Memories
Argos
Eros and Apple Bloom ducked down among the chests and barrels inside the wagon. Argos shouldered his weapon, making sure the creatures at the end of the road could see it. If they could see, that is. In the blink of an eye, the beasts split up, darting into the woods on the side of the road.
Argos could hear the shrubs and trees rustling in the forest as he swung his weapon from one side to the other. I've got to make this shot count, he thought, readying the hammer. Before he had time to pick a target, he found his cart surrounded on all sides by the creatures, their leader standing straight ahead of him.
He wasn't sure who they were, or what they wanted, but Argos was sure that they wouldn't be taking it from him. He raised Bessie and trained her on the target in front of him. He squeezed the trigger, but found it jammed. He squeezed as hard as his talons would allow, but the metal piece wouldn't budge. He glanced at the mechanism and found it bound in a purple magical aura, keeping it from firing. When he looked back toward his target, it was already upon him. A scaled claw grabbed the blunderbuss and twisted it away, but not before cracking Argos in the head with the stock of the weapon.
Watching his father fall from the cart, Eros stood up. He unsheathed Titan and held it in front of him, the weapon shaking as though it were in an earthquake. The hooded leader of the group approached him, the other creatures holding back. Eros pointed his sword at it as it stepped ever closer. The leader was only a sword length away by the time he'd turned to face Eros. His weapon seemed to weigh a thousand pounds as it sagged in his arms. The hooded creature looked down at the tip of the blade now poking him in the chest. It swatted the sword away as though it were a fly. The weapon flew out of Eros' nervous talons and stuck into the road beside the cart. He stumbled backward against the edge of the wagon, Apple Bloom still cowering under a blanket near his feet.
The creature raised a glowing purple claw and Eros found himself paralyzed. He floated out of the cart and onto the ground near his unconscious father.
Eros' heart was set to racing as he watched the hooded figure reach into the cart and cast away the blanket Apple Bloom had been hiding under. Her scream filled his ears as he tried to shout, but his cries caught in his throat. He was helpless, just as he had been in his dream.
"Spike?" Eros heard Apple Bloom's voice, only this time, it wasn't a cry of terror. It sounded like... relief. In a flash, the figure tore back his hood, revealing the scaled face of a young dragon.
"Apple Bloom?" The dragon seemed even more surprised than she had been. Eros watched in stunned silence as she threw her forelegs around Spike in a hug tighter than she'd given in quite a while. They held each other for a while before Apple Bloom remembered she wasn't traveling alone.
"Spike, this is Eros and... what th' heck happened to his Pa?" she asked in shock, seeing him on the ground.
"Sorry, he had a gun!" Spike said sheepishly. He turned and pulled Eros' sword out of the ground, handing it back to him. "Sorry about the sword."
Eros finally found his tongue after he tucked Titan away. "Forget the sword, what about my Dad!" he shouted.
Spike nodded. "Yeah, sorry about that, too. It's hard to talk when I'm wearing the hood. I would have just asked him to drop the gun, but before I could, he tried to shoot me," he said flatly, kneeling beside Argos and resting a glowing purple claw over his forehead. Within seconds, Argos' eyes fluttered open. He sprang upright, looking frantically for his weapon before Eros and Apple Bloom assured him it would not be needed.
"Apologies about the whack, but you did try to shoot me," Spike said, standing. He turned to Apple Bloom, unable to help his smile. "I can't believe it's you! I saw lights coming from Ponyville, but I never would have guessed it was somepony I'd know!"
Apple Bloom looked ready to cry. The smile on her face not matching the tears forming in her eyes. "Does this mean there are other ponies besides me?" she asked.
"Yeah. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo are gonna lose it when they see you," Spike replied. Her eyes lit up like a gas lamp.
"They're in Canterlot too?" she gasped. Spike nodded.
"Well what are we waitin' for? Let's go!" she said excitedly, hopping back in her place on the wagon.
Spike helped Argos off the ground and handed him his blunderbuss. "So, you're from Canterlot?" Argos asked, rubbing his cheek.
"Yeah, we're holed up in the inner keep of the palace." Spike motioned to his party members. "Let's head back."
The group walked together down the road to Canterlot, Spike and Argos talking while Eros and Apple Bloom sat in the back of the wagon.
