It is no secret that everypony dies.
All the world is a cycle of life and death, and everypony knows it.
However, most of the time we ignore it. Although we know it will happen to us, we push it away, thinking that somehow we are invincible. Somehow, today we shall not die. Sadly, when we think we are safest, death comes and takes away something from our lives-- a colleague, a friend, a loved one.
Everypony, from the rich to the poor, experiences this.
Even the princesses of Equestria experienced it when they lost their parents, and many times over they had to watch as their closest advisors and dear subjects died of old age while they lived on.
Celestia often visited trusted nobles and dear friends on their deathbeds, and had been to so many funerals that she could not count them all.
Luna herself had been through many deaths of friends, but her time on the moon was so long that she had not felt as much loss as Celestia… until she resumed dreamwalking. While the moon was high in the sky, she entered the Realm of Dreams and listened for any dreams that were troubled. After a thousand years absence, she had to listen much harder in order to find them, but she still managed to get to the nightmares of young colts and fillies and comfort them. Her duties resumed and the cycle of life went on, and her powers were sharpened every night, until she regained her old strength to hear the last dreams of the dying.
---
“I love you, Fleeting Wind,” A mare whispered into her fiance’s ear.
“I love you, too… listen… Quiet Stream… I want you to… to move on… after I’m gone… okay?” The stallion, a strong, blue Pegasus replied.
Stream, unable to reply, wept into her loved one’s mane. Nearby were her parents as well as Fleeting’s parents, little brother, and their closest friends. Tragically, Fleeting Wind experienced a wounding crash in an obstacle-course race and was facing his death in the Baltimare General Hospital.
The doctors and nurses bandaged his wounds best as they could, but he had lost so much blood that no amount of treatment or magic could save him now.
Slowly he became unconscious as his loved ones wept nearby.
Meanwhile, Luna was enjoying some tea with her sister, reading a fascinating book on Centaurian Mythology.
“I must say, there is one good thing about being gone for a thousand years: a million interesting books have been written!” Luna exclaimed.
“Indeed, every year seems to have more and more amazing stories to tell,” Celestia agreed.
“How many times did you read this, Sister?” Luna asked curiously.
“I read it once every few years--so… quite a bit,” Celestia admitted with a chuckle. Noticing her sister’s expression changed, Celestia put down her tea cup and probed, “What’s wrong?”
Luna was staring off to the side, clearly zoning out of their conversation.
She heard the death call.
It wasn’t really a sound, but a feeling deep inside that could not properly be described.
It was gentle and sober, and mournful, yet oddly comforting. It was the first time she felt it in over a thousand years. At first, she didn’t recognize it, but the sorrow and the comfort together reminded her that it was the death knell for a sleeping patient that needed comfort.
Those who were at peace did not need her, but this one did.
“Sister… somepony needs me--finish the tea without me,” Luna apologized as she put down her book and left the table.
Celestia nodded understandingly. Since she didn’t have the ability to go into the dreamworld, she couldn’t hear the call, but seeing the cloud in Luna’s eyes, she could tell what was happening.
In the dream world, Fleeting Wind found himself in a desolate plain, with pouring rain completely soaking him.
Knowing he was dying, he wept for his loved ones, wishing he could live just another day, or even another hour, yet here he was, unconscious and unable to say all the things he wanted to say.
Suddenly, the rain stopped and he lifted his head slightly, noticing a pair of silver shoes beside him. Lifting his eyes, he found Princess Luna beside him, wearing a black cloak with silver swirls and scrolls on the edges.
“You… are here? Why?” Fleeting asked slowly.
“It is my duty to reach out to ponies in their dreams,” Luna explained, “And as part of this, I come to spend time with those who will die in their sleep.”
Although she wanted to be comforting, she wasn’t quite as warm and gentle as her sister, but perhaps it was best to be frank at a time like this.
Looking away, Fleeting responded, “... So I really am gonna die… I really am.”
Sitting beside him, Luna wrapped one wing about him and stated, “Yes… but it needn’t be in this desolate wasteland.”
With a gentle glow of her horn, she transformed the dream into a blissful, flowery field filled with butterflies, warm sunshine, and tiny, gentle beasts.
“I don’t want comfort, I want my life!” Fleeting cried as he stood up and pulled away from the princess, “What about my friends? Family? Fiancee`? What of them? I want to be with them! I’m so young--I shouldn’t have to die like this! IT’S NOT FAIR!”
