I: The Cure.
Chapter 1: The Cure
Beams of sunlight slowly crept along the old oak floor until they reached the edge of a bed lined with blue sheets. They began to climb up the bed, slowly, until they reached a lavender blanket. The beams started to spread quickly across the bed, illuminating the face of a creature sleeping. The warmth of the sun roused the sleeping creature and she slowly turned over, to face the light. The sun illuminated the face of a purple Alicorn with moderate sapphire blue mane with two streaks of moderate violet and brilliant rose running down its mane on the left side of its horn.
"Morning already?" The creature groaned in a feminine voice. She quickly pulled the covers over her eyes, but the sun would not relent, she could see the beams of light even though the cover. She tossed and turned for a few minutes, trying to find a comfortable position to get back to sleep.
"Bah, fine." The purple Alicorn tossed the blankets off the bed and rolled out onto the floor, landing on all four legs. She gave a long yawn and began to stretch out, her back arching into the air as if she were a cat. She soon reversed her stretching and added her wings to the morning routine.
"Ahh, that feels good." The Alicorn flapped her wings a few times, a few stray feathers falling out. She looked back at her wings and noticed that a few feathers were jutting out at odd angles, some of them overlapping and some of them stabbing into other feathers. She checked her right-wing and than her left. "Maybe I should manually preen them today" she said to herself. She flapped her wings a few times and some of the loose feathers fell out, but none of the others seemed to want to go back into place.
"I don't have time for this, I'll just use the auto preen spell." She closed her eyes and her horn began to glow a deep pink, a pink that soon enveloped her entire body. The feathers that were stubbornly jutting out at odd angles began to swivel back into aliment with the others and the ones that were too damaged to salvage dissolved into puffs of purple smoke. The spell wasn't perfect however, as some of the feathers just flat out refused to be straight.
"Bah, whatever. Not like I go out much anyhow." The Alicorn moved toward a mirror on the end of her room, a single brush levitated off a nightstand next to her as she stepped in front of the mirror. "What I wouldn't do for some Canterlot blue sky shampoo." The Alicorn stared into the mirror, trying her best to brush away the split ends on the hair that hung just above her eyes.
"Oh well, enough faffing about. Time to check on Spike." The Alicorn walked through the door to her room and into the hallway. She made a quick left turn and walked down some stairs into what looked like something right out of a science fiction novel. A room filled with many different contraptions ranging from the mundane like a cappuccino maker to the bizarre like an assembly conveyer belt for bottled products, all of the bottles labeled 'Starlight Chemical Co' on them. Strangest of all was a massive chemistry set that ran along the ceiling of the entire room, dropping down every so often to funnel contents into beakers near the floor.
"Ah, the fresh smell of the laboratory." The Alicorn inhaled deeply, her face breaking into a smile. "Today should be the day. The last test with gravel wort was promising." The Alicorn walked though the lab to the end of it where a large metal gate stood, an elevator. She opened the gate and stepped inside, closing the gate behind her.
"Bottom floor please." A pink orb at the top of the elevator whirred to life and responded in a robotic tone.
"Good morning, Twilight." The orb said.
"Good morning, Sam." Twilight replied.
"I have finished mailing out your entire repertoire of spells and ingredient lists for potions for all scholars in Equestria. Operation immortal tome is 95% complete. Awaiting your order to initiate the last phase." The orb said.
"Good. I should have the potion finished within a week at most" Twilight said.
"This may seem a bit off topic, but what about the dragon below once your plan is complete?" The Orb asked.
"Oh, I built a fail-safe into my lab. It will shrink down to the size of a pea, destroying the front wall in the cliff face and the ceiling inside his cave. This will shine light on his project that hes been at for the past thirty or so years" Twilight said.
"Oh, his memorial that he wanted to build?" The orb asked.
"He finished that a long time ago, he decided to build more statues" Twilight said.
"Are you going to tell Celst-" The orb cut itself short.
"For the last time, NO. I want nothing to do with her" Twilight said angrily.
"I am sorry. Remember I am a learning AI. Your lack of explanation as to why you're angry perplexes me. I will endeavor not to bring the subject up again." The orb apologized.
Twilight sighed. "Sorry, when I get angry I don't focus very well and my work suffers for it. I will upload an explanation from my journal to your mainframe when my work is complete."
The elevator continued down the shaft and from inside one could sea an ocean of yellow set to the backdrop of leaky stonewalls. Suddenly a large purple head appeared in front of the elevator. It was the head of a large dragon, it had long green spines running down its head and neck, two sharp fangs stuck out from the edge of its mouth and piercing emerald green eyes.
"Good morning, Twilight. Have you come to join me for breakfast?" The large dragon said as he lowered his head to follow the elevator to its destination.
"I guess I could go for some juice and toast. If you would be so kind as to set the table, Spike." Twilight replied. As the elevator descended Twilight could make out more of Spike's titanic girth. In just a little over a couple centuries the once small baby dragon had ballooned into a massive amethyst dragon. Even though he wasn't full-grown and wouldn't for another ten centuries or more, his sheer bulk was always breathtaking to behold.
Spike nodded and reached over to a pile of gold at the far side of the room. With his massive powerful tail he pushed large piles of gold out of the way as if they were mere balls of dust. He kept at it until the gold neatly piled to the left of its original position. Underneath all the gold was a small cupboard, a mini fridge and a wooden bench that looked as if it was bolted to the stone floor.
"Sorry about that. When I sleep I sometimes toss and turn, things get moved around and all that" Spike said as he tried to pry open the door on the cupboard carefully, his single massive claw larger than the entire cupboard itself.
The elevator came to a stop and Twilight opened the gate. Twilight spread her wings and glided to the far side of the room where Spike was trying his best to open a single door. "Silly dragon. You're much too big to be trying that stuff. Here, let me get the little stuff, all I wanted you to do was clean up the gold pile on it."
Spike frowned. "I almost wish I was small again, I would even settle for those awkward teenage years. At least then I could make nachos for myself without help."
"I understand the feeling, Spike. Back when I was a unicorn everything seemed so new and fresh, every new thing I did or tried was exciting, but now..." Twilight sighed. "I really miss the challenge in things, now even the most complex spell is a breeze. Potions are simple and even spell creation is too easy. The only potion left for me to discover is-"
"Let's not go over that again. You know how I feel about your project, let's just try to eat breakfast without going over that discussion again" Spike said.
Twilight shook her head. "Maybe one day you will understand my position. Dragons may not be immortal, but elder dragons can live upwards of ten thousand years."
