The Last Ponyby Starry NebulaeChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 1Death. The chain around one’s neck, constantly bearing down upon them. Nothing escapes death. The most magical unicorns have tried to ward it away, to change themselves. Some, the skilled ones, managed to live for a month or two longer before their magic finally crumbled. The greatest scientists had tried to build machines to overcome death. Those, while being more successful than magic, inevitably failed. The Dragons, despite their extraordinarily long lives, decided enough was enough. They had gotten together and, through a combination of runes and their arcane knowledge, had attempted to find a way to the afterlife and stop the cold reality of death. Only Spike had refrained from this, stating that ponies had watched over him since he was but a baby, and he would watch over them. But everyone eventually died. Equestria itself had died. At the moment, Celestia stood atop the monument of Princess Twilight Sparkle. Somehow, it had passed the tests of time. It had survived countless wars and disasters. Ponies decided she deserved it after ushering in a new age, one of knowledge, reason, and friendship. Celestia knew she deserved it, simply for her nature. Even in the end, as Twilight became old and gray, she continued to make the Princess of the Sun proud with her advances in the magic of friendship. She had long since stopped writing friendship letters to Celestia, but they were always able to find time to talk. Being a Princess did have some advantages, Celestia thought with a small smile. But she, too, succumbed to Death’s cold embrace. And now Celestia could only wait until her Sun died, and her along with it. Occasionally she pondered what would happen to it. She vaguely remembered Twilight going on one day about the death of stars. Regretfully, Celestia had only given it polite attention. After all, Twilight had said stars lived millions of years, and at the time, it had seemed impossibly far away. Yet here she was. Alone. Luna had simply disappeared one day, without a trace. Try as she might, she could not feel sad anymore. What was there to be sad about? Death claimed everything, in one way or another. Sometimes in physical ways, sometimes it simply left a void. All that was left of her sadness was a longing for it all to end. For eternal sleep. Nostalgia, on the other hand, remained bittersweet and present. For a period of time after the so called ‘mortal’ races had died out, there existed only three beings. Luna, Discord, and herself became even closer. She and Luna had developed a fondness for playing in the warm ocean waters. Discord, still the very embodiment of Chaos, amused himself by filling the sky with cotton candy clouds, or turning the salty waters of the ocean into sugar water. She pondered briefly upon his love for sweets. Being a god of chaos, one would think that he would occasionally change something to be saltier or more spicy. But no, it was always sweet. Were he still around, she might tease him by saying that even he, Discord, had a bit of order and predictability to him. He would probably respond with saying she had infected him with harmony, then shower her in chocolate rain just to prove his point. But he, too, had gone. Not dead, of course. He had said something before he left, something about true chaos. She couldn't remember, and didn't see how it mattered anymore. He had apparently journeyed to the Starswirl Nebula. Though he would eventually die, both he and Celestia knew it would be long after everything else. He, Celestia, and Luna were a slightly different tier of being; their life wasn’t bound to themselves, but rather to the objects were directly linked to. Celestia would die with her sun. Luna would die with her moon. And Discord would die at the end of time, after everything else had died. After planets turned to floating fields of dust, after stars had faded and black holes had died, after space itself had transformed into a single floating field of effervescent energy, a perfect plane of order, Discord would finally be able to rest. For even he must die. Spreading her wings, she flew over what had once been a proud and mighty Canterlot. All that was left now was ruins. Abandoned, moss covered temples to the everyday life of a pony. Houses like tombstones, all perfectly aligned in rows. And at the center of it all, the mausoleum of her own power. Noble towers shot into the sky, tendrils of ivy snaking down. Bricks which had once been set so perfectly, one was unable to find where one started and stopped, now littered the grounds around it. Overgrown shrubbery and fiery flowers flooded the once neat and trim gardens where Discord had spent his life as a statue at. Ironic, she thought, that the death of the planet her Sun watched over was marked with a brief flourish of life, before it all died with her. After a moment of flying around, she landed among the plants. Or had it been an hour? Time now seemed to flow unceasingly, marked only by the flow of her thoughts. Day and night had become erratic to her. While she still had the power to influence it, she could no longer control it as she once had. Was this due to a fault of her own, or was it simply a part of death? Despite her lack of control, she remained intrinsically bound to it, feeling its every magnificent pulse as time went on in on, and death came closer and closer. She awoke with a gentle start, not even realizing she had been asleep. Her mind was empty, and she gazed upon her sister’s beautiful night sky, fueling her thoughts with inspiration. Light years away, the Starswirl Nebula shone out to her, as if calling her to it. Why was it suddenly visible to her, she pondered. Had she, after all this time, only started truly opening her eyes? It was a beautiful thing, a cloud of hues of blues and reds and violets, staring down at her, beckoning her forth. With a soft shake of her head, she banished the thought to the dark abysses of her mind. Her Sun had warmed her for her life, eternally watching over her and her ponies. If there were one thought that remained anchored in her thoughts, it was that she must be with her Sun for its final moments. If only she had been able to do so for her ponies. It was The Sickness that had inevitably killed them, as it was for all races. At the peak of what was being called the Age of Sparkle, ponies had everything. Not a pony starved, for there was food in abundance, provided by the Earth Ponies. No tornados, blizzards, or disastrous storms had been seen in well over a hundred years, courtesy of the Pegasus Ponies. Unicorns had formed a council, like there was in the old days before Luna and herself controlled the solar bodies. The council was strong enough to stop any threat, whether it be as natural as an Ursa Major or a Dragon, or as magically powerful as Chrysalis or Sombra. Scientists from all races had managed to cure every ailment, and ensured that death was painless. But there it was. Death was still reigning supreme. It was the one thing that ponies had not been able to cure. No matter how much the Princesses had urged their little ponies to leave it, they became obsessed with it. After magic had failed them, they turned to the only thing they had left. One pony, a unicorn from a growing religion called the Order of Sparkle, which believed that Twilight was a god sent to live among ponykind and spread science and technology, proposed a solution. She had said that if magic had failed them, perhaps they ought to turn to robotics. The council, which had more influence over most unicorns than Celestia herself had, agreed instantly. They had developed a substance which gained the popular name of ‘Liquid Eternity’. It was made of nanobots, microscopic robots that could keep a pony alive. Celestia, for the first time since she began her rule, had directly interfered with science. She forbade them to manufacture the product, and warned the council that if they didn’t help her to stop it, she would remove them from power. Ha, they had said, what are you to stop us, Celestia? For decades, we have guided the fate of ponykind. What are you but a sunraiser to us anymore? And you are not even truly needed for that! True to her words, she had removed them all from power, and destroyed the council itself. But it was too late; she could not stop it. It was smuggled away, given in secret to anypony who had not already received it. There was one effect which they had overlooked, considering they believed they were immortal. The nanobots caused sterility in whoever they were injected into, and soon no new ponies were being born. And by the time scientists had found that they were still very much mortal, it was too late. She had to watch as ponykind slowly died out, too smart for its own good. Perhaps if Twilight had still been alive, she could have done something. But both she and Cadence, being only minor Alicorns, were not bound to an ideal or celestial body for their life. It was the Changelings who were the last to go. After the Invasion of Canterlot all those years ago, they had vanished. Occasionally ponies would find a sign of them, an abandoned hive or an account of someone being brainwashed by one, but a Changeling itself was never found. Celestia had actually found the last Changeling