//------------------------------// // Decisions // Story: Limbo // by Imagine Harmonics //------------------------------// A blinding white spell of light. It dimmed and saturated to a warmer shade of teal as buildings melted and warped into the surrounding landscape. The architecture was introduced whole and unblemished. In another moment the facades grew pale, chunks vanished and banners faded and ripped under unforgiving age. The panoramic flats distorted into hills and out spruced the most verdant of pastures. Clouds spawned and fleeced the skyward blue. I looked around me. Standing near an elegant marble fountain spurting black formless water, I observed the world shaping and forming into coherence and decaying and vanishing under the relentless passage of time. The clouds were moving at an unearthly pace. Trees sprouted from saplings. They would twist into each other while leaves die and fall to the dirt until they were nothing but black grotesque monoliths with their lives and usefulness spent. From the roofs of the skies came a lonely iridescent halo wafting down to the earth. Drifting forth to me. Its movements eased before me. For a moment, I gazed at the kaleidoscopic halo and listened to the soft hymn which emanated from it. A choir of divine souls displaying a holy tune. It began to speak in a voice lacking expression. It had no eyes and no mouths but its conveyance was whole and absolute, a speech divine and resonating along the dreary landscapes. “We have been waiting for your arrival. Welcome.” I moved my gaze to our dilapidated surroundings. “Where am I?” The crepuscular sphere remained unaltered as it answered, “This realm has many names, but always a common purpose and a common description. This is a medium of judgement and roads; a spectrum hosting the good and the nefarious, the ignorant and also the wise. This is your limbo between your lingering mortality and an imminent departure.” I calmly returned my eyes to her. “What would my said judgement be?” She seemed to pause. There was an instance of hesitation before a matching apathetic expression to her response. “We offer to grant you apotheosis; we will bestow upon you eternal life.” I took a step back, remaining focused on the presence. “Why?” “Some ponies fulfill their lives living in a serene peace. Others exist as messiahs to purposes they deem true. Then there are ponies; ponies like you.” It paused. “We watched and listened to what you said and what you discerned. Struggled alongside you from your failures and perils, and often do we find that you would celebrate and rejoice in the triumphs and achievements of others, and so rarely for yourself. Truly, there is not a princess who have given more to Equestria. You have chosen to squander your span in devotion to the existence of others and now, we seek to render intervention. We seek it because you fathom the nebulous truth of selflessness and faith. Heed not of repercussions of your unparalleled virtues, of those we both know some.” The orb of holy light rose higher above me and shone its light brighter. Prismatic rays reflected off the blackened world and I watched as the macabre landscape began to return into the white abyss of which it came. A new world was forming, one of the clouds. The blank canvas we stood on once more painted itself into a sky of sanctuary, a true haven retired of evil and fatigue. We stood in near darkness on clouds with a brilliant night sky, a tranquil rich blue punctuated by passing stars. The halo lowered itself in front of me once again. I felt a caressing warmth as she dispersed her energy. Her light dimmed and the hymn silenced to a somber melody. Her voice rang out across the cumulous, “You have proven yourself worthy-” I raised my hoof, silencing the goddess. A stunned silence hung in the air, a stagnant pause where even the choir ceased. “I thank you for your offer, but I think I shall follow Death, in the end.” The shocked silence became almost tangible before she finally answered, “May we ask, why?” I turned away from her and paced, gazing up at the veil of stars. “I do not need to live any longer, for I have lived enough,” I explained simply. “It would be selfish of me to cling onto my life, never giving an opportunity to those who seek to have a hoof for a better tomorrow, to learn the true values of what it means to be compassionate.” The voice said softly behind me, “A better tomorrow for those you selflessly serve.” I turned my attention towards the orb of light as she gently hovered next to me. “That’s what I said.” Letting a smile lift my features, I sat down and spread my forelegs out in an insignificant embrace towards the galaxy. “The life I lived is already a gift in itself and how I lived it was not an encumbrance or obligation as much as it was a choice.” She moved in front of me once more. “What of that of your apprentices? Your students?” “My friends-” I muttered, “Who will commiserate my passing will fathom through grief, and for that I am grateful.” My heart dropped and my chest tightened. My eyes burned from the beginnings of tears. Yet, I kept my smile. “I've finished paving the road for our children to follow, finished carving the plaque which they will read and eventually add onto when the time is right. I am needed no more, for I have left a legacy. After all, I would like to join the rest of my friends, Celestia, Luna and countless others in the hereafter. I've missed them.” We shared a thoughtful silence. A moment passed before she said in a barely discernible whisper, “Even in death will you assume the benefit of others. Extraordinary.” I tucked my wings closer to myself, though I felt no cold. “Indeed, time could be our motivational friend, or a restricting enemy. It’s a matter of perception in the end. It is thus through that truth that we learn never be prodigal with time, but often forced to be sparing in our endeavors.”