Everything Lost
I’d heard rumors of what had happened to Equestria. I’d listened to countless stories, all different, yet all the same. Tales of death and destruction. Violence and bloodshed. Loss with no gain to balance it out. The complete lack of any morals, mercy… or hope.
I wasn’t ever sure as to whether I believed the tales; the rumor mill will say just about anything to keep on going. When you travel as far and wide as I have, you meet a lot of strange beings. As far as I could tell, these were just myths to entertain everyone. The sun never stopped its daily rise and fall, and neither did the moon. Still… all stories are born from a seed of truth, and the fact that all of them had to do with the downfall of Equestria unsettled me.
I decided to find for myself if these stories were true.
It took me several moons to return to Equestria; I’ve made it my life goal to spread the magic of friendship across every land. I’ve seen the effects of its power, and even experienced it. If it weren’t for the forgiving embrace of friendship, I’d still be a slave to a monster, blindly following his word to heal me. Friendship has done more for me than regaining my horn could ever do. It filled the chasm in my heart that had grown since my lonely childhood. It made me whole. I believed, with
every ounce of my being, that friendship could do anything.
I’ve never been so wrong before now.
I had finally reached the edge of the Badlands, though I was still a good league or two from Equestria. Through my entire journey, I didn’t have anything more than the occasional worry that the tales were true. Equestria has been through so much; it couldn’t have fallen now. It just didn’t seem possible. But my fears grew when I failed to see any green on the horizon where a lush pony kingdom should have been.
Disbelief made me move at a breakneck pace without even noticing my pain or loss of energy. I had to learn why I couldn’t see the bright colors of Equestria; I had to know why everything about this felt off. I had to find out why the sky was so grey and cloudy, and I had to discover why the wind wasn’t blowing even the faintest sound of a filly playing with their friends in my direction.
I reached the border in only two hours, galloping as fast as I did. I began to gasp, the run catching up to me, and gagged at the ashy taste of the air. There was still grass on the ground, but it was little more than brittle brown spikes poking out from the hard, sickly grey soil. I slowly walked forward, vaguely remembering that there was a little town near the Equestrian border through my trance.
I eventually came upon the village. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting; I guess a little part of me hoped that the feeling of death didn’t expand that far into the kingdom. The rest of me was probably to numb to think about it. Yet I was surprised when I saw that the town was nothing as it once had been.
I couldn’t see a single whole building; simply charred frames, and even those were few and far between. All the plant life had been destroyed in the chaos, and the cobblestone streets were marked with smudges of ash and far-reaching streaks of soot. The air was thick and choked me when I breathed it in, and the sun was blocked out by dark clouds and wisps of smoke. I could tell this didn’t happen recently. No one had been here in a long, long time.
But… maybe they aren’t dead. My hopeful side was a persistent bastard, and it made me begin to think up ways to find everyone. Twilight, your old pal, she might’ve left a note for you, just in case you returned from your journey. Yeah, let’s go to her castle and see!
I found myself trotting off to Ponyville, gradually getting faster as I went along, more and more of me giving into my hope. Part of me remained cynical, not wanting to hurt itself. But my hope would not be dissuaded.
I found the hometown of the my friends in similar conditions to the border village. The only difference was that a large, crystalline palace towered above the wreckage, but even it had lost its eternal sparkle. I galloped like there was no tomorrow towards it, praying that the worst had not come to pass.
I pushed open the doors of the Castle of Friendship with a mighty grunt. The hinges squeaked eerily, echoing in the empty foyer. I slowly walked inside, uncomfortably aware of the volume of my hoofsteps. The air was saturated with dust, and the furniture was in a similar state. A dim grey light barely shone through the tall windows, some of which had cracks and holes. The curtains were holey from stray moths, and an animal occasionally made a noise that resonated in the vast, uninhabited palace.
I hadn’t been in the castle for some time, causing me to get lost looking for the room with the famous map-table-thingy. Every door looked the same, and the hazy air made it hard for me to distinguish whether I had already been a certain way or not. However, I finally pushed open a door that revealed a white crystal table surrounded by seven chairs.
I cautiously walked in, not knowing why I was so afraid. I guess I feared finding that my hope had failed me again. But it wasn’t giving up, so I approached the table.
The room was dark and seemed to be dustier than the rest. High above me, dull gems hung from rotting tree roots. In front of me stood the table. I rubbed my hoof on its surface, coughing at the foot of dust I launched into the air.
The table began to glow. It was almost welcoming, the light illuminating the corners of the dim room. It still managed to create ghostly shadows on the walls. A hologram of Twilight appeared on the table, flickering every few seconds. This is it, I thought. I’ll be able to find my friends now!
“If you’re seeing this, then you’re either here to learn what happened to Equestria or to scavenge through its remains. Either way, you should know how this all came to be.” Holo-Twilight said in a robotic voice.
“Something happened to Princess Celestia; we were never entirely sure why it did. My hypothesis is that after her connection with the sun was severed, she lost it. No matter what happened, Celestia wasn’t the same mare everyone knew.
“We should have noticed the signs. Maybe she was just that good at covering them up, or maybe we were to blind to see what she was going through. But by the time we realized that Celestia wasn’t well… it was already too late.
“Luna just wanted to talk to her sister; she told us everything would be okay. That she didn’t need any backup. We did as she asked. We left her alone with the only alicorn more powerful than her, and that alicorn was a psychopath. Before we knew what had happened, before we could even comprehend the situation, Luna was dead, and Celestia began a mad rampage across Equestria, burning all in her path.
“She saved Ponyville for last, though for what reason, I can’t tell you. We had tried desperately to help every other town Celestia had attacked, but we couldn’t change anything. No matter where the deranged princess went, no matter who was there, she burned the town and killed everyone in it. The Crystal Empire was one of the first to fall; I couldn’t do anything but watch as Celestia held me back with her magic and killed Cadence, Shining Armor and Flurry Heart.
“I wasn’t sure why I felt this time would be different; I was the last pony in Equestria that Celestia hadn’t murdered. She had killed the other Ponyvillians when they had gone to help other cities, including my closest friends. I held in my rage and grief somehow, still holding on to the chance that I could reason with my old mentor.
“I talked to her, begged for her to stop. I pleaded with all my being for Celestia to lay down arms and stop. But all she did was grin evilly, not even bothering with making a cliché villain comeback. She summoned all her strength and prepared to cast the most powerful spell she ever had; I could feel it. ‘Twilight,’ she said to me, ‘I know you’re angry at me. I know you want me dead after what I did to your friends. So, I’m going to do you a favor. The spell I’m about to cast will instantly disintegrate you, but the amount of energy needed to do it will evaporate me. It’s a win-win: I kill you, yet you get to rest in peace knowing I’ve paid for my deeds.’
“I wanted to tell her that she had everything wrong, that her plan wasn’t going to help me at all. But I never got the chance. She performed the spell, and Equestria had fallen.”
The hologram flickered one last time before slowly disappearing, leaving the room dark once more.
I felt the tears rushing down my face, but I was too dazed to feel any emotions. I knew the hopeful part of me had admitted defeat and retreated to the back of my head, but neither the cynical nor the vengeful part of me took its place. Just the empty, emotionless knowledge that everyone you knew and loved had been massacred remained.
I don’t remember much after that. I know I got up and walked out of the castle, out of Ponyville, out of Equestria, or else I wouldn’t be where I am today.
Today, I live alone, on a secluded island no one has ever heard of, reliving the nightmare of learning everyone had died every night, and wishing that there was a princess to ease my restless sleep. I spend my days mourning those I loved and wondering why I could ever believe that an idea could save us all.