"So, a merchant eh? You must be pretty hard up for money to make the trip out here," Spike commented as they went.
"I've been making this route for years. First time I've ever seen this, however."
Spike nodded. "Yeah, we're working on that. So what do you sell?"
"Gems form the Iron Mountains."
Spike stopped in the middle of the road, bringing their convoy to a halt. "Did you say you sold gems?"
"I did indeed," Argos replied, reaching behind him for a small sack of samples. "But I don't usually sell to dragons that attack me."
Spike looked at him with regret in his eyes. "Look, I'm sorry I hit ya, but I haven't had a gem in days! We've got gold back at the palace, I can pay you then, just let me have one!" Argos chuckled. It looked like he should have just offered him a gem the first time and all this ugliness could have been avoided.
Argos paused, eyes examining the dragon just to make him sweat a bit. "I'll give you half now, and the rest later. How's that?" He spilled a few brightly colored gems out of his bag and into Spike's claws. In an instant of crunches and flashing fangs, the gems were gone.
"Oh, that was so good," Spike said mournfully. "You've got more of those, right?"
Argos smiled. "The cart is filled with them."
Twilight
The scratching sounds of quill on parchment had been erratic at best. Many books, papers, empty ink wells, and broken quills littered the area around the old, candle wax-stained desk. Twilight sat back in her chair, her wings fluttering in frustration. Her every effort seemed to hit a wall. Every experiment was inconclusive, every test yielded nothing she could use. The grazers grew more numerous every day, while the numbers of survivors in her camp dropped monthly. It was a sad cycle.
One day, they'd find a pony of theirs outside the wall, grazing on the grass as though they didn't have a care in the world. It was easy when the pony that had succumbed was a loner. Nopony would really miss them, hurtful as it seemed. It was when a pony with a few friends left, that she had to station extra guards around the exit. Their friends would beg them not to go, to try and fight the cravings, but it was futile in every instance. In days—weeks, in some rare cases—the pony would be gone, out to graze on the plants growing wildly with nopony to tend them or cull their growth. Twilight would then have to keep a close eye on their friends and family in order to keep them from becoming grazers as well.
It was a tough job. Besides magical intervention, the only other real way to keep ponies from becoming grazers was to secure them, and the implications of holding ponies against their will was not something Twilight took lightly.
She sighed, rubbing her eyes and relaxing in her seat, thinking back to happier times. The times when she had just earned her crown and wings, the times when her brother and her foalsitter, her mentor and her sister had been there to guide her. They were long gone now. It pained her to think of her mother, her father, her brother Shining and her sister-in-law Cadence. No one knew what happened to the Crystal Empire after the spread of the grazing.
Maybe Cadence and Shining found a way to make the empire disappear for another thousand years.
As Twilight remembered, Celestia's voice came through clearly. She recalled the night the princess had told her of the great change that was coming. A change that would sweep the world.
Twilight found Celestia in her observatory that evening. It was unusual for the princess of the sun to be awake during the night, but not unheard of. This was the usual time Twilight would make her observations on the movement of the planets and the grouping of star clusters within their cosmic view.
"Princess? What are you doing up so late?" Twilight asked. It was well past midnight, and Celestia woke early every morning to raise the sun and begin the seemingly endless parade of nobles and commoners alike that requested an audience.
Princess Celestia pulled herself from the rather large telescope, as though she didn't sense Twilight approach. "Just observing my sister's work," she replied, though the look on her face suggested otherwise.
"It is a lovely night out, isn't it?" Twilight said, stepping toward the balcony and peering through the instrument.
"Yes," Celestia sighed. "I could never manage the heavens quite like Luna."
Twilight pulled away from the telescope and turned to face her teacher. She'd never seen the concern on Celestia's face until now. "Everything okay, Princess?"
Celestia's eyes flicked towards the heavens, then back down to her student, her tail twitching from side to side. "Twilight, a great change is coming."
She raised an eyebrow. "Great change? What do you mean?"
The alicorn princess had no words for her student, only a brief silence. "You know of the seasons, don't you Twilight?" she asked, retreating from the balcony to the inner chamber of the observatory.
"Of course," she replied. "Winter, spring, summer, and fall."
"When you were crowned princess, our kind lived in the fall of our nation. Now, I fear, we may be entering the winter."
