“Luna. There is nothing else we can do,” said Celestia. “It is over.... It is all over.”
It was a fate not even Celestia wanted to accept. Discord, the vile creature he was, had finally gotten his way. Besides Chaos, and the two immortal alicorns that had attempted to halt its flow, nothing remained on the corrupted planet that was once the home for so many. Discord had even destroyed himself in his quest for never-ending chaos, and he sure had gotten his way. No life was left, nor homes left from the ponies that had once lived, no trees. Nothing but the ground, the sun, and the moon were left, and the sun and moon were wishing that they too were gone.
“We must not give up sister,” replied Luna, who believed in second starts more than any pony out there. “We can still rebuild. So long as we stand here, at least a relic of pony society can remain.”
“What would we build Luna? You know well as me that even our magic cannot recreate life. Anything we could create would be a simple empty shell, and would fall to the chaos of this world as fast as everything else. This is the only option,” replied Celestia.
“I simply believe it akin to suicide. I do not wish to sleep forever Celestia,” said Luna.
“What alternative is there?” replied Celestia while gesturing to the ruined land around her with a nod. “Spending an eternity roaming in all of this? Perhaps one day we may awake. Anything is better than endless torment.”
“I suppose you are correct,” said Luna. “I do wish that there was some way... something we could do, perhaps could have done to have stopped all of this from happening. It feels wrong to simply leave this world after failing to stop its end.”
“I also feel that way, but there is nothing we could have done... and nothing we can do now besides wait.” Celestia had been feeling the exact same guilt Luna had. She was the main ruler of the planet, it was she who was supposed to protect it.
Luna sighed, finally accepting her defeat. Her and Celestia had been arguing on the topic of whether or not to use the spell for nearly an hour. Despite all romantic notions of a happy future rebuilding structures as an honor to all the ponies who had fallen to the chaos, there was nothing she could do. Celestia was right, and now that that was settled there was no reason to wait. There was no reason to hurry either. No reasons for anything actually, besides home. “Well Celestia, are you ready?” She asked.
“I am as ready as I’ll ever be,” replied Celestia. She took one last look at the ruined face of the previously harmonious and great land, and wondered for one last time if there was anything she could do. But there was nothing. Nothing but the spell they had yet to cast.
“Then we begin,” said Luna as her horn began to glow. “I hope to see you again someday sister.”
“As do I Luna... as do I,” Celestia said as her horn also began to glow.
And no more words were said as the two last remnants of harmony activated the greatest spell they had ever used. The ground below them opened up, something easy to cause with the amount of chaotic energies stored in them, and began to swallow the two previous leaders. They sank quickly into the ground, losing consciousness as they felt the power they had just placed in the world fade out of them. It was going to be a long rest.
The spell, however, had more than one effect. Something neither of the solar, nor the lunar incarnations had counted on. The sun and the moon seemed to expand as they realized that the creatures they had placed their trust in had left the world. The moon began to move on its own, losing the image of the pony it had trusted and gaining the rubbled face of chaos we know today. The sun was much more controlled than that however. It only expanded for a quick moment before shrinking again. However, even in that quick moment that the planet which was called Equestria was engulfed by the hot plasma of the sun, great things changed. The planet’s crust once again turned into the molten state that it had once possessed, the chaotic energies carried within it released, and the world began to spin. The sun, although immobile, began to move in the sky. The chaotic energies, previously thought permanent, began to slowly leak from the planet. The sisters, however, did not witness any of this. They were resting, deep within the chaotic planet.
They would remain at rest for a very, very long period of time.
____________________________________________________
Dennis was a very diligent scientist, and most would say he was obsessed with his job. The seabed research lab was stationed on was due to be shut down due to personnel cuts before Dennis had offered to man the station for half the wages of any other certified scientist that could do it would even consider taking. He may have ended up doing the work of what was intended to be split between 3 people, and he may not have had much time to talk to friends or family due to his career decisions, but Dennis loved doing research inside the little lab he now called home.
The research base Dennis was stationed on was quite experimental for its time. Instead of the normal submarines, this base had cables running from the main living area at the surface to a large undersea dome lodged into the bottom of the continental shelf. Although the was already well explored, nobody had ever built something that allowed people even a small section of it without some form of submarine or suit. The dome could even be moved from its resting position on the sea floor to allow mobile exploration.
