Unthinkable

To the loyal subjects of Equestria:

As far as I’ve seen, the preparations for this year’s Summer Sun Celebration have been outstanding. Better than all the past years combined! Unfortunately, I write to you all about a depressing matter. Most of you have noticed the sun getting progressively hotter, beyond normal temperatures. I received some information about the sun from a trustworthy source. Apparently, there is some magnetic field on the sun that collects heat rays that shoot out into the atmosphere. This is a solar flare and it can have harmful effects. Not only does this force wipe out electricity, it can destroy a civilization if the range gets close with radiation and heat. This is the year that event occurs. As a leader, I will try my best to resolve the problem. This dilemma is too dire for me to be disturbed from my planning, so I will rarely be in the public eye. I advise everypony to disregard the celebration and spend time with the ones that matter most.

Respectfully yours,

Princess Celestia

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The letter slowly drops to the floor beside her bed. Twilight’s head laid on the pillow, completely speechless. Too many thoughts combated in her mind to speak aloud. How’s and Why’s colliding together, eventually making her feel sick. Silence was the only necessary option.

After what felt like an eternity, she gathered enough strength to raise her head and breath a little better. Laying directly on her eyes made her vision a little blurry, so she looked around trying to focus her eyes on objects. Finally, her sight returned but what she saw gave her heart-wrenching feelings.

It was a picture of her and her friends, smiling in front of her shiny, new castle. They’ve come such a long way. Twilight remembers when she thought making friends seemed like a waste of time and studying was more important. Her friends have been with her through thin and thick. All the great memories they’ve made and the adventures they’ve been on. To the point where she became the Princess of Friendship.

Her emotions were getting the best of her. “In a world where there is endless magic and spells for bad situations, how could something like this happen? It doesn‘t make sense.”, Twilight wondered, “ I don’t want it to end…not like this.”

She sighed, “There are so many grand memories that I’ve had being here: Meeting my very best friends, defeating numerous villains, traveling to another world, and…discovering Flash.” She blushed a bit. “Maybe since the world is ending, I should tell him how I feel. Wouldn’t matter if he said no.”

She looked back at the picture but another object flashed in her eyes. She looked down and rubbed her eyes, trying to recover. Hopping off the bed, she walked closer to her nightstand and saw the crown. At this point, she couldn’t hold anything back. A seemingly endless stream of tears flowed from her face.

“Why in Celestia’s name was I chosen to be a leader of anything?”, her body shook and she sobbed, “ I-I don’t have any solutions. I mean, I can’t even fight Chrysalis without having my powers weakened. What kind of princess am I?!”

She let her body fall to the ground as she cried in agony. “I’m just…completely worthless. I‘m an alicorn. I‘m suppose to be immortal! But… I don‘t want to see all my friends d-die before I do. That is not my wish.”

Sadness quickly turned to rage. “Why do I have wings?! I don’t deserve ANY of this if I can‘t think of one DAMN solution!”

Grabbing the nearest object, her crown, she screamed and threw it across the room, letting it hit the wall and causing some paint to chip off. Upon realizing her outburst, she went over to it and picked it up. She examined it carefully for scratches and dents.

Nothing.

She placed the crown on her head and turned around to look in the mirror. She sighed, “Maybe…I’m overreacting. This isn‘t the time for a solo pity party.”

Looking past her face in the mirror, behind her, the curtains of the window were slightly ajar. She spotted a building that loomed high over Ponyville: Her castle. Suddenly, all the memories of her best moments recollected in her mind. Wiping the remaining tears from her face, she gave a small smile.

“Alright. Enough moping around. If I want to save this world from destruction, I need to think of something.” she said. “ I care about my friends way too much to let this kind of tragedy take place. After all they’ve done for me, the least I can do is try.”

Feeling somewhat confident, she opened a drawer and grabbed some parchment, a quill, and ink. She started writing down as many combination spells as she could think of. “ By doing basic magic alchemy, combining certain spells may help to make the magic stronger with little effort.”

Then she wondered, “What do my friends think of this scenario? Hope they’re doing alright. Not only am I doing this for Equestria, I‘m doing it for them.” She smiled and continued to write. Maybe it will all work out.

