...please turn out the lights.
Celestia sighed, once, deeply, watching the luminescent backwash from the last spaceship fade. It hung in the thin air, signaling the time had come. She took one last long look at the fallen palace surrounding her, mentally bidding the crumbling ruins she'd lived in for last several centuries farewell and gathering her strength, concentrating on the last thing she needed to do.
"Um, excuse me?"
She jumped at the unexpected interruption, spinning to find a uniformed delivery pony looking through an unexpected teleportal.
"Sorry, do I have the right address? Only, I was told this is where the party was..."
"Um, I-" She started to reply, confused, but was cut off by a familiar voice.
"That's right, start setting up. The boss will be along in a minute."
She turned towards the newcomer, and was surprised by a hug.
"Celestia! It's so good to see you!"
"Twilight?" She stepped back, glad to see her favorite student but bewildered by what was happening. "Why are you here? What's going on?" She stared around in confusion as delivery ponies poured in, carrying decorations and furnishings. Just like that, tables covered with food, games, party favors and other treats appeared. Suddenly, the boss arrived and kicked the chaos into overdrive.
"ALL RIGHT, PARTY PONIES!" A pink blur zipped through the portal, and took over the setup with a burst of confetti and balloons. "Let's get this party started!" Pinkie paused for a second to hug Celestia, her cybernetic body buzzing with the whirr and hum of overloaded servos. "Sorry Princess, I wanted it to be a proper surprise, but this is the best I could do. Give me a minute to set things up; the rest of the guests should be here shortly." She darted off with un-pony quickness, her enhanced neural network allowing her to coordinate the setup a very nearly the speed of light.
"Sister!" Celestia was glomped again.
"Luna! I'd almost given up waiting for you!"
"I'm sorry." Luna looked down, genuine contrition playing across her face. "I wanted to come earlier, but Pinkie made me promise. She wanted a surprise-"
"But it didn't work. I know, she told me." Celestia laughed, suddenly feeling a lot better. Maybe today wouldn't be quite as hard as she expected. "So," She turned to Twilight. "Who else is coming?"
"I'm not really sure, besides Spike." Her student twitched a wing absentmindedly. "I've been immersed in lighting up a new solar transfer node with him, and I didn't really have time to read the guest list. I don't think it will be a big party, but with Pinkie you never know. Oh look, here he comes!" She pointed to where a stream of flame descended. It fell at dizzying speed, the tortured air literally burning around it. Despite that, it touched down as lightly as a feather and uncurled into the familiar shape of a colossal dragon, emerald wings and scales barely warm.
"Spike!" Twilight rushed forward. "It's so good to see you! How did the node start-up go on your end? You don't have linkshock, do you?"
"Sheesh Twilight, I'm fine. If you'd waited just a second longer, I could have warped across and come with you instead of taking the long way." The green wyrm preened for a second, rubbing stardust and soot off his wings and scales before shrinking himself to a more manageable size. "I'm glad to see you, too." He hugged Twilight before slithering over to join the group and exchange greetings. "So, is this it?"
"Nope!" The pink cyborg re-joined them. "Hi, Luna, Spike, Twilight! Just a few more guests!" She turned back to the portal, and waved the last of the hired hooves away. It shut with the snap and crackle of torn space resealing, leaving the five of them standing silently.
"So who else-" Celestia's words were cut off as a ripple appeared in the air in front of them. With a gut-wrenching twist reality itself unfolded, revealing the forms of a draconequus and a butter-yellow pegasus.
"Fluttershy!" Twilight exclaimed, leaping forward to hug her friend.
"Oh, sure. SHE gets all the-" Discord's bitter soliloquy was cut off by a gentle embrace from Celestia.
"Hush," She said. "We are your friends, too."
"Oh, well. It's good to see you too, Celly."
The princess smiled at that.
"We should really talk more. We do go way back." She said softly.
"Oh, careful! You're getting sentiment on me." He brushed a speck off his shoulder, and smiled to take the sting out of his words. "You're welcome to visit us. Flutters would love to have you, and we have plenty of room. What do you say, Sunny?"