Indeed, he screamed those last words and tears began streaming down his face again.
Looking at the stallion cry, Luna felt her heart break.
Ancient memories flooded back to her-- fillies dying of sickness, old nobles fading away after years of service, mothers dying shortly after foaling-- yes, she felt sorrow, and now it was returning to her.
For a time, all her misery was directed at herself: what she did wrong as Nightmare Moon, the angry words she threw at her sister before that, the Tantabus…
but now this was a sorrow for somepony else.
It had been a long time since she mourned like this, and she struggled with how to help in this situation. Gathering her courage, she stood up again and walked over to him.
“Fleeting Wind… It… It is not fair,” She began, trying to think of something comforting to say, “It is not fair. But I can tell you this: your loved ones will mourn, and then they will heal, and life will move on for them. They will be all right. Do not cry for them.”
“I know… I know… but what else am I to do? I’m dying out there, and I can’t even begin to tell them how much they mean to me!” Fleeting sobbed, “And to think I died in an obstacle course race--of all the deaths!
Why?
Why me?
What of my goals?
My loves?
Why did it have to end like this?
Why?”
“I do not know why… but I do know this: I will let your loved ones know how much you cared… I promise,” Luna whispered as she wrapped both of her wide wings around him.
“You will?” Fleeting gasped.
“Yes, I will,” Luna confirmed, “And I will stay right here with you.”
With that, a smile brightened Fleeting’s face, he buried his face in her neck, and allowed himself to cry more. Luna wept with him, and rested her chin on his head gently.
Eventually Fleeting calmed down enough to whisper, “Thank you, Princess… thank you… I… I needed this.”
“I know,” Luna shushed him, “I know… Good night, Speedster.”
At that nickname, Fleeting looked up and grinned.
It was the nickname some of his friends gave him, and he always liked the sound of it. It reminded him of his dream to become a famous racer. As his brown eyes looked up at Luna’s teal ones, he began to fade away until he was gone. Slowly the dream went with him, and Luna was left alone in the Hallway Between Dreams. Wiping tears from her eyes, she departed to the real world, and then sat on her bed and stared at the floor, unsure of what to do.
Meanwhile, Fleeting's body breathed the last of the air in his lungs, and a doctor pronounced him dead.
A few days later was the funeral.
Princess Luna made sure to attend, and Celestia also came. Luna told all the family and friends how much Fleeting cared for them, and told them of his last dream. As she spoke, she could see in their eyes that they needed that as much as Fleeting did.
When she returned to the castle, Princess Luna thought about Fleeting, and recalled some of the other ponies she said “good night” to for the last time.
It had been more than a thousand years, but she still had some vague memories coming back to her, and she pondered how she could do this again.
How many more of these could she handle?
In many ways she still felt out of sync with her nation--should she really usher ponies into the afterlife?
Furthermore… how often would she hear the death call--the call of the last dream a pony will ever have, and would she be able to reach them all?
Time passed, and she heard it again a few weeks later.
Again she answered, comforting a mare who was dying of sickness.
Some time later she comforted another pony, and then another.
The calls became more frequent, and soon they were at least one a week. Although she had fought the most fearsome of nightmares, including her own, nothing could prepare her heart for all the sorrow she was feeling. She tried to keep up her composure, but one day she cracked.
“Sister--why must I be the one to go to the dying dreams of ponies as well as the nightmares? I’m not suited for this!” She exclaimed to Celestia one evening, “You are the gentle, comforting one!
Yes, I can handle giving a filly some encouragement, but comforting the dying is a different matter.
Yes, I did it a thousand years ago, but I can hardly recall what I said or how I handled it.
Now it’s different--more diseases, more accidents, more lonely ponies dying of old age-- I don’t know what to do!
I feel… I feel… like I barely manage to comfort them before they go… and all this sorrow is clouding my mind. I don’t know if I can handle this…”
“Luna, I know you are the perfect pony for this job,” Celestia assured her.
“But why? Why me? I am the Princess of the Night, not the Princess of Comfort!” Luna interrupted as she flopped herself onto a couch nearby.
Sitting beside her, Celestia soothed, “Luna, it is true that of the two of us, I am the warmer one, but you are more comforting than you realize.
Yes, the final dreams are different from the nightmares, but I know you are the perfect one to handle both.
