Xenophilia: Shotglass Oneshots

by TheQuietMan

79: At Magic's End by Goat Licker

At Magic's End by Goat Licker.

***************************

Lero fell forward into a pile of dusty glitter. He sputtered and pushed himself up with his hands, spitting with the tip of his tongue pulling between his lips. The dust coated the entirety of his body, gritty and rough.

He shut his eyes tight, trying to fight against the irritation. He continually dusted his forearms, trying to clean them so he could wipe his face. He stopped and grabbed the collar of his t-shirt, pulling it over his head, and used the clean back to wipe his face.

He could open his eyes now, blinking to cause tears, and saw the piles of dust in front of him as the full spectrum of color flickered in the sunlight. He flapped his shirt like a matador’s cape to knock off the dust. His flapping stopped as he realized he didn’t know where he was.

Dead rotting trees with no foliage were in front of him. It was daytime, though he couldn’t see the sun. Weird shoots, like green weeds, towered above him.

Where the hell am I, he thought.

He cycled through his recent memory. I was walking through the Everfree and fell. Something happened between that. Did I fall into a portal? This thought would have been absurd in his old life, but now it felt normal. Equestria had changed his expectations.

He put on his shirt, still dusty, and felt a tremor running from the ground into his feet. He wondered if something big had fallen.

He sat on clean ground and meditated, using the techniques Lyra had taught him. Shortly, he heard roaring and pinpointed its direction.

It sounded like an ocean. He stood and walked toward the south.

The dead trees were behind him now as he pushed through the weeds, their odd smell of wet asphalt sending him reeling to his old life on earth. It was both comforting and upsetting.

Another tremor shook the ground, and Lero fell to his knees, his hands hitting dirt once again. The shaking and rumbling stopped, and Lero thought of an earthquake.

There are never earthquakes in Equestria, he thought. What’s going on?

He ran through the tall green weeds as the roaring of the ocean got louder. A strange sight was barely visible through the weeds, as if he was peeking between his fingers at a secret he couldn’t believe.

He broke through the last line of weeds, and stopped, breathing heavily, as he reached the shores of a tideless ocean, as still as a rain puddle.

In the far distance, water was rising into the air, like a blue sheet. He thought tidal wave, but it was only moving upward, not forward. At the tips, he could see chunks of ice forming and breaking. He did not notice that the daylight was fading.

Another earthquake, a short and violent stab like a mugging, and this time he was knocked to the ground.

He got up on his knees, and to the far west, saw the stationary sun. It is Equestria, he thought. He knew that sun. What the hell happened?

He scanned the east, and his breath caught in his chest.

The ground was rising above the horizon, many miles away, broken into chunks like some floating level in a video game. Lava pushed underneath them, flowing upward and cooling rapidly.

The shoreline had receded, a sure sign of tsunami, but it was being sucked upward as well as the wall of water seemed to move toward him.

Another tremor struck Lero down, and the ground below him flung into the air with a deafening blast, g-forces pressing him down. The daylight faded away as the stars revealed themselves. Lero gasped for air. The atmosphere was being ejected from the planet, starting its journey through outer space.

They had been on his mind, in the background, pushed away because of hurt and sadness, but now the glitter-dust on his body shined green, purple, blue, and Lero thought of his mares, his fists clinched into the dying earth hurtling him into space.

Tears escaped his eyes that didn’t finish their travel down his cheeks, as they evaporated, and he couldn’t breathe, and he was so cold, and magic and hooves grabbed him and he was pulled into the portal that opened behind him.

He landed on soft green grass, the daylight warm all around him, as he gasped for breath. Hooves and forelegs rushed him, hugging him.

“G-girls,” he stuttered, and he sat up, despite his short breath, enveloping them in his arms as he looked into their happy faces; all of them happy and relieved.

“Oh gosh Lero, I’m so sorry!” Twilight said, looking into his face. “I tried to pinpoint you but mppphh,” her sentence interrupted as Lero kissed her. She sighed happily and kissed back.

