All Equestria's Tomorrows

by GodzillaSpino

Genetic Horrors: Part 1

The Qu were...creative...to say the least about their little genetic projects. If you've read the actual "All Tomorrows" book, then you know what I mean. From here on out, I'll list out some of the ponified versions of the species from the book in one chapter, and more on another, with some in-between chapters in the style of the previous ones discussing certain other things.

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The Worm Ponies

While their world lay under a scorching sun (the conditions made worse thanks to the Qu), forcing them underground and relying on the limited oxygen supply from plants that could bear the heat above, the Worm Ponies were actually one of the more fortunate of the post-pony species. The Qu had merely shrank their legs and elongated their bodies, to the point where they slithered, and as they were underground they were worthy of their namesake. There were other changes, such as tiny, pinprick-like eyes and the lack of external ears, teeth, and the better half of their nervous system. For their unicorn and pegasus variants, their magic, horns, and wings were quite stunted, but not to the point where they couldn't fully evolve it back once more.

The lives of these creatures were not simply digging aimlessly. After all, all living things must consume energy. If the Worms ran into food, they ate it. If they ran into another Worm, there was a chance one would eat the other, but mostly they would fu- I mean, copulate, and managed to keep a single shred of their former selves in their genes. In time, the coin (or dice if you prefer) Fate flipped would land in a most favorable position for them.

The Behemoths

A global savannah stretched throughout a once teeming colony of the Heavenly Equines, the meddlings of the Qu partially responsible. Here, another poor, post-pony experiment roamed the lands. Their size was comparable to those of the sauropods of days gone by, and they bore a likeness to less humongous but still majestic creatures known as elephants, who unfortunately were one of many sapient species driven extinct during ponykind's crazy conquests into becoming the dominant species on Equus, before Celestia and Luna's reign. However, they lacked tusks, and their "trunk" was really an extended but mobile and prehensile lower lip which really puts a whole new meaning to oral when one participates in the act known as fingering. For their pegasus and unicorn variants, the wings and horns were stubbed, and magic was all but useless for a myriad of reasons.

Despite their bestial appearance, the Behemoths were one of the best candidates for intelligence to re-emerge in the sub-pony species scattered across the galaxy after the Qu departed. WIth their lip-trunks they fashioned carvings, art, even mastered fire. They made dwellings twice as large as the conventional airplane hangar, and from booming voices arose a language that documented myths, legends, and remnants of their bygone, half-remembered past. Even a primitive form of literature came to be.

If a pony from their past were to look upon these beasts and what they had done, it would be easy to hope that within a few thousand years, the essence of ponykind would rekindle, and once again launch them into a golden age. However, neither hopes, dreams, nor sapience are sacred to the laws of the universe and nature, and these gentle giants were soon extinguished by a catastrophic ice age no amount of fire would aid them in.

The Hunters and the Targets

Devolved predators similar to big cats, and on occasion some suspiciously human-like pony animals, were common among the now feral worlds the Qu had torn apart.

One example of the former had their front hooves re-modified into fingered paws, with the innermost finger kept off the ground and bearing a sickle-shaped, serrated claw, similar to the dromaeosaurs and troodontids from records now destroyed and forgotten. Their canines were thick, long daggers, much like the saber and scimitar toothed cats, or the more familiar example of the Chimera's feline head.

They roamed the prairies, forests, and mountains on one of the Equines' first off-system colonies stalking another sub-pony; cow-sized creatures with striking resemblances to another of the races ponykind extinguished, the uintatheriids, simply known as the Targets. Without the necessary equipment and incentive to develop intelligence, these Targets devolved into mere animals, while their predatory cousins, needing this ability, kept a spark of it alive in their evolutionary honing. This spark would one day create a raging, blazing fire of civilization, but that story will have to wait for a while.

The Gerenuk Ponies

While not the most practical limb in terms of dexterity, the ponies and their space-faring descendants's hooves were more than capable of fulfilling the simple tasks the human hand could accomplish. And in the case of unicorns and pegasi, they each had magic and wings respectively to aid them. However, this was all mitigated with the Gerenuk Ponies, who had their magic taken away, wings shrunken into useless stubs, hooves becoming more akin to those of creatures on Earth, and horns now mere sexual display. However, the Qu kept their memories and consciousness completely intact. Only the Qu truly know why, but one theory suggests that perhaps they used these memory retainers' cries as some form of ego boost, knowing they had subjugated another species, no matter how powerful their weapons were.

Still completely equipped with minds one would consider a pony's, but with distorted, animal bodies which prevented them from doing anything about their current situation, they lived agonizing lives. So much so, in fact, that oral traditions and religion sprouted from their anthems of sorrow. Their songs of pain and despair echoed through their world, of being able to see and understand what they were and what they were once able to do, but no longer being able to replicate that success.

Fortunately, they were given a fate that, while not desirable, allowed their agony to be short-lived. As soon as the Qu left, natural selection began breeding out the sadboi wrinklebrains, as a happi smoothbrain would grow up much faster and graze just as efficiently. After that, they descended into but mere animals, silencing their melancholy world for good.

The Swimmers

The Qu had filled their conquered worlds with so many animals genetically modified into water-dwellers. Perhaps this was because in their larval stage, they lived such a way, and they looked upon them as one would to a foal, helpless and cute.

All of these were domesticated. All went extinct when the Qu departed. All except, in the words of the original book, "some lightly mutated and generalized forms."

From one of these, you could still see the remnants of their pony ancestors. Where their flippers began, you could see just the tiniest resemblance to a hoof. Their horns were there, albeit becoming shrunken and rearing back as they weren't very hydrodynamic if they just stuck out, and for the ones with pegasi forebears, their wings became just another pair of flippers. However, with many niches in need to be filled, along with a damaged ecology, they decided instead to adapt to these said niches, and exploded in diversity. Intelligence could wait just a little more.

Author's Note:

Sorry, once I get into a story, even if I intend it as a parody, I end up really getting into it (great, that'll be taken out of context) and my """"comedic flair"""" appears less often.

Also, I'm splitting these into parts because there are just so many damn species.