Today was a particularly exciting day for Dennis. In fact this was the day that all of his hard work could be paying off big time! Last night, while he was doing a routine scan of the ocean floor he came upon something interesting, something he was actually expect to be there all along. There was a large amount of radiation coming from the section of the continental shelf that he had scanned. Soon after realizing that he put the commands in the base computer to move the undersea dome to the spot, and begin filling with air again. He had already been drilling for some time, and the Geiger counters that he held with him were beginning to click more and more fervently. He soon had to even don a radiation suit to follow standard protocol for dealing with radioactive materials! As the clicking of the counter began to speed up so did Dennis’ excitement. Soon he was dreaming of government grants, and famous research papers written only by him..
Dennis continued to mine into the bedrock with haste until the radiation levels spiked in a short amount of time. A sign that the resource he was seeking was very near to him. This meant it was time to switch tools. Although fond of the large and powerful drilling tool, Dennis did not like the grinders that were used to reach natural resources that were to be studied without damaging them. They were louder than the drill somehow, and more cumbersome to use in the large radiation suit. However, the grinder was a very necessary tool when trying to shave away small layers of the seabed around buried objects, and Dennis was required to use it.
Dennis had the grinder fully prepared for use, and sitting ready to use right next to him so it was easy for him to set down the drill, lift the grinder, and begin carefully grinding at the rock. The grinder took ages to get past only a few centimeters of stone. After nearly an hour of carefuly grinding away layers of rock the sound of the grinder hitting something different filled the dome structure Dennis was in. there was a bright flash of light as the grinder began attempting to eat away at inside the rock. Dennis moved the grinder around this new material, shaving away some of the stone that was hiding it. It took Dennis a while to reveal enough of it, but when he finally removed enough of the rock to identify the object he saw... A horn?
__________________________________________________
Awakening was a great surprise for Princess Celestia.
Having been asleep for more time than most could even begin to imagine, Celestia took quite some time to be able to tune into her senses once more. She was surprised to feel something grinding against her horn, a sensation she thought was a part of her imagination at first. The barriers she and her sister had erected when they cast the sleeping spell would allow nothing but life to reach her, but if any magical being was to come close to said field she was to be immediately awoken.
Celestia could detect little with her senses while still encased in stone. However the spell she began to cast to free her from the protective prison did more than just destroy stone, it showed her the state of the planet she was awakening to. The chaos that once reigned unchecked over her planet was now very weak. She could sense that it no longer possessed the power to turn the land into nothing but moving sand, and the oceans to vibrating mud, but she could also tell that chaos was still more than strong enough to prevent any sentient life from existing.
Celestia began to worry that chaos had somehow managed to break the barrier, she wondered if perhaps it had managed to find her and spent most of its energy breaking through her protective prison. As Celestia realized that she could be very well in trouble due to the fact that even though the chaos still on the planet was weakened, it was plenty strong enough to defeat her alone she began speeding up the spell that would free her to attempt an escape. Celestia pushed the spell so far as to cause the stone around her to literally flash out of existence in a split second. This quick disappearance of stone left Celestia looking at a very surprised, and slightly scared creature.
Before Celestia could take notice of its loose, bright, and white skin, strange bipedal stance, and the strange tools it was holding, she noticed something much more basic and far more disturbing fact about the creature. It was generating a sound that was disturbingly familiar to her, this creature was being actively attacked by the chaos on the planet, and releasing a nearly silent plea for help.
Celestia’s reaction to the sound was actually a very rare experience for her. Celestia panicked as the sound pierced her brain, and began casting a spell to fix her problem. Celestia hardly knew that she was even able to cast such a spell, yet she performed it perfectly. It was only moments before the effects that chaos was having on the creature in front of her faded, the room was quiet once more.
That was the spell that changed the face of the planet named Earth, and change the course of an entire species.
______________________________________________________________________________
Greg was not your average teenager. Sporting was not was his favorite activity, he was not intelligent, lacked a love of Dungeons and Dragons, and did not like to skate. Adam did not really fit in much in many places. But he did like to watch television.
