Friendship's End

by Thought Prism

Chapter 4

In the aftermath of what was likely the most horrible single event in Equestrian history, many things were different. For one thing, with much effort on her part, Twilight took it upon herself to usher in the night, as Luna certainly was unable to do so in passing.

The remaining unicorns were ushered out to edge of what remained of Canterlot, tears forming an unnatural evening dew atop the ruins as the crowd solemnly moved. As she performed this sorrowful shepherd's task, barely maintaining composure herself though sheer force of will, Celestia had had an idea. She found Rarity among the herd of sobbing faces and pulled her aside.

Their discussion ended, they waited until everypony had formed a mob of shaking bodies where the mountain path began to dip. Celestia spoke with enough volume such that all present could hear her, though in a more pleasing tone than she and her sister once employed. "My little ponies, to say that yesterday was a sad day for us all is a vast understatement. However, it is our duty to not forget those whose lives have touched our own. We shall leave Canterlot in its current state as a memorial of these events. For now, we grieve."

With that, Celestia's horn flared brilliantly as she rose into the air. Wood and stone shifted away as the broken bodies of the unicorns who had died during the fighting were gathered and levitated in place in front of the mob, a single pink body placed on the top. They then burst into gently flickering flames.

The wails from the crowd intensified as many ponies shared embraces with those friends and family who had survived. Twilight had found herself in Rarity's arms. All thoughts were turned to those who had their lives cut tragically short. As the bonfire slowly consumed itself, Celestia and Twilight allowed themselves to truly cry out in their sorrow.

As the final embers died down, Celestia used her magic to gather the ashes, and combine them into large balls, adding the remains of the those slain indirectly by Bolas along with the volcanic soot still hovering high in the air. Seeing her cue, Rarity stepped forward.

She carefully pressed the swirling black clouds into shape, one at a time, with great force. When she had finished, three large statues, made from pure diamond, stood gleaming in the moonlight. The first depicted Princess Luna, wings outstretched, a proud expression on her face. The second was a likeness of her four friends who had perished, the Elements of Harmony, in a group hug, smiles on their faces. The last pristine statue showcased a jolly old Earth pony stallion, kneeling downwards to embrace a small pegasus filly, meant to represent the rest.

The ceremony completed, unicorns gawked at the new monuments and milled about, wondering what they should do next. It was at this point when Twilight approached Celestia.

"Celestia," she said, wearing a stern, ponderous expression. "I think you should step down."

The taller mare blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You heard me."

"But... why would you even suggest that, Twilight?"

Her head tilted down, eyes closed. "Though nothing more than a heartless murderer, Bolas was right. We overvalued frivolous things, instead of actually prioritizing the safety and well-being of those under our care above all else." Now, meeting her gaze directly, "In short, you're too soft. I should take over."

"W-What are you saying? This is not the Twilight I remember teaching the art of magic to as a schoolfilly. You've learned so much about friendship, and now you just want to throw all that away?!"

"I never needed friends! And if I'd never made any, I could have spent far more time with my studies. Maybe I could have even gained enough knowledge and foresight by this point to have prevented all this from happening!" she exclaimed, gesturing to all of Canterlot.

Celestia's cheeks flushed, fuming. "But friends are who you can rely on, ponies you can turn to for guidance, encouragement, and joy! Don't tell me you forgot all that, and actually took what that monster spouted to heart!"

"So, you're upset that I disagree with you for once? Well, it's not my fault, ok? I tried my best to tune him out, but I couldn't. Logically, what he was telling us made so much sense! Perhaps friendship was important, but it isn't anymore! And now I finally realize just how fragile our lives in Equestria really are!"

They stood there, glaring daggers for what felt like eons. Seeing Celestia's obstinacy waver, Twilight took a deep breath and continued. "In order to fix things, we'll need to make many ponies move to different towns with their families, trade in their old, unessential talents for vital jobs. Equestria needs new farmers, weather ponies, and the like. Every able-bodied mare and stallion needs to pull their weight to help rebuild Equestria as a nation of unicorns. Do you think I'm looking forward to telling Rarity that she can't waste time on dressmaking anymore? Of course not. Friendship is just a crutch for us now. We can't feel sadness or regret for our subjects over what needs to be done for the greater whole."