"I am well aware and actually some dragons never age past five thousand. Both silver and onyx dragons cease all aging at five thousand years of age." Spike corrected.
"I remember reading about them. Never met either kind before though." Twilight opened the cupboard door with her magic and levitated out what looked like a metal box with a round cylinder battery object strapped to the side. "I heard rumors they went extinct."
"Not entirely. There are the few of them that still roam the skies of the far north. They don't socialize much, some say they even went mad and lost all sense of self eons ago" Spike said as he flicked a spare gold coin off the table and into a pile behind Twilight.
Twilight bit her lip, she wanted to use this as an argument for her plans, but she knew it would spoil the mood. "Anyway, what bread would you like this morning? Raisin, cinnamon or wheat with jade chunks?" Twilight asked.
"Jade chunks if you would be so kind. The last time I had raisins it gave me gas for a week. I almost accidentally melted one of the statues" Spike said, giggling.
"Speaking of, how far along are you." Twilight asked as she pulled a loaf of cinnamon and wheat jade bread from the cupboard.
"The last one should be done by tomorrow morning at the latest. We are still in agreement about the rest of our hoard right?" Spike asked.
"Yes. The entirety of it is already arranged to be transported to the Equestrian orphanage association. Lightly toasted or dark, Spike?" Twilight asked as she shoved two slices of the bulky wheat bread down the makeshift toaster on the table.
"Oh, medium if you would be so kind" Spike replied.
Twilight tapped the toaster with her horn and the device began to jump up and down, spewing sparks all over the table. Seconds later the toast popped out of the top of the toaster and onto the wooden table. Twilight then shoved two slices of cinnamon bread down the toaster and tapped it with her horn. This time the device hummed for a moment and spat out two slices of lightly toasted cinnamon bread.
"Really should fix that problem it has with gem encrusted bread." Twilight turned her head to the mini fridge under the cupboard. "Would you like anything to drink?" Twilight asked.
"Some Apple Family cider if there is any left" Spike said.
Twilight opened the fridge door and indeed there was nearly an entire gallon of the stuff on the bottom shelf, right next to it some orange juice. Twilight lifted the bottle out of the fridge and set it on the table. Something however, caught her eye and she leaned closer to the jug. "Huh, when did they start using this red filly on the front of the jugs instead of granny Apple bloom?" Twilight asked.
"A couple of months ago I think. It's been many years since she passed away, I guess it was time for a new face for marketing" Spike said as he picked up the jug and examined the label. "I believe this filly is Big Mac's great great granddaughter."
"I miss the old label, and the one before that" Twilight said as she moved a small bottle of orange juice from the friend. Closing the door lightly as she set it on the table.
Spike scratched the back of his neck. "You know Twilight, you could always leave here and go learn more about all the descendants your friends left. I mean it couldn't hurt right?"
Twilight shook her head. "No, as much as I want to know how well they are doing, I don't want the same pain I felt each time one of the others passed away. If I never get attached in the first place than the pain of loss won't be as great."
Spike nodded his head. "I understand, many of my own kind live in absolute seclusion. Their entire lives being nothing but building up their treasure hoard." Spike looked up to the large cloth covering his statues, particularly one with what looked like a point in the blanket at the top. "They miss the entire point of living."
Twilight took a bite of her toast and swallowed. "Spike, when did you get so smart?"
Spike smiled. "I learned from the best" Spike said while staring at Twilight.
Twilight smiled. "Flatterer."
Twilight took another bite of her toast and took a drink of her juice. "You want this last piece, Spike? I really should get to work." Twilight picked up her toast and set it next to the jade toast on Spike's side of the table.
"You sure? You've been working really hard lately" Spike said.
"I can feel it Spike. I'm so close to being done. I'll finally be able to end my suffering, to end my story on a positive note. I've already rewritten nearly all the laws of chemistry. It's time for me to leave this world behind and let some other ponies rise to be even greater at chemistry than I am" Twilight said.
Spike sighed. "I wish you would just hang out for a while. You're always consumed with work."
"Oh Spike. Tell you what, we can go down to the beach this afternoon, I'll bring dinner" Twilight said cheerfully.
"Really? That sounds awesome. I guess you will be going in disguise again?" Spike asked.
"Yeah. I'll be going as Star Burst. I guess I should disguise you as well, unless of course you want the entire beach to ourselves like the last time we went." Twilight grinned, rubbing the back of her head.
"Hey now, they don't have to know I'm a gentle giant. Having the ocean to yourself is kinda cool, I mean I don't want to scare them off, but if I want to go swimming they have to vacate the water. I make massive waves when I cannon ball" Spike said.
"I know, my rowboat ended up in the middle of town the last time we went" Twilight said, rolling her eyes.
Both of them shared a hearty laugh.
"Anyway Spike, I'll see you later tonight" Twilight said cheerfully as she made her way to the elevator.
"I look forward to it" Spike replied.
Spike watched the elevator ascend until it was out of sight. He turned his head to where the statues he was working on were still covered up. "I wonder what they would have said to stop her..." He said to himself.
***
Twilight opened the gate after the elevator stopped and flew into her lab with gusto. "Sam, activate experimental setup alpha. I want a clean slate for when I start this next batch up."
A floating orb of pink with a single large purple eye descended from the ceiling. "As you wish Twilight." The ball fired an electrical beam at a circuit board on one of the walls and slowly the machines in the room began to move around. The larger machines used for mass production flipped under the floor one by one while cabinets marked with various tags for ingredients popped up along the wall in their place.
"Error, there is a gear stuck in section C7" Sam announced roboticly.
Twilight reared up on her hind legs and stomped on the floor, she then quickly took to the air as the floor beneath her flipped around to reveal a large chemistry set on a large blue desk. Beakers and valves adorned the top, mixing pots and wooden salve mixing trays, even a complete safety equipment set.
"Error corrected. May I advise you check out the gearing later tonight?" Sam suggested.
"Yeah that gear has been acting up lately. Probably just needs some lubricant though." Twilight levitated the safety equipment to herself. She quickly put on a face mask, safety goggles, lab coat and rubber mitts for both her legs and her wings.
"I always wondered, if you are technically immortal than why all the safety gear?" Sam asked.
"One of the defining principles of any science or any field of work for that matter. Just because I'm immortal doesn't mean I can't get crippled, actually I read in a book once that immortality just means there is a very high chance I will be trapped forever if something bad were to occur to me or imagine a toxic potion I'm working on can't kill me, but end up blinding me. That kind of stuff." Twilight explained.
