Equestrian Apocalypse

by SnowyNight

Rating: teen
Tags: Tragedy, Dark
Length: 3337

NOTE:: SHORT CHAPTERS BECAUSE IT'S A POEM, DON'T DOWNVOTE BASED ON CHAPTER LENGTH PLEASE. What if Equestria's greatest defender said no, right when Her Little Ponies needed her most?

NOTE:: SHORT CHAPTERS BECAUSE IT'S A POEM, DON'T DOWNVOTE BASED ON CHAPTER LENGTH PLEASE.

Celestia's death marked the end of something significant. With the loss of her son, and the soul of his father, Celestia officially retired from public life, handing the reigns to a council of ponies led by Chancellor Lightning Acuity. This Council, known in everything but legal name as the Unicorn Supremacy, quickly set about implementing their vision of Equestria, separating the three tribes into communities, with unicorns kept in the cities and earth ponies forced to till the fields for ever-greater crop yields. The pegasi, of course, were forbidden from setting foot on ground without special permission from the Council.

It's been fifteen years since Twilight Sparkle took the crown, since Celestia's bastard son lost his life in an attempt to assassinate the Solar Princess. But a strange light in the Discorded Plains draws everypony's attention: a last desperate candleflame attempting to stave off the encroaching darkness alone…

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-03-20 05:10:01 UTC

Ponyville Inspection Tour

Chancellor: The hallowed town where Princess Twilight makes her nest must be

Perfect, the Examiners are here - will She pass the test?

Muster all three tribes, move faster now, we've done all this before.

Get moving for the 9th Annual Ponyville Inspection Tour!

(Ponyville Inspection Tour, Ponyville Inspection Tour)

Line up those with illness in their records,

Bring any who question our will.

Those whose flanks remain blank past sixteen years of age,

All are taken care of in our Equestrian Excellence Mill!

(Equestri... nopony? Fine.)

If ponies cannot meet the standards

Set by those of distinction,

Might it not be kinder to let nature

Choose the best by way of extinction?

The unicorns shall guide the way

Pegasi in the skies, so shall they stay

Earth ponies toil night and day

In fields, thus saith our Supremacy!

Sweet Apple Acres passes with distinction,

(But note that Applejack's methods are too soft.)

Triple output! Triple time! Triple everything!

Only then will Equestria remain aloft.

These are troubled times in which we live,

Natural disasters dim our light.

Drastic action must be taken if

Ponykind is to make it through this night.

Sunny: The unicorns lead us astray!

Clip the pegasus' wings, should they disobey.

Earth ponies rush to dig their own graves,

So says the Unicorn Supremacy!

Chancellor: All is perfectly ordered under our guiding hoof,

Yet still our charges lack luster.

Inspection's passed, such resent won't last

Until next year - the 10th annual Ponyville Inspection Tour!

(Ponyvi- oh, come on, guys...)

Flight Into Discordia

Sunny: Flight into Discordia, alight on madness

Born of grief and sanctifying love!

Come find me if you dare, once-precious dove...

Celestia: Once I believed nopony ever could go past redemption,

Even now I wish to believe... (They're all corrupt!)

Only in My grief for the lost soul of My Child

Did that hope remain intact... (While volcanoes erupt!)

But I've sat idle for too long, allowed far too many

Wrongs to slip past, supped too hard at My own glass, now on my

Flight into Discordia, the answers don't come

Even with His voice beating inside my head... (Like a drum!)

On these rivers of blood, wracking shivers and lost loved ones

Guide Me ever deeper... (to me!)

(Softly) step between the dreams left by souls departing this world,

Block out the cries for justice... (For Appleloosa, Princess!)

The shimmering betrays the slightest glimmer of light,

Could it be the Tyrant... (In the shadows, well recessed)

And now the game is well-begun, quick-step avoid the smoking

Gun, pick up the pace, don't trot just run, spread your wings into this

Flight into Discordia, the shattered remnants of

All those who were lost along the way! (Somepony had to pay!)