only recently. Queen Chrysalis. She had found the Queen lying in the Ponyville Library, which had begun rotting and dying. Chrysalis, too weak to continue hiding due to lack of love, had taken a bold step and went to Ponyville to find a pony to feed off of. Apparently, as Celestia found out in the brief conversation they were able to have, Changelings had never stopped hiding from the other races. They never knew that ponies had long since forgiven them for their assault on Canterlot. Chrysalis had died whimpering that she could have saved her people. Glistening chords of pale moonlight struck down from the star speckled sky, gracing the ground with its soft embrace. She gazed idly as a line of ants marched through a small forest of grass, towards a destination unknown to her. Perhaps they were going to find food, or make war with another settlement of ants, or maybe simply go back to their own colony. Whatever it was that they chose to do, it was of little consequence to her. She was content to let them live their lives as they pleased. Perhaps if you had done the exact opposite, these lands would still be filled with pony life, she thought to herself. Another part of her mind argued back that if she had done that, her subjects would have been worse off. Would a life ruled by one who controls the very life of her subjects be worth living? She argued internally, finding a suitable counter-argument for every argument she made. Yet, she tired of it rather quickly. What was the point? They were all dead. If she could guide herself back on the river of time, she might have a purpose to it all, but as it was, she didn’t. All that was left was waiting for her Sun to die. The pointlessness of it all overwhelmed her more than anything, and she simply sat in the moonlight, staring once again at the bugs that inhabited the forest. For that was the true beauty of death, she realized. In the absence of one life, another would flourish. For everything that dies, more life in a plethora of varieties must take its place. The sentient lifeforms of the world had died out, leaving room for smaller life forms to take hold and thrive. As she looked upon the small creatures, going forth on their daily activities, she realized that life itself was pointless. Everything was predestined to die alone. It didn’t matter how many friends you had or how loved you were, everyone was truly alone when they died. So why did they continue to go about their daily life? Eating, mating, finding joy in the small things of life, what was the point? It was inevitable that they would die; everything does. Everything will eventually die. But it doesn’t matter when something happens. It doesn’t matter who it happens to. The only thing that matters, Celestia realized, is why something happens. The facts were plain, clear, and simple for all to read. The sentient races of the world had died out due to a quest for immortality. That much was clear. She just needed to know why. She got up, shook her coat to get rid of any bugs that may have made it their home, and began to walk in a random direction. Regretfully, the trees were no longer themselves. Not long after the Age of Sparkle had begun, ponies began to conquer the world around themselves. From changing the shapes of entire mountain ranges to bringing life to the deserts. But the forests, the forests were possibly the most changed to Celestia. Natural trees had been removed, after the Council decided them to be inefficient. They had been replaced by vaguely treelike objects, whose leaves were actually solar panels designed to give power to giant transmutation factories which had been created after a shortage of wood arose. Perhaps it was that which had caused the Great Extinction. Perhaps once a race becomes so technologically and scientifically advanced that the only question yet to be solved is death itself, that race will decline into extinction. But one thing began to claw at her mind, and as it took hold, she felt real emotion for the first time in centuries. She felt curiosity’s whispers speaking to her. She had to go to The Lair. Chapter 2Among ponies, and many other races, Dragons were something of a legend. Only a select few get to see a true Dragon up close. This was because, unlike the other races, Dragons took pride in their own isolationism. They saw it as a chance to prove that they didn’t need any help. The Lair was the shining example of that, even more so once the Age of Sparkle began. Unlike the rest of the the world, which embraced technology, the Dragons became masters of the magical theory, and applications for it. While ponies created giant machines powered on magical energy, the Dragons preferred runes. The Lair was the capital of the Dragon’s empire, and for good reason. Due to events which remained unknown Celestia, magically charged crystals had showered upon the land it was built on, making it a prime target for the use of runes. At the center of it all laid the Obelisk, a massive diamond that jutted out from the ground. The Dragons, being creatures of magic, sensed the power which radiated upon these crystals, and built a mighty city upon it. For centuries, they simply absorbed the power. Slowly it invaded their blood, and they began to live much longer than any other species. As Celestia flew to it for the first time in many millennia, she noticed the sheer amounts of runes more than anything. Each onyx cobble that made up the roads was inscribed with a rune. Even if the alicorn had studied such things intensively in her life, which she had not, she doubted she would have been able to understand them all. Of the tens of thousands of stones, she could not see a single duplicate. Each had a minor, yet distinct, difference to them. And the Obelisk itself was covered in hundreds of different glowing runes, not one even remotely close to another. She landed softly near the Obelisk. Despite being powerful, far more so than the Obelisk, she was frozen in awe. This… this was the stone that had given the dragons their near immortality… and this was the stone that had led to their death. She did not know how she knew, yet it seemed perfectly clear. Power which should have once radiated from it was absent. Tentatively, she touched her hoof against it, and it came to life. The corners from it began to emit a red light, and a burst of energy shot forth from the tip of it, piercing the sky itself. Curiously, it pointed directly towards a star not too far away from the Starswirl Nebula. As she noticed the glowing red lines also extended beyond the Obelisk, and shone on the side of a road which led to an odd dome. Shrugging the information about the beam aside, she galloped towards the dome. What was all this? Excitement coursed through her veins. Perhaps this dome would be the key to… to what? She stopped suddenly. What would any of this accomplish? Ponies, Dragons, Changelings, Griffons, everything was dead. Even if she figured out why, it wouldn’t change anything. The dome which had seemed so amazing only a moment before now filled her with dread. Once she got the answers, what would she do with them? Knowledge without practical application was useless. And yet… a certain purple alicorn began to gnaw away at the corner of her mind. Knowledge is always useful, it admonished her. You never know when a seemingly useless piece of knowledge will lead to something great! Resolve filled her once more, and she teleported herself to the entrance of the massive dome. No more delays, she thought to herself as she opened the door. Darkness and ozone flooded her senses. As soon as she stepped inside of the dome, she wished she hadn’t. She cast up an orb of light, and began to look around. Blackboards riddled with calculations lined the walls, and upon closer inspection, the walls themselves were giant star charts. The strangest thing about it all was the lack of a single rune in the entire building. It was all unlike anything she had ever seen before. Ponies, despite becoming the most technologically advanced of the races, had never built something even remotely close to this. To her right she noticed a set of stairs that led down to a basement. She walked slowly down them. Despite there being nothing remaining in the world that could really do harm to her, nervousness filled her. What is all this technology? She asked herself, What is it all for? Luckily, this room was lit. No blackboards lined the walls, no star charts were to be found. The only things were a computer which took up almost all the room, and a small bag of voice recorders. Flipping on the terminal, she was immediately greeted by a screen offering two selections. The first read ‘Parallelisms of SSN-EQ and EQ’, and the second ‘Crystal Pony Crisis’. Opening up the first one, she was greeted by a string of complex equations and graphs. Not understanding a single word of it, she opened up the second one. To her joy, it was much easier to understand. It is well known that the Crystal Ponies have a crystalline image. It is equally well known that ponies who visit the Crystal Empire also gain the form. What is significantly less known is the side effect of extraordinarily prolonged exposure to this. According to our findings, along with the medical reports of the Crystal Empire Department of Health, is the complete restructuring of