Magical Mystery Mistakes

by lunarstallion

Rating: everyone
Tags: Other, Twilight Sparkle, Discord, Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, Dark, Alternate Universe, Sad
Length: 1218

Twilight Sparkle is ready for her ascension. She completed Starswirl's spell, her friends returned to normal, and she is whisked off to a land of stars and magic with Celestia to receive her wings. But, something is wrong. Something is ALWAYS wrong.

All of Twilight's friends had swapped Cutie Marks, somehow. Rainbow Dash had Fluttershy's, Rarity had Rainbow's, Applejack had Rarity's, Pinkie had Applejack's, and Fluttershy had Pinkie's. This was the effect of the spell Twilight had cast on the Elements the night before, and it was tearing her friends apart.

So, Twilight tried, and succeeded, to fix their marks. In doing so, she was struck with inspiration, and finished the incomplete spell she cast from Starswirl's journal the night before.

In doing so, unknowingly, she proved herself ready for something greater. Celestia called her to a strange, ethereal space full of stars and nebulae. Celestia then began to explain what happened, and started singing a song for Twilight.

But something was wrong with the song, and things escalated from there.

Overall, Discord was not happy with the result.

An odd idea I had while trying to get myself to start writing again. I figured a one shot would do the trick.

Set after the whole Tirek incident.

Published 2017-08-08 02:40:07 UTC
Last updated 2017-08-08 02:40:07 UTC

Magical Mystery Cure (But is it really?)

From all of us together, together we're friends. With the marks of our destinies made one, there is magic without end!

Twilight placed the period on the paper, and the spell was complete. Her friends cheered around her, before a glowing white ball of energy appeared around Twilight, surrounding her and blinding the others. A few seconds passed, and she vanished from sight, whisked to a different place.

Twilight opened her eyes to see a strange place, filled with distant magical stars and nebulae. It was beautiful, and strange, as she was just in the library with her friends. She called into the emptiness, "Hello? Where am I? What is this place?"

The clip-clopping of hooves let her know somepony was approaching. An unmistakable silhouette appeared before her, before quickly coming into focus, revealing that it was her beloved mentor, Princess Celestia. "Congratulations, Twilight." Celestia smiled at Twilight, leaning down to meet her eye to eye. "I knew you could do it."

Twilight took a step forward, confusion showing clearly on her face as she embraced Celestia. "Princess... I don't understand." She stepped back and looked up to Celestia, "What did I do?"

Celestia stood back up to her full height, never taking her eyes from Twilight's form, "You did something today that's never been done before. Something even a great unicorn like Starswirl the Bearded was not able to do, because he did not understand friendship like you do." Images of the previous few hours in Ponyville flashed around the pair, showing Twilight racing to assist her friends with their tangled destinies.

"The lessons you've learned here in Ponyville have taught you well." Celestia turned and began slowly walking away. "You have proven that you're ready, Twilight."

"Ready?" Twilight asked, starting after Celestia, "Ready for what?"

A piano riff could be heard quietly in the background ans the pair walked. Large images began appearing around them, showing all of Twilight's adventures in friendship for the two to see. As they came into view, Celestia began to sing.

You've come such a long, long way

And I've watched you from that very first day

To see how you might grow

To see what you might do

To see what you'd go through

And all the way-

Hang on, that's not right.

To see what you did-

No no, that's not right either. Let's try it from the top.

You've come such a far, far-

Wait, no, that's not right either, AARGH!

Without warning, an oddly shaped creature appeared in the middle of the scene, both ponies freezing completely in place, as if they were dolls being moved around at some other being's will. The creature stomped its way up to Celestia, and stared into her eyes for a good few minutes.

"Now Celestia, you know that's not how the song goes, and we both know why it must. Be. Perfect." The creature said, gritting its teeth at the last three words.

Celestia simply stared back, her eyes shining like glass in the magical lighting, yet staring forward, unblinking, unmoving, seemingly unwilling to do much of anything.

The creature flicked her horn, and the entire scene shifted back to just before the song started, Twilight's mouth already forming her words as Celestia began trotting off. The creature looked towards the frozen scene with slight anger, and disappeared with a quick "From the top, please."

Everything began moving again.

"Ready?" Twilight asked, starting after Celestia, "Ready for what?"

A piano riff could be heard quietly in the background ans the pair walked. Large images began appearing around them, showing all of Twilight's adventures in friendship for the two to see. As they came into view, Celestia began to sing.

You've come such a long, long way

And I've watched you from that very first day

To see how you might grow

To see what you might do

To see what you've been through

And all the ways you've made me proud of you.

More images flashed in front of the duo. Twilight arriving in Ponyville by chariot, Her first winter wrap up, her banishment of the Ursa Minor from Ponyville, the warning from her future self, the Gala, her defeating of Discord, helping Luna socialize, the events of her brother's wedding, and many, many more important times in Twilight's life. Twilight smiled and looked in awe at the images, as Celestia began the next verse.

It's time now for a new change to come

You've grown up and your new life has...

has...

...

With a shout of anger and a flash of chaotic magic, the entire scene was distorted into a barren landscape. Desert as far as the eye could see, not a living soul visible within thousands of miles. Wind, ever-blowing across this hellish place, threw mountains of dust into the thinning atmosphere and let them dissipate among the broken remains of what civilization once was.

Among all of these lonely ruins, a single raging creature sat in the remains of what was once a beautiful castle, brimming with life and magic. Filled with those who would call this creature

Friend.

Mismatched limbs obliterated what remained of walls in rage, Eagle claw scratching, and Lion paw smashing dilapidated stone walls, once built to be suitable for kings, queens,

Princesses, even.

The creature ended his little tantrum, deciding to leave the rest of this broken castle intact, for his memory.

Discord sat in the ruins of what was once Canterlot Castle, the magic previously used to show him the memories of his long fallen friends slowly dissipating from the room.

Discord put his head into his hands, heaving a deep sigh. 'What have I become,' he thought, slowly moving his hands down to his sides so he could gaze around the place he set himself up in.

'It's all wrong,' he thought to himself, lifting himself off the ground with magic. 'Things shouldn't have ended up this way.'

He created a ball of magic in his paw, and tossed it as hard as he could towards the horizon, and watched it vanish from view.

'With any luck, that'll hit him, and he'll just die.' Discord looked down to the line of stones he created shortly before the world became like this. 'Just like what he did to them.'

Discord floated down to the stones. There were ten in total, each inscribed with a name that Discord held dear once upon a time.

Now all they represent is the fading memories of an immortal being on a dying planet, sucked dry of magic by a greedy beast he was stupid enough to trust at some point.

Carved into the ground, there were words that read "Friendship was Magic."

Discord fell to his knees, and wept for his fallen friends.

Author's Note

Just a weird idea I had after reading so many post-apocalyptic AUs. I didn't really think much of it through, it was just intended to be a quick one shot to get me back into the habit of writing, so sorry for any big plot holes present.

I hope you enjoy my quickly thrown together story, that honestly ended up waaaaaaay sadder than I thought it would, but it was kind of improvised in roughly an hour, so, yeah.