Twilight enjoyed cryptic speech as much as the next scholar, but simply couldn't make head or tail of what Celestia meant. "Winter?" she repeated.
"Twilight, my dearest student. Do you know how our kind came to be?"
"Of course!" Twilight answered happily. "Our mother Epona created the universe through the magic of her horn, and decided that there should be three pony races, with alicorns to guide them through the ages!"
Celestia smiled. Her student had studied ancient Equestrian lore more rigorously than any of her former pupils. "Yes my dear, but what do you know of the end of magic?"
A puzzled look fell across Twilight's face. "The end of magic?"
Celestia nodded. "Yes. A day will come when the magic of our race fails. The day when it begins to leave us, just as it had come."
Twilight was taken aback. There was nothing about this in the books of the library, not even the restricted section! "Leave us?"
Celestia settled herself on a large cushion as Twilight sat on the floor in front of her mentor. "There will come a time when the magic given to us by birth will leave. It happened once before." Twilight leaned forward, hanging on Celestia's every word. "My sister and I stopped it once. We used the elements of harmony, bartering with our mother Epona. We gave up our mortal lives so that the rest of the ponies we cared for would live on with the blessing of sentience." The torchlight in the observatory cast long shadows about the room as Twilight listened, unsure of what to make of what was being revealed. "We were told a time would come when the magic lent to our kind was due to return from whence it came."
Confusion settled over Twilight as she tried to process what her teacher had revealed. "Return? But... what's going to happen to us?"
"I can't say," she replied mournfully.
"Is there some way to stop it? You and Princess Luna stopped it, right?"
Celestia nodded. "We did, but at a price. I have no way of knowing if the same deal can be struck again."
"But... there must be something we can do!"
Princess Celestia seemed to ignore the question, instead looking into her pupil's eyes, cherishing the moments they had together while they were still able to enjoy them. "Twilight. Promise me that if we are unable to stop what is coming, you will not linger here."
"Princess?" A knocking at her chamber door roused her from her memory. Twilight removed herself from her desk and trotted over.
"Yes?" she asked the guard who had come to fetch her. They still wore the armor of old, though very few of the guards could actually find any helms that could fit them. Most of the armory's supply had been out with the guards sent to keep the peace in Canterlot, and had never returned. It was somewhat painful, seeing royal guards in their armor. It reminded her of Shining. Twilight only thought of him and Cadence in the privacy of her chamber, where it was okay to cry, and okay to miss those you knew you could not do without.
"Spike has returned to the city," The tired looking guard reported.
"Is he and his company by himself?" she asked urgently.
"No your Highness. They have found the travelers."
Eros
Eros found himself enjoying Apple Bloom's new demeanor. Somber wasn't a good suit for her. After a trip along the deserted road, they reached the city gates of Canterlot. Like the other cities Eros had visited, this one was abandoned. However, unlike the others, this one showed signs of violence and strife. Burned out buildings and collapsed roofs hardly began to tell the story of all that had gone on here. Apple Bloom seemed just as surprised as he had been.
Her eyes lost the shine the news of her friends surviving had brought her. Eros noticed and leaned toward her from his side of the cart. "Everything okay?" he asked softly.
She glanced up at him, distracting herself from the ruins of a city that once represented everything she could hope to become in her lifetime. "Y-yeah. I'm just fine." Even though Eros had only known her for a short period, he could tell she was a terrible liar. Thinking quickly, he changed the subject to one she might appreciate a bit more than the gloom that surrounded them.
"So, who are your friends? Sweetie Belle and Scooterloo?"
Apple Bloom smiled, smothering a giggle. "Ya mean Scootaloo? They're two of th' coolest fillies you'll ever meet!" she told him, her voice picking up a happy tone. "I don't think they've ever met a griffon before, either," she added as Eros smiled to himself.
"I hope I make a good impression," he replied. The gentle swaying of the cart lulled them both back into silence. Eros was hesitant to comment on the ruin of the city, and he was certain Apple Bloom simply wanted to see her friends. After all, according to her, she had been alone for quite some time. The sparsely populated outskirts seemed even more unsettling than the city he and his father first encountered. In Prairieville, there had only been large, similar non-descript buildings, with few dwellings to speak of.