The Fire rests within, a shattered spirit does his time,

Does this punishment fit the crime? (And do we count these rhymes?)

The Firelord does his time, keeps the fires at bay;

What comes through does so as a controlled burn.

Without his presence here Equestria would go up in smoke,

Still this situation makes my stomach churn...

Sunny: (Here in the) Bowels of Equestria, the refuse piled high!

Nowhere to go but whence it came!

The Fires will worsen, and ponies will burn -

Evacuate, if ever you loved those ponies!

Celestia: (Rise up and) Fly out of Discordia, I'll tell what I've seen.

The Council will listen to Me. (Don't count Your chickens!)

Keep strong, My sinful Son, I'll get Us out of rapture

Return all to truest Harmony.

(And as I) Fly out of Discordia, the Sun riding free

I have the answer to this mystery.

But will the unicorns listen? Their pride might just deafen

Them to our shared destiny...

The Buck Stops Here

Twilight: Princess, it's so good to see

That you've returned, safe as can be.

The Chanceller should be here anytime...

Chancellor: Princess, this indiscretion cost us

Much to cover up; I

Assume the cause was fair and just?

(As this) Is your first offence, the chance is

Given you to explain why

You were spotted flying out to Discorded Land?

Chancellor & Twilight: Please, Princess, tell us why you hide away,

Share with us why you fear the day

Brought into being by your divinity?

With Princess Luna's recent flight,

Yours is our only guiding light;

Why would you flee into her un-Equestrian Night?

ever-pleasant

Celestia: I'm sorry for my absence, my leaving without leave.

The coming tragedy has scattered my thoughts...

I'd hoped to find out how the Wild Horses evade these primal forces,

What a shock did I experience... (Whatever did you find?)

Prince Sunshine is still alive,

In thrall He holds the Fire back. We

All survive because He took this task.

Chancellor: Princess you overstep your bounds, the Tyrant

Found deserves no celebration!

He'll bring the fire to bring our final end.

A mother's love might know no boundaries,

But grief has clearly clouded

The Princess' view of right and wrong!

Perhaps-" Celestia: "Enough. Have you forgotten why

The sky is blue, why we have latitude

To argue policy like this?

My children cry for sweet release from this

Trial you have unleashed,

My anger burns slow... but very hot.

The buck stops here, I'll take the blame

For letting our home go up in flames.

My ignorance may yet mean our end.

(Yet here is) Fire we can stop, douse the

Hatred, halt the genocide.

Your ignorance needn't end any more lives.

Chancellor: "'Self-determination is the right of any nation,

Go lead the way, if that is your wish.'

These laws are harsh, but necessary; they'll help us best prepare for

Disasters you say you've unleashed.

Twilight: After all the bad you've done, be glad she doesn't hurl you into the

Sun; your evil ways end today!

"C... Celestia?!

Chancellor: This is-" Sunny & Celestia: "Enough! You stand and bicker while more ponies lives cease to flicker,

Candles snuffed in darkness one by one! (Sunny?!)

The Firestorm will split your world in two; it's coming for all of you.

Hope you ponies like barbecue...

 (tend)

The buck stops here, we'll mind the flames,

You keep on being the ponies' shame.

Somepony will have to take the blame.

The land herself cries out for you to cease

The slaughter of many-a decent beast;

Take your horn! Go fuck yourself! Leave us in peace!

Their Blood is on Your Hooves

Guiding Light: Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm, mmmm.

Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm, mmmm.

Clear does the glass glow, showing fear in the grasses low,

Melodious sounds the tune...

A Force for Harmony is heard so briefly, Horses scream Discordantly;

Their blood is on Your hooves...

Their blood is on Your hooves, Princess. Their blood is on Your hooves.

Ponies taken 'fore their time, by Unicorns abused.

Their blood is on Your hooves, Celestia. Their blood is on Your hooves.

Equestria was beautiful, once...

In this grim early-morn, the nightmares cease, reveal a land war-torn;

The tribes have divided once more...

