Author's Note
Hey all, I'm testing a new editing tool with this little oneshot, please tell me what you think of the results? Is it worth keeping or should I drop it?
Thank you all for the reply.
The Only Chapter.
Equestria; pre-Discordian Era.
If there ever been an end of times event for pony kind, this must have been it.
The newly formed nation of Equestria had been reeling from attacks for a month now. Entire settlements have been destroyed, cities crumbled, villages uprooted.
It traveled underground, only surfacing to attack. However, to say it surfaced was an overstatement. It merely showed the tip of its tail, and yet, that tip was large enough to bury a town whole.
It's called a Leviathan, the giant snake of the deep. It often fed on Eartha Major. And for some reason, it started attacking pony towns.
But ponies are a hardy folk. They tracked it since the first day it appeared, and finally, after a month of trailing, they finally cornered it in the Smoky Mountains.
There they decided to make their last stand.
Earth ponies built giant pilings and poured them on top of where the tail appeared in order to kill it. Pegasi swept in and chained the tail in an attempt to immobilize it. And unicorns used their magic to create a giant barrier to keep it from fleeing.
But nothing worked.
With a single swoop, the tail destroyed all the pilings and sent the pegasi crashing to the sides of the mountains.
It then turned its attention toward the barrier and struck it, causing all the unicorns to stagger and fall. the barrier cracked and moaned before falling apart from that single stick.
The tail then went underground.
The ponies fell back, hoping they can remake their ranks and make another push against it, but the Leviathan didn't give them a chance. The tail reappeared atop of a group of scattered unicorns who were attempting to help their fallen comrades.
But just as it was to crash a top of them whipping them completely, a giant, golden spear came crashing down piercing it through to the other side, pinning it to the side of the mountain.
The ponies looked up as two figures appeared above them. Two alicorns clad in royal armor, one is golden, the other obsidian hovered protectively above them. The tail tried to wrestle itself free but failed.
"Is every pony alright down there?" The golden alicorn asked and a cheer erupted in response.
"Thou could have left us something to do, big sister," The obsidian one protested.
"Oh, hush," the golden one said, "If I didn't, those ponies would be dead by now."
"Still," The younger one pouted when a sudden roar shook the mountain chain to its core.
Every pony watched in horror as one of the mountains shattered in a million pieces. The Leviathan reared its head up high, blocking the entire sky as it glowered at the alicorn.
"Celestia," The younger alicorn looked at her older sister trembling.
"We need to move," The older alicorn ordered, "Quick!"
The Leviathan started to open its mouth and the alicorns zipped in different directions. The Leviathan went stared confused for a moment then decided on its target.
The golden alicorn watched in horror as the giant snake went straight toward her younger sibling.
Luna pushed hard, flying as fast as she can to try and evade the incoming attack. But try as she might, the Leviathan sheer size made it impossible to escape, and it fell on top of Luna, flattening the mountain side by doing so.
"Luna!!" Celestia yelled.
The Leviathan slowly stood up, it turned toward Celestia, glaring at her and no sooner her feelings of fear turned to anger.
The Leviathan roared at the alicorn. Celestia answered it by calling to the sun.
The sky suddenly darkened, stars appeared despite the sun was up, and a ray of light fell on top of Celestia.
When the beam of light dissipated and the sky returned to normal, Celestia disappeared.
The Leviathan scanned the horizon but could not find a trace of the alicorn when a sudden strike to its side caused it to stagger and fall on another mountain.
The Leviathan looked up in anger, only to find Celestia hovering above it. It lurched toward Celestia in an attempt to devour her but bit only empty air.
The second strike fell on him from above. His head smashed the ground with enough force that fire ignited underneath it.
Annoyed at the strength of his prey, the Leviathan tried to bury himself underground. But Celestia caught it by its tail and with a single push threw it above ground and into the mountain chain.
The Leviathan stood up in a daze. It shook its head and scanned for its attacker until finally its spotted Celestia encircling it. A shiver went down its spine; the aura of the young alicorn far exceeded anything the Leviathan had ever encountered and an old sensation crept into its heart.
Fear.
The Leviathan plunged head first inside the mountain chain, hoping to elude its attacker. But no matter where it ran, its instincts told it to flee further ahead.