But here, the damage to the homes and neighborhoods seemed to chill Eros to the bone. These had been ponies houses. Perhaps they'd worked all their life and saved up every spare bit they had to buy it to raise their family in it and live happily together until their children did the same.
Now, they were husks of their what he imagined they once were. Most of the straw roofs were gone, either blown away by the breeze, collapsed, or burnt out. Only a few homes seemed livable, despite the shattered windows or broken doors. Furniture and personal items littered the yards and streets. Everything from tables and chairs, to children's toys and books. The scene was pure chaos, even though nothing but the wind blew through the empty alleys and cul-de-sacs. Eros looked to the head of their convoy. A castle sat perched on the side of the lone mountain jutting up from the otherwise hilly landscape around them.
The trees lining the road still bore leaves, as though nothing was out of the ordinary. It was an startling contrast, Eros thought. The dominant species of this land were gone, to who knows where, and the non-sentient beings simply carried on as though nothing were out of the ordinary. Birds here still chirped sweetly, bees still flew to the flowers marked by their brothers to collect pollen. Everything was fine, except for one glaring absence.
Eros glanced back to Apple Bloom. She stared stoically at her hooves, seeming to want to avoid the world around her. He frowned.
He couldn't blame her.
Spike
Spike and Argos walked beside the cart, Argos holding the reins with a spare talon as they went. They had spent much of the journey from Ponyville to Canterlot in silence as Spike savored the few gems he had given him. Once they'd entered the outskirts of Canterlot, however, Argos could hold his tongue no longer.
"So, what happened here?" he asked keeping his voice down in case they answer was something he'd rather the children not hear.
To his surprise, Spike smiled. "Same thing that happened everywhere."
Argos almost smirked himself, though the somber surroundings made him reconsider. "And that would be?"
"We're still not sure."
"We?"
"Twilight and I. You'll meet her once we get to the castle."
Argos nodded, allowing a brief pause before continuing with his questions. "Apple Bloom told us what she knew, but it wasn't much."
Spike glanced over his shoulder at the tired-looking filly. She smiled warmly at him, as he returned her gesture. "Good. Honestly, the less she knows, the better," he replied, turning back to the road ahead of them. "It started four weeks, and six days ago. That's when the grazing began to spread. The first reports came in about three months ago, but it was only near the forbidden forests. Places like the Everfree, Timberwolf Tundra, real wilderness areas," Spike began an indifference in his tone that seemed as though he were having a conversation about the weather. "Whatever it is, it makes ponies into animals. Not vicious ones, but... docile ones, I guess. It starts with eating grass. They just do it occasionally, whenever they get hungry. Then they start eating it more and more. Soon it's all they eat for all three meals. After that, they're sleeping outside just so they can eat grass as soon as they wake up. After that, they quit talking, they ignore their friends and family, their coats change color..." his voice trailed off, as though reliving a particularly painful memory. "They lose their horns their wings, almost everything that made them who they were. They just stand around eating grass and sleeping."
Argos was at a loss for words. He'd never heard of anything like it. He muttered a hum of agreement and looked down at his paws as he walked. He didn't feel the need to press the issue further, but still had a few questions about his traveling companions. "So, why do your friends have their heads wrapped up?" he asked, gesturing to the other ponies walking beside the cart.
"We're not sure what triggers the cravings for grass, so until we know, anypony that comes outside the walls with me covers their eyes, nose, mouth and ears. I don't know if it does any good, but better safe than sorry," Spike replied.
"And why don't you wear what they do?"
Spike's grin returned. "I don't eat grass."
Twilight
Twilight stood below the wall with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, two guards beside them. A spell she had cast allowed her to look safely over the wall without fear of being affected by the blades. She scanned the horizon towards the road leading to Ponyville.
"Well? We've been here for an hour!" Rainbow said impatiently, Fluttershy staying silent beside her.
"No sign of them yet... they must be on a bend in the road."
Dash stepped forward. "C'mon, let me see if I can find them." She attempted to nudge Twilight out of the way, but she held her ground.
"Just let me give it one more..." Twilight gasped, adjusting her magic to enhance her view. "I think... that's them! There's Spike, his party, and..." her voice trailed off as she removed her eyes from her magic periscope and rubbed them. Could it be?
Before she could check again, Rainbow stole her spot, putting her eyes to her spell and gazing across the deserted city. Dash reacted the same way Twilight had. "Is that... Apple Bloom?"
