• Published 19th Apr 2017
  • 1,335 Views, 12 Comments

Post-Ponies - RomanCandle



The Ponies of Equestria are gone. This is not their story.

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I Do Not Wish to Be the Last - Ember

I don't really like being Dragonlord.

It sounds good, at first - be in charge of all the Dragons of the world. With a wave of this scepter, you can tell any Dragon, anywhere, what to do.

There's just two problems, really. The first is that you've gotta decide what you're gonna tell em to do - if you're not specific enough, some of em can get creative and do something that really messes up what you were planning.

The second problem is that Dragons are kinda lazy - so they're not gonna do anything until you tell them to.

So here I am, Lord of the Dragons, walking in circles and wracking my brain. It's been three days since the Sun failed to rise. Some of the Dragons are over it - as far as they're concerned it's a minor inconvenience since we've got good vision in the dark, and lava to keep us warm. Some have grown more and more concerned as the...daylessness goes on. They've started to either go into hiding or, worse - ask me what to do.

I hate that, because I don't know. Nobody tells you how to deal with the Sun disappearing.

I tried to send a letter to Spike to ask. He'd shown me how at one point, before he left. But rather than burning cleanly into a swirl of smoke that whisked away across the horizon, the letter just...burned. I tried it a couple more times. Or several. A lot. I might have used up all my paper.

It would be one thing if he didn't answer - he could be busy, or just not have any paper himself - not a big deal. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised - if something is up with the Sun and Moon you'd expect them to be going crazy trying to fix it. That's what their Princesses do, so they'd be totally freaked if something went weird.

But the messages weren't just getting ignored. They weren't sending. I'm not a mage or a scholar but - that's not a good sign. Dragons are tougher than Ponies, by a long shot - have you ever seen a Pony bathe in Lava? - so if something was messing up Spike getting the message...it didn't look good for the Pony Princesses, which meant it didn't look good for the Sun, either.

Some dragons weren't worried - but some were, and they wanted to know what to do. They brought their concerns to their Dragon Lord - me - and I'm just trying to sort it out.

The Lava will keep us nice and warm for a while, so we don't have to panic, at least. But lava cools off, eventually - that's why we migrate - and even if it's a hundred years before we have to deal with that...the rest of the world is going to get colder in the meantime. If it gets too cold, will we be able to fly far enough before we freeze? I don't know. I don't want to wait and find out.

But I'm not sure what else to do.


One good thing about ruling the Dragons, I guess, is that a lot of them are really, really old.

That sounds kind of weird when I put it that way, but I've got a point. Some of them know some really, really old stuff. I used the Scepter to summon the oldest dragons to comb their brains. Teamwork saved my scales once, maybe it'll do it again.

They're huge. One of them has teeth bigger than me in every direction. But more than that, they've got stories.

They talk about the birth of the Sun. They don't make a lot of sense, and a lot of their stories are contradictory. The Sun was made by Unicorns. The Sun was made by Dragons. The Sun was made with the blood of all the races of the world.

They have one thing in common, if you didn't notice - the Sun was made.

I don't know how, or by who. I don't know if I - we - anyone can make a new one.

But I know I've got to try.


I'm not happy about the situation. All the Ancient Dragons could agree on was that the Sun was made in some Ancient City somewhere that's long abandoned. They can't agree on who or when or where, exactly, but from the sound of it, it was some deep jungle temple. I know where there's a jungle, and while I don't know where an ancient, abandoned city could be in it...who else is going to look?

I guess I could order some other Dragons to do the searching. Maybe I should. After all, that's what the Dragon Lord does, right? Tells other Dragons what to do.

But I can't. I can't ask them to do this. Don't ask me why, I don't know. Maybe I don't trust them to do the job right, or know what to look for. Heck, I don't know what to tell them to look for.

But I can't let everything end like this, slowly freezing until all that's left are Dragons frozen in sleep.

I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that's not the end.

Author's Note:

Kinda had an idea for an adventure in a post-apocalyptic world after reading the story Negotiations way back, but never had the motivation to really do anything with it.

Last night I woke up and went to the bathroom and looked at the window. It was so dark and I had no idea what time it was, and for just a second I felt terrified that the sun had disappeared. Just think of the implications - they hit me like a ton of bricks out of nowhere.

It was dumb, the sun is fine. But it kind of spurred me to action here.

I don't really like First Person perspective, so if I do anything more with this I'll switch to third and go full on adventure mode.

But no promises.

Comments ( 8 )

I like this. But for the exclusion of Spike, this could be the other side of The End Of Ponies. Though the letter may not have sent simply because pony magic powered the spell, so Spike may still be around.
But of course this is your story, with its own world. I do you a disservice projecting a different world onto it. I recommend you read EoP anyway because it is quite good (most SS&E stories are) but yours is competent as well. I will be watching patiently to see where this goes.

Liking the story so far. Keep going!

I'm very interested in this story.

A bit different then how it is in my series, but I like the idea. Let me know if you need any information regarding Negotiations

I watch with bated breath.

I be watching this story.

An ancient city buried in a jungle somewhere? Huh. If you ever continue this story, then it sounds like Ember and Ahuizotl are about to team-up to make a new sun. For that matter, I wouldn't be surprised if those ancient dragons were even older than Celestia, and knew things she didn't...like that the sun was made. You know...depending on your headcanon for TCB, perhaps Celestia's spell wasn't strong enough to pick up every pony on the entire planet, but only those within a geographical distance of Canterlot, mostly Equestria itself...what I'm saying is that if Daring Do was off on an archaeological jaunt, you could totally have her around too.

@RomanCandle...

1. Definitely an interesting post-Apocalypse premise. I hope you will continue & finish this story.

2. For some friendly directional advice...
- a.) If this story intends to end with the 'geocide' (since that term is more accurate for the story & the NegotiationsVerse; the extinction of the non-pony races is more of a side-effect/-consequence) of planet Equus, then I would suggest pulling the fan-fiction trigger, communicating with Rated Ponystar, and making this fully integrated into the NegotiationsVerse.

- b.) On the other hand, if this story instead ends on a positive 'light' (pun intended), though obviously not without great loss &/or sacrifice to do so, then you can keep this separate from the NegotiationsVerse.

- c.) Those two points being said, even if this story does end on a positive note, it could STILL be part of the NegotiationsVerse. It would be the highest irony if the non-pony races manage to forge/create/make a new sun, and restore cosmic-Harmony (also need to get the celestial bodies moving again too) to planet Equus without the ponies; again, not without loss &/or great sacrifice, yet done with Unity &/or Friendship (for even more thematic irony). Thus, making NgV-Celestia's abandonment of planet Equus (in Truth) and her (failed) Conversion Bureau invasion of Earth ALL FOR NOTHING, and the remaining ponies on Earth never knowing that terrible irony since they cannot gaze (much less travel) back through the dimensional barriers to planet Equus.

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