"I think...I'd like that. I haven't really made any plans. This whole thing..." She gestured upwards, taking in the sun and the sky, "hasn't left me much for room for thought." She looked down, slightly abashed. "I'll be the first to admit that I may not have been thinking very clearly."
"Well, enough thinking!" Discord said, with a smirk. "For now, enjoy yourself. Oh, and here are the last guests!"
As he finished, a blinding wave of pink light washed over the group. Twilight coughed something that sounded like 'Showoff' as two new ponies appeared. One was a pink alicorn with an ethereal mane that glowed the colors of sunset, the other was a sky-blue pegasus filly, wide eyed and clearly intimidated by the company she found herself in.
"And that, Perseid, is how to teleport long distances," Cadance said, wrapping up the lecture. She looked up, smiling at the group. "Hello, everyone! It's so good to see you! This is my student, Perseid Lumin! Are we late?" Luna snickered at her worried expression, but Pinkie was quick to re-assure her.
"Nope, you're right on time! Now, let's PARTY!"
And then there was merriment.
Much later, when the games had been played, and the food was mostly eaten, and they had even sung a song or two, they were all sitting in a circle swapping stories. Celestia took one last bite of cake, and decided it was time. She set her plate down and let Cadence finish her tale, an anecdote about her first husband, Shining Armor. Everyone laughed except for Perseid, who seemed slightly shocked by the idea that her teacher had once been married. They all fell silent as Celestia tapped her fork against the edge of her plate.
"Please come with me." She stood, and they followed quietly. She meandered a while, letting bittersweet feelings carry her to and fro through the ruined marble palace, saying goodbye to many memories before stepping onto a terrace under the open sky. Her friends formed a semicircle around her and she turned to look at them.
"I'm old." She smiled a little. "You few immortals understand just how true that is. But once again, I've realized I still have much to learn." She looked up to the sky. "I've led ponies for many years. I've watched empires rise and mountains crumble. I invested my heart and soul in everything I did. And I have to confess, although I've long seen this day coming, I dreaded it from the second I realized it would happen." She turned, and waved a wing at the surrounding landscape.
"You see here, a dead world. Although I may be able to raise and lower the sun, not even I can stop the progression of nature. Not one pony outside of us walks here. Very few could even survive. You," She pointed to Twilight, "have done so much to give me hope. You gave my little ponies the stars. They have come so very far. You all have taught them so much. And I confess, it made me slightly bitter. I saw my era was ending, and thought, that as ponies became less reliant on me I would be loved less." A sparkling tear slid down her white cheek.
"Oh, how wrong I was. Thank you all. Thank you for taking the time to help me feel better. To spend some time with me, to make me the center of attention and show me that you still care. This is something I've taught, but also something I've learned and re-learned: time spent with friends is time well spent. And you can always find strength to face the future, if you have friends at your side." She began gathering power around her horn. "My heart is lighter than it's been in years. So, with a smile...for one, final time, good night."
And with a flash a gleam and a twinkle, she put out the sun.
"...Well, at least this was better than our last end of the world party."
"You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"
"Nope!"
But the party continued, under the stars.
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Why is Spike a winged serpent?
3580126 Just because he doesn't have wings now doesn't mean he won't ever.
3580546
He's been depicted as an adult twice in the series, both times wingless. If Twilight gave him wings in this story, it probably should have been mentioned.
That was realy sad. Poor Celestia
3580695 Meh, not important to me. Sorry if it bothers you, but I didn't think the point of the story should be the background...I mean, I didn't even touch on what happened to the rest of the M6, or why Pinkie is a cyborg, and I'd have cut more from the story if I thought it helped. I'm still a baby author, but this story did have a point...and that was not it.
Very good! Very good! Bravo good pony, bravo. This was quite good, I like it.
3580740>>3581982 Yaaaaaay! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
3580695 Remember Dragon Quest? Garble and company were making fun of Spike's age, and then made fun of his lack of wings directly afterward. Personally, the way they brought that up made me think those two statements are connected and Spike will eventually grow wings as he ages.
