Armageddon

Running behind a deserted building, I had scarcely begun to catch my breath when tears began streaming down my cheeks. How could this have all happened? My friends... my subjects... innocent ponies... dead... I couldn't cry too loudly. If he were around, he'd be able to hear me for sure. I did my best to stifle my tears, but with my heart beating from all the panic and running, I couldn't keep my breath inside for more than a period of a few moments.

I had no idea what happened... Why did things turn out like this? It came out of nowhere...

First Fluttershy... The poor girl... She did nothing wrong to him in her whole life, yet she was the first one who Discord betrayed, making sure to toy with her psychologically before leaving her motionless on the ground.

"Oh, what's the matter, my dear girl?"

"Please! Stop!"

"Stop what? Oh, you mean this?"

Discord had Angel in his tail, which he was using to squeeze around the poor rabbit's throat tighter and tighter. The bunny flailed in the air, biting, kicking, anything it could do to try to release himself from the draconequus' grip. Fluttershy wanted to do something, anything to help the poor bunny, but she was chained to the ground by the tail. The more she saw Angel coming closer to suffocating to death, the more adrenaline rushed through her body, which she used to flap her wings frantically, praying that her tail would just snap off. It never did, though.

"YES! THAT!"

"But Fluttershy, old buddy, old pal, you need to take some responsibility."

"W-what? What do you mean?"

"Why, you were the one who trusted me this whole time when you knew exactly what I was. You knew my past. You knew the risks associated with me. You know what I could do, yet you still invited me into your home, hoping that you were wrong. You didn't have the backbone to say no. You could have told your friends that you didn't feel comfortable with having a monster like me in your home, but you said nothing. Now your dear sweet bunny has to pay the consequences for your actions."

"Discord! Discord STOP! DISCORD!"

Fluttershy continued to struggle, but after a few bursts of energy, using all the strength she could muster, she fell to the ground, bawling into her hooves.

"Don't you dare look away!" Discord screamed, grabbing Fluttershy's eyelids and pulling them open. "Is this what you wanted? You look your rabbit in the eye and tell him why he's about to die!"

Discord waved his tail in front of Fluttershy's face. Angel's eyes were wide open, trying as hard as he could to cry for help, but with no oxygen left in his lungs, his screams remained silent. Fluttershy, on the other hand, could do nothing but scream.

"ANGEL! I'M SO SORRY! THIS IS ALL MY FAULT! I... I... I DIDN'T KNOW THIS WOULD HAPPEN! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!"

"Forgive you? Your rabbit is going to die because of you! What part of that makes you think he'll ever forgive you?"

"DISCORD! PLEASE! I'LL DO ANYTHING IF YOU JUST LET GO OF HIM!"

"Oh, now this sounds interesting. Shake my claw." Fluttershy's sobbing stopped for a moment as she grimaced in confusion. "Once you shake my claw, we will be put under covenant. I promise I won't choke your rabbit to death and you promise that I can do anything to you in return. Do we have a deal?"

"YES! Now please, let Angel go!"

With a smile on his face, Discord grabbed Fluttershy's hoof. No sooner had he done so when a blinding light shone from their grip, filling the entire room with a white radiance. After a few moments, the light dimmed, Discord's tail unwound and Angel fell onto the ground beneath him. Without even taking a minute to catch his breath, however, he began sprinting his way to the door, only to be caught in a magical aura which turned him around and sent him running in circles.

"Stupid rabbit," Discord said. lifting him into the air and pinning him into Fluttershy's wall.

"WHAT?! NO!"

"I'm staying by my covenant. I'm not going to choke him, but he's already gotten on my bad side." Discord turned his head to show Fluttershy the other side of his face, which was a mere skeleton, drenched in green pus. "Oh, well. Toodaloo!" Suddenly, Angel's body turned into a grid of squares, each of which individually flipped over, to reveal nothing but the wall behind him. Within a second, Angel had disappeared into thin air.

"A...Angel...? Angel bunny? Where is he? Where's my baby bunny?"

"Gone. There is no longer any trace that he ever existed, but why ruin the fun when we're just getting started? After all, you said that I could do whatever I wanted to you."

