Chapter 37-Loss
Twilight felt a sickening crunch beneath her hooves. She blinked once, twice, maybe three times before she final came to, taking in her surroundings as quickly as she could’ve possibly imagined.
The first thing she wanted to know was what she was standing on. So she looked down.
And instantly regretted doing so.
Millions. There were millions of bones scattered across every hill, every grassland, every dirt-filled road to which Twilight turned to. They rose up, reaching high enough to cover Twilight’s entire hoof completely in burnt white. Empty and black eye sockets stared up at her, or at nothing in particular, as Twilight did her best to back away from them.
She simply couldn’t. The bones covered nearly everything, the remains of ponies washing over all of the land. To her great relief, though, after nearly suffering a quickly approaching panic attack, her hooves touched solid, dirt ground, no crunch heard.
Twilight stammered at first, gulping with her chest rising and falling at great pace. Her eyes were glued to the piles of bones, mouth opening in shocked terror.
“…Wh… How…? How did I…?” she questioned in a near-whisper. Even as her eyes gazed upon the burnt skulls and spinal cords, memories flushed behind her vision, in her mind, of all that she could have remembered.
A gust of wind. A short moment of agony. The red eyes. Then nothing.
Now, she stood amongst what remained, in a world consumed by fire and darkness.
Twilight looked up. There was no sunlight, no sun. The light burned from the flames consuming the forests, the dark clouds rising above. All she could see of the skies were burning, dark red clouds flushing in the heavens, thousands of blue lights soaring across the sky like falling stars, but all headed in one particular direction.
She followed their trail, gasped, and cried out as they struck the side of a mountain. The side of a mountain that held the capital city of Equestria. Canterlot. From where the Princess of Friendship stood, she watched with horror-filled eyes as the city came crumbling down in a mixture of flames and dust, disappearing down the mountain.
And then Canterlot was gone. Nothing remained. As the world burned around her, Twilight stood slack-jawed, eyes wide as can be, terror flooding through her veins, mind rekindling and trying to process the events that transpired before her. Even as she remained frozen, the world continued to burn, leaving the Alicorn to stare at the ashes falling around her like snow.
She was speechless. Completely and utterly speechless.
Twilight returned her eyes to the streaks of light breaking across the dark clouds. With Canterlot gone, several droves turned away from the destruction, instead choosing to fly directly towards…
“Ah!” Twilight yelped, backing away as the lights landed to her left, even more landing on her right. She stood in-between them now, head shifting back and forth as the dust settled around the pulsating blue essence that accompanied the figures.
Once the dust had completely disappeared, Twilight gasped. The lights were nothing more than Ultron’s sentry army. Lighting up her horn as if expecting a fight, Twilight gritted her teeth and prepared for them to charge. Except they didn’t.
More sentries rained down, adding to the many already surrounding the Alicorn. She watched, albeit a bit on edge, as they marched on past her. They quickly stopped, joined side by side and stepped back one, large step. In unison, the sentries created a path for the mare.
And Twilight was foolish enough to stare down the center of the path. Beyond the bones pockmarked across the dirt path ahead of her, forward on through the smoke-filled air and raining ashes, there sat a throne rising amongst the piles of bones. Twilight watched in the corner of her vision as the sentries stared forward, each one turning their heads toward the throne. She followed their actions.
She gripped her forehead the moment she saw the burning red eyes. More memories of the woman in the cave returned to her, nearly causing her to stumble. In the midst of her faulting, through the pain building in her forehead, she opened her eyes once more…
…as the figure on the throne slowly rose up.
The fires consuming Equestria gave off enough light for Twilight to see Ultron approaching her.
With his cape flowing in the dead wind, Ultron stopped five feet in front of the Alicorn. Twilight readied her magic despite the pain, but suddenly felt as every pinch of life from her was drained the moment Ultron narrowed his gaze. She stumbled once more, this time with her hind legs giving out and causing her to collapse into the dirt.
She pressed her hooves against her forehead, cringing as each heartbeat sent a wave of pain into her mind. Twilight heard a chuckle ahead of her, no doubt coming from Ultron. She looked up, teeth grinding together as she locked eyes with the monster.
Ultron reached up and pulled down his hood. With a knowing smile, he said, “Welcome to the future.”
An explosion so massive erupted from behind the towering figure standing in front of the mare. Twilight, flinching first, shifted her eyes behind Ultron. Monuments and temples were in construction from what she could see in the distance. The fire pits burning beneath the temples gave off an eerie, red and orange glow to the constructions’ sides, the tips pure black.
Monuments of Ultron’s victory. Temples for his legend. A rebuilding of his world…over the remains of her own.
Twilight lowered her hooves, eyes burning against the smoke that filled the air. She coughed, then whimpered, “No… No, this can’t be…”
“Is this not your vision, Twilight, as it is mine?” Ultron growled, his voice much deeper and more threatening than she remembered. As she brought her eyes back to him, Ultron held out his hand behind him, showcasing his greatest triumph to the princess.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” he began, voice so very low. He turned back to her, watching as her eyes, burning with fresh tears, suddenly shifted back to him. “It’ll be the first of many. A great memory of my life and how I saved so many from themselves. A tad unfortunate for the condemned. Well, that’s why they’re condemned in the first place, hm?”
Twilight simply couldn’t respond, her eyes shifting from the rising pillars and temples and back to him. His cape caught the wind again. He said, “Don’t look so surprised. You try to make yourselves out as something greater, but fall short, unable to excel right on by the crimes of your past.”
