Apples: Immortal Tree

by Julia

ENDGAMES IV: TRUE END

Author's Note:

A song to listen to while reading would be Centuries by Fallout Boy. For me personally, the song syncs up too well with the entire story.
Also, look out for the sequel! Of course there has to be one, right?

Velvet gazed into the space which her daughter took up and began to cry. She slowly approached her, looking her directly in the eyes. "Twilight? It's... me. Your mother... Please Twilight, whatever you may do... just don't do it. The darkness may be inside of you, but you're still my daughter, protector of Equestria, Twilight Sparkle. I know you can hear me, so please, just settle yourself down and all of this can just calm down... okay?"

Twilight rose a massive black crystal to cut the space between herself and her mother. Velvet reeled back and began to step backwards. "You... You aren't my mother... You are me..."

Celestia, Luna, and Cadence used their magic to shield Velvet from the branches of crystals that threatened to skewer her, but the crystals began to break through easily, and Velvet was forced to run away to the others. Celestia flew towards Twilight and brandished a scepter of light with a blade shaped like the sun, she swung at Twilight, who manifested a black shield with her cutie mark on it, a bow and arrow as big as she was, and two large blades waving like a flammenschwert. Celestia was struck by both the blades, but they could not cut her skin. She fell on her face, and her crown was removed by Twilight and placed upon her own head. The crown became like her weapons, black and crystalline. Cadence gasped, and she and Luna then attacked Twilight with their magic, but were easily overpowered by her. Twilight sighed and rose into the air, shooting down a crystal into the Phlegethon, and then one into Styx. Large beasts of fire and water with black crystal skeletons began to rise and roam around the land, tearing apart the landmarks and such. Twilight then made the land flat again, and the change in air pressure along with gravity caused an even larger earthquake than before, and the Mane Six along with the Alicorns found themselves stuck to the ground, surrounded by the beasts which Twilight had created.

"Dammit! Is this how we die?! By our own friend?" Rainbow cried, managing to get herself up by pushing down on her front hooves as hard as she could. "Not... if I can help it!" She spread her wings and took off, flying directly towards Twilight, who teleported beside Rainbow and facehooved her down into a pool of mud, blood, and dead bodies.

"You all are my friends... and a good friend would not allow her friends to suffer in the fires of Phlegethon. You either die by me, or by the flames," Twilight announced. Pointing down to all of them, even to Rainbow who was emerging from the mud, virtually unharmed. "My heart is still full of harmony, and controlling this darkness is very much close to impossible... Just accept the deaths I give to you, because they'll be a lot less painful than the ones they will offer you!"

The sky went completely black, and the angels, though gone after the visit from the Pegasi and Unicorns, came back to pile upon the beasts which surrounded the Mane Six, Velvet, and the Princesses. They took them up and vowed to bring them to safety, but Twilight trapped them all in a barrier of magic. Not even the angels could escape. Applejack saw no end to this, but she still clung on to a minute sliver of hope that there was a way out of this. She began to command her angels to do something in a voice nopony there could understand, not even Velvet. Soon, the angels began to tear holes in the fabric of space and time to place them all inside of Skyline, including Twilight and herself.

