Nothing Gold Can Stay

by Super Trampoline

So Dawn Goes Down To Day

When the viewing window in front of them first opened, there was a collective gasp. A dead, barren, and melting rocky planet lay before them. Beyond it, a swollen red star hovered, threatening to swallow the entire planet whole.

The ears of the non-time travels in the TARDIS splayed back in awe. All of them had seen worlds from space on multiple occasions, but the sight of a planet up close yet not upon its surface was still --and would always be-- an amazing spectacle.

They watched in reverie as the universe swam around them. Every so often, mighty tendrils of flame lashed out, threatening to singe the TARDIS. The star seemed to boil, to sweat in agony, and the planet appeared desperate to just melt away. It was a wonderful yet somewhat macabre sight. It was magnificent. It was beautiful. It was glorious.

Fleur Dis Lee was the first to speak. "My husband has taken me on many wonderful adventures. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s not to be afraid of the extraordinary. You guys are all exceptional, but you are still ponies… and, er, a draconamagiggy."

“‘Draconawhatchamacallit’ is the proper term,” Discord corrected her.

"But this," she continued, "this terrifies me. We live in a world of peace and harmony." Glancing at Discord, she added, "(for the most part.)" "This though reminds us where we really stand. What is the magic of friendship to this uncaring and violent cataclysm?"

Discord shrugged. "Well, I think it's simply grand. I for one like cataclysms." He was fogging up the window with his breath and drawing stick figures. How he was doing this when his mouth was ten feet from the glass on account of his still lying in the hammock he had conjured up earlier, is anypony's guess.

Celestia just lay still, gazing in rapt fascination. But her visage was troubled; she looked as if deep in thought.

"Is something wrong Princess?" Fleur asked with concern.

"Yeah," Discord added. "Why the long face?" Everypony groaned at the worn out joke.

Celestia collected her thoughts. "I... I know that star --I think. It's... it's definitely familiar, like a long lost friend, whose name floats upon the wind, just out of grasp."

"Yeah yeah yeah, enough with the poetics. Whoovsy, where and when are we?" Discord asked.

The doctor grinned. "What do you think we are witnessing Celestia?"

"Doctor, I'm not in the mood for guessing games. Luna has always been better at them than I anyway. What are we looking at?"

"Fine, fine," he said nonchalantly. "This is the sun swallowing the earth, two billion years in the future."

---

They were all much too shocked and overwhelmed to at first question why he had brought them there. Fleur, the most mortal of the bunch, was too finite to truly grasp the scope of what she beheld, and so simply laid there in awe. Celestia looked at once anguished and confused, trying to make sense of a future so foreign to her present. And Discord?

Discord was crying. Not tears of mirth either. He seemed to be genuinely distraught. He cried for all four of them. “I may be a monster,” he said slowly, “But I am not so heartless as to wish this future upon anypony. What… Why did you bring us here? What am I to make of this? There must be millions of innocent ponies roasting alive!"

The doctor chuckled sadly. "No Discord. Earth has been abandoned for scores of millions of years. The last ponies took much of the remaining flora and fauna too. You're looking at a long dead planet."

"Oh," the draconequus muttered, drying his crocodile tears (literally tears of a crocodile, he was a chimera after all.).

"We're... dead now too, aren't we?" Fleur tentatively asked.

"Well, yes, even I am probably dead by now. I can only regenerate so many times before something goes wonky I suppose. But yes, we are... all... dead..."

Silence.

"This sun I see before me," Celestia finally spoke up, "it seems impossible it is our own. I know many other solar systems do not follow the laws that our own does, but I thought the sun was different. How could a heavenly body I created act under its own volition? And why do I not see the moon?"

Doctor Whooves chuckled. "Things change Celestia. You of any pony should know that. And the moon was lost hundreds of millions of years before this, the satellite whisked away as a spaceship for ponies escaping their home which had become a pressure cooker. I must give you credit Celestia. Your children are a hardy lot."

Celestia smiled. "I'd like to think so."

Again, nothing was said, as the four pondered the display before them.

"Soooo," the doctor prodded. "Why do you think I brought you here?"

"I'm really not sure," Celestia grumbled. "Hopefully a good reason?"

"Doctor," Fleur addressed her husband, "There was a point to this, right? I love adventures, but why such a grim one, now of all times?"

"Why might I be showing you this," the doctor queried. "Here's a hint: Is the end of the world really the end of the world?"

The mares were confused. But then Discord started laughing. A light bulb appeared over his head, and he threw it into his mouth and chewed upon it. He rose from the hammock and strode back and forth in front of the other three, with a scholarly air about him. He began to lecture, a spark in his eyes.

“Don’t you see? It’s beautiful. This, oh I do say, this is glorious! Don’t you see Tia? This isn't the end. Only the end of the beginning! It’s a big juicy, chaotic drawing of the curtain, but it isn't the end of the play. Oh ho no!”

Fleur and Celestia looked at Discord quizzically. The doctor smiled. “You got it old sport. Go on, ya furbag.”

Discord continued. “We are witnessing the end of act one. Intermission if you will. But there are a hundred thousand scenes yet to play out, aren’t there Doctor? A million more galaxies to explore. A billion more worlds to colonize. A trillions more lives to live. Don’t you guys see it? It’s beautiful. It…it brings tears to my eyes.” He renewed his crying, but this time they were tears of joy. “Without… without destruction… you can’t have chaos. Life and death work together, to build this crazy universe of ours. It’s… quite sobering."

“Quite,” Celestia, heretofore quiet, responded. “Though I can’t help but be concerned by this most unnatural behavior of the sun, I now understand why you brought me --us-- here. You wish to convey to us the grander scope of things. I suppose you have done this. Thank you Doctor.”

The doctor sighed. “Trust me, I’m not particularly fond of witnessing this, in this universe or in or in any others. But yes Celestia, I brought you here for perspective. Just as Rarity’s death marks the start of a new era for Equestria, so too does the death of the earth mark a turning point in pony history. Your home planet may soon be destroyed, but right now, there are ponies living their lives in both chaos,” –he looked towards Discord– “and harmony,” he turned now to Celestia, “scattered across vast realms of space. Some of whom, I might mention, are the very distant descendants of a mare among us."

Celestia and Fleur looked at each other with raised eyebrows. Then they turned back to the sight in front of them, tendrils of plasma from the sun beginning to nibble at the earth. They sat there quietly for some time.

Discord yawned and stretched. "Well, if we're going to be all somber and stuff, at least let's have some snacks. He snapped his talon, and food, drinks, and recliners (replacing the hammocks) appeared. “Huh, glad to see my magic still works.”

Together, four friends sat in near-silent appreciation, munching on popcorn, as the sun swallowed the earth.

---

Dear Twilight Sparkle:

Today I learned… well actually today isn't exactly accurate now. A long while in the future, shall we say, I learned an important lesson about life. I learned that even when something very sad happens, it is not the end of the world, even if it may literally seem like it is. There will always be a tomorrow, and beyond whatever tragedy has befallen you, a glorious day awaits. I know this past week has been extremely hard for all of us, but I promise you that life will still go on for a long, long time, and you should not let this event stop you from living beautifully.

Your faithful mentor, Princess Celestia