Fluttershy shoved Rainbow out of the way and took her turn at the magical device. "It is!" she squealed.
Rainbow's wings fluttered happily. "Just imagine the look on squirt's face when we tell her!"
Twilight turned to her guards. "When Spike gets here, he'll be traveling with two griffons and a pony. Once they're inside, scrub them of blades and bring them to me."
"Yes, Princess." They saluted, resuming their post at the only exit to the inner keep. The remaining Elements of Harmony trotted away from the gate, a renewed sense of vigor adding a spring to their step.
"So, this is enough of a reason to break into our keg of cider, right?" Rainbow asked hopefully.
Twilight smiled. "I think so."
"Yes! Party tonight!" Dash shouted enthusiastically, fluttering away to tell the other ponies milling about the courtyard the good news.
"How do you think Apple Bloom survived out there with all that grass?" Fluttershy asked.
Twilight shrugged. "I can't say, but if I can figure it out, it may be the final clue I need to figure out how to stop this. Maybe even reverse it." For the first time since coming here, Fluttershy smiled. "You should probably let Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo know who's coming." Twilight smiled, knowing the joy on the young mare's faces would raise Fluttershy's spirits even more. "If Rainbow hasn't already beaten you to it."
She nodded and followed after Dash, leaving Twilight in the cement courtyard. Watching the surprise on the other ponies faces kept her smile lingering. This was not a large kingdom by any means. She could walk from one end to the other in a few minutes. But it was the last bastion of what her mentor and her sister had built, what she and her five friends had fought and sacrificed to protect. It was Equestria's last hope.
Twilight looked up at the moon, suspended in the same position since the grass had claimed Princess Luna, even during the daytime. I'm trying, Princess Celestia. I just need a little help.
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um, wow, fimfiction broke for me :|
3233626 Mac and Dash is coming. It's all already planned out, all I have to do is make it into words.
I have enjoyed it thusfar, although the idea of an equestria where the equines lose their minds is kind of chilling.
congrats on the Feature.
thumbs down.
This is a fantastic piece of quiet horror. Mental and magical death... ugh. Terrifying. Winter leads in to spring, but that may be overextending the metaphor...
In any case, looking forward to more. Especially whatever happened to Discord.
Looking forward to more!
"Wanderings of a Non-Brony" ended and one day later this gem hops in the feature box... I ain't even mad.
I could not stop reading this. This story truly deserves to be popular.
The idea of slowly losing one's sentience, one's mind, is chilling. The fact that the ponies that were affected slowly didn't even notice it makes it way more terrifying.
I fear it won't end happily...
Still, continue this. I can't wait for more.
Okay, wow. This? This is good. The premise is unique, the pacing is excellent, the characterization is good, and my feels are already bruised from you hitting them!
This is going in my favorites.
Whats this? Something unique on fimfic for a change! Looking forward to more, good sir!
Wow, this is like "The Last of Us" with how bleak it is. Loving it by the way.
This is one of my favorite of your ideas so far, Bronius. Truly. It's fascinating.
Well that's pretty awful. Why did Celestia even bother if the whole thing was inevitable? I take it that the grass claimed Celestia some time ago?
The premise is interesting, although the justification seems a little thin on the ground. I hope there's more to build up to than a depressing winding down to the END OF EVERYTHING. Really, if it's a magic leaving the world issue, then it ought to start affecting the griffins too. I have to wonder if that "prairie lion" was really a lion and not a griffin...
If it's really just a spiral to a depressing end, you might want to scoot back to the beginning of the story and write it from there. Even if it does make more sense from this end of it, since the reader is just as much in the dark as the main characters (so far) are.
Wow.
i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/7813714944/h234CFF3D/
Very intriguing. I'm looking forward to seeing how this pans out.
Do not disappoint me.
Soooo, none of the other clearly magical creatures have this limitation...
Wow... that's just... so thoroughly biased.
I could accept the entire world losing magic and everything reverting to an animalistic state, but ONLY ponies losing magic and their minds along with it? In a world with magic wolves made of sticks? With griffons that can walk on clouds? With love-eating bug ponies that can change shapes? With DISCORD?
That's just a low-blow against the ponies.
