//------------------------------// // Last Foal // Story: Stories in Stone, Last Dance // by TDR //------------------------------// Stories in Stone Last Dance By TDR Last Foal “Higher daddy!!!” Dawn cried out as she shifted on the swing, her wings fanning wildly giving herself more lift as Jer'rahd stood to the side watching as she swung past. “Alright hold on tighter.” Jer'rahd smiled his magic giving the base of the swing another push sending Dawn sailing higher into the air, the orange scaled Kirin filly giggling and laughing as her tail whipped behind her . Jer'rahd shifted his stance, watching her protectively, his daughter had a tendency when she made it as high as she could on the swings to let go and try to fly. He spared a glance away from her giggling to the foggy playground they were at. It was an older playground that still sat near their house, one that had nearly been destroyed at least twice, but had managed to survive both Canterlot's fall down the mountain and Tirek. Though it only just survived Dawn's teething, the monkey bars in particular still had a number of bite marks in the metal. The morning mist would soon be burned off by the sun and the heat of the day would make playing outside an unwanted exercise even for Dawn. At the moment he couldn't see beyond the playgrounds borders where the world vanished into mist. “WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” Dawn shouted launching herself from the Swing forcing Jer'rahd to make a grab from her before she hit the ground, her little wings not even enough to slow her fall just yet. Dawn laughed turning and running back up the beach to avoid the waves as they crashed along her tail. Jer'rahd sat further up along the small section of sand, exhaling softly as he fought to control his breathing and not panic from being this close to the water. Thankfully the sea was shrouded in a cool mist from the crashing surf and a cold front that came in over the warm water, it was one of the few times he would be able to take Dawn to the beach in fact. He couldn't see the water past the few waves that lapped at the edges of the mist and made Dawn come running back up to him giggling as she bounded through the surf splashing everything. He looked down at his hooves noticing a small sand castle that he had built, the structure looking very much like how he had once envisioned Dullahan Keep. His gaze lifted from the castle to his daughter a smile crossing his face that matched hers as she slung the water about playing in the surf. “ Hold on hold on. Let me at least get a plate for it.” Jer'rahd chuckled trying to push Dawn back down to the floor as she climbed his leg trying to get at the pancakes he had made. He was far from the best cook, but he was better than Luna by a long shot, not that he would ever say that, and no one had ever complained about his pancakes before except Rhede, and after a while of being denied them he was caught trying to steal a few. Dawn ignored him clamoring up his leg and over his blocking shield to sit on his back. Jer'rahd sighed knowing he was going to have to clean syrup and crushed sapphire out of his coat again as Dawn had yet to learn anything along the lines of table manners. Smoke filled the edges of the room, the left overs of Luna's last cooking attempt that had still been on the burner when he fired it up. The small kitchen seemed misty with the cloud in the air , though we would open a window in a moment for the moment he was too busy keeping Dawn from just biting off the top of the syrup bottle to dump on her pancakes..... again. “ Hush now, quiet now. It's time to lay your sleepy head Hush now, quiet now it's time to go to bed....” Jer'rahd softly sang. The darkness of the room covered every thing save the small light cast by Jer'rahd's horn as he sat next to the small bed and the still squirming Kirin filly within. The light of his horn only lit up her bed and himself and even that light seemed to be flickering at the edges as he sought to lull her to sleep. Dawn yawned showing off her fangs with a cute little sound as she snuggled a stuffed crystal Dragon fly that she had gotten last time they were in the Crystal Empire. The garish green thing had been through some abuse and a number of repairs from being well worn by his daughter. “Good night Dawn.... I love you....” Jer'rahd whispered as the light faded more. “I love you too daddy..” Dawn responded through another yawn, as she drifted off. The light of his horn faded more and Jer'rahd struggled to keep it lit as he looked down at his daughter. Tears welling up in his eyes. “Jer'rahd.... it's time to go.” a voice stated. “No.... “ Jer'rahd muttered. “ I can't......” “You have to.......Please....” the voice stated again. “No. I won't leave her.....” Jer'rahd snapped openly weeping. “I'm not giving you a choice in the matter. I've never been even allowed this much.”another mares voice snapped back and the world suddenly turned black. [ 201 years after the defeat of Tirek] Jer'rahd whipped his head back with a gasp, eyes shooting open, rivulets of tears streaming down his muzzle as his eyes darted about the room he was in. Like before he was seated before a bed, though unlike before this wasn't in a cozy little foals room this was the sterile white and cream walls of a hospital. Various machines beeped and clicked around him forcing him to flatten his ears to his head. Luna was pressed to his back in her smaller pegasus form and he could feel the hot tears running down her face and soaking into his shoulders. Twilight sat nearby staring at him with a look of pity mixed with envy as the last wisps of magic drifted from the Princess of Night's horn. On the other side of the bed Rynthia stood looking over the medical devices before her, her expression was one of complete business, though she spared a number of worried glances over to Jer'rahd and Luna. On a bench on the far wall sat a massive figure that took up a good portion of the room. The orange scaled Llinorm stared down at the bed with teal colored eyes. Candied Yam was Luna and Jer'rahd's only blood related grand foal. She was currently in her late 80's barely a teenager by Llinorm standards however. The Llinorm's gaze was locked on the figure in the bed. Her father had died a few years ago in a freak storm though her mother had started to deteriorate not long after that. Laying in the bed hooked up to nearly everything the hospital had was Dawn. The large Kirin was barely breathing, her scales long faded to gray and her mane following suit. Her eyes were still the same vibrant color as her mothers, though she hadn't opened them in weeks, she hadn't been eating anything, nor had she spoke aside from the occasional