Warm air wafted forth and graced her complexion, making the muscles in her face twitch. The heat felt nice as it felt like she hadn’t been graced by such warmth in a very long time.

Her head was pounding and a dryness lingered within her throat. It felt like the inside was coated in sandpaper.

She attempted to breathe and only the thinnest wisps entered her system. It was like her windpipe was in a vice.

She couldn’t breathe!

A panic seized at her mind and filled her system. There was an attempt at movement but it didn’t seem to work either which only fed into the shroud of anxiety that seemed to smother any rational train of thought.

It was like being afflicted by sleep paralysis but far more intense.

The woman knew that she was awake but her body utterly refused to come to terms with this reality.

Slowly, she managed to move a finger.

Even slower, she managed to open her eyes.

She was in a coffin.

Obviously, this did little to help with the current anxiety which seemed to besiege her utterly at this point.

There was a hiss and slowly the coffin started to shudder. A panel on the front shifted and pulled away, revealing that it was made of a metal that was coated in a sheen of ice. And this ‘coffin’ was located within some sort of sterile looking room.

The woman tried to draw in another breath and managed to do so with a little more success this time around.

At the same time, even her finger finally moved.

With that it seemed like the return of her motor reflexes was inevitable. Muscles and joints continued to lubricate until the woman managed to gasp for breath. A legitimate breath, a breath so potent that it threatened to pop her lungs with the sheer volume of air that was entering them

She sat straight up, wincing as her body disagreed with the idea.

Her vision hurt against the low light of the room but slowly it adjusted, revealing that this was space with three other similar capsules and one that was far larger. The other regular capsules were all opened but the larger one remained shut.

The woman’s head continued to thud and she reached up to cradle her temple between a forefinger and thumb. It helped though only by the smallest of degrees.

“Fuck,” she whispered.

She looked at her hand and noticed that her skin was a pale white, a snow white. Then she noticed a strand of hair that had fallen into her eyes. It was a rich and bountiful purple.

At least she could remember colours though her name still seemed to be illusive.

“What happened?” the woman whispered.

Her lips still felt so parched and every word was a struggle, having to crawl up a throat that was about as dry as the Saddle Arabian desert.

She grunted and braced her arms upon the side of the capsule and attempted to get out. It was a struggle but slowly she managed to pull herself free and roll onto the floor. Her legs wobbled as they landed upon solid ground but they miraculously managed to handle her weight.

The woman was about to make her way over to the sink, on the other side of the room, when she noticed that the whole capsule was coated in a thick shroud of dust. There was a glow coming from under some of the dirt so she wiped it away.

A blue interface was underneath, labelling this pod as the third in its series, containing a woman known as Rarity.

“Rarity,” the woman apparently known as Rarity whispered. “Rarity…”

She smirked.

“It is a rather pretty name, isn’t it?” she asked the silent room.

The silent room obviously didn’t reply.

So, she approached the sink, using her hands to help support her weight by bracing against tables or any other solid surfaces that she passed. The approach was by no means swift but inch by inch she managed to make her way over.

The sink was also covered in dust.

How long had she been locked in that capsule?

She turned the knob and thankfully a crystal-clear blue water came out. So, she stuck her mouth under the flow and started to slurp from it. The action wasn’t ladylike in the slightest but her parched throat hardly cared about such things. It was refreshing, doing away with the fatigued dehydration that seemed to afflict her.

There was movement from behind Rarity and she tensed, forcing herself to fight through the stiffness to look over her shoulder.

A pinkish arm emerged from one of the capsules and clumsily batted around, trying to find even a little leverage. It was failing, however, clearly in a less advanced state of resurrection.

“Hello?” Rarity called.

Another capsule screamed.

Rarity watched carefully as the other three captives started to stir, working through something that seemed very similar to what she had endured. First arms emerged from the capsules. Then words were murmured. Their actions seemed frantic and panicked.

These early stages did not seem very pleasant though Rarity knew this to be the case.

Rarity recognized the first woman to pull herself out. She was a beautiful woman who was a little older than herself. She was dressed in a form fitting blue jumpsuit that did her curvy figure a lot of favours.

“Cadance,” Rarity called.

Oh sure, she remembered her name but not her own.

Cadance blinked but her eyelids did not sync up. She shook her head and forced a smile.

“Am I?” she asked.

Rarity nodded. “Feeling a little amnesia, too?”

“Yeah,” Cadance murmured.

She laboured to pull herself out the capsule and Rarity stumbled over to the best of her abilities. Her motor reflexes were still not the best but she managed to be there to help support the other woman onto the ground.