Damn good man. Just the right mix of science and feels for a story like this.
Oh, this was nice. Heh... I get the story/chapter name now... So Celestia almost had her own Luna-rific bitter-jealous-envious period. Well, it kinda makes sense with the way the future panned out.
Trust Pinkie to read, and use R. Daneel Olivaw.
If this isnt unique, its the first ever End Of the World thats ended with everyone main still alive, for a long long time.
Narnia doesnt count at all. And I think the only other story was maybe an Arthur C Clarke.
Magiscience? Technobabble? Immortals? Pinkie?
Why, yes. Yes yes.
Very nice :)
That was a nice perspective on immortality. Not too many people consider what it really means. Fewer understand it's a one way ticket to the end of the world. A blessing concealing what is arguably the cruelest curse ever conceived. But, the story had a somewhat happy ending because, well, ponies. You just keep surprising me... A very nice story indeed.
Going through and reading all your stories because, well, why not? This one was actually happier than I expected it to be. Immortality is always kind of an interesting topic to think on. It's one thing in the setting of an afterlife, where the epeople around you share in your gift/curse. It's quite another to have it while still living in the mortal world. It would be a lot to bear.
"at"
"more. We"
"I"
You also have no spaces after most of your ellipsis (...). It's fairly consistant in this one, so you could leave them, but I think there is supposed to be one.
7347468 Fixed, thanks! I think I'll leave the ellipsis, because that sounds annoying to fix.
I don't really do 'dark'. And all the immortality angst that goes on around this site really bugs me. It's not just silly, it's become trite by now. A lot to bear? I don't really think so, honestly. People leave friends behind and make new ones all through their lives, and just because that's going on for longer doesn't actually change much of anything, IMHO. Perhaps after a few millennia it would grow old, but I really don't think it would be the burden it's so often made out to be, not without some other aspect affecting you.
If you're actually interested in reading all my work, let me know and I'll link you some of my non-pony stuff.
7348599 The friends part wouldn't be what would make it a burden, at least, not by itself. I think the realization that you are going to watch everyone you know die would hit pretty hard when it struck, but you could move past it. Not to be insensitive, but after a time, it would become like our knowledge that dogs don't live as long as us, and for most of our lives, any dogs we meet, even puppies, will die within our lifetime. Doesn't make the individual death any easier, but as you said, we go through that anyway. As long as the person copes properly.
I think the part that would make it tough would be the culmination of little things. Two of the biggest, which kind of go together, would be staying relevant, and making sure you don't distance yourself from others. Most people reach a point in their life where they don't really want to try to keep up with technology and/or culture at some point in their life. Usually this isn't a big deal, because they are usually near the end of their life when they do. This doesn't allow enough time to fall very far behind. But what if you had decided not to keep yp with technology from 1716 to now? Or culture? Can you imagine how hard it would be to get back in? Not so much in actually acclimating, but in the mental battle of getting back into it?
Probably the hardest thing wouldn't come for a few thousand years though. Seeing destructive cycles, and knowing you are powerless to stop it. Like the rise and fall of a republic. Through history, the greatest civilizations typically only last about 200 years. Seeing it repeat by comparing it to history is scary, but being able to recall the last times it's happened, and what comes next could be a bit depressing.
You would also have to be very intentional about continuous learning. Assuming of course that your mind and memory are adapted accordingly for immortality. I imagine most of ours wouldn't hold up well after a few thousand years.
Of course, having a few immortal friends would make it a whole lot easier. Probably one of the biggest being having some constants in your life. Thise are very important to humans, to have some form of stability. But things that most of us take for granted as unchanging are really just a slow enough change that we don't see them. But to an immortal, even things like mountains would have noticeable changes over the course of thousands of years.
And that's just scratching the surface. Though, I have to agree with you on the angst stories being old. Most of them don't touch on the deeper parts of immortality, they all focus on loneliness. Which is probably one of the most avoidable problems an immortal could have.
