The Day That the World Broke Down
It was a very boring wednesday afternoon for Ponyville's local purple princess. Twilight was pacing back and forth inside of her library, until finally she sat down at a table.
"Why does everypony but me have to be busy doing something? School's closed until next week, and I've already gone through the programs for the next five years of teaching. Thrice. If only someone was here. But no, they all had important business to attend. Well, maybe I shouldn't really complain, given what they're doing. Poor Starlight's been forced against her will to go to that Timberwolf / Kanterlot / Nightmare Nightarus concert with Spike and the CMCs-"
Somewhere on the outskirts of Ponyville, near the Everfree, Starlight was crowdsurfing, singing "griffon fly free, let ponies see," at the top of her lungs.
"-Rarity's busy with an order from Manehattan-"
"A little to the right, Aloe dear," said the white unicorn while relaxing on top of the massage table.
"-Fluttershy has her animals to take care of-"
"You know, Rarity, we really should come here more often."
"-Rainbow has her training-"
Snores could be heard coming from a cloud above Ponyville.
"-Applejack has work to do in the farm to prepare for her family reunion, and Pinkie's helping her. Family only thing, so I can't go."
Pinkie Pie lifted a large apple-filled bag with her mouth, a tired look on her face, then momentarily let go of it in midair, the object defying gravity as she turned her head to the side. "What? Some of us have a good reason not to be with her right now."
The young alicorn rested her head on the table. "What should I do?"
The book she had been talking to fell backwards with a thud.
"Fourth revison it is then."
She was heading back to the other side of the library when she heard a small blast come from the entrance of the castle. She quickly teleported there, and found a cardboard box waiting for her. She curiously opened it, and was ecstatic to find it was filled with books, most of which she didn't recognize. She brought the box back with her to the library and emptied its contents on a table, deciding which book to read first. She almost picked a worn out green tome entitled 'Peaceful Charms', but her attention shifted towards a black volume, its surface looking different from that of the others.
She picked it up in her magic and looked at it. "Never heard of this Alhazred guy. Must be a Zebra name." She opened it and started to read.
"Luna?"
"Yes sister?"
"Have you seen the book that was there yesterday?"
"Which one?"
"You know, the black one. The one locked inside a chest with a chain around it. The one with the 'do not read' sign above it, in the forbidden section of the library. That centuries old unique copy bound with actual leather. The one we decided to never show anypony for fear of them going insane."
"Oh, that one. I sent it to Twilight earlier today. Along with the rest of the section."
Celestia stared out of her window, her gaze distant and unfocused, pondering whatever crimes she could have committed in her previous life to be forced into spending eternity with her sister.
Back in Ponyville, Twilight was overlooking the map of Equestria before her, a dark hooded cloak draped over her back. Cold air drifted through the dimly candle-lit room as she stared at the ritual drawings she had traced with ash on the table. She gave one final look at the book.
"Y’AI ’NG’NGAH,
YOG-SOTHOTH
H’EE—L’GEB
F’AI THRODOG
UAAAH"
Celestia shook her head. "I worry too much. What's the worst that could happen?"
Twilight looked down from the ruins of her castle to the mayhem below. The city was destroyed, and ponies were running around with no direction under the two new alien suns that now filled the sky with a sickening blue and orange glow, some of the citizens having dropped to the ground and curled up, blabbering out incoherent phrases in forgotten tongues. Everyone else was screaming, terrified by the ominous half-seen figures that towered over them as they slowly drifted across the town. Except Pinkie.
Pinkie had somehow gathered all of the concert's instruments, and was now giving a complete performance of 'Run! Apocalypse! Run!' all on her own.
Twilight heard the flapping of wings coming from her side and turned to find Luna landing there.
"It seems our days have finally come to an end, Sparkle."
"Don't be so pessimistic. Whatever these things are I'm sure the elements will fix this."
"These things ate the elements. And the rest of the tree. And also a couple of guards, but that's rather inconsequential at this point."
"Discord?" tentatively asked the young princess.
"He appears to be playing chess with the creatures. Although I don't remember chess involving dice rolls or composable pieces that can attach to one another."
"Well... I'm sure we alicorns can handle the situation."
"Sorry to disappoint, Twilight, but my sister has left us. She sent herself to the moon as soon as she realized you had opened the portal."
"That's... surprisingly selfish from her."
"I know right? She had agreed to take me with her."
"Well, are you going to help me?"