the DNA. It would seem that the DNA of those with the mutation, which shall in this report henceforth be identified as the CPDNAR, is changed to allow for their body to become part crystal. Despite extended research, the cause remains unknown. This problem gives way to our newest project. While the bodies of normal Earth Ponies, Unicorns, and Pegasi fully accept the new invention Liquid Eternity, at least as far as has been tested so far, the bodies of Crystal Ponies reject this. It is highly suspected that this is due to CPDNAR. Much like all species, the Crystal Ponies desire immortality. Since CPDNAR has destroyed the chance of immortality through Liquid Eternity, the Crystal Ponies have contracted us, Spike’s Ministry of Academically Remarkable Dragons (Note: Guys, we really need to find a better name for this. SMARD? Really? We’re the greatest experts of Quantum, Theoretical, and Physical physicists, engineers, and all around geniuses. I’m sure that if we put our minds to it, we can come up with a final word that begins with a T. Plus, we’re not even all Dragons. I know for a fact that Spike has a few cybernetically enhanced animals working here. That phoenix of his has almost given me a heart attack before…) to aid them in the creation of an entirely new form of immortality. And so, I have the utmost pleasure of being able to introduce project Wormhole Oriented Warping (Now THERE’S an acronym we can be proud of). The goal of this project is to create a class A generation ship capable of creating self collapsing wormholes to aid the Crystal Ponies in the task of migrating a portion of their population to a habitable planet near the Starswirl Nebula (See Parallelisms of SSN-EQ and EQ for further information on the Starswirl Nebula) “Damn it to Tartarus!” Celestia muttered in frustration. Perhaps she should have taken more interest in the scientific fields her student had founded. Maybe then she would have been able to make sense of it. Remember, Dragons and assorted enhanced animals, since we have all taken a vow to remain mortal, we need to find some way to carry on. The Crystal Ponies have promised that if we aid them in this, we will be guaranteed a spot in this ship should we choose. We’ll be able to spread our genes through mating with our fellow dragons in this Ministry. I’m talking to you, Talon. (Co-worker note: Claw, if you ever make a pass at me like that again, I’m going to shove my claws in your head so far you won’t even be able to understand anything as simple as differential calculus. And not the head on your shoulders) So come on, people, let’s get to work! So, Princess Celestia mused, there may still be Crystal Ponies, Dragons, and a few other animals still left alive somewhere in the universe! Chapter 3Celestia, after savoring the moment, grew curious once more. What exactly had taken place during the project? Had they actually managed to build this… ship? Grabbing the bag of voice recorders, she played the first one. With any luck, her questions would be answered. Spike’s personal audio log. If you are not myself or Twilight, you should probably stop listening. Seriously, this is technically classified government information, and as such is prosecutable by the Diarch of the Sun and Moon. However, if you ARE someone who should be hearing these notes, I hope you find them beneficial. Day One. Gotta say, I haven’t seen insanity like this since Twilight was late on delivering a friendship report. Luckily, there was no herd of ponies chasing after a certain doll… Anyways, despite the chaos that would have made Discord proud, we made excellent process. One of the newer dragons, probably only hundred years old or so, proposed a marvelously insane theory. He suggested that we should completely disregard the current laws of the universe as proposed by The Council, and take on the problem as if there were no laws. How ridiculous. The current laws have been proven time and time again. Besides for that little bit, other work was done. Crackle proposed that, hehe, I still can’t get over that. CRACKLE is actually pretty dang smart when it comes to numbers. Anyways, like I was saying, Crackle proposed the idea of taking a single atom of Hydrogen and shooting it full of magical energy. Since, as proven by Sparkle’s Law of Magical Potential, the energy from magic is actually composed of a pair of positive and negative M-Particles, and a single positive M-particle, the energy from magic can actually be… Dear creators, Celestia may have loved Spike, but he had become such a bore. The math was already recorded in that giant computer, why did he have to go over it all again in his private audio logs? Skipping towards the end of it, she set it once more to play. ...so yeah, all in all it was a pretty successful day. On a slightly more worrying note, I’ve noticed some of the other dragons, the ones outside of SMARD, have been talking about ‘beating the final enemy’. I might have to contact Twilight about that. I mean, I haven’t exactly been paying too much attention to current events of the world, but I’m pretty sure there aren’t any wars going on. Even the Changelings have been extremely quiet of late. This is the Draconian Minister of Science, Spike Sparkle, signing off. Day 30. Not much has happened since day one. I mean, sure, a lot of ideas have been proposed and tested, but nothing much has worked. So far, the only two theories we still have on the table are Crackle’s and the new guy’s (Note: His name is Nero. Gotta remember that from now on. Can’t just keep calling him the new guy, heh…) What parents would be cruel enough to name their child Nero, Celestia asked herself. The last time anypony has famous and named Nero, it had been for the Burning of Canterlot, which many ponies theorized he had caused. … And I refuse to accept his idea. It has NO scientific backing! I mean, even Pinkie Pie’s… whatever it is that she does… has some precedence in the form of mind magic, Sombra had in his castle. His idea, which is to simply find a way to accelerate the ship faster than the speed of light and use the greater than infinite energy it would have to acquire to rip a small hole in reality, goes against any common sense. If there were anything that could move faster than light, would we not have found it already? And how would something even GET greater than infinite energy? That simply goes against the very concept of infinity! Admittedly, Crackle’s idea has some flaws too, but at least it follows the established laws of reality. Oh yeah, almost forgot! We had a visit from Twilight today. As she’s the Equine Minister of Science, we’re required to discuss our findings every so often. She brought some admittedly disturbing news from Zebrica. Apparently, they’ve been working on some ritual to take the soul out of a being, to give themselves a form of spiritual immortality. She says nothing will come of it, but… Ugh, focus Spike. These notes are for keeping track of the events of this project, not your diary. You already have one of those. But still, it reminds me too much of everything that’s going on right now. I didn’t tell Twilight, since I’m sure she has enough on her plate as both a Minister AND a Princess, but I don’t particularly like the idea of immortality. It seems to… well. Unending. This is the Draconian Minister of Science, Spike Sparkle, signing off. Celestia was quickly growing impatient. After experiencing so many emotions for the first time in so many millennia, she didn’t want slow progress. She wanted to know what happened now! She tossed the recordings aside, save for the last one. Bracing herself, she set it to play. Day… I don’t know anymore. I just don’t. It’s all gone wrong. EVERYTHING. Twilight just sent me a letter. the Zebra are gone. That ritual they were working on so many years ago, well, apparently they completed it recently. They’re just all gone. I’m not sure if I should describe what I was told. No creature should have to be given this knowledge. Thing is, I don’t think I could bare keeping it to myself. Their bodies were everywhere. They simply stood standing, as if they were still alive. Heck, they ARE still alive! Every single Zebra is in a permanent comatose state. Everything, from the most advanced medical magics, to some… less than savory tests… have been done. Nothing’s had any change on them. Twi said that one of the Pegasi on her research party had found a Zebra missing some rather important body parts. Apparently, there had been an accident at one of their… what do they call them? Circuses? Yeah, an accident at one of their circuses. Apparently, the Zebra had been flung into the air when the ritual was completed, and has landed entirely wrong. Twilight said even medical magic couldn’t fix the damage. Yet, through the whole thing, the Zebra just stood there, bleeding only slightly from the horrific wounds. Like the body was reluctant to give any of itself away to the world. What happened to us all? Anyways, I suppose I should report on the project. It’s done. Nero, bless his soul, was right the whole time. I’m still not sure how it works, and nobody else has really been able to grasp it well, but it works all the same. We’ve run tests, and it seems the machines work on both the small and large scales. We shipped them off to the Crystal Empire. I’m glad that they’re still around. The other Dragons went with them, headed off to the stars. Me? I’m staying here. I’m practically a pony anyways, having been raised by them for most of my life. Rainbow wouldn’t want me to abandon the race that raised me, not now that they need all the friends they can get. And what would Fluttershy think? It’d be cruel to just let them all… Heh, Pinkie would probably just tell me to go whoever needs the most laughs. I’m not sure the ponies count even more. I’m not sure if they can laugh anymore. Applejack would probably tell me that running from a problem is nothing but lying to yourself about it. What would Rarity tell me? I guess she’d tell me to go where my heart takes me. If I’m honest to myself, I care more about spending my days on Equestria than in some cold spaceship. I doubt I’ve long left, anyways. What would Twilight say? If only she were still around today, she’d know what to do. She always did. Dear goddesses I miss her. Author's Note Sorry for the short chapters. I promise, the next one will be much longer. Chapter 4A few days later- how exciting, the Alabaster Alicorn thought, time is recognizable now!