When the Man Comes Around
Pleasant Dreams
I groggily opened my eyes, to see myself still in the hospital room I was before, cables connected to me, monitoring my slow death. But, it was more colourful than I originally remembered. Something was amiss. It wasn’t until a figure approached the bed and looked down upon me that I noticed I was not even in the same place as before. Had I finally crossed the line? I think not, as that would imply feeling better. I felt worse, even with the balloons hanging around the place and a “Welcome to Ponyville!” sign.
Ponyville…? No, there was no way. My eyes adjusted to the being looking down at me, allowing me to distinguish the big eyes, white fur, and pink mane of what I could only assume was a hallucination, or an actual pony.
No… not after all these years.
“He’s woken up,” the pony with the nurse cap said, turning to face one side of the room. I heard the clippity clop of a group of small horses approaching me, then looking down at me, with unsure smiles upon their little faces.
I muttered out the word, “I…” before one of them, an awfully pink mare, began to spill out sentence after sentence.
“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie! And this is Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and Rainbow Dash! We found you on Fluttershy’s house after a big, big thunderstorm! And—”
“Pinkie! We don’t even know if it can speak!”
“The… the Mane Six?” I uttered out, hardly believing myself. They each turned back down to look at me, a bit surprised. “I’m dead… aren’t I?”
“Dead…?” Twilight whispered. “No, no, you’re hardly dead!” she giggled. “I can’t wait for you to get better and—!”
“Better…?” I muttered, releasing a tired chuckle and putting on a fake smile. “I’m not getting any better, trust me…”
“Don’t say that!” Pinkie called out. “You’ll get better, and then we can show you the town and do a lot of things!”
I gently shook my head, looking down and frowning. “Do you even know what I have…?”
“Well, no, but—” Twilight began, interrupted by me rolling my eyes around slowly.
I looked at them, their innocent faces. Such a gift that was given to me… I had no one in the previous place to accompany me while I walked to the end. I swallowed my fears, and spoke up, explaining my terminal illness to them, watching their faces turn into sad frowns and their ears drop down. Pinkie’s hair deflated.
“Just… stay with me,” I said, “alright?
“B-but we have to do something!” Fluttershy called out.
The beeping of the heart monitor began to speed up. I smiled and began to shed tears, my vision beginning to fade. I looked at each and every single one of them as I began to cross the line. It saddened me to see them like that, completely unsure of what to do. But at least I was given the gift of seeing them.
Nurses and doctors all around rushed to me, trying to stop the inevitable. My vision faded away, my eyes staring directly at them. It pained me to cause them ache like that, but I couldn’t have wished for any better.
I couldn’t have wished for any better…
Dear Princess Celestia:
Today, Ponyville was visited by this strange creature. It looked much like a minotaur, but I lacked fur except for his head. We couldn’t really talk too much with him, as he was terminally ill with some heart disease. I… What is death, Princess? It certainly is a subject that’s not talked about too much, I mean… When somepony dies, they go to a better place, right?
Right…?
I never thought that such a thing could happen. Ponies live for a long time, after all, and as far as I know from all the research I did, you just… fade away, when you die. But, he didn’t. We watched him slowly be dragged away from us while he lay on that hospital bed, dragged away into a world of uncertainties. He didn’t just fade away from existence. I think his mind did, but his body was still there. The nurses tried to do everything they could to bring him back, but he just stared at us. His eyes didn’t even close, instead just frozen in that… death stare.
I mean, you are immortal. Why does death happen? Can we avoid it? I’ve been thinking about this subject a lot. Whatever happened to the ponies that founded Equestria? Did they die? Where did they go afterwards?
I’m beginning to imagine myself in the same hospital bed, a bunch of machines connected to my body, pointlessly monitoring the process of my death. Either that, or just me watching as my friends suffer the same fate, without me being able to do anything about it. The same thing with my parents, and my brother, and Spike, everyone.
Does it really happen to us? If so, how does it happen? How do you cope with it happening? I’m sure that you have seen your share of ponies… die. Will the same thing happen to me, being an alicorn and all? Will I have to watch everyone I know slowly age and fade away just like that creature did? Is there any way we can stop it from happening? Please, I don’t want to watch anypony die or have them watch as I die!
I’m scared, Princess… I’ll always remember the stare of that bipedal creature as it was taken away from us. There was so much we could have learned from each other, but in a way… He just seemed okay with that, like if it happens all the time. I… I guess we have to make as much as we can from each of our lives, right? Right? But still… the fear is there, marked in my heart, marked in my soul.
Are we all going to die?
Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle
