Paradise at the End of the World

Her fuzzy muzzle tickled pleasantly from the rays of light piercing through the hollow sky. It hadn’t been this warm in a very long time. Blinking, she pivoted around, searching her field of vision for a rainbow colored blur in one place or another.

Fwoosh! Twilight barely had time to close her eyes before she was pushed under the water. Losing oxygen swiftly, she called upon her magic, the purple glow appearing darker than normal under the surface. Puffing and giggling equally, she shot upwards as soon as the weight was lifted off her back. Walking forward as fast as the waist-high water allowed, she attempted catch Dash while she was still recovering, but of course the pegasus was faster, shooting into the air and out of sight like a rainbow colored arrow. Only a few seconds later, Twilight could feel two hooves wrapping around her from behind, the familiar feeling of wet feathers sending a pleasant chill down her spine.

Remaining in this position, both of them took a moment to catch their breaths. Twilight’s hooves dug deeper into the sand as some of Rainbow’s weight was added to her own, her skin feeling nice and warm, with not a single grain of salt clinging to her body.

“Hey, Twilight?” Dash said after a while. “Are you hungry?”

“A little bit. Why?”

“I think I’ve spotted an apple tree earlier. Wanna check it out?”

“Mmh-hm.”

Like on command, Dash loosened her grip around Twilight’s waist and walked in front of her, allowing Twilight to climb onto her back.

“I’m not sure which direction it was in,” Rainbow said as she ascended higher, pivoting around in mid air. “But I’ll find it, just give me a moment.” She began to fly in circles. Twilight cast a look downwards; the glistening surface was so calm that she could still see zonular waves expanding from where they’d been playing around in the water.

“Aha!” Rainbow changed her direction in mid air, making a beeline for a spot leading away from the sun, whose rays were so hot through the cloudless sky that Twilight could almost feel how they dried the remaining liquid out of her fur.

A few seconds into their dive, Twilight’s eyes caught up with Rainbow’s, and not long after, they arrived at what had to be the largest tree Twilight had ever seen. Its trunk, only underwater with a fraction of its height, was rooted deeply into the sand and whatever rested below. Its leaves stood perfectly still, its twigs almost unnaturally silent. Rainbow came to a gentle halt below the leafy roof, allowing Twilight to pluck two of the apples in her telekinesis.

“Mhhff...” Dash made, her mouth full. “Tastes exactly like the ones AJ used to have on her farm.”

“Yeah.” Twilight swallowed a bite, the delicious juice a welcoming change after the admittedly decent amounts of water she had swallowed earlier. “Just like her best ones... he must like her.”

“Can you give me another one? Thanks.” Dash threw the half eaten core into the water. “They’re really friggin’ delicious. Wanna stay here for a while?”

“Yeah.” Dash descended, allowing Twilight to slid off her back. “It’s beautiful.” She walked forward until she arrived at the trunk, sitting down amidst its roots, with only the tip of her hooves still touching the water.

“Come. Come,” she said, giggling. “I can get you more apples from here.”

“Oh, alright.” Dash ascended a feet, as always preferring to fly even for such short distances. With a playful smug, she dropped herself down next to Twilight, plucking the apple Twilight held ready for her mouth-first.

“Mhhhffhkns.” She took a bite, catching the remaining fruit in her hooves, then snuggled herself affectionately against Twilight’s shoulder. “Yeah, this is beautiful.”

“Twilight?”

“...”

“Twi?” Dash giggled, but there was a certain urgency to the sound. “Twi, wake up!”

“Uh... huh?”

“The slime’s coming. I think we gotta take some of those apples while they’re still edible.”

“Guh... ... right.” Twilight blinked, adjusting her eyes to the outside brightness. “Got it.” She lit her horn, plucking several dozen apples off the tree in the span of a few seconds, floating them into the bag Rainbow held ready. At the edge of her vision, a blanket of black nothingness crept forward, turning everything behind it into a barren, inanimate wasteland. The water it passed didn’t dissipate immediately, but instead sunk into the pale soil which was no longer able to hold it.

“I think these are enough.”

Twilight shook her head. “Leave it open. It’ll be a while until we find something else this good. And we got at least another minute before they’re in danger.”

“Well, alright.” Rainbow did as she was told, all the while nervously eyeing the gradually approaching ‘slime’. Twilight plucked apples until the bag was full to the brim, then took another dozen or so, floating them beside her.

“You can carry this much, right?” Twilight threw a nervous glance behind her, hastily tying up the bag with a piece of rope Rainbow had pulled from under her wing. “It’s moving pretty fast. We should get out of here.”

“I think so. I’ve gotten used to carrying heavy stuff.”

Twilight nodded, tying the other end of the rope around Rainbow’s waist, before climbing onto her back once more. At this point, the slime had reached the other end of the tree, its leaves decaying swiftly in the all-devouring blackness.