3234868 The way I'm reading it is that for some reason only the ponies are going to lose their magic and minds. And that they were once just animals and Celly and Luna gave up mortality to let them keep... wait... they GAVE UP mortality?
So, to keep these ponies from going back to the animals they were made from (for whatever reason that was done in the first place) Celestia and Luna had to lose their capacity to die! Oh what a sacrifice!
Dude, sign me the hell up for that!
3235472
Hmm... Yeah. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense, unless Griffins are somehow naturally sentient? I'm guessing by give up their "mortality" the authors means they agreed to eternal/long-term oversight that would be a burden to anypony. Unfortunately that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, especially considering how you pointed out that most ponies would go for that kind of exchange (at least initially). Besides, if even the Princesses succumbed to grazing, how can/why should they be immortal? What about Princess Cadence?
I'm also a bit confused how they had to convince this 'Epona' and why it would need to be done in the first place. It's implied that somehow ponies overstayed their time limit and Celestia/Luna had to somehow pay for more. If all the ponies are supposed to become extinct, why don't they just die when they lose magic? It's all very confusing.
Why on earth would Celestia not want Twilight to linger. If she's going to lose everything, why not enjoy it while it lasts. Why succumb to grazing on purpose and die a dumb pony? Is Celestia advocating suicide? I can't she why she would since it's obvious she, Celestia, didn't take that router out of this.
just waiting for some more.
3235564 maybe Celestia and Luna were caught off guard by the grazing, maybe there was some grass laced into their food when they weren't looking by a would be assassin who then later fell to the grazing as well and Rarity took Twilight's laced sandwich which is why she is in the cell instead of the lavender princess mare. just an Idea on how it could have happened.
3235564 I really have no idea why the ponies were given sapience to begin with if it was something so temporary.
It's completely illogical.
And if magic could accomplish that, wouldn't beings capable of that ALSO know how 'natural' sapience works and, maybe, magically alter their genomes such that intelligence becomes naturally hereditary? That's a much more sensible way of doing this. It's also much easier than creating fake personalities for every single pony in existence as it becomes self-perpetuating after a single generation.
Even magic must give way to reason.
I would be the best god. I think of everything.
The only thing I could make any sense is if this is meant to be metaphorical in some way, that the ponies were supposed to be Celestia and Luna's 'toys' and that they couldn't bear to let them go when they began to 'grow up', so they instead gave up mature divinity to continue playing the parts of pony princesses.
But in that case, Celestia and Luna should be the only alicorns. Neither Cadance nor Twilicorn make any sense with that backstory.
Discord also doesn't fit into the picture in either circumstance.
I wonder how long until the griffon kingdom moves in to take the vacant land?
3235453 Okay, I see your comments a lot, and while I usually don't agree with what you say, I with you on this one. Why are the ponies the only ones affected by this when you consider the fact that pretty much every being on the planet has magic. If it was the result of the grass having a bacteria or fungus that only effects ponies then I would be fine.
Fascinating so far, nice job Bronius.
I must have misunderstood who was in the barn back in chapter two, I would have sworn Dash was there. Or at least a mare with fading streaks of color in her mane.
I rather like the style and setting of this so far. Can't wait to see more!
3235453 Pardon the trope-quoting, but perhaps Magic A is Magic A?
The premise of specific regression reminds me of Dies the Fire, but this one affects even their sentience. I would definitely keep an eye on this.
Here's my bit of speculation: Celestia told Twilight not to linger, because she is the Element of Magic, the literally embodiment of magic. As such it can't be taken from her. She maybe the only pony who is immune to the grazing. That said, it may also be that as an alicorn, she has the ability to move beyond the current world and go to wherever Celestia, Luna, and their mother are from.
But I've got to wonder what Discord is up to. I doubt he can undo the grazing himself, so maybe he's moving the sun and taking care of the weather for Equestria. I doubt he'd abandon Fluttershy and others since becoming their friend.
I eagerly await the next chapter.
Oh! I do hope we get to see something like a flashback to watch the process more in-depth. Maybe a 'How it happened to Celestia' bit?
So the real question is whether the transformation into a grazer is due to a slow return to the instincts that were held at bay by inert magic or perhaps the grass has a memetic effect on ponies. Either way, things don't look like they are going to improve in the foreseeable future.
This is damn good, looking forward to reading more, and will be showing it to my friend.
