History - one of the most fragile and treasured things in any pony society. It is always written by the victors, and the ones who lose the battle are often erased from time to keep their acts hidden away. I was once a victor. Once. But being a victor doesn’t reserve your place in history. It just gives you the ability to write the books. The ones who die for victory- the brave ponies that were the fighting force of war or event, they are the ones who are erased. Their souls are restless through time, wishing that what they did was appreciated; hoping somepony would come along and remember them and their sacrifices.
I am one of those ponies.
You may not know who I am, but regardless I know who you are. I have seen you, as well as many other ponies over the centuries, walk this land and pass from it. I am nothing but stone. At least, that’s what everypony else sees me as. I watch as your warm, life-filled bodies walk the earth mortally, wishing that I could be just like you. Wishing to be loved, to be mortal once again. To be mortal would give me the life I had always wanted, and the ability to die.
The cold is a constant reminder of my stony imprisonment, biting at my outer shell, freezing my soul trapped inside. I have lived for what seems like centuries, maybe even a thousand years, but time is not something I have ever been fond of. It has always seemed to slow down when I pay attention to it, and when I’d wanted a moment to last forever it was gone in an instant; leaving the moment burned in my mind, but the feeling gone forever. Sometimes—well it's more like all the time—I just sit here and watch all of you as you walk along happily, without a care in the world, some carrying books and others walking along with somepony they love.
Sometimes, some of you even take the chance to stop and stare at me, watching me intently as if I was going to move. Some even questioned why I was here, and that was something I wished I knew for myself. Why I'm here, the everlasting question of time. Why are we all here in this world? Everypony had to have some significant purpose in this world, even if it is just standing still for centuries, as I do. It's not those who decide to stop that bother me, however, it's those who wish that they could have what I have. Those ponies, who want to have immortality of the soul, don't know of how hard it is to watch those around them wither away and die. They don't know how old your soul becomes; how much your soul will want to wither and die as everypony else does. You want your loved ones to be as you are, trapped inside immortality, but reason says otherwise. Those that you have loved... those that you will love, will all fade in the endless space of time, eventually wiped from your mind.
I faintly remember loving somepony once. I remember the feeling, the joy in my mind and the warmth that spread throughout my body. I remember her, but who she was I do not recall. I know that they will always be in my heart, and I know that they passed many years ago, while I’ve been trapped here. I think they loved me back, at least... I hoped that they did.
“Daddy...” a faint filly's voice rang through my mind. “Daddy, come here...”
I... I was a father. I had left some child to fend for itself in this world, taking away something that it may have held dear. If it did hold me dear, that is. I have no recollection of having a child, or even knowing the voice that called out to me. But it touched my heart and the warmth coursed through my body like a forest fire. I could feel myself starting to wallow in my own sadness, something that should not happen to anypony. Through my many years I have seen many bright, young souls lose track of their lives just because they felt sorry for themselves and fell deeper into their own depression. That’d not be something that I’d let happen to me. I just couldn't, no matter how much I wanted to feel sorry for myself. It was a sign of weakness, and I, the great..
My name... what was my name? I hadn't taken much thought into my name in the past hundred years or so, and I had actually forgotten who I was. Was I somepony who destroyed the land, and was that why I was stuck in stone? I don't think that anypony in history, or as long as I could remember, was put into the form of a statue willingly to serve as his or her own tribute. That idea was just a harrowing thought. I had to have done something in my past that had caused me to become this statue, and most ponies never even gave me a look. Does that mean that I’m bad? I never wanted to be bad, or at least that was the way that I feel now. Only if I could tell somepony, anypony that I was not who I used to be, whoever that was. The sun was striking my flank. I could feel the warmth being concentrated there, and the sun would soon drop over the horizon. The moon soon to rise from the other end of the sky as well. The moon and the sun... Why did they seem familiar to me? Of course they would, I see them every day and every night. But I felt a... deeper connection with it for some odd reason. It was almost as if it were me who raised the sun and the moon each and every day.
I’d decided that I would let my mind drift. That was what consisted of my “normal” days so to speak, and it was never usually filled with anything more than a blank thought. Just pure black: my mind had gotten vastly darker since I last remember; whenever that was. I had no memories anymore, and anything that I’ve ever tried to remember always became lost in the sands of time.
“Daddy...” the young filly called out once again.
“NO! Daddy! Come see me first!” another young filly had called out, but this time it was different. The voices that I was hearing weren't faded chunks of my dissipated memories. It had almost seemed real, and the voice seemed to be coming from behind me.
I tried turning my head and, to my amazement, I was actually moving. My muscles were real... the grass and the air were actually real. The sky was a beautiful ocean blue. Some patches of clouds were slowly being cleared by these tiny points on the horizon, and I could have sworn that it was other ponies. But it wasn't very likely that anypony would have wings. That's when it hit me: I was back in my old castle courtyard. Flowers of all colors and kinds were in bloom; the sweet scent of their buds flowing with the gentle cooling wind that passed through my mane and wings. I have wings? When did I get wings? That’s impossible! I don't ever remember being able to fly...