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“WAAAAHHH!” Fluttershy was hysterical. No words or sentences were coming out properly. Only shouts of sadness and pure heartache were all that she could muster. The shouting almost seemed unnatural as the whole place shook from end to end. All the animals were covering their ears and hiding in corners, trying to figure out what their caregiver was so distraught over. She was three tissues boxes down and there was no sign of her stopping soon.

A brave squirrel came out from his hiding place and went over to her sofa. One of her hooves hung over the side and the squirrel lovingly nudged it, trying to make her feel better. She slowly opened her eyes and saw him sitting there. Without thinking, she swiped him up and held on to him tightly, crying even harder.

“Oh, Almond!”, she struggled to say, “I-I can’t believe this to be true.” He tried to get away but it was too late. She accidentally blew her nose into his fur and continued to cry.

“Why would this happen? Out of all the bad things that appear in Equestria, why must it be an unstoppable force!” At this point, the squirrel gave up trying and stayed there pissed off as she proceeded to bawl her eyes out.

Angel bunny had enough. He made his way over to her, clenching his paws, and stopping the ground with every step. He hopped onto the sofa and stood on her chest. Fluttershy felt the fuzzy bunny on her and opened her eyes once more.

“Angel…Angel! Don’t be scared. I’ll promise to-” she was abruptly cut off when a strong force slapped her across the face. It caused her to drop the squirrel as it scurried back to his hideout, leaving her in a state of shock.

She lifted her hoof and rubbed her check, realizing what Angel did. “Listen here, Angel! For the millionth time, don’t ever do that to me again! You know it’s not nice to hit other ponies.” she explained to him, angrily.

Angel gave no facial remorse towards her.

“Answer me, mister!” she yelled. He pointed his paw in the direction of the wall where a picture frame hung proudly. It was the same picture that Twilight had in her room. Fluttershy soon calmed herself and finally understood. A new set of tears were arising and luckily, they were full of joy.

“I get it now.”, she started, “ I’m acting like such a scaredy pony. Angel, it is appropriate to get out your feelings.” Angel lowered his ears in annoyance. “But, it’s not solving any problems with me crying over them. I should be brave, like Rainbow Dash. She’s always been there for me, as well as my other friends.” Angel folded his arms, smiled, and nodded in agreement. “I know now what I must do. I have to face the facts of reality and be brave...” , She smiled as tears ran down her cheeks, still staring at the picture. “ For my friends.” Angel sighed with relief, knowing things would be okay, for now.

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Pinkie sat there with the letter close to her face. Her eyes darting left and right, intensely reading the words before her. This act was not for clarification, but to find a loophole or some misjudgment in writing.

Sadly, there was none to be found.

Her head hung, ears lowered, and hair slightly deflated. “Whatever I said at the spa, I didn‘t mean for it to come true.” she said in a solemn, yet serious voice. Her voice didn’t have the same high-pitched tone like normal.

Looking around her room, she saw all of her party supplies: balloons, streamers, confetti, and her party cannon. Tears formed in her eyes as she reminisced about all her past parties. She couldn’t come to terms with what was going on.

“ Well, what if I can throw a party in the afterlife?”, she questioned while wearing a fake smile, “ It could be a ‘Welcome to the Other Side’ party and all my friends would be there”.

A failed attempt at cheering herself up. Her smile quickly faded and thought, “No. That’s impossible. Nopony, not even Twilight, knows what’s on the other side.”

She got up slowly and made her way over to the balloons to deflate them. Suddenly, a sharp pain struck her right hoof. “OUCH!”, she yelped, stepping back. Lifting her hoof, she revealed some darts she left from her last lawn darts game with Applejack. She made up her mind, grabbed the darts, and walked as far away from the balloons as possible. One by one, she threw the darts and popped them with every sentence she spoke.

“This is more efficient then popping them manually. I just can’t believe any of this is real. What am I suppose to do? The cake twins - they may never grow up?! My friends - they had more than enough problems going on and now this. I wish this was a big, scary monster destroying Ponyville. At least, I’d know that the problem would be solvable. I won‘t be able to have parties for anypony anymore ”.