Until it came into an opening, an ocean in front of it.
The Leviathan scanned the horizon but found no trace of its pursuer when suddenly an energy beam struck the mountain behind it.
Celestia plotted her trap carefully, she knew that the beast would elude her in the mountains so she guided it, carefully and meticulously toward the open ocean. She knew that the open water would provide the perfect place to go all out. The moment the Leviathan reached the ocean, she struck the mountainside behind it causing a collapse.
The Leviathan turned toward her, the moment their eyes met, it bellowed in dread and tried to scurry toward the open waters, exactly where Celestia wanted it to go.
Celestia lifted her hoof high and called for the sun one more time. A spear of immense power fell in front of her. She carefully picked it up, and then took aim.
Thinking it was far enough, the Leviathan lifted his head to check for its pursuer and the spear fell on it, turning it to dust.
The spear fell into the waters and a tsunami hit the mountain side bellow Celestia as she released the powers that were granted to her by the sun.
Satisfied with the results, Celestia made her way back to the army.
"That was amazing!" Luna greeted her and Celestia felt relieved to seeing her sister in good health.
"Come on, let us celebrate this glorious victory."
As the alicorns went back to the main camp. An abnormal atmosphere greeted Celestia; hushed tones and avoiding gaze were flourishing, and when a squire fell in front of her, he scurried away so frantic that he went head first into a cart.
"What is going on?" Celestia asked her sister.
"A pegasus with a scrying crystal recorded everything," Luna said, "They all know about the great heroism you displayed."
Celestia answered her sister with a smile, but in her heart, she knew nothing is going to be the same.
The air in the general's tent was even worse. Tall ponies, who were meant to lead armies into victories, cowered at the simplest gestured, winced at the smallest of smiles, quacked in response to the most innocent of words. Yet, despite all the cowering, they managed to give Celestia the order to head to Canterlot.
Canterlot wasn't any better. For a city in festivity, it was eerily quiet. Celestia felt suffocating from all the stairs and all the whispers and all the frights. So she hurried toward the castle in hopes to hide from all the stairs.
She burst through the front door and just as with every place she had visited, found the nobility cowering behind pillars and armed guards.
"What is the meaning of this?" Celestia asked the king.
"Just precaution my dear," The king answered calmly from his chair.
"Precaution for what?" Celestia demanded, "Have I done something wrong?"
"Not at all," The king said, "In fact, your heroics should be celebrated."
"Then why is no one celebrating it?" She asked, "Why is every pony so scared of me?"
The king took a deep breath. "It is one thing for a monster to possess the power to destroy cities, my dear. It is another when such powers exist in the hoof of a single pony."
The silence in the room was audible. "I fear, you are too strong for us to control, we appreciate all your work, that goes without saying, but what might happen when that spear is turned toward an Equestrian city? What will you do then?"
Celestia felt lightheaded. In all her years, she did not expect that the nature of her own magic to be turned against her. It felt foolish to even consider that she might turn against pony kind, but here they are, already accusing her of doing so without even doing so. Her urge to run from the ugliness of these accusations overwhelmed her, and she turned tail and ran all the while screaming, "Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore."
But before she could storm out, the voice of the king called to her, "What do you mean?" And a thought entered her head.
"What you saw from my battle was me sacrificing my powers to defeat the Leviathan," She formulated her little ploy, "and this is the thanks I get?" And she stormed off.
Celestia went to her home deep in the Everfree forest. It only took a couple of days until her sister came to her. "They say you sacrificed your powers to defeat the Leviathan," Luna stated, "The king gave me a formal apology for the way you were treated in Canterlot."
Luna gave the parchment to her elder. "He also expressed concern about whether you will be able to resume moving the sun again. I covered for thou by saying that I was the one raising the sun every morning in thine stead."
"Thank you, sister," Celestia said, taking the parchment and placing it on her desk.
"Are thou surest?" Luna asked. When Celestia turned toward her, she continued, "About thine lie."
"In a sense, it's not a lie," Celestia answered, "I fully intend on never summoning the power of the sun ever again."
"But without the sun, thou are weaker than a unicorn foal." Luna expressed her concern, "Why subject thy self to that?"
Celestia smiled, "Because I want to be loved by them, not feared, no matter the consequence."