- Princess Celestia arrived at the Crystal Empire. When was the last time she had been here? Had she even been here since it appeared again? Whether she had or hadn’t, it had definitely changed. Unlike most of Equestria, which had by now become a desolate ruin, the Crystal Empire shone out, as if still aglow from the defeat of Sombra. Though the glow remained, the Empire itself was different. No longer did the roads shine with their crystals; they had been replaced with something that looked like the tops of the giant terminals in SMARD.The crystalline houses had been replaced with gray blocks of concrete that shot through the sky. How had she not heard of anything that had happened to this place? At the center of it all lay the most odd building Celestia had ever laid eyes upon. It was almost like a branch of a tree; a tall, spindly structure of a shining metal that tapered off at the tip, with flattened leaves of steel jutting out in a spiral. Upon the bottommost leaf was an odd sort of pod. It was comprised of a large, spinning disc in the middle, and a smaller disc, maybe about a tenth of the size of the big one, at both the top and bottom. With a bright flash of magic, she was outside what she could only assume to be its door. A paper note was taped to the outside, saying “Out of Order. Reason: This damned machine isn’t allowing any of us in. It keeps asking for a greater source of magic, no matter how much energy we put into it. Damned energy quantifiers must be busted. Cause: Unknown” Greater source of magic? The crystal ponies are just behind dragons in their innate magic level, and dragons are only behind… Her thoughts stopped suddenly. Could it be? Slowly, painstakingly slowly, she put her hoof to the door. It opened. “Greetings, Unknown Unit. Welcome to the CES Divinity, a class I warp ship,” a cheery, mechanical voice said, “Time remaining until departure: We are currently scheduled to depart in negative three thousand, five hundred and forty-two years, seven months, one day, and eight hours. If you think we are running late, please talk to your designated captain, and have a nice day!” What… is all this? Are these the warp ships the terminal spoke of? “Ship…” What are you doing, Celly? There’s no point in asking this machine anything. No response greeted her. “Divinity?” Stop! You’ll only end up on another fools journey. Stay here, die on your planet! The cheery voice called out again, “Yes, Unknown Subject?” “What is…” Stop. Stop! STOP STOP STOP! But it was no use. The voice which had ruled her actions since the Great Extinction, and likely many years before it, had shrunk to a tiny, shrill thing; a Queen turned peasant. “Divinity, what is the name of the your Captain?” A whirring noise. Beeps. Then, “My captain has designated three names for me. The first is ‘The Harbinger of Chocolate,” No… It can’t be… “The second is ‘The Mismatched Mad God” It… Who else could it be besides him… “The third is… ERROR. CONFLICTING COMMAND.” The buzzing, whirring, and beeping returned, lights flashed, and garbled voices rang out. Finally, “NEW COMMAND SET ACCEPTED. ALTERING DESIGNATED CONVERSATION ROUTE. Unknown Subject, I am to give you a choice. You may leave now, and I will lock myself to all forces for the rest of eternity, or you can stay, and we shall go to our designated destination. What is your choice?” Celestia stood silently. Could she really leave her world? She turned to the window, and gazed upon the Crystal Empire. Glimmeringly gray towers shot up through the sky, and mechanical beauty rang out. Farther, farther than any eye had a right to see, she spotted the remains of Canterlot. Its broken majesty called out, just a touch of work and it could be reborn in all its splendor. She spotted Ponyville as well. The town which existed outside of time. Somehow, it managed to remain a small, earth pony based town over the years. Moss and decay had overtaken the town, and it was now the home of many bugs. Manehattan. Now there was a town which had accepted change; though it had all collapsed by now, she could still remember it from the golden age of culture, an event which had happened after Luna had, seemingly out of nowhere, become the prime subject of the ponies' desire. Tall towers of steel, flashing lights galore, ponies clad in the latest fashion trends. She saw the world through the eyes of time; what it had once been, what it currently was, and what it could have been. And she found it wanting. “Divinity, tell me the third name of the Captain.” “Unknown Unit, that is not a valid choice. Will you stay or will you go?” “I will decide only when you tell me the third designated name of the Captain.” Please… Don’t. You already know; let it rest. He’s gone. “Parameters accepted. The third name of the Captain is ‘Discord’. It was a curious thing, her broken mind. It wasn’t as if she didn’t realize who the captain was, it was painfully obvious since the first title. Granted, the might have also been a certain pink element of laughter, but Celestia doubted that even her powers extended that far. And yet, it was broken all the same. Someone took her marbles away. Though, was it really broken? Well and truly? Or was it, as the shrill voice was shouting at her, simply an already broken mind pushing reality away further? How curious. The moon was shining lovely on the mechanical empire, and the Starswirl Nebula was really rather bright. How utterly rude of it. But, come to think of it, was it not just daylight a moment ago? Though, when the entirety of her life had all been proven to be pre-known by Discord, did time really matter? Did anything? Because, all her life, she had watched over her little ponies as they went on their day to day life. Each one a completely new story, full of thoughts and laughter and sorrow, all had somehow managed to live from day to day, in one way or another. One thing she had prided herself in, though she now was unsure if she had done this too heavily, was how free she let her little ponies remain. She knew that they were allowed to go about their day to day lives, with few laws existing to guide them. The ones that did exist were only for the harshest of crimes a pony could do. And despite that, they guided themselves in a generally peaceful way. Yet, she realized it now. Nothing was truly up to choice; as long as one creature existed which knew the future, and could guide the present to how it wanted the future to be, free will could not exist. Because all life would ever be was a puppet to that creature, completely under its control. And when that creature is chaos incarnate, it wouldn’t be able to resist altering everything. Time itself was merely another plaything of Discord. Think. Said the voice. But it was different this time. It felt soft and tasted purple. No. The voice sounds soft, and… I’m your subconsciousness, and even I’m not sure where you were going with ‘tasted purple'. But we can worry about that later. Hello subconscious. Care for a cup of chocolate milk? No thank you. Now think, Celestia. Rationally. Did Discord really know what was going to happen, and where you would end up? Well, I can’t very well see why not. I mean, is the fact that he reprogrammed this entire ship, millennia ago, I might add, specifically so it would accept me not reason enough to believe so? Yes, but he’s Discord! Does he really have a plan? Ever? Well, it does seem like he planned out what to do when he was first released from his stone prison… Oh? If he was such a planner, how did he even get defeated? Celly, he’s the very embodiment of chaos. He never has a plan; he simply goes with the flow, all the while trying to disrupt it. But… No buts. Not one. Discord is gone! Now, pay attention. The ship is talking. And it was, “-ergency subroutines activated. Warp travel initiating in three… two… one. Please, remember to keep all hands and feet inside. Have a nice day!” And at that moment, reality shattered.. Author's Note I know I said this was to be a larger chapter, and I apologize for it not being so- I didn't plan this to actually come yet. It just kinda felt right to have this chapter where it is. The next chapter, which was originally intended to be this chapter, is the one that's longer.
