A normal end to a normal day -- at least, that's what it was supposed to be.
But it wasn't.
Luna went to raise the moon as usual, but something went wrong. Terribly wrong. She felt it, but she couldn't stop it.
None of us could.
It appeared too suddenly -- acted too quickly.
The only warning we received was a roar and a bright flash of light, then everything was gone. No more Canterlot, no more ponies, no more anything.
Nothing survived.
Nothing... except for us and whatever 'it' is.
We may be immortal beings, but that doesn't make things any better -- if anything, it makes the pain all that much worse. The only thing we can really do now is try to avenge those dear to us. Our subjects... our families... my friends...
Everything.
I don't care how long it takes, and I don't care if it's a pointless battle. All I care about now is making sure we put that thing down for good.
After that?
Well...
Cover art done by Little Tigress. Check out her other stuff on deviantart if you wanna see more!
Yeeaaahhhh, I don't think she could do that even if she wanted to. You know, what is dead may never die and all that ...
*ahem*
Anyways, this is certainly a dark premise - though I would say your synopsis is a bit too spoilerish, and thus the first chapter lacks the feeling of uncertainty and tension it might have otherwise had. There would be uncertainty on how far the immediate destruction we see spreads, how far reaching Cadence's love senses are, can they sense other beings besides ponies, and so on ... But thanks to the synopsis we already know the answer, and thus the potential impact on the reader is diminished.
That aside, I'm looking towards what comes next. What do you do as a ruler of a dead world? Yes, kill the beast that did it and bathe in its blood, naturally ... but what then? When all you have left is a lifeless rock?
Granted, they aren't out of options with all the magic and time at their disposal. Time travel, portals to mirror universes, restarting life through magic (talk about a long-term project, whew
) ... I'm very much looking towards seeing where you take this.
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I'm aware of how spoilerish the synopsis is -- in fact I did that on purpose. It was less about revealing what happened and more about the emotion conveyed in the message.
You know what happened and you know what their goal is. The tragedy tag does indeed imply that they will fail in their endeavor, but even if they do, what happens next?
How will they react? You know they want vengeance, but what made them choose that over giving up? Which one talked the others into it? Or did they all decide together? And most importantly, how will they fail?
In short, it's really more about how they deal with it along the way and the decisions they make.
Interesting fic so far, the inner turmoil of Twilight, the utter cruelty of this villain, not even caring about exposition or a petty speech, just death.
In the beginning...
Before I read this, I must know: What's the tragedy tag for? The tag says it'll have an unhappy ending, but the synopsis says otherwise.
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How does the synopsis say otherwise? If your referring to their goal of revenge, that's all I mentioned in the synopsis -- their goal. I never said whether or not they succeeded at that goal.
Oh boy, this sounds fun
My interest is picked. I'm curious to see where this is going. Focusing more on the princesses's feelings and on how they deal with this is good for this kind of fanfic.
Holy throne... What happened....
No....
Seems I have a new story to track....
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They have been getting rare for me.
nice work.
This looks great. I really like how you handle the ponies' emotions. I look forward to see what exactly will be intense.
Hmm... Still no clue as to who or what caused the blast that decimated Equestria...
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It sounds like a nuetron blast. It is the kind of cosmic event that can so utterly strip a planet of ALL life.
This story is very good. The emotion, setup, and characters are excellently done, and the fat that new chapters are uploaded daily makes it all the better.
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Thanks for saying so!
Although I don't really have a set date on when I release chapters for this story, I try to do it as often as possible.
Ok so equestria was.wiped out bye a massive eldritch horror fun
Nice chapter again. Now the princesses know they are no match against the power of the
Death Starcreature.Holy throne... Just what in Terra's name was That?!
nice work
You know, it didn't occur to me before, but reading this chapter one thing stuck out for me - namely, where are the dead bodies? What happened to ponies and other living beings when the attack hit?
While not impossible, I doubt the attack simply vaporized everyone else on the spot ... or at the very least I feel like the princesses aren't going to be that lucky to have that be the case. But the question remains ... where are the dead? The hundreds, thousands, millions of ponies living in Equestria's greater cities? Shouldn't they be strewn through the streets and demolished buildings? Inside collapsed houses and stores?
But evidently they are not (and I guess this might be the thing Twilight thought was off that she couldn't quite put her hoof on) ... so where are they? I doubt the answer is going to be a pleasant one, one way or another.
I'm also going to take a stab and say that not too much time has passed since the previous chapter, if Twilight's magic is still out from that shield spell. Or that she isn't hungry ... which is going to be another interesting problem to tackle soon enough. The princesses still need to eat, or so I assume.
