Now serving number two trillion eight hundred billion and seventy five
I looked down at my paper and sighed, not even bothering to try and read out the incredibly convoluted number. It was definitely going to be a long wait.
“Been here a while?” Asked a snow white bat pony, “You’ve got that I’m about ready to kick the door open and get this shit over with myself face.”
I looked up towards the old stallion and slowly nodded, “Yep, you could say it’s something like that. I’m starting to lose track of the time to be honest. And you?”
“Longer than you’d imagine,” he replied with a smile, “I’m technically an immortal and not even supposed to be here but I guess we all reach the end of our line sooner or later.”
“An immortal?” I asked, raising an eyebrow, “What’s the story behind that?”
“Oh it’s nothing interesting I assure you, really a long and convoluted tale if I’m going to be perfectly honest.” He finished with a wave of his hoof.
I looked back up at the number counter that was on the wall, shrugging at the other bat pony, “Well we’ve definitely got plenty of time…”
The stallion seemed to consider this for a moment, finally giving me a short nod, “Well… to make an incredibly long story short, I wound up getting cursed by an ancient amulet that I scoured the globe for with an old flame who was a writer turned adventurer,” He rattled off his long winded explanation, pausing only to take a quick breath, “I then wound up living for three millennia without aging a day while every pony around me grew old and expired, but I learned to live with that. I am Mystic Ember, in life I was a collector, even had my own museum at one point. In death I am… just like the rest, though maybe a little more compassionate than you’d expect.”
I nodded, “The name’s Sine Wave… So let me guess, some exotic creature broke loose and did you in?”
The bat pony shook his head, letting out a hearty laugh, “That would be comical, and more than fitting, though the reality is admittedly a bit boring. It seems the magic in that old amulet finally ran out, and well, I just reached the end of my time. An anticlimactic end to an unexpected lifetime of adventure and collecting, but a peaceful one at least,” he paused for a moment, “And you?”
“Me? Old age. Kind of boring I know. There were no three millennia of adventures to talk about, just a mare trying to make the most of her time with the ones she loved.”
The stallion shook his head, “Oh surely it wasn’t purely boring. I presume you lived a long and full life?”
I slowly nodded, thinking back to the many years I spent with the ones I loved, a smile coming across my face, “Yeah… you know, I did.”
He smiled, “Then I would say it was far from boring, even if it might not have been full of extravagant adventures. Care to share a tale? We’ve got a while to wait here so might as well try and pass the time.”
I shifted around in my seat, glancing around at the other bored souls in the cramped waiting room, “Well, I was your average run of the mill mare, working away for my entire life until I couldn’t any longer, but I like to think my life was more interesting than that. I had some unconventional moments that broke the mood and that suited me more than you might expect.”
“Oh? I’m sure it was, care to share what your life’s goal was?”
I nodded, “It was a strange goal for a pony but one I thought was worth pursuing. I made video games for a living— you know, ways to escape the drudgery of the real world for a little bit, go off on some wild adventures that you could never hope to actually do. My husband was a veterinarian and ran an animal sanctuary with some friends, and we both ran an arcade together on the side.”
“And this made ponies happy I presume?” He asked with a tone of genuine curiosity.
“Oh it made more than ponies happy. Creatures would come from all over the world to see our stuff— play the games we made, that sort of stuff. It gave them a means to relax and take their minds away from the unfortunate reality of the real world. Some got too attached to it, others spent just the time they needed to spend in it. To me I figured that if it made them happy it was worth pursuing, even if it might have bordered on an obsession for some.”
Ember slowly nodded his head, “I see, and you created this technology… these games?”
“Kinda… I helped work on it with some friends of mine, but I was the one that ultimately built it up to what it was. It’d be wrong to say I was the reason why it picked up, but I also spent years painstakingly optimizing the work they helped with. I guess you could say I was the one who polished and maintained it.”
“It sounds like you invested a lot of your life into it.”
I nodded, pausing for a moment, reflecting on his words, “Yeah, I did. I didn’t regret any of it though, it was my life’s work and I made a lot of people happy in the end. It wasn’t always easy though. Obviously we got people who just discounted it for no real reason, treated it like it was some dumb toy and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t get under my skin every now and again.”
“But you kept at it right?”
“I tried to. It’s hard when you spend so much of your time making something that genuinely makes you proud only to have it just fail. It sometimes made me want to stop instead of trying to keep improving it. In the end I kept at it because it’s what made me happy, and my husband Zipper and I agreed that we should never feel forced to bend one way to make someone else happy. We did enough of that in our lives before and decided that it wasn’t worth compromising our own happiness just to fit in. We were a couple of oddball loners in the world and that’s what made us perfect for each other.”
The old pony smiled, “Then it sounds like you lived a rewarding life. I always felt that spreading happiness was one of the best things you could do. That, and sharing your story.”
“I did. I’m not going to lie though, sometimes I wish I just sat and watched the sunset more. You know what I mean? Take stuff slow, relax and take a breath— the boring in between stuff that no one ever seems to care about, at least from where I was from.”
The stallion looked off into the distance, pausing for a few long minutes, “You know, I do sometimes,” he looked back toward me, “it sounds absurd but you forget about how much you enjoy indulging in the simple pleasantries of life sometimes. It’s easy to take that for granted when you’ve lived as long as I have.”
I nodded, slowly putting some of the pieces together in my head. With a newfound confidence I started to speak up, “So that’s why you like hearing stories about other ponies’ lives right? To compare it to your own?”
He shrugged, “It sounds harsh when you put it that way, but perhaps you have a point,” he looked back up to me, “To tell you the truth, I enjoy hearing stories because it reminds me that I wasn’t all alone in the world— that there are ponies that have their own regrets in life, regrets that might seem stupid and foolish at face value but they never truly are.”