"Angel... Is dead?"

"I'm sorry you made the mistake of trusting me yet again. Yes, he's dead, but don't worry. I'm sure he won't stay mad at you for being the reason why he now ceases to exist. It may be all your fault, but I'm sure he understands."

"No... NO! I-I-I can't do this! I-I couldn't have killed an innocent animal! I can't--I can't do this! Discord! Please! Just kill me so I won't make the same mistake again!"

"Oh, don't be so hard on yourself. Just enjoy the ride." Suddenly, a chair lifted Fluttershy into the air, and the chains that held her to the ground turned into a seat-belt that ran across her chest. "After all..." Suddenly the walls of her cottage fell down, revealing a large butchering station in the form of some kind of amusement ride, and Fluttershy was now moving sideways as the ride pulled her away. "...The ride never ends..."

Her chair was attached to some sort of belt that took her away like a roller-coaster, moving slowly past several pictures. They were portraits of ponies who she had never met before, but they all looked regal, like she was moving down some kind of mansion with opaque green walls. Turning the corner, however, the walls disappeared, and in the distance, she could see another conveyor belt merging with the one she was on. In the darkness, she could also see a few chairs moving closer towards her on the opposite belt... each carrying a pony who she knew in some way.

"No... NO! Discord, stop!"

The ponies were all passed out. How long they would stay that way, however, Fluttershy couldn't say. Suddenly, the conveyor belt pulled them all into another room with walls that matched the same grim color as the previous hallway. Being pulled further, she saw the pictures from before, only now their faces were melted, leaving nothing but a charred skull with blood coming out their eye sockets as if they were crying. Even without the ability to make facial expressions, they look horrified.

As they moved further down the room, the portraits were replaced by large mirrors. Fluttershy could hardly look, but her seat-belt made moving her head or neck nearly impossible. After getting a good look at her shaggy mane, wide eyes and pale complexion, the image gradually changed into a face of Discord. "Wakey wakey, everypony."

All the ponies on the conveyor belt then opened their eyes, yet still remained motionless. It was as if they were still too drowsy to react. It was as if they had no idea that they were on a conveyor belt, risking a fate that Fluttershy didn't even want to think about. "Oh, and you might not want to look straight into the mirror," Discord said as his face disappeared, replacing it with her own reflection again. "You look so dreadful right now that you might hurt your own eyes."

Fluttershy had no idea what that meant, but rather than wait to find out, she averted her gaze to her right, trying as hard as she could to see what was going on beside her. She had no idea how long the line of ponies beside her was until she heard an ear-shattering scream coming from the distance a far ways off. Even with the chains preventing her from moving around, she began shaking in her seat. As she continued on, the screams grew louder, and now everypony to her right was weeping and wailing in fear of what was to come.

Remembering what Discord said about the mirrors, and honestly not being able to watch anymore, Fluttershy squeezed her eyes shut, hoping that she would be able to just wait it out. Of course, Discord had other plans. The yellow pegasus then felt something cold suddenly run up her cheeks and down her forehead until they rested on her eyelids.

"Oh, come now, Fluttershy. You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?"

At that moment, four metal hooks grabbed each corner of the pony's eyes and pulled them apart, forcing her to look straight forward. She wouldn't have it, though. Even with her body constricted and her eyelids being forced open, the yellow pony managed to avert her eyes toward her right. That's when she noticed the other ponies' reflections in the mirrors that they faced. She could see that the metal prongs that held her gaze were also being used to pull apart the other ponies' eyelids.

Suddenly, just two ponies to her right, she finally saw it. The source of everypony's screams. As the pony two seats away from her looked into the mirror across from her, Fluttershy noticed a red beam in the center of the glass, and once the pony made complete eye contact with the beam...

"No..."

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!"

The pony's face then caught fire, melting away her skin, her eyes falling out of their sockets, leaving nothing but the trace of a charred skull in the mirror. Fluttershy could hear the whimpering of the stallion just to her right, and in just moments, the terrified breaths turned into wailing screams of agony until his vocal cords were completely burned away. Next, it would be her turn.