“Hey, save one for me!” Dash said, and Lero kissed her and Lyra as well.

“I don’t know where I was,” Lero said. “I thought I was a goner,” but here his death dream ended as he took a last gasping breath, his body hurtling into outer space, freezing, blood boiling, and he lapsed into unconsciousness. Death followed.

The land of Equestria, and all the other lands on the dead planet, ejected into outer space, elements fusing and dissolving, and millions of years later the ruins would form an asteroid belt around the unmoving sun. By that time the moon had been dragged into the sun, and dissolved.

The universe continued on its journey through the billions of years.

…

Princess Twilight Sparkle, unadorned, and Princess Cadance, adorned and with saddlebags, slowed their pace in Everfree Forest, their retinue following behind. They were reaching their destination. Their pace was like a dirge, silent and solemn.

Princess Cadance swore she would be brave for Twilight, but now as she entered the clearing, revealed by shafts of sunlight like fingers pointing through the leafy canopy, Cadance couldn’t help but suppress a sob.

Twilight turned toward Cadance, the two leading the procession, with love in her eyes. “Oh Cadance, you’re so brave to take this.”

Cadance couldn’t help herself, and threw her forelegs around Twilight’s shoulders, and Twilight hugged her back. The grizzled sergeant major behind them raised his banner, ordering the processions to stop.

“Twilight,” Cadance said, and that was all that was needed.

Twilight cradled Cadance’s face in her hooves, and gently kissed her on the lips, their years of friendship, sisterhood, and shared rulership contained in that symbol of love.

“Darling Cadance,” Twilight said. “Prince Night Stream will be a fine successor.”

“Oh, I know that,” Cadance said. “We trained him well,” and Cadance thought of the blue-coated and silver-maned alicorn, sitting on Twilight’s throne, tears running down his cheeks as he watched his beloved mentors travel to Everfree forest, knowing only one would return.

“All the research papers are filed in the royal archives,” Twilight said. “Let him continue the work.”

They stood silent for a while, Twilight raising her head to survey the clearing that always loomed large in her dreams, Cadance studying every last hair and detail on Twilight’s face, as if she would forget for one second what she was.

Furry paws stuck out from the left side of her saddle bag and threw out eggshells.

“I have to go now, Cadance,” Twilight said. She turned to Cadance and smiled. “I love you very much.”

“I love you terribly, Twilight,” Cadance said. One last embrace, one last kiss, and Twilight moved to the clearing.

“Set it in position,” Cadance said, her voice steady.

Twilight heard the ponderous steps of the Military Police, earth ponies, tasked with carrying the black iron prison. Long poles jutting from underneath the black box were attached to specially made saddles, and their unicorn assistants grabbed the poles with their magic (the black iron prison itself couldn’t be manipulated by magic), and carefully lowered the box behind Lero, within Twilight’s view. They quickly marched back to the formation.

“About face,” Cadance said, and the clattering of armor and stomping of hooves echoed throughout the clearing as they turned their backs to the prison.

Twilight swallowed. “Gerald, I’m ready.

Rustling grass pricked her hearing as Gerald raced to the cage. The weasel hopped on the roof of the cage and grabbed a glowing sphere and unattached it from its holster. He hopped off, and made sure he was at least two meters away from the black iron prison. He twisted the sphere like a dial, and the prison’s opening slid up, and black iron bars extended forward like a jack-in-the-box.

Gerald hopped toward the bars, chittering and performing acrobatics with the sphere. He turned his rump to the opening and slapped it, blowing a raspberry.

A vile and deathless growl, like a volcano in Hell, emanated from the prison. The rattling of armor as the retinue of soldiers quaked in fear broke through the clearing. Gerald was unperturbed, and continued his sarcastic and mocking performance.

