After the death of Celestia and Luna's rise to power, came a mysterious period of depression among the ponies of Equestria.
It wasn't that Luna wasn't an excellent leader, however different her rule was from her sister's, or that anything significantly wrong had happened to the land in the form of invasions, attacks, or any other threat of the like. In fact, with Luna's rule came a stricter prevention protocol against attacks; Luna, not wanting Equestria's enemies to use this transition period as an opportunity, made sure to spread the message that her land would not be easy prey, and doubled the enforcement upon her land.
No, it wasn't any of these reasons that made up the cause for this strange wave of negativity. A wave, which had started out softly at first, with only a few more ponies seemingly in need of therapy, to an earth-breaking crash, as in only months, hundreds of cases of suicides had been recorded, with surely more that went unwritten. The ponies' lives had turned bleaker; even as Luna learned to control the sun as well, it seemed that nothing could save their spirits from declining from their old and famed glory.
Luna had tried to figure out ways to lift her subject's spirits once more. She encouraged the entertainment businesses to produce cheerful content, paid more visits to meet her ponies up close and assure their fears, even forced herself to look through as many ponies' dreams as she could at night to help, sacrificing her new schedule of sleep in the process. In the end, nothing seemed to work, as even in the days when she was sure she made an impact, even as she would gaze down at one of her servant's smiling foals and feel hope, the reports would always come back worse than the day before.
So she searched for answers instead. She looked through every catacomb, every library, every magical, hidden, ancient room to find what was up with the happening her ponies were enduring. Nothing seemed to have an answer. There were no beings powerful enough, no enchantment with the same effects, nothing, absolutely nothing of the sort. All she found were reassurances that this was a natural cause and not an attack, however devastatingly horrific she wanted it to be. An attack was something she could prepare for, but the response she got that all it was was a shared state of mind and nothing more? How could she take this? How could anypony teach back the joy and brightness that was now forgotten? No matter how much she fought it, no matter how much she tried, she knew she couldn't change it.
Her ponies were chronically depressed. That fact and the numbers haunted what little sleep she managed to have. And, without a visible way of turning this about, she turned to the only method she had left to try to help her nation: Force against her own ponies. She banned suicides with the threat of incarcerating the pony's loved ones in the dungeons. However, she was bluffing. She hated to think of having to do such a thing to innocent ponies. But, with the circumstances so dire, she confessed to herself that she would rather be known for her unfair rule and have her ponies live, even as miserable as they seemed, than to be known as the princess who ruled only corpses. She only hoped that the simple threat would suffice, and that she wouldn't have to make examples. But, as with every new law, there were ponies who tested it, and continued their plans of meeting death for themselves, leaving behind their dears to grieve in the cold stones underground. Luna repeated to herself; she didn't want to do this. But it was necessary.
It was for the greater good.
And, miraculously, only first examples seemed to be enough to control the masses. For now.
The whole time, she'd clutch to the sliver of hope that soon, the law wouldn't be needed. That her ponies would return to being their bright selves instead of the shells they seemed to have become. Even as she walked through her palace, or paced the towns or cities she'd go to visit, she'd see the empty gazes of everypony, hear the clearly fake tries at happy tones as they'd greet their neighbors, and feel the heavy, choking weight on her shoulders that she was powerless against. It was clear nobody cared for the simple joys in life anymore, but at the same time, nopony wanted to be the cause of other's pain as well.
Her clock was ticking. She had no way of stopping it.
And it only took two years. It seemed a colt had realized what Luna had kept to herself, and publicly exclaimed it to the town, the rocking sounds from his swings being the only voice he needed. With his passing, the family in question, also realizing what the future would hold in store for them, followed only minutes after, each adding to the message, making it all the more persuasive.
By the time word reached the princess, all she could do was walk through the town devoid of any life, but still loud with the chorus of creaks and thumps as the wind supported their cause. Not only did the ruckus reach her majesty, but the neighboring towns had heard it as well, and soon the sweet call of relief overcame them all, as not only were hangings the only instruments anymore, but other methods were soon to join, adding diversity to the now fully made orchestra, played by the only being left with a grin to their face; Death.
The domino effect was immediate. From coast to coast, everybody yearned to be a part of it, leaving nopony as even the few foals that were made in the period of gloom were not to be left to their own. Parents and siblings alike took them with them, seeing their acts as ones of mercy above anything else. Indeed, it was so that no one was left behind, but a crippled alicorn who had become what she had feared the most in only a day.
She had nowhere to go; anywhere she stepped to was littered with evidence of her failure; a failure she could not have stopped, but nevertheless, was hers to take. All this weight, all its crushing, agonizing pain too great for her to even choke out a sob proved in the end to be her only match. She was the only pony standing. But gazing at herself in the mirror of her room, her horn aglow and her expression a silent wail, she knew she could change that just as quickly.
And so she did.
Author's Note
Hello there, dear readers (that is, if this hopefully gets clicked). This is my first MLP fanfic done in a single night's session when my mood got dark, and edited by numerous of my peers. I hope that you like it, and comment your opinion on it. Thank you!
