia had been slashed in two, blood still pooling around the broken mare’s body. She had a shocked look in her eye, her lifeless eye staring up at Twilight. Twilight screamed and threw herself backwards.. What had happened? What was going on? Who did this?! All around her the broken bodies of her friends (minus Rainbow Dash), littered the ground. Twilight could see Applejack impaled on the side of a building, blood still dripping to the ground. She had a grim smile on her face as her breath slowly left her. “Such a tragedy has been wrought here. Each of them shot down well before their prime. Death is infinite, and cannot be stopped or changed.” Fluttershy draped over Rarity. Both mares were dead or dying, still bleeding out. Nearby, Twilight noticed a crying Rainbow Dash near a broken Luna. She wasn’t moving, but Dash kept trying to revive her. Her efforts were in vain, Luna unable to spare Dash the cruelty of death. “The sole survivors, Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle, will witness in a week’s time the death of everypony they care about. They will be unable to stop it.” Nearby, Pinkie was barely even recognizable. Twilight didn’t know what had happened to her, but didn’t really want to know. “Please, why are you doing this?! They can’t possibly be dead!” Twilight still couldn’t see this mysterious Carmilla. Still, Carmilla’s voice echoed throughout the hollow scene. “I have been doing this for years, Twilight Sparkle! It is quite fun to watch mortal beings witness the future. They believe they can outrun death. They struggle and fight and save what little life they could, but I always go back for them in the end! But I never played with ponies before...” “You're doing this for some sick entertainment?! You believe you can toy with us like this?!” What were those mysterious beings that the mare had mentioned? Were their other ponies or species in Equestria that she didn’t know about? She never heard Celestia mention any of this before. “Some forms of life are spiritually gifted and are able to see glimpses of the future. They were supposed to die, and yet, they are somehow able to foresee their fate. Usually, a small group of others end up believing them and escape. Now, I usually don’t like to lose what is rightfully mine, so I usually kill off the survivors for my own amusement. But what is the fun in that?” Dash sobbed into Luna’s fur, cradling the Princess’s lifeless body. Blood was all over her fur and she was whimpering sorrowfully. This couldn’t possibly be real, could it? All her friends dead, Celestia, dead, Luna dead. All the important ponies in her life couldn’t possibly be gone, could they? “I like it when they believe that I have a design or the specific order that makes a difference. But I give them clues as to who I will target, and they struggle to make sense of it all. For five centuries, I have been playing this little game when I get bored.” For several moments, Carmilla was silent. Dash’s sobs continued to be the only sound that Twilight could hear. “This isn’t permanent, you know. In all my centuries of doing this, I haven’t come across anyone such as you two ponies. You in your friendships and magic and love are really interesting. Would you like to know how you can prevent this from being reality?” This wasn’t real? Twilight’s breath caught in her throat and she nearly laughed with relief. Dash, still crying over Luna’s broken and lifeless body, didn’t stop her flood of tears, but she was paying attention to Carmilla now. “All that you see is the crossroads between realities. While you have seen your friends and the beloved princesses die, it isn’t set in stone. I can make it so you never saw them dead. They will be good as new.” Suddenly, the mare that started this mess became visible and was leaning against Applejack’s lifeless body. Twilight and Rainbow Dash couldn’t move to attack her if they wanted to. Carmilla smiled and stared at Applejack fondly, eyeing her like a cat would a mouse. “I have become bored of my little game. Toying with living creatures and sending them down the road to Hell is getting stale. The formula of survival is old, at best. Everything has been done before; it is the same thing over and over again. So, I will make you a deal I have never made before. You will be the first subjects to ever get a deal like this.” Carmilla grinned wickedly at the two stunned mares. “There is a world much like yours, filled with creatures called humans. I have targeted several dozen of them over the centuries, but imagine the irony of ponies doing my work for me?” She laughed, the sound sending chills down Twilight’s spine. “What I want you two to do is to observe, plan, and carry out the death of a small group of future survivors. You don’t have to do things as messy as I do, but it would be amusing if you did. I will send you notes on who to kill. You will plan out their deaths, but only when you are notified.” Ordinarily, Twilight would question why she should carry out such a horrible deal. But, if she refused, could she live with the fact that she essentially killed her friends when she had the chance to save them? “You want us to kill... humans? Why would you think we would want to kill innocent creatures who have nothing to do with any of this?” Dash continued to sob, still clutching Luna as if she would drift away. “It would be amusing to see the outcome. Think of this as a science experiment.” Carmilla grinned widely. Twilight ears twitched. “How do we know that you will keep your promise? We can do this, and you might go against your promise anyway. After all, you torture emotionally these humans for fun anyway. What is to prevent us from being your playthings as well?” Twilight finished her angry question and waited for a response. Carmilla rose one eye in wry amusement. “You have my word that if you follow through with what I ask, I will release your friends to you. Everything will go back to normal, and you will live happily ever after and fight another day and all that boring, fairy-tale ending shit.” Carmilla looked particularly pleased with herself. “Won’t we get caught? If what you are saying is true, then we will be ponies in a foreign land--aliens. Won’t we cause a panic?” Twilight asked, relieved that she could potentially save her friends and the Princesses. “Don’t worry about being discovered. You won’t physically be there. You will be invisible to the inhabitants, but stay in an enclosed environment. Nobody will see or hear you unless you want an up-close experience. You can spend as much time with them as you like, but when you get a notice, you will have to accomplish that request shortly after receiving your orders. Fail, and I will automatically correct that behavior. I will leave this entirely up to you.” Carmilla held up her hooves, and the bodies of their loved ones suddenly vanished. A small portal appeared next to where Applejack had been. “You will receive detailed instructions once you arrive. Succeed, and your friends will be returned to you with everything intact. Fail, and you will wander Equestria alone forever.” Carmilla vanished as quickly as she arrived, leaving Twilight and Dash behind. “Are we really going to follow through with this crazy mare’s request? She is just toying with us, and we are just going to follow orders!” Though Dash accused Twilight, her words were flat and emotionless. “I don’t see how we have much of a choice. If we succeed, then everything can go back to normal.” “Are you listening to yourself, Twi? What makes you think we could possibly recover from something like this?” “I get it, Dash. I get that it’s an impossible request. But we have the chance to rewrite this entire thing. Our friends will be dead if we don’t comply. For whatever reason, we have been targeted. We should just get this over with, Dash. It’s a nasty proposal, but I don’t want to lose you girls. Meeting you five was the happiest moment of my entire life. I can’t just walk away like it didn’t mean anything.” Twilight stepped over to the portal. Thanks to Lyra’s ramblings about humans and all their quirks, Twilight could now confirm that they existed. The source of Lyra’s obsessions was unknown, but whatever they were, they turned out accurate. “Are you coming with me, Dash? I really don’t want to be alone. I could really use a friend right now.” Dash hesitated for a second. This was a really bad situation. Luna was dead, for whatever reason. Real or fake, it had to mean something. Dash thought back to when her life made more sense than it did now. Why couldn’t things be like they were this morning? Whenever she had a goal in mind, she fought for it and achieved it. This wasn’t what she had in mind. Dash really didn’t have anything better to do. It was either this, or wander Equestria forever. It wasn’t much of a choice. “I’m with you, Twilight. I will never leave you hanging.” Twilight smiled. Together, the two ponies stepped through the portal. Where they would end up, or even what they would accomplish was unknown. The only thing they could do was face that unknown together.