Sorry about the rant-ish explaination. I actually do enjoy the stories that kind of reflect on what it means to be immortal. But I also avoid a lot of them because, as you said, a lot of them are all about how sad loneliness is.
7350352 Hmm, you make some good points. The learning one isn't something I'd ever considered deeply, whereas the distancing yourself, I think, ties in with the 'seeing other people die'; if someone enjoys having friends, they're not going to just randomly shut themselves off from society, I'd say. And it's also connected to the type of person; I tend to distance myself from people already, and It would be hard to consider me 'old'.
I wonder how much of that learning stuff is actually physiological? I mean, young people's brains are literally wired differently in some ways. If being immortal regressed your brain, or allowed you to use it as if it was any age or something, perhaps you could learn languages just by listening to them like a child does... Interesting stuff.
As for technology/culture... I dunno. I mean, you're not exactly wrong, but on the other hand, I've moved between cultures and learned totally new technologies and what myself. Sure, it can be hard, but it's not really a qualitative change from what non-immortals do, and we do it just fine. Is it work? Sure. Is it worth it? Depends on what you value, I guess. Some immortals would probably stay up-to-date, some would probably cut themselves off completely, some would just take breaks and do intense bursts of study.
I guess what really bugs me about a lot of the things that tend to surround immortality stories is I feel people get this idea that being immortal somehow qualitatively changes stuff. I don't think it really would. The effects of quantitative change isn't to be dismissed, for sure, but... people are still people, truth is still true. Some things don't change. I guess whether that's enough for someone would be a big factor in how they deal with the passage of eons. I'm personally a big fan of change. I like security, but not necessarily stability - I've never lived in one place more than four years in my life. Well, perhaps this ties a little too strongly into what brand of immortality you get. I mean, without eternal youth at the very least, you'd end up in a pretty sorry state...
Eh, it's fine to rant. It's my comment section, and I don't mind. :P
7350636 That's true in one sense of distancing. The part I think I would have to be more conscience to avoid would be actually making sure you kept friends you could truely confide in. After a while, I think it would take effort not to start seeing people like children, and wondering if they can actually handle some of the things that bother you. It could be overcome. Most of the issues I see would be trying to keep the mental walls down.
You're right though, at least in the context of the show, it doesn't seem to highly effect one's physical state, short of aging. So it would be mostly mental things. Not so much that their different than what mortals have to go through in kind, just in quantity. It would just make it more important to deal with them properly.
Although, I have to imagine intimacy could get weird after a while. Not necessarily in the sex side, but more in the relationship side. If, the person(s) you pursued was mortal, that is.
Thanks. These conversations are always fun, just to see other people's perspective. I have them with my brother a lot.
Funnily enough this didn't feel all that somber to me. Bittersweet melancholy yes, but not sad. Beautifully done either way.
7401654 Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)
I thought this would be sad, but it's not. It's more of a happy story.
Sometimes you need some comedy-interrupted-bittersweet not-quite fluff.
I also do want to know what happened at the last party.
it is unclear to me what happens to Celestia, but I assume she partied on after putting out the sun.
7402403
XD NO. Bad Author. You can't just drop a line like that and not give an explanation. XD *sprays with ice water from a bottle!*
I came here to read this much-acclaimed story.
I just didn't think it hit that hard. Basically nothing happened. World ended, ponies left for other planets, Celestia gave a little speech about friendship, and that's it. There was no emotional investment at all. Everything besides Celestia's speech seemed like an afterthought. I know a story this short doesn't have time for much characterization, but none of the other characters felt like they were anything but cardboard cutouts. Pinkie = party. Twilight = science. Spike = dragon. Cadance = pink. Discord = Fluttershipping.
Sorry to be the sole detractor, here.
7931274 No worries. Thanks for taking the time to give me your criticism, and thanks for being polite. :)
Good homage, pleased with the direction you took this. :D
3580695
Don't you feel silly now...
9587477
Almost 6 freaking years later? Absolutely not.