"Tick Tock" chimed the clock
"Tick tock," chimed the clock.
Tumble Shells lay in his comfy bed with a giant blanket over him. The entirety of his room, despite being cramped with only one occupant, was now completely filled up. Family members and close friends all stood around him with sad expressions. Many of them believing that he would go to a great beyond with whatever deity or ancient being awaited those who did good in their lives. There was a long silence these past few hours when the doctor came out of his room and, with a languished expression, told everypony that the elderly pony hadn't long to live.
Yet, despite the presence of so many loving ponies, Tumble couldn't help but feel forlorn. The only thing right in front of his bed was a giant, golden grandfather clock passed down through fourteen generations and expertly hoof crafted with pony figures carved into the pendulum and the door leading to it. The face's delicate hands, carved with hollow areas to resemble autumn leaves, were slowly ticking.
"Tick Tock," chimed the clock.
Tumble could feel his body about to give out, and he only had a minute. This was the moment he feared for so long; The only thing he ever truly feared for long moments. Death...what did it mean? Was oblivion the only thing to await him? It was complete nothingness...but wait. How was that possible? Complete nothingness...no pony could fathom such a thing. 'I think, therefore I am', is the quote, if he was remembering correctly. It meant that no matter what state he was in, oblivion could not be the end. Then again, he had surgery in the past, and it was as if he were in oblivion when put under sleeping gas, but he would still wake up from that, and there was always that little prick in his brain that he still was. Was he going to be reborn? If that were the case he would lose all his memories. That wasn't true rebirth, and that was a worse outcome than oblivion, to Shells.
There were too many variables. If souls were a possibility, would he wander the lands for all eternity? Was there some sort of beast of a black abyss that devoured souls and tortured them for all of eternity with no respite in sight? Maybe he could find a way out of it. The stallion's thoughts turned to the princesses. Maybe they could tell him what happened? No. They would take too long to reach him, and who was to say that immortal beings knew what came after? They didn't have to fear it after all. Why, just at the thought of this, Tumble felt envy of such extremes that he was sure it shortened his life by several more seconds. Why couldn't they give everypony immortality? No pony would have of want any longer. Yes, then the world would be a better place! But...even if the good ponies got all the benefits from it, the bad ponies would as well. No pony would want the bad ones around forever, destroying it all. How would you even punish an immortal? Imprisonment? That would never work. Plus, if it were just him, he would outlive his entire family and see the end of time. Then again, he wold also outlive his enemies and those that would wrong him over time...but that wasn't a valid enough reason.
"Tick tock," chimed the clock.
Shell's thoughts turned to his grandchildren, of whom he had eleven from his own five daughters and sons. He looked at them, his face decrepit and melancholy, and the youngest colt looked back at him with a bittersweet smile. For the colt, Tumble thought, this was a sweet moment shared between them that would rest in both's memories even after the departure, but the elder stallion didn't think so. He could only see a pattern repeating itself. He remembered his own grandpappy: A pony full of spunk and playfulness, yet he too had died and both shared a similar moment like this. Then the grandchildren would eventually go through this as well and see their grandchildren, and so forth. The old stallion almost felt like dying just to see the monotony end.
What if...what if he could make a deal with someone? The world was full of vicious, magical monsters everywhere, and with the appearance of the Elements of Harmony that had long since gone, there was a chance that somepony, somewhere, would hear his plea. Perhaps Discord would help. He WAS a god, after all. Tch. Then again, he was a god of chaos, and considering what he had done in the past, he wouldn't grant proper immortality to the stallion nor save him from the unknown that was death. Discord would probably turn him into a rock or his third eyelash, but he wouldn't technically be alive so...
"Tick tock," chimed the clock.
What was he going to do? Tumble was stuck, and those microseconds passing by weren't helping him either. Ticks and tocks. Ticks and tocks. Was this what his father and grandfather felt when they were on their deathbed? Such a tremendous amount of fear and horror? Such a feeling of helplessness and a need to find a counter for this...horror. There had to be a way out of it. Maybe, had he learned about magic and alchemy, he would've been able to create something to prolong his life. Sure, they were outlawed, but that was just a minor inconvenience. It wouldn't be true immortality, but he would've been capable of choosing his death rather than being forced to go through. He didn't want to die! He didn't want to see oblivion. He wanted to live! He was so terrified. There had to be a way. There had to be a way, but he explored all the options. Any gods who could hear him would probably force some sort of evil pact with him. Any way to extend his life outside his body would probably make him stuck on the world for all eternity without being able to interact with the living.
"Tick tock," chimed the clock.
Quickly, QUICKLY! He had to find a solution. There was always a solution, even to death, yet...alas, he couldn't think of one, and he sat there, staring at his friends and family looking at him, several of them crying. Some were tall, some were short; and some were thin and others were fat; and they all came in a variety of colors. Tumble Shells chuckled quietly to himself at the aspect of such diversity. Only now that he was on his deathbed did he notice something so mundane and regular in life that he had never noticed it before, or rather, he never paid attention.
'Wait!', he thought. 'That's it! If I--"
Tick