Chapters Author's Note
This is a story I had in mind since I beat Majora's Mask. The song that plays during your last six hours was always so haunting, always draining the happiness of playing the game right out of me. It's a theme of defeat, a song only reminding you that there is no more time. You cannot win, you can only wait for the end to come. The somber tone and the ringing of the bells just sets up a depressing atmosphere as you watch the moon draw closer to Termina and you hear the final words of all those not willing to flee.
I recommend playing the Final Hours song while reading this or giving it a quick listening too before this story.
I hope you enjoy.
Night of the Final Day
"Well Chime, this is it." Timely Chime said as she sat on the edge of Ponyville Tower. "This is the way the world ends."
Timely Chime sighed as she took another swig of her bottle of whiskey, looking at the now deserted streets of Ponyville. She scanned the vacant streets for any sign of life, but the most she saw was the winds that blew across the town sweeping up dirt and discarded newspapers. She thought back to a time before everyone knew it would all soon be over. She had been Ponyville's bell keeper for nearly 5 years, and spent most of her time relaxing and watching the ponies below going about their business. Some would spend their time wandering the streets, watching the shop vendors go about making a living, while others would relax at the park, hanging out with their friends or kids just having a nice day.
But that hasn't happened for nearly a year. She thought, taking another swig from her bottle. You tell a million ponies the day they are all going to die and the whole place goes bat shit insane.
The news about the imminent end of the planet came as a shock to everypony. Celestia felt that it wasn't right to keep this from the masses and told everyone she could in the final address to the world she would ever make. It was the only time that Chime remembered Celestia breaking down in tears in front of her subjects. After that the world went to hell. Some ponies chose to explore the world, some leaving their families or bringing their families on adventures through foreign lands, trying to make their lives worthwhile. Some just hit the bars and clubs of the world, taking every known vice and pushing them to their limits, just trying to get one final rush, one last great high before it all went to shit. A few even did nothing but spent their time catching up with loved ones and friends long since forgotten, trying to make up for everything that they ever did to wrong another pony.
Most decided to go out on their own terms.
"And here I am, drinking and ringing this stupid bell for the last six hours of my life." She sighed as she polished off her next to last bottle of whiskey and chunked it to the ground below, smiling at the satisfying crack as the glass shattered on the cobblestone below her. "Oh how easy it would be just to dive head first off this thing. A few seconds of falling through the air like learning to fly, then nothing."
She chuckled as her wings helped her off the ground and she stumbled over to the large rope that hung from the ceiling above her, leading to the brazen bell that hung from the highest point in all of Ponyville. "Aww who am I kidding, I couldn't bring myself to do something like that. Besides..."
She said looking down as the watch on her hoof changed from 11:59 pm to 12:00 am.
"...somepony has to ring this bell." She said pulling down on the rope as the clapper struck the mouth of the bell, sending it's low tone through the entire town. "Good morning Ponyville."
Night of the Final Day 6 Hours Remain
Night of the Final Day 6 Hours Remain
Applejack and Apple Bloom walked quietly up the hills that filled the northwestern half of the orchard. Neither of them said a word as they walked between the rows, only stopping momentarily as the sound of the tower bell filled the air, signifying that the end had come.
Applejack looked down at her younger sister as they walked, finding it hard to keep tears from trailing down her cheeks as she thought of how far she had come. Apple Bloom had grown up to be quite the young teenage mare, her own body now nearly the size of Applejack's. She looked at how long her mane had grown and how well toned her bucking legs had become in recent years, never once letting the end of the world come between her and doing what apples do. She looked up to her cutie mark, thinking back to how she spent so long doing all kinds of crazy things to earn it and to how proud she was when she finally did. The only things she couldn't look at was her eyes, sunken in and dark from days and weeks with very little sleep. AJ looked down at the ground as they walked on, only assuming that she didn't look too far off in that department.
It had been quite the shock to her when she heard that the world was ending, and at the time she didn't believe it. Granny had just died and after a few months of hardship without her, the orchard had finally gotten back to the state it once was. Applejack nearly fainted when she learned that all of their hard work didn't mean a thing.
"Applejack, we're here." Apple Bloom said as the two stopped walking.
"Ah know Bloom, ah know this smell of death all too well." She sighed as she looked up to be greeted by four headstones resting at the base of the one zap apple tree that stayed around all the time. She drew in a ragged breath, calming as she felt a reassuring pat on her back from her sister and walked up to the graves.