Together, they then limped towards the faucet.

At this time, the other figures started to pull themselves out as well.

Rarity recognized one of them, noticing that this was Pinkie Pie’s sister, Maud.

The final figure was unknown to Rarity, however. She was a younger woman who had a peach-coloured skin and a head of very light blue hair, barely a few shades above pure white. She seemed to be the most panicked of the lot, frantically looking around the room.

“Where am I?” the young woman roared.

Rarity opened her mouth to answer but realized that she honestly had no idea.

“That’s uh…” she sighed. “That’s a very good question.”

Suddenly the largest of the capsules started to shudder. A large arm descended from the ceiling and pulled the lid free. Unlike the other capsules this one then lifted upwards and rotated, moving towards a vertical position.

Rarity gasped as she saw what was inside.

It was a large figure who stood probably close to eight feet tall. It looked distinctly human but also wasn’t. After all, no human bore three heads, all of them currently sleeping.

Cadance gasped. “Shining?”

That’s when Rarity realized that she knew one of these heads. It was that of Twilight’s older brother, his being the right most of the three on the body.

In the centre was another gentleman with a goatee. He looked a little on the older side.

The final head wasn’t human at all. It looked like the head of a mythical dragon, purple and scaly, serpentine like some kind of lizard.

“What the fuck!” the unknown woman yelped. “Is anyone else seeing this shit?”

The other women all nodded in unison. They were in fact all seeing the strange beast in front of them.

“Well, I’m officially terrified,” Maud grumbled.

Rarity snorted. “You don’t seem scared…”

“I’m very good at masking my emotions,” Maud replied.

The various complexions of the beast started to twitch. Slowly, it went through the same waking process as minor movements entered into its various joints and muscles. It would seem that there was more than just a dragon head on the body as one of the hands was also purple and scaly with razor sharp talons attached to it.

Rarity watched intently, intrigued by the strange monstrosity.

As she glanced to the side, she noticed that the other women were all watching as well. Her attention briefly settled upon the unknown entity. It was hard to tell but Rarity didn’t quite trust her. There was a little too much familiarity in her posture, a little too much comfort. It felt like a practiced ruse.

Rarity kept her mouth shut, however, wondering how much was just her mind toying with her. Probably quite a bit considering the strange circumstances she found herself in.

But still…

Slowly, the central head of the beast awoke and let out a mighty yawn. He smacked his lips together and cracked open his eyes.

“Well good morning,” he murmured. “Did you all have a good sleep?”

He looked to his various sides.

“Oh, come on, wake up you two,” he dictated before shaking his head. “We share the same circulatory systems after all.”

He reached up with a hand and slapped the two other faces on the body which seemed to jar them awake. They gasped and looked around frantically. Like with the women there was nothing but panic in their eyes.

“What the fuck?” Shining whispered before looking down. His eyes immediately widened. “What the fuck?!”

The dragon groaned. “What?”

The central figure snorted. “Anyways how about we start with introductions.” He motioned around the room. “Rarity, Maud, Cadance, Cozy Glow…”

Peach skin was Cozy Glow, good to know.

Then he pointed to himself. “And we’re Shining Armor, Discord, and Spike.”

“I’m Spike?” the dragon groaned, nodding to himself. “Huh… cool name.”

Discord cleared his throat and the trio’s arms braced against the side of the capsule as they pulled themselves out. The two other heads groaned as the sudden movement but Discord ignored them as he advanced into the centre of the room.

“Shall we start with the good news or the bad news?” Discord asked.

Shining drew in a breath. “Good news?”

“The good news is that you all survived the end of the world!” Discord beamed, clapping his hands together. Then his expression slipped. “The bad news is that uh… the world ended.”

He snapped his fingers together and a hologram popped up in the centre of the room. It depicted the planet as a bright green and blue gem floating in space. Though it would not be blue and green for long. Soon a massive meteor hit, followed by a super volcano erupting, and a nuclear war starting up all in the span of a few seconds.

Just as quickly the planet was brown and grey.

“The Earth went through a whole lot of shit about forty-five years ago,” Discord said.

“That’s heavy,” Cadance whispered.

Rarity cocked a brow. “Why were we saved?”

“Let me exposition for a bit longer and I promise that you’ll find out about that in no time at all,” Discord replied, flashing a smile.

“Why… why are we fused to your body?” Spike asked.

Shining nodded. “Also why is he a dragon?”

“I’ll be honest…” Discord bit his lip, letting out a terse note of laughter. “I might not have all of the details on that specific point. Let’s just say it's because your bodies were heavily damaged during the evacuation from Earth and we needed to save you in some way or another.”

