The End of Hope (Original bad end)
Darkness was all Celestia could see, cold hard ground was all Celestia could feel, shouting and fighting was all Celestia could hear. Normally one would be down in the dumps and have lost all hope for everything in this situation but Celestia was very hopeful that all this would end and that Harmony would once again restore itself. If harmony was able to defeat Nightmare Moon and restore her back as her loving sister Luna, defeat and reseal Discord and cease his reign of Chaos and Madness twice, and stop Queen Chrysalis and her siege on Canterlot, than surely Harmony would be able restore itself and stop this Cataclysm of an event, right?
Suddenly all noise and movement ceased. As if Celestia was waiting for time itself to reveal the outcome a light appeared from the opening of this Hell. Celestia hoped that it would reveal the savours of Equestria, Harmony would prevail, and all would be good. She started to think.
We will most likely have a major celebration over this victory. Maybe we should hold on that and find and restore the poor unfortunate souls that have been lost over this. This will all just have to wait.
With what little energy she can muster she got up. It was painful but it would be worth it to see the Bearers of the Elements. But all was futile because instead of seeing the Heroes of Equestria, she saw what she had learned to interpret as the Face of Tartarus itself, a being that she has come to despise (a title that only some of Equestria’s most dangerous and nasty villains have earned), and most importantly a being that has caused all this pain and misery in her once glorious and peaceful kingdom. She had come face to face with Legion himself. Celestia felt fear and hatred spark inside her.
Legion (which Celestia referred to it) was a truly terrifying being. A being composed of nothing but pure malevolent energy of others while being controlled by a single mind while being almost immune to all magic save for the elements. No one knew where this being originated from. Some say that it came from the deepest pits of Tartarus; some say that it was created from a magical experiment gone horribly wrong, others even claimed that it came from the farthest regions of space. While Celestia couldn’t figure out how this being came to be, it didn’t really matter at this point.
Legion was also a truly despicable being who stole the life energy out of all living things and turned her kingdom into the twisted image of himself. How dare he harm the innocent lives of her little ponies due to his insane lust for power and destruction? Celestia decided to mask her evident fear with hatred she held for this horrid being.
“I see that you’re awake.” Spoke Legion in a haunting voice.
“What have you done to the elements!” yelled Celestia.
“Oh you know I was just checking around. See how you were doing.” Legion calmly replied
As Legion turned away and moved towards the opening Celestia mustered what little magic she had left and shot Legion with a weak laser blast. Legion didn’t take this to well as Celestia felt the energy radiating around him rise up in heat and intensity. Celestia didn't care for this this warning and kept up her act. She was going to get answers.
“You didn’t answer my question! What have you done to the elements?” Celestia was reaching her boiling point, a rather challenging feat for somepony who controlled the sun.
“I was just passing by to say hello but it seems that we can’t get along.” Said Legion in a rather irritated voice but he didn’t turn around.
“Stop dodging the question! What have you done to the Elements of Harmony?” Celestia didn’t even try to hold back her rage.
“If you really want to know then I shall tell you. I was hoping to keep you in the dark (get the joke?) with this to protect your precious little feelings but it seems that the impudent sun princess must always demand what is going on like a spoiled brat.” said Legion in a calm but slightly annoyed voice.
“No matter what you tell me, Harmony will always prevail!” exclaimed Celestia.
“Again with the idle threats. Pretty entertaining if you ask me because the little pony princess thinks that justice will always prevail.” Said Legion who had a smile on his face.
“It’s Celestia, and what do you mean that I think that justice will prevail. It will always win because whenever there is evil there will always be a hero to stop it and….. Why are you laughing?” Celestia was starting to get tired from the annoyance of Legion and the fact that she had very little energy to spare, especially after that magical blast she used.
“I’m laughing because you are still in the act of such meaningless hope. Well this will indeed crush your spirit when I show you this little performance and destroy the last hopeful being once and for all.” said Legion while trying to handle his laughter.