Greg was doing exactly that, when something of unprecedented value occurred. Something that would affect Greg’s life for the rest of his life. One of his many shows were over, Jersey Shore was on. It took Greg many moments for his mind to recuperate from the damages even hearing the name of that cursed show brought to his mind. The channel had to be changed, If the show was to actually come on, and he was still watching.... No. no description can fit that torture.
Greg had to get the remote. He felt for it in the normal spot beside his reclining chair, but only grabbed at air. He frantically began to search the room, he had to get that remote. It took him only a moment to locate it, but that was only the first step of the problem. The remote, as if taunting him with its power of torture, was nearly six foot away from his very comfy reclining chair.
Greg tried to stretch with all his might. He leaned over, putting all of his well-chair-toned muscles to work. His had inched closer, closer, closer. Three foot left, Two, One... One and a half.... Almost there.... CRAMP. Greg immediately brought himself back to a sitting position, pressing his hand onto the side that he had stretched too much in his desperation. He looked over sadly at the remote. It was still sitting there, safely out of reach, taunting him, “Have fun in jersey” Said the remote.
Greg, however, was not going to give up. He began to focus his mind and stretch out his arm again. This time he was not trying to reach the remote. He extended his fingers and arm out in a wide way, just as the actors did in the movies, and began to will the remote to move to his hand. The fear of Jersey draining his brain out through his nostrils motivated him. He focused his brain only on the remote and tried to will it to come to his hand. He thought the gesture futile at the time, knowing that he was going to have to leave the chair and just pick up the remote anyway.
The gesture was not futile however. Few would know the surprise Greg felt when the remote began to glow a bright white color. It picked itself up off the ground and flew to his hand, which was glowing a matching color. It seemed the power of the fear of Jersey shore was more potent than previously thought...
Greg did not bother with changing the channel. He shut off the TV entirely. He had things to test.
_____________________________________________________________________________
The pilot cursed at the cursed contraption in front of him. The fact that the plane he was supposed to be testing had started falling into pieces while he was still in the sky was not something that made him happy in the slightest.
However, despite the stressful situation, The pilot did not panic. He began taking every maneuver, and trying every trick that would get the plane flying again. However despite his ability to remain calm and try to correct the planes errors, the wing of the plane seemed to have decided that it was no longer meant to serve that which it was attached to. The resulting lack of lift sent the experimental craft into an irrecoverable plunge.
Even with the prospects of being in a flightless plane the pilot kept his cool. He waited until the very last moment, trying to steer the plane to a body of water where the least damage would be done to the very expensive aircraft on impact with the ground before ejecting.
The pilot had always found parachuting a relaxing experience. Not only did it normally mean he was most likely safe from injury at that point, the rushing of the air past him always seemed to have a calming effect similar to the sound of rain on a window during a storm. He wasted no time in reaching for the draw-cord for the parachute and pulling it. The pilot truly began to panic when no parachute was ejected from the seat. Adrenaline finally kicking in, he immediately pulled the cord for the auxiliary parachute. That one did not deploy either, sending the pilot into a true state of fear and panic.
A number of thoughts flew through the pilot's mind as fast as the ground was flying towards him. How long would it take for his parents to find out that he had died? How would his girlfriend feel? How was he ever going to get that very cool stereo system for his car!?!?. As he fell he watched the floor coming up to meet him, and at the clouds that were floating above it.
The unfortunate thing about his descent was that it took him straight through a low flying cloud. The pilot had always hated those things due to how often they would ground his flights, and the fact that when he passed through one he always somehow ended up soaking wet. A truly wonderful way to die.
The pilot closed his eyes before he passed through the cloud below him. He did not want to know when he was going to die, and hoped that death would be fast. The impact came sooner than he thought it was going to, and the force was much less than he expected. In fact, the pilot spent a few moments wondering why he was still thinking after he stopped moving. He briefly wondered if one of the parachutes could have deployed, but quickly dismissed it due to the fact that even if it had deployed it would not have been enough to save him, and he would still be moving.
As the pilot opened his eyes to a field of white he knew he had to have died. However the fact that he could still see the Air Force base, and that he was still strapped into his pilot's seat revealed that he was not in heaven at all. He was simply sitting atop a cloud!
___________________________________________________________________________