Within an old house sitting within the sands of time, lived Father time. A being of no age who controls it all. He works in conjunction with Death. Both appreciate their jobs very much, but sometimes, they both just need to look back and see what their jobs have done to the lives of all those that history will certainly forget.
In a gigantic room in the house of time lay hundreds of different clocks, grand-father clocks, cuckoo clocks, hour glasses, and other contraptions indicating the time. An elderly looking gray pony with no mane, but a long gray beard, waltzed in, mumbling at the steps he had to take to reach the floor. Another, completely covered in a black cloak, followed quietly. Father time looked around in appreciation as Death followed his friend's gaze, looking upon the multiple clocks all ticking and chiming in different tones. However, at the highest top of this immensely tall room but strangely small in width, lay a golden glass container. Within it stood three clocks that used to be only two. One had the colorations and detail of the sun, while another had the details and colorations of the moon. The newest addition was purple and the middle of the "face" was what looked like a six pointed star. Besides these minor details, they all looked like miniature grand-father clocks.
Father Time smiled and sighed in joy, while Death seemed to grunt in disgust.
"Don't be like that, friend. You know as well as I that the creator has decided these sort of things." Father time said with an elderly voice as he shakingly turned to face his cowled friend.
"Yeah? Well, I already had the pleasure of sending the one supposedly "immortal" to the after-life to join her loved one. There is no point in being immortal if you lose everyone you have ever loved."
"I know that Pestilence went awry with that one, but I believe you had something to do with that."
"Perhaps."
Father Time shook his head and reached to a wooden closet underneath a ton of clocks hanging on the walls above it. The gray pony pulled on the arms and, suddenly, without warning, a giant brass cauldron flung out and slid on the rails on the floor and ejected the gray pony into the air. Death caught him, luckily, and the cauldron stopped almost as suddenly as it flung out of the closet, throwing the lid far away with several *clanks*. It now rest in the middle of the room, amongst all the ticking and tocking.
The contents of the cauldron showed a brown, bubbling liquid substance. The gray pony struggled to reach it while time jumped on it and rest his head on one of his hooves that had taken spot on the rim of the cauldron. Throwing his own hooves into the cauldron, Father Time started to spin the contents, causing it to start glowing. He gave a sad smile as an image started to form and said:
"Well, let's take a look at our beloved Twilight Sparkle."
Looking into the contents, one could see the purple alicorn, almost identical to Celestia in appearance, but still the same size as Luna, teaching some of her new "students" Astronomy along with Luna. The Purple alicorn looked extremely happy, but the two watching over her knew how she felt deep down. It was the "hoof" of fate that had Twilight wake up as alicorn and jump around joyously about it with her friends, only to be taken to Canterlot shortly afterwards to learn with Luna and Celestia about this bizarre turn of events.
"How must it feel, Twilight Sparkle, to know that you will live forever while everyone you knew and loved will die away like a feint candle light?" Father Time said aloud.
Death was used to this and let his friend babble on as the contents started to change, showing the alicorn in her own room. This room was actually quite spacious. It was a mixture of purple and dark blue, as well as some pink. There were several telescopes on a balcony outside with maps and posters of the cosmos strewn about the walls of the room. Her bed was just as big and round as Celestia's, yet, around this bed were shelves filled with many many books. The alicorn was looking at a picture of her old friends while lying down on her comfortable mattress. Most had passed away now. Only Rainbow Dash remained, and even she had grown old and frail today.
Rainbow Dash now spent the majority of her time watching a fully grown Scootaloo participate in shows with the Wonderbolts, just as she had done after so many attempts at joining them. The only regret Rainbow Dash had, was not having that "special somepony" to sit besides her as her time started to run out.
As Father Time and Death continued to look at Twilight, they saw a tear drip down the alicorn's cheek and fall onto the picture. The purple alicorn concentrated and, as her horn glew a bright purple, several holographic images of Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Spike appeared.
"Hey Twilight! How about we celebrate with a party?!" yelled the Pinkie Pie as it bounced around.
"Yeah! I bet I can beat Applejack in a race if you do a competition like that!"
"Oh yeah? Ah'd like ta see ya try!" exclamated Applejack while staring Rainbow Dash down.
Spike hopped onto the bed near Twilight and looked around at the gossiping group.
"Sheesh. They sure are loud! Hey Twilight, what are we gonna do tomorrow?" the little dragon said as he looked up, smiling at his friend.
Twilight looked back down and, as she looked upon Spike's young face, she started to cry, massive tears running down her cheeks as she started to wail loudly. The holograms dissappeared, and Twilight's own guards came in, trying to hold their princess of magic down. Their dark purple armor turned their fur a nice lavender, just like their princess, while the purple armor was akin to the typical royal guard of the palace. Twilight never had the best of imaginations after all.