Before Celestia could reply she was dragged into an empty void. Before she could question where Legion brought her and what he was doing she saw a truly horrifying sight. There in front of her were the Bearers of the Elements. But instead of them being victorious and celebrating the fact that they saved Equestria from Legion, they were just lying there battered and lifeless as if they had their energy stolen. Celestia was near tears at this sight.
“You see what I mean when I say that your hope is misplaced my dear. Such a pity though, they were such valiant, powerful fighters and actually had me on the ropes unlike someone. Applejack with her never give up attitude, it was her undoing to not realise that her death was near. Rainbow Dash with her rush into everything blindly tactic, it was characteristic that she was the first to go down. Pinkie Pie with her crazy personality and never take anything seriously attitude, what a fool to not take me seriously. Fluttershy with her kind personality, what a pitiful being but it was hilarious to see her beg for her very life, Rarity with her generous being, what a fool for not being able to take her death nicely while being able to give out as much damage as she good, a true generous soul if you ask me. Finally Twilight Sparkle, an intelligent being with powerful capabilities but I suspected less from your personal student but she wasn’t smart nor powerful enough to see that she was leading her friends into their doom." said Legion in a disturbingly calm voice for such a subject.
Legion thought for a second before continuing on, "I do truly regret killing them because I can’t take the energy of a dead being which sucks because I could see their energy being valuable to add to my collection but what can you do. At least I got to finish off the annoying insects that kept pestering me………” before Legion could finish off his little speech he was cut off by Celestia.
“YOU MONSTER, How could you do this to them, they were just trying to save everypony, at least pay your respects!!!!” Celestia finally lost it, between her incredible rage and intense sadness. How could such a being take the lives of the ponies she held dear to her heart and just brush it off and just laugh about a second later?
“You just realised that I’m a monster? Gee you win the most insightful being of the year reward. No wonder you got invaded by Queen Chrysalis and her army of Changelings. What did you think I would do? I’m a being with no other purpose but to destroy and assimilate and who has no remorse for anything but himself. This is also not the end of our tour because I still have other things to show you. You will soon learn the true horror of me my little pony. Observe.” said Legion while still using his calm voice.
With that Legion removed the vision of the dead Elements and replaced it with another vision. Celestia shuddered in horror at what she saw had become of her precious kingdom.
The sky was a mix of darkness and red creating a bloodish like tint that flowed through the air. She saw that the vegetation had gone to crap and what used to be lush forest and beautiful landscape had become nothing but a wasteland. She also saw odd shadows running around the wastelands as if they were looking for prey to feast on. Worst of all she saw her little ponies running around aimlessly as if they had no clue what to do and trying to get away from the shadows. Celestia could only watch in horror as her once beautiful kingdom had turned into a dead land full of misery and despair.
“Beautiful isn’t it. This is the new world, a world that better reflects my visions instead of your pathetic hopes and dreams.” said Legion with a laugh.
Celestia was speechless at this time. This to her was worse than Discord’s chaotic world, worse than the eternal night, and even worse than a world ruled by Changelings. Waiting for a response that would never come, Legion decided to continue on.
“But that’s not all, just wait until you see this if you’re not convinced that there is no hope in this dead world.” Was the only thing that Legion said as he showed another vision.
What Celestia saw in this vision was the last nail on the coffin that used to be her hope. It was showing her sister Luna, niece Cadence, and her niece’s husband Shining Armor hopelessly fighting off a swarm of shadows. From the looks of it they looked pretty warn down and looked like they were trying to find a way out but to no avail. From the looks on their faces they seemed to express pure terror that the once peaceful kingdom they knew had come crashing down.
“Wait, If they get out of this one, they will most likely come and kill you for all the atrocities you have done.” said Celestia with new hope arising in her voice.
“If such a thing happens then what makes you think that they will be able to defeat me. I single handily took you and the elements down. What makes you think that such beings of inferior strength will be able to stop me?” said Legion in a slightly annoyed voice.
For all the hate Celestia felt for Legion, he was right. How would they be able to stop Legion if she and the elements couldn’t defeat him? Once again Celestia was speechless.
