There Will Always Be Kindness
Somepony once asked me how I made peace with myself. With all the life I have lived, and all I shall live, and all I cannot live. It is my little ponies, I have said, and thus they receive the answer they seek. Five simple words. To tell that a millennia of regrets, and millennia more, can be washed away by the mere existence of you all. Tis neither ego nor falsehood when I say it could never be.
Somepony once asked me how I came by such wisdom. With all the life I have lived, and all I shall live, and all I cannot live. It is my little ponies, I have said, and thus they receive the answer they seek. Five simple words. To tell that a millennia of experience, tempered in triumph and failure, can be gifted by the mere existence of you all. Tis neither ego nor falsehood when I say it could never be.
Somepony once asked me how I came by such power. With all the life I have lived, and all I shall live, and all I cannot live. It is my little ponies, I have said, and thus they receive the answer they seek. Five simple words. To tell that the heavens and earth tremble beneath my hooves, that existence and beyond warp to meet my will, graced upon me by the mere existence of you all. Tis neither ego nor falsehood when I say it could never be.
And thus we come to you. For you, in this quiet morning, beneath the biting chill of winter's caress, have asked the question they all wished to yet lacked the desire to know. You have asked me how I came to answer such questions with five simple words, though they are not true. And so you shall know.
Breath in, my little pony. Allow the chill of the morn to fill your lungs. Let it cast away the veil of sleep and solace. Tis not safe on such a night, for the night is cold and quiet, yet here you stand. Breath out, my little pony. Warm the world with your breath, with all that lies nestled within. Taste the sublime silence, and the life which you grace the world. Let all else fall away, and hear the melody in the quiet. No longer tired, no longer stressed, no longer anxious, but truly alive.
Step close, my little pony. Allow my wing to warm your body, as I tell you of a night very much like this.
I have walked this realm for millennia, tens and hundreds of thousands of years. I have watched civilizations rise, grow, prosper, and in time fade. I have beheld such great sorrows as war, extinction, and those last gentle souls' peaceful ends. In many times I have guided these peoples to greatness, and followed them to ruin. At times I have simply stood among them, quiet in unity with such beautiful and flawed creatures. No matter the role I play, I have always shared this message, the quiet words of the wisest being I have ever met.
I cannot tell you how long ago it was, such words would be meaningless, and I have ceased counting. Under a different sky, a different horizon, I had made a friend. She was so beautiful, though her appearance was rather plain. She believed it so, and yet neither the shape of her face nor the size of her body spoke of her joy. She was a quiet soul, and spent all her life simply living. She made mistakes, felt shame, and yet the lines of her face spoke of a million smiles. It was a morning such as this where I was graced with meeting her. It was mornings such as this which would herald our reunions.
I met her as a young girl, so vibrant and full of life. She left me as age took her, gentle warmth upon her lips. It was not until that night, as we walked beneath the star filled sky, that I asked her. She was dying, and in all my might and knowledge, I was scared to lose her. I can still hear her laughter, washing away age and ache to fill the cold morning air with warmth. And as her mirth faded to understanding, she said she was at peace with her end. I offered to cure her body, to revitalize her mind, to let her spend eternity by my side.
I already shall, she said. She embraced me, and the cold was lost in her touch. That is why I am at peace with my end, she told me, and her words were filled with joy as she spoke. She knew of my nature, knew of what I was and had been and would become. And yet she did not worship me, as so many have done, but spoke to me as her friend. I will always be with you, were her words, and you will be with all those you find. I did not see the wisdom of her words, and so she shared that which I so desperately needed.
She told me five little words. And as we walked beneath the sunrise, I knew it would be our last. We sat beneath a tree, the grassy hill wet with dew. In silence she gave me a gift, and it is one I give to you now. She taught me that one thing is eternal, though the stars will fade and all stories will end. I have done my best to share it with all whose paths I have crossed, though I have failed too often to forget. Beneath that tree we stayed, until I laid her to sleep, and bade her to dream one last dream.
She dreamed of a hill, beneath the stars. Atop the hill was a tree, and beneath it was a tall flat stone. She sat before the stone, her dearest friend beside her. And she knew peace, having done the one thing she could never regret.
She shared five words. She told me the one thing I have seen among all those I have been blessed to witness. She gave me the answer to the beginning and the end. On a quiet morning, in the twilight of night and life. It was her kindness that will spend eternity at my side.
The answer, my little pony? I suppose I have spoken in circles long enough, though I feel you always know. You have seen it before, before this conversation began. Before we sat beneath this tree, in the waning quiet of a dewy morning.
There Will Always Be Kindness.