//------------------------------//
// .___. 
// Story: .until the last pony is ferried. 
// by shortskirtsandexplosions 
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. i do not need the payment. i simply wish to get you to the other side .



. don't be silly. take the coin, darling. that is how it works, after all, yes? .



. my gaze fell from her elegant face to the dazzlingly polished coin in my hoof .



. with a cold breath, i slid the bit underneath the folds of my robe and continued pushing us across the waters with my pole .



. ponies pay charon, the ferrypony, to carry them across the river of the dead .



. she spoke; she rambled .



. all the while her blue eyes gazed calmly across the rippling waters; maybe a little too calmly .



. the souls of the dead then trot into the well of the underworld where they become one with the lingering pulse of eternity. hmmm... you see, i've learned a fair bit from queen twilight's learned teachings. she was always ever so willing to impart the knowledge she was given, even to lowly mortals such as us, ponies that she was still kind and mirthful enough to call her friends .



. i exhaled calmly while i ferried us along .



. she is a generous and merciful ruler, i imagine .



. oh, above all else, a companion to the end. even my end. she was there with applejack and her family by my bedside when it happened. oh, how i wish it was the other way around, and i could have been there to see to their passing instead. but, alas, that is not the case. i can't imagine how twilight must feel. with the pattern of things, she's going to have to be the strongest of us all. but to bear the weight of all that? and with ponies like myself not being th-there to help her weather the storm? .



. finally, it happened .



. she lost her composure .



. she brought a hoof to her snow white muzzle, sobbing daintily into the endless night .



. she didn't notice, but i had slowed the speed of our ferrying .



. after all these years, i knew more than any other soul just how swiftly this ritual would be over with .



. i waited for her to regain her breaths; and after several glowing exhales into the shadows, she recovered .



. i shouldn't weep for her. after all, she should be more than prepared for when her time comes. applejack too. after all, if i can take this in stride, then so certainly can they .



. how do you mean? .



. oh, please, i can't imagine how any of that would be important to you .



. perhaps it would be important to you to share it .



. she contemplated that in silence, her blue eyes locked on the lantern dangling in front of her .



. all of my life, i desired to accomplish two very contradictory things. i wanted to be immensely popular, and yet i wanted to give generously to everypony around me. my friends even told me that such a dichotomy was what defined me as a mare. as the years wore on into decades, i came to understand and respect that opinion. however, at some point, the balance tipped, and i no longer was the pony i used to strive towards being .



. what changed? .



. age, darling. i surely can't expect a ferrypony of the underworld to understand. but age has a way of changing a soul, no matter how happy or sad she may be. and as i grew older, it became apparent that building up wealth and prestige simply meant nothing in the long run. after all, 'you can't take it with you.' i know that to be an absolute truth now. but in the last few years that i had to my name, it constantly vexed me to the point of insanity. however, i do like to think i found a peaceful solution, at least for the time i had to exercise it.



. and that was...? .



. the greatest gift i could give was to be around my friends. i moved in with applejack's family, which isn't quite as burdensome as it sounds. after all, i never did take on a husband, and i made myself quite useful on the farm, or at least as useful as an old mare can be. memories of granny smith certainly helped me in that department. queen twilight would visit us from canterlot often, and i can't even count how many times we fellowshipped together, laughing over tea and biscuits, discussing old friends and even older memories. i used the very last portions of my fortune to improve sweet apple acres, to pay for the education of applejack's foals and grandfoals, not to mention pumpkin's and pound's. i even tended to the garden around our friends' graves. why, if it weren't for the terrible heat stroke that i endured, i would probably still be communing with my loved ones now .



. i gazed thoughtfully at her upon the end of her speech .



. then why do you feel the urge to weep? .



. she started shaking, gripping the edge of the raft to steady herself for what had to be uttered next .



. i thought that i was prepared for this. i thought that i had appropriately turned my attention to eternal matters of the heart. but now i realize just how selfish i have been .



. in what way ? .



. i was so focused on how i would feel once i got here. i didn't take into account the fact that all of my gifts might be for nothing. i worked so hard to make the lives of my friends and their families happy while they were on earth. but what about the day when they come down here? how will any of the riches that i've built sustain them in the underworld? how will all of the words of wisdom and gifts i've had to impart help them in that final slumber from whence they'll never wake up? .



. your friends all love you. and that love will carry them peacefully into oblivion .



. oh please, you're just saying that, darling .



. i have witnessed it first-hoof. their love for you and their companions is all that defines them once they come down here .



. she turned to gaze at me, her lip quivering .



. you mean... you have ferried them already? .



. i nodded .



. fluttershy... pinkie pie... and... and... ? .



. they all care deeply for you. your impact on their lives is that of a blessing. it is not a matter of many gifts, or abundant wealth, but the sheer knowledge of you and what you mean to them. all of your friends and loved ones cherished everything you had to contribute to their lives, and they entered into that dark, dark sleep with peace .



. she blinked, and in that blink a silver tear rolled down her face .



. all of the wrinkles and the signs of age that i had first spotted along the shoreline had utterly faded .



. the pony before me was young again, possessing a warmth that soothed her with the last breaths she had to ripple the waves .



. i always assumed i may or may not grace their final thoughts when they pass away. but to be eternal? .



. sometimes the best gifts are the ones we never expect to give... or receive .



. hmmmmm... .



. she smiled .



. it is an awful lot better than a drab coin, is it not? .



. at that, she chuckled; another voice may or may not have joined her .



. when we reached the island, i reached in and helped her off the boat with a chivalrous hoof .



. if you see applejack soon, do be a dear and tell her something for me .



. she glanced over her shoulder with a luscious flounce of her purple mane as she trotted calmly into the bottomless pool .



. tell her that i was thinking of her and twilight... and the rest of our dearly departed as i made my final walk as well .