The day is 75 AC, 75 years after Cataclysm. It’s been 75 years since the sun and moon began moving without guidance. It’s been 75 years since Princesses Celestia and Luna had begun to die. Today marks their final hours.
They wont tell anypony how it happened. This Dark Age in pony history might just end up blank in the history books. Nopony wants to talk about it. Even the Elements didn’t know the details. All we know are two things: the gates of Tartarus opened that day, and the two princesses -- Cadence and Twilight -- disappeared from the public eye.
Nopony knows where they are. If they are still alive. I can only hope for the best. And if by some way they are the cause of all of this, I can only hope their deaths are quick.
Whatever the case may be, Equestria is in ruins. There isn’t much of a country left, just small bastions of ponies, defending against the monsters that lurk the ruins of civilization. Manehattan, Stalliongrad, Las Pegasus, and Canterlot are the only major holdouts left. They’ve all walled themselves up and established their own autonomy. I wouldn’t really call them traitors. Once Celestia and Luna fell into their magical comatose states, only the truly optimistic stayed in Canterlot. The rest fled elsewhere, taking up arms against the evil that had surfaced.
I will admit. Ponykind is weak. The Gryphon Kingdoms have thrived under the newfound conditions. So have the minotaurs and the changelings to the east. Still, they don’t have the worst of it. The worst of the “Shadows,” as ponies have taken to calling them, are centered in Equestria. I wish I could say we had hope, something to look forward to, a solution to the disaster that was thrust upon us.
I can only hope…
Ponykind is dying. We have no solution. Soon, we will be another smear of ink upon to great book of history, and word of us will die down, making way for a new age.
Who knows? Maybe the gryphons would find it in their hearts to at least make us relevant when they inevitably pave the way for their own biased history books. These mysteries are beyond me. Time will only tell.
“Everypony, rise.”
Everypony had been expecting this moment. Despite their once-immortal status, Celestia and Luna were dying, and they were dying fast. Here I was, attending the final rite of passage. We all knew it was going to be today. Today, Equestria was dead. We were simply a group of ponies, divided and unorganized. From this day onwards, we were no longer Equestrian.
“May the Elements please come up to the stand.”
I pity the rest. They’ve withstood loss after loss. They’re only shadows of their former selves. Honesty is no longer honest. Kindness has succumbed to cruelty. Generosity has been consumed by greed.
And Laughter… well…
They’ve all undergone this change, not because they had been corrupted, but to keep their friendship alive, to survive and to help others do so as well. The world simply could not keep the virtuous as they were. It had to steal away something we all held dear, our purity.
We can never forgive the world. Today was a day of mourning, yes. But it was also a day for hatred. Today, we cursed the land that had cursed us. Today, we seethed and squirmed at all that the world had done to wrong us. How dare life be so cruel.
“We are all here today to commemorate the final moments of our great leaders.”
Nopony still believed this crap. Nopony but myself was probably listening. All eyes were on Celestia and Luna, as if by some miracle they would wake up and end this nightmare. Hours passed.
I began to tune out the speaker, as I simply watched the medical ponies who would stay by Celestia and Luna’s sides. I counted the seconds from that moment.
One…
Two…
Three…
Four…
The pony on the left had her hoof on Celestia’s jugular. She stood up, looked at us all, and shook her head.
Five…
Six…
Seven…
Eight…
It had only been eight seconds. The pony next to Luna had made a similar gesture. It was finally over.
Somepony started screaming. Fighting broke out. Guardsponies tried to control the crowd.
It was no use.
Some had brought bricks. Some had even brought their crossbows. It was total, uncontrolled anarchy. Dead ponies piled up. Canterlot had been breached, but not from the outside. We were consuming ourselves under the stress of survival. Fires were started. Houses were broken into. I think Applejack just got hit with a crossbow bolt. It was pure, utter chaos.
I walked through the streets where the fires raged. No one even made an attempt to put them out. We had all accepted our fates. Maybe we were just trying to make enough noise before we inevitably died, so that somepony, some powerful unicorn, some quick-witted pegasus, or some pragmatic earthpony would find the courage to lead. Who knows, maybe some omnipotent force would take notice if we made enough noise.
I was a rioter. I fought and pillaged just as much as the next pony. That’s when I came face to face with her, one of the last ponies in the world I still called friend. She had a crossbow up to my head and I had her bloody husband’s throat in my hooves. That was the last thing I saw.
But the story of ponykind did not end with me. It didn’t even end with the princesses’ deaths as I had originally thought. A whole new age of ponykind had been ushered in.
If only I had known. Maybe I could have lived to change something, to guide our little hero through his journey, passed down what I had learned in life. Alas, this story was not meant for me. I am but here to tell you what had happened the day I died. The very day Celestia and Luna had left this world, a colt had been born. This colt would become great someday, a pony to be remembered, to go into the history books.
“Just you wait.” I said to nopony in particular.
“This one will be a doozy!”
