//------------------------------//
// Forever 
// Story: The Sun Must Set 
// by Princess Glitzy 
//------------------------------//

	The sun moves across the sky. It's pure beauty spreads over the land. Ponies look at it as some beautiful miracle, some gift that will never die. 

The sun is just simply something. It's just a part of the world, just a part of life. It, too, will leave. Nothing is meant to last forever. Forever is not infinite, though some ponies may say otherwise. Forever is until time itself ends. Time ends just as easily as one's life does.

I've heard the word immortal from my subjects many times, but each time I wish to tell them the truth. To be immortal is impossible. The goal of being immortal is unreachable. Everything ends and everything must end.

A world without end is a world without purpose. Why set goals if achieving them won't affect the ultimate end? Ponies try to make the world better, but if everything was incapable of dying then what purpose is making the future better? We try because we know that one day it will all be gone. Everypony wishes to make the time they have more memorable.

All stories have a beginning and an end for a reason. The sun is a story. Life is a story. Time is a story. A never-ending love seems possible, but alas, it is not. Love is a strong thing, but it too cannot outrun the inevitable conclusion.

I am as close to a goddess as ponyly possible. I have been alive since the dawn of time, but I will still die when the clock stops ticking. That clock seems to be close to breaking down. It's only a matter of time before even I pass on. 

The light of many is fading away. Each day, more ponies wither away in the sands of time. It's just a matter of time before they're all gone. I gaze out my window at my kingdom and see several ponies out and about, but those several make up nearly all of Canterlot's current population.

I'm afraid, truly. I really am. This Earth will one day, soon, succumb to the darkness of the end. The sun is slowly leaving me and my connection to it is weak. Once it is gone, we, too, will be gone.

I can't say that my long life has been perfect. I doubt that anypony can. I've made mistakes. My little ponies have made mistakes. All of us have made mistakes, but I still say that our time here has been well spent.

Millions upon millions of brilliant, beautiful ponies have perished, never again to walk on this ticking time-bomb called Earth. The element bearers have long since passed. The tribal leaders, Commander Hurricane, Princess Platinum and Chancellor Puddinghead, went down as swiftly as the other countless lives lost.

We fall prey to time. We can never escape it. It's like an alarm that's set right when you're born. It may take 50 years, 100 years, or even 1,000 years, but one day that alarm will go off. The sound will be everywhere and it will mark your ultimate demise. Then, you die.

Time is directly linked to life. Just as I am directly linked to the sun. When the sun burns out, so do I. When time finally stops, everything and anything will be gone, just as quickly as it was made. The world will be a black vortex of nothingness, filled with the souls of the ones who couldn't find a way to be immortal.

I feel my sanity slowly leaving me. I watch them die. I hold them on their death bed and wish them sweet dreams. I, sadly, know that those sweet dreams will never come to be. There simply isn't enough time. There's never enough time. 

I just want to cry. Cry for those I lost. Cry for those I'm going to lose. Cry for myself. Cry for my sister, the only alicorn with a lifespan as expansive as mine. But, there's not enough time.

We must move on and keep the ponies happy. We must not cry because then they will see. Even if we cry far away with nopony else and come out a week later, they will know we cried. They will see the invisible tear stains.

Then, they will know what's coming. Their final moments will be torturous because they'll know. They'll begin to see why the sun doesn't move as gracefully as it once did, or why the moon cannot rise as high as it should. It'll tear them to pieces, knowing that not even their benevolent rulers are saved.

But, that won't happen. We won't let it happen. So, that is why we must not cry. Ponies have been asking me if I'm okay. They say I haven't been myself recently. Where is the kind, witty Celestia we know and love? Why have you been so gloomy, locking yourself away in the castle? 

Why? I'm no longer who I once was. I was young and stupid. I ignored my sister's cries and she was banished. I ignored the statue of Discord, assuming it was taken care of, and my precious ponies were hurt. I was so ignorant back then. They thought I was a wise ruler, especially my student, Twilight, but I was not. I still hadn't grown.

I had yet to truly understand pain. I had felt it. Oh, I had certainly felt it, but I never understood it. Now, I have a deeper meaning. I see the purpose in things. And, I have reached the conclusion that time is running out, literally.

Soon, everything will be gone. I should be afraid, but I'm not, for I know that living beyond the time in which to live is impossible. The sun will set and not come back up. The Earth will crumble. The ponies will suddenly stop and fall, no longer with the living. Then, there will only be two of us left.

The world will then end. I will die. My sister will die. All of my little ponies will fall. All evil in this world will be vanquished by the end. It will be true harmony. I've always strived for true harmony. But, I now know that true harmony is impossible because fighting will always be. Once everything is gone, there will only be silence.

Sadly, I won't live to relish in it. Though, I also won't be alive long enough to grieve, something I'm truly thankful for. I won't be alive long enough to do anything, really. Suddenly, I pull myself out of my thoughts and remember what I must do.

I stare up at the sun. It shines brightly. I almost don't want to let it all go. I just want to stay this way forever. I remember that forever still is not long enough, though, so I push past my sadness and light up my horn. I grab ahold of the sun and it's dragged across the sky. The sun slowly dips below the horizon.

I shed a single tear as the sun sets.