"Hello Ma....Pa.....Granny.....Big Mac." She barely said as she sat in front of the marble slabs. "Me and Bloom wanted to come say goodbye to ya'll one more time before....before we get to see ya'll again."
She looked over to the two graves on the left of the tree. "Ah wish ya'll could've been here through it all Ma. Ya'll didn't get to watch Bloom grow up into the beautiful young mare that she is, and ah know Granny and Mac are up there reminiscing with you and Pa right now. She's probably going on about her romps with Uncle Orange or about trying to hit on the eldest of the Pie Family, but ah bet she is probably happier than she had been in years.
She sighed and looked over to the freshly tilled earth in front of the only wooden headstone in the row. She lifted herself up and walked to it. "And Mac, ah forgive ya for leaving me and Bloom here on our own today. Ah knew you were havin' trouble facing the inevitable, but aah still wish you would have at least stayed with us....or said goodbye ya big....lovable....stupid dork!"
Applejack's emotions were starting to get the better of her as the streams of tears pouring forth from her eyes dripped silently to the ground. "Damn it you didn't have to do it this way! Ah should never have had to have buried all of mah family like this!" She screamed as she hit her hoof against the ground. "You didn't have to leave me alone...ya shouldn't have..."
She screamed and cried into the pile of soil that covered her brother's resting place. Finding his body in his bed wit slashes down his hooves, the sight of his blood covering her as she tried to wake him up, and seeing the last bit of his smiling face as she covered it in dirt was more than enough to drive her over the edge.
AJ turned to look as she once again felt her sister's hooves on her back. "Applejack, it's alright."
"Bloom....ah'm so sorry...no pony should ever have to go through all this, especially at your age." She said as she whipped the tears from her eyes and took hold of her sister's hoof.
"Sis, there ain't nothin' to be sorry for." She said as she knelt down and pulled her older sister in for a hug, her own tears streaming down her face. "Ah don't care if ya think that it's yer fault for our parents or granny dying, and ah know it isn't your fault that Big Mac just couldn't carry on."
She pulled her head away from her sister's shoulder. "What matters is that yer still here fer me, not what ya think you did or what you think you could have prevented. Ah only care that ah will have the best sister on the planet to be there for me when it all ends."
Applejack stared slack jawed at her sister for a fraction of a second before a sobbing smile overtook her face. "Ah am so proud of you, ya know that. For everything that ya'll have been through, you've come out stronger than most and still fighting like a true Apple." She pulled her sister in for another hug. "Ah want you to know that if Ma and Pa were here, they would be even more proud of you than ah could ever be."
"Ya really think so?"
"Ah know so." She said as the two shared as small laugh before resting in each other's hooves. After a few minutes of restful silence Apple Bloom looked up at her sister. "Hey AJ, can ya tell me what Ma and Pa were like again?"
AJ looked down at her sister and smiled. "Of course ah can, there's always time for that."
5 Hours Remain
5 Hours Remain
As the second ring of the bell filled the air over Ponyville, the large cloud mansion that floated above the city was dark save for the single light in the dining room as Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash sat on opposite ends of a large table, looking over what would be their final meals. For Rainbow, a pile of hay bacon, a large hay burger, two pies and 4 mugs of the hardest cider she could find. For Scootaloo, a salad, a few strips of chicken tofu, a full loaf of banana bread, and her first and last mug of cider ever.
"Wow, Rainbow Dash. This all looks amazing." Scootaloo sighed as she looked over the arrangement of food on the table.
"Yeah, well not many ponies knew I could cook, so that means a lot. Just wish we could be doing this under better circumstances, huh Squirt?" Rainbow said giving a light nervous chuckle, which Scootaloo returned.
"Yeah I guess it's better than anything else I could have been doing. It's not like I have anypony to be spending my final day with." She said as she too a tiny bit of her salad, her obvious sadness causing Dash to sigh. Scootaloo took a quick drink of her cider then slammed it on the table. "I mean it would have been nice if somepony had decided to adopt me before they shut down the orphanage. It would be nice to be dying with something I could call a family."
"Squirt, don't beat yourself up over something like that. I mean look at me and Pinkie and everypony else. Hell look at the friends you spend every day of your life with. Don't you consider them your family?"
"I do Dash, I really do." She said taking another swig of her drink. "I just wish that I could have someone to call my mom or my dad, somepony that just straight out loved me unconditionally like I was their only kid. Just someone that I could cuddle up to without it being awkward as hell you know. But no, I was the foal that no pony wanted."
"Come on you know that isn't true."