She sighed and accidentally threw a dart too hard, making it hit something on the top shelf of her dresser. The object quickly smashed onto the ground. Pinkie ran over to inspect the damage. It was a framed photo, broken but recognizable: Her friends standing outside Twilight’s castle. Pinkie eyes were quickly blinded by tears.

“For all my life, I just wanted to make ponies smile and to party. Now, I won’t be able to. I’ve..let them down.” She continued to sobbed..until a scaly texture rubbed against her pink fur. She looked and saw her gator friend trying to comfort her.

“Gummy, I’m sorry.”, She wiped some tears off her face, “ I was getting deep into thought. Something, I rarely do.” He still looked at her and blinked out of sync. “I know. Tears won’t solve this mess but what can I do?” She picked him up and stared directly into his eyes. Then, she realized it.

“It’s obvious. I should throw a ‘Farewell to the World’ party. If this is going to be my last party, might as well go out with a bang!” she exclaimed, happily. She just understood her poor word choice. “ Um, hopefully that won’t happen during the party.”

With a genuine smile on her face, she skipped out the door in search of more balloons.

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Mascara and tears ran down Rarity’s face as she laid on her fainting couch. The letter covered her eyes, so no pony could see her in such an un-ladylike manner. After Sweetie Belle heard the news, she ran off to the Crusaders’ Clubhouse to join her friends. She was left alone to wallow. She quietly cried into her purple velvet robe, leaving behind stains.

“This is simply awful!”, she cried, “ Why couldn’t this have been some dreadful thunderstorm to mess my mane up or a swarm of Parasprites to shread my new line of clothing?”

After a while, she decided to walk around her bedroom and think to herself. “Never in a thousand years has an issue such as this ever come about. I don’t believe anypony is prepared and what’s worst, I’ve never made a Fashion Bucket List. All the glamorous couture that shall never see the light.” She could feel tears in her eyes once more. “I won’t be able to pick up another piece of fabric ever again!”.

She yelled and banger her head against the wall, causing something to fall on her nightstand, next to the bed. She looked and lifted the rectangular wooden frame with her magic. It was the same picture her friends had in their homes. Rarity sniffed, “The most tragic part of all of this is not being able to make creations for my best friends.” She let her tears flow again as she hugged the picture. She had not felt this terrible in years.

Opalescence stretched and yawned on her bed after taking a good cat nap. She then noticed her owner next to her, looking rather dismayed. Something was obviously amiss, so she lovingly rubbed her face against Rarity’s.

“Opal, dear. My apologizes for waking you.” she kissed her head and Opal purred in response. “Everything has been so difficult lately. A world-ending catastrophe is hard to imagine but I wish I could do something.”

Opal meowed. Rarity thought for a moment. “Maybe I should write some apology letters to the ponies I made feel bad back in school. Wait-No, I can’t. I don’t even know where they could be at this point.” Opal rolled her eyes, hopped off the bed, and walked over to the pony-shaped mannequin. Rarity was still unaware. “Perhaps, I could tell each one of my friends how much they mean to me and give them a gift of friendship.”

Her thoughts were interrupted by Opal’s loud growl. “What’s wrong, Opal?” She turned her head in the direction of the growl and noticed her standing in front of her mannequin. Rarity sat there a while and finally realized what she could do.

She gasped, “IDEAAAA! It makes perfect sense now!” Rarity ran to her designer desk and grabbed her sketchpad and pencils. “I will design a line of clothing for everypony to wear during these apocalyptic times and make them heat resistant. It must go with the theme of the disaster and I shall call it: Fire Power! I will create special ones for my friends and they’ll be fabulous, daring, and bold!” She giggled happily as she began to scribble down her vision of designs on paper.

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Rainbow Dash could not sit still. Anxiousness to control of her as she continued whiz around her house in pure confusion.

“This is impossible.”, she stated. “It’s madness! It can’t end? There are so many epic things I haven’t gotten a chance to do!” She started to run out of energy and fell onto her bed. She sighed heavily, “There are so many monsters that I haven’t fought yet, so many races I haven’t won, and so many adventures I’m missing out on.”