The two watchers stared down at this event in surprise.
"Ah? It would seem that she would also need to go." Death said bleakly.
"That would not be wise. Do not forget that the Creator is the one who said that she had to live eternally, like Celestia and Luna, and Pestilence cannot defy it in any way possible, no matter what disease you ask him to concoct."
"*sigh*"
Father Time looked back into the cauldron as Death complained and pouted. It would seem that Twilight Sparkle's sudden outburst of emotions destabilized her powers, causing several rays and bolts of purple energy to smack everything around her as she continued to cry her heart out. Celestia galopped frantically into the room, panic adorning her face and grabbed the poor mare in a tight hug. Twilight continued to leak tears as Celestia hugged her ever harder. Celestia also started to cry a bit. She knew what it was like to know somepony you loved dearly, and to lose them suddenly, only to know that you will never follow them. Father started to babble again, much to the amusement of Death, as he started to change the images in the cauldron.
"How must it feel to lose everyone? Your brother, Shining Armor, has perished by time, and Cadence started to go mad, then she herself died of an unknown disease. She was never allowed to have children, a cruel joke on the part of Mother Nature."
"But it means less work for me." mused Death to himself.
"Sweetie Belle is now gone from Ponyville, to Stalliongrad right now, a very good singer indeed, yet, Rarity's best design was never finished, and you keep it within your memorials, dear Twilight, always hoping that somepony will have the talent to complete it. Applebloom alone, remains in Ponyville, tending to the apple trees that were once cared for by the long since gone Granny Smith, the dear old sister, and poor old Big Mac, with the help of Orchard, her soon-to-be boyfriend. A lovely chap. Very well built, a kind heart. I hate blue, but she seems to adore him. Soon, they will certainly have children of their own, and the cycle will repeat itself."
The images in the cauldron changed to show a giant purple dragon fighting for control over a field of jewels. It was quite viscious and had many green spikes lining down it's back, something that Ponyville had seen before.
"And poor little Spike. Heartbroken after Rarity passed, he started to hoard things, and his greed got the best of him. He now roams the lands of Equestria in search of more jewels, always, and forever, thinking of that star that died away. Always wishing he had done more, yet, now, his heart has felt so much pain that it has now torn away into a hole, and he roams the land once more in that form.
The cake babies, now grown up, each control a bakery dedicated to Pinkie Pie. Oh, they were devastated when the pink party animal passed away, but time is merciless, and I must uphold my duties, for whom else will?"
Father Time rubbed his head in fatigue, but continued to look through the cauldron.
"Fluttershy, the most calm and precious, one might say, had died away as quietly as she had come. The animals, each day, pay their respects to her tomb buried within the forest, as per her testament, yet, even though the younger generations are told of her, pony-kind seems to have forgotten."
The cauldron fixed it's gaze upon the present Twilight Sparkle, who was greeting ponies for the next Gala. She seemed happy, but her heart was still torn by the cruelty of death and time.
"How must it feel to know that history will likely forget everyone? From the most insignificant of insects, to the most important of characters? Everypony seems to be forgetting of the previous elements, just as the ones before them have been forgotten, their lives wiped away like dust in the wind, their actions having no significant impact upon the annals of time.
Only you remain to tell of them, dear princess of magic, and yet, many will not listen, for the next generation grows in forgetfulness and lack of knowledge of experience earned from the past. Yet, they too will feel this way once they have grown old, and the process will continue.
Sometimes, the old are reborn without knowledge of their past lives. I'm sure you have noticed this with Surprise. That white pegasus that reminds you so much of Pinkie Pie in every aspect, including the cutie mark. You want to unlock the memories of her past life, but you are not sure if this is just coincidence or truth. You are not sure if she will become Pinkie Pie again, or if she will become insane by your fault. This curiousity eats you from the inside, and you need to let it out, yet, you can't. A torturous price to pay. I hope that your future will hold more promising details in life, such as the current bearers of the elements."
Death placed the lid back onto the cauldron as Father Time kicked the brass container back into the closet. The two looked at eachother.
"Well, Death, I think it's time you go and continue with your job."
"Yes. We both know who I must stop by first." Death said with an under-tone of both sadness and exasperation.
"I know. I know." Father Time said as his head lowered in shame." I will stop the clock."
As Death left and dissappeared into the shadows, Father Time brung a blue clock down to him, of which it's resting spot slid down the wall by means of mechanics.. The clock was resting on a shelf, and was sky blue. It had the motif of a white cloud with a thunderbolt of red,blue, and yellow coming from it, and it screamed of youthfulness and speed. With a sigh, and a look back to the emplacement of the cauldron, Father time stretched his hoof towards the hands that were still ticking and tocking vividly.
*Tick...tock...tick...tock...tick.....................*
