Far From the Tree

by Rust

The Immortals

The soft fabric of a blanket was the first thing the ancient knight noticed as he woke up. He could hear the sound of voices coming from somewhere off to his side, but he couldn't make out the words. Groggily, he opened his eyes. He was in a well made bed in a rather spartan room with barren, whitewashed walls. Racking his brain for a reason why he was here, the dark teal stallion remembered with a start.

Rust! Rust is here! But how..?

Shaking his head with confusion, he determined to put that question aside for a time when he didn't feel quite so shell-shocked. There was a window next to the bed so he decided to look outside. Through the portal, Buck could see the streets of Ponyville several stories below him, softly illuminated in the glow of the setting sun. The view only served to confuse him even more, however. The tallest building in Ponyville was the Town Hall, and that was only four stories. The view before him suggested a view of at least ten. Waking up in a strange place was one thing, but waking up in a strange place that shouldn't exist was another matter entirely. Buck needed answers, and he needed them now. He jumped out of bed and opened up the door.

He stepped out into a large, circular room, warmly furnished and brightly lit by the sunset streaming in through many windows. A multitude of bookshelves lined the single curving wall, stuffed full to bursting with old tomes. There were several throw rugs and chairs scattered about, setting the ambiance of the room to that of a cozy library. In the center of the room, a wrought-iron spiral staircase came up through the floor and disappeared into the ceiling above, indicating that there were more floors in either elevation. Buck could still hear the voices, louder now, sounding from downstairs. Determined to get answers, he descended the metal staircase, his hooves announcing his descent with a loud clang on every step.

He emerged into a homely kitchen area, still with one rounded wall circling the room. Two ponies were sitting at a thick oak table off to his side, but a window directly above the table was letting the setting sun shine directly into the room, blinding Buck as to who the table's occupants were.

"Look, I think we need to have a talk, man," came Rust's soft voice. One of the figures at the table rose and approached Buck. As he stood up, he blocked out the light shining into the window, revealing his full dimensions. As ponies go, he was a bit smaller than average, but surprisingly lean, with muscles that spoke of an active lifestyle. He carried himself with the confident gait of one who's seen it all and then some. "Because, quite frankly, we are just as clueless about this whole shitstorm as you." The unfamiliar wordings bounced Buck's head. He had never understood why Rust spoke in that strange slang of his.

"Ya cloppin' right ya do," he growled in response. "And whaddaya mean by we?"

Another familiar voice emerged from the second figure, who proceeded to get up and join Rust at his side. The figure emerged from the sunlight silently, her hooves not once making a noise on the wooden flooring.

She's here, too? Shoulda' known, these two have been inseperable since I met 'em.

The second pony was another unicorn, with a shaggy, pure white coat except for a light brown around her hooves, flank, and a darker brown around her muzzle. Her chocolate colored tail was extremely bushy, and lashed back and forth in obvious agitation. She had a spiky brown mane and pointed, constantly shifting ears of similar coloration. Two icy blue eyes peered at Buck with odd, catlike pupils. Her cutie mark was the black shape of a feline paw-print, claws extended. She spoke up in a rough, exotic accent. "Privet, comrade. We have words for you, as I am sure you have same for us, da?" Her Equestrian was laced with the strange tongue of a foreign language.

"Ragdoll, I was wonderin' when you'd show up." Buckshot greeted the odd mare cooly.

"As was I, friend." She smiled, revealing a row of sharp teeth.

Rust let out a somewhat nervous cough. "Pop a squat at the table. We've got a story to tell you."

The three ponies sat down at the kitchen table in the fading twilight. Buck couldn't help but feel apprehensive. The last time he'd sat down at a table with two ponies who had something to tell him, he'd learned his wife and foal had passed on a millennium ago.

Rust began. "I know how you appreciate it when ponies don't beat around the bush with you, so I'm going to hit the nail on the head right out of the gate. The reason Rags and I are here right now is because we are immortal."

"Like, the 'live-forever no matter what' immortal, or the 'live forever until somepony breaks your neck' kind."

Ragdoll gave out a harsh, barking laugh. "The first one, comrade. Trust us, much has happened to prove this."

Buck narrowed his eyes. "So you've been around this whole time, since I was frozen by that thrice-blasted cockatrice."

"So that's where you went, eh? Everypony wondered what happened to you."