For the first time, she actually cried a bit as she thought about if she’d ever see her friends or Tank again once she went to the afterlife. Being loyal to her friends meant everything. What’s the point of life if she couldn’t be with friends?

She pondered what ‘life’ would be like after this. Although, thinking that hard gave her a headache and proceeded to lay her head on the pillow. “I think I’m just going to sleep on it.” she yawned. She was almost asleep when she heard an annoying buzz enter the room. She opened her eyes to find Tank hovering above her.

Then, an idea struck her.

“That’s it!“, she grabbed Tank from the air and held him close, “I need to have some last minute adventures with my friends.”, she exclaimed, happily. “Maybe we should all go skydiving or travel around Equestria before doomsday arrives. Maybe even ask Daring Do if I could go on one final adventure with her to defeat her enemies.”

She stopped her train of thought for a moment. “Okay, I think I’m getting ahead of myself.” she realized, “I should just stick with having a fun adventure with my friends. Making memories and being there for them brings me joy, regardless of what’s going on.” Rainbow smiled as she grabbed her favorite Daring Do book off the shelf and got cozy for a long read.

“Hopefully an adventure will come to mind while I read.”

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Applejack thought strongly about the situation while she gathered apples. The harder she thought, the angrier her bucking got.

“Nothin’ ‘bout this situation makes a lick of sense.” she said as apples fell into her baskets. “This world has so much magic that even if the princesses powers are weakened, it should still be fixable. Shouldn‘t be that tough.” AJ shook her head in disappointment. “Been on this here farm for years and I’ve never heard of something called a solar flare.” She bucked the tree a bit harder in frustration. “Times like these were I wish I had some type of magic powers, just so I can fix problems ma’self.”

Her family was always prepared for everything from Parasprites to evil Apple company rivals, but this was different. A seemingly unstoppable force was going to obliterate them all and there seemed like no possible solution. A first in Equestrian history.

“Granny had herself a fit once she found out. Applebloom went runnin’ to her friends, and Big Mac, well, he just cried silently. Poor Applebloom, I feel for her the most because she may never get her cuite mark!“, Her eyes started to water, “There ought to be somethin’ I can do!” AJ wondered. At this point, she was livid. She wasn’t paying attention to how hard she kicked the tree..until a branch landed on her head.

“Dammit!” she yelled, “Now that makes two things I’m mad at.” She got up and brushed the leaves and dirt of her. She aired out her hat that was collecting sweat and placed it back on her head. “Still, from what knowledge I learned from Ponyville’s history, Celestia had a close relationship with ma kin folk. Wonder why she hasn’t called for Granny, or even me?”

She sighed and looked towards the sky. “Guess I’ll never know. Well, Imma go drink some cider to cool off.” She wiped some sweat from her brow and walked into the farmhouse.

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Aside from the Mane 6, the CMC were dealing with their own problems.

“I can’t believe this!” Applebloom exclaimed, “Can’t the end of the world be scheduled for another millennium?” She stomped around angrily, trying to understand the situation but it was hopeless. “Why hasn’t Celestia called on ma family to fix the problem with her. They’ve been ‘round for so long that they should qualify.”

Scootaloo quickly got into Applebloom’s face. “AB, listen. It’s not only about your family. This is about everypony. Celestia is the princess. Let her handle her business. Beside, we have a major problem for our group: We may never get our cutie marks!” she exclaimed.

Applebloom frowned. “Don’t remind me. Being the leader of this group-”

“We’re a team.” Scoots corrected.

Applebloom rolled her eyes. “This, team, needs to discover new, quick solutions to find our special talents.” She quickly noticed someone wasn’t voicing their opinion: Sweetie Belle. She was too busy keeping to herself in a corner, crying.

“Sweetie, are you okay? You’re not talking to us.” Scootaloo asked.

Sweetie Belle shook her head. “H-How can you guys be so calm in such a stressful situation such as this.” she sobbed. Applebloom and Scootaloo walked over to her.

“Truthfully, we ain’t.”, Applebloom admitted, “But we’re tryin’ to think rationally to find a solution-”

“There isn’t a solution!” Sweetie shouted, “This problem is only going to get worse!”

