Nopony Lives Forever, Twilight

          Celestia sat in a tree in front of the bookstore, trying to write a story. She had been writing it for the past week, but couldn't find a way to move the story onwards. Luna was at the base of the tree, singing to a bird that sat in her mane.

Oh, when the wind blows, softly through the leaves,

as big sister writes, hiding in the trees,

the branches, they will rock,

big sister, she will drop,

and when she does Luna will laugh.

          A rolled up paper hit Luna's head, scaring away the bird, "shut up," called down Celestia, "I'm trying to write."

          Luna giggled, "maybe I'll stop talking if you let me read what you're writing?" she looked down at the wadded up ball of paper at her feet. There were words written oni it, and thanks to Celestia's teaching, Luna could read them. She picked up the paper, unrolling it, "Celestia blushed deeply as Sir Charming kissed her on the cheek, she-"

          "It does NOT say that  you little-"

          "Little what?" interrupted the dark blue unicorn.

          "You are an adorable little prick!" Giggled Celestia, hopping down from her perch, "I'll get you!" She chased Luna in circles around the tree. The two laughed and played like that for hours, but as all good things do, it came to an end. A terrible, frightening end.

          Celestia chased Luna back towards the tree, smashing into her as she came to a sudden halt. The sisters were silent as they stared through the shattered glass of the bookstore window. They were far enough away to go unnoticed, but they could still see clearly that the colt standing in front of the broken glass was not Green Bindings, the owner of the bookstore. The unfamiliar grey colt had his rear to them, and was shouting into a bright crystal ball, "No! He says he doesn't have it any more! No, of course I don't believe him! Yeah, yeah, I'll check the whole thing! Okay I got it! Good as done." The crystal ball dimmed, and the grey colt muttered something the sisters couldn't hear before shouting into the bookstore. "Can it, Grandpa! Nopony's comin' ta help ya!"

          Celestia gasped, why would Green Bindings need help? She motioned for Luna to stay where she was and moved closer to the building. The grey colt had dissapeared to the back room, probably to search the storage areas. Celestia cried out when she saw Green Bindings lying in a heap, surrounded by broken glass, and covered with bruises. A large stab wound marred his lime coat. Somepony had stuck a knife into his stomach and dragged it back and forth through his vital organs. What was worse than that was that he was still awake.

         "Celestia! Quiet!" The injured unicorn motioned her closer. "Celestia, I need you to be a brave girl for me, okay?" Celestia nodded. "I want you to go to the secret cellar- you remember how to get in? Good, okay, go in, find my workbench, get the book off of it, the one with the six jewels, inset the cover take, away not here, six-" he was making less and less sense, "six jewels, one missing! Take it, run far, away from Omega. They are the end! The-" he coughed up blood."Go!" He urged, "don't let them get the book…" Celestia stared as the closest thing she had to a father stopped breathing. She stared for only a moment, but it felt like a lifetime. He had shared his home with her, fed her, paid her, but now, now he was dead.

          Later Celestia woud look back, and wonder. She hadn't cried back then. She just left him there, to get the book and leave. She would wish that she had buried his body. But she hadn't, and never would. Celestia stood and walked over to a bench that doubled as a storage crate. It looked empty, but in reality it had a false bottom. Celestia opened it with a slight creak, propping it open with a book off a nearby shelf. She quickly headed down the steep stairsteps. In the small cellar there were a few bookshelves, and a large workbench. Lying on the workbench were stacks of tomes, all relting to magic in one way or another.

         There were spell books, books on magic theory, and right on top of one of the stacks was a brown tome, with seven holes in the cover. Six of which were occupied by colored stones in red, orange, yellow, green, purple, and pink. The fifth hole was empty. Celestia opened the book and looked at the strange writing. It seemed as if every character in the book had been replaced with a strange swirly symbol: § . Celestia gazed at it for a moment before remembering the urgency of her mission, returning to the stairs.As she climbed out of the false bench, she accidentally hit the book propping the lid open with her hoof. With a loud bang! the lid came crashing shut.

          Celestia froze. The door to the back storage room flew open, and there was the strange grey unicorn from before. A knife hung suspended by his magic. He leered at Celestia. "Hey, kiddo, you shouldn't be in here, you might-" He stared at the book held in the air by the pink maned unicorn. "Where did you-?"

          Celestia ran. She galloped out the broken window, jumped over the ditch and grabbed Luna's hoof, "run!" Luna's eyes widened, but she was silent for the time being and followed Celestia.