“This is pretty dang heavy.” Rainbow ached, nonetheless ascending with both the bag and Twilight, heading in a direction perpendicular to the wall of decay.

“I could take some of them out. But I think I can also make it easier for you.” Dropping the apples she’d been levitating, Twilight instead focused her telekinesis onto the bag, giving it a hefty lift. “Better?”

“Much.” Rainbow sighed in relief, the rhythm of her wing beats normalizing. “If you can keep this up, I should be able to take us all the way.”

“I think this is too much. Can you also take a bit more?”

“A bit.”

Twilight carefully decreased the magic taking weight off the bag, until it hit an amount she thought herself able to sustain for a while. Sighing in relief, she leaned her head lower, planting a loving kiss on her marefriend’s neck.

Rainbow flew for almost half an hour over an unchanging landscape, a never-ending beach, occasionally dotted with plants or similar oddities, leaving the darkness so far behind her that it didn’t even enter sight range during their only break. Eventually, the ground ascended above water level, changing from a beach under water to simply a beach.

“We’ve been out pretty far,” Rainbow murmured, sweating heavily.

“Yeah.” Twilight sighed. “I was hoping to find something. Well... the apples aren’t so bad.”

A few minutes later, the landscape abruptly changed below them into a stripe of craggy rock, lasting a good three dozen yards until being taken over by an idyllic meadow, with many bigger plants sprinkled across at random, followed by a ten yard thick stripe of an almost dried out swamp. At its end was a massive wall of rock, reaching vertically upwards for the better part of a mile. From it, countless rocks of different sizes had fallen into the swamp, some of them buried yards deep into the soft soil.

At this point, Dash came to a landing, a safe distance away from the gargantuan wall. Twilight lit her horn, channeling a stream of magic that increased in intensity for a few seconds, until, with a flash of purple light, they re-appeared on the other side. The wall itself bore a similar sight here, but below them, the landscape stretched on in a wide expansion of grassy soil, occasionally dotted with flowers, small hills, and tents or similar dwellings. It was here that they first laid eyes on other equine creatures, most of them ponies, others mules, rams, and griffins.

“Alright,” Twilight said, loosening her grip around Dash’s neck. “I think this is as good as any place to share our food.”

Dash only gave a nod, dropping herself onto the grass and panting heavily.

“Hey everyone!” Twilight called, untying the rope around the bag. “If you’re hungry, we brought a ton of apples.”

At once, a cluster of equines formed around them, some of which faces Twilight recognized. “No problem,” she answered, giggling, in response to the many ‘thank you’s she received as she began to hoof out apples freely. “Can you take it from here?”

“Uh, sure.” Dash heaved herself up from where she’d been lying, unbothered by the many creatures walking around her. They exchanged a short kiss, then Twilight headed further into the heart of the improvised village.

The density of villagers increased even more here, until soon, a familiar shape entered her vision in the distance. Soon, she’d be back home, and-

“Hey, Twilight!”

“Sweetie Belle?” Twilight turned her head. “Hey there.”

“I found this!”

Twilight squinted, curiously leaning forward to examine the article in question. It appeared to be a brush, and a beautiful one at that. Its shaft was artistically decorated, and though Twilight had no idea what it was for, it undoubtedly looked precious.

“Thanks,” she said, taking the thing out of Sweetie’s grasp. “It looks valuable. I’ll show it to the princess. Chances are it’ll make some painter really happy.”

Sweetie Belle nodded. “Greet Rarity from me,” she said, walking off with a smile. Not having a bag, Twilight simply floated the brush beside her as she headed towards the center of the village.

There, untouched by the massive change the rest of the world had gone through, stood her old library, looking almost exactly like it always had. Stationed around it was a collection of the only other solid structures she had yet encountered. The largest of them, a tall, stony building with the Equestrian flag situated at its top, was built to form a halo around the tree’s backside.

About twenty feet before the entrance, the landscape made its final shift. Here, the last remains of the old Equestria began, which was little more than a grassy surface above firm soil forming a circle around the tree. If any other Ponyvillean buildings had once stood within that radius, none of them were there anymore. Smiling weakly, Twilight walked around the tree and towards the large building behind it.

Entering through a door at its side, she was greeted by the sight of what appeared to be a mixture between a headquarters, a storage room, and a hospital. A large number of beds were symmetrically distributed across the room, many of them covered from the outside by a system of lowerable fabric serving as a sort of curtain. At various points along the wall stood chests or large boxes holding a wide variety of items.

Due to the shape of the structure, Twilight wasn’t able to see the interior’s other end. Following a walkway parallel to the building’s walls, the rest of it gradually became visible. Not far past its centerpoint, where decorated walls separated a square section from the rest of building, Twilight found the pony she had been looking for, which was none other than Princess Celestia herself, standing in front of one of the many beds, her horn lit up in the process of casting an unknown spell. Halting in her walk, Twilight patiently waited for her to be finish before she stepped closer.