"Isn't it?" Scootaloo almost snapped at Rainbow. "I never saw anypony come up to me and ask me if I wanted to go home with them. No pony ever came up to me with a certificate saying I was now part of a family, with ponies I could actively call my parents. It never happened, so why should I believe that anypony would ever want a pony like me?"
"Well I mean just look at you." Rainbow said walking around the table. "Who wouldn't want to adopt a teenage filly who just wants somepony to love her? You are smart, outgoing, funny, and hell you are killer at parties and stuff. Why would any...stupid pony...just ignore you like that."
"That's what I would like to know Dash, I really would. But what does it matter now? The orphanage is closed and we've only got a few more hours to be living anyways. Might as well just throw in the chips and go about my business huh? Die without a family."
Rainbow looked down at the floor and sighed. She turned her head towards Scootaloo as before walking into the kitchen. "Scootaloo, I have something that I have been meaning to tell you, but I could never come around to telling you."
Scootaloo looked up at her and watched as she pulled a black lock box from atop her refrigerator. "Huh? What is it?"
Rainbow walked forward and set the box in front of her. She reached behind her back and between the feathers of her wing, pulling out a small silver key that she kept locked in a vice grip on her at all times. She put the key into the lock and turned it, opening the box for the orange pegasus to see.
Scootaloo reached into the box and pulled out letter after letter, giving them only a brief glance over before reading a few lines out loud. "Dear Rainbow Dash.....thank you for you consideration....regret to inform you that....that....."
"That we find you un fit to care for the filly in question, Scootaloo." Rainbow sighed as she pulled her chair over.
"You...you actually tried to adopt me?" Scootaloo said as she started at her, digging through more and more of the letters.
"I tried anyways. Seems being a Wonderbolts reserve and constantly having to save Equestria wasn't a "good example" for trying to raise a filly."
Scootaloo was nearly in tears as she dug through more and more of the box, pulling out rejection letter after rejection letter, court appeals after court appeals before finally landing on a yellow envelope at the very bottom. Compared to the other letters and papers that littered the box, this package seemed to be in fairly good condition as if it had been put in here recently. Scootaloo pulled out the file and looked at Rainbow, who currently was staring at the floor with a look of regret on her face. Scootaloo turned her attention back to the folder as she opened it up and pulled out what was inside. There was only one thing inside, a piece of card stock embellished with fancy designs and a seal of approval, gasping as she read it from top to bottom.
Certificate of AdoptionBe It Known To One And All That Scootaloo Has Been Officially Accepted As A Child of Rainbow Dash This 23rd Day of the 6th Month of the 1007th Year
"Rainbow Dash..." Scootaloo looked at her as tears streamed down her face, a hint of rage hidden behind her sadness. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"
"I...I just couldn't Squirt. I only got that in the mail a few days before the news came. As soon as I heard it was all going to be over, I didn't think I could be a good enough mother to you through all of this crap."
"Rainbow, why the hell would you ever think that you would be a bad mother to me?"
"Look at me Scoots, even during this last year I was never around. I went off to do crazy things, explore and nearly get myself killed. I couldn't have been here for you and I didn't know how to deal with this myself." She said throwing her hooves up into the air. "Hell I still can't believe that it's already almost over! How could someone who doesn't even know how to handle herself throughout all of this shit be able to support you like an actual mother should?" Dash shouted as she started to cry into her hooves.
Scoots was taken aback by Dash showing so much emotion over something that she had never seen Dash do before. She slowly walked over to her and wrapped her small wings around the mare. "But Dash, think about everything you have done for me since that day."
"Yeah? Like what?"
"Would a pony who doesn't know what it would take to be a good mother take me in off the streets? Would she feed me every night and make sure I stayed safe despite all of it being pointless?" She took a hold of her hooves and looked up into her eyes. "Would she force me to stay in bed for two whole weeks because she thought I might have the feather flu? Cause I think she wouldn't, but Dash you did all that stuff for me."
"Y-yeah. Yeah I guess I did." She said wiping away the tears from her cheeks with the tips of her wings.
"Yeah, and just look at this dinner. You spent all day slaving in the kitchen to make us a nice final meal instead of going out and getting wasted or spending all your time with your friends. It's pretty damn clear to me that you would have made a great mother, Dash."
Dash couldn't help but let a giggle slip out. "Y-you really think so Squirt?"
Scootaloo nodded. "I know so."
Rainbow Dash sat there for a few moments before raising her head. "Scootaloo, bring me a pen."
