//------------------------------// // 420. Eternity by Silver Scrolls // Story: The Sun and the Stars: A Twilestia Prompt Collab // by Fuzzyfurvert //------------------------------// by Silver Scrolls *** Celestia cradled the faded mulberry hoof in hers as she looked around the room. It hadn’t changed, the same white washed walls with a lithograph of some famous artists rendition of a field of daisy hanging opposite the bed. The same steady beeping rhythm of the heart monitor that let the world know the pony in the bed was still alive. A plastic tube ran from a bag on a stainless steel stand down to a needle that fed the painkillers into the ancient mare to make her at least a little more comfortable. Celestia lowered her head and squeezed the hoof tightly as a few tears managed to fear themselves and run down her cheeks. Why now? Why must the weight of it all bear itself now. The old pony in the bed coughed and squeezed back. “It’s okay my love. There’s no need for tears, I am old and this is what old mares do. I have told you before that I don’t want you to cry for me.” Celestia lifted her head and sniffled. “I’m not cryin for you, I’m crying for me.” Twilight gave her a questioning look, prompting her to go on. “I’m crying for eternity.” “I see.” Twilight nodded her head slightly. “And why would eternity want these tears?” The room was quiet while Celestia searched for a way to answer. It was a simple question but to explain everything that it meant to her was a far more difficult task. “It’s... it’s hard to explain.” Twilight squeezed her hoof and smiled reassuringly. It was the same smile she always gave when she wanted Celestia to know that there was nothing she could say or do that would change how Twilight thought of her. “When I was a foal, eternity was too big to understand. This idea that I and my sister were timeless, endless beings who would one day see the end of everything was just not something we could understand.” Celestia looked over at the lithograph. “We used the word eternity to describe something as simple as how long an hour felt or how far the horizon was from us. As I grew up and watched those around me pass on and the world change while I remained unchanged the word took on a new meaning.” Twilight lit her horn and the bed shifted, propping her upright. “It is a hard concept to understand. The idea of eternity is large.” Celestia shifted her chair so she could lean against Twilight while she spoke and draped a wing over Twilight's shoulders. “Yes but now, sitting here with you, it’s taken on a new meaning. You once told me you would love me eternally, forever, but not you’re here, slowly dying of old age. Now with that, eternity has taken on a new weight.” Twilight let the room grow quiet, instead just leaning against her love reassuringly. They sat together in silence, the only sound was the gentle beeping of the heart monitor. Time slowed and the world became just them as they sat together, eyes closed in contentment. Finally Twilight spoke. “I wasn’t lying. I will love you forever. Death won’t be able to stop my love, from the afterlife I will love you and wait for you to join me.” Celestia sighed and tightened her grip. “That’s just it, I have an eternity ahead of me and it feels even heavier knowing that you won’t be there to see it with me. I won’t ever die, I won’t ever be able to join you.” “Nonsense. Everything has an ending, even the universe. Someday, even you and your sister will have an end. When that day comes, I will be waiting in the afterlife and we can spend the next eternity together.” Twilight let her head fall to the side, resting it against Celestia’s shoulder. A smile spread across her face. Celestia ran a hoof through her mane. “I know you will. You have always waited, and you always will.” She turned and placed a kiss on Twilight’s forehead. “But it doesn’t make this eternity any easier on me.” She laid her head over Twilight’s and silence fell again. With her eyes closed Celestia remembered her life together with Twilight, from the moment she saw the young filly hatch a dragon until today. When she finally opened her eyes, fresh tears spilled forth and she called for a nurse. The beeping rhythm was gone and an eternity faced her, an eternity of knowing she would never be as happy as she had been for the life time of one mare who had made her world brighter than she could have ever believed it to be.