Minuette sat on a nearby hill, looking over the ruins that had once been Canterlot. She knew that the time was coming, Celestia would die, and Luna would lie with the body for a few minutes, the body would not even be cold by the time that Luna too joined her beyond the veil. Minuette did not need to intrude upon their final moments, she had had a few that she was invited to, a few of her own loves that she had said goodbye to in person. But at the end, she rarely had anyone to spend the final moments with, except...
Discord popped into existence next to her, and she nodded to him, looking up at the sick, sick sun, knowing that it was actually dead, the light just hadn't reached them yet, the blinding flash perhaps? The scouring storm, or the dull cold? She would prefer a quick death this time, she had experienced it so many times though it made little difference ultimately. She looked to the side, nodding at her oldest friend. "So, we have eight minutes."
"Yes, only eight minutes now, then I will cease to be for a while, and you..."
"I will watch, I will watch a world without people, a world stuck in a rut, without chaos or intelligence, just going through its motions, until it finally finds a way to once again create things worth watching, and loving."
"I do hope that when it comes back about I don't get stuck in a statue again, talk about boring! I was starting to feel like you!"
Minuette smiled wryly at Discord. "You would have many, many years to catch up to me, old friend. And it was your own fault, you chose to play the antagonist again."
Discord nodded, popping a small coin into his hand. "They needed a villain, it wasn't like I just arbitrarily chose to be the villain, or flipped a coin!" He flipped the coin to emphasize his point and Minuette smiled once more in genuine amusement.
"Well let's hope this next batch is more settled than this one, so you don't need to play the villain."
Discord nodded, snapping his fingers and the coin disappeared, looking up at the sun as well. "Do you think we'll ever get to go to where they have gone?"
"You? Certainly, you're probably there now, in another capacity."
"How do you figure?"
"You are chaos, but what is chaos? It is the choice of all thinking creatures. Unless you get no choices in the afterlife you will be there, you will see your friends again." She gave him another sly smile. "Especially Fluttershy."
He nodded. "I'm sure you'll get there too."
"You don't need to give me baseless comfort Discord."
"Well if you aren't there I'll come get you! Screw what death says!"
Minuette giggled quietly, her oldest friend was impulsive. "Well, it's good to see you getting close to a few people this time, you're usually so standoffish."
"I've lived without her for thousands of years Minuette, and that was my only other real friend all these years... How do you do it?"
Minuette smiled sadly. "If I live for all eternity, I will know that I made a difference in a few lives, and it is such fleeting things that make an eternity worth living."
Discord nodded, falling into a companionable silence, it wasn't like they wouldn't have thousands, perhaps millions of more years together. Not every moment needed to be filled with talking. They had only a minute left when discord spoke again. "The thing that always makes me wonder, is what causes different life to live, instead of ponies, people, instead of people dragons, instead of dragons strange floating creatures with many eyes. What do you always wonder when a new world starts?"
"Who is the one creature who's life I can change, who's life is it that I will matter in. Their form doesn't matter, just their need."
Discord nodded, and fell silent again for another twenty seconds, only leaving him with ten seconds, finally working up the courage to ask the question he hadn't for so many millennia beyond counting. "Does it hurt?"
Minuette didn't speak for a few moments, Discord thought that she wasn't going to answer, or at least not in time, only to hear her words as he faded out, the last of the suns light was just reflecting off the moon the last creature that truly had choices passed from the world as Luna died, curled up next to her sister's body. "Every time." Minuette looked up, as the sky grew bright for a few moments and she closed her eyes, so it was the wave of flame. She was glad, that was quicker, though ultimately, it didn't matter, she never had a real choice anyway.