Your frankness and cool attitude is what the dying need in order to move forward. The dreams you described to me are not the dreams of those who are at peace, but those who cannot handle death just yet, and they need somepony to be honest with them, to open their eyes, and to dry their tears before they go.
I am too gentle for this--I would try to change the subject or express it in an indirect manner, while they need somepony to look them in the eye and tell them it is their last night.
They need to come to that realization and accept it in order to die comforted. They need your honesty just as much as your comfort.”
As she listened, Luna slowly picked herself up and perked her ears.
“You… you are right… but how… how do I deal with all the sadness that comes afterwards? I can’t remember--how do you handle seeing your dear ponies die?”
“Well… the truth is that there is a time for tears… and then you heal and move on. I have seen so much death that I have grown to accept it, but that does not mean I am callous to it; on the contrary, I still mourn, but I know that it is a part of life, and I choose to look on the next generation and encourage them instead of wishing the last would have lived longer,” Celestia replied with a somber look in her eyes.
“But what of the youths that die? What of them? How do you handle that?” Luna parried, furious at the injustice of the Earth.
“That is indeed much harder to bear…. However, I have chosen to celebrate the good memories more than the bad. Yes, the world is unjust in such manners, but there is a time for everypony to die… and the sorrowful truth is that… some die young. Hence, we should all choose to live our lives in a manner that would be a blessing to others around us, for we never know when we shall breathe our last,” Celestia sighed, recalling some brave youths she knew long ago that had died tragically, “And besides that, we should be happy that we are there to make it easier for them to leave.”
“...Perhaps you are right, Celie…” Luna acknowledged, seeing that she had a good point.
For some time both sisters were silent, and Celestia stretched a wing around Luna gently.
Months passed, and Luna continued walking the final dreams. Meanwhile, in the real world she ordered a tailor to make a black cloak for her like the one she wore in such dreams--black velvet with silver scrolls on the hemline.
Unlike the cloak she liked to wear when traveling, this one had no hood, and had an ornate silver frog with a crescent moon in its center.
This cloak she wore to funerals and whenever she wished to have deep thought alone. As she walked in more and more final dreams, she found that her sister was correct: she became used to it--not in a callous manner, but in an accepting way. She understood that death was a part of life, and that it wasn’t fair, but also that it was her duty to make it gentler for those dying in their sleep who needed some last shred of comfort, whether it was knowing their families would be all right, or knowing that somepony cared for them.
There was once an aged stallion whose mane and tail had turned as grey as his coat. He, Silver Miser, was lying in his deathbed all alone, with no comfort except from some letters and the nurse who visited once a day. Throughout his life, he had been selfish and focused on gaining more gold and status for himself. However, as he grew old, he realized his error and tried to rebuild some bridges he burned, but it seemed too late to try.
Now he was alone, too exhausted to do anything but sleep. In his dreams he was alone in a cave, shivering with the harsh wind blowing about him. He supposed it was what he deserved.
Quietly, the wind stopped, and he noticed a silvery light.
Looking up, he watched the scenery morph into a peaceful clearing in a moonlit forest, where Princess Luna glided down and landed beside him.
“Princess Luna? What, have you come here to tell me how horrible I am? I already know that, Your Highness. If I must die alone, can’t you just leave me to myself?” Silver Miser grumbled, figuring she was going to give him some kind of lecture like those she gave fillies and colts.
“No, Silver, I have come to give you a peaceful night as you die,” Luna revealed with a quiet smile, “And to let you know that you will not die alone.”
“...Why?” Silver pondered, “Why should you care? I’m a greedy, cranky old pony! I deserve to die and have nopony at my funeral--why should a princess make me feel better?”
“Because,” Luna responded as she stepped towards him, “Even cranky old souls need love; besides, why should I not be willing to comfort someone dying? As Princess of the Night I must not only defeat nightmares, but also defeat fears about dying before awakening.” With that, she lifted her wing to cover his back consolingly, lifting her velvet cloak in the process.
“So… This is my last night?” Silver groaned, “Oh, I should have contacted my old friends sooner…
For years I’ve wanted to apologize but wasn’t sure how… now it’s too late.”
He sighed and hung his head.
“Don’t worry, they will know,” Luna assured him, “I will tell them.”
“But you don’t even know them!” Silver scoffed sorrowfully.
“Nay, I do know them--being here in your dream allows me to know many things about you--major events in your past, friends you care for-- believe me, I can contact them and let them know what you have said,” Luna elucidated, “Now tell me: what would you like to do in your final dream?”
