Last Light (Pastejam entry)

 

Celestia looked away from the sun for a moment. What were once verdant plains and rolling hills had long given way to mounds of ash and snow. The skies, once filled with life and sound, were little more than dark shadowed clouds, only a rare thunderbolt on a distant horizon breaking up that grey monotony.

 

She trotted off, away from the dimming sun. In the distance, her last companion started to limp towards her. Willowbite had been too old and injured to travel with the others and, as an immortal timberwolf, would last until it began to rot from the inside out. Its ancient oaken bones creaked and threatened to buckle under the strain of trying to drag its body forwards, so Celestia gracefully but quickly flew over towards it, patting the timberwolf on the back for comfort.

 

Glancing up, Celestia saw the majesty of the stars, no longer able to be held back by the light of the sun. The spiralling cosmos played out above her, the thousand worlds that would live on long after Equestria had, at last, breathed her last. Towards the domain of her sister. Once, Celestia had been the more important, more powerful, more beloved of the two. But then, it started. The long dying of their star. As inevitable as it rising in the morning, Starswirl had once joked.

 

All of them were with her sister now. Spread across the cosmos, Equestria nothing more than a memory to them. A home that they could no longer return to; No magic could save it; no mechanism preserve it, no hope restore it. It simply was.

 

Willowbite whined, unable to bring her own head up to look at the stars. Likely, the wolf would be the last thing alive on this planet. Outliving even her, alone in the darkness. Celestia smiled softly. It was not so bad. To see the next generation leave the nest, to rule in their own way, to live on. After countless aeons of outliving almost everyone she had ever met, it was quite the experience to be, finally, aware of the opposite. A great many would only remember her, and some would only know of her from reputation. And, for the very first time, there will be those that will not know of her at all.

 

Four billion years of being the most well-known, powerful, important pony, nay, being in the world. Outlived by those she had shepherded and nurtured.

 

Behind her, the sun flickered, a terrible chill biting at Celestia's heart. For the first time ever, it was still for a moment. But as the sun shudderingly sparked back into life, it beat again. Her children were amongst the stars. They had saved as much life in Equestria as they could and brought them with them on their great journey. To continue on forever, to see...

 

No. Not forever. Starswirl had mentioned that.

"Forever? Nothing can last forever, Celestia. The sun will die, but stars are simply others suns. They'll decay too. Even the ground beneath our feet, our bones and sinews will decay into the ambient nothing. Luna will outlive you by quite a while. But I'm afraid that even she will fade."

 

Only minutes after it had risen over the ashen horizon behind her, the sun was beginning to set in front of her. Long streaks of dull red light bloomed across the sky, and the air seemed to hum in anticipation of silence. A soft smile played across Celestia's face as she took to the sky, beating her ancient, powerful wings and soaring above the storm clouds. Looking down, even covered in ash and snow, her home was still beautiful, as it had always been.

 

But it was time. With a heavy, slowing heart, she blew out the candle.