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- >Through a single eye, you watch the sunrise above the water.
- >Your hand grips the Taffrail, bone-white fingers against the varnished wood.
- >This was not your first voyage aboard a ship like this. Far from it. You used to captain one after all. Splitting the waves from Griffonstone, to Yakistan to the Arctic and Antarctic wastes.
- >But that had been another life. One you now remembered.
- >Just before the daylight consumes them you spare a glance towards the moon and stars. Luna's domain.
- >It had been two years since you had last seen her. Last time, you had been bleeding out in your own tomb, trying to hold desperately onto life. So afraid to let go.
- >Since then you had died two more times. Nearly died at least three more. Your wanderings had been dangerous. After all, one didn't usually lose an eye in safe places.
- >Some part of you wanted to return to the distant land of Equestria beyond the sunset. See the Princesses again. See Celestia again.
- >But you had to...
- >God, the next sentence is going to make you sound like some Yuppy twat on their gap year.
- >You needed to find yourself. Be complete.
- >There were still lives of yours left to find. Some short, lasting mere minutes before they were cut down by some wild beast. Some dying of dehydration or starvation after a few days.
- >You wouldn't return till you were whole.
- >Taking your hand off the taffrail, you stare into your empty palm, flipping your hand over.
- >You felt so old. At least three hundred years of memory coursing through you. From the blasted deserts of Labyrinthia to the Badlands, to the empty wastes of some distant reindeer trading outpost in the Arctic circle. You had seen it all.
- >Every part of your mind used to ageing and decay swore that your hand should be a wrinkled, liver-spotted mess. Heck, it had been that way in some past lives.
- >But there it was. Unblemished, bar a few light scratches. Smooth skin.
- >Is this how she feels when she looks in the mirror?
- >You glance up towards the sun again, silently asking.
- >That she doesn't quite recognise her own body in that reflection? That feeling of phantom age?
- >Probably not. She has always been immortal, as far as you are aware. You? You can remember a time before all this. Before you arrived in this place. Sort of.
- >You can see a house in the snow. A dinner. A few scant names and places, maybe some fiction, maybe some true. But it's scrambled. A fog.
- >You recognised the symptoms, having suffered it at least twice in your long, long life.
- >Alzheimers. The decay of the mind. The fog of memory. The long shadows that blocked...
- >You spat over the side of the ship.
- >Fuck this moping. You hadn't been alive for as long as you had just to stand here and whine.
- >You stretch your arms out, and smile towards the rising sun you were heading away from.
- >You had set off from a port in Western Equestria heading south-west, towards Zeborica
- >There were a few more lives left you had to track down. Some were gone by now. Not only was everyone who knew you back then long dead (which hadn't been much trouble so far), but there was shockingly little information to go on.
- >Turns out in a world with hundreds of sapient beings one more isn't that special or noticeable.
- >Perhaps that was how you had managed to stay under Celestia's radar for the last two years. For all your pride, you just weren't big news here.
- >And besides, any archives left would obviously have been edited by that strange magics that made them all forget you.
- >You spare one last look towards the moon and stars. Hers now. From what you had heard and read in the papers whenever you might've been close enough to Equestria to get news, she had thrown herself into her duties. Reformed, returned to her true self.
- >Not that small thing in the desert who admitted she thought herself a fake. The true Luna.
- >She had even apparently taken on some of Celestia's responsibilities in ruling. Perhaps now the Monarch of the sun had free time now, no longer having to also be the regent of the moon and stars.
- >Probably not. She always threw herself into her work. Other than the Summer Sun Celebration two years ago, you honestly don't know the last time she left that castle.
- >Poor girl
- >Taking your mind off the alabaster alicorn, you instead try and remember something.
- >This life you were tracking down you had heard about years ago. Celestia had mentioned him once or twice. Never in a way that suggested she liked that reincarnation of you.
- >Far from it, she seemed to fear him. Fear this version of you.
- >Still, by all your sins remembered. You had to find him. He was one of the last reincarnations of you that you knew about, that were both definitely you and had affected the world enough to be remembered.
- >The Beast in the Long Grass was his name. He had died about five hundred years ago in Zeborica. Before Farseer, Brightsmile, the Wanderer of the Badlands and other lives of yours you had found in the last two years.
- >After him... Maybe that might be it. It wasn't all of the myriad lives you had lived in this world, but it was a nice spread of them across the last thousand years. Maybe you could go...
- >You were about to think of home. Should it surprise you that home was some white marble castle at the top of a mountain, and not some... Dark house you see in your dreams. That home was here?
- >You had spent a few decades in that castle after all. You knew the ponies there, friends of yours from a lifetime ago.
- >Well you weren't there yet.
- >Time to help sail this ship. Even if you were supposed to be a passenger, you had experience with sailing.
- ~#~
- >You hear the crackle of static and the hum of lightning. Your joints itch.
- >Even as you hurry to tie everything down, you swore that there was no storm scheduled for today.
- >You were still fairly close to Equestria, which should mean nice regular weather and calm seas. A far cry from the North and distant East.
- >And as you and the rest of the crew look around, scratching their hooves on their heads, none of you can see any hint of a storm. Not even a dark cloud.
- >You look to the captain. And she just shrugs, as she orders her crew to return to their normal business.
- >While they return to climbing the rigging and scrubbing the deck, you search the sky desperately for what might have caused that noise.
