The floating city cast its long shadow over the once-vibrant land; where green fields had prospered for centuries, there was now only ever-shifting goop. Globs of it permanently coated the buildings of a quaint little town, many of which had collapsed under the goop’s sheer weight and density. Scattered, dead treetops still poked out of the abominable muck as if frozen in a silent scream, reaching out their splintered arms for sunlight they could never photosynthesize while clawing in vain at the now-solid ground trapping their roots.

The Princess gazed down upon the wretched, cursed land. It had all happened so fast: one day, Equestria thrived, and the next...

She sighed for what had to be the hundredth time. If only I could have acted sooner…

She turned her gaze back to the cold, deadened expanse that filled her view. Not even the lakes had been spared. Canterlot lay in a crumbled ruin at the base of its mountain, the last stronghold to fall. The abomination had had no greater difficulty ascending the mountain as ants did a tree. Eventually, its overwhelming presence covered every road, every laneway, every building; when at last it made its home atop the Royal Palace, the magical supports holding Canterlot faded, and Equestria’s seat of power came crashing down.

As for the brave sisters inside, keeping their unprecedented foe at bay while as many of their subjects as possible escaped…

“Twilight?”

Her ear twitched; she remained otherwise unresponsive.

“Please don’t blame yourself, Twilight. There’s no way anypony could have seen it coming.”

“They’re… they’re gone.” Twilight closed her eyes and bowed her head, water from her eyes dripping to the cloud below.. “It t-took them both. Luna, C-Celestia… oh…”

“Shhh.” Two yellow forelegs snaked around Twilight’s shoulders and gripped her—firm, but not tight. “It’s okay. Well, no, I guess it really isn't but, um… well, if it means anything, I’m still here for you. You know that, right?”

Twilight nodded, finally facing her friend. “Thank you, Fluttershy. I just don’t… what are we going to do? What can we do now, besides sit up here and stare?”

She fell silent. A breeze ruffled both of their manes while Twilight turned back and gazed toward the north. Where once the shining crystal city would have been easily visible from this height, only a gigantic crater remained. Already, the goop had found its new home, moving to spread and fill the gap like water drawn toward a drain. Soon the crater would resemble the rest of the land: cold, pink, dead, further testament to Equestria’s sudden and very real apocalypse.

Twilight pawed at the rough surface beneath her hooves, next to the clouds surrounding it. “I’m still amazed that Crystaldale can actually fly! Whoever designed it must have known something like this would happen. Which probably means that it came sometime in the distant past… but it was beaten then, so why…” She sniffed and looked up at the sky, toward the Sun that had ceased moving hours ago. It already felt like days. “I could have… something, anything—”

“Twilight.”

She looked up, and found herself held in thrall by a fearsome aqua gaze. It gripped her, paralyzed her, until nothing mattered but her and Fluttershy—nothing but that gaze.

“You did nothing wrong. You did everything you could. We all did. So stop thinking about it.”

The Stare softened, giving way to a small smile. “Don’t hate yourself,” Fluttershy said as she stroked Twilight’s mane. “Love is our only hope. But we need to heal our own hearts before we can heal Equestria.”

The moment broke, and Twilight found herself held tight. She lifted her forelegs and returned the embrace, resting her head on Fluttershy’s shoulder. She stared at the towering central palace and at the brilliant blue gleam beneath it, the only thing keeping not only everypony’s spirits, but the very foundation they stood upon afloat. Ponies of all races—Earth, Pegasus, Unicorn, even Crystal—were now all trapped together in this crystalline utopia. Fluttershy was right: love was now more important than ever.

“Perhaps I can’t do anything yet,” she said, pulling away from Fluttershy. “But I promise you, our friends, and all that remains of our once-glorious world, that Cadence and I will find an antidote to this malefic poison choking our beautiful world. Love will be our best medicine. We will free everypony below. They’re still alive… I can feel it.”

She steeled her eyes. “We will defeat the Smooze, once and for all.”