Author's Note
Decided to try my hand at writing something sad. If it's too edgy, let me know.
Also, I personally think listening to 'Forever Young' by Alphaville or 'Who Wants To Live Forever' by Queen whilst reading enhances the experience.
Stare Into The Abyss...
He had done it. After fifteen years of collecting half-rotted manuscripts, tidbits from old alchemy masters, and the various ingredients, Daedalus finally had everything he needed to brew the Elixir of Life. Death would haunt him no more.
Daedalus lit a fire underneath his cauldron filled with water, and let it boil. His horn could sense the ambient magic from all of the ingredients. He poured in three ounces of a wyvernfly's blood, glowing sickly green as it mixed into the boiling water. When the solution was sufficiently mixed, Daedalus added the claw of an elder dragon. That had cost him a small fortune, but the alternative was finding an elder dragon and taking their claw by himself. That didn't sound good for his health. Next, he threw in seven scales from a leviathan. To the last he grappled with him and all that. Last, but not least, Daedalus sprinkled in the quintessence, colloquially called 'stardust' in alchemy circles because it's thought that all astronomical objects like stars are made of quintessence, and stirred for five minutes.
Daedalus paced around his house for the time the elixir took to cool, pondering whether the elixir would actually work, and if it did, what would he see in the distant future.
The elixir was cool now, time to drink it. Daedalus grabbed a glass bottle from one of his bookshelves with his telekinesis and submerged it in his solution. He raised the solution to his lips and drank heartily...then he saw stars.
Daedalus floated in space, surrounded by glowing rivers of energy. He drifted by one and saw snapshots of the past. He saw the creation of the world, the defeat of Nightmare Moon more than a millennium ago, and him getting kicked out of magic school because he got his cutie mark in alchemy and alchemy is 'not a real magic'. What crap, Daedalus thought.
As streams of time fell behind Daedalus, he gazed into what he assumed was the future. He saw the palace at Canterlot burning while ponies ran about screaming their heads off. Shadowy creatures, changelings, came forth from their hiding places on the mountain and began to envelop the city. Then the next snapshot came into view.
He saw the Earth ravaged by monsters as tall as the sky itself. One black and purple bipedal giant, taller than any of the monsters, was surrounded by a swarm of flies shooting barely visible blasts of magic at it, while a larger birdlike creature, seemingly made entirely of sunlight and rage unbalanced it with colossal blasts of fire. As the flies were swallowed by the field of darkness the giant created, the next snapshot came into view.
Princess Twilight Sparkle was attempting to hold back a flaming wolf the size of a skyscraper. She looked haggard, though, and she fired her blasts wildly. As she was mere moments from being devoured, the next snapshot came into view.
The Earth was barren and cracked, utterly devoid of any vegetation. The only wandering band of ponies in sight were struck down by a meteor, which burst through the paltry magic shield they tried to conjure. In the midnight black sky, the faint sun shot flares at the stars. The next snapshot came into view.
Everything was darkness. Everything, except for a small lantern carried in the mouth of a beige coated pony with a gray colored mane. It was himself, unchanged from the present. He was watching himself at the end of time, Daedalus realized. Future Daedalus was wandering the barren Earth alongside a pony with a light pink coat and a pink, droopy mane, with a cutie mark depicting balloons and a melancholy look on her face. Was that...no it can't be. Was that Pinkie Pie? Daedalus thought of that eccentric party pony as many things, and mortal was certainly on that list.
"It should be around here somewhere," Future Pinkie Pie said without any of her trademark energy.
"Mhmm," Future Daedalus uttered.
Out of the darkness, a withering tree, nearly dead, appeared. Daedalus set his lantern down by the tree. "The Tree of Harmony," Future Daedalus said. "It certainly has seen better days, hasn't it?"
Future Pinkie cracked a halfhearted smile. "Yeah, I guess so,"
The lantern's light dimmed ever so slightly. "I'm frankly surprised it managed to hold on this long," Future Daedalus said.
"Guess this is the end, huh?" Future Pinkie said.
"Yeah. It's been a wild ride though," Future Daedalus said.
The lantern dimmed to the point that Future Daedalus and Future Pinkie could almost no longer see each other, and one of the branches of the Tree of Harmony fell off and crumbled to dust. "Well, it's been nice knowing you, Daedalus," Future Pinkie's eyes began to water. "My last friend..."
Future Daedalus embraced Future Pinkie in a hug as she started to bawl. "Nice knowing you, Pinkie Pie," Future Daedalus said as the Tree of Harmony crumbled to dust and a single tear flowed down his cheek. "So long, and thanks for all the memories..."
Present Daedalus found himself in a massive pitch-black room, complete with solid floors. In the distance, he saw a faint light. Seeing nothing else, he decided to see what it was. So he walked...and walked...and walked. Fifteen straight minutes of walking finally yielded some results, as the light began to become brighter. Five more minutes of walking and Daedalus saw that the light was coming from a pony, or at least something vaguely pony-shaped. Now he was going at full gallop. Maybe the light would have some answers.
Daedalus stopped just in front of the majestic pony that he now stood before. She had a pure white coat that seemed to, and probably did, give off light, as well as a shimmering, arctic blue mane, as wavy as an alicorn's.
"Um...uh...hello," Daedalus was taken aback by this strange mare's ethereal beauty.
"Hello there," The strange mare giggled. She had the voice of a carefree filly, sort of like Daedalus's sister, but not quite.
"Uh...what's your name?" Daedalus asked.
"My name's Aeon. I have a feeling we'll get to know each other over the years," Aeon said.
"I guess so," Daedalus looked down at the ground. "Time really is an immortal's only true companion,"
Aeon giggled again. "I am going to have so much fun with you,"
"I saw the future," Daedalus said. "And I ask you, why me, Aeon? Why allow me to be immortal, when all it will bring me is suffering?"
"Well, when you stare into the abyss, you must prepare for it to stare into you," Aeon giggled once more.
Daedalus woke up, sprawled out on the floor of his house with the elixir spilled over himself, and groaned. This was going to be a wild ride indeed.