The Legend of Fauna

        “How many years has it been? Since that day, I mean.” Said an elderly Angel from his rocking chair. His dulled eyes stared blankly at the ashen dusty skies just above the blackened horizon.

        “Years huh? I can't remember the last time we counted those. Heh, I wouldn't know. If I had to guess, maybe... forty? Looking at your decrepit ass, that's probably right.” Said a violet winged woman from a window inside the steel box the two called their home. She looked years younger than the Angel, guessing by her response to him almost thirty years younger, possibly in her twenties. He scowled at her, and she only smiled in reply.

        “Well, if nothing ever does change, it's that sharp tongue of yours. Forty years huh? Forty years since the world ended.” He said, continuing to slowly rock and watch as the skies churned their maelstrom of grays and black. The indigo headed woman moved from her spot at the window and exited the shoddily constructed door of their scrap metal box.

        In a violet aura of magic, she levitated a chair to the Angel's side and sat next to him. She propped her feet against a rusted bar that was welded to support beams that stretched from either side of their home's extended roof. To call it an awning would be generous.

        “Yep. It sure has hasn't it? I failed to rise to the challenge that no one else could. And when all was said and done, I was the only one who made it out alive. Of course, you did too, but not because you wanted to.” She said, applying as much honey and lemon juice as she possibly could to her tones, making her speech sound dangerously close to sarcasm.

        “Tell me again, what happened then? How... how did it all come to this? I... I don't remember anymore.” The girl stood up very quickly. With a hand covered in violet magic, she reached for the elderly Angel's face. Before she could, he grabbed her arm with more strength than she remembered him having.

        “What are you?” He pulled her close and hugged her.

        “Twilight... this has to stop. The disease is going to take me soon, please don't try and stop it again.” She began to grind her teeth as she felt the hot sting of liquid beginning to form on skin. “I'm sorry, but I can't be with you forever. So please... in my last moments, just tell me how it came to this?” He pulled back and stared deep into her dark violet irises with his own gray and greens. She couldn't stand to keep looking at those eyes that so earnestly asked for one last request. She looked toward the sky, and released herself from his grip.

        “How did it come to this? Isn't there another story you'd rather hear? Maybe from a time when you were a child, or a time when your parents first met, or...” He took hold of her hand, and forced her teary eyes to meet his again.

        “Please.” He said. She couldn't say no. She pulled her hand away and looked back at the sky. As long as she didn't look at his face, she could tell the story he wanted without breaking down again.

        “It all started with a duel... yes, a duel in that summer of 3016. the last summer this world would ever see...”

        “I was a prodigy, one who grew up under unfortunate circumstances with incredible power that would be locked away a year too late and shown to the world a year too early. Back then, I was a child. I was selfish, lonely, afraid, and unsure. I valued my own power of the lives of others, and after your mother picked me up, I believed I was an unstoppable force all by my own will. But... that wasn't the case.

        Celestia... she thought, no, she knew that I was one day destined to become... this, this timeless creature that takes on the name human, or 'Ascended' as they called us. Those fools. We were given power, only to realize far too late that our power was just a curse with a different context. But at the same time, she knew that my character was... unstable. I hadn't grown up, and she was afraid that I never would on the path that I'd been taking. At the same time, she didn't have the time she needed to have me grow properly. She needed me to grow up in that week, in that month as quickly as possible. So, with no better option, she threw me into a new town with new people that I had to meet and become friends with. A group that I was supposed to make an unbreakable bond with, people that were the very incarnations of our ancestors. Siblings taken out of time.

        Wouldn't that have been nice? Maybe things would have been different then. We first met in that week before everything went wrong. I hated you for no particular reason if nothing but my desire to suppress my own feelings, and you didn't like me because I was the focal point of your parents interest for a good chunk of your teenage life. We got on a train and played a game. My vision of you started to change, and your vision of me slowly started to turn as well.

