The Darkness was rolling in, a dark cloud moving steadily forward. King Sombra’s last stand. He wasn’t too hard to defeat, but this cloud…It felt no pain, no fear, and it had destroyed the Elements of Harmony. Luna and Celestia were frantic in trying to stop it, but eventually they realized it was no use. They instead went to comfort the citizens of their kingdom.
Princess Luna landed in Ponyville with a soft thud, immediately being stormed by the ponies that lived there, “Quiet, please.” She spoke softly, soothingly, but when nopony listened she brought out the traditional Royal Canterlot Voice, “SUBJECTS! WE REQUEST SILENCE!” she boomed, the sound echoing through the town.
Every pony fell silent, but one little white and brown colt stepped forward, “Princess Luna,” He began in his adorable English accent, “Did you and Princess Celestia find a way to stop the Darkness?” He was shaking as he gazed up at the dark blue alicorn with giant brown eyes.
It was all Luna could do not to burst into tears, she sighed and drew Little Pip closer with one of her wings, “Pip, I’m afraid Tia and I have given up.” There was a collective gasp from that crowd that the princess ignored, “We just have to hope.”
“That’s not fair!” A little white unicorn called out, “What about my sister? Did she die for nothing?!” Sweetie Belle’s eyes were full of tears, “You have to keep trying.” She stared at the ground, scuffing up dirt with her hoof. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom stepped forward to comfort her.
“The loss of the Elements has affected all of us, Sweetie Belle, but it’s out of our hooves now. There’s nothing to do now but wait.” Luna said sadly, tears beginning to form in her own eyes. “Tia and I will fight it off as long as we can, but there is absolutely no guarantee.” With that, she spread her wings and soared into the air, letting tears freely flow now.
A royal tear hit Scootaloo’s nose, the young pegasus gazing up in wonder at the normally stoic princess as she flew off in the direction of Canterlot. “Sweetie Belle.” She nudged her friend’s shoulder, “Come on, let’s go inside.” She was there when the Elements died, she had hid in a bush to watch Rainbow Dash’s next feat. Watching a pony die from the Darkness was not something she wanted to relive.
“Yeah, let’s go to the clubhouse.” Apple Bloom suggested, wondering if she really wanted to spend what might be her last moments with her friends instead of her family. Deciding her friends needed her more than her family did at the moment, the farm filly trotted off in the direction of the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ official clubhouse.
The other two Crusaders followed her, Scootaloo supporting Sweetie Belle as the unicorn sobbed loudly. The three fillies reached the clubhouse and sat in a circle, staring at each other with grave intensity.
***
Meanwhile, in Canterlot, the royal princesses were huddled together, “Sister, the Darkness approaches with rapid intensity.” Celestia commented, it almost sounded like a question.
“Yes, my sister. It should be here within the hour.” Luna acknowledged sourly, gazing out the window at the dark cloud, hearing King Sombra’s laugh in her head. She shuddered, “You’re sure there’s no way to stop it?”
“There’s one thing we could try,” Celestia’s eyes grew intense, “But its chances of working are slim.”
***
“Look at that!” Bon Bon shouted above the loud din of frantic ponies, her hoof was pointing to their princesses. They were both flying side by side up to the Darkness. Every pony in Ponyville grew silent as they watched with dread as the princesses’ horns began to glow, one pink and one blue.
Scootaloo was facing the window of the clubhouse; she saw Celestia and Luna rise up to the Darkness. Determined not to let Sweetie Belle or Apple Bloom see what was going on, she proposed a song to pass the time.
Sweetie Belle grew slightly happier as she began singing their favorite lullaby on repeat in a round with Apple Bloom. Scootaloo joined in, but her voice was shaky, she watched the princesses reach the Darkness, swallowing a gulp she continued to sing “H-hush now, quiet now…”
The princesses, their horns aglow, aimed beams of light at the Darkness just as they reached its edge. Suddenly, the Darkness engulfed them; their forms grew larger and larger until bits of gore flew out of the cloud in a shower of blood.
Mothers covered their foals’ eyes as the scene caused mass hysteria. Realizing their fate, several ponies died on their own terms, including Octavia and Vinyl Scratch, each went playing their favorite music. Lyra and Bon Bon both closed their eyes and sat on the bench they normally shared, each humming as if to drown out the din of panicking ponies.
Scootaloo stopped singing, her eyes filled with tears and she threw herself at Sweetie Belle, shielding her eyes until the rain of gore had all hit the ground. Sweetie Belle was struggling to see what was going on, but to no avail, the outside world for her was covered by orange fur and feathers.
Apple Bloom screamed, her eyes weren’t shielded, she watched as a crown fell down in the apple orchard. She shivered, realizing their fate, she laid on the ground next to her friends, continuing to sing the lullaby.
Suddenly, pegasai flew up in a great rush of feathers, Scootaloo noticed that they didn’t fly alone, upon their backs were unicorns. Ponyville wouldn’t go without a fight. The unicorn cavalry, led by none other than Derpy Hooves, was racing towards the Darkness. The derpy eyed mare instructed the pegasai to form a straight line facing the Darkness, the unicorn on her back, Doctor Stable, instructed the unicorns to aim beams of light at the Darkness. All ponies complied.
Collectively, the unicorns shot beams of light all at once, not even making the Darkness move back. Instead, the cloud seemed to move forward faster in order to engulf the whole line of pegasai, many unicorns realized it was getting closer and leapt from the winged ponies, only to die from the height of their jump.
Every earth pony, pegasus and unicorn that couldn’t or didn’t participate in the attack were showered in blood and gore, a cutie mark that featured seven bubbles came down in front of a frantic Doctor Whooves. He stared at it in disbelief before rushing off towards the Everfree Forest, never to be seen again.
Theinital panic was subsiding as ponies went inside to spend their last minutes with family and friends. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were all lying together, facing away from the window, each was crying, each was singing, “…drift on off to sleep, let the joy of daylight find you! Hush now, quiet now…”
The Darkness loomed just a few feet over Town Hall, a few minutes later it will have engulfed it. Some ponies figured this out and went to stand near it, wanting to be killed by flying debris rather than exploding. Other ponies were trying desperately to say all they had to say to friends, family, even enemies.
Town Hall exploded, killing many of the ponies near it with debris. The Darkness was now engulfing ponies. Blood was beginning to spatter down like rain, making puddles and filling ditches. The Cutie Mark Crusaders closed their eyes as the darkness appeared through the wall.
Scootaloo braced herself, but she wasn’t ready for what happened. She felt like she was in a taffy puller, being pulled in every direction at once. She was in excruciating pain. She heard Sweetie Belle let out an earsplitting screech, but she herself made a point not to. She would go down just like her hero, without fear and with dignity.
Granny Smith sat next to Big Mac in her rocking chair when a shredded but still recognizable pink bow landed directly in front of her.
