"...What does it mean to live forever when the end of the world is always so near?"
It was all gone.
The once thriving land of Equestria, rich in it's prosperity and residents, was now naught but miles upon miles of stretching misery and lost bodies. The sky no longer held it's crystal clear days and crisp nights, but a thick fog of smoke and ash that suffocated any clinging life that dared to spring forth in the darkness. Well, all except for one, but this life was struggling, as it had done for many years. Princess Celestia, a once proud and mighty ruler, was now a shell of her former self, reduced to a scavenger's life for scraps of food and meager shelter from the ruined world around her. Her sleek, brilliant white form could've been mistaken for a beggar, if there was another to be begged towards. Her coat and mane was now a dusty monochromatic grey, clumps of dirt and dried blood scattered about here and there across her tired and ragged body. Her winged grace was now replaced with tattered feathers, her horn riddled with cracks that threatened to break off the brittle protrusion from her head. With each step of her worn hooves into the wasteland, the already depleted hope within her vanished more and more.
Her lifeless eyes scanned over the horizon, the usual sight of this dead land welcoming her bitterly. Destroyed homes and devastated landmarks dotted here and there wherever she trudged, but some were too collapsed for her to rest in, and she doubted they had any supplies for her to find. Bones of dead ponies mixed with rubble was scattered about the earth, just another cruel reminder of what once was. Celestia had felt grief for them when doomsday came so long ago, but had become accustomed to the depressing scenery. Eventually, she had to rest. Settling herself down against a fire-scorched tree, she laid against it's hardened black bark, closing her eyes, and wondered, as she had done so many times before, why this had all happened.
She had done everything right, or so she thought. For countless centuries she had protected her land and ponies. With her as it's unquestioned and unshakeable ruler, all would be safe and protected. She was foalish to believe this lie. As she grew into her immortality and divine power, realization of the finite lifespan of everything around her began to settle dark seeds in the back of her mind. So many lives came and went before her. As she aged, the meaning of time just vanished. She could blink, and a friend she had made just yesterday was now crippled and elderly. This same concept applied to her kingdom as well. One day she knew it would have to end, and that she would be all that remained in the ruins.
Celestia remembered every detail so vividly of that evening.
Canterlot, so high and mighty above the rest of Equestria, seemed nigh impenetrable to any force who wished it harm. She was in her private studies, reviewing the letter her protege had sent her minutes ago. The sun was just setting, radiating it's final light of every warm color of the spectrum upon those who looked up to see it's beauty. In a matter of seconds, she whimmed the great star to lower, and quickly following, her sister Luna raised the moon to cast it's own pale glow. With her duty finished for the moment, she went back to reading the letter, only for a light outside of the window to shine in, imitating daylight. At first, she was partially stunned. What had to power to match her own at raising the sun? Only when sounds of explosions and violent earthquakes occured did the princess jump to her hooves. Gazing out of her study's now shattered window, all she could convey was an emotionless expression, only her pupils small and her mouth hanging open slightly.
Off in the distance, far beyond Canterlot's realm, great plumes of smoke tinged with brimstone and hellfire were engulfing the land. They were generated one after another, and within a matter of minutes, the explosions that towered to blend with the clouds were only seconds away from Canterlot. Below in the castle grounds, guards, the royal family and commoners alike all stampeded about to flee from the oncoming doom, but they knew their end was coming. Celestia reacted as time began to slow around her. A blinding light from her horn engulfed most of the castle just as the next explosion came upon them. The protective barrier from their sovereign made the survivors cheer, as around them, just past the thin layer of magic, chaos erupted. Nopony even had enough time to cry out for their last breath of salvation as the inferno came to burn their flesh and sear their bones.