“But dragon…” Shining continued.

Discord whistled. “Anyways.”

The hologram shifted away from the Earth and onto its moon. It then zoomed in on a bunker positioned upon one of its poles. It continued to zoom in until they were focused right in a little room that seemed very similar to the one that they were currently standing in.

The word ‘EDEN’ was spelled over top of it in bold capital letters.

“Eden?” Cozy grumbled. “Why are you so fucking cliché?”

“Shush you,” Discord jabbed.

Maud snorted. “She has a point.”

Discord glared at her before clearing his throat.

“Anyways! The Environmental Developmental Engineering Nursery was designed to collect the virtues of Mother Nature and store them away to reseed life on Earth in the event of the apocalypse. You know, when all the uh… dying was over.” He then tented his hands together. “Which congrats, forty-five years is actually way quicker than we assumed it would be. We now just need to avoid all of the yellow zones on Earth.”

Said yellow zones blossomed on the map, covering an overwhelming majority of the planet.

Discord pursed his lips together and looked at the globe, trying to actually find a non-yellow spot upon it.

He then beamed and pointed at one. “Congrats we’re moving to this small island in the Pacific!”

“Mother nature?” Rarity whispered.

“The divine entity who is responsible for all life on the planet,” Discord replied, offering a small smile. “She was a very nice lady; a total party animal.”

Rarity looked at Cadance and Cadance back at her. Together the two of them shrugged.

Cozy cackled and fell back into her capsule. “You got to be fucking with me.”

“Surgically adding two heads to my body seems to be just a smidge extreme for a joke,” Discord shot back before flashing a smile. “Though I would totally do that, wouldn’t I?”

“This is all just so absurd,” Cozy groaned.

Maud shrugged. “Welcome to the end of the world?”

Discord motioned and the hologram altered, changing to the representation of mother nature who was the green outline of a rather full-bodied woman. Six strands emerged from her, connecting to the outline of three women and three men.

“Each of us has one of the traits deemed necessary to bring about mother nature’s return and the salivation of Earth,” he said.

He pointed at Cozy. “You’re Innocence.”

Then Cadance. “Wifely…ness.”

His hand then graced Rarity. “The Temptress.”

Rarity scoffed. “Really?”

Discord ignored her and pointed at Maud. He promptly paused and clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

“Err… you’re the spare?” he suggested.

Then he pointed to Shining’s head. “The Middle-Aged Lord.”

“Middle-aged,” Shining interjected. “Middle-aged?! I’m like thirty-four.”

“Practically ancient,” Discord grumbled before pointing at Spike. “He’s the young hunter.” Then he pointed at his own head. “And I’m the distinguished, handsome, all-powerful, all-knowing, and charismatic prophet who will usher in a brand new age for humanity.”

Rarity cocked a brow. “Temptress?”

“I don’t make the rules,” Discord replied, holding up his hands defensively

He made his way over to a wall and leaned against it, resting his massive frame.

“Any questions?” Discord asked.

Cadance drew in a breath but Rarity cut her off.

“Why am I the Temptress?” Rarity asked, pointing at Cadance. “Everyone knows her reputation.”

Cadance gawked. “Really?”

“I mean… she has a point,” Shining chided.

Cadance glared at him. “You don’t seem to be complaining about it very much?”

“Hey why would I complain about something that I get to exploit on a daily basis,” Shining jabbed. “Err… well used to exploit.”

“Don’t worry you still have a dick,” Discord whispered.

Shining beam. “Oh sweet, you saved the important bits.”

Discord pointed at Cozy. “You have your hand up.”

Rarity looked over just in time to see her put it down.

“Innocence?” Cozy asked. “You’re telling me that I’m innocence in this situation?”

“She does seem pretty suspicious,” Rarity grumbled.

Cadance and Maud both nodded in agreement.

Discord bit his lip. “Well, uh… look…” He tented his fingers together and pondered this. Then he clapped his hands together exactly once. “When the world is in the midst of a nuclear holocaust after a meteor strike that triggered a super volcano, we kind of just grab who we can for these kinds of missions. You were probably like… the millionth on the list or something.”

“And why am I here?” Maud asked.

Discord shrugged. “No idea. Congrats you survived the end of the world and nothing is expected of you.”

Maud smirked. “Works for me.”

Discord looked out upon the room and motioned for anyone else to ask their questions.

“And how exactly do you know about all of this?” Rarity asked.

Discord smirked. “I’m glad that you asked.”

He held a pair of hands to his chest.