“Ah, my dear student.” Celestia turned around as Twilight approached. “How was your trip?”

“Beautiful.” Twilight bowed her head respectfully. “We’ve been out pretty far, but didn’t find anything except for some food. Though, Rarity’s sister has just given me this.” She summoned the brush, showing it to Celestia.

“It appears to be a special tool used for painting,” Celestia said, “but I’m afraid I can’t identify it further. My sister, however, has once shown an interest in particular subject. You should show it to her. Anything else?”

“Yeah.” Twilight took the brush back, keeping it beside her. “The food we brought was from an enormous apple tree out there on the beach. I’m not an expert on apples, but the ones from Sweet Apple Acres had a very special kind of flavor which I’ve never tasted anywhere else, and these taste exactly the same. I think he must like Applejack and her old farm.”

“He appears to be fond of most of you six,” Celestia remarked. “That is an interesting discovery. Anything else?”

“No, I guess I’ll show this to Luna.”

“Very well. Oh, and Twilight?”

“Yeah?”

“Are there still some of the apples left, by chance? It has been a while since I was able to taste fresh fruit.”

“I’m sure Rainbow has put a few aside. I’ll remind her to drop by and give you some. We should save a few for Applejack, too.”

Smiling to herself, Twilight turned around and approached the square section in the building’s center, teleporting inside once she got close.

“Twilight Sparkle.” Luna turned around from the opposite end of the room as soon as Twilight appeared. “You have found a rare paint brush?”

“Rarity’s sister found it,” Twilight said automatically. While Luna was examining it, Twilight couldn’t resist taking a peek behind her, where a strange magical device was projecting a pony-sized image at the back wall. “What’s wrong with him?”

“He appears to be a bit ill,” Luna answered. “Though the decay has stopped spreading remarkably fast. This here...” She turned the brush around in her grip, taking a close look at its hairs. “I have seen it before. Many years ago, I don’t recall the exact circumstances. But this... it is called a ‘Narklon Brush,’ a special tool to decorate on porcelain. I do believe not more than a few dozen of these used to exist in our kingdom. Tia and I have never seen him show interest in painting. I’m afraid the occurrence of tools such as this remains a mystery.” Luna turned the article around a few more times before putting it on a shelf to her left. “If you don’t mind, Twilight, I shall keep it myself. It is too specific for you to find such an artist.”

“Sure. So, uh, if I’m not needed anymore, may I go?”

“You may.”

Twilight nodded, taking a few steps forward before casting a teleportation spell ahead which brought her right in front of the library’s backside. A smile crept onto her face as she took the familiar path around the building. It was good to be home, even if she hadn’t been gone for long. The library had always occupied a very special place in her heart.

Upon opening the door, Twilight could see Fluttershy standing at one of the new desks in the back half of the room, writing on a piece of parchment. Rather than walking, Twilight cast another spell, bringing her directly beside the pegasus.

“Are you okay?” she asked in a low voice.

Fluttershy turned her head. The sadness was engraved deep into her features, and dark rings under her eyes bore witness of her lack of sleep.

“No.”

Twilight stepped forward, gently taking her friend into a caring embrace. After a while, Fluttershy let out a sob, barely audible in the dead silent room, then she gradually began to cry, a quiet, fragile act. A minute passed, then two minutes, and then five, but Twilight made no attempt to draw back.

“Thanks,” Fluttershy said simply, pulling back at last. “Rarity’s upstairs.”

“You’ve been writing protocol?”

Fluttershy nodded.

“Sweetie Belle found some kind of special brush to paint on porcelain. Can you add that?”

Fluttershy nodded again, taking the quill back into her mouth. “Where?”

“I forgot to ask,” Twilight muttered, mentally scolding herself for it. “I’ll make a note to ask when I see her next time. Just leave it blank for now.”

“Okay.”

Twilight retreated silently, leaving Fluttershy to her calmness and peace, and ascended upstairs. When she rounded the final corner, she could see Rarity kneeling on her bed, a pen floating beside her. Her mane was arranged not in its former eloquent hairstyle, but in a simple ponytail.

“Are you drawing?”

Rarity turned her head. “Evening, dear.” She sighed, looking back at the spot in front of her, where Twilight could now see a writing pad. “I suppose I am, aren’t I? One must find new ways to spend her time these days. Though I’m not very good at it, I’m afraid.”

“Let me see.” Twilight crawled on the bed beside Rarity, taking a look at what she was working on. The image showed an unfinished sketch of a familiar looking building in a familiar looking town, a sight shortly accompanied by a piercing stitch of nostalgia.

“It was such a nice place,” Twilight said after a while. “How did you even get it?”

“I was fortunate. My parents were rather prosperous.” Rarity gave a sad sigh. “When I was told I could move in there, it was one of the happiest days of my life.”

“It’s not that bad...” Twilight stocked. “Mind if I stay for a while?”

“No, that’s quite alright.”