“We…we didn’t… No…” Twilight mumbled, unable to form coherent thoughts. She remembered Canterlot being consumed by orange blossoms, disappearing amongst the dust.
Ultron just shook his head, chuckling a bit more. “Speechless as always. I wouldn’t blame you. Being trapped…alone…in the end…it’s overwhelming. But don’t worry. We’ll have plenty of time to get to know each other. And then…then you’ll understand…that in the end…you brought about your own extinction… ”
The pain in her forehead was almost unbearable, and soon she could see the black building around her vision. For some sick, twisted reason, though, she remained awake long enough to see Ultron bend down and scoop up a lone skull resting amongst others.
He held it out to her. At first, Twilight didn’t see any sort of importance. Then she focused her eyesight and spotted the jutting horn…and how long it was. The soulless, black eye sockets stared into Twilight’s eyes, breaking apart her mind, tearing into her memories, showing her all that needed to be shown.
Ultron stepping forward. The tip of the sword. The slicing of flesh. The screams belonging only to—
“No…” Twilight cried, fresh tears flowing down her cheeks as she finally fell. She looked up once more, crying out in a painful and broken voice, “Please…no!”
Ultron crushed Princess Celestia’s skull. He said, “In the end…Ultron created peace.”
In the end, Twilight fell into a deep, dark slumber. Alone. Truly, truly alone.
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By the throne... You have shocked me speechless!
*claps in respect* Bravo sir, bravo...
What Twilight goes through here is most definitely gut-wrenching and heartbreaking.
Ultron you sick Robotic Son of a Bitch
Now is the time for some "Buck Scarlet Witch's rump redder", I think.
I think Wanda just stole Sombra's thunder.
i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/445/834/0ae.png
Oh, my God! I get it now! These horrific visions in the past six chapters are punishment to make me repent for all the terrible crimes I've committed in my life! Alright! If it'll make you stop terrifying the everloving crap out of me, I'll confess! I'LL CONFESS!
I WAS THE ONE WHO GREENLIT FANT4STIC!
I WAS THE ONE WHO ENCOURAGED DONALD TRUMP TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT!
I WAS THE ONE WHO MADE JOSS WHEDON LEAVE THE MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE!
I WAS THE ONE WHO TOLD CARTOON NETWORK TO CREATE TEEN TITANS GO!
I WAS THE ONE WHO MADE MAGICAL MYSTERY CURE ONE EPISODE INSTEAD OF A TWO-PARTER!
JUST TAKE ME OUT OF THIS CHAPTEEEEEEER!
7048474
You...BASTARD!
Jk I forgive ya.
except for the trump part...that is on you.
7048474 Well let the punishment fit the crime.
Ok, There is Cerberus syndrome, and then theirs... what ever the hell these things are. My God we have reached the marvel netflix level of dark in this story. Please let there be some humor again soon
No offense but this was pretty weak compared to Rainbow's vision IMO.
.............................................................................the fuck? I:S
7048014 Greatly appreciated.
7048033 Truly.
7048081 Next chapter...
7048147 She stole it since Pinkie's vision.
7048474 You monster... You need to be stopped.
7048845 We'll return to normal next chapter. Humor, character development, conflict, the works.
7049145 Understandable. I was nearly out of ideas after I was finished with Dash's chapter.
7048474
I confess!
7048116 If they don't stand together...it's bound to become reality.
All hail lord Ultron!
Is it odd that I am pretty much skipping passed these `dream`/`vision` chapters? I mean sure I bet reading them would shock my soul like everyone else. But frankly it just a lonnnnnggg drawn out event of Scarlet not learning her lesson and showing just how un-heroic she really is. Well her brother is not that heroic either with the knocking around, but bruises heal a lot easier than mental torture.
So yeah skipped em myself, if others like em then hey more power to em I just don't find any point in 'Just a dream' torture.
Oh and before anyone gets on my case over the Scarlet bit, frankly she is being quite evil at the moment. Beyond even Batman's level of anti-social tendencies, who is a anti-hero of sorts as well. It hard to excuse mentally raping six innocents.
Oh sure they were being a little persistent...So fine knock 'em out, and have Quicksilver ditch them somewhere. But there was NO reason to rip into their minds and do this to them.
7364620 Not all of them are "just a dream". Certain visions directly relate to what might transpire later on in the story or possible future stories ahead. I left it open as I post every new chapter for the readers to make the connection if it ever presents itself.
And the Wanda bit...just keep reading the story. I explain it.
Meh, this got a not surprised result.
And finally we end the horrible visions for the mane six. Gotta admit they were starting to feel a bit too similiar at points, but still this is an interesting future that may come. Because I'm SURE the heroes won't end.
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Possible overreaction or not, I've had it. I want Wanda to get a taste of her own medicine, just this once. Ally though she may be, I have my limits.
If there's one thing to know about Twilight Sparkle, she doesn't want to let anyone down and she takes it very hard when failure is inevitable. But the very idea that Ultron could stand tall over everyone and achieve his goal to wipe out the entire race... That is a future that Twilight would not want to be made real. She would want to prevent such a thing from happening and that is why it is vital she cannot afford to fail. Because if she does, what seems to be a dream conjured by a form of dark magic... Could very well be their reality if they let this happen.
...okay, now I'm angry. What was the point of these visions, besides torturing ponies who wanted nothing but to help?
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Man, that is one way to end these visions. Though I can definitely believe Ultron would be this dramatic gloating over his victory.