"Aye... I'd rather not think of that right now, though," Buck pushed thoughts of his family broken by his vanishing from his mind. "But how is it that you two have defied kickin' the bucket for so long?"

"That is complicated answer, Buckshot." Ragdoll's tail lazily flicked at a mote of dust hanging in the air. "We were exposed to very strange magics, ones that changed us into what you see today."

Buck pondered this. "What kinda magic?"

"The magic that was used to create Equestria," said Rust. "Back before Celestia and Luna were Princesses."

"How old are you two exactly?"

"We've been here since the beginning."

Buck couldn't comprehend that. "The beginning of what?"

Rust spread his hooves around in a grand arc. "Since well, everything."

"You're makin' about as much sense as a dingo in a clown costume, right now, mate."

The sound of Rust's hoof colliding with his face in frustration rang out loudly in the quiet room. Ragdoll, filling the gap, spoke up. "We have been alive since creation of this universe, comrade. Ponimat?"

The knight thought for a moment, soaking it all up. If what she said was true, Rust and Ragdoll were the two oldest beings in existence. Something didn't make sense to him, though. "What do ya mean by this universe, Rags?"

"We come from other universe. We were different there. When we come here, the magics of the forming of this existence change us."

Buck drummed the table softly with his hooves. "So, how did ya get here, then? And how did ya get changed?"

"Somewhat changed," Rust interrupted. "We weren't always ponies, dude." He gestured to the cutie mark on his flank, a handprint of some kind of ape. "I used to have that instead of hooves. As for how we got here... Well, that's none of your damn business. Not even the Princesses know that."

"Righto, mate. So... you used to be a monkey."

Ragdoll busted out in laughter, while Rust frowned slightly, a red blush tinting his cheeks. "Not a monkey, dude. A bit more advanced. I'd rather not delve into that particular pool of mystery, though." He suddenly looked very sad, as if all the years of his existence suddenly came crashing down on his shoulders.

"Why is that, mate?"

"My kind were... Extreme." He was clearly unwilling to say more on the subject.

Ragdoll gave her companion a reassuring pat on his back before turning to Buck. "His people were the gods of his world. They tame the seas, voyage into cosmos, build great wonders. But they also stupid, da?" she shook her shaggy head sadly. "They fight over every little thing. By now, our world has probably been blown to tiny bits because of this."

Buckshot put his head in his hooves, feeling the waves of regret that came from the orangey-red unicorn sitting across the table. Anxious to shift to a new topic, he pointed at Ragdoll's cutie mark. "What about you, sheila? Ya got a different print on ya."

"I used to be type of cat. I was this one's pet, actually." She ruffled Rust's short mane affectionately. "Here though, in new motherland, we are equals."

"So is that why ya got those eyes?" Buck pointed to her pale feline pupils.

"Yes, and no. We were not completely changed when we come here. We still have some things about us that are same. My teeth still the same," she opened her mouth to show Buck a dangerous assortment of sharp fangs. "My claws changed, though," she held up her hoof and flicked it a little, and a large, curving bone spur shot out from the back of her hoof, midway from her first joint to the hoof itself. "And yes, we do eat meat," she added, giving a feral grin.

Buck shuddered. Ponies eating meat were unnatural in Equestria, but it wasn't like he could ask her to stop. "What about him?" he asked, pointing to Rust.

Rust looked up from where he'd been staring at the table in contemplation. "I got these," he smiled, revealing four small canines nestled into a regular set of pony teeth. "I just couldn't give up having bacon..." Buck wasn't sure if he wanted to know what that was. "And we both kept the way we think."

"What do ya mean, mate?"

He scratched his hoof to his chin. "Our thought processes are different. My kind were the top predator, but we also ate plants. So I think in terms of self preservation first. It's like, do you know how a child's behavior is determined by the parent?"

Buck nodded; he knew only too well.

"Well, Mother Earth, that's the world we came from, was the coldest bitch you'll ever meet." He gave a rueful chuckle. "That made us ruthless. We're able to cross certain boundaries with a lot less difficulty. Believe me, it's not as bad as you'd think. Having a psychopathic murderer in the house is actually quite a boon." To answer Buck's questioning stare, he nodded his head at Ragdoll. "For instance, we've never had a problem with mice, if you catch my drift."

