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// .____________________________________________________________________________. 
// Story: .until the last pony is ferried. 
// by shortskirtsandexplosions 
//------------------------------//


. and now here i stand .



. with the last obsidian lengths of the afterlife dissolving around me .



. i hear an audible hiss, and turn to see the boat crumbling in on itself .



. it's my raft and yet it isn't .



. only a few souls out of the nameless masses had ever mattered .



. and yet, in some way or another, they had all mattered .



. i had simply chosen to blink through a few of them .



. and now the lantern implodes, snuffing out the last shred of mystic light .



. i turn around and face where i knew the pond to be .



. in the bowels of oblivion, i can almost make it out .



. like a blacker-than-black circle staring back at me .



. it's the first thing that's scared me in eons .



. now we're talking .



. a breath sparks before me, then dissipates .



. i guide myself by the strobe, my hooves making ghostly echoes against the glassy surface .



. i'm no longer counting the steps i take .



. i'm no longer thinking of anything, only faces .



. the eyes and manes and muzzles of loved ones .



. with a final breath, the spark reflects my face as i bow to the pond water .



. and i see all of those colors dangling around me .



. flaring in the breeze as the final veil falls .



. then icy, icy water, numbing, soothing .



. coming apart .



. threads and ribbons and the spaces between laughter .



. good night, twilight, pinkie, applejack .



. soft and slow, like a lullaby .



. fluttershy, spike, rarity .



. curling up, drifting off, floating .



. i love you, guys. .



. black .



. i love... .