The Everlasting Drawback Of Immortality

The room was silent. The ponies could not comprehend what the princess just said. Why should somepony want to die? That is simply unnatural! Such thoughts flew through their minds while they waited for someone to speak up and break the oppressive silence filling the room with its’ foul taste.

The concept of death is, of course, nothing new for the accumulated ponies in the room, but they never heard of someone wanting their own death. Equestria is a harmonious and peaceful land, where everypony gets their chance to redeem themselves of any errors they might have done in the past. On top of that, there are nearly no homeless and poor since the princess looks over everypony and wants them to have a life filled with joy.

“I am very sorry princess if I may sound disrespectful, but what do you mean exactly? You can not possibly mean that somepony wants to die.” Rarity just hoped that this didn’t sound disrespectful.

“I’m sorry Rarity, but that is exactly the case.”

“But why? Why would anypony want to die?” This time it was Dash.

“I do not know, my dear Rainbow Dash. Even I do not know everything about Oran. The only things I know about him, are those that he told me a thousand years ago.”

There it was again, the oppressing silence seemingly oozing the air itself that surrounded the ponies in the room. Nopony wanted to ask the question that wandered through everyponys mind right now. The princess said she did not want to say it in this conversation, but it was just too important. Twilight grabbed all the courage in her and asked the Princess.

“Princess Celestia?” Celestia looked to her student. “I think we all have the same question on our mind. We just need to know. Please tell us what happened a thousand years ago.”

The empress of the sun slowly inhaled a deep breath and released it after some time, and while she looked down to the table she just said: ”I am very sorry, but these are things that nopony should know if not completely necessary.”

“But Princess, we need to know what happened to perceive his power. How am I able to form a plan to stop him if we do not know anything about him?” Twilight had a desperate look on her face.

The princess thought several tens of seconds about this. The events were horrible on that day, and she did not want to burden her little ponies with the knowledge of the worst event that ever transpired in their world, but on the other hoof, they needed to know what he was capable of.

“I am sure that this knowledge is essential to your success, but I am still not willing to corrupt innocent minds with tales of a war.” She drew another deep breath. “But even if I am still not willing, I know that you need it. So I have decided that I will only reveal this to Twilight since she is the pony that is forming your plan. I hope you others will forgive me for my protectiveness. “

“O-Oh princess. You do not need to be s-sorry for us. I think we can manage.” The shy Pegasus said something for the first time on this table. Pinkie Pie just sat on her haunches the whole time, having a long flat mane going along the left side of her face.

The princess nodded her head and looked to the group of ponies. “Well then, I hope that this revelation did not weaken the power of your appetite.” They collectively looked at their food, and after some time looked to Celestia and slowly shook their heads.

“I think the best thing you can do now is to eat your food and strengthen your vitality while I tell Twilight of the thousand year old events in the next room.” Looking down at the nodding Twilight, Celestia decided to stand up and leave the table, but not before she could hear Pinkie Pie say something.

“Princess.” Celestia turned around to look at Pinkie Pie.

“Yes, Pinkie Pie?” Pinkie waited a little but reluctantly said her question.

“If the thing he wants is to die. Then does this mean *gulp* does this mean we have to kill him?”

The empress of the sun just shook her head. “No, Pinkie. We ponies of Equestria do not believe in killing. We do not kill anypony. It does not matter what he did, what he does and what he will do. Even if, Discord comes back and turns the world into a wheel of eternal chaos, we still will not kill him. In this case, we just need to find another way to drive Oran away from our planet.”

Pinkie with tears in her eyes but with a relatively happy smile plastered on her lips, just nodded to the princess and looked at her food. Reluctantly, she took the fork and moved it around her food in an attempt to distract her of the matter currently at hoof. Princess Celestia turned away from Pinkie and gestured Twilight to follow her to the next room.

Twilight complied and followed the princess to a private little room. It wasn’t any bigger than her own bedroom in her library. The floor changed from majestic marble to comfortable red carpet and the walls from white stone to warm wood. There was a desk stacked with papers and quills, and on the other side of the room was a fireplace. This was the old study of Twilight before she went to Ponyville.