Ragdoll let out a satisfied purr. Buck gave off another involuntary shudder.

He continued, "And I use magic in a different way then every other user in Equestria."

"Like how?"

Rust tapped his head, a sly smile on his face. "It's called thinking outside the box. Unpredictable is my middle name, you see. I can make things, to boot." The questioning look on Buckshot's face implored him to continue. "Instead of just summoning something from somewhere, I can create it!" He laughed. "Not even the Princesses know how to do that, and I'm not telling them either, no matter how much they bother me. Breaking the law of conservation of mass is enough of a discovery not to have to. I got along very well with Discord, as you can imagine."

"They know about you two?" Buckshot briefly considered why they hadn't told him, but quickly came to the conclusion that unless he'd heard it from Rust and Ragdoll themselves, he'd never have believed them.

"Dude, they are, like, gods. Only thing they can't do besides break the laws of physics is predict the future. Ragdoll here holds that unique title."

Buck stared at the shaggy mare in astonishment. "You can actually do that, mate?"

"Da. Though it is gift that often reveals things better left unknown." She paused for a moment and let out a cackle. "Though it does make me best at poker. Is that not right, Rust?"

"Bitch, you're never going to let me live that one down, are you? You very well knew I would take that stupid bet. And, for the record, my ass still hurts from that." He slammed his head into the table. "Don't ask, Buck. It was horrible."

Ragdoll denied him the pleasure of secrecy, however. "This stuipid tupitsa here had to jump into cactus farm because he ran out of bits after ten minutes of game," She said with laughter dancing in her eyes.

Buck attempted to steer the conversation back on track. "So, basically you're sayin' that botha ya can do things the rulers of night and day can't?"

"Da, comrade."

"And that ya both came from a different universe?"

"Your damn right, dude."

"And that you weren't always ponies?"

Rust bared his hybrid dentistry again, while Ragdoll flicked out one of her bone spurs. "Yes," they said as one.

"And you've been around since the beginning."

"Of everything, and then some,'" said Rust cryptically.

"So, you've watched the entire civilization of Equestria form over the course of thousands of years."

"Dude, it's been a long, strange, trip."

Buck finally got to what he had been aiming at. "So how do ya cope? I mean, ya obviously had ta have ponies ya knew, right? What happens when they die? How do ya soldier on with that for all eternity?" That question had been in the back of his mind since the beginning of the conversation. The weight of his lost wife and child had never truly left him, and asking these two immortal ponies for advice was the next best thing to asking Celestia herself.

To answer, Ragdoll's horn began to glow an icy blue, and a nearby cupboard opened for a large bottle of a clear liquid to levitate out into her hoof. She slammed it onto the table with gusto. "Vodka! Lots and lots of vodka!" she cried with zeal. Rust shook his head and ran a hoof through his short mane before answering.

"Everyone copes differently, dude. I can't exactly say I've dealt with this myself, even after all this time. The faces of the ponies I knew from eons ago I can still see as clear as day in my head. When I think back, yes, we had some great times with these guys, but they're long dead. That doesn't make sense to me, though. We die for a reason. Living forever isn't natural." He stared at his hooves intently. "Eventually, I just kind of accepted the fact that they had moved on, and I should too." He opened up the the bottle of vodka and took a hard swig. "The way I see it, I'm disrespecting their memories by feeling sad every time I remember. So I don't. I think about all the good times we had together, and nothing else." He took another swig and hoofed the bottle to Ragdoll. "...and the vodka helps, too."

Ragdoll poured the vodka into three shot glasses. "Now, comrade, I would like to speak of reason you are here tonight."

Buck looked out the window. Sure enough, night had fallen by this time.

Crikey, I've been here all bloody day!

Ragdoll continued. "You are here about room, da? You wish to live here?"

Buck nodded. This place was undoubtedly the weirdest building in Equestrian history, but for some reason the prospect of staying with his two oldest friends, regardless of their peculiarities, appealed to him greatly. "I'd luv ta."

The three ponies picked up the shots, clinked them together in a toast, and downed the fiery beverage. Rust let out a belch. "Fucktastic! We'll give you the grand tour of the place tomorrow. Rent is two-hundred bits a month. Pay up or get out. You know that room you woke up in? That's yours. Welcome to the Eternal Tower, Buckshot."