Only when the cries ended and the eruptions ceased did Celestia release the only thing keeping her and her subjects safe. With the barrier of safety gone, the newly formed smog immedietly rushed in to grimly meet their lungs, suffocating many on the spot. Activating her magic once more, the bubble returned to protect them. Walking through the corridors, Celestia began to take stock of the damage done. She knew only herself and whoever was inside the castle at the time of the explosion survived, but as for the fate of the rest of the land, a mystery. They were possibly the last of ponykind. And as for the cause of this catastrophe, still she was in the dark about it. It could have been an act of Discord, but not likely. He was one to possess power on this scale, but it didn't have his personal touch to it. Why would he simply destroy everything and leave it at that? For all Celestia knew, some young bucking unicorn had found an ancient tome and unleashed a spell they knew nothing about. There was nopony to blame, so they had to move on.
As the days inched into weeks, and the weeks creeped into months, and the months into years, slowly, ever so slowly, did all fade away except for Celestia. Either time or the post-apocalypse stole away lives. Even Luna, who had the same eternal attributes of her sister, soon passed. It was an accident, or maybe intentional, that it happened right before Celestia's eyes.
A month after the end times had fallen, they were traversing over what was once Manehattan, still in search of any signs of life, to no advail though. Luna had been silent for the most part, only answering a query towards herself with a nod or a sad gaze. Celestia was in the lead of their dwindling group, making sure the path was clear for them to trod upon. The disaster came quickly, as many things had at that time. First, a warning rumble. Taking it as a far off noise, they continued on, only for the rumbling to grow, and in an instant, a skyscraper near them collapsed, sending a hailstorm of concrete to rain down death. They broke into a run as they tried to escape, narrowly missing any boulder that wished to crush them. Once they believed they were clear of the danger, Celestia took a head count. Two more souls taken by the cold grip of death. Only she, Luna, and a maiden mare lived. They began their slow travel once more, only for death to come back with vengeance twicefold. The weight of the rubble caused the ground beneath their hooves to give way to a bottomless oblivion. Celestia took flight instantly, but as for Luna and the maiden, they were to leave the world.
Celestia gazed downwards into the black eternity, the gaping hole that had swallowed her sibling. She hovered their for the longest time, waiting for Luna to come flying back up, her midnight blue self covered in a thin layer of soot, maybe with the maiden in tow. But no such thing took place. Celestia, the sovereign ruler, the embodiment of the sun itself, was alone. Day no longer had it's night.
She opened her eyes from the realm of memories to return to the present day of despair.
All she had now was herself and this damned land to forever wander. She wished for it all to end, but her own power wouldn't allow it. She kept herself alive with the little spark of magic she had left, her vitals weakly functioning, but her mind far gone.
She longed for her own demise.
She hoped for something to finish her.
She prayed to any deity above to take her.
But it would not come.
Celestia slowly stood up, shaking violently, as if the millenia of her lifespan had finally caught up with her. She herself would have to take away this torment. Raising her face skyward, she struggled to use that last bit of power that harbored within her, straining every last muscle and fiber of her body, every last remaining bits of her soul for this one last act. With her vision blurring, she caught a glimpse of the glory of the end.
The sun.
Inch by inch, she was bringing the solar body closer and closer to the planet. The alicorn continued her magical depletion of self, the temperature rising higher and higher. Eventually, she could no longer exist. The sheer heat of the sun so close simply vaporized her into a pillar of dust. It appeared the rest of the world would follow, but not so. With no other worldy power pulling it, the sun returned to it's normal position, as if nothing had moved the flaming giant. It's power had burned away the atmosphere, leaving the choking fog gone. All at once, the world was clear and silent.
A millenium later, the dust that was Celestia dissolved into the dirt. Even further along after the end, the dirt became fertile. A stalk of green, barely an inch tall, sprouted out of that soil. And by infintesimal amounts, it grew. It lived. When it was fully grown, the flower was beautiful, a harbinger of hope. It had six petals, each one different from one another. One was purple in color with stripes of it's lighter color running through it, another blue, it's edges tinged with every color of the rainbow. The third, pure white. Fourth, a pale yellow. Fifth, Orange. Sixth, a bubbly and bright pink. And in the center of this flower, it was divided, but the two halves seemed to blend together. The top portion was as bright as day, the lower as calming as night.
"...What the caterpillar calls the end, the butterfly calls the beginning."