Chapter 1Death. The chain around one’s neck, constantly bearing down upon them. Nothing escapes death. The most magical unicorns have tried to ward it away, to change themselves. Some, the skilled ones, managed to live for a month or two longer before their magic finally crumbled. The greatest scientists had tried to build machines to overcome death. Those, while being more successful than magic, inevitably failed. The Dragons, despite their extraordinarily long lives, decided enough was enough. They had gotten together and, through a combination of runes and their arcane knowledge, had attempted to find a way to the afterlife and stop the cold reality of death. Only Spike had refrained from this, stating that ponies had watched over him since he was but a baby, and he would watch over them. But everyone eventually died. Equestria itself had died. At the moment, Celestia stood atop the monument of Princess Twilight Sparkle. Somehow, it had passed the tests of time. It had survived countless wars and disasters. Ponies decided she deserved it after ushering in a new age, one of knowledge, reason, and friendship. Celestia knew she deserved it, simply for her nature. Even in the end, as Twilight became old and gray, she continued to make the Princess of the Sun proud with her advances in the magic of friendship. She had long since stopped writing friendship letters to Celestia, but they were always able to find time to talk. Being a Princess did have some advantages, Celestia thought with a small smile. But she, too, succumbed to Death’s cold embrace. And now Celestia could only wait until her Sun died, and her along with it. Occasionally she pondered what would happen to it. She vaguely remembered Twilight going on one day about the death of stars. Regretfully, Celestia had only given it polite attention. After all, Twilight had said stars lived millions of years, and at the time, it had seemed impossibly far away. Yet here she was. Alone. Luna had simply disappeared one day, without a trace. Try as she might, she could not feel sad anymore. What was there to be sad about? Death claimed everything, in one way or another. Sometimes in physical ways, sometimes it simply left a void. All that was left of her sadness was a longing for it all to end. For eternal sleep. Nostalgia, on the other hand, remained bittersweet and present. For a period of time after the so called ‘mortal’ races had died out, there existed only three beings. Luna, Discord, and herself became even closer. She and Luna had developed a fondness for playing in the warm ocean waters. Discord, still the very embodiment of Chaos, amused himself by filling the sky with cotton candy clouds, or turning the salty waters of the ocean into sugar water. She pondered briefly upon his love for sweets. Being a god of chaos, one would think that he would occasionally change something to be saltier or more spicy. But no, it was always sweet. Were he still around, she might tease him by saying that even he, Discord, had a bit of order and predictability to him. He would probably respond with saying she had infected him with harmony, then shower her in chocolate rain just to prove his point. But he, too, had gone. Not dead, of course. He had said something before he left, something about true chaos. She couldn't remember, and didn't see how it mattered anymore. He had apparently journeyed to the Starswirl Nebula. Though he would eventually die, both he and Celestia knew it would be long after everything else. He, Celestia, and Luna were a slightly different tier of being; their life wasn’t bound to themselves, but rather to the objects were directly linked to. Celestia would die with her sun. Luna would die with her moon. And Discord would die at the end of time, after everything else had died. After planets turned to floating fields of dust, after stars had faded and black holes had died, after space itself had transformed into a single floating field of effervescent energy, a perfect plane of order, Discord would finally be able to rest. For even he must die. Spreading her wings, she flew over what had once been a proud and mighty Canterlot. All that was left now was ruins. Abandoned, moss covered temples to the everyday life of a pony. Houses like tombstones, all perfectly aligned in rows. And at the center of it all, the mausoleum of her own power. Noble towers shot into the sky, tendrils of ivy snaking down. Bricks which had once been set so perfectly, one was unable to find where one started and stopped, now littered the grounds around it. Overgrown shrubbery and fiery flowers flooded the once neat and trim gardens where Discord had spent his life as a statue at. Ironic, she thought, that the death of the planet her Sun watched over was marked with a brief flourish of life, before it all died with her. After a moment of flying around, she landed among the plants. Or had it been an hour? Time now seemed to flow unceasingly, marked only by the flow of her thoughts. Day and night had become erratic to her. While she still had the power to influence it, she could no longer control it as she once had. Was this due to a fault of her own, or was it simply a part of death? Despite her lack of control, she remained intrinsically bound to it, feeling its every magnificent pulse as time went on in on, and death came closer and closer. She awoke with a gentle start, not even realizing she had been asleep. Her mind was empty, and she gazed upon her sister’s beautiful night sky, fueling her thoughts with inspiration. Light years away, the Starswirl Nebula shone out to her, as if calling her to it. Why was it suddenly visible to her, she pondered. Had she, after all this time, only started truly opening her eyes? It was a beautiful thing, a cloud of hues of blues and reds and violets, staring down at her, beckoning her forth. With a soft shake of her head, she banished the thought to the dark abysses of her mind. Her Sun had warmed her for her life, eternally watching over her and her ponies. If there were one thought that remained anchored in her thoughts, it was that she must be with her Sun for its final moments. If only she had been able to do so for her ponies. It was The Sickness that had inevitably killed them, as it was for all races. At the peak of what was being called the Age of Sparkle, ponies had everything. Not a pony starved, for there was food in abundance, provided by the Earth Ponies. No tornados, blizzards, or disastrous storms had been seen in well over a hundred years, courtesy of the Pegasus Ponies. Unicorns had formed a council, like there was in the old days before Luna and herself controlled the solar bodies. The council was strong enough to stop any threat, whether it be as natural as an Ursa Major or a Dragon, or as magically powerful as Chrysalis or Sombra. Scientists from all races had managed to cure every ailment, and ensured that death was painless. But there it was. Death was still reigning supreme. It was the one thing that ponies had not been able to cure. No matter how much the Princesses had urged their little ponies to leave it, they became obsessed with it. After magic had failed them, they turned to the only thing they had left. One pony, a unicorn from a growing religion called the Order of Sparkle, which believed that Twilight was a god sent to live among ponykind and spread science and technology, proposed a solution. She had said that if magic had failed them, perhaps they ought to turn to robotics. The council, which had more influence over most unicorns than Celestia herself had, agreed instantly. They had developed a substance which gained the popular name of ‘Liquid Eternity’. It was made of nanobots, microscopic robots that could keep a pony alive. Celestia, for the first time since she began her rule, had directly interfered with science. She forbade them to manufacture the product, and warned the council that if they didn’t help her to stop it, she would remove them from power. Ha, they had said, what are you to stop us, Celestia? For decades, we have guided the fate of ponykind. What are you but a sunraiser to us anymore? And you are not even truly needed for that! True to her words, she had removed them all from power, and destroyed the council itself. But it was too late; she could not stop it. It was smuggled away, given in secret to anypony who had not already received it. There was one effect which they had overlooked, considering they believed they were immortal. The nanobots caused sterility in whoever they were injected into, and soon no new ponies were being born. And by the time scientists had found that they were still very much mortal, it was too late. She had to watch as ponykind slowly died out, too smart for its own good. Perhaps if Twilight had still been alive, she could have done something. But both she and Cadence, being only minor Alicorns, were not bound to an ideal or celestial body for their life. It was the Changelings who were the last to go. After the Invasion of Canterlot all those years ago, they had vanished. Occasionally ponies would find a sign of them, an abandoned hive or an account of someone being brainwashed by one, but a Changeling itself was never found. Celestia had actually found the last Changeling only recently. Queen Chrysalis. She had