- >All you can see against the brilliant clear blue sky is a single streak of red flying away from the ship. It almost looks like living fire. Whatever it is, it's flapping its wings...
- >Wait.
- >You've seen her before. You weren't an idiot, you had been the head of Celestia's household for nearly forty years, you knew her own...
- >Something bumps into you.
- >You were so distracted by watching what was clearly Celestia's pet Phoenix Philomena fly off that the bump takes you by surprise, sending you to the floor.
- >You scratch your head as you push off the planks, turning to see what exactly bumped into you from behind.
- >Before you stood a Pegasus. A small thing (relative to you, a lot of them seemed small). She, clearly she, had white fur across her entire body. Long pink mane and deep violet eyes. A small, cautious yet apologetic smile on her lips.
- >Even before she opened her mouth to apologise before you even needed to see whatever illusionary cutie mark she had or even wait for her to admit it you knew who this was.
- >Try as she might to hide it.
- >You feel a sudden rush of emotions run through your head. Joy. Excitement. That urge to simply hug her. To run your hand through that illusionary mane and hold her.
- >But also trepidation.
- >After all, despite appearances, you had put two and two together pretty easily and worked out that this Pegasus that had clearly just teleported onboard the ship was none other than the ruler of the most powerful nation on this earth.
- >Moving aside your fear and guilt, you reach out to her and hug her before she even opens her mouth. You can feel her open and close her mouth against your shoulder, trying to perhaps think of something to say. To even attempt the deception she intended.
- >But after a moment she doesn't bother, simply placing her forelegs around your shoulders and nuzzling into your chest as you sit up.
- “You're going to have to try better than that to deceive me, Celestia. I'd recognise you anywhere.” You whisper.
- >You can hear sniffles, though you aren't quite sure if they are hers or your own.
- >”It was always difficult to hide the truth from you.” She says.
- >It's her voice. It seemed almost a lifetime ago since you had last heard it. Memories of a dozen lives and hundreds of years mixing up your sense of time and presence.
- “Well, you've done a good job there before.” You lightly jape.
- >She simply holds you tighter at that. You ignore the stares and questioning looks of the crew, no doubt wondering how this strange Pegasus got aboard and why she's hugging that strange biped.
- >After nearly a minute, you gently push her away from your chest so you can look into her violet, shaking eyes.
- “How did you find me?”
- >She drags her sight from yours, glancing towards the distant fiery plumage of her pet bird.
- “Of course. Why?”
- >”Why?” She asks gently, though you can hear the surprise in her tone.
- >”To find you. To bring you home.”
- >The words should be comforting. You know you should be touched she cares enough about you to try and bring you back. But...
- “I can't go back there yet. I have to... Well, we talked about this years ago.”
- >”Why? You... You remember who you are don't you? Even after you died, you remember. You're whole. I know from...”
- >You smile a tired, wry smile.
- “Keeping tracks on me huh?”
- >”You think all those mares able to use that time scroll just so happened to find you?”
- >You run a hand through her illusionary pink mane, and she ever so slightly leans into your touch. Of course, she still keeps her eyes on yours.
- “Explains a lot.”
- >”I'm still right Anon. You remember. Brightsmile and Farseer, Nergüi, the wanderer. Countless others. They are you again... You...”
- “There's still more left.”
- >”Lives so short that no one knew they were there. You'd never hope to find the first person...”
- >You interrupt her.
- “There's still The Beast in the Long Grass.”
- >Shockingly, despite her alabaster coat, you can see the blood drain from her face. Her expression turn from joy to terror.
- >Behind her, you can see one of the Zebra crew glances towards you upon hearing those words, then turn away to go back to her job.
- >”Anon. I beg of you. Do not pursue that beast. Come with me back to Equestria.”
- >You shake your head.
- “I have to know.”
- >”There are things that people are not meant to know. Anon, please.”
- >Her eyes... Those damned violet eyes. Shaking, watering. Pleading.
- “Sorry Celestia. It's...”
- >You take your hand out of her mane and scratch your head.
- “It's like I'm a puzzle with a piece missing. One last piece. And him, that distant continent, is all I need.”
- >”Why? Aren't you happy with who you are?”
- >Her question unnerves you slightly. Her reaction to all of this does. She hadn't been this fearful of you being taken prisoner by Nightmare Moon, by you finding out about this... Cycle of death and life.
- “Come with me. Help me find him.”
- >There are few people you'd rather help you. She considers the request.
- >”Anon. I...”
- >She desperately wants to say something. Tell you something. Maybe you already know what it is.
- >But the words die on her tongue. Fear taking a grip of that ancient immortal.
- >She sighs.
- >”What you... What we will find there, you may not like.”
- “I've experienced some things in my lifetimes.”
- >”Not like him.”
- >Ironic.
- >Her tone, the serious glint in her eyes. The fear. It scares you a little. All this, for just another one of your lives.
- >But she relents.
- >”I trust you Anon.”
- >You sense she wanted to say something else there.
- “One last life to hunt.”
- >She shivers at those words, before looking down to the deck and nodding to herself.
- >”One last...”
- >Whatever she added to that sentence, you couldn't hear.
- >You reach out to the Monarch of the sun, and she tosses aside that regal mask to reach her head forwards and let you scratch behind her ear.
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