I calmed myself as I realized that I was overreacting to this dream, memory, or whatever it was. This had to be something from my past; that had to be the only explanation. I shook my head once to clear my mind and get back to the situation at hand. I saw a multicolored mane out of the corner of my eye, which seemed to have a slight sparkle to it. I turned my head, yet again, to see two fillies wrestling in the grass, one had the most beautiful white coat. It was as if she was covered in a cloud. The other had a dark coat, and could be easily lost in the black of the night. I just wanted to run over and grab the two and hold them forever, that way I wouldn't have to lose them again. There was something strange about these two, and I just couldn’t place my hoof on it. I knew that they were sisters, but it wasn’t that. There was something else, they had wings... and horns. They were... alicorns? My little fillies were alicorns! I felt my heart sink again, as all that I could come to call them was “fillies.” I didn’t even know my own daughters' names. What kind of father am I that I cant even remember my own daughters' names?
Another realization from staring at the young fillies was that they were wrestling to show me who was stronger, and it was as if that they were in an infinite stalemate. The young fillies were alicorns; so that meant I was an alicorn too, right? And that meant that my wife was one too. That was the only possibility from what I remember for there to be anypony like them. I slowly raised my hoof to touch where my horn should be and sure enough, there was one resting right where it should be.
I heard a faint clopping of hooves on stone behind me and the voice of an angel echoed, “Honey, is your horn bothering you again?”
I turned around to view who this lovely voice belonged to. All that I saw was white, pure white. Snow. I tried to move, hoping that I could join that dream once again. It had almost been as if it’d been shared with somepony else. It felt like there were two other souls living that memory with me, enjoying what had once been. I didn't know how long I’d slept, but living in stone makes any amount of time seem minuscule in comparison to how long you seem to be awake. All I’d known at that moment was that it had snowed, and I was knee deep in it.
I was standing in a rather awkward position for a statue. I was somewhat knelt down, as if I was waiting for something to hit me... as if something was coming for me and my horn was the only defense I had left. My horn... I couldn't reach up to feel if it was there or not, but I knew it was gone. It had been snapped clean off from the base, and I knew that meant that I was nothing more than a pegasus in my current state. A memory came back to me, causing me to somewhat remember that if a horn is snapped off of any magical creature, then it loses its magic forever. It didn't make any sense... Why would I be pointing my horn at some... creature?
It was then that I felt a sort of scraping, but it was a gentle scrape. It was as if somepony were actually taking the time to gently brush the snow off me. Nopony had ever been generous enough to do that for me before, I’d always been forced to wait out the winter and let the snow melt away as it pleased. The last thing that this pony, or whoever was clearing the snow from me, did, was clear the snow from my eyes.
There were ponies everywhere, sitting calmly and quietly as if they were waiting for somepony to speak. They were staring at me it seemed, but I knew better than that and believed there to be somepony behind me. I tried to scream for help, but no sound came out of my mouth. There was nothing I could do but watch. I felt two figures brush up against my flank and slowly proceeded to come to my sides just out of my line of sight. One of them began to speak in a rather loud tone that seemed to echo a royal speaking voice. How I remembered that, I do not know.
“CITIZENS OF CANTERLOT AND EQUESTRIA,” the voice began, and it reminded me of the small, night colored filly from my memory. The voice seemed to match it, just amplified one hundred times.
“Luna,” the other voice called. “I think that I should talk for this ceremony. If you wouldn’t mind, sister.” I couldn't see a thing on either side of me; only the large crowd of ponies assembled in front of me were visible. Once she started again, it was evident that the other pony had approved of what she had said.
“This day, we’ve come here to celebrate the one thousandth anniversary of the pony who had saved me and my sister’s life as young fillies, the pony who was courageous enough to take on a hydra himself, to protect two small fillies, putting his own well being on the line.” The voice paused, her voice hinting at sadness. “He sacrificed his magic, something that everyone of us hold dear, to save us. He used his horn after vigorously fighting to put the creature to an end, but he was also putting an end to himself. His horn snapped from his head, and the vast amount of magic flowing from his body turned him instantly into stone. Today, we remember him.”
The two figures rested their heads on mine, their manes barely visible out of the corner of my eyes. One the color of the night and the other as white as the clouds themselves. The ponies in the audience all raised their hooves and stomped to the bravery that I had once enacted, something that I’ll most likely never remember. The two ponies at my side, which I assumed were my daughters, rose. The ponies in front of me slowly moved from where they were as they stopped clopping and walked in front of me, each dropping a bouquet of flowers at my feet, some muttering thank you, and some even had tears dripping form their lively eyes.
As soon as the crowd dissipated, the two alicorns appeared in front of me, tears flowing from their eyes. They stood directly in my line of sight, making sure I knew of their presence there before the white one spoke.
“You may not remember us, but we remember you, and that is what matters right now. We know that you are struggling to stay alive in there, but bear with us. We have been trying to free you for the longest time, and we do thank you for what you did to save us back then.”
The two alicorns reached forward, their front legs extending around my neck, holding me in a firm grip. They’d started to cry a vast amount, and I could feel their tears running down my stone back, as they both spoke in unison.
“I love you, Daddy.”
A tear formed in the corner of my eye, rolling off my face and falling to the snow below.
Proofread By:RatherHomely, ~TheSharp0ne, & ~SolarFlare-Solis