found the Queen lying in the Ponyville Library, which had begun rotting and dying. Chrysalis, too weak to continue hiding due to lack of love, had taken a bold step and went to Ponyville to find a pony to feed off of. Apparently, as Celestia found out in the brief conversation they were able to have, Changelings had never stopped hiding from the other races. They never knew that ponies had long since forgiven them for their assault on Canterlot. Chrysalis had died whimpering that she could have saved her people. Glistening chords of pale moonlight struck down from the star speckled sky, gracing the ground with its soft embrace. She gazed idly as a line of ants marched through a small forest of grass, towards a destination unknown to her. Perhaps they were going to find food, or make war with another settlement of ants, or maybe simply go back to their own colony. Whatever it was that they chose to do, it was of little consequence to her. She was content to let them live their lives as they pleased. Perhaps if you had done the exact opposite, these lands would still be filled with pony life, she thought to herself. Another part of her mind argued back that if she had done that, her subjects would have been worse off. Would a life ruled by one who controls the very life of her subjects be worth living? She argued internally, finding a suitable counter-argument for every argument she made. Yet, she tired of it rather quickly. What was the point? They were all dead. If she could guide herself back on the river of time, she might have a purpose to it all, but as it was, she didn’t. All that was left was waiting for her Sun to die. The pointlessness of it all overwhelmed her more than anything, and she simply sat in the moonlight, staring once again at the bugs that inhabited the forest. For that was the true beauty of death, she realized. In the absence of one life, another would flourish. For everything that dies, more life in a plethora of varieties must take its place. The sentient lifeforms of the world had died out, leaving room for smaller life forms to take hold and thrive. As she looked upon the small creatures, going forth on their daily activities, she realized that life itself was pointless. Everything was predestined to die alone. It didn’t matter how many friends you had or how loved you were, everyone was truly alone when they died. So why did they continue to go about their daily life? Eating, mating, finding joy in the small things of life, what was the point? It was inevitable that they would die; everything does. Everything will eventually die. But it doesn’t matter when something happens. It doesn’t matter who it happens to. The only thing that matters, Celestia realized, is why something happens. The facts were plain, clear, and simple for all to read. The sentient races of the world had died out due to a quest for immortality. That much was clear. She just needed to know why. She got up, shook her coat to get rid of any bugs that may have made it their home, and began to walk in a random direction. Regretfully, the trees were no longer themselves. Not long after the Age of Sparkle had begun, ponies began to conquer the world around themselves. From changing the shapes of entire mountain ranges to bringing life to the deserts. But the forests, the forests were possibly the most changed to Celestia. Natural trees had been removed, after the Council decided them to be inefficient. They had been replaced by vaguely treelike objects, whose leaves were actually solar panels designed to give power to giant transmutation factories which had been created after a shortage of wood arose. Perhaps it was that which had caused the Great Extinction. Perhaps once a race becomes so technologically and scientifically advanced that the only question yet to be solved is death itself, that race will decline into extinction. But one thing began to claw at her mind, and as it took hold, she felt real emotion for the first time in centuries. She felt curiosity’s whispers speaking to her. She had to go to The Lair.
Chapter 2Among ponies, and many other races, Dragons were something of a legend. Only a select few get to see a true Dragon up close. This was because, unlike the other races, Dragons took pride in their own isolationism. They saw it as a chance to prove that they didn’t need any help. The Lair was the shining example of that, even more so once the Age of Sparkle began. Unlike the rest of the the world, which embraced technology, the Dragons became masters of the magical theory, and applications for it. While ponies created giant machines powered on magical energy, the Dragons preferred runes. The Lair was the capital of the Dragon’s empire, and for good reason. Due to events which remained unknown Celestia, magically charged crystals had showered upon the land it was built on, making it a prime target for the use of runes. At the center of it all laid the Obelisk, a massive diamond that jutted out from the ground. The Dragons, being creatures of magic, sensed the power which radiated upon these crystals, and built a mighty city upon it. For centuries, they simply absorbed the power. Slowly it invaded their blood, and they began to live much longer than any other species. As Celestia flew to it for the first time in many millennia, she noticed the sheer amounts of runes more than anything. Each onyx cobble that made up the roads was inscribed with a rune. Even if the alicorn had studied such things intensively in her life, which she had not, she doubted she would have been able to understand them all. Of the tens of thousands of stones, she could not see a single duplicate. Each had a minor, yet distinct, difference to them. And the Obelisk itself was covered in hundreds of different glowing runes, not one even remotely close to another. She landed softly near the Obelisk. Despite being powerful, far more so than the Obelisk, she was frozen in awe. This… this was the stone that had given the dragons their near immortality… and this was the stone that had led to their death. She did not know how she knew, yet it seemed perfectly clear. Power which should have once radiated from it was absent. Tentatively, she touched her hoof against it, and it came to life. The corners from it began to emit a red light, and a burst of energy shot forth from the tip of it, piercing the sky itself. Curiously, it pointed directly towards a star not too far away from the Starswirl Nebula. As she noticed the glowing red lines also extended beyond the Obelisk, and shone on the side of a road which led to an odd dome. Shrugging the information about the beam aside, she galloped towards the dome. What was all this? Excitement coursed through her veins. Perhaps this dome would be the key to… to what? She stopped suddenly. What would any of this accomplish? Ponies, Dragons, Changelings, Griffons, everything was dead. Even if she figured out why, it wouldn’t change anything. The dome which had seemed so amazing only a moment before now filled her with dread. Once she got the answers, what would she do with them? Knowledge without practical application was useless. And yet… a certain purple alicorn began to gnaw away at the corner of her mind. Knowledge is always useful, it admonished her. You never know when a seemingly useless piece of knowledge will lead to something great! Resolve filled her once more, and she teleported herself to the entrance of the massive dome. No more delays, she thought to herself as she opened the door. Darkness and ozone flooded her senses. As soon as she stepped inside of the dome, she wished she hadn’t. She cast up an orb of light, and began to look around. Blackboards riddled with calculations lined the walls, and upon closer inspection, the walls themselves were giant star charts. The strangest thing about it all was the lack of a single rune in the entire building. It was all unlike anything she had ever seen before. Ponies, despite becoming the most technologically advanced of the races, had never built something even remotely close to this. To her right she noticed a set of stairs that led down to a basement. She walked slowly down them. Despite there being nothing remaining in the world that could really do harm to her, nervousness filled her. What is all this technology? She asked herself, What is it all for? Luckily, this room was lit. No blackboards lined the walls, no star charts were to be found. The only things were a computer which took up almost all the room, and a small bag of voice recorders. Flipping on the terminal, she was immediately greeted by a screen offering two selections. The first read ‘Parallelisms of SSN-EQ and EQ’, and the second ‘Crystal Pony Crisis’. Opening up the first one, she was greeted by a string of complex equations and graphs. Not understanding a single word of it, she opened up the second one. To her joy, it was much easier to understand. It is well known that the Crystal Ponies have a crystalline image. It is equally well known that ponies who visit the Crystal Empire also gain the form. What is significantly less known is the side effect of extraordinarily prolonged exposure to this. According to our findings, along with the medical reports of the Crystal Empire Department of Health, is the complete restructuring of the DNA. It would seem that the DNA of