Both of the ponies sat down at the fireplace, on some cushions. “It has been a long time since we last talked in this room.” Celestia looked at her student with a warm smile. Then she chuckled a little bit. “I remember when I waited here for you to talk about the anamorphic spells, but you were nowhere to be seen.”

“Oh Princess please. That story is embarrassing.” Twilight blushed a little.

“I do not know what you mean. You looked so adorable when you came running in here with your by ash blackened mane. What did you say, was the reason why your mane as full of ash? Ah right now I remember. You said you tried to light a candle on fire with your own magic and it just overreacted.”

Twilights’ blush was now nearly as red as the pink sunset from the day before. “Yes, I overcompensated for control with more magical energy. I thought ‘if I can’t control my magic enough to produce fire, then I just need to use enough magic to force the candle to burn’. It wasn’t one of my brightest moments, when the candle exploded into the air and landed on my head.”

Celestia giggled and nuzzled Twilight on the cheek. “But at least you were not hurt, my dear student.” Twilight also giggled a little. “Well, I think we should talk about our upcoming war.” Celestia hesitated. “I really do not want to tell you of the war from the past Millennium, but it seems I have no other choice.” While looking in the eyes of her information-hungry student Celestia started her story.

Exactly 1001 years before yesterday, Luna and I were at the pinnacle of our power. We defeated King Sombra. We banished Discord, and we did many other feats that a normal pony would be unable to perform. On top of that, we had the Elements Of Harmony. We thought no one could best us in combat, magic or in any form of competition.

At one day, while I was holding day court, I heard that somepony wanted an audience with me. The guardspony told me that he meant ‘that it would influence the future of whole Equus’. I dismissed that phrase as just some pointless rambling of some madpony, but I still wanted to see who said this. So I allowed him to enter. The one who entered was no other than Oran.

I never saw anything quite like him. He walked on two legs, wore clothes and had a enormous red sword strapped on his back. After I asked what he was, he just answered with “I am just a traveler.” Naturally I asked him back from where he travelled from. He nonchalantly answered “From the multiverse.”

Now Twilight, I am sure that you know what the multiverse is, but let me please just explain it exactly. We have our ponies. These ponies live together in families. Families live together in villages, well at least most of the time. Villages form a land. Lands form a world. A world is a planet. Planets form a star-system. Star-systems form a galaxy, and in the end, all galaxies combined form the universe.

The universe represents our time, our space and also our dimension. But what if there is more than just one universe, with other times, other kinds of space and another dimension? If we put all the different universes together into one being, then we have the multiverse. There are many different kinds of living beings, worlds and physical rules in many different universes. There may be worlds without magic, worlds with more magic or worlds with some kind of magic we can not understand, in comparison to our well known Equus.

Till that time I never heard of anypony being capable of traveling the multiverse. We couldn’t even travel in our star-system. So how can somepony just walk into my throne room and exclaim that he travels the multiverse. It was unheard of. I did of course dismiss this… pony… as a madpony.

Not a while later, he told me that Equus has five years to prepare itself with a war against him. I was enraged. How could he even think about challenging the immortal being that rules over Equestria. You do not need to look at me like that Twilight Sparkle, I really was this arrogant at that time. I did not show it, but I thought I was better than every other being in the world, except my sister.

I didn’t want to be informal so I just gulped down my rage and asked him, what he would gain from a war with us. What he then told me was something I never heard before. He told me that he travels through the multiverse to find a world, with beings capable of besting him in combat. He travels through every world, wages war with it, all for the sake of being bested in battle.

I calmly asked what would happen if he would find a world with forces stronger than him.

“Well, then I can finally put my journey to rest and finally succumb the sweet embrace of the eternal sleep.”

I couldn’t perceive what he told me. He wanted to die? Why? As I thought about what he said, he just turned around, looked at the door and told me: “I am waiting atop of Mount Dragonborn. If you have any Questions, you can come to me and ask. I won’t attack anyone in the next five years except when I am getting attacked myself. I wish you luck Princess Celestia.”