Fluttershy, even with her body being held in place and her eyelids being held open, looked away, keeping herself from looking into the mirror. As she passed by the next mirror, her heart started beating faster than ever as she caught a glimpse of the red light that shone in the mirror. Death was literally staring at her through the mirror...

But Fluttershy looked away...

Before she knew it, the mirror was to her left in the opposite direction of where the conveyor belt was taking her. This didn't seem like a simple mistake on Discord's part, though. For some reason, Discord was letting Fluttershy survive the ordeal.

The conveyor belt then wrapped around the corner and traveled down to a basement below. The metal hooks then released from Fluttershy's eyes as well as the ponies to her right, but as she saw the charred faces of the ponies beside her, she couldn't stop staring in horror. Her seat came to a complete stop and the chains around her fell to the floor, but Fluttershy remained still, her jaw agape and eyes dead set on the mangled bodies of dozens of innocent ponies.

"Well done, my friend!" Fluttershy didn't move or respond. "I see you managed to survive the ordeal. How do you feel, knowing that all these ponies died because of you, yet you didn't even have the decency to let yourself die, even when I provided a way for you?" Fluttershy remained silent and still. "Fluttershy, they're dead. They will never wake up. They will never return home to their families. They will never go back to their daily lives in Ponyville. All that's left is for them to be forgotten forever."

"Discord... Why did you do this?"

Discord chuckled.

"Because I'm God."

And with the snap of his fingers, Fluttershy began to burn, but not on the outside like the other ponies. The fire itself burned her from the inside, coming out her eyes and mouth until her screams were completely engulfed in the sounds of the crackling fire that was using her body as tinder. Finally, Fluttershy would never have to deal with pain again. She could sleep... forever...

"Princess Twilight!"

Nearly dying of a heart attack, I looked up to see a regal white mare descending from the air until she landed just a few feet in front of my shaking hooves.

"Princess Celestia!" I exclaimed in a hushed tone, praying that Discord wasn't anywhere he'd be able to hear us. "You know you can't be here! You're risking your life just by--"

"The others are dead."

I didn't move, speak or breathe for several moments as I attempted to interpret exactly what she was talking about, but as I looked into her deep, grim expression...

"No..." I said, trying my hardest not to cry. "Applejack?" The princess nodded her head. "Pinkie Pie? Rainbow Dash?"

"Now, Twilight--"

"Rarity?"

Silence.

"Yes, Twilight... All of them..." Any capability I had at controlling my breathing was suddenly diminished in the total usurpation of my mind's decaying state of focus. I was unable to comprehend the fact that I was now sobbing emphatically, putting my own life in danger as well as that of the Princess, just as I was unable to grasp the idea of my five closest friends... being dead... Killed... by someone I thought was my friend...

Gritting my teeth, my sorrow quickly transformed to anger as I said, "What. Happened." It was more of a demand than an inquiry.

"I was able to collect their memories before their minds completely shut down, but Twilight, I need you to prepare yourself for what you're about to see."

"Give. Me. Their memories." Celestia looked like she was about to interject. "Now."

Celestia nodded her head and tilted her horn, which was now beginning to glow in a bright green aura until a stream of memories traveled from her horn to mine. I suddenly collapsed at the weight of the intense magic being transferred into my mind. Celestia had done this once with Fluttershy's memories, but receiving the memories of four ponies at once made me feel like I was being crushed under my own weight. Especially with memories this... strong.

"Read them only when you are absolutely sure that Discord won't be able to find you," the Princess said. "I'm going to return to looking for any more damage. Please, be safe."

Despite the huge weight that had been placed over me, I reached my hoof over my mentor's neck and brought her into a hug. "You too, Celestia."

"I think Discord is far enough for you to read Pinkie Pie's last memories, but after that, you must find somewhere else to hide. Hopefully when I return, I'll know how to stop Discord."

"Thank you, Celestia." Nodding one final time, Celestia took off into the air and disappeared within seconds, leaving me to make sense of what was going on. I took a large breathe, checked my surrounding area and let my horn glow a bright green, just like Celestia's, and in moments, I was engulfed in Pinkie Pie's final memories.