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Unlimited POWER!
It's weird, but the way this... thing destroyed Equestria is almost like the Homunculus destroying a nation in FMA: Brotherhood....
I wonder where are Celestia and Cadance.
Thats not Cadance and Twi, i am right?
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No it is, but Luna doesn't know what happened to them during the event.
Oh...shit...
are we going to get some closure on just WHAT THE FUCK is the Lovecraftian eyeball demon/monster in the sky that razed the planet (or, at least part of the planet)?
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I think I know what it is, but I'm not one hundred percent certain.
I'll have to get back to you once I'm sure.
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*shrug* Fair enough.
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I know what is now, but I can't tell you.
The time is not yet right.
Just reading this made me jump. I loved it.
I am really enjoying this story, so please keep up the good work.
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The Apocalypse. The death of all.
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Ether that or some massive multi million megaton nuclear event.
Holy Emperor.....
The mystery thickens. What happened to Celestia and to Cadance?
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Who knows?
Digging that picture of Luna though, looks like she's about to beat somepony's ass.
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This comes from an art from Sunibee on dA. Luna and Twilight in this art look pretty pissed.
Well, this certainly had the atmosphere of a tense horror story. You certainly have a good knack for setting mood and tone. Though I guess one big descent into darkness is what we can expect going forward. Against something this overpowered, it feels like rolling over and dying is the ultimate inevitability. Unless Discord can do something ... where is the old coot, anyway?
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Oh, him? Who knows? Probably out and about somewhere.
Or dead.
Either way he ain't gonna be much help.
Aw gosh dude, that whole Spike segment got me super teary.
Wonder where discord is.
Definitely getting some Lovecraft vibes from all this...
Raw magic is very attractive...
I can imagine Celestia wiping the griffon army while saying "I HAVE UNLIMITED POWER!!!"
I am eager to read what happens next.
I understand why Luna wants her to use ambient magic while celestia didn’t. Back when celestia said it they didn’t know equestria was dead, but now they do. Honestly the only ones at risk from twilight using it are celestia, Luna, and cadence, and I wouldn’t be surprised if at this point they thought themselves as acceptable losses if it meant defeating the monster.
Then again that would leave twilight alone for basically the rest of eternity, which can’t be good for her sanity.
Theory Time:
We still don’t know who the “demon” is, and we just learned that Ambient magic can have the power to wipe out an entire race AND is a corruptive agent, and the “demon” could have EASILY caught Luna, as she was right behind her for some time. No doubt the “demon” wants something.
The Destroyer Of Equestria is Twilight Sparkle.
After using Ambient Magic, she becomes corrupted and uses it to kill the other three Alicorns and her future self. But, with no one else left to destroy, Twilight uses the time travel spell from the S5 finale to travel back in time to destroy Equestria and ensure her corruption, thus creating a never-ending loop of Destruction.
Thank You, I’ll be here all night!
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Obviously I'm not gonna confirm or deny that, but it is an interesting theory. Also it's not certain whether or not ambient magic could wipe out an entire race. Luna only said that Celestia wanted to, not that she could. Though if it has the power to destroy Equestria, I guess being able to wipe out an entire race would go without saying...
Twilight has one option of escape alive and still can have her friends,
Mirror mirror on the wall.
Second theory Time:
That line by Twilight, referencing the fact that Luna was trying to provoke her to use ambient magic got me thinking. I think that isn't Luna. Le the explain.
We know Ambient magic is EXTREMELY POWERFUL. Well, I'm willing to bet that it might allow the ability of transformation. Yes, I think Twilight's future-self has used her magic to make herself look like Luna in order to lull her past-self into a false sense of security. My evidence?
Luna relayed her tale on how she survived the explosion of Camterlot mountain firsthoof, meaning that she could have very well been lying.
My theory is that Celestia and Luna were both killed by the Canterlot mountain explosion, and while Twilight was unconscious, her future self found her and took her to wherever we are now. So that "monster" that "Luna" was escaping from "A Princess' Regret" and are currently hiding from right now, isn't a monster at all. It was Cadence, trying to get Twilight back from who she now knows is an imposter Luna.
All I know is that we have A LOT of holes right now when it comes to perspective. Twilight's Black-out is already a big hole that needs to be taken into consideration, as well as the obvious undertones hidden throughout the latest chapter with the reveal of ambient magic. When it comes to anything that occurred within that amount of time, DO NOT TRUST ANYTHING. This story is a first person perspective, meaning we learn details of the the situation the same way Twilight does, so the time from when she backed out to woke up is a large dark spot that we have to be mindful of.
Anyway, I can't wait to see how my theories hold up!