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Famous Last Words · FiM Minific ·
Organised by RogerDodger
Word limit 400–750
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The Pony and the Phoenix
“Useless. All useless.”

The phoenix tilted her head, sticking her beak out through the bars; the pony sounded strange today.

“Useless.” The gray pony wheezed as he pushed open the door, stumbling into the room.

He didn’t use his horn.

“Whrt?”

“You!” He made it sound like an accusation. “I forgot about you.” He stumbled over to the table her cage sat on, his long beard knocking several sheets of paper to the floor as he leaned over to look her in the eye. “Do you know what you’ve done to me?”

“Mrk?”

The pony laughed bitterly. “Of course you don’t.” His head sank down onto the table. “You don’t understand a word I’m saying.”

She remained silent, leaning forward out of the bars of her cage as far as she could to look down on his wrinkled face.

“All those years. I thought you held the secret to eternal life.” He laughed again, but there was no mirth in the sound, no joy; there never was. “I spent so much time chasing eternal life, I forgot to live. And now I have nothing, and have achieved nothing.”

“Chirit.”

“Oh, sure, I came up with some spells, but they’re all pointless. Amniomorphic spells, the cutie mark swap… bah! None of them will keep me breathing a moment longer.”

The phoenix jumped back in her cage as the pony growled, his horn sparking with blue light, only to fade away a moment later, the pony’s shoulders slumping as he leaned against the table, breathing raggedly.

“So old, I can’t even throw a proper tantrum,” he grumbled, glaring at the phoenix as though it were her fault. “I suppose you would laugh at me, if you could understand.”

“Whr-tik-tik.”

His horn glowed against for a moment before fading, the pony grimacing as he lifted a shaking hoof to fumble at the front of her cage, his leg falling to the table several times before it finally opened. “Go; you’re free.”

The phoenix blinked; was this a trick?

“What are you waiting for? Go!” The pony wheezed, lifting his hoof before letting it fall back down to the table with a dull thump.

“Tik-tik?”

“What?” He swallowed, the motion clearly visible in his sagging neck, his breathing deep and ragged. Slowly, he turned his head, looking towards the hole in the wall over his nest of cotton. “Oh.”

The pony’s knees shook as he made his way across the room, his gait wobbling with every step. Grunting, he lifted his forelegs up onto his nest before he collapsed, his side heaving from his exertion; she could see his ribs beneath his thin hide. It took him some time before he managed to roll over, his eyes narrowing as they fell on her. “What are you looking at?”

“Chirik!”

“Very funny,” he groused, slowly lifting one leg up towards the nearly invisible barrier between the room and the sky, his hoof shaking as he pushed with all his might, a thin whisper of fresh air reaching her beak as his hoof fell back by his side. “Go.”

She cocked her head, peering at that sliver of blue sky. Tensing, she spread her wings and launched herself from her perch, only to quickly fold them back by her side as she landed on the pony’s chest. “Tik?”

The pony laughed again, the hollow sound turning into a cough. “Oh, now you want to stay? Want to watch me die, you stupid bird?”

“Whrt?”

“Yes, die. But you wouldn't understand, even if you could speak.” He grumbled, his chest rising and falling with every labored breath he took. “You can’t die, not really. Not like us”

“Chirit.” She hopped down off his chest to the soft surface below, leaning forward to push her head up under his chin, fluffing her feathers slightly as the scratchy beard rubbed at her neck.

Slowly, the pony lifted his hoof once more to gently rest it over the phoenix’s back. “Useless. All useless. Shouldn't have even tried.” His chest heaved. “Nopony lives forever.”

He did not burst into flame.
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