“C’mon. Don’t say that. I’m pretty sure Twilight and her friends have a plan.” Scootaloo assured.

“No! You don’t understand.”, she said, “Applebloom, you may never truly know if it’s your destiny to stay on the apple farm. Scoots, you may never know if being a daredevil is your calling.” Both fillies lowered their ears in sadness.

“As for me, I may never know if I was meant to be a singer.”, she exclaimed, “ I won’t get my happy ending with him wither.” Applebloom’s ears perked up. “Him?”

Sweetie Belle covered her mouth with her hoof. “Nothing, forget I said anything.”

“No, we gotta know. Who is he?” Scootaloo wondered.

Sweetie remained silent.

Applebloom thought for a moment and then she shouted, “Button Mash!”

“Shhhhh! Do you want all of Ponyville to know?” Sweetie said, blushing.

“I’m not one to get into gushy romance but it seems almost obvious you two like each other. Plus, Button can’t keep his eyes off you in class. Which explains why he continues to get C’s on his report card.” Scootaloo said.

“Sure Scoots.”, Appebloom mocked, “Because you doin’ tricks in front of Rumble at recess don’t count as romance.” Scootaloo blushed, but gave a serious face. “Rumble is just a friend, trust me.”

Applebloom turned back to Sweetie Belle. “Now, why don’t you just tell him how ya feel. It is the end of the world after all.”

Sweetie sniffed and let a few tears drop to the floor. “I’m not sure that I’m ready for a possible relationship. I’m only so young.”, she explained, “Plus, you guys are right. I need to apart of this team and figure a way out of this mess with you.”

Scootaloo smiled and held out her hoof. “Cutie Mark Crusaders?”

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle smiled back and said, “ Forever and Always.”

All three cheered and gave a three-way hoof bump.

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Evening arrived in Equestria. The place once filled with happy, lively ponies now lays quiet in a blanket of sorrow and fear. Out of all ponies, nopony was as depressed as Celestia. She quietly sat on her bed, thinking of ways to stop this solar flare from happening, but no plausible answers came about.

“Never in all of Equestrian history has a dilemma this serious occurred.” she said. She put her head in her hooves. “I’ve let my country down. I don’t deserve to be a princess.” She lifted her head to reveal tears on her face. “ I never asked for this.” She banged her hoof on the springbed in heated anger.“I need help“, she thought.

“Guard?!” she called out. The same white unicorn appeared at her door, bowing.

“Yes, Your Highness?” he asked, respectfully.

“Send for Princess Twilight down the hall. It’s an emergency meeting.” she commanded.

The guard nodded and made a swift exit. A few moments later, a knock was heard at her door.

“Enter.” she said.

Twilight appeared before her, wings dropped at her sides, dragging on the ground. “Hello, Celestia.” she said solemnly.

“I hope you know why I called you in.” she asked her.

Twilight shrugged, “Maybe because there’s an earth-shattering disaster looming over us and there are no answers.”

Celestia looked at her, shocked at her former student’s response. “I never thought you would think so negatively about this. I mean, you of all ponies could have the least bit of notion to fixing-”

“I tried, okay! I spent a solid four hours trying to come up and perform magical combo spells to fix it but I couldn’t.” Twilight started to cry. “My element is magic, yet I can’t even make a spell to solve this hellish occurrence. I even finished one of Starswirl‘s spells, for pony‘s sake!”

Celestia sighed. “I’m sorry, Twilight. It’s just that..” Celestia paused a moment, biting her lip but continued. “I’m out of ideas as well. I just wanted a second opinion on what I could do. Wow, some princess I am, huh?”, she admitted as she de-crowned herself, “Luna should’ve killed me off a long time ago.“

Twilight got out of her state of pity and levitated her crown back on Celestia’s head. “Don’t ever say that! At least you tried something.” she said, smiling. Celestia smiled back.

“If only there was a way to make a shift in the universe to stop the flare from arriving early. It would take a real talent to do a task such as that.” Twilight wondered.

Celestia nodded in agreement and a sudden smile appeared on her face.

Twilight took notice and stared at her in confusion. “Um, Celestia? You alright?”

She nodded. “Luckily, I know just the pony who can help.”