Sleepless Eternity

My story like most stories starts not at birth, but at the onset of the great journey my life would take me on.

But first I should start at my technical beginning. I was born an oddity, a Pegasus colt born to unicorn parents. This didn’t stop them from loving me any less, but when it came to flight they could do little more than encourage me to do my best.

While flight took me longer to master than other pegasi I learned to love the freedom it gave me. The only thing that I every regretted was that my parents would never understand the freedom flight gave me, but then again they could use magic so I suppose we were even.

I grew up living a happy life and I was happy. In those days I had little to worry about other than finding my cutie mark and making my parents proud of me.

One of the few things I clearly remember from those days was getting my cutie mark. My carefree innocence would forever be broken and my life would change forever. These changes would not always be for the better, but I suppose nothing ever leads to eternal happiness.

It was a dark night filled with beautiful stars and Luna’s beautiful moon. The celebration of the winter solstice was in full swing and Princess Luna had outdone herself. I wandered around behind several tents and finally wandered into one that seemed secluded from the rest.

The contents of this tent would forever change my life and would earn me a cutie mark that night.

The tent was filled to the brim with every form of firework and explosive device my young mind had ever seen or could attempt to conceive. Now I was always a mischievous colt, but for some reason my mind seemed to go into autopilot.

When I say auto pilot I mean I decided to gather together as many of these expertly crafted explosives as my small body could carry and walk out of the tent as quickly and quietly as I could.

After much struggling and many silent prayers I felt that I was in a secluded enough area to have my fun.

I set up my fire flinging explosive delights and began to look for a way to ignite the fuse that I had managed to connect to all of the rockets. I quickly discovered to my delight that by striking my hoof on a rock I could create a small spark.

With this newfound knowledge I managed to light the fuse. Everything seemed to be going perfectly.

Everything began to go horribly wrong almost immediately after that thought. I noticed to late that the first rocket that would be ignited by the fuse had tipped drastically towards the other fireworks next to it.

I realized too late what this would mean for me. As this rocket launched itself towards the rest of the fireworks it caused an unplanned chain reaction that caused all of the other fireworks to begin to fire their respective payloads far from the safety of the night sky.

The world around me exploded. I was sent flying through the air in an uncontrollable arc that sent me straight into the largest tent in the festival.

Most ponies would probably be in shock or in pain. I was not most ponies apparently because all I could do was laugh.

That was until I realized where I was. I was surrounded by hundreds of other ponies including my parents who both seemed shocked and confused at the same time. I was slightly mortified by the stares of those around me.

Then I felt something happen to me. A tingling sensation and a shimmering light encompassed my body.

I looked around and everybody was still staring, but now everyone was smiling at me, but none seemed as happy as my parents who ran up to me and hugged me tightly.

I was confused for a moment before my father motioned towards my flank. Then I saw it, and I was overjoyed.

My cutie mark had appeared, and looking back it made perfect sense to me. On my flank was a small flame much like the one I had used to ignite my startling chain reaction.

To this day I have never forgotten the joy and the rush that can come from that blast. My special talent was explosives and I would embrace it.

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My journey started years later.

I was not the youthful colt filled with ignorance of the world. My life took me far from my place of birth and while I visited my parents as often as I could I preferred the freedom that travel allowed me.

It also helped that my talents allowed me to find work wherever I went. Ponies always needed something turned to rubble or some fireworks to explode the night sky. I provided these services to the best of my abilities.

Not all of my work went towards peaceful endeavors during these times. Rising conflict between the princesses had caused a schism in the land of equestrian.

The followers of Princess Luna who now called herself Nightmare Moon and the followers of princess celestia were aimed towards a conflict in the near future and both side bought explosives from me.

I was not looking forward to seeing my work used against equestrians by other equestrians, but it was not my place to decide what the future would hold.

I was both greatly saddened when Luna was banished to the moon and relieved that my weapons would not reduce other equestrians to ash.

I did not pity Luna for her banishment because I believe pity is the worst thing you can give anypony. What I felt for Luna is sadness. I looked towards her moon which had become her prison and gave her my condolences.

Her sadness which had led to her downfall was caused by other pony’s fear of the night, and her night was beautiful. Or it was, after her banishment Celestia controlled the night and she was no artist.

The stars did not shine as bright and the nights suffered for the lack of Luna’s beautiful constellations that had been lost to her banishment. Her moon seemed to reflect her as it hung mournfully in the night.

As things returned to normal in equestrian I was left with a multitude of high explosive devices and no real use for them

besides extreme demolition projects.

Somehow during my travels I began exploring caverns and other long forgotten underground places.

These adventures became more and more prevalent when I began using some of my surplus explosives to blow through long forgotten entrances to crypts and temples buried and forgotten by ponies long past. It became a profitable venture as I found a few small treasures or jewels hidden within these dark places.

This adventuring would lead to the most significant thing that would happen in my life.

I was deep in a cave where I had discovered a large stone door that was covered in carvings of many dangerous beasts. What they represented was lost on me as I set up the charges that would reduce this obstacle to no more than dust and small pebbles.

The door was a warning. It was a warning to keep fools away from something that was not meant to be seen by the eyes of the living.

As the dust settled and I made my way through the door I walked down a series of empty tunnels that led me deeper and deeper into the ground. Unlike many pegasi I was not afraid of being underground. I may yearn for the sky, but I was not afraid of the darkness that surrounded me. I was confident I would see the sky again and that was all that mattered to me.

I finally walked into a large open room and as I walked towards the center I noticed a light. As I approached it I was overwhelmed with a sense that screamed power coming from this light.

Then it spoke to me.

What does the pony seek from this ancient place? None have sought this place out for eons, but I have watched, I have waited. Now I wish to leave this place and return to the after.

I was shocked and confused, “what are you?”

What am I the pony says. Why am I not a who pony? What makes me different from the pony? I have thought. I have life. I have will. I have everything but freedom. What am I the pony asks. I am the fire of life in all things. I am the silent one that watches the world from my prison. I am something and someone and at the same time I am everything and nothing. Does that answer the pony's question?

I realized that I would never get a straight answer from this creature so I simply replied, “No.”

Oh. Well it matters not, you have come and now you will free me from my bond and allow me to enter the after.

“The after,” I managed to ask the light.

Yes all eventually embrace the after.

“Why should I free you, what will you do for me?”

To you I will grant you my blessing. How it will manifest I cannot guess.

“A blessing?”

It will give you power in some way, but be warned something is always lost for something to be gained. This is how balance is maintained in this world.

I pondered power as I thought of what to do. I wanted power, but not for any real purpose. I just wanted it to feel powerful. And in the end I agreed to free the light.

It explained how to free it from the bonds this cave had it in. All I had to do was shatter a crystal in the center of the room. A swift buck to the crystal and it was fragmented like glass.

The light disappeared from the room in a sigh of immense relief. As it left It whispered something in my ear.

To you my blessing of power is given. For good or ill use it as you will.

I felt different.

I felt better.

That was the last day I aged. The last day I slept.

It took a long time to realize what had truly happened to me, but it was too late to change anything and part of me was afraid of what would happen to me.

After I watched those I loved wither around me while I stayed the same I realized that immortality was a curse for those who remained.

I continued on and lived my life, but now with a distance from those around me. I travelled endlessly so that my secret wouldn't be known to anypony.

After the first five hundred years I felt that I understood princess celestia in a way none of her subjects ever would. I did not make my condition known to her because I was unsure of how she would react.

This avoidance worked for the rest of that millennia, but then Luna returned.