"Any other issues?" Sam asked.
"Say for instance I accidentally made a shrinking potion and it got on me. Then, say something really heavy, something outside my ability to lift physically or magically landed on me. I would be stuck there until either the potion wore off, the object rotted away or somepony found me" Twilight said.
"Sounds ... strange. I will store this conversation for later use. I do have another question, wouldn't Spike get worried about you and start looking if he didn't see you for an extended period of time?" Sam asked.
"I don't think Spike could fit in here to look for me, he would have to tear the house apart bit by bit to do so. No, if something goes wrong that's what I have you for" Twilight said.
"You mentioned in the past that I was to replace an assistant. Was said assistant once Spike?" Sam asked.
Twilight walked over to a cabinet with a skull and crossbones insignia on it. "Yeah, after Spike hit his teenage years a combination of size and hormonal imbalances made him something of a liability. He would knock things over constantly, even when being excessively careful. He had wild mood swings too. Everything from sad-sack slumps to pure rage." Twilight opened the cabinet and began to levitate ingredients onto a table nearby.
"My knowledge of dragons is very limited. It seemed there are very few books on the subject according to my records" Sam said.
Twilight levitated a clipboard from a pin on the wall over to her and began to examine it. "Years ago I had the same problem and until fifty years ago next to nothing about dragons was really concrete. I had to write the darn book on dragons myself, had to venture into the dragon wastes and everything to study them, at least for adult dragons. Teenagers seem to be just as hormonal and moody as any other creature."
"That doesn't seem too dangerous, you are immortal after-all" Sam said.
"You would think that." Twilight levitated a quill from the table and began to mark off sections on the clipboard. "Dragons are quite capable of killing even an Alicorn, their entire body is magical. So much so that ancient Zebra tribes even tried hunting them to fashion things such as armor and elixirs, to ... less than fantastic results."
"Wait, you are trying to make a potion to remove your own immortality, correct?" Sam asked.
"Yep." Twilight replied.
"And dragons are capable of killing even immortal creatures yes?" Sam asked.
"I see where you're going with this and yes, I already tried that. As dangerous as dragons are the ones I asked were shocked about such a request. As big as they are most of them avoid confrontation were possible. Some breeds are even outspoken against such things." Twilight pulled a few more jars from the cabinet and set them down. "Also, I think being torn to ribbons while still alive is a terrible way to go. As much as I detest this curse and the certain pony that gave me it, I couldn't stand for a friend like Spike or Luna to find me that way ... or what is left of me, anyway."
"Could you not fashion what you seek from leftover parts of a dragon? Say their teeth or scales?" Sam asked.
Twilight picked up one of the jars labeled 'DoomShroom' and opened it, the smell of rancid death assaulting her nostrils. "Ick, seemed the stems on these things are starting to rot." Twilight put the lid back on and picked up another jar. "The thing with dragon bodyparts as part of a potion is that dragon scales, teeth, dorsal spines and such is they lose massive amounts of magical power over time. They lose close to eighty percent of their power the second they are shed from the dragons body. Here, I'll show you." Twilight opened up one of the cabinets and pulled out a jar labeled 'Dragon Fang' and levitated it toward her. She quickly unscrewed the jar with her magic and lifted out a small fang.
"This is one of Spike's baby teeth. I saved them from when he started to turn into a teenager." Twilight set the jar and the dragon fang on the table and levitated a small orange box from across the room with little metal diodes sticking out of it. She turned on the device and held it near the small dragon fang until it made a short beep. Holding up the device, Sam came in close to see what Twilight had scanned.
"Mpu of less than two? There are flowers with more magical potential than that" Sam said.
"See what I mean? Even adult dragon teeth only get a magic power unit of around twelve or less. If they are still in socket they grow tenfold." Twilight put the small dragon fang back in the jar and pulled out a much larger fang and held it up next to her device, the machine reading a steady seven and a half.
"This one was from Spike's moody teenage years. I won't get any adult teeth from him for at least another thousand years or more. Then again adult teeth have few uses aside from those in the blacksmiths trade." Twilight set the large fang back in the jar and closed it tight.
"Is there a way to stabilize the magic loss pre-extraction? They could be used in a potion if you could do so" Sam suggested.
"You know, there may not be a way to stabilize it, but there may be a way to push power into them." Twilight opened another cabinet and levitated a book onto the table in front of her titled 'Everything About Dragons' and began to flip though the pages, quickly scanning them.
"Isn't that the book you wrote?" Sam asked.
"Yes, I'm flipping though it to see if I ever actually tried to empower the dragon fangs before. So far, I've tried a few different ways but I seemed to have missed one." Twilight closed the book and then levitated the jar to her. She pulled out the largest dragon fang in the jar and set it on the table. She then moved multiple smaller fangs around the larger one on a hexagon-like formation. "I've tried direct input, fabrication input from rare metals, potions and even petals of the White Solstice flower which falls from space and only grows on the friggin sun, but not this. Actually this should have been the first thing I tried now that I think about it. I wonder how I missed it."
Twilight levitated what looked like a tuning fork from across the room and began to tap each individual tooth. "Let's see, this onei s off tune, this one is not centered right, this one is useless due to fracture." Twilight kept hitting each tooth with the strange device, slowly tossing away teeth that didn't fit her experiment.
"What are you doing now?" Sam asked.
"Checking their magical resonance frequency. I need them to all be synchronized for when I start pumping magic into them." Twilight hit all the teeth in a circle followed by hitting the table they were sitting on. "Perfect, all of them are in perfect harmony." Twilight lowered her horn onto the edge of the table and began to channel magic into it. "Ummm, just for safeties sake Sam, could you temporarily turn off the fire system? I kinda don't want to have to replace all the machinery here and un-waterlog you like I did two months ago.
"I already did so. Bobbing around in orb mode in the water for hours made me motion sick. A feeling that I do not want to revisit any time soon" Sam said with a hint of aggravation in its voice.
"I don't even remember programming that kind of feeling into you. Astounding the progress your systems have made." Twilight slowly began to funnel purple magic onto the table. At first it went in a straight line to the smallest teeth on the outside of the hexagon-like structure then moving outwards to the other teeth until they encircled the largest fang in magical power.
"Okay, now to stabilize the ring." Twilight lifted her horn off the table briefly then set it on the large fang in the center. "Now to pump this full of as much magic as I can muster." Twilight gritted her teeth as large arcs of purple electricity began to arc from her horn, striking some of the grounding nodes in the lab. He eyes began to glow a hot white with just a tinge of purple in them. Soon her entire body was enveloped in a vibrant purple aura, her magical might shaking the floor and instruments as if a reasonable large earthquake was occurring just beneath her.
