A Trek Upon Despair

by IncandescentSolaire

Rating: teen
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Mystery, Princess Celestia, Death, Human
Length: 1876

The world Celestia knew was taken away and replaced with something sinister, depressing, and unlike the one she loved. The only way to save it, is to trek upon the mountain of Despair.

The world Celestia knew was taken away and replaced with something sinister, depressing, and unlike the one she loved. The only way to save it, is to trek upon the mountain of Despair.

A small story that I've challenged myself to write.

Art is by Zdzisław Beksiński.

Published 2021-03-01 20:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2021-03-01 20:00:01 UTC

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With each step Celestia took, she felt herself becoming more like her old self.

She didn't know how long she had been travelling. At times, she thought she had just begun her journey, while at others, she felt as if she was walking for eons. Her hooves stepped upon dirt, discolored to a dark yellow, a color which cascaded the entire world. A world that she didn't know. Before the world was turned into what it is now, she remembered simply sitting upon her throne, listening to another noble drone on about their struggling life.

Though their definition of struggling was much different than the common pony.

In an instant, her entire world was erased and replaced with a new one. One filled with horrific, ominous structures. Ones recognizable from her world, and ones that were not. Buildings that reached to infinity, and mountains that stretched on forever past the horizon. In the center of it all, stood a tall mountain. The only true light that was in this world was on top of that mountain, able to be seen from every part of the world. It was the only hope for salvation. The only hope to reverse whatever this was.

She had met nopony on her journey. She was truly alone. The world was silent for the most part, occasionally giving off a low hum, or a clanging of metal off in the distance. Sometimes she thinks she could see somepony in the distance, or in the window of one of those gigantic buildings, but within a blink of an eye they were gone.

As she traveled, gigantic creatures which were now nothing but bones were around the land. Some were standing tall, as if they were still alive, and others were sitting upon a rusted throne, or laying on the floor. Whatever little Celestia was able to gather about this new world, none of it had made any sense. Most of it was nothing but nonsense, with a few word that she could translate herself.

Equestria, Pony, even Starswirl.

Yet, a few that she didn't understand the meaning of were also there.

War, Slavery, Annihilation.

She knew what those words meant, but none of it was held in the context that she knew of. Her world wasn't known for war, or for slavery, and Annihilation was something unheard of. Though, she knew that such a thing was certainly possible given the current circumstances. Other words popped out to her the same.

Skyscraper, Machine, Automation.

She had stared at that paper years ago. Well, atleast that's what it felt like to her. She was nearing the top of the mountain, making weird twists and turns that made no logical sense. She would go through a tunnel inside the mountain and be below where she started, only to make another turn and be much higher. Upon these twists and turns, was another's footprints.

Celestia stared down at the dirt, imprinted by someone else. She felt a shiver go down her spine.

Was this going to be somepony useful? Helpful? Maybe somepony that survived the transition between worlds.

Or perhaps a manifestation of the Despair of this new world.

She continued down the path where the footprints were leading. It lead her inside another hole in the mountain, but this time it was a dead end. She took a few careful steps inside the cave, her eye's becoming accustomed to the darkness easily. In the far back of the cave, slumped against the wall, was a bipedal creature.

It had a brown shirt on itself, along with pants of some sort. It's breathing was ragged, and it's hair was a mess. It's eye's looked up to Celestia, to which it then smiled.

"Another traveler."

A male voice. Atleast, from what Celestia guessed.

"I... didn't know of any other creature being here." She told him.

He waved his hand around. "I thought the same thing too when I was here for my first couple of years. But, a new one comes here every so often with the same goal in mind. Reaching the top. That's what you're here for, isn't it?"

His voice was becoming more wheezy, a couple of coughs coming out between words, and what looked like to be blood leaking from his mouth. Celestia stared down at the poor creature, a pit forming in her stomach of sadness for the creature. And sadness for whatever it might have endured. "I assumed that the top was the way to... return."

He chuckled before coughing up some more blood. "You'd be right then. It is the only way to go back, but 'aint just that."

"What do you mean?"

The creature slowly stood, bracing himself upon the wall of the cave, before finally being steady. It took a couple of steps towards her direction, and eventually, past her, to just outside of the cave. It stood, overlooking the entirety of the world from their vantage point, stretching out an almost limp arm. "All of this... It's not your world. It's not my world. It's not anyone's world who comes here. This is a separate world."