"No. Rather," Luna said, her body morphing into that of Nightmare Moon, "I think I'll teach my sister not to underestimate my flying abilities." The black alicorn shot up with a massive sonic boom, a trail left behind her as she headed off into space.
Twilight rolled down the ruins of her palace, landing in the streets below. She saw a black object flying towards her, but it was caught in midair by one of the shapes.
"No, wait! Let me go! I haven't gone through a reformation arc yet! I'm even willing to change into that stupid colourful form, just give me a chance! Somepony help me, hel-" Chrysalis was sucked out of this world, her body dissipating into nothingness.
"Hi sis'," called a voice behind Twilight.
"Shining! Did Cadence ditch you to go to the moon?"
"Yep. Said she couldn't use the spell on herself, Flurry, the fridge and me at the same time."
They both sat side by side, watching the burning remains of society fall into pieces.
"Say, Twilight, this is the end, right?"
"I mean, probably, yes."
Shining turned to his sister, looking in her eyes.
"Want to do that thing? You know, the one our parents wouldn't let us?"
"I thought you'd never ask."
"Mmmm, why did we wait so long for this?" asked Shining while reclining back on the sofa.
"No idea, but I really wish we hadn't." Twilight used her hoof to remove some of the white sticky substance around her mouth.
Starlight walked into the room from the staircase. "What are you two doing?"
"Having cake only for dinner!"
"In the living room!"
"Two and a half hours after the usual dinner time!"
"Yeah, take that, mom!" shouted Shining to a small pile of ash and dust in the middle of the room.
"Yeah!" echoed Twilight.
"YYYYYYYY'YYYYYYYYYYHGHNN" screeched the ethereal tentacle flowing out of a wrongly bended corner of reality.
Shining threw a bag of chips at the aberration, which politely replied with another madness-inducing sound.
"I'll go grab the scrolls for the time reset spell." Starlight started to head back down the stairs, then stopped. "What flavour is the cake?"
"White chocolate with vanilla frosting."
The unicorn turned back and sat down on the sofa beside the others, grabbing a slice for herself. "You really have to stop with your experimenting Twilight, I'm tired of having to fix the world every week."
"Sorry."
"You think she's going to make it?" asked Cadence.
Celestia took a sip of her tea. "Don't know. She's certainly made it a lot further than I would have thought."
The two watched as Nightmare Moon once again attempted to reach them, her body making it a little closer than last time before plummeting back to Equestria.
"Don't you think she's going to be a little angry when she arrives?"
"If she arrives. And besides, she's going to be too tired to do anything."
The black mare again tried to reach escape velocity, and again failed.
"She should really work more on her trajectory."
"Yeah."
Another sip of tea, another failure on her younger sister's side.
Cadence was about to say something, but a sound interrupted her. It was a fear-inducing, mind-wrecking, heart-stopping outherworldy roar of chaos. She turned around to see a floating blob of pure swirling incomprehensibleness, and her daughter sitting to its side.
"Puppy!" cheerfully exclaimed the small alicorn.
She turned to Celestia. The princess was now wearing a pair of shades, holding a bottle of sun lotion in her wing.
"You know what? I've heard the surface of the sun is lovely this time of the year." She disappeared in a flash of light.
Nightmare Moon's panting body came crushing down on the balcony of the lunar palace. "You thought you had seen the last of me, sist-" she noticed the scene around her "-errrr....."
"What was that sound?" asked Starlight from the library.
"I think that was the moon falling down," answered Twilight.
"Which one?"
"The original one."
"Well I need that one in place for the ritual, Twilight, so go put it back where it belongs."
"Why me?"
"Oh I don't know, Twilight. Maybe it's because you're a princess and I'm not. Or because everypony else is dead. Or maybe it has something to do with how this is your fault, what do you say?"
"But I haven't even finished the cake."
"I'll steal your wings and powers and then I'll leave you to rot away in Tartarus."
"What?"
"Fell free to finish your cake, dear, you can go fix the moon later."
"Checkmate," said the draconequus, much to the displeasure of the screeching void. "That makes two for me. Since I already got Fluttershy back I think I'll take the pink one next."
The shapeless mist around them condensed and Pinkie's body was ejected from it.
"-has been shaken, it's time to awaken, th- Oh hi Discord."
The draconequus snapped his talons, sending the mare away with a flash of light. He turned back to the otherwordly creature, repositioning the pawns on the chessboard. "Another round?"