Twilight took a deep breath, the air around her growing thinner from her own power. Her eyes narrowed as she focused on the large fang in the center and slowly, she began to pump vast quantities of magic into the fang, making it glow red.
"Structural integrity field active, currently reduced by ten percent." Sam chimed in to notify Twilight of the lab conditions.
"Only ten percent? I must be slacking off or something." Twilight grunted, pouring even more magic into the center fang. The teeth on the table began to vibrate in sequence with one another, slowly hopping inwards toward the larger fang. "Just a bit more."
"Warning, magical output has depleted integrity field by 80%. Suggest immediate cancellation of current project." Sam chimed in with what seemed like sheer panic as the machines in the room began to rock back and forth violently.
"Almost got it..." The teeth began to jump one by one into the larger fang, disappearing as the larger one absorbed them one by one. Twilight, sensing she was close to something grand pushed with all her might until the fang could take no more and the backlash hit her in the chest, sending her tumbling clear across the room and clean through a couple of her machines.
"Twilight!" Sam cried, the pink orb descending from the roof to check on Twilight. "Are you okay?"
Twilight flipped one of the machines off her with her magic and stood up. As she took a step forward she felt a sensation that she hadn't felt in a very long time on her side. It was pain, but not just the typical bruise like pain she had been accustomed to since she became an Alicorn, deep, writhing burning pain. The kind that indicates a serious wound. Twilight stared down her left side and found where the pain was coming from. All along he left side was a nasty half inch deep cut that ran under her wing. It was only a minor flesh wound, but it bled profusely for such a small injury.
"Is that ... my blood?" Twilight had to hold back the instinct to lick her wound.
"Twilight, you are bleeding. I will get the first aid kit." Sam buzzed off to the other side of the room, frantically searching for the first aid kit.
Twilight just stood there in shock. She was actually hurting, bleeding, for the first time in a very long time she actually felt her own mortality working against her. Part of her wanted to go back to her experiment, but the other side just wanted to stand there in awe of her own mortality.
"I have found a first aid kit." Sam came buzzing back, carrying a white box with what looked like a thick layer of dust on the cover, obscuring the red cross sign on it.
Twilight, however, ignored Sam altogether. Her wound was beginning to close itself up and she needed to savor this moment, for science and her own sake.
"Twilight?" I need you to -Oh, I see." Sam set the first aid kit down and watched as Twilight's wound sealed itself up. "Are you okay Twilight? Shall I get you medication for shock?"
Twilight stood there, staring at where the wound once was, noticing her own blood was beginning to dry up as well. I just got injured in a serious manner. If I can get injured, than that means I can die? Have I finally found a way to end my own life after all these years?
"Equestria to Twilight, come in Twilight." Sam said as he buzzed in front of Twilight's face to get her attention.
"H-huh? Oh, sorry Sam. I was a bit preoccupied with what all this means." Twilight noticed a vibrant red glow in a reflection on a metal plate below her. "Where is that coming from?" She looked up and saw the red glows origin. On the table where she was fusing dragons teeth together was a small red orb.
"Sam? Get my testing equipment. I think we discovered a new element!" Twilight raced toward the table, her horn glowing and attracting instruments to study the object to her. If it is strong enough to injure me than maybe it is strong enough to kill me.
***
Spikes ear scales shot up and he felt a cold shudder run down his body followed by the strongest urge to hurt, no, kill another creature, something he had never had the slightest inclination to do. He looked down at his own scales which had small bits of green magic dancing up and down his spinal scales. He looked around his lair, trying to find what was making him feel so...angry. filling his mind with urges to hurt and kill. He looked toward the elevator that led up to Twilight's lab and realized what she had done.
"Celestia warned me of this!" Spike began digging in his gold pile, tossing massive piles of gold as he searched frantically through the pile. "Where is it? Where the hell is it?" Finally he came across a small bright blue package. "There you are!"
He quickly picked up the small package and ripped it open as if it were a birthday present. Inside was a silver lined note wrapped around what looked like two green grapefruits. Spike quickly removed the note and ate both fruits, package and all. Just as suddenly as urge to kill started it quickly left him as soon as the fruit was swallowed.
"Bleh, she didn't tell me it would taste like old rotting tofu." Spike scraped at his tongue to try to remove the aftertaste in his mouth but to little effect. "What else did she say to do?" Spike looked at the small note in his claws, but couldn't read the small print. "Keep forgetting I'm the size of a small mountain now." Spike picked up a diamond from his gold pile and put it on front of the letter, using it as a magnifying glass.
"Dearest Spike,
If you are reading this note, then it must mean that Twilight has discovered one of the few known ways to kill an Alicorn, this one being the Dragons Rage orb. I suggest you eat the Moki Moki fruit I put in this care package for you post haste or barring that get as far away from the orb as possible. A dragon your age and mannerisms can resist the orbs suggestions, but not for very long, staying within its influence can drive even the most peaceful of dragons into a frothing unquenchable rage. After you have eaten the fruit, I want you to send this letter to me. I have put a tracking spell on this note and even though you have refused telling me where you are in the past you simply must tell me now. If Twilight manages to concoct a potion from that orb she will be treated to a fate far worse than her silly quest for death. Please, we must stop her from making a potion from it. I know she must hate every fiber of my being for what I did to her, but she MUST not be allowed to die this way. For her own sake.
best wishes, Princess Celestia."
Spike tossed the diamond aside and shook his head. "Twilight is so going to hate me forever for this, but If Celestia says its bad then what choice do I have." Spike held up the note in his claws, but was hesitant to send the note on its way. "She will never forgive me if Celestia finds her ... but maybe she can talk some sense into Twilight." Spike inhaled deeply and blew his flame onto the note. It shriveled up and with a pop, was sent on its way to Princess Celestia ... along with about a quarter ton of his own gold, as the flame reached farther than he anticipated and vaporized the top part of a pile near him.
"Opps. Well, worst case they can use it for the treasury" Spike said as he grinned to himself.
Suddenly spike felt something in his gut that he hadn't for a very long time. A burning sensation that quickly ran up his throat and into his mouth. He instinctively held it back in his mouth until all the magic was too much to contain and then burped green sparkly fire. The fire hung in the air for a brief moment then began to spin, collapsing in on itself until it dissipated with a pop, leaving behind a scroll. A scroll curled up and tied, a seal representing Princess Celestia's personal stamp of approval.