"I'm not following..."

It let it's limp arm hit it's sides. "It chooses one of us to reach the top. When you do, you save your world. If you don't make it up there, your world succumbs to... whatever this one has in store for it. Plenty of other's have been here. Me, you, a couple other's. All of them look different. Not all of them are human like me."

"Human? Is that what you are?"

He nodded, a small smile on his face. "I am human, and I'm proud of it. A couple other things I've seen are creatures from all sorts of places. Some with tentacles, others with feathers, and some with fur like yourself. But each of them are different."

Celestia looked up to him. "So, all of these creatures are converging onto this world?"

He nodded. "I think so. And each creature that fails is sending their world into annihilation. Into doom. Into Despair. I think that's what this world is. Despair, in it's most blatant of forms. It's bleak with almost nothing in it. Say, what was your world like?"

Celestia felt a pain in her heart. Thinking about what her world was like was always something that hurt her deep inside when she came here, but she shook it off. "It was bright, happy, and wonderful. It had it's flaws, but it was... so much better than this."

"My world isn't exactly happy, but it's sustainable. No major wars. No major deaths. If you choose your options right, you could have a happy family with someone you love and a nice home. I... don't think that'll be for much longer, though."

Celestia took a step closer to him, examining him further. There was blood staining his clothes, but it was dried for the most part. HIs clothes were certainly torn and had plenty of dirt on it. Though, Celestia herself was covered in dirt too. "Why do you say that?"

"Like I said," He raised his arm and gestured upwards. "To get out of this and to save your world, you've gotta' reach the top. Your one of the few that's going to make it I think, but me?" He coughed, blood spewing out of his mouth. He reached up to his mouth with his arm, wiping it across. "Heh, I don't think I'm making it out of here. I've been here for too long, and... heh, I'm not making it up there in this shape."

"I'm certain if you try you'll-"

"Stop-" He said, putting his arm out towards her. "It's the truth. There's no point in lying here. There's no comfort here, and nothing you say can even bring a sense of it. You know that as well as me, but I can tell that from the sound of your old world, that's just who you are." He smiled down at her. "I'm glad you'll be able to brighten other's days up with that cheery attitude though."

Celestia sighed, looking down at the floor. "It feels like I've been travelling for years... Do you really think I'll make it?" She asked, looking back up at him. He chuckled, patting her head lightly.

"You'll definitely make it. You're in almost tip top shape compared to me, and you're not that far from the top. So go on, get. Make sure your world will never suffer from what this ones suffers from. Make sure that your world won't suffer from what mine will."

She looked off into the distance, looking over the terribly beaten world she had set hoof upon all those days ago. "I won't forget you or your world. What is your name, and the name of your world?"

"My name is Adam. And, Earth, is my world."

Celestia nodded. "I'm sorry, Adam."

"No, don't worry about it. My people will find a way to get through it all. I know they will, even if it might be hard. And, one day, somehow, we'll find a way across worlds so we can see your world. Maybe this won't be the last time you see me. Or, atleast, the last time I see you."

Celestia nodded. "If there was ever a way for me to help you... I would have."

Adam took a couple steps back, slumping against the outside wall of the cave. He chuckled again, giving a smile. "I know you would have. What's your name, and the name of your world?" He inquired back to her.

"Celestia, and Equestria is my world."

A drop of blood leaked from his mouth. "Celestia... Equestria... That sounds like a nice place to dream of."

Celestia, within a blink of an eye, was staring at a corpse. Adam still had his smile on his face, and his eye's were staring off into the empty world. As much as she wanted to stay there, to give him a proper burial, she needed to get to the top. She continued on up the mountain, turning into another cave which on the opposite side laid...

She stood at the top of the mountain.

"No- no... B-But, It was so far away- it couldn't have been this close! It- It couldn't have-" She retraced her steps, running back to where Adam's corpse laid, before running back through the other cave. She still appeared right at the top of the mountain. The top, in which Adam was so close to getting to.

There truly was no happiness in this world.

She looked up upon the light, the one true light that she had finally seen since her arrival.

Within a blink of an eye, she was back to her old world. Her happy, bright, wonderful world.

The same could not be said for Adam, and Earth.

Author's Note

This may not be exactly the most comprehensive story i've written, but it was an idea that I had for a long time. There's a lot of connections to things in the real world and other things that aren't right out said, so if you'd like an explanation, I could post a blog explaining this story in more detail.