With both Goddesses gone, Unicorns fall,

Wild Horses roam the streets;

Canterlot has fallen in true.

Celestia: I watch them fight, stay well out of sight (Night!)

As brothers pass beyond that Looking Glass (Has!)

My tears will fall upon every deathly pall... (Fallen!)

Only men could equal such mess, and call it zen.

Harmony: Their blood is on Your hooves, my dear. Their blood is on Your hooves.

Everypony that passes into Your heavenly groove.

Their blood is on Your hooves, my Goddess. Their blood is on Your hooves.

Equestria amazed me, once...

The sun ascends its peak, illuminates desending ponies weak

In spirit, their trial begun...

No statues will be made by Unicorns wielding Medusæ,

Instead, Darkness blooms from within...

Celestia: They ate... and ate... oh, Me, I can't concentrate!

This ends, charlatan. Take your gaze off past events.

Tell Me... help Me reunite this family.

Show your hand, O Harmony, and save my desperate land!

Harmony: Their blood is on Your hooves, my Queen. Their blood is on Your hooves.

On mine as much as Yours, it's true; at least I've paid my due.

Their blood has stained Your view, my dove, and set it quite askew.

Equestria was so harmonious...

Fast does the fire grow, set alight so long ago

Its path cuts through the earth...

Canterlot is in its sights, what little's left will set it right

And the phœnix shall know rebirth.

Celestia: So many will die; any strides we could take

Would be futile, would mean less than my token resistance

At Applejack's farm; though they never could hurt me

As they did on that day, so I hid once again...

Harmony: Their blood is on Your hooves, Celly. Their blood is on Your hooves.

Discord's on the rampage - it's time for You to move.

Their blood is on Your hooves, Princess, remember every love.

Celestia was strong... once.

Weather The Storm

Ponies: Behold, the Sun is rising on another day,

An Equestria United in irony

As bigots and survivors both are forced to stay

Herded well out of danger's way...

Celestia: The fissure races 'cross the land,

But I race faster, solar booms in My

Wake. Awake for perhaps the

First time in Twilight's reign...

Luna: Twilight reigns, the sun about to

Set, but I cannot see you

Yet... sister, fly hard, they

Need you to be here...

Twilight: Too many ponies still within her

Walls that don't believe the threat is

Real. Too many to rescue,

Come quick O Teacher...

Ponies: Tell us why You flew away,

Share with us why this tragedy

Must pass; we know You've the capacity

To stop our world from burning up.

Celestia, dearest, Princess, stop

Your leave, return and salvage Canterlot!

Celestia: The Fire burns here, I see my home

Slowly going up in smoke, as was foretold.

They task Me with salvation, order Me to love...

I'm sick of being Equestria's Boss...

Sunny: Poor little foals refuse all reason,

Believe they'll be okay.

Every other time, You've spared them

From fear and dismay.

You got so good at mothering,

They've never had to grow.

I wonder if this resolve is true,

If they'll believe Your show.

Ponies: When Darkness takes our land,

There stands Celestia.

Against every evil plan,

Has stood Equestria.

Against this primal foe,

There stands Celestia.

Our Princess soon will show,

To save Equestria...

Sunny: Equestrian Apocalypse!

As Your sweet caress denies each horror that exists!

Your magic strong, its patron saint: denial!

A cult of youth, its way corrupt and vile!

Celestia: Oh ponies, if only We could find another way.

To stop this mess would only be delay.

The fire must burn; know that new life will follow.

I should be their with you... but something holds Me back.

Luna: Ready for calamity we

Watch, safe as possible but

Still Princess Celestia has

Failed to show...

Celestia: Once My power heralded the end,

To Discord's evil reign.

With but a single word I curbed

His madness with disdain.

Now I find that word again,

The one that goes against your grain.

I've taught you only about yes,

And never let you feel pain...

Ancient Ponies: Celestia's Folly, a daughter to all

Princess so sweet, soon sister so tall

But time made a mother, too powerful.

Kept out too much bad; the Fire's got nowhere else to go...