For a moment Silver gaped at Luna, unsure of how to respond, but slowly a smile broadened his face, and he asked, “So… you will?”
“Yes, I will, and I shall make sure that your funeral is not empty,” Luna confirmed.
“Well… thank you,” Silver thanked her with a nod, “And… well… I suppose just… watching an opera would be nice.”
“Is that all?” Luna probed, wanting to ensure his final dream would be splendid.
“Yes-- Mare of the Sea was something I always said I would go and watch, but never had the time for, I’m afraid,” He confessed.
With a smile, Princess Luna closed her eyes, and transformed the dream into the finest opera house the world could offer, with the best acting and the most spectacular orchestra.
Allowing Silver to choose where to sit, she double-checked that everything was the absolute best; she even made a silken suit for him. They sat together in one of the balconies, and laughed and cried along with the story.
At the very end of the very last song they cheered and clapped, and when the curtain fell, they clapped some more. Indeed, it was a moment to treasure for centuries.
“Oh Princess Luna, thank you. This really was the best dream ever--and I am sure no place in Equestria could have been this fantastic,” Silver thanked her with a happy glow in his old eyes as he took her hoof and patted it gratefully.
“You are most welcome!” Luna replied with a glow in her own teal eyes, “And now… you must depart. Good night, Silver.”
“I am ready to leave now, so good night, Princess Luna. Tell Celestia and the Elements of Harmony how grateful I am for this night,” Silver answered.
Luna nodded, soberly watching as Silver dissolved and the dream faded away. This time she felt a bittersweet pang in her heart. She was sorrowful, yet glad that she had made him feel so happy.
A few days later was the funeral, and she did find his old friends and what was left of his family, and told them all how sorry he was, and how much he genuinely cared for them. They all mourned for him and paid their last respects with tears.
Indeed, he did not die alone. Watching the ponies leave after it was all over, Princess Luna was glad she had this gift.
If it meant giving ponies one last night of happiness, and letting them know they would not die alone, then she was willing to endure the sorrow in order to help calm the suffering.
Celestia and the Elements of Harmony also encouraged her, and were glad that Luna had found new strength to perform her duties. However, having strength and determination does not mean being without pain.
“I suppose we shall have to discharge you then,” Luna determined to one of her royal guards, “But we do thank you for your willingness to serve while your leg was usable.”
“Thank you, Princess Luna,” The injured guard thanked.
Luna smiled at the Bat Pony and then quietly left the infirmary room. As she walked down the hall in the moonlight, she felt the call pull at her again. Turning to one of her advisors, she announced, “I must take leave--if anything happens, you handle it.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” The Unicorn agreed with a bow.
Luna exited the hall and rushed to her room, where she closed the doors and quickly entered the world of dreams.
Entering the one, she gasped at the surroundings: there were flashing colors and soundseverywhere, and it was hard to focus or think about anything with such an awful din. Shutting her eyes, she zapped the dream with a burst of magic, and when the sounds stopped, she opened her eyes again.
Thankfully, it had transformed into a serene place with a small waterfall, a few trees, and long grass, all lit by the moon and stars. Eyeing the grass, she spotted a tiny foal in the middle of some wildflowers.
Luna’s blood frosted.
A foal?
She is a foal?
No!
This cannot be!
How?
Why?
WHAT?
A DYING FOAL?
She thought to herself. For a moment she used her magic to pull at the foal’s memories, and found out that she had been terribly sick recently, and that tonight would be her last night.
Her name was, oddly enough, Forget-me-Not.
Steadying her breath, Luna approached the foal with a broad smile, hoping to not scare her. The young, light blue Unicorn gazed at her with twinkling orange eyes and giggled.
How am I supposed to give a dying foal her final dream? What am I to do? She’s just a baby--barely over a year! There is so much she hasn’t seen… so much she hasn’t learned… how am I to give her a good dream? Oh, if only I could give her a good life...No, I cannot extend her life--it is not up to me.
I… I shall simply… give her all the amazing things I can dream of for her! Luna decided within herself.
Picking up the foal in her magic, Luna smiled and quietly introduced herself with, “Good evening, I am Princess Luna. I… I am going to play with you, okay?”
The foal giggled and reached for the silver moon clasp around Luna’s neck.