By the way, did you know why we called the mountain Mount Dragonborn? No? This is actually a funny story. You remember the mountain with the dragon that you and your friends asked to leave? That is Mount Dragonborn. We called it this because this once was the home of a dragon and at some time, some madpony walked up the mountain, went to the dragon, and shouted at it till it left.

He called himself the Dragonborn, and the story was so funny, that it spread all over Equestria. After one week, everypony started calling the mountain Mount Dragonborn, but back to the topic now.

After he said that he waited at the peak of the mountain, I just dismissed him as a power-hungry madpony. Oh, if I wouldn’t have done that, maybe things wouldn’t have turned out this disastrous.

I told Luna about him, and we both had a good laugh about his stupidity, but we still remembered him and the date he said, he would return.

Five years later, he started moving from the mountain straight to Canterlot. I took myself some free-time to look at the spectacle that my guards would give me when they subdue this madpony. I sent three Pegasi-guards to stop him. The Pegasi complied and flew straight at him. The next thing I saw were the halved remains of my guards. He just took his sword and slices right through the guards without remorse or hesitation.

To say I was stunned would be an understatement. He just killed three of my guards without even changing the pace of his “stroll”. I instantly sent every single guard I had straight at him. He slaughtered every single one of them. Every slash a dead guard. Every movement accompanied by the sickly symphony of genocide and never once has he slowed down or sped up from his seemingly casual stroll.

I was terrified. How could I underestimate him that much and send all my guards to their deaths? I eventually calmed down after some time. I flew straight in his path. For the first time in my eternal life, I felt the evil touch of hate in my being. How could he destroy the lives of my guards and their families?

I gathered all my magical power and anger and released everything in one gigantic beam of pure solar energy. My beam hit him right in the chest. He didn’t even attempt to dodge it. The only thing I managed to do, with all of my power, was to slow his stroll down to a stop. After some time, he shook his head and just said: ”A remarkable amount of power. With some ten-thousand years of training, you may be able to damage me.”

How could this be? How was he able to brush my power off, as if I was throwing a little stone at him? I panicked. Everything I had I threw at him. Nothing worked. Luna started helping me, but it made no difference. Eventually we powered ourselves out, but even if we failed, we still had one last ace up our sleeves.

Luna teleported to the elements’ chamber and brought them right to me. We powered up and concentrated on the positive emotions that the elements need to feed on, in order to activate their power. After we finished, powering up the elements, they shot a gigantic rainbow-beam at Oran. I will never forget what happened afterwards.

Oran held up his hand, and just when the beam was about to hit him, he just waved it, and the beam dispersed. I was in a state of panic. We did everything in our power to stop him, and we didn’t even manage to scratch him. I just slumped down and gave up. This had to be a dream. How was some stranger that I never met before, able to withstand everything we threw at him with such ease?

Luna told me that we can’t give up no matter what. She told me that we need to stand up for Equestria that we are the only ones with the power to stop him. I looked at my sister and smiled to her. We could not give up now!

I stood up and just when I was on my feet, a sword cut through Luna and parted her head from the rest of her body. Oran just killed Luna.

Now Twilight, I think I need to explain to you the three classes of immortality.

The first class is the class, Luna and I belong to. It means we are immortal to disease and age. We can still be killed by injury.

The second class is the reincarnating immortal. That is when somepony can die, but is able to invade a new body as a ghost and reincarnate into it.

The last class is the true immortal. This is a somewhat theoretical class because we never saw a true immortal. Oran was not one of them. He is like Luna and I, an immortal that can not be brought down by disease or age, but can be stopped with injury. As I said, Luna was no true immortal, so she was killed by Oran on the spot.

I couldn’t understand what happened. My sister died? Oran did not give me time to even try to comprehend what just happened. He picked me up by my horn, cut off both of my hind legs, and pulled me all the way to Everfree Castle. I know this sounds brutal, but that is what happened.