        That day went on, and we met all of the friends who we'd only know for that week. Good friends. Friends I wish I still had... We didn't all see eye to eye. As a matter of fact, I don't know that we were all ever on the same page, but as far as I could tell, we got along enough. If only I knew better. First we met Applejack. She was strong in her own right, a knight taken out of time, bound by her bloodline to be the symbol of justice to her fellow man. She was the one who was supposed to keep me in line, my dear sister. We found kinship and respect in our duel, and from that day on, we were friends. When I remember her, I remember her integrity. The feeling of trust that came so easily from her. Her honesty, as she was meant to be.

        We came across a little peeping 'dash' next, as it were. I still think it's funny, that we ended up being the last two together. She was the weakest of the five of us when we met, and at the end she was the strongest. She was arrogant and petulant, but after enough beatings from her childhood friend, she got her act together. She did all she could that final day to try and keep her friends alive, even if it did end in failure. Loyal, that's what she was. Even in the face of death, she never gave up on me. Even when I did...

        Oh Rarity. We came across her and your best friend running a shop in that town after a taxing duel with Rainbow darkened the spirits of us all. In an attempt to have her strength known, you had them pitted against each other in a game to show what she was capable of. As it turned out, she almost killed him by accident. It's a little strange to think that she saved his life that day, only to have it end in her arms only seven days later. I think he loved her, but we couldn't know now. She gave her everything in everything she did. Even when she tried to save my brother from that witch. She was generous, always offering what she could to help any cause. I wish I'd gotten to know her better.

        And then, there was that sister of yours. You two were at each other's throats the instant your presences neared. You may not have cried, but you were in so much pain when you desperately tried to bring her back home. She couldn't let you hurt yourself like that and she earned a power to stop you because of your bond with her. If we all had the bond you two did, then things would be different today. But at the same time, she died in your stead. Had it not been for her, I would have been alone on this wasted planet for these last forty years. She was so kind, always looking to show humanity to those who it was lost to. Kindness to the end, that's what she was, dear Fluttershy.

        Finally, there was Pinkie, the one I actually did manage to make that bond with. Without her even I would be dead now. We met because she wanted to see me. Because she wanted to know who I was. She stole my bag, and I chased red herrings all over town looking for her until we found her where we should have looked first. She never stopped smiling that crazed smile on her face around me. We dueled, and she taught me how to smile. She took that smile to her grave. She believed in me, she had hope for me. Optimism until the end, my dearest Pinkie.

        The days passed and we trained for the final fight, one that we thought we were prepared for, one that we never could have been prepared for. You and I grew close, the other girls began to know one another, and we all became friends. We gained strength, skill, and wisdom, banding together to become teams. Forces to be reckoned with, but against an army, we six were only so many.

        The day arrived, and we believed that a bright tomorrow was waiting for us. But she... she had other plans. She brought her army, and torched the town, burning Ponyville to the ground. Umbra kidnapped her host's son, a boy I knew back in school, and murdered him for the final sacrifice in her ritual before we could stop her. With her powers, her army became corrupted monsters, the very nightmares depicted in her cards. We stood together in a vain attempt to fight her back, bearing our fangs and out souls like they could save us. One by one, we were all taken down. When hope seemed lost, the Harmonians took control of our friend's corpses and attempted to make their sacrifice one again on a greater scale. They too fell, in their efforts, living to see death one last time.

        When all had come to me, it was Andromeda that saved everyone. By offering his soul, he invoked Divinity into my body, giving me over to a god to defeat another. They fought and they fought until finally, Divinity ruled that Umbra had become too powerful. With a final move, he brought you to my side and did what he thought was best. The world became a burial ground for Umbra when he sealed her soul inside it, where it would never see the light of day. But in doing so, he doomed it to end.

        Umbra herself would never be a threat again, but the world was poisoned in the process. Incurable disease shot through the planet like wild fire, taking lives and souls of any living thing on the planet. We called it Apocalypse syndrome. Anyone who wasn't of divine blood would die within a day of contraction, and those with it had their lives cut short. First the country died, then the world did, leaving you, your siblings, your mother, your aunt's family, and me.