“I see you like my cloak’s silver toggle--all right then,” Luna surmised, putting down the foal and taking off her cloak swiftly. With her magic, she draped the cloak over the foal, who crawled out from under it and giggled.
Luna giggled too.
The baby hid behind the black velvet fabric of the cloak, still giggling.
Oh! I know what to do, Luna thought.
“Forget-me-Not, where are you?” She trilled, turning around dramatically, “My! She’s disappeared!” Hearing the foal giggle louder, Luna spun around, and upon seeing Forget-me-Not’s face, she declared, “Aha! She is here!”
Forget-me-Not squealed and ran out from under the cloak, and hid behind a bush. For a time, they played hide-and-seek, and then Forget-me-Not noticed a firefly and attempted to catch it. With a smile, Princess Luna made a million fireflies gather around then, and caught a few dozen in a jar for the baby to hold.
Forget-me-Not laughed joyfully.
After a time, the foal put down the jar, galloped away, and began splashing in the pool at the base of the waterfall.
“Ah, you like water, do you? Well come! I shall show you water!” Luna lilted as she transformed the dream into one where they were both merponies swimming in the depths of the ocean. The foal squealed happily and immediately took to swimming. Luna followed her, pointing out various fish and creatures, and tried to include as many beautiful things in the dream as she could.
In fact, she even made it so that Forget-me-Not could meet a special pony who was walking along the ocean floor. Oh yes, the foal loved that--especially playing with the seashell on the pony’s tail. The pony looked up and waved to the foal, smiling in a pleasantly surprised way.
However, the foal soon noticed a pearl in an oyster, and reached out for it with her Unicorn magic.
“Ah, you like pretty, sparkly things? I shall show you sparkly things!” Luna announced, and the dream became one of a cave filled to the brim with gold and jewels of every kind.
Back to all four hooves, the baby happily jumped around in the gold, admiring how everything shimmered. Luna, of course, wasted no time in showing Forget-me-Not as many jewels as she could.
In this way, Luna showed the baby a thousand things around the world, from the most beautiful of sunrises over a valley, to the coldest, softest of snows lit by moonlight. Eventually, however, Luna felt the tug alerting her that it was time to say “good night.”
Holding back tears, she cradled the foal in her forelegs and whispered, “Your mommy and daddy love you very much… and… I do too, Forget-me-Not… but it’s time to go now, okay? sniff Good night, Forget-me-Not.”
The baby smiled, buried her tiny nose in Luna’s dusky fur, and answered, “Wuvoo Woona! Night night!”
With that, the baby dissolved, and the dream faded away, and then Luna lost her composure. For what seemed like an eternity, she cried in the realm of dreams.
No, not cried, wept.
Wept heartbroken tears, she did.
When she was at the funeral, she shed more tears, and told the parents of Forget-me-Not’s final dream.
“You mean… you did all that for her?” Her mother gasped.
“Yes, I did,” Luna sniffed.
“No wonder she stopped crying in her sleep: you made her feel better for a time,” Her father breathed.
“I did my best,” Luna acknowledged as she wiped another tear from her eye with a kerchief.
“You know… her last word was ‘Woona,’ and we wondered why…. Thank you, Princess. Thank you,” the mother sobbed as she threw her forelegs around Luna’s neck.
Luna wrapped her wings around the Unicorn mare and wept with her.
There were many more times like this, and many more stories she had to tell.
At the end of each funeral, Luna understood her ponies more than before, and she found herself opening up to others more than ever.
There were many times she turned to Celestia or the Elements of Harmony for comfort, and they were always there for her, shedding tears along with her.
Time passed, and Luna cried less and less, learned more of what to say and how to act in the face of death, and she gladly fulfilled her mission to bring comfort to all those who needed it in their dreams, whether it was banishing a nightmare or saying a final “good night.”
Death was part of life; nopony was immune to it, and Luna, Celestia, and the Elements of Harmony understood it.
However, that did not mean that life was hopeless or that death was an undefeatable monster.
It simply meant that just as the sun rose and the moon set, there would be first days and final days.
Hence, all should be grateful for their time, and do their best to bless others with it.
As part of her life, Luna would be the one to look ponies in the eye, let them know it was their time to die, and give them succor in so doing. Luna was the Princess of the Night, the Bane of Nightmares, and the Usher of Final Dreams. For those dying in the daytime, comfort would come from friends and loved ones, but those dying in the night would receive comfort from the moon.