Feeling that his job was done and that he completely destroyed Celestia’s hope he brought both of them out of the void and back to the dungeon. Once they arrived Celestia was still speechless. Legion just turned away and left. Before Legion could make it out of the door Celestia spoke.
“Why did you do this to me.” whimpered Celestia.
“You wanted to know what was going on so I showed you. I gave you the chance to stay out of the know but you refused to, ignorance is bliss after all. But mostly I wanted to show you that your once grand rule has been killed in replace of my world. I wanted to show you that Harmony is flawed. But most of all I wanted to see you lose all hope for my greater amusement. You could have stayed in this little dungeon and not know anything but the pony princess must always know of her kingdom.” said Legion in his still calm voice but his voice had a hint of insanity and great joy.
“Then why did you keep me alive.” whimpered Celestia again.
“Why? I’ll tell you why. I want you to feel anger that I caused this to happen. I want you to feel sadness that your kingdom has gone to hell. I want you to feel the burden that you couldn’t help change this and do anything at all. I want you to think about how much you failed your subjects. But most of all, I want you to be alive so that you can be a mentally broken waste of space and that you can forever know that your kingdom and harmony is dead. That I think is a fate worse than death for you.” replied Legion in an angry voice.
As Legion started towards the door he turned around and said one last thing.
“Before I leave I have one last thing to do and say.” with that Legion brought the lifeless husk of Twilight Sparkle.
“I just know that it gets lonely in here so why not have a guest that can spend time with you when I’m not around and what better pony to spend time with you other than your personal pupil.” said Legion.
Celestia would be furious right now but she just didn’t care anymore.
“Now if you excuse me, I have some energy to steal from your precious ponies and misery and death to watch." Legion said with a laugh. Legion thought for awhile. "You know what, after this why don’t I go invade everywhere else in this world. Equestria is just a country after all and why should I just be regulated into destroying just one country on this pathetic world? What great fun it will be, a pity that you won’t get to experience It.” with that Legion left the dungeon with the distorted laughter he was emitting echoing through the dungeon, leaving Celestia alone with her dead departed student.
Celestia should be angry right now. Celestia should be sad right now. Celestia should be trying to plot a convoluted plan right now but she hasn’t and probably never will.
Because finally for the first time in her life.
Celestia felt hopeless.
Bad Future. Game Over. The End.
Author's notes: This is the optional happier ending. This is for people who aren't a fan of downer endings and much prefer happier endings. While in my head this story ends with the bad future ending, I can make an exception because there is no canon within fanfiction. Enough with my rambling and on to the story
Because finally for the first time in her life.
Celestia felt hopeless.
SMASH!
Celestia jumped out of her bed at the sudden loud sound of a vase falling and breaking. After getting back on her hooves she noticed a few things. For one she wasn’t in a dungeon and was in her sleeping quarters and completely powerless. Interested she went and looked out the window closest to her. When she looked outside she saw a beautiful sight.
Instead of a bleak and desolate dark world, she saw lush forest and beautiful landscape. Lights were on in the distance signifying that some activity was still had in the much larger cities. It was night so there weren’t many ponies around. When taking in these sights she realised how beautiful the night was. The stars were bright, the moon and moon light were glorious to look at, and with no activity it seemed peaceful and quiet.
“Luna sure does know how to make the night glorious.” Celestia said to no one in particular. Celestia started to ponder on what just happened.
Everything seems to still be intact and peaceful. I must have been having a horrible nightmare. Even though everything seems to be in order I still have a nagging fear. That nightmare just seemed so real. Maybe I should go check around.
With that Celestia left her room to go and explore the castle to see if everything was right. She explored the majority of the castle, making sure she was quiet and not disturb or alert anypony or any guards. Everything seemed to be normal.
I still worry. The elements and their bearers were in this nightmare, same with Luna, Cadence, and Shining Armor. I want to see if they are okay.
With that she started to go towards Luna’s room. As she slowly opened the door, making sure she didn’t disturb Luna from what she was doing. This was her problem and job, not Luna’s. As she peaked in she saw Luna just sitting there working on some papers (most likely had something to do with taxes and the economy since she was more inclined to do so).