        Your brothers and sister died much younger than they ever should have, poor Zeus only making it to twenty five. Since Sombra was killed in the fight with Umbra, and all but you had passed on, Celestia decided it was time to leave this world and become a goddess herself. With all that she had suffered, Divinity took pity on her and accepted her into his realm. Luna was offered the same, but she only asked to be stripped of her immortality so that she might die with her children. Light took his family and escaped to his own dimension. All that remains on this world are you and me now...” When she looked over to her audience, she noticed something strange. Zephraim always rocked when she told her stories. He always loved to watch the sky dance with the ashes of the dead with it's sorrowful melody. But now he was still.

        “Zephraim?” She asked. He didn't respond. He didn't make a sound, he didn't make a move. She went to touch his hand, and when she did, it felt cold. It didn't respond, and it was stiff.

        “Oh please, don't do this to me... You were the last... you were my only... you... you can't just leave me like this!!!” She yelled at the sky, clutching the cold hand in her own. Twilight sank from her chair and began to cry into the corpse's chair. Time felt like it had come to a stop as even the ashen skies stood still for the first time since the apocalypse had began. A warm light started to shine from behind. When she turned to look, she saw something she thought she'd never see again.

        “Celestia? I-is that you?” The girl asked, rubbing at her eyes to make sure that the vision she was seeing was actually there.

        “Come along Twilight. You're the last one left. It's time to start over.” She said. Twilight managed to raise herself to her feet, looking intently at the vision before her. It looked like Celestia, but something wasn't the same.

        “Who are you, really?” She asked the spirit. Celestia gave her the warm motherly smile she'd always known and extended a hand.

        “As I am now, you may call me the goddess of life. But once upon a time, I was known as Celestia, and he was my beloved son. Twilight, this world has come to an end. There is no life left in this universe. Much like a bubble, this place will grow stagnant until all is reverted to nothing when the last star dies. Pop! Just like that. So I have an offer for you. If you join me, we can restart it all. This world you lived in, the one you loved, the one you tried to save, we can start it again.” Twilight began to reach for her hand, but stopped just short.

        “Wait. What if I were to refuse?” She asked, remaining wary of the only other person she'd seen in more than thirty years. Celestia sighed.

        “Then, I suppose I'd have to send you to my sister's dimension. You'd spend the rest of your days there as an abnormal human just like she chose to be. However... if you joined me, you could have a hand in this new world. A place of your own design, a people you could join one day in the event a soul were to reincarnate.” She said nodding to the body in the chair. “You could become a goddess, Twilight.” Twilight looked from Celestia, to the corpse. She gritted her teeth.

        “Okay... but, there's just one thing I want.” She said.

        “Oh? and what might that be my dear?” Celestia asked.

        “I'd like to destroy it. The planet, I mean. If this world is going to die one way or another, I don't want to have any regrets. This rotten place... I want to watch it explode with my own hands.” Celestia laughed and put her hand out once again.

        “Very well. We'll do it together. This hateful ball of corrupted land... let's make it disappear.” The tear stained eyes of the goddess before her told Twilight that the woman who stood before really was the Celestia she knew so many years ago. Without any more hesitation, she took the goddess' hand. The next thing she saw was the from the moon. Her body had changed, and she could feel all the energy flowing into her. With a rage filled cry, she pointed at the dull gray planet in front of the sun and charged as much of the overwhelming energy as she could in front of her hands.

        She released the ball and watched with tear filled eyes as it sailed through space toward the empty planet she once called home. The violet energy crashed into the world, burning a hole deep inside it. Light and heat started to pour out of the corrupted land, breaking apart into pieces, sending waves of percussion through space.

        “Let's go...” She said as she turned away from the scene. Celestia took her hand, and a white portal opened in front of them.

        “My dear, after this we begin anew.”