Scootaloo's eyes lit up as she raced around the room to search for a pen. She dug through multiple draws of junk and searched high and low, only coming back when she found the next best thing to a pen, an ink pot. She sat the pot on the table and went to pull a feather from her wing, stopping when she felt a hoof touch her shoulder. She looked up at Dash who shook her head before pulling out a feather of her own and dipping it into the black liquid. With careful precision, she moved her mouth around to sign her name in the small blank space that had been left for her. She spat out her feather and looked to Scootaloo. "It's done, now all we have to do is get Twilight to sign it at the meet tonight and then it's official."
Rainbow barely had time to react before she felt a wall of orange fur slamming into her. Scootaloo tackled her out of her chair and held onto her. "Yes! Yes! Yes! I finally have a mom! I finally have a family!" She sang as she cried into Rainbow's shoulder.
RD held her close for a few moments before she eventually tried to pull her off. "Scootaloo...still don't like ponies...you know.."
Scootaloo giggled and pulled herself up with a sheepish grin. "Hehe, sorry mom." She shuddered a bit as she said that. "Dear Celestia that is weird to say."
"Well it's really weird to hear." Rainbow sighed as she pulled herself off the ground and picked up her chair. "Let's just get back to our meal Scoots and try to enjoy our time, okay? Oh and please still call me by name, that mom stuff is weird."
"Hehe, whatever you say." She giggled before giving Rainbow a cheeky grin. "Mom."
Rainbow gritted her teeth a bit with a forced smile. "Don't push your luck Squirt, and eat your food."
Scootaloo nodded as the two took their places back at the table and ate their final meals in peace, stopping and looking out the window into the night as the tower bell rang it's third of seven rings. Although they couldn't see it or feel it, the world around them was already beginning to fall apart at the seams, but they didn't care as they ate one, swapping stories and reminiscing on old times.
4 Hours Remain
4 Hours Remain
It was the only time that it ever truly hurt Pinkie to smile. Even in the past smiling had never made her want to cry, but watching the Cake twins obliviously playing with their toys like it was any other evening was too much for her too handle.
"Pinkie?" Pound Cake said as he pushed a toy over to her. "Why you sad?"
Pinkie looked down at him and smiled, doing her best to fight back the tears in her eyes. She knew he was too young to understand that he was going to die, despite growing into a very bright young colt. She picked up the toy with the brightest smile that she could muster and ruffled his mane a bit. "Oh silly, I'm not sad. Don't you worry your pretty little head."
"Okie Pinkie!" He giggled as he went back to chasing Pumpkin around the room. The slightly younger brother tackled his sister to the ground as the two rolled into a pile of stuffed toys that sat in the corner of the room. All three of them couldn't help but giggle as the plushies flew around the room like bowling pins. Pinkie stared at them with one of the happiest smiles that she had ever had, only being jolted from her saddened trance when she heard a knock at the entrance to the twins room.
"Pinkie? Can we talk to you for a minute." Mrs. Cake asked as she looked to Pinkie behind tear stained eyes.
Pinkie nodded and stood up, helping Pound and Pumpkin out of the piles of toys. "Hey you two, keep playing with your toys. Auntie Pinkie will be right back."
"Okay!" The two said with a wave as she walked out of the room and shut the door behind her. She looked up at the Cakes with a small smile, only to have it returned with frowns as Mrs. Cake spoke up. "Pinkie, deary, are you alright."
"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?" Pinkie said with her normal bout of confidence, but the cracking of her voice hinted otherwise.
"Are you sure?" Mr. Cake said as he walked up to her. "You don't really have to force yourself to be happy if you aren't, you know that right?"
"Yeah, I know." She said looking down as she kicked her hoof along the floor. "But that doesn't mean I have to be sad either. I mean, somepony has to make sure everypony's last few hours are as happy as possible." She looked over her shoulder through the small view port into the twins room, where the two were now making the stuffed animals dance around. "If I can at least keep two foals happy as long as I possibly can before we all die, then that is enough to make me happy."
"We're just worried Pinkie. We know that you don't like seeing others upset and will do what you can to make them happy but, you can't just fight back the urge to be sad like this." Mrs. Cake said as she put a hoof on her shoulder. "I can see the tears that you are fighting back Pinkie, and it's not good for you to be handling yourself like this."
"I....I know..." Pinkie said as she looked up at them, tears streaming down her face. "I know I should be all sad and crying like a baby, but I just can't do that. It's not who I am to dwell on the things that make me sad, I can't focus on the fact that two young ponies are going to have their life taken away from them, not even knowing what it means to die. I can't focus on that because that would make them sad."
"Pinkie..."