After hearing Twilight's full thoughts on the matter, Celestia finally understood. Her student was not a monster, she had simply changed into a mature, hardened conscience from this ordeal. "Well, I don't very much like it, but I see now. It appears that the student has surpassed the teacher. For the time being, I will heed your judgment. Lead us forward into a new age, Twilight Sparkle," she said, dipping into a slight bow.

The other alicorn did not smile at this news. She simply returned the gesture.

"Running a country is quite the task, are you sure you won't miss your old life?" Celestia asked.

Twilight shook her head. "It died with my friends."

"Same here," chimed a high-pitched voice.

Surprised, the two turned to see an approaching Sweetie Belle, who had calmed down significantly from her earlier bout of rage.

"I'm so sorry for that, Sweetie," chimed Celestia solemnly. "Actually, I don't think I've thanked you properly for what you did. Your actions, however suspect they might have been, just saved Equestria."

The filly blushed a bit, leaning to this side. "I'm honestly not sure what came over me. I was just filled with so much magic all of a sudden, like it had rose from inside and consumed my body the same time."

"I'll say," she noted. "This is quite the mysterious occurrence indeed. In all my years, I've never seen a unicorn with as much raw power as you, and from a filly no less! Even those rare cases when one could levitate their own bodies, they never did so with nearly as much speed or precision."

"I'm shocked myself. Before this, I was just learning basic spells. But yesterday... I just... hated him so much. It made me stronger."

"And who can blame you?" asked Twilight rhetorically.

Reaching over to place a reassuring hoof around her, Twilight saw that the filly's flank was no longer empty. "Well, whatever it was that happened to produce such strength, it was quite important," she said, pointing to her flank. It now bore a strange red-orange symbol, that of five tall, vertical triangles which met at the base and tapered downwards into a single point.

"Oh, yeah, that. Not sure what it means. Rarity didn't know either. That monster Bolas called me a Planeswalker, though. Maybe that's my talent or something."

Twilight pondered this for a moment, realizing the implications. "Well, in this case, 'plane' would most likely refer to a separate world entirely, as in a 'plane of existence'. Maybe you have the same power that dragon apparently has: the ability to move, or 'walk' between different worlds! The gift might also come with an increased aptitude for spellcasting!"

Sweetie Belle's brow lowered. "So you're saying I'll actually be able to get my revenge for what he did to me, to everypony?" She looked itching to act, shuffling back and forth.

Twilight's expression betrayed concern. "I suppose so. But let's not be hasty. Who knows what those other worlds could be like? Not to mention you're still just a filly."

"Well," chimed Celestia, "I'm going to have some more free time on my hooves, and my previous student has learned all I have to teach. Perhaps you would like to be my student, Sweetie Belle?"

"Really?"

"Yes, really," she said, putting on her best smile under the circumstances.

"That's amazing! Thank you, princess!" the filly dashed up to hug her leg.

After a few moments, she broke off, gazing upwards. "I'm going to learn all that I can about magic, and my new powers." She turned her head around, training her stoic gaze across the many families preparing their things for the journey home, wherever that might be. Sweetie inhaled deeply. "Everypony will always hope for a better future, and I'll fight for that future. Whatever it takes. My friends might be gone, but friendship never dies."

Author's Note:

I'll let the words sink in for a bit.

All done? Well, is this any good? Let me know in the comments!

Comments

[garfan]

Well, is this any good?

no, it's terrible. For example Celestia could have easily countered Twilight's claim of never needing friends with the fact everypony would have been dead long before Bolas showed up if she'd never had friends.

And Twilight basically admits she's going to be a tyrant, commanding the citizens into the jobs she feels is necessary. She's making them slaves of the state.

Interestingly I can see Celestia's actions as preparing Sweetie Belle to help her take out Twilight in the future.

[Thought Prism]

5961275

That would make sense, except for the fact that I wrote the chapters out of order. Inspiration is weird like that.

[Thought Prism]

5961685
5961085

Sheesh. I thought the whole point of this show was to promote acceptance and kindness towards others, regardless of how different they might be from yourself. I appreciate constructive criticism as much as the next guy, but there's no need to be rude. Yes, I know that many of the ponies here are acting out of character, and that my writing process in unconventional. One of the themes I was attempting to employ was that of how painful experiences can change a person (or, pony, in this case). Sometimes I get ideas for what should happen later before I finalize what's going to happen first, and I rush to put my pen to paper, so to speak, while those ideas are fresh. But even if you don't like those things, there's simply no need to go out of your way to try and make me feel bad. I'm glad you both took the time to comment on my story, as it shows that my story's premise at least is interesting, but that's about the only thing I'm glad about right now. So, thanks for that.

