"People imagine me to be so, so I must be."
Princess Celestia stood in a clearing next to an unnamed mountain, only herself to keep her company. There was only the sound of the leaves rustling in the wind that brought some relief from the afternoon sun.
By all accounts, today would be a perfect day to just relax and that was she was here for, to relax. Something had caught her attention, however. Something rather... strange.
She watched as a large, unnaturally round boulder rolled down the side of the mountain and stopped in the clearing, a short distance in front of her. This was unusual as there was no risk of falling rocks at this mountain but it was not comparable to how strange the next thing that happened was.
A being dressed in a simple tunic and pants ran down the mountain, just as fast as the boulder had fallen, on his two legs. He stopped by the boulder, leaned on it to catch its breath and then looked up at Celestia, who watched this happen silently.
"Ah, a winged horse, did that old bastard send you down here to trouble me?" he started as he stood up to his full height, reaching to the same height as Celestia.
"I do not know of this 'old bastard', that's for sure," Celestia said as she noticed his muscular build, "And I am not here to trouble you either."
"Then why are you here?" he said as he put his hands up against the boulder, as if he were going to push it.
"I was simply interested in what you were doing." Celestia replied, an eyebrow raised at how it seemed like he was going to push the boulder.
"Well, you can see that I'm pushing this boulder," he explained, and with a not particularly great amount of effort, he pushed it back towards the mountain.
"Where are you going to push it to?" Celestia asked as she followed him, guessing that there was some cave where he wanted to take the boulder.
"Up the mountain, where else?" he answered nonchalantly, as if it were a normal thing to do.
Celestia was surprised at this. At first, she thought he was joking but when he started pushing the boulder up the mountain, it became clear that this was no joke.
"So, you mind telling me who you are? It isn't polite to start conversation without introducing yourself," he called out as he pushed the boulder up over the gentle rise of the mountains' base.
"I am princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria. And you are?" Celestia said, introducing herself.
"I am Sisyphus, the king who tricked the gods, twice," Sisyphus replied, stopping for a second to stare at the boulder, "and this is my boulder."
Celestia was sure that this was a joke now. How could a king trick gods and why would he be rolling a boulder up a mountain?
" 'The king who tricked the gods', oh my, I'll have to hear that story," Celestia said with a smile, deciding to humor Sisyphus.
"Well, the story goes like this. A long time ago, I ruled my city and made it into a very prosperous and powerful one but I was a dick to visitors and diplomats, because I wanted to show everyone how powerful I was. That was how it was done those days.
Anyway, the 'old bastard' from earlier was also the god of hospitality, and got angry at me because I was a dick to visitors. He then sent me to the underworld where the god of death was supposed to chain me forever, but before he could do that, I asked him to demonstrate how the chains worked. After he showed me, I stole the chains and chained him and ran away back to my city.
Since he was chained, no one would die and eventually, the goddess of war got angry since no one was dying in battle anymore and freed him when she went to check on him. This was the first time I tricked the gods.
After that, the gods all decided that I was too much for them and killed me again, but before they could do that, I had told my wife to not give me a proper funeral when I died. After I died, I went to another goddess and asked her to let me back into the overworld to get my funeral done properly. She agreed and I left the underworld for the second time, cheating death again. I didn't get my funeral done right away and when the gods got to know, they decided to punish me instead of trying to kill me.
They told me to push this boulder up to the top of this mountain if I wanted to be free, and I have been doing that ever since."
Celestia had quietly listened to the fantastic tale Sisyphus told her and finally spoke after he was finished, "And how am I to be sure that you are telling me the truth?"
"Well, I don't care whether or not you think I'm telling the truth, I just have to roll this boulder up," he replied, continuing to push the boulder.
"And how long have you been doing this?" Celestia asked, a piece of her imagining that the story was true.
Sisyphus stopped and suddenly seemed deep in thought, before he spoke, "I don't really know. Something like a million years maybe."
"...So, you're saying that you've been trying to push this boulder up for a million years?" The very idea of this being true seemed laughable to Celestia but Sisyphus seemed far too confident in what he had said.
"Yeah, but whenever I almost reach the top, the boulder rolls down," Sisyphus said as he resumed pushing the boulder.
"And you've been doing this for a million years?"
"Yeah."
The logical explanation, to Celestia, was that Sisyphus was imagining things and was insane.
"Why don't you just stop? I can take you back to my castle where you can tell me more about yourself," she asked, hoping to stop him from mindlessly rolling the boulder again and again over some delusions.
"Those bastards might be long gone but if I stop then it means that I am weaker than those bastard," he answered.
"You want to stay here and continue this fruitless endeavor?"
"It wouldn't be much different if I finished," he said as he stopped pushing the boulder. "I've had plenty of time to think while I've been pushing this boulder."
Celestia tried saying something but Sisyphus was already speaking, "If I stop or get this boulder up the mountain then I'll be free but what will I do? I might become a king again but who's to say that the whole thing with the gods won't just repeat in some really convoluted manner. I could be a farmer but it will be the same thing, growing crops and selling them to earn just enough to grow crops again.
I'm happier here, pushing this boulder. It isn't needlessly tedious and is just as rewarding as anything else."
"There are so many things wrong about what you ju-" Celestia tried correcting him about his thoughts, only to get interrupted.
"Even as a princess, you do the same thing. You push your own boulders. Getting the nobility to agree on something but having nothing done by the end of the day, giving orders everyday even though nothing happens, keeping track of others just for them to completely change the next day.
I ask you 'are you happy with what you are doing?' and you'll say 'yes'. Why? 'because I think so, so I must be'.
I thank you for your offer of taking me to your land, but I'm happier here, with myself and my thoughts," Sisyphus rambled. "And my boulder, who is simple and true."
"...I suppose it is fair well then. I hope we meet some other day," Celestia said, taking off before Sisyphus could reply. She headed in the direction of Canterlot, the ramblings of Sisyphus still bugging her. It seemed abnormal to her that he preferred pushing a boulder till he died because 'some gods said so' over being free.
Some things stuck with her, however. His point about how life is just repeating the same tasks over and over just like pushing the boulder seemed very relatable. She thought about it a bit more and it struck her.
Almost everyday of her last thousand years of rule were almost the same to her. Raising the sun, dealing with a nobility that cared only for itself, dealing with other nations, all of it seemed exactly the same as it had been a thousand years ago, only that she did not have her sister with her now. At the end, there had been little progress for anyone but she had thought herself to be happy becuase why would she be happy? She was the princess after all, living the high life.
She had thought that she was happy because everyone else thought so.
She decided to make a change.