"That was fast." Spike grabbed the scroll out the air, picked up his diamond and began to read.
"Spike, the spell only managed to track her down to an area of twenty or so square miles. Me, Luna and Cadence along with the entire 7th division air force are on our way to scout the area. Do what you can to stall her, with any luck we will be there within the hour. Also, what's with all the gold you sent me? Can I count that as a donation to my cake fund or something? You know I'm on a diet."
"Seems Twilight knew I might betray her and put up an obfuscating spell to stop this kind of thing." Spike rolled up the parchment and set it on the table by the fridge. "I don't know what she expects me to do to delay her. I can't even fit upstairs. I would have to do something drastic to signal the others where we are-" Spike had an epiphany. "Wait, I'm a pretty big dragon. I can just signal them with fire."
Spike made way to the double rock plated doors that were the entrance to his hoard and pressed a red button. However, the door didn't budge. "Huh I wonder what is wrong with it?"
"I'll tell you what went wrong with it, Spike." Twilight's voice was loud and clear over a little intercom by the door. "I locked the doors so you can't signal Celestia my location. My sensors picked up the after trail of the magic transmission spell. I got curious and decided to turn on the intercom just in time to hear your plan."
"W-what plan? I was just going to go out for a flight. You know stretch my wings a little." Spike lied, knowing full well Twilight could detect the tells in his voice.
"Sure, if by 'flight' you mean signaling that ... that ... bitch by means of fire, then sure 'flight' " Twilight said in a sarcastic tone.
"Twilight listen you need to talk with her, give her a chance to-"
"NO!" Twilight shouted so loud that the speaker began to spark. "I will not give her the time or place to try to talk me down like some child. Like she always did before, the trolling, condescending bitch. No I will have none of this. I locked the doors for three hours, Spike. I'll be done with the potion by then." Twilight composed herself. "I will open the large skylight in the botany lab as well as these doors so you can say goodbye once it is finished. Even after this betrayal know that I still love you, Spike."
The intercom went silent. Spike just sat there, feeling sorry for himself. "I'm sorry big sis, I wish there was some other way."
***Elsewhere***
"I want full mobilization. I'll need at least three of our top chemists and a crew of ten or more of our strongest fliers. Move your hides!" Luna shouted as the ponies in front of her scattered to carry out her orders.
"Luna, calm yourself. We have at the very least five or more hours. Twilight may be good, but she cannot control time, or at least I hope she can't" Celestia said softly.
"Stop acting like such a soft hearted prat" Luna growled. "She betrayed us and hurt your feelings. She threw off her crown and flew off to who knows where in Equestria."
"Luna, please." Princess Cadence said as she walked into the room. "She has been really busy, she has cured many diseases, found a potion to repair the blind and the lame. Even came up with an artificial intelligence machine. I think its high time we stop blaming her for the past and look forward to what other greater things she can do in the future."
"She did those things? How? When?" Luna asked.
Cadence's horn lit up and with a pink pop a large heavy book fell to the ground in front of her. Cadence opened the book and began to turn the pages. "For years the Starlight Chemical corporation was sending scholars here in Canterlot all kinds of goodies."
"I know of that company, they make a very nice coat soap that gets your coat sparkling clean. I also know that the director of the factory they have set up in Stalliongrad is the real brains of the operation. Twilight Sparkle has nothing to do with them" Luna said stoutly.
"Luna, why don't you see this for yourself. This book is the original recipe book, all the prototype notes are in here as well." Cadence turned the pages as Luna watched.
"You're right, this writing, the style is all consistent with Twilight's penmanship" Luna said as she observed the rigid structure of the step-by-step processes on each page. "It even has the little double asterisks that she does when a note she makes becomes irrelevant."
"That's not all." Cadence turned to the back of the book where a single hoof-print and signature was stamped on the back cover. "When Twilight was but a foal she chipped her left hoof in a very peculiar way. All of her hoof prints on her left hoof have a little double star stamp on the right side."
Luna leaned over and inspected the imprint. "You are correct. This matches Twilight's signature style as well." Luna's ears folded back. "It seemed I was quick to judge her. This still doesn't excuse what she did, but I also have no excuse for my ignorance."
"You should really learn not to hold grudges. Besides what's at stake here is much worse than hurt feelings" Celestia said.
"You have been quiet about the specifics of why we are in such a rush to stop Twilight. I mean, I want to stop her, but I can understand her reasons for wanting to well ... die." Cadence looked down at a locket hanging around her neck and opened it with her magic. Inside was a picture of her long deceased family; her husband Shining Armor and their son, Unbreakable Bulwark.
Celestia sighed. "It's not so much her reasons why or the fact that she wants to commit suicide that bothers me. Luna and I have both dealt with that issue in the past. No, it's more the reason how she's going about it."
"Shall I explain sister?" Luna asked.
"No, Luna. I need you to ready the sky chariots. I will explain to Cadence exactly what will happen and exactly what is at stake" Celestia said.
Luna bowed her head respectfully and busied herself with shouting at a couple of slacking air force troopers.
"Cadence, have you ever heard about an old treasure called the 'Dragon's Rage Orb'?" Celestia asked.
Cadence scratched the back or her mane. "I think it was mentioned very briefly in history class, but I...kinda was never good at that class to be honest."
"Thousands of years ago an adventurer stumbled upon an abandoned dragons hoard. Inside, he found the skeletal remains of a colossal dragon, one like no pony had ever gazed upon. It was well over a hundred feet long and even it's smallest claws would make an elephant blush with size envy" Celestia said as she did a motion with both hooves as if she once caught a fish this big.
"I thought dragons left their hoards to their offspring? Surely this one had many offspring" Cadence said.
"Oddly enough, no. It was a corpse of a Titanic Wyrm, a dragon that is typically far-out of its own breeding age, but just below the last level of dragon based power; of which we only think is hypothetical. Anyway when this adventurer tried to take a sample with his magic the entire skeleton collapsed in on itself and began to glow. Slowly all the bones started merging together and left behind an orb no larger than a hoofball." Celestia used her magic to show an image of a glowing red orb that fit snugly in her outstretched hoof.
"And this little thing is what will kill Twilight?" Cadence asked, still skeptical.
"Worse. Generations later a Unicorn that even you should know the name of began to experiment with the orb. He found it had properties that made other dragons frothing mad with rage, fighting each other, even killing one another to gain possession of it. Furthermore, he found a way to concoct a potion that could in theory remove the immortality a creature that drank it." Celestia explained.