[Enlightenment]

I think the weakest point about your story is the first chapter. Let me tell you a little advice. The first chapter is the MOST important in a story. It's the one that hooks-up readers and push them to read the rest of your story. Most of the downvotes you got are probably coming from people who read only the first chapter before downvoting and going away. The other chapters are quite good and funny to read, expecially the fight between Bolas and Sweetie. I suggest you scrap that terrible first chapter and try to write something presentable. Another thing you could do is fuse all chapters together into a single one (with only 8000 words it shouldn't be too long and the pace of the story would benefit from it). Good luck with your writing!

[Thought Prism]

5962637

It's cool, since you actually explained in detail why you disliked it. Now, I can improve from the experience. Keep writing great stories, and stay helpful. (Oh, and the thing with the pronouns was me trying to avoid 'lavender unicorn syndrome'. I guess I did too well on that front.)

5962981

Yeah, I kinda knew the first one was sub-par. But it's not like I could just have Bolas show up out of nowhere, some sort of lead-in was necessary. In knidsight, the lack of retained tension is the problem.

I'm going to try my shot at a comedy next. That way, I can jump right to the laughs, and worry less about whether or not the ponies are acting in character.

[Chaosreverent]

My thoughts on this:

1. I sincerely doubt that all the ponies of Equestria could fit inside Canterlot. Just ponyville, sure, but the entire nation? Even if we only use locations from the show this still includes Manehattan which is at least several times the size of Canterlot.

2. Does anyone else find it funny that Bolas's plan is essentially a suped-up version of sunset shimmers from equestia girls. Also I thought that his ultimate goal was to gain back the omnipotence that he lost in the mending, not to conquer the multiverse.

3. Ok, as a narrative tool, character death is something that has to be handled carefully. Here it seems to be overused for darkness's sake. Guess what? Discords dead, BAM! now so is Pinkie, BAM! there goes Luna, BAM! lets off ALL the earth ponies and pegasi for good measure. Killing off so many characters suddenly without giving them any meaningful chance of fighting back does not make the readers care about what goes on in the story but only serves to emotionally distance themselves from the narrative.

4. Whats up with sweetie belle? Having her plainswalker spark ignite makes sense but why does it make her so powerful? I mean yeah, pre-mending plainswalkers where basically gods but post-mending all the spark does is allow one the ability to travail between planes (Which is why Bolas is so determined to reclaim the power he had). Sweetie belle should be no more powerful than she was the day before and subsequently should have been no match against Bolas.

5.

"I never needed friends! And if I'd never made any, I could have spent far more time with my studies. Maybe I could have even gained enough knowledge and foresight by this point to have prevented all this from happening!"

OK. Lets pretend that Twilight never went to ponyville and that whole thing with Nightmare Moon somehow sorted it self out, granting her what? 1-4 additional years of study, NOTHING WOULD HAVE CHANGED. The trap was set up in such a way that an entire nations worth of ponies, including two 1000+ year old demigods were utterly helpless. Twilight wouldn't be able to do jack shit, less in fact as without that friendship she clams she didn't need she would never have been an alicorn in the first place. That she said anything like this at all is the biggest spit in the face to the memory of her friends and all the lessons she learned from them.

[Snow123]

5964261 All this.

Nicol Bolas may be a dragon with a taste for the theatrics, but... here's a thing:

He's a Chessmaster. He spent so many years on the plan of the Conflux of Alara to form the Maelstrom. After losing the great chunk of his initial power he already took out the Spirit Dragon himself, prior to Ugin's and Sarkhan's Retcon Plot.

He doesn't need to brutally slaughter when his merest touch can render the victim a mere vegetable.

Also, he doesn't waste resources. "The best pawns are those that can make pawns of their own." The whole slaughterfest is a waste of resources.

Finally, as said, a Spark no longer makes the Planeswalker god-like. The Old-Walker rules should never be in effect, especially for a mere filly such as Sweetie, whom you, like many before, bent into a Black-Hole-Sue of sorts by having her match Nicol Bolas.