As she was done checking on Luna she started to search for Cadence and Shining Armor. When she found the place they were sleeping making sure to not wake them up, what she saw was truly beautiful. She saw them sleeping with each other. Peace and happiness on their mind and nothing else. No doubt, no regret, no misery, no fear, just pure happiness and peace.
They make such a cute couple. Too bad I can’t be in such a peaceful state. Worry is the only thing coursing through my head at the moment but I must go on.
After checking on the castle and the inhabitants she started to leave the castle to check on her fair kingdom but most importantly she had to check on the bearers of the elements of harmony. She left the castle as quietly as she could, making sure to not alert any guards about her leave.
As she left she got a closer inspection of the outside world. There were no ponies running in fear, no shadowy creatures running as if they were hunting for ponies, no hellish landscape, no wastelands, just peace and beauty. Celestia just flew by and admired the beauty that was Equestria.
As Celestia made her towards Ponyville (which was a short flight away) there was nothing out of the ordinary (at least as ordinary as Ponyville can get). She had to pay a visit to the bearers of the elements of harmony to ensure the safety of not only them specifically but for the safety of Equestria.
First off she was going to visit the locations that were not specifically in the town. First of all she went to check up on Applejack. When she arrived at Sweet Apple Acres she looked for Applejack, making sure not to disturb anyone. As she found Applejack in her room she looked through the window. Applejack was in a deep comfortable slumber.
Must be tired from all the hard work she does. Celestia thought.
Next on her list was Rainbow Dash. She went around searching the air for a cloud house (kind of hard to miss). As she spotted it she moved in. What she saw was Rainbow Dash sleeping peacefully.
Sleeping like usual I see. Makes sense that she would be asleep so often. Having to do all those tricks and use a lot of energy.
As she left, Celestia started to head toward the outskirts of Ponyville she located a bunch of animals sleeping peacefully. As she headed towards the small cottage she spotted she saw Fluttershy sleeping.
I don’t know how she can sleep around all these animals. No matter. I must continue on.
With that finished she headed towards the town. Ponyville was very quiet at night (something that she wished Canterlot would be like) unlike the major cities that always seemed to never stop working. When she was exploring to find the other three she found that Pinkie Pie and Rarity weren’t asleep and seemed to be working.
They must have busy jobs perhaps. I bet it’s not as demanding as ruling a kingdom but it can be close if they are forced to work late nights.
With that she was going to look up on the most important of all, Twilight Sparkle, the leader of the group, the most powerful of the elements, and most importantly her personal pupil. Twilight was the closest thing that Celestia had to a child. She raised her for the most part and if anything were to happen to her, Celestia would suffer greatly. As she went towards the library (again making sure that she didn’t wake or disturb anypony and alert them of her presence) she saw Twilight just lying there with a bunch of books scattered. She looked like she passed out a while ago.
Just like old times. Trying to study all night and not being able to keep yourself up. I always found that adorable. Celestia thought. There was a lot of thinking going on at this point.
Happy that no one was hurt or suffering in an odd way that would indicate that something was wrong, Celestia decided that her duty was done and flew back towards Canterlot quickly so that no one became suspicious and alerted the guards of her “disappearance”. Celestia didn’t really like that the guards were very over protective for the Princesses (they were gods for goodness sakes) but Celestia would never think of getting rid of them due to tradition and being able to take care of smaller threats competently.
As Celestia arrived and snuck into her room she started to ponder a few things. Why would she have a dream that everything and everypony that she holds dear to her heart burning and dying around her? What could have triggered this? What nightmare would be malevolent enough to feed on her deepest fears? So many questions that were never answered and probably never will be answered. No matter, what happened is done now, the world is at peace, harmony is still intact, and everything she holds dear to her heart is alive and well.
With all of this behind Celestia, she felt happy. Everything is going to be alright. Celestia went to her bed and prepared to go into a deep slumber. Before she lost consciousness and went into the world of slumber, she heard something.
“Maybe someday My Dear, maybe someday….” whispered a familiar calm voice.
The End?