Celestia: I've made up my mind. Finally do I see the path.

Harmony was right... disaster, pain and darkest wrath

Emancipates all Ponykind; it's time for us to grow.

My Little Ponies, here I am to weather the Storm.

No

Ponies: As we stand here in the cold,

There burns Equestria.

I feel my legs fold,

Twenty thousand saved by Celestia.

But why couldn't she stop the storm?

Why couldn't she save Equestria?

I feel my anger warm...

Why did she fail Equestria?

Equestria the Beautiful,

To which my heart still sings.

A dream deferred, a people lost.

Through time their cries will ring.

Celestia, we trusted that You'd bear us through this trial.

Ponies burned for years before your long-awaited denial.

The Sun is off, the Moon has run; will You deny You hold the smoking

Gun? Will You leave our Equestria Lost?

Celestia: As I fly,

The clouds seem irrelevant.

Your words,

A subtle stampede of elephants.

Though I tried to save you,

You deserved not the honour.

Your enemy within I cannot

Face for you...

Twilight: The magic unleashed could not have waited anymore,

To stop it would have only brought delay.

(Princess, why do You torment those who love You?

If You know some way to stop the Fire, go without delay!)

Ponies: Princess, tell us why this tragedy

Won't end; why peace so suddenly

Fled our land, to bleed eternally?

You've saved us for so long;

Perhaps some gratitude should come?

Please, Princess, put down that smoking gun.

Celestia: I fly high.

Your pleas are inelegant.

You cry,

Like foals refuse development.

I weep for the loss of my

Home, cry harder at you

Failure to govern us,

Determine our path...

Lightning Acuity: Princess, by the Power vested

Me as Chancellor, I order

You to save us, best you can.

Our Goddess, is their truly any

Feat beyond Your ardour?

Celestia, reveal to us Your plan!

Sunny: Rip the ponies' world apart,

The Fire burns today.

Everypony brokenhearted,

This won't go away.

Sunny burns Equestria,

Celestia stands by;

You've hurt Her far too badly,

She won't save you - wonder why?

Celestia: I gave

You every opportunity

I tried

To let you run Our community

My ponies hurt so much,

One tribe near dead and gone.

Now you ask me to save you...

I fly.

My, doesn't the Sun look lovely there?

Goodbye,

And thanks for all the warfare.

I've never hurt so much,

My children dead to me.

Now I tell you of No...

Equestrian Apocalypse

Sunny: Equestrian Apocalypse!

To your golden ears from our perpetually blood-stained lips!

Can your brightest dreams outlast the Firestorm?

The earth will heave, volcanoes wake, Equestria - will be no

More.

Earth Ponies: Run, children, run, children, run children, run

For the river is our only hope.

The smoking gun aimed at the Sun held by the one who hated Life,

Just now the bullet's hitting home.

But a light still shines in the distance,

The Wild Horses seem to be our only chance.

For forty years they have lasted, might these wild ponies outlast us?

Might our future now lie within the past?

Sunny: Equestrian Apocalypse!

To your blessed ears from our perpetually blood-stained lips.

How long must we suffer 'til you free us?

Celestia's abandoned us, so everypony - save yourself.

Earth Ponies: The fires burn unchecked, we weren't set to learn this hectic tune.

Let's pray the Unicorns pass us by.

Their laws unjust, Council corrupt, Princesses powerless, and soon

I fear they'll work our Earthly bods to death.

But a light still shines on the plains,

Rise up Earth Ponies lest their stony gaze befall us-!

I feel the magic in my bones, never to return to home...

Why didn't the princesses save us?

Twilight: Sorry, Princess, sorry, I know the hour is late.

I think you'll want to hear this news.

You told me to come get you once I learned of Sunny's fate,

His betrayal broke your heart in two.

See that light, there? Shining in the distance?

The energies are pure Elemental Fire.

Aside from Discord (who's at tea) the only pony equal

To such a force used it fifteen years ago.

Sunny: Equestrian Apocalypse!

