A Candle's Last Gasp

by stinkyFeet

Life

As the world and the pony faded, Luna reached out and grasped the last piece of his tattering mind. He was powerless to stop her. In the emptiness, Luna looked at what it was the colt couldn't face.

He was tasked with looking after the daughter of a close friend. While the two of them played in a river, a large swell came. He was strong enough of a swimmer to resist the gush of water, but the young filly was not. He swam after her, but was unable to reach her. She was washed far away from him. The river had such strength the he could not return to the shore, and he did not have the will. The rapids battered him against rocks and drowned him until he finally lost consciousness.

He could not bear the thought of facing his friend, or his wife, or even his own children. He tried to imagine all the ways he could go on living, like living alone in that shack, but he knew he could not do that either. He had the will to live and to help those he loved, but could not reconcile that with the guilt and shame of what he had done.

As the princess stood there with the last bit of the colt, I knew it was my time. I revealed myself to the colt, gathered him together, and carried him into death. The alicorn, Luna, was trapped with him. When she saw me she understood what had drawn her to the dream. She felt my presence and she felt me as a threat. I guided the colt past the threshold, then the alicorn and I stared at one another regarding each other.

The alicorn was in the colt's mind, not her own. When the colt died, she died with him.

"A cheap trick to get me!" she spat at me, but I was far above such motivations. It was simply her time.

"My task is sacrosanct. You intruded, and held onto a dying spirit as it passed into my responsibility." I took her. She fought me. A hundred imagined dream spells hit me, but it mattered not. Her mind was fading into nothingness, and soon it would be gone.

In the highest tower of the Castle of the Two Sisters, Celestia knelt beside Luna casting ever spell she knew, searching desperately for a way to heal Luna's dying body. She had not Luna's innate abilities, but she managed to warp the entire dream plane with her blundering strength. I had not expected it, and Princess Luna slipped through my grasps and back into her body. Luna was very lucky. She did not escape the colt's mind in time, but her sister managed a way for her to return at the last minute. I would make sure to prevent that, next time.

Luna looked at at the ceiling of her meditation chamber, Celestia crying over her. Luna focused on what she had just scene, going over it in her mind so she wouldn't forget.

Luna walked in the plane where all dreams met, taking in the vast scenery. It had been a week's time since the colt's death. She had much on her mind.

Princess Luna now felt that guilt, for she understood her part in the colt's death. She intruded upon his kingdom, where all mortal ponies consider themselves safe, and made it not safe for him. She didn't allow the pain of his actions to heal, the shock to wear off, or for his own mind, damaged by impact, to repair itself. Instead she took the only thing that was holding him together, his indomitable will to live, and smothered it with what he was not ready to face. She bumbled through his dreams and destroyed everything along the way.

She didn't recognize his shame. She did not even feel overwhelmed with guilt over her hand in the colt's death. She is very old, and has made many mistakes before. What, to a younger pony, would seem like the end of everything has already been experienced by her many times. She knows that it doesn't cause an end, it just goes on, and becomes but a memory. A mere building block into a better person who would not make such a mistake again.

Comments

[Ringcaat]

Strange. I don't get who the speaker is. Death? It didn't make a ton of sense to me, but was an interesting idea. I like the idea that Celestia's violent magical upheavals were able to disrupt the fabric of dreams enough for Luna to escape, even though she didn't know what she was doing. It must have led to quite a time of reflection for both sisters.

[stinkyFeet]

8209069
If you look at the map of Equestria released around season 4, I think. It shows Equestria as very similar to the United States. Baltimare would be in Maryland. I didn't think "Mare-Land" was a good name.