"Wait how do you even test something like that? I thought we were-" Cadence stopped when she noticed Celestia's stern glace. "Sorry, continue."
"He tested it on ... me or at least an impure prototype" Celestia said.
"I see. You tried to kill yourself at one time as well?" Cadence asked.
"I did, but this potion had a very different effect. While it is theorized that yes it will eventually kill you, it does it in a very slow and torturous manner. The impure version makes you relive every single bad event in your entire life and at the end of the cycle causes minor wounds. Star Swirl hypothesized that the perfect version would make you relive all those moments, but in real-time. Meaning you would relive them all in your mind while standing up in a daze, with only a single drop" Celestia said.
"That sounds terrible!" Cadence looked down on her locket. "I...don't want to even relive one bad moment, let alone a lifetime of them."
"It gets worse. The lethal part at the end doesn't scale well at all. Star Swirl did the math after my ... experiment and found that you would need to relive your worst memories for a billion years before it would wear off and give you a lethal wound. He even said that with how Alicorns heal there is even a chance that we won't die and the other part of the potion with continue on for the rest of eternity. It is literally condemning oneself to an eternal personal hell from which there is no known escape." Celestia sighed. "Twilight doesn't deserve that. No creature does, even the most horrifying villains Equestria has ever faced deserve a fate that horrible."
Cadence wiped a tear from her eye. The thought of the little foal she used to take care of being condemned to a fate worse than death was just too much to handle.
"Dry your tears, Cadence. Sister, preparations are ready. We can leave at any time." Luna announced.
Celestia nodded at Luna, a determined look on her face. "I just hope we find her in time."
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Well, this certainly looks interesting. I look forward to more.
The feels
Another Twilight in Grief over Immortality's gift.
Do these people just not have anything resembling therapists? Or the ability to channel grief like a normal person? It's like every other day we see Twilight trying to kill herself in horrific ways because people can't handle loss anymore. You cherish the ones that have passed on and enjoy the new generation.
If you feel you'll forget them start writing about them to make sure you never forget. Chiseled stone doesn't age much in sealed conditions..
4763377 People write this kind of story cause for some reason its interesting. Is the idea over used? Yes. Is that a bad thing? No. If you don't like it, that's fine because the over use of a trope has absolutely no effect on you.
Although Now you bring it up, I would like to see a good story about Twilight moving on with her life and telling the story of her friends to future generations. That could be interesting.
4763465
I planned on that for a possible alternate ending kind of deal. I probably shouldn't have spoiled that but it's all in HOW you go about it that matters.
4763465
Oh I know, I plan to watch this regardless.
And drama does fuel better stories I suppose.
Interesting, I shall await more
4763377 Hell, why not work on a way to get your friends to live forever too?
SO. MANY. TYPOS.
do you even know how to grammar? I'm sure you do, but these things happen. I suggest a very thorough proof reading. Slap the fic into a word processing program and fix the glaring issues first. There were a few places in the story that felt awkward to read as well, but it didn't detract from the whole experience.
Also, out of curiosity, I'm wondering if it's purely the magical aspect of an Alicorns body that grants them immortality. Because if it was, you know... Terik kind of does that whole magic steal thing. Scorpan might also do that, so yeah... If you kill off the insane healing aspect by draining all of your magic, an Alicorn should be susceptible to any sort of lethal wounds.
Anyway, great work.
4764616
And if not, time to start progressin that Necromancy! You don't need to make it the sort of abomination magic everyone makes it out to be, make safe practices like the C'tis and create yourself some eternal friends.
4763377 I always ask people if they plan on killing themselves when their first friend dies from cancer/auto accident/ etc.
Seriously, the wangst around here is pathetic.
Death happens. Alot. Deal with it.
There are not a lot of fics that contain alicorn Twilight that I read (mostly because I still hate that change).
However, I can't discriminate. If a story is good, then I shall read it.
Apart from some typos and forgotten words (just go over it again after a couple of days from writing it, it helps), the premiss is quite interesting.
A small thing I don't really like is how "credible" the characters act. Despite the fact that at least a thousand years have passed since Spike was a baby dragon (show age), characters act as if they were just thrown into that time frame. Twilight and Spike discuss things that should have been discussed a long time ago, same with Luna and Celestia (Cadence as well, a bit). The reason you're doing it is understandable: you are trying to get the reader up to date as much as possible, so you write Alzheimer Characters.
A way you could avoid that is by having revelations or info dumps made in third person narration. Doing it that way however is harder because the reader will easily get bored/annoyed by being told what happened in large blocks of texts. Now I don't know the exact fix for that, but you could try slipping bits of info here and there in regards to a character's action. Let's say Spike does something that reminds Twilight of the time he was a baby dragon. Just mention it like this (pure example):
This way you've managed to tell the reader 2 things without having to actually make Twilight say those words as if it were the first time she said them. They know it's been a lot, it's not something they would bring up in a casual conversation everyday.
You can also mix them up and see how it goes. For example the line where Spike told Twilight he knew what she was working on but didn't want to talk about it over breakfast was very good. It was just Spike saying something normal, while letting the reader know the two of them have had that conversation before.
Regarding two endings part (I think I've seen it in one of your comments): Don't do it.
This recommendation however is purely personal opinion. Some people like that stuff, some don't. But keep this in mind: The best stories out there (movies, books, plays) don't have it. And for a good reason. When you are telling a story, you are telling us, the readers, what happened. By definition, there is only one outcome, unless you're touching on multiverse sci-fi stuff or you make it work in the story's favour (maybe make Twilight see how it is in a parallel universe where she would have succeed with killing herself?). However, a story should always have a single ending. Or an ending that is left for the reader to decide for himself. Let us fill the gaps, don't do it yourself because you're robbing the reader of one of his greatest tools: imagination.
Actions have consequences, and the characters suffer an ultimate fate because of those actions. Splitting up the chain of events of a good story is like untangling a strong rope. You get more rope, but it's just not that good as it once was.
Good luck with the story. I'll be watching it.
4766071
Yes it's always been curious for me to wonder why people don't seem to under that grief while a natural process, it is one that passes. If you stay in grief forever over things then that isn't natural.
Things die, your friends will die, your family will die. Old Age, disease, tragedy.
But one continues to live, when one lives they can continue, meet new people, make new friends, make your own family.
And if one is immortal why does that change things? It just means an infinite possible people one can become friends with, you'll love, laugh, cry, and watch them pass on, no worse for meeting them.