To your deafened ears from our perpetually blood-stained lips!

Will you deny these tortured souls their justice?

Celestia, my Mother dear, please hear the call - wake

A Mother's Love

(Up)

Celestia: Echoes in the darkness. Stark reminders of the duties

I have yet to fulfill. Have I failed you?

I'm sorry, so sorry, oh bearers of My will...

Please know that Peace will find you, be at rest.

My ponies, dear ponies, say it isn't so.

Say instead the Light still warms your souls...

I've failed so many of My children, the count rising each day

But if I could save that One... well, the rest will be okay.

Only the weak can know love...

Those willing to let the Grey seep in, infest their skin, lead them to sin.

But slow is the burn of true love,

Such hate to split the world in two, like Night and Day, just coming to...

I hear him, in my mind. Not an hour do I pass alone.

He's with me always, but now, may I atone?

To cast aside the burden and find justice for these foals?

My flight tonight won't go unseen - they'll rake me over the coals.

My ponies, dear ponies, please take your final rest.

I'll hold your just cause close to my chest.

As I fly to find the One who upturned the frying pan,

Sent us into Fire - where might He stand?

Only the quick can know love,

Those willing to sacrifice their passion, pass to ease, bare satisfaction...

But well go the loves of true lovers.

Complacency to rival mine, thoughtless acts and dwindling time...

The Fire burned here, not long ago at all.

Such magical power... anypony else would fall.

Could Sunny return? He may have survived inversion,

But Fire such as this could shatter souls...

Sunny: These ponies, dead ponies, killed by their countrymen!

No amount of "love" will bring them back!

Their blood will stain Your pristine coat as it did mine,

Two monsters lost to the ravages of Time!

Celestia: Only the damned can know love.

Does not such passion invite crime? Could any lover keep in line?

Yet sweet is the burn of slow love...

Shackles to outlast any sentence, ignore all consequence...

The Storm

Sunny: Finally, I ride. Hooves touch Equestrian soil.

I crack the earth, send lava, waters boil

The end is coming in pony form;

Herd together, children - it's time to weather the Storm.

Rainbow Dash: Clouds race faster than any I've seen,

Black with rain to stop the heat.

Cloudsdale's final chance.

I lost my element long ago,

But this Loyalty was never for show.

Soldiers and guards - advance.

Ponies: Together we'll weather the Storm,

Keep our weak ones warm

Affiliations stripped away,

Now this dismal day

Can be stopped, our Princesses

Mount Their defenses

Shield us from harm

Each pony equal in alarm.

We must stop the Storm,

Douse the Fire Lord.

Don't let him take

Our loved ones! Make

Him pay for his crimes,

Avenge our order divine...

Celestia: Ingrates stand about, judge how we

Save them from the end. I wish they'd

Grow... they never

Grow...

They'll never meet the standards I have set,

Their lives too short. The clock reset each

Foal... they remain

Foals...

Princesses: The walls crack with the heat,

Guards call retreat.

Lava covers them all,

Rain buries the fall.

Ponies panic in the streets,

Scream for shelter from the heat.

Two Princesses fly,

A third soon goes by.

Ponies: Sun and Moon will face

Our greatest menace.

A battle for the books,

Their epic struggle. Look

How fast they fly,

Saving ponies from on high.

Luna: Celestia reserves her greatest

Magic; why not stop the Fire?

Equestria deserves her latest

Tragedy... could Celestia ever tire?

Twilight: But against each and every foe,

Must stand Celestia.

Could her magic ever blow the Fire

Out - could she slow the

Fire down?

Celestia: For each and every foal,

Their waits Celestia.

To warm against the cold,

The Sun protects Equestria.

Still I wonder why I try,

They get weaker every year.

My trials harder as they rely

On Me, cannot handle fear...

Ponies: Still we must weather the Storm,

Watch as the Fire Lord

Burns our home unchecked,

Still the rains have met

The fires,

Burning

Down...

Sun gleaming off Celestia's crown.