“I’m the child of mother nature,” Discord explained. “A literal demigod.”

Cadance sighed. “At the point… I don’t think I can’t even bring myself to be surprised anymore.”

Discord snapped the dragon’s talon and suddenly a piece of panelling at the side of the room slid away, revealing a sterile looking corridor. He led the way inside, ushering for the others to follow.

None of them declined as they fell in behind him.

It seemed that the facility was bigger than just the singular chamber. There were several rooms that branched off of this corridor. Rarity noticed that most of them were bedrooms, one belonged to a service locker, one was a lounge room, another was a cafeteria, and the one at the end of the corridor was a room full of intricate consoles that screamed science fiction.

It wasn’t a massive complex but was larger than most of the apartments that Rarity had rented in Canterlot. A little cramped for the number of people involved but she assumed that the apocalypse wasn’t going to be comfortable.

“So, what exactly is the goal of this project?” Maud asked.

Discord smirked. “We’re going to rebuild human society while also activating the powers of Mother Nature to cleanse the world that your species has decided to turn into a toxic hellscape.”

“And how exactly are we doing that?” Rarity asked.

She poked her head into one of the bedrooms, examining how it looked. It seemed pretty spartan, containing a bed, a desk with a computer, a closet, and a small cubicle that acted as the bathroom. As she advanced, she opened the closet door, noticing that it was full of similar uniforms to the tight jumpsuit she was currently in.

Rarity was distracted as she caught her reflection in a nearby mirror, sizing herself up. Much like Cadance, her outfit also perfectly accented her body shape, making sure to show off her decently-sized bust and rump.

As she looked back at the uniforms, she noticed that some of them were cut differently. Rarity could only think of these as sexier versions of the outfit that she already wore. They were cut shorter and designed to show off plenty of skin.

Discord cleared his throat and Rarity blushed.

“Sorry,” Rarity said. “Got a little distracted.”

“Yes, yes, I know the rooms are full of very shiny things to gawk at but if we could please focus on the task at hand,” Discord murmured.

When he was sure that he had Rarity’s undivided attention once again, he smiled and folded his hands behind his back.

“We’re going to replicate the very same process which first brought life to your planet,” Discord stated. “The very same methods that my mother and father displayed a little over six thousand years ago.”

“Wait, the creationists were right?” Shining asked.

Discord snorted. “No, that was a test to see how gullible you were. I am proud to say that you passed with flying colours.”

“And what exactly are the methods that we are going to recreate?” Cozy asked.

“My mother edged my father for six days straight before creating all life on the seventh with the most impressive cumshot that the universe has ever seen,” Discord said, his tone far too dry for that to be a joke. “Any other questions?”

Everyone looked at him with varying degrees of skepticism.

“What, my mother was a fucking fertility god. Did you think it wasn’t going to evolve sex?” Discord grumbled. “But once you manage to complete that then I’m sure that you’ll have a nice fertile planet for your species to blossom and rebuild your society to the point of ruining it all over again.”

Cozy looked at the others. “We’re all sharing a coma dream, right?”

“You are not sharing a coma dream,” Discord said.

Cadance nodded. “Coma dream.”

“Coma dream,” Rarity agreed.

She looked at Maud who shrugged.

“I mean it’s not the craziest story I’ve ever heard,” Maud droned.

Cozy snorted. “You’ve heard weirder?”

“I mean, Pinkie Pie was my sister,” Maud said.

Discord cleared his throat. “Anyways, I’ll give you a day to confirm that this isn’t a coma dream then we can start with the festivities tomorrow.” He pointed at the women in turn. “Cozy will edge us tomorrow, then Rarity, then Cadance, and finally Maud.”

“Can we do Cadance last,” Shining groaned. “I want to end things on a high note.”

Discord snorted. “Fair point.”

“Wow!” Cozy growled. “I’ll have you know I can handle your dick way better than her.”

Cadance snorted. “Sure, thing innocence.”

Cozy glared at Cadance and balled her hands into fists.

Rarity swore she could see a blood vessel on the brink of bursting.

“Anyways!” Discord beamed. “Us boys are going to uh… have our own little private talk. So, you four get to know each other a little better, okay?” He waved before moving towards their bedroom. “Please ensure you don’t murder each other.”

With that he slipped into one of the bedrooms, leaving the other four alone.

“I’m going to shove you into an airlock and vent you,” Cozy hissed, thrusting a finger at Cadance.

Cadance smirked. “Then you’ll doom humanity.”

“We have a spare,” Cozy retorted.

Maud smirked. “This is true.”

Author's Note

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