those with the mutation, which shall in this report henceforth be identified as the CPDNAR, is changed to allow for their body to become part crystal. Despite extended research, the cause remains unknown. This problem gives way to our newest project. While the bodies of normal Earth Ponies, Unicorns, and Pegasi fully accept the new invention Liquid Eternity, at least as far as has been tested so far, the bodies of Crystal Ponies reject this. It is highly suspected that this is due to CPDNAR. Much like all species, the Crystal Ponies desire immortality. Since CPDNAR has destroyed the chance of immortality through Liquid Eternity, the Crystal Ponies have contracted us, Spike’s Ministry of Academically Remarkable Dragons (Note: Guys, we really need to find a better name for this. SMARD? Really? We’re the greatest experts of Quantum, Theoretical, and Physical physicists, engineers, and all around geniuses. I’m sure that if we put our minds to it, we can come up with a final word that begins with a T. Plus, we’re not even all Dragons. I know for a fact that Spike has a few cybernetically enhanced animals working here. That phoenix of his has almost given me a heart attack before…) to aid them in the creation of an entirely new form of immortality. And so, I have the utmost pleasure of being able to introduce project Wormhole Oriented Warping (Now THERE’S an acronym we can be proud of). The goal of this project is to create a class A generation ship capable of creating self collapsing wormholes to aid the Crystal Ponies in the task of migrating a portion of their population to a habitable planet near the Starswirl Nebula (See Parallelisms of SSN-EQ and EQ for further information on the Starswirl Nebula) “Damn it to Tartarus!” Celestia muttered in frustration. Perhaps she should have taken more interest in the scientific fields her student had founded. Maybe then she would have been able to make sense of it. Remember, Dragons and assorted enhanced animals, since we have all taken a vow to remain mortal, we need to find some way to carry on. The Crystal Ponies have promised that if we aid them in this, we will be guaranteed a spot in this ship should we choose. We’ll be able to spread our genes through mating with our fellow dragons in this Ministry. I’m talking to you, Talon. (Co-worker note: Claw, if you ever make a pass at me like that again, I’m going to shove my claws in your head so far you won’t even be able to understand anything as simple as differential calculus. And not the head on your shoulders) So come on, people, let’s get to work! So, Princess Celestia mused, there may still be Crystal Ponies, Dragons, and a few other animals still left alive somewhere in the universe!
Chapter 3Celestia, after savoring the moment, grew curious once more. What exactly had taken place during the project? Had they actually managed to build this… ship? Grabbing the bag of voice recorders, she played the first one. With any luck, her questions would be answered. Spike’s personal audio log. If you are not myself or Twilight, you should probably stop listening. Seriously, this is technically classified government information, and as such is prosecutable by the Diarch of the Sun and Moon. However, if you ARE someone who should be hearing these notes, I hope you find them beneficial. Day One. Gotta say, I haven’t seen insanity like this since Twilight was late on delivering a friendship report. Luckily, there was no herd of ponies chasing after a certain doll… Anyways, despite the chaos that would have made Discord proud, we made excellent process. One of the newer dragons, probably only hundred years old or so, proposed a marvelously insane theory. He suggested that we should completely disregard the current laws of the universe as proposed by The Council, and take on the problem as if there were no laws. How ridiculous. The current laws have been proven time and time again. Besides for that little bit, other work was done. Crackle proposed that, hehe, I still can’t get over that. CRACKLE is actually pretty dang smart when it comes to numbers. Anyways, like I was saying, Crackle proposed the idea of taking a single atom of Hydrogen and shooting it full of magical energy. Since, as proven by Sparkle’s Law of Magical Potential, the energy from magic is actually composed of a pair of positive and negative M-Particles, and a single positive M-particle, the energy from magic can actually be… Dear creators, Celestia may have loved Spike, but he had become such a bore. The math was already recorded in that giant computer, why did he have to go over it all again in his private audio logs? Skipping towards the end of it, she set it once more to play. ...so yeah, all in all it was a pretty successful day. On a slightly more worrying note, I’ve noticed some of the other dragons, the ones outside of SMARD, have been talking about ‘beating the final enemy’. I might have to contact Twilight about that. I mean, I haven’t exactly been paying too much attention to current events of the world, but I’m pretty sure there aren’t any wars going on. Even the Changelings have been extremely quiet of late. This is the Draconian Minister of Science, Spike Sparkle, signing off. Day 30. Not much has happened since day one. I mean, sure, a lot of ideas have been proposed and tested, but nothing much has worked. So far, the only two theories we still have on the table are Crackle’s and the new guy’s (Note: His name is Nero. Gotta remember that from now on. Can’t just keep calling him the new guy, heh…) What parents would be cruel enough to name their child Nero, Celestia asked herself. The last time anypony has famous and named Nero, it had been for the Burning of Canterlot, which many ponies theorized he had caused. … And I refuse to accept his idea. It has NO scientific backing! I mean, even Pinkie Pie’s… whatever it is that she does… has some precedence in the form of mind magic, Sombra had in his castle. His idea, which is to simply find a way to accelerate the ship faster than the speed of light and use the greater than infinite energy it would have to acquire to rip a small hole in reality, goes against any common sense. If there were anything that could move faster than light, would we not have found it already? And how would something even GET greater than infinite energy? That simply goes against the very concept of infinity! Admittedly, Crackle’s idea has some flaws too, but at least it follows the established laws of reality. Oh yeah, almost forgot! We had a visit from Twilight today. As she’s the Equine Minister of Science, we’re required to discuss our findings every so often. She brought some admittedly disturbing news from Zebrica. Apparently, they’ve been working on some ritual to take the soul out of a being, to give themselves a form of spiritual immortality. She says nothing will come of it, but… Ugh, focus Spike. These notes are for keeping track of the events of this project, not your diary. You already have one of those. But still, it reminds me too much of everything that’s going on right now. I didn’t tell Twilight, since I’m sure she has enough on her plate as both a Minister AND a Princess, but I don’t particularly like the idea of immortality. It seems to… well. Unending. This is the Draconian Minister of Science, Spike Sparkle, signing off. Celestia was quickly growing impatient. After experiencing so many emotions for the first time in so many millennia, she didn’t want slow progress. She wanted to know what happened now! She tossed the recordings aside, save for the last one. Bracing herself, she set it to play. Day… I don’t know anymore. I just don’t. It’s all gone wrong. EVERYTHING. Twilight just sent me a letter. the Zebra are gone. That ritual they were working on so many years ago, well, apparently they completed it recently. They’re just all gone. I’m not sure if I should describe what I was told. No creature should have to be given this knowledge. Thing is, I don’t think I could bare keeping it to myself. Their bodies were everywhere. They simply stood standing, as if they were still alive. Heck, they ARE still alive! Every single Zebra is in a permanent comatose state. Everything, from the most advanced medical magics, to some… less than savory tests… have been done. Nothing’s had any change on them. Twi said that one of the Pegasi on her research party had found a Zebra missing some rather important body parts. Apparently, there had been an accident at one of their… what do they call them? Circuses? Yeah, an accident at one of their circuses. Apparently, the Zebra had been flung into the air when the ritual was completed, and has landed entirely wrong. Twilight said even medical magic couldn’t fix the damage. Yet, through the whole thing, the Zebra just stood there, bleeding only slightly from the horrific wounds. Like the body was reluctant to give any of itself away to the world. What happened to us all? Anyways, I suppose I should report on the project. It’s done. Nero, bless his soul, was right the whole time. I’m still not sure how it works, and nobody else has really been able to grasp it well, but it works all the same. We’ve run tests, and it seems the machines work on both the small and large scales. We shipped them off to the Crystal Empire. I’m glad that they’re still around. The other Dragons went with them, headed off to the stars. Me? I’m staying here. I’m practically a pony anyways, having been raised by them for most of my life. Rainbow wouldn’t want me to abandon the race that raised me, not now that they need all the friends they can get. And what would Fluttershy think? It’d be cruel to just let them all… Heh, Pinkie would probably just tell me to go whoever needs the most laughs. I’m not sure the ponies count even more. I’m not sure if they can laugh anymore. Applejack would probably tell me that running from a problem is nothing but lying to yourself about it. What would Rarity tell me? I guess she’d tell me to go where my heart takes me. If I’m honest to myself, I care more about spending my days on Equestria than in some cold spaceship. I doubt I’ve long left, anyways. What would Twilight say? If only she were still around today, she’d know what to do. She always did. Dear goddesses I miss her. Author's Note Sorry for the short chapters. I promise, the next one will be much longer.