How this story has 9 down-votes is beyond me, and whoever did is either a troll or an ignoramus who wouldn't know an epic if it kicked them by their shins
3235472>>3235564>>3236027 >Implying it doesn't spread.
Tsk Tsk readers. You should know me better than that.
Jesus Christ, how horrifying. Kept reminding me of the bit in Larklight when everyone just up and turns into trees over the course of a summer, their skin going all scratchy, digging their toes into the soil, stretching their arms...
Though it's kinda funny for magic to be a finite resource that just sort of drains away like bathwater once every X thousand years, and that that was the only thing stopping the ponies from going native this whole time. You'd have thought Celestia might've used her massive lifespan to figure out some way around it. Unless it was one of those things she just never got around to doing. Or they were just all "Welp, it's been a good run, time to go frolic in the fields".
Doubtless explanations will be provided, however aggravating the wait for them is.
Geez, I almost say this needs a tragedy tag, BM. That's a fate worse than death, man, being reverted to some primitive beast like that. Although, I DO have to ask, why just ponies? I mean, it would appear that Griffons need magic to fly, and a bunch of other species are sapient. Why aren't THEY being affected? And even then...
3233954
Mayhaps, a reason why? Although, I know you... kinda... so I think I can guess, and I THINK it's the same problem I now have: why would the god that created them... MAKE this happen? Like, okay, if it was some outside thing, and she does not interfere, that's fine. But if this is something she designed to happen... dafuq?
Based on a combination of the description, Dark tag, and a few comments that I read...
I'm too scared to read this.
I'll put this down as "Read Later."
So... how likely is it that this'll have a not-so-unhappy ending? I know that might be 'spoilery-ish', but... well, call me a pansy if you want, but I don't like going into a dark tunnel without knowing there's a light at the end. I've read too many crapshoot-stories with tragic endings to just hop into this one and naively hope for the best. I don't handle unresolvable tragedy very well.
The premise really does sound interesting. I'd love to read it if it's not going to just give me bad feels and then end.
3236031 Same here. Maybe there's another Pegasus with a similar mane?
Hold on a minute, a gem merchent called Argos
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Anyway another epic story.
I'm with those scratching my head over the justification. Why are only ponies affected? Why was the "price" Celestia and Luna's ability to die? You might have been better off making this a microbe or maybe even some supernatural cause. The ponies' supposed benevolent creator saying "You know how I made you sapient? I put a time limit on it because...quantum." just doesn't make any sense.
Outside of that, this is a brilliant story. It's chilling and the atmosphere is rich in every scene. Argos and Eros are very likeable characters and perfect avatars for the readers to experience what's happened through.
I feel like this is a mix of The Last Of Us and Stephen King's Cell.
Anyway, wonderful story. Can't wait to read more.
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I'm sure that the plot will be expanded as the story goes.
this new idea remind me in ways of some of those pony conversion burro story idea some people do this is just in reverse without humans it cool! it interesting read that for sure magic is leaving just the ponies naturally and there world not in danger there not allergic or in danger of death to these change's or have to change to a different species just regressing to non sentient ponies from before there gift i wonder if this idea will inspire new kind of stories! hey does this mean luna and celestia are still immortal despite there change? wonder what up with discord or did he disappear with the great change?
Oh so this is one of those fabled original fanfiction ideas! I had thought them a myth.
... this is disturbing
Anyway, good job with what you have here. An original story is hard to come by these days. Is Discord going to make an appearance in this story?
Fark me, this is...heavy. Seriously, wow. I really, really want a happy ending to this, but I'm almost afraid to favourite and follow this story for fear of more and more sadness. But it is fantastically written, seriously, and I want to keep reading it for the hope of a happy ending.
But first, I have to go read something silly and cheerful.
wow only 4 chapters into this story and it's already better then "The Happening."
well to be honest one word in and this story was already then that movie.
the only thing that worries me is the thought that you took inspiration from the ending of "the last of us"
but i must say, this be some awesome shit you have written here bro, keep going
I think one of the worst things about this just has to be imagining the ponies themselves in this state.
I mean really, think about one of the more well-known ponies from the show that have been affected, such as Rarity or Applejack.
Now try to imagine being looked at by the same dull, expressionless stare of a wild horse by a pair of those large eyes that typically convey expressiveness so well. It's just awful to think about.