An Unexpected Change of Events

CANTERLOT, EQUESTRIA

1093 AD

Silence.

In a crowded room in Canterlot, Equestria, ponies sit in silence. A sombering one. They sit there. Waiting. Thinking. Grieving.

In silence.

Suddenly, the silence is broken, when a lone pony rises and walks towards the front of the room, and stands in front of a podium waiting.  But this was no normal pony.

This was an alicorn.

Yet this was no alicorn known in legend yet. A new challenger, so to say, because her coronation had not been too many decades ago.

This was alicorn Princess Twilight Sparkle.

She had a blank expression about her face.  One that could only be made through many mixed emotions and feelings, that all she could make was only an expressionless face.

She began to speak,

“Good evening, everypony.  I do not need to say a lengthy introduction, because we have done so many of these lately that we know why we are here.  Tonight we gather here in loving memorial of a pony that we all know and who was a great friend to us all, Applejack.”

Twilight Sparkle turned her head towards the casket to her left.  She still kept her blank expression.  She turned her head back.

“Applejack, as a young filly, wouldn’t even had known that she would be well-known outside of her hometown in Ponyville.  She was a simple pony, raised off of simple morals, honest and dependable, and that’s what made her such a good friend.  You could always rely on her for anything because se would never say no, as stubborn as she might have been.  Although she still stayed a very kind and generous pony.”

“Applejack always had a great sense of humor.  She would always try to make the best out of every situation, and she always laughed.  I will never forget her laugh as long as I live.”

Twilight shuddered as she said that.

She continued, “Applejack and I have had a lot of great memories together.  For example, there was a time where we accidently lassoed up ourselves to a tree!  Well of course we weren’t laughing then, but afterwards it made for a great Hearth’s Warming Eve story.”

Twilight paused yet again.

“I haven’t mentioned this before, but I find that one of my best moments with my friends in general was when Discord first broke out of his stone prison after a millennium.  Some of you may not know this, but Discord used to be twisted by chaos, causing him to take over Equestria, and we all know how well THAT went.”

Twilight turned her head to her right, to a blushing Discord.

“After he broke free, he tried to defeat my friends and I by breaking our friendships apart by making us the opposite of who we are.  I say this as a good experience because it was then that I had a revelation of how important our friendships were.  Not just to Equestria, but to me. How happy I was when I heard them, I saw them, and how much I cared about them, and I once again had a spark inside me that made me realize that I needed my friends back.”

Another pause. “I’m sorry.” Twilight held back a sniffle.

“Anyway, the reason that I bring this up now with Applejack is that, truthfully, she was the first pony that truly greeted me in Ponyville, and,” Twilight paused one more time, almost tearing up, “Applejack was really one of my first friends.”

This time, she couldn’t hold it back anymore.  Twilight let herself sob a little before regaining her composure.

“Thank you.” She left the podium.

LATER THAT NIGHT

CANTERLOT HOSPITAL

It has been a very hard time for Princess Twilight Sparkle, and the wordt has yet to come.  She has been an alicorn for a century now.  Five wonderful friends that could never be replaced

Now five have passed away.

Now only one remains.

Twilight enters one of the patient rooms of Canterlot Hospital and walks to an empty bed.  The pillow has been moved, and the sheets are wrinkled.  It is clear that somepony has slept in here recently.  She stared at the balloons hanging from it, then back to the bed, still keeping a blank expression on her face.  Then, she broke out.

Twilight Sparkle started to sob.

She planted her face on the bed pillow and finally let herself release all her emotions. A constant balling up of feelings can lead to great stress on one’s self, and she couldn’t keep them locked up anymore.  The stress was destroying her from the inside.

It was tearing her up.

Then,

“Twilight?”

Twilight lifted her head from the pillow.

“…is that you?”

She turned to the adjacent bed to see Fluttershy lying in the bed.  It was clear she did not have much time left.  She looked old, wrinkled.  Her wings were now crippled, useless, and her mane lost its bounce it once had when she moved.

Yet despite all this, she still had the same adorableness in her face that made you want to squeeze her cheeks.

“Oh, Fluttershy, its you,” said Twilight.  This was very strange for her.  She had a strange feeling that as soon as she saw Fluttershy, she wished that she didn’t see her, that she was gone.

And she didn’t know why.

Twilight’s crying had woken up Fluttershy, and she looked next to her, towards the bad where Applejack once laid.

“Oh, I missed it, didn’t I? I was too busy napping,” said Fluttershy. “So she’s gone now?”

“Yes,” Twilight said somberly.

“I’m so sorry, Twilight.”

“No, its alright Fluttershy, no need to apologize.”

“But what will you do when I’m gone?”

“I… I just don’t know.  Its my fault, though. I tried for so long to discover a way to keep you all here forever, but I couldn’t do it in time. I failed.”

“Its not your fault, Twilight, nor anypony’s.  These things happen all-”

“But it IS my fault!” Twilight stomped her forehoof on a table. “I didn’t try hard enough. I didn’t care enough about you girls enough to work hard enough to keep you here forever forever! How can I call myself a master of magic if I can’t even create a spell for immortality!?”

“Its okay, Twilight.  You can’t set too high expectations for yourself.  You are only a century-old alicorn after all.  Besides, you can’t stop fate.  They’re all in a better place now and I’m sure they’re happy-”

“But HOW? HOW can I live with myself if I am too incompetent to be able to save my friends and-”

She just noticed the increasing rate on Fluttershy’s heart moniter.

“Oh, sorry,” Twilight exclaimed. “I should better calm down for your sake.

“Thank you, Twilight”

“Again, I’m sorry Fluttershy, it’s just that I have too many regrets, and I can’t die so I’m stuck with them forever!  If not for this stupid immortality, then I could just die with the rest of you and not have to live with this eternity of mental anguish!”

Twilight sighed. “In other words, I wish there was a way where I didn’t become an alicorn and spare us all this agony.”