Chapter 4A few days later- how exciting, the Alabaster Alicorn thought, time is recognizable now!- Princess Celestia arrived at the Crystal Empire. When was the last time she had been here? Had she even been here since it appeared again? Whether she had or hadn’t, it had definitely changed. Unlike most of Equestria, which had by now become a desolate ruin, the Crystal Empire shone out, as if still aglow from the defeat of Sombra. Though the glow remained, the Empire itself was different. No longer did the roads shine with their crystals; they had been replaced with something that looked like the tops of the giant terminals in SMARD.The crystalline houses had been replaced with gray blocks of concrete that shot through the sky. How had she not heard of anything that had happened to this place? At the center of it all lay the most odd building Celestia had ever laid eyes upon. It was almost like a branch of a tree; a tall, spindly structure of a shining metal that tapered off at the tip, with flattened leaves of steel jutting out in a spiral. Upon the bottommost leaf was an odd sort of pod. It was comprised of a large, spinning disc in the middle, and a smaller disc, maybe about a tenth of the size of the big one, at both the top and bottom. With a bright flash of magic, she was outside what she could only assume to be its door. A paper note was taped to the outside, saying “Out of Order. Reason: This damned machine isn’t allowing any of us in. It keeps asking for a greater source of magic, no matter how much energy we put into it. Damned energy quantifiers must be busted. Cause: Unknown” Greater source of magic? The crystal ponies are just behind dragons in their innate magic level, and dragons are only behind… Her thoughts stopped suddenly. Could it be? Slowly, painstakingly slowly, she put her hoof to the door. It opened. “Greetings, Unknown Unit. Welcome to the CES Divinity, a class I warp ship,” a cheery, mechanical voice said, “Time remaining until departure: We are currently scheduled to depart in negative three thousand, five hundred and forty-two years, seven months, one day, and eight hours. If you think we are running late, please talk to your designated captain, and have a nice day!” What… is all this? Are these the warp ships the terminal spoke of? “Ship…” What are you doing, Celly? There’s no point in asking this machine anything. No response greeted her. “Divinity?” Stop! You’ll only end up on another fools journey. Stay here, die on your planet! The cheery voice called out again, “Yes, Unknown Subject?” “What is…” Stop. Stop! STOP STOP STOP! But it was no use. The voice which had ruled her actions since the Great Extinction, and likely many years before it, had shrunk to a tiny, shrill thing; a Queen turned peasant. “Divinity, what is the name of the your Captain?” A whirring noise. Beeps. Then, “My captain has designated three names for me. The first is ‘The Harbinger of Chocolate,” No… It can’t be… “The second is ‘The Mismatched Mad God” It… Who else could it be besides him… “The third is… ERROR. CONFLICTING COMMAND.” The buzzing, whirring, and beeping returned, lights flashed, and garbled voices rang out. Finally, “NEW COMMAND SET ACCEPTED. ALTERING DESIGNATED CONVERSATION ROUTE. Unknown Subject, I am to give you a choice. You may leave now, and I will lock myself to all forces for the rest of eternity, or you can stay, and we shall go to our designated destination. What is your choice?” Celestia stood silently. Could she really leave her world? She turned to the window, and gazed upon the Crystal Empire. Glimmeringly gray towers shot up through the sky, and mechanical beauty rang out. Farther, farther than any eye had a right to see, she spotted the remains of Canterlot. Its broken majesty called out, just a touch of work and it could be reborn in all its splendor. She spotted Ponyville as well. The town which existed outside of time. Somehow, it managed to remain a small, earth pony based town over the years. Moss and decay had overtaken the town, and it was now the home of many bugs. Manehattan. Now there was a town which had accepted change; though it had all collapsed by now, she could still remember it from the golden age of culture, an event which had happened after Luna had, seemingly out of nowhere, become the prime subject of the ponies' desire. Tall towers of steel, flashing lights galore, ponies clad in the latest fashion trends. She saw the world through the eyes of time; what it had once been, what it currently was, and what it could have been. And she found it wanting. “Divinity, tell me the third name of the Captain.” “Unknown Unit, that is not a valid choice. Will you stay or will you go?” “I will decide only when you tell me the third designated name of the Captain.” Please… Don’t. You already know; let it rest. He’s gone. “Parameters accepted. The third name of the Captain is ‘Discord’. It was a curious thing, her broken mind. It wasn’t as if she didn’t realize who the captain was, it was painfully obvious since the first title. Granted, the might have also been a certain pink element of laughter, but Celestia doubted that even her powers extended that far. And yet, it was broken all the same. Someone took her marbles away. Though, was it really broken? Well and truly? Or was it, as the shrill voice was shouting at her, simply an already broken mind pushing reality away further? How curious. The moon was shining lovely on the mechanical empire, and the Starswirl Nebula was really rather bright. How utterly rude of it. But, come to think of it, was it not just daylight a moment ago? Though, when the entirety of her life had all been proven to be pre-known by Discord, did time really matter? Did anything? Because, all her life, she had watched over her little ponies as they went on their day to day life. Each one a completely new story, full of thoughts and laughter and sorrow, all had somehow managed to live from day to day, in one way or another. One thing she had prided herself in, though she now was unsure if she had done this too heavily, was how free she let her little ponies remain. She knew that they were allowed to go about their day to day lives, with few laws existing to guide them. The ones that did exist were only for the harshest of crimes a pony could do. And despite that, they guided themselves in a generally peaceful way. Yet, she realized it now. Nothing was truly up to choice; as long as one creature existed which knew the future, and could guide the present to how it wanted the future to be, free will could not exist. Because all life would ever be was a puppet to that creature, completely under its control. And when that creature is chaos incarnate, it wouldn’t be able to resist altering everything. Time itself was merely another plaything of Discord. Think. Said the voice. But it was different this time. It felt soft and tasted purple. No. The voice sounds soft, and… I’m your subconsciousness, and even I’m not sure where you were going with ‘tasted purple'. But we can worry about that later. Hello subconscious. Care for a cup of chocolate milk? No thank you. Now think, Celestia. Rationally. Did Discord really know what was going to happen, and where you would end up? Well, I can’t very well see why not. I mean, is the fact that he reprogrammed this entire ship, millennia ago, I might add, specifically so it would accept me not reason enough to believe so? Yes, but he’s Discord! Does he really have a plan? Ever? Well, it does seem like he planned out what to do when he was first released from his stone prison… Oh? If he was such a planner, how did he even get defeated? Celly, he’s the very embodiment of chaos. He never has a plan; he simply goes with the flow, all the while trying to disrupt it. But… No buts. Not one. Discord is gone! Now, pay attention. The ship is talking. And it was, “-ergency subroutines activated. Warp travel initiating in three… two… one. Please, remember to keep all hands and feet inside. Have a nice day!” And at that moment, reality shattered.. Author's Note I know I said this was to be a larger chapter, and I apologize for it not being so- I didn't plan this to actually come yet. It just kinda felt right to have this chapter where it is. The next chapter, which was originally intended to be this chapter, is the one that's longer.