4766093
I remember trying to edit out that part since I thought a time frame of a thousand years was a bit hard to swallow(Considering they just took Apple Bloom off the front of the sweet apple acres bottles). I must have missed a section where I mentioned spike was a thousand years old somewhere. It was part of the original draft that didn't fit very well. (If you could write out he sentence where it occurs I can find it and fix it)
On the other note I'm not good at catching typos or editing at all. Writing with dyslexia is hard enough, editing with it is a titanic nightmare(words just bleed together after awhile). Is there some program online I could use for better editing?
4766129 I am of the opinion that it's a combination of 'Fear of the Unknown' and 'Sour Grapes'.
Immortality is an unknowable condition, thus there is no way for the human mind to properly guage its effects.
There is also the fact that for all intents and purposes it is unobtainable by any possible and practical means that we have available, thus they assume that it must be horrible to remove the insatiable desire for that which they cannot obtain (hence the Aesop).
Combine this with an adolescent-like tendancy for emotional turmoil and overconfidence despite severe inexperience and lack of information, and you get a large percentage of people who automatically assume immortality must be terrible.
I, however, am a SCIENTIST!!! I am also quite delightfully mad! Therefore, I DEMAND immortality such that I shall rule the cosmos forever!
4766185 use office word, it will usually underline words that are in wrong order or doubled up (among grammar mistakes).
Then take that whole text and copy paste it into a Gdocs document. Its verifier will underline some other words as well (mostly american vs english versions), but it's sometimes better at word order mistakes than Word. Editors however are a great help.
4766208
Don't have office at all, Microsoft stopped bundling it with OS years ago and Gdocs is a no go becuase every time download it after corrections it corrupts the format. (spacing gets borked, italics and bolds no longer work and in worst case scenario allthewordlooklikethisshit)
4766208
Running the entire thing through http://spellcheckplus.com/ and found quite a few grammatical errors, mostly minor stuff. If only there was a syntax checker as well lol
Update: Around 75% the way through using the spell check so far about 80 errors have been fixed.
Update: got most of the errors out of the way, at least the few caught by spellcheckplus.com if anyone can give me a better checker it would be much appreciated.
4767384
So as Alondro said, it really is just Sour Grapes then.
4766857 you need a better spellchecker.
also, is that profile picture supposed to be Nyan Space Core?
4763479 don't worry about spoiling it when you know you have something to keep the suspense: the question of how it's done. As long as there is some suspense in the "how" (this being the most important form of suspense, IMHO), there's still a reason to keep reading.
4766188 Oh boy, another mad scientist! A pleasure to meet one like myself!
4764869 I wouldn't have thought of Tarik
4767487
I'm not perfect damn you
I know my editing skills are lacking. Also that's the core that always yells 'space!' and as you can see the backdrop is his favorite space.
Is it me or does this reak of suicide?
Will read later.
4763465
The main problem with them is that, most of the time, they aren't written in such a way that actually makes sense. Immortal angst is a very overused fictional trope, but it is mostly written by people who have no idea what they're doing.
The thing is, if you look at real world people, almost everyone has their parents and grandparents die. And yet, people don't fall apart because of this. Indeed, many people survive the deaths of their spouses and remarry.
This is at the core of the issue with immortal angst stories - they don't really work on a fundamental level because ordinary people don't fall apart when this sort of thing happens, and frequently the grief depicted in them is wholly unrealistic in most cases.
That's not to say that this necessarily has this problem (I haven't read it yet), but the truth is that very few such stories are actually approached in a, well, human manner. Most people don't end up falling apart because people die.
And of course it is especially bizarre in-universe seeing as a number of Twilight's friends (Celestia, Luna, Cadance, Discord, and Spike) are likely to live thousands of years, if not forever.
4769036 I agree. Its an interesting idea, but im yet to find a story that takes a truly realistic approach.
4769036
Finding a realistic approach to immortality is difficult from a human perspective becuase we can only guess at the long term effects. For example we know as humans get older we perceive time at a much faster rate than say a child would.
If you extrapolate just that to the extreme by the time someone is say a thousands years of age, time would just cruise on by, decades would feel like just days to someone with that kind of life.
Trying to approach it in a human manner is sort of impossible since we have no data of someone living that long to extrapolate from. What we do know is the older you get the faster you perceive time and the higher chance of you having what is essentially a brain crash (too much data) and your chance increases to get dementia.
Alicorns obviously have built in defense mechanisms against such things, otherwise Celestia and Luna would both be batshit insane at this point. This leaves the constant grief of loss as the only approachable avenue IMHO.
Also horse biology when dealing with loss extrapolated to a human level could be FAR worse. They are herd animals and that connection to each other is possibly stronger than human pack mentality, the mane six are like a herd and the loss of one would essentially be soul crushing to the others.
Now Imagine you get to keep experiencing that kind of loss for the rest of eternity or if you want to avoid that pain you just avoid all contact at all. Horses are social animals and this would also have a nasty effect on you. Yes Twilight still has Luna, Cadence and Spike in this story but being around them means she will inevitably make non-immortal friends or acquaintances. All of which she will feel the loss of when she inevitably outlives them.
Later chapters will explain why she decided that ending her life was the best possible alternative and despite our difference in opinion, I hope you stick around to read that.
4769150
This isn't really how it works. Human perception of time is actually unchanging - that is to say, one second to a youngster and one second to an older person are percieved as an identical amount of time. What actually varies is not our perception of time directly, but rather our perception of elapsed time, or more properly, our memories - that is to say, if something happens, then something ELSE happens, and older person will tend to percieve those two things as having happened with less time between them than the younger one. Not that they will count wrong, but it will seem to have occurred more recently than it did. But why?
Well, the answer to this is that our perception of time is actually heavily modulated by our attention, focus, and novelty - in other words, what really makes us percieve elapsed time is important things happening. Unimportant things turn into a blended blur, as the memories are not terribly important so they aren't percieved as super distinct events. Important things - novel things - get "bookmarked" so to speak, and thus seem to occur more seldom because as you get older, you tend to experience less novelty because you have consumed more things.
The catch to this is that it ultimately is linked to age, not novelty - if you participate in some activity which is very important and focus on it heavily, it will seem like it lasted a very significant amount of time, even if it did not.
An immortal is going to have experienced a lot of things, but I think at some point this process more or less evens out - engaging in significant activities seems to stick with me equally well with many years elapsed between them, and especially significant activity still stands out to me.
So to someone like Celestia, when significant things happen, she wouldn't really percieve them any differently than anyone else - the oddity of her perception would mostly be about non-significant events. I would imagine that the last few years have seemed much longer to her than many years have in a very long time, though it depends on how much she seeks out novelty in general. Meeting new people and befriending them, for instance, or engaging in some sorts of significant social activity will always make the time seem more significant and stretched.