With a whistling roar like a hurricane striking land, the Basilisk lunged at the weasel and struck out a squamous claw, snapping its pitted beak, gazing with killing eyes, doing everything to kill Gerald, a member of its most hated race. The weasel danced out of the way and quickly checked Twilight Sparkle.

Gerald immediately twisted the sphere, and the bars contracted, pushing the Basilisk back inside, and the door slammed shut.

Gerald hopped on the roof and inserted the sphere into its holster. He scurried to Princess Cadance, caught her eye, and saluted.

“Th-thank you, Gerald,” she said, forcing a smile. “You are dismissed.”

Gerald climbed up Cadance and went back to his saddlebag. Cadance levitated an egg, and greedy paws reached out to grab it. The flap on the saddlebag muffled the sounds of the delighted weasel.

“Retrieve the black iron prison,” Cadance announced.

The MPs double marched to the prison, retrieving it.

Once the MPs passed her and returned to their place, Cadance, with low face, turned around. There was Twilight Sparkle, looking up at Lero, both frozen in stone. Twilight stood next to Lyra, who was next to Rainbow Dash, both turned to stone three millennia ago, at their requests.

Cadance walked toward the clearing now, her face looking at her lost friend Lero, his expression neutral because he didn’t have time to react to the Basilisk that passed in front of him.

Rainbow Dash was determined. Lyra was calm. Twilight Sparkle was smiling. All three were heroes of love, sacrificing their future so Lero wouldn’t have to wake up alone.

Cadance turned around. “Forward march,” she said, and she flew back to her position as head of the procession.

The sergeant major came through, and walked beside her.

“Princess,” he asked in his gruff voice, “will they ever come back?

“As long as there’s magic, they’ll see each other again,” Cadance said.

Stomping hooves faded away as quiet gathered in the clearing, and the Everfree forest carried on as it had millions of years before.

Author's Note:

SpinelStride: Prompt idea: Lero gets petrified by a basilisk and is NOT rapidly rescued. Eventually, yes.

The Quiet Man: Bonus points if the time's measured in weeks, months, or even years.

Comments

[cosmofur]

Call me confused, but the two parts of this chapter just don't feel like they go together. Individually (especially the second one) they make good story openings. But part one doesn't lead to part two, and taking account time factors, part two doesn't seem to lead to part one.
Seems like there's a missing link.

[Flink]

Creative! Impressive visuals. Wow. Took me a few minutes, but I think I've got it.

[FaceDeer]

6471498 They're chronologically reversed. Part 1 takes place millions of years hence, part two takes place only 3000 years in the future.

Here's what I believe the chronology of the events actually are:
* present day (not depicted) - Lero gets petrified. This state cannot be cured while Equestria has magic in it, the spell keeping him stone is too powerful to be overcome.
* Some years later (not depicted), Rainbow Dash and Lyra are nearing the end of their lives. They choose to be petrified next to Lero.
* 3000 years later (part 2), Twilight joins them.
* Millions of years later (Part 1), Equestria's magic goes away as the planet ends. Lero de-petrifies but the three ponies disintegrate since they are inherently magical (they are the powder that Lero woke up in). Lero has a matter of minutes to live as Equestria itself begins disintegrating and the air escapes into space, and as he dies he has a hallucination about his three wives.

[Goat Licker]

6471838
Thanks for that. I was worried I was too vague.

And, uhhh... spoilers.

[mycarhasaMoustache]

This might make sense in your head but reading it is incredibly confusing. An author note would be nice to maybe explain anything that happened here.

[TheTownCrier]

Confusing at first then rather touching.

[Aunoraux]

6471838
I came to the same conclusion, but I missed the part about the dust being Twi, Lyra, and Dash.

[warpd]

Ouch, well that death was horrible.

[DooMJake]

and very sad

[Mustafa]

Wait Twilight was petrified but not at the same time?

[Pvt PartyPooper]

We just love killing them all don't we?

[The Chronicler]

WHY WOULD YOU POST SUCH A THING?!!!!

[Dysons_Fear]

I love this. So fucking sad though.