mummer. Like her last mortal blood relative, Brier Rose Dan had contracted something called Grass Sickness. A nonsensical name for something that robbed a pony of it's memories slowly over time, then caused them confusion and delusion, and inability to function properly or even recall places and events they saw every day. Briar Rose had developed symptoms like that before he died, Jer'rahd's Grand Mother had started to show signs of it before pneumonia took her, and now his only daughter couldn't even remember her own friends or family. Save for him. Rynthia couldn't fix something like this with her magic, the nerve and tissue damage was far to great to repair by the time Dawn had been diagnosed and the lost memories and motor skills would never come back. Dawn was old enough that even had Rythnia healed her she wouldn't have bounced back nor would she have ever been the same. There wasn't any choice but to let her go. Twilight had offered something. Dawn was having nightmares even comatose so Luna and Jer'rahd piggy backed into her dreams. What they found was an toddler aged Dawn in a slowly deteriorating dream scape who only remembered Jer'rahd. Jer'rahd had stayed with her as long as he could and now, he had barely been awake for a second when the worst sound in the world reached his ears. The sound of a flat line as Dawn's heart stopped as there was nothing left to tell it to beat any more. The black alicorn sighed softly despite the fact she didn't need to breath. She had expected this soul to return soon, she had been there when it had first died and been reborn into this current form. The black alicorn already knew that the soul was not planning to move on any time soon, and that it would be another that waited as a star for those it cared for to join it. The sky was getting crowded as of late. She paused watching the soul leave, it needed no guidance having done this before, still she always oversaw the passing of notable souls. The black alicorn lowered her ears taking note of the gray Kirin that had turned his head, his eyes widening as he saw her in the back of the room. It would not be the first time, those closest to an individual sometimes saw her as she came to guide them to their end. There was an odd connection between the two, something akin to a parent or sibling, but it was going the wrong way, surely this young Kirin stallion was the recently passed Bearer of Laughter's child not the other way around like it felt. She really needed to pay more attention to those who Mirth chose, though the griffon was getting far more secretive as of late for some reason. A red glow caught her attention and drew her gaze back to the father who was fully focused on her. She blinked noting that the red glow seemed to be lighting up the room and had drawn the attention of everyone else in the room who was looking at him with panic. The glow was coming from the Kirin's left eye, very strange, wait where had she heard of a pony with a glowing red eye before? Ahh that was right the host Troph had had before he and Grace rejoined them. What was it Troph had said? Ah yes, Jer'rahd Kaisur had been granted a portion of Troph's power not once, but three times, and the final time it was only because Troph was forced to flee in fear from the rage the Kirin had displayed. Wait..... She remembered those stories. They always ended with the phrase 'Don't' As in 'Don't' draw the attention of one that Troph thought might actually be able to destroy the Elements themselves given proper motivation. The gray and orange scaled Kirin growled loudly, rising to his hooves and slipping free of the pegasus on his back, his full attention on the black alicorn. >“Oh shit.”< Bonnie stated, and ran. Harmony, also known as Bonnie to her friends, the specter of death, the grim reaper, the second alicorn god, and the Element of Magic, fled in a straight line from the grieving and enraged father. Being little more than a ghost, passing through the walls of the hospital was no issue. Unfortunately it seemed that Jer'rahd also had no issue passing through the walls of the hospital, just a bit messier than she had. The pony personification of death shook her head as she fled across the field behind the hospital the gray and orange Kirin in pursuit. She understood his anger but she knew that he couldn't catch her and this was a pointless chase. It was about that point that she ran head first into a green shield. Before Bonnie could recover from the sheer absurdity that some pony could stop death, the galloping gray Kirin plowed into her side sending both of them crashing through a small park, a set of barrier fencing, and off the side of New Canterlot High town. The pair fell through the air and Bonnie could hear the growl from the gray Kirin nearly at her throat, the light in his eye not even dimming in the slightest and they crashed down off the side of the fallen mountain, slamming into some trees at the unsettled edge of New Canterlot. She didn't hit the ground, but slammed into another shield that popped up under her. Had she hit the ground she simply would have passed through it as she did the walls, though it seemed this Kirin was not going to allow her that. Bonnie managed to get out from under him only for a split hoof to smash into her chest shoving her back and pinning her to another glowing green shield like a bug on a spike. The second alicorn god cried out feeling pain again for the first time in a long time. “JER'RAHD!” a voice boomed. The Kirin hesitated though he still stood on his back legs, propped on his tail his other hoof reared back as it to strike another blow against the trapped death goddess. “She has nothing to do with this Jer'rahd.” A dark blue pegasus stated landing nearby before trotting over to the Kirin. “I know.” Jer'rahd growled. “Jer'rahd.....” Luna placated. “I KNOW!!!” the Kirin snapped before the red light in his eye dimmed and he dropped back onto his rump, his hoof leaving Bonnie's chest. She stumbled back as the shield fell and the angry Kirin slumped to the ground like a puppet with his strings cut. Bonnie's eyes remained wide as the small pegasus wrapped her forelegs and wings around the sobbing Kirin, her own tears flowing down her face. “I suggest you leave.” The mare said simply. “While I am aware of your roll as little more than some one to guide those passed onto their next life, Kaisur's do not take grief well and you are to easy a target right now.” Bonnie blinked as Luna stared up at her, a second warning was not needed before the Element of Magic was gone, leaving the parents to grieve their lost daughter. And to the sound of her parents sobs, the Bearer of Element of Laughter, Dawn Kaisur, passed from Equss.