“It’s a little late to have regrets in life dontcha think?”
He let out a small laugh, “my dear, that ship has long sailed. Truthfully though, I don’t have that many regrets. I just like to hear the stories one’s life carries. You see, in life I collected so many artifacts, but the stories are what held the most value to me. They were something immaterial that you could pass on that still held so much value, and in limbo they’re one of the few comforts we have.”
“I guess I never thought of it that way.”
“No one ever does, which is understandable, though perhaps a little sad. There’s so many ponies that just take life for granted without even sitting back to contemplate everything they have.”
A midnight blue bat pony suddenly blipped into existence, filling one of the empty chairs next to us, a dazed and pained look spread across his face that faded as he looked around the strange waiting room.
“Where… where am I?”
Ember smiled, “Ah yes, welcome Mr. Eclipse. I figured you’d find your way here sooner or later.”
“Ember?! Sine?!” He shouted in confusion as he snapped his head toward us. I had no clue who he was, though he clearly knew who we were.
“In the flesh,” he bowed towards the other stallion, “My, it’s certainly been a long time since I’ve seen you, how's the wife and kid?”
“A month is long?”
“Well a month for you, but for me it’s been around two thousand nine hundred and twenty five years, give or take a few decades.”
The stallion rubbed his hooves against his temples, “So what is this place?”
“Limbo” we both answered.
He looked towards the two of us as if he had seen a ghost… In this case literally, “I’m sorry, what?”
“Limbo, the waiting room between life and death. It’s a realm beyond time and space, where realities converge to a degree,” Ember continued.
The stallion’s eyes widened, “So you mean I’m…”
Ember slowly nodded his head, “Yes. I’m afraid so, if it’s any consolation we all are, but cheer up, If history goes the way I remember it going then you should be able to return to your body, just be a little more careful with using chaos fueled magic next time, you never did figure out how to completely control those surges.”
“If history repeats itself?” He shook his head, “Nevermind. I don’t even want to know what that means. But what does this mean for me? For my family? You know, Scarlet and Orion.”
“Oh Orion’s doing well, he’s grown into a brave stallion and I know you’d be proud of him… or well, I guess he’ll grow into that brave stallion.”
“What do you mean?!”
As quickly as he had came he vanished, leaving his seat empty before he could even finish his thought.
“See? I said it wasn’t his time yet,” the stallion mused, “Hopefully he learns his lesson this time around.”
“He just gets a second chance like that?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
The bat pony nodded, “he was never truly dead, though he was close. He’ll awaken knowing nothing of this place, but maybe having learned the lesson of living within his limitations.”
“You seem to know an awful lot… forgive me if this sounds dumb, but are you Death?”
The bat pony let out another laugh, “That is not a dumb question at all. To answer it, no. Though I am an associate of his.”
“No kidding, so what’s the story behind that then?”
“It’s not as interesting as one might expect. You see, when you’re an immortal it’s not uncommon to befriend Death himself. It was really inevitable that our paths would cross, and even though he knew he could never likely guide me to the afterlife, he still followed me like a shadow for many years, and when my magic finally faded he was there to hear my dying story, finally guiding me along as an old friend.”
An announcement interrupted our conversation, pulling both of our attentions over to the large door on the far side of the room, Now serving number two trillion eight hundred billion and seventy six
Ember looked down at his own paper and smiled, looking back to me and standing up, “Come on, let’s take a walk.”
I slowly stood up, unsure of what he had in mind, “Ember, what’s up—“
“Do not worry, consider this a goodbye. I know we’ve just only met but we shared our stories and to me that forms a connection, even if only a small one. Perhaps I am strange but I would be remiss if I didn’t say a proper farewell to a pony that’s shared their story with me.”
I slowly nodded, pausing as we reached a large ornate door. I looked at it and then back to the bat pony, unable to read his face, “So this is it eh? You’ll finally get to see whatever lies ahead.”
He shook his head, “Maybe… but not today.”
I raised an eyebrow, “But they called your number, it’s your turn.”
“As it’s been nearly a hundred times before.”
“Ember I don’t understand—“
“It’s your turn,” he passed me his number, grabbing my own in turn, “consider it my own self imposed penance if you will, a chance for me to reflect on the stories of others and guiding them to their eternal rest.”
I shook my head, “I can’t take this you know that right?.”
“But I insist,“ he replied with a laugh, “you most likely have a husband and family that are awaiting you beyond the veil, you best not keep them waiting any longer.”
“But that’s your number, you’ve waited so long for this.”
The bat pony shrugged, “My dear, I’ve lived for three millennia, another century of waiting is but a brief blink of an eye for me.”
“But don't you want to just finally see whatever lies beyond?”
He smiled, “I do, but you have family waiting for you, ponies who would be overjoyed to see you again, I have but a handful of ponies I could ever say I was close to in life. You deserve to see the ones you love.”
“But what will you do?”
The pony shrugged, “Sit and hear the tales of all the others waiting in line, and then when my time comes I’ll see what lies beyond the veil of limbo.”
I leaned forward and pulled him into a hug, “You’re too kind Ember.”
“Something that’s hardly a shame to be accused of.”
I broke the hug, a warm smile spreading across my face, “Well if we ever meet again in whatever afterlife awaits then I owe you one.”
The bat pony shook his head, “Save your favors, for what do the dead have need of them?”
I shrugged as he walked me to the door, “It’s the thought that counts right?”
“Of course, and I’ll remember that for the rest of my eternal life.”
“Thanks again Ember, I’ll see you around,” I said with a smile.
“Until we meet again, farewell Sine Wave.”
As I stepped through the door I didn’t know what to expect, all I could see beyond was a dark starry void and a pair of glowing eyes at the end. A happy feeling began to well up inside me, this was the end.
And perhaps the beginning….