There's no such thing as a brain crash (unless you count a seizure, but they're completely different), and dementia is caused by the aging proces. If you were immortal, then dementia wouldn't affect you.
We do have limited memory capacity, but it is unclear how limited it actually is - I don't know if anyone has ever "filled up" their total possible memory. And in any case, your brain mostly discards useless memories - most likely, if you "filled up", it would more or less blend away stuff that didn't matter so much and repurpose it. Goodness knows how that would work, of course, but our brains already do have something of a filing system, given that we take in enormous amounts of data via our senses but don't record it all.
It doesn't really work, though, because that's not how people actually operate or respond to grief in most cases. That's the problem - real life people DO have everyone die around them sooner or later, and yet that doesn't actually break people down - my grandparents are dead and I am not psychologically scarred for life. This is why these stories tend to be inherently very unbelievable - because everyone has their parents and grandparents die, at least, and half the population has their spouses die, and yet people don't crumble when their parents and grandparents die, and even the death of a spouse is usually gotten over. This is the most common response, and is the response you see in healthy individuals.
The same mechanism which alters the importance of people in your social circles alters the importance of dead people as well; over time, they become increasingly less important to you, just as old friends you fall out of contact become increasingly less important to you.
Basically, people who hold a cross for someone forever are the exception rather than the rule - they're broken.
Humans forge incredibly strong bonds between individuals; indeed, as far as we can tell, humans are the "ultimate" social animal. The idea of them forging "stronger bonds" is beyond questionable.
Indeed, we're evolved to do so - it makes sense, really, given that chances are good that half the people you know are going to die before you do, and it will occur pretty much continuously over your lifespan, so we're evolved to adapt to people dying.
4769196 What a well thought out and written response on immortality. I find the concept to be quite captivating and I do have to say that you have hit the bulls eye on my thoughts about it. Outstanding.
4767577 Mad science is best science!
4770753 want to help me optimize my Tesla coil? Just kidding, I don't have one, but I wish I did.
4769196 Other issues:
1. Once a brain is 'immortal', can we even begin to estimate just what sorts of physiological changes it has undergone to achieve that state? There is simply no way to ascertain the limits, if any, of something that does not currently exist. However, we can assume that an immortal mind has changed VERY drastically from its mortal form, and thus is likely be much less restricted by our current physiological limitations.
2. Time perception is highly personalized. Some people feel that time slows down as they age, for example.
3. There is also the notion that an immortal has the awareness of being able to truly plan incredibly far ahead. Their schemes and goals could operate on scales and scopes we can scarcely conceive, and include subtle influences to entire biomes and geological epochs!
To put it simply, "Who can claim to know the mind of God?"
4770781 I'm already busy building an exotic matter torus for an experimental warp drive...
... IN MY BASEMENT!!
*a week later, Southern New Jersey suddenly explodes...*
Wow, the characters in this story talk to themselves outloud A LOT, you might want to make it thought based or at least tune it down
4766071
you need to make a profession of mailing people greeting cards
"You have been quiet about the specifics of why we are in such a rush to stop Twilight. I mean, I want to stop her, but I can understand her reasons for wanting to well ... die." Cadence looked down at a locket hanging around her neck and opened it with her magic. Inside was a picture of her long deceased family; her husband Shining Armor and their son, Unbreakable Bulwark.
WAT WAT WAT WAT?
4772327
This is set in the future, did you expect Shining and Cadence not to do the horizontal monster mash and have a foal?
4766071 >alot
learn2english
also you have a disturbingly unattached view of the human psyche
Not everyone reacts in the same way to pain like that, and you going "lol get over it faggots" is callous, ignorant, and downright dickish
There are some people others cannot live without, and you dismissing a whole category of people with nothing more than a "you're all pathetic babies boo hoo hoo cry me a river" is what's truly pathetic
4772100 Alondro's greeting card:
"Hello. Your best friend died. Get over it. Happy holidays!"
(Card has picture of Alondro launching all da nukes because he is 120% evil like that.)
4772823
The sheer autism that bubbles from your posts is unbelievable
4772845 You wish you had autism as powerful as mine.
I CAN DESTROY OBAMA WITH MY PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWERS (which come with an itty-bitty living space)!!!
*Alondro bends spacetime into the past such that Obama makes all manner of idiotic decisions and his popularity plummets below 40% versus the 99.9% approval and less than 1% unemployment rate that existed before Alondro trolled the cosmos!!*
BEHOLD!! IT IS NOW AS I INTENDED!! MY POWER IS INFINITE!!
4772899
No seriously
4772460 I've heard and used the horizontal tango, but that's a new one
4772845 these days I'm not sure what really fuels him, autism, hate, or attention? I can't be sure
4763377 It's easy to say something like that when you don't have to worry about out-living your grandchildren. Not everyone deals with certain situations in the exact same way. Can you imagine not being able to find a partner to spend eternity with? To possibly have children only to watch them grow old and die while you remain the same? To watch the same thing happen to their children, their children's children, and so on? Sure you could have friends but for how long? In the eyes of an immortal the lifespan of their friends are about as long as blinking your eyes. The emotional wear and tear could even bring down the hardiest of people, as seen in the part where Celestia talks about how she even tried to end her own life.
Anyone can say they'd be able to handle it but try walking in their (horse)shoes for an eternity and see how well one's mind can deal with it.
4769196
Well put and thought out, bravo~
The whole "Immortality is a curse" thing has been around for a long time and the notions of how it'd work can get a little too rehashed at times. Not to mention the frustration of when people confuse being Ageless with being Deathless. Immortal typically means "Can't be Killed", but so many assume not aging anymore is the same thing. Oi.
The idea of being deathless is silly in and of itself too as it's actually "You are much harder to kill" rather than "You can not die".
4775657
When you've made friends with dying patients in hospitals, you know that feeling well.
When you've seen friends or family die suddenly. It's the same feeling.
4775768
Is it? Depending on your religious view point you'll see them again once you pass or be reincarnated and never remember them except as a kindred spirit should you meet them again. Immortality, you're going to have to deal with never being able to see them again except in memory and that can never take the place of making memories with them.
When with friends and family, you cherish the time spent together because one day either you or them may suddenly pass away. Immortality, it's the heartache of knowing they will die at some point and you won't. That every friend you make will die and you won't.
Much intrigue, I really want to see what happens!
Good luck and looking forward to more.