When we arrived, he jumped on top of the highest tower and levitated me up to him. Everything that happened until then, was nothing compared to what he did afterwards. He took again hold of my horn, pulled me up and made me watch over my land, with all of my subjects.

“Look at all this. This is what will pay for your arrogance!” With that said he straightened his arm and made one wide motion with it. Then there was silence. I did hear nothing for about 30 seconds, but after those 30 seconds, I heard something. I heard crying, screaming and screeching.

All my little ponies, all of them started screaming in pain and agony. Everypony ran through the streets as if their insides were on fire. It was unbearable. I couldn’t watch it. I wanted to turn away, but he made me watch it. With his magic, he opened my eyes and turned my head back to my dying city.

After about three minutes, everything has gone quiet again. Every pony in Equestria was dead. Bodies of mothers protecting their children from the unknown horror were lying on the ground. My whole kingdom just died.

I could not take this anymore. I started crying and screaming. It was all over. Everything was dead, and it was my entire fault. All just because of my ignorance and arrogance. I hated myself. While I was crying, I didn’t notice that I started bleeding out. I got sleepier and sleepier. The only thing that I wanted to do now was sleep.

“Remember what happened today. The next visitor may not be as merciful as me.” Was the last thing I heard before I drifted into the sweet embrace of death. On this day, every pony in Equestria died.

I did not know how much time passed, but at some point I started waking up again. I looked around and saw that I was atop of Everfree Castle. Recalling what happened, I instantly looked back at my legs and saw that I was unscathed. My hind legs were back.

Reluctantly I stood up and looked around. There still were the dead bodies of my little ponies on the floor. I was the only one that survived. Why was I the one? Why not anypone else? I fell back into screaming and crying again. Why was the one who was at fault the one who survived?

At some time, my sadness started turning into hate. I hated Oran for what he did. I hated myself for not being able to stop him. I hated Luna for not being powerful enough. I hated my subjects for what they put me through when they died. I started hating everything, and there was only one thing I wanted to do now. Everything shall burn down.

I straightened myself and began putting magic into the sun. Everything in the world needed to be burnt down so that I do not need to be reminded by my failure. I didn’t notice that my sister flew to me and started talking. What I also didn’t see where the jerking and moving bodies of all the ponies on the streets. I was just too blinded by my hate.

Just when I was ready to unleash a gigantic solar flare on Equus, my hate suddenly disappeared. Everything left me, and I suddenly could think clearly again. I aborted my spell and looked around. There she was. Luna held her horn to my head and absorbed all the hatred I felt.

I did not know how or why, but she did it. I will never forget what she then told me.

“Sister, no matter what you need to do to save Equestria. I will always love you.” She said this with tears flowing down her eyes. Then she started changing. Armor appeared where there was none before and she started laughing menacingly. Nightmare Moon was born and all because of my inability to control my emotions.

I was exhausted from my spell. I couldn’t stop Nightmare Moon, and again I was useless. At this point, everypony was alive and standing again. They all looked up at us. Their loved princess of the sun and the laughing evil beside her. I looked down at my ponies and realized that, just like Luna, they all were alive and healthy again. I did not know why, but they just were alive again, and I knew that I could not let them down.

I could not fail, not again. I summoned the Elements Of Harmony to my side and used them to banish my sister into the moon. After the deed was done, everypony started cheering for me, but I just lost my sister. The pain I felt deep inside, was nearly unbearable. At this day, I let everypony in Equestria down, and I knew that I needed to redeem myself. So I made it my goal to be the best ruler possible.

I thought this all could have been a mass-induced-dream, but this was not the case. My scientists told me that everypony in Equestria died, stayed dead for about eleven hours and got resurrected. I do not know how this was possible, but even the halved guards from the war were healthy as if nothing happened.

I also found a stone with the inscription “1001” in my bedchamber. It was obvious, that this stone was from Oran. It should remind me of my failure. Sadly, I thought wrong. This stone shouldn’t remind me of my failure, it told me when Oran will come back to Equestria. From this day forth, I did everything I could, to make Equestria the most harmonious land in all of Equus and every day I hoped that at one time, I will see Luna again.