"Them elders can take away our powers in Equestria, but in Skyline, I still rule!" Applejack shouted, as the Sephirot of the Tree of Life appeared between herself and Twilight. "I don't care what they say, what they do, what they even are... Nopony can corrupt my friends... I know they use us for entertainment, but we'll show them that our lives are precious to us! Not to be observed by some spectators... but to live free and learn about things like friendship, harmony, all that stuff! That's what brings us together! If by some random occurrence shall we succeed in our adventure which is life, then let us come and share our experiences... Not have them be watched like a movie! And as for you, Demiurge... your reign of terror is over! This world shall not be Tartarus, and this so called Hell you speak of is not that... Hell is you. You are hell, you exist only to spread pain and suffering, and you tried to overthrow the one who created you. I will not allow you to live a pained existence, but instead, your existence will cease!" Magic leaked out in all directions, rainbow colored and flashing lights, everypony there found themselves Rainbowfied, and granted a white coat along with wings and a horn. They all became alicorns, and their powers and abilities were multiplied by the millions. Applejack too became an alicorn again, and she stepped onto the Keter, Crown, sphere. Celestia took the Tipharet, Beauty, sphere. Luna took the Yesod, Foundation, sphere. Velvet took the Malkuth, Kingdom, sphere. Fluttershy took the Chesed, Mercy, sphere. Rarity took the Hod, Glory, sphere. Rainbow took the Geburah, Strength, sphere. Cadence took the Neztach, Eternity, sphere. Rarity was on the Binah, Understanding, sphere. Twilight found herself on the Chokmah, Wisdom, sphere. She fell as her black magic was being stripped from her and placed into the Daat sphere. The Demiurge showed itself in its true form, a lion's head on a man's body clothed by a snake and wielding a caduceus and two stone tablets with an ancient language scribbled onto them. It possessed wings, which were ripped off by the chains extending from the Daat. They all watched in horror as the beast was ripped apart mercilessly and ultimately dragged down into the sphere and erased from existence. Only the memory remained.

Skyline began to shatter apart, and the real world began to show itself, still torn apart by the emergence of Tartarus. Applejack coughed up blood, which faded into nothingness, as her body began to do as well. They all noticed this and ran to her to see what was wrong. They then noticed that Velvet too was doing the same thing, but her sparkling ashes were being absorbed by her now reverted to normal daughter.

"Applejack! Mom! What's happening to you?!" Twilight cried, falling to her hooves and beginning to sob. "Aren't you gonna stay with us? How can we go on without you?"

Velvet and Applejack both smiled as they began to rapidly grow old. "Maybe so you will have to endure..." Velvet said to her daughter. "I wish that we really could have spent more time together, but I'm your mother Twilight, and I had to let you go at some point... My parting will not be in vain however, this death is merely caused by the death of Skyline... We were made immortal by its power, so when it dies, we die... This does not apply to you or Cadence, as you both came here to become alicorns... You will lose your Immortality, but you will not die... You two will also lose your alicorn status... as it was granted by Skyline, and so it shall die with Skyline..."

"But mom... how can we go on? You and Applejack were the ones who led us!"

The others had their heads hung low, as they all began to cry as well.

Twilight beat the ground as her wings turned to nothingness, leaving her once again a unicorn, and the same happened to Cadence, except she remained a pegasus. She looked to her mother with tears in her eyes, and her mother took her hoof and wiped her tears away. "Your friend Pinkie is waiting for you to rescue her... And I know that with your newfound experiences... you can do it, dear."

"Yeah Twi," Applejack said with a smile, "Velvet and I may be the Crown and the Kingdom, but you hold more promise to take on both of those roles... Twilight Sparkle, with this we give you our blessing, and we crown you the Goddess of..."

They waited for a response, but it seemed that Velvet and Applejack had frozen in time, their bodies continuing to fade away, and their memories played on the screen which was Skyline like a movie. Then their voices were merged as one as they announced,

"Your adventure is far from over... We give you our blessing, and control over the heavens... but of course you cannot do this alone... Your friends are here for you, and shall you all succeed in what we first failed to do. Even though the Demiurge is dead, Tartarus still must be stopped, as its merging process is far from over."

"Are you sure I can do this? Can we do this?" Twilight asked, as the bodies of Velvet and Applejack had completely turned to dust.

"We did enjoy our time together, did we not? All these years of havin' our heads up high should still be tickin' in ya, Twi," Applejack's voice said. "Y'all know I mean best, because Honesty is my Element. Well, though the Elements are destroyed, you all are still the Elements of Harmony, as long as you live! Even without me, you all hold the power within you, and Twilight has my blessing, so she has my Element as well. Twi, you lead them and make sure they stay safe, Heaven still holds the ones who survived, so make sure you give occasional visits to Heaven as well to either rest or gather info from the angels. Tartarus must be stopped from the inside out, so when you go to Tartarus, know you cannot open the portals from heaven or take any angels with you, they cannot enter Tartarus. Rarity, Fluttershy, you two should sit these missions out for a while... I'm sure the angels will help you with childbirth and getting fit again, and all that jazz... Oh yes, and please, make sure you get Pinkie back... It pains me to think of what Cheese and Pizza would do without her, what anypony would do without her. We need our laughter, don't we?"

