//------------------------------// // Broken Future // Story: Doomsday // by SilentWanderer //------------------------------// The Black Wing arrived at Equestria City. The city was dark. A pale light filtered from the dome, barely enough to see in the distance. The buildings oozed a black oily fluid. Over the broken ground, strange forms walked, shifting their shape in ways not physically possible in three dimensions. Around the vehicle, thick black tentacles emerged from the ground, attempting to crush its protective invisible barrier. A wide beam of pure light, as bright as the sun, evaporated the tentacles without harming the Black Wing. Celestia and Luna landed in front of the vehicle, which extended its ramp. “Twilight Sparkle. What is going on?” The twelve ponies exited through the ramp. “Long story,” said the Administrator. “We have to find myself. I should be in the central chamber.” The whole city glowed with a purple light. A deafening unnatural noise could be heard. The tentacles all over the city slowly retreated and disappeared. “I believe I just cast my last spell. Let's go quickly, I do not have much time left.” -*-*-*- In the middle of a large room, filled with purple light and strewn with jagged blocks of broken crystal, lay a single lavender unicorn. Her body was full of bruises, and she was bleeding from several wounds. As she struggled to breathe, without moving her mouth she spoke to somepony: “I believed I could fight them. I was wrong. I believed I could not fight destiny... I hope I was wrong too.” The time-traveling ponies entered the room through a wide descending corridor. Sweet Light was the first to run towards the wounded pony, followed closely by her four friends from the future. The Administrator held the rest of the group back. “There is nothing we can do. Let them have this last moment together. They deserve it.” “What happened to you!” Sweet Light's deep black eyes gazed at the wounded body in front of her, and she recoiled. “You overdosed on nanomachines! It is lethal on less than half that dose! You never used nanomachines before, why did you do that?!” “When I noticed that they had invaded the city, I tried to teleport here. But they were waiting for me. I fought them mid-teleport, and barely escaped. All my internal organs are crushed. The damage is too much for nanomachines to heal. They are consuming my body to keep me alive. “I cast the spell that I had prepared to banish them from the city. But it is all in vain. Everybody is dead. I could not save anyone.” “You saved us,” said Butter. “And you sent us hope.” “I was contacted by a time traveler who I had noticed before, snooping around the City's barriers. “Normally, I would have killed him. This time, I accepted his help.” The dying pony closed her eyes. “I am sorry that I used you all.” “What do you mean?” asked Apple Seed. “I engineered your bodies, and your whole lives, so that you could act as duplicates of the Elements of Harmony. Even our friendship was a lie.” She turned her head to face Butter. “I ripped your deformed wings for my own amusement.” “But I am grateful for that,” said Butter. “Not only you gave me new wings, but you gave me something more important: my friends.” She turned towards Happy Party. “The only reason I went to your parties, is because they reminded me of Pinkie Pie's parties.” “If my parties are even one tenth as good as Pinkie's, that makes me very happy. I was always worried that I could not live up to the example of my most famous ancestor. And you were always there for me when I was depressed.” “Happy, you are always depressed,” snarked Apple Seed. She faced Rainbow Wing. “I encouraged your training, not because I wanted you to be as good as Rainbow Dash, but because I found your determination amusing.” “And in the end, I met Rainbow Dash herself! Isn't that a good thing?” She looked at Sweet Light. “I gave you an almost lethal dose of nanomachines. I did not care about the risk.” “I knew about the risk,” said Sweet Light, teary eyed. “And I accepted it. You also gave me the knowledge to use them in ways few ponies can. And you gave me privileged access to many of the city's systems. Only you and Celestia had more access than me. You trusted me with many secrets. I am honored to be a pony you trusted so much.” She turned her head towards Apple Seed. “I...” “Could you quit with the ‘I am a bad pony’ act?” yelled Apple Seed, tears streaming from her eyes. “You are going to say something like ‘I killed your precious nature,’ aren't you?” The pony in front of her nodded. “You are trying to convince us that you are not worthy of our compassion, but it does not work. And it does not matter how many bad things you did, our friendship is real!” The dying pony smiled lightly. “I imprisioned my beloved mentor. I put down my babysitter and my brother. My dragon assistant, who never accepted what I had become, died protecting me. I killed more ponies than I am able to count. I destroyed many beautiful things to create my utopia. Even then... even after all... I am happy... that you are... my...” She closed her eyes. “F-Friends...” She exhaled one last time. Around her, the five friends were in tears. The purple glow disappeared. The only light in the room was a sky full of stars, visible through a large spatial hole below the intact part of the ceiling. In front of the stars, a large dark mass pulsated. Twilight Sparkle walked towards the grieving ponies, followed by the rest of the group. “When I first came to Ponyville and fought Nightmare Moon, she destroyed the Elements of Harmony. But I realized that the Elements are not just some jewels. The elements are within us. “Honesty. Kindness. Laughter. Generosity. Loyalty. Friendship. You should be able to use them together, even if their physical representations were destroyed in your time. “Let's do it, and save our world!” All the ponies present wiped their tears. The ponies of the past wore their matching Elements, while the Administrator enabled the simulacrum system on the ponies of the future. This time, there was no pain. The colorful light from both sets of ponies filled first the room, then the whole destroyed city, and then spilled through the open portal, dissolving the dark pulsating mass outside it.