"No, I just can't." She said as she looked up with them, wiping the tears from her eyes and putting on her best smile. "There is only a hours left and I am going to make sure that they have the best little night of their lives."
The Cakes looked to each other before turning back to Pinkie. "That....that's something else we wanted to talk to you about."
"What?"
Mrs. Cake looked into the room and sighed. "Pinkie, I don't want my children to suffer when everything goes to hell. I don't want them to be around to see their family dying around them and the world falling apart. I want their last memories to be happy."
"But I don't understand, that's what I am doing aren't I?" She said looking back and forth between them trying to think about what Mr.s. Cake had just told her. It was only when she was the two bottle of milk with a shimmering purple hue that she realized what she had meant. "Mrs. Cake, you don't mean that you are gonna.....r-right?"
"I told you Pinkie, I don't want my children to suffer." She said as she picked up one of the bottles. "It's a powerful sleeping potion. Just a few drinks and they will pass on peacefully without having to spend their last moments watching everything going t-."
"B-but you can't!" Pinkie snapped, cutting Mrs. Cake as her smile shrunk away from her face.
Mr. Cake sighed as he pulled Pinkie close. "Pinkie, what else could we do. We don't want our children to have painful last memories. What would you rather have happen, dying peacefully in your sleep with the last thing you see being smiling happy faces, or watching your family die painfully and violently around you."
Pinkie looked up at him and wiped her eyes. "I guess I would want to die happily, but I just can't think about watching them die before you two. No child should ever have to go before a parent."
Mrs. Cake looked at her, her own mind barely able to fight back her tears. "I know Pinkie....I never thought I would see the day where I had to let my babies slip away, but this is the only way. I have to let them go."
She reached for the door with bottles in hoof, but was stopped by a pink hoof before she could open it. She looked to Pinkie, who shook her head slowly from side to side. "No, you don't have to let them go."
Both the Cake's eyes widened in shock as she pulled the bottles away and looked in the room. "If they have to die this way, I don't think the last thing we want them to see is their mother putting them to death." She looked down at the bottles and gripped them tight before walking into the room with a smile on her face. "Alright you two, it's time for dinner and then off to bed!"
The twins whined as she lifted them up. "Do we gotta?" Pumpkin asked as Pinkie laid them in their crib.
"Yeah, all good little fillies and colts have to sleep now so they can have the energy to play all day tomorrow." Pinkie said with a forced smile, slipping the rubber nipple of each bottle into their mouths. The two wasted no time in gulping down the fluid inside while she watched on. Pinkie felt her hoof rising in anger and fear, but she suppressed her urge to swat the two bottles away from the children. Instead, she smiled and allowed them to finish their final meal in peace.
She pulled the bottle away from each of them as they finished, each one giving a small burp. Pinkie couldn't help but giggle along as they wiggled around in their beds, trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in.
Carrot and Cupcake walk into the room and lean down to their children, the two fighting back their tears as they kissed their babies goodnight. "Goodnight Pound, Goodnight Pumpkin. Remember, mommy and daddy love you very very much." Mrs. Cake said as she tucked them in under a blanket she had hoof stitched many months before.
"Goodnight mommy." Pumpkin said with a small yawn.
"Goodnight daddy." Pound said as he snuggled up to his sister.
The two left the room in silence, Pinkie watching as the first of Cupcakes tears fell to the ground. She sighed and walked over to the edge of the crib. "Sleep tight you two, gotta be well rested and ready to have a day of fun tomorrow!" Pinkie chocked out as she kissed each of them on the head. "I love both of you so much."
"We love Pinkie." They both said, bringing a tear filled smile to her face. She reached up and turned on the mobile as they gave a final yawn and drifted off into a sea of light snores. Pinkie's smile wavered as she walked to the door, stopping only to look back at the crib as the snores slowed to a halt, knowing that the two young children had passed on. She turned off the light switch and shut the door in silence before collapsing on the cold floor and sobbing into her own hoof, knowing that she had killed the closet thing she ever had to having children of her own.
Her own sobs of sadness and fear drowned out the slow thud of bodies on the as Mr. and Mrs. Cake drank their own vials of the same potion, kissing each other goodbye before falling to the ground dead, and the sound of the bell resonating once more throughout the town.
3 Hours Remain
Author's Note
Please forgive the seemingly rushed ending, it was in fact not the easiest thing I have ever had to write. Hell I question why I even decided to write this chapter in the first place. Despite it being a fast chapter that was extremely hard to write, I hope you all enjoy.
...I need a tall stiff drink after this.
