Senescence

by Kavidun

Cheer Up, Sleepy Jean

Evangelic's life was hell. From dawn to dusk, the remnents of Duskdawn's attack would always haunt her, both physically and mentally. She would never talk again without that collar, she would never walk again without the cybernetics that would take away, to her, the final "pure" pony body. Of course, even by her own definition she isn't pure. She's an immortal.

She glances over at Ivyshine, and her mind fills with anger. There she is, talking to three fillies. Telling her some old parable, she expected. Everyone loved Ivyshine, everyone loved to hear from the last pony who will die. Why is her future death so fucking worshipped, anyway, she thought? You wouldn't praise the inventor of the toaster ten years before he invented it, or the future fastest flier when she's born. So why her, why now? Why does she get so much more credit than Evangelic, whom had, by her viewpoint, had much more of an impact on the universe?

Of course, a deep part of Evangelic knew she was being selfish. She knew Ivyshine wasn't choosing to be mortal just to spite her. She made herself immune to immortality to save herself from the very fate Evangelic now suffers. But that doesn't stop her from feeling jealous.

The blue mare closes her eyes, and focuses her hearing to listen to Ivyshine's words. Oh boy, it's this story again. "The Parable of the Forgotten Sailor" is what that green fuck called it. None of her stories were as true as they should've been, and Ivyshine knew it. She loved being a storyteller, and always had a habit of... exaggerating. Calling them all true stories with a moral, when they're as real as a Daring Do novel.

As Evangelic remembered events, Fluttershy... "the Forgotten Sailor"... got stranded on a desert island on a cruise, and her friends assumed she was just being quiet not answering their calls. And as soon as they realised she was missing, Rainbow Dash went and found her. She was totally fine, just a little confused and shaken up. Evangelic was there, she was the singer for the cruise, assigned by the princesses herself to sing for the princess of friendship and her friends. So of course, she was there. And so was Ivyshine, as one of the other passengers. Twilight had insisted on allowing civilians on the cruise, for some reason. She was never one for exclusivity.

But as Ivyshine remembered events, "the Forgotten Sailor" fucking died. She was so quiet that her friends forgot to check up on her at all, and by the time she was found she was a skeleton. And Evangelic thought that changing such a story about the elements of harmony just for the moral of "don't be afraid to assert yourself and talk, and be important" was disrespectful to their memory. After all, the only element left to contest the story was The Student. Her name on Equestria was Starlight Glimmer, but she abandoned that name in honour of her lost friends. She's the current bearer of the elements, and she is in hiding on an asteroid near the black hole. Anyone that tries to go near her would be too close to the event horizon. Nopony knows why she doesn't get sucked it, but it's theorised it's due to the elements' protection. Nopony knows why she's there, either. Some theorise she wants her old friends back, somehow.

Evangelic does not like Ivyshine. And as the fillies leave, she closes her eyes and goes back to practicing lucid dreaming. She dreams of a world of happiness, she dreams of a world where she can die. She dreams of sitting in Sugarcube Corner, she dreams of being with her friends. She dreams of the old Duskdawn, before immortality. And she dreams of having a heart attack and dying, right there, and being cried over, loved, missed, but dead. She sleeps peacefully with these dreams, and with the ability to simulate and imagine her state of death. She dreamed hope that she would finally be dead. That tonight would be the night she finally drifted off into the abyss, and never wake up. Maybe it was finally over for her.

And then morning came. Ivyshine was surrounded by three more fillies, telling The Parable of the Forgotten Sailor again. And Evangelic would have sobbed had her body allowed her to. She was trapped in her body, and she was dying inside a body that could not die.