They all looked up, trapped by the memories and the sound of Applejack's and Velvet's voice. History flashed before them, and taking it all in at once left there heads spinning. Twilight chuckled and told Applejack and her mother, "Thank you! I'll never forget you guys! I... I love you!"

Applejack and Velvet's voices sounded once again, "No...thank you all... Our lives would not be the same had we not met you... Speaking as one leaves us unable to speak individually in the sense we can project our separate feelings, but we can both say for sure as Velvet and Applejack, Applejack and Velvet, we appreciate and cherish the memories and experiences as you do... we both feel the same, and so do you all down there... We will miss you as much as you will miss us, but remember we are always with you in your hearts, in your memories. Good luck, stay safe, bring Pinkie back! And...We love you too!"

The voices disappeared as Skyline did the same, leaving the ponies back in the destroyed Equestria with the angels opening a portal for them to heaven. The loss of Spike, Discord, Applejack, and Velvet would downplay them by a long shot, but surely as the memories continued to flow through them, they found themselves able to survive. Their hope and memories would keep them strong. Afterall, they kept Applejack strong.

"You guys can go on to Heaven," Twilight said, accessing Applejack's power and opening a portal to Tartarus. She began to walk forward, but had to turn back around so she could hug her friends as they all cried as one, remembering the times, the experiences, the friendship they shared, the friends which they made, the friends which were Applejack and Velvet. In between the heavens above and hell below, they stayed on the world to remember everything it had to offer. The adventure was far from over, and as a matter of fact, one would be wise to ssy it had just begun. Twilight broke from the hug and waved goodbye to her friends for now, and they waved back. Though saying goodbye to each other, they were in truth merely saying hello to their new lives. The heavens roared in joy, the earth was silent in rest, and Tartarus wallowed in pain and suffering. The sun, moon, and stars were gone, and the only light that shined was the light of the flames from Tartarus and the blinding white lights emanating from Heaven's gates. Soon, the gates were closed, and earth found herself barren.

The only life that remained was a lone apple tree in the Apple Family Orchard, and it was being watched by the final star in the sky. The wind blew and like a candle the star went out, while the apple tree fell and died.

The End.

Comments

[Flint]

all right so i finished reading this and all i have to say is what the hell did i read i mean seriously i couldn't understand anything

[Julia]

5480581 lol, i wanted to use my knowledge of the Gnostic Religion and make it into a MLP fanfic... it got kind of out of hoof

[xStellar_Bubbles]

Wow... this... this story is just great! One word to describe this story: epic. You did well at giving the details in this story, especially in the battle sequences. However, at the same time, that's a problem. The chapters in your story have extremely long "paragraphs" in there, I advise that you keep in mind that you are writing paragraphs, so spacing really helps.

See? Besides, with those long paragraphs, your story can quickly become, dare I say it, boring. But other than that, your story was really great.

[Aatxe360]

This was the Mariest Sue of all stories I encountered. Yet, it wasn't. I googled Demiurge when it first came up and it led me to understand more of what was "going on."

It also reminded me of how much Applejack always seemed like a ponified Megan from what I remember of the pilot for G1. I'd like to imagine that somewhere the meld of Velvet and Applejack are reborn as the original Megan; starting the journey all over from a different perspective.

You have kept me enraptured. It has given me an odd sense of self-reflection.

[Julia]

5581271 thank you

[Manaphy]

5581280 You're welcome.

[MixMassBasher]

In between the heavens above and hell below, they stayed on the world to remember everything it had to offer. The adventure was far from over, and as a matter of fact, one would be wise to ssy(Error here, should be "say") it had just begun.

[Griseus]

This story has a weird raw, innocence to it. This is where I would say "neat" and be content. I can't.

Still, I can respect what you want to become.

[Sir Hat]

>23K

Fuck....

Gonna grab some water.