Burn the Remembrance
Burn The Remembrance
Looking around her classroom, Twilight found herself smiling. They were only halfway through the semester, but her students were quickly growing accustomed to life in Ponyville. She'd jumped at the chance to teach Celestia's advanced magic students, but had insisted on doing it in Ponyville to get the students used to a different life style. It'd proven to be a good idea, and despite being a stickler for organization, Twilight had opted to teach her class at different hours throughout the week. Thankfully, the students seemed to enjoy the unusual classroom hours even if it was different from what they were used to.
“Tonight, there will be no practice sessions,” the alicorn reminded her class, making sure all eyes and ears were directed at her. “We will continue on Friday. Your reports on gravity magic are due then, but if you want to turn them in now, feel free. I won't be available tonight.”
“Professor?” a unicorn asked, looking Twilight in the eyes. “Somepony said Princess Celestia's supposed to be here in a few hours. Do you know if that's true?”
“I'm afraid I don't,” Twilight replied, the feathers on her wings betraying a hint of uneasiness in the mare. “She didn't tell me about any plans to visit. Anyway, class dismissed.”
As the students packed their bags, Twilight turned her attention to a picture on her desk. It was a picture of herself, the girls, Spike, and Big Mac that Applebloom had taken during a brief obsession with photography. While she hadn't been as pushy as she'd been while the CMC were writing stories for the school paper, she had been to the point where picture taking was arguably habitual.
The picture caused the alicorn to sigh, and after a second, she laid the picture face-down on her desk. Forcing a smile, she started humming and filing the mounds of papers she'd had laid out over not only her own desk, but all of the desks of the students in the front row. Today's lesson had been over experimental magic, a class that she'd designed following her revelations about Nightmare Moon's origin.
Cleanup took a full hour, and unfortunately, it left her missing Spike's presence for the umpteenth time. The dragon was in the middle of a growth spurt, and in the last two years, had grown to be the size of Big Mac. He was currently occupied with Applejack's latest construction project, a small irrigation dam. Now that part of the Everfree had recovered, repairing the waterways was a top priority for all parties.
Drifting out of the school, Twilight took a deep breath and proceeded towards the town's center, Traveler's Square. The mare was hungry, and she knew Pinkie had a table reserved for her during the lunch hour. How she managed to keep it free was a mystery to Twilight; Pinkie was running the single largest restaurant for several hundred miles. The earth pony's ambitions had been left entirely unchecked, and because of her endless drive, she'd turned the Sugar Storm into a major restaurant. Ponies from Canterlot had started coming regularly to enjoy the mix of fine food and entertainment the pink pony delighted in providing.
Greeting Scootaloo, who'd landed a job working as the head waitress, Twilight made her way to her usual seat near the giant window overlooking the Ponyville Memorial Garden. Almost like clockwork, Rarity joined her, followed shortly by Pinkie.
“Tomorrow is going to be huge!” Pinkie exclaimed, throwing her hooves in the air and laughing. “A family from Stalliongrad booked eighty five seats! Eighty five! Said it was supposed to be a wedding party or something.”
“Wedding party?” Rarity asked, sipping at a small cup of tea. “Must be somepony big if they're coming from Stalliongrad. That's not exactly a short trip. Do you even have room?”
“They didn't book for overnight, so it'll be fine.” The earth pony got at eye level with a piece of strawberry cake she'd brought over for herself. “You are so mine.”
“I've drifted into the pre-winter slump,” Rarity muttered. “Only three orders waiting, and I can't do anything with them until Spike finishes on the dam.”
“Gem hungry?” Twilight asked, levitating her sandwich into the air.
“In a whole new way. Horrible designs if you ask me, but at least they commissioned me to make them.” Rarity eyed the tea, then tilted her head back and took the last half of the cup as a shot. “Oh well! The customer is always right.”
“Whoa. Can you do that with syrup?” Pinkie asked, wiping cake crumbs off her face. Despite running the Storm, the earth pony hadn't changed a bit. Regardless of what was actually going on, it was play time.
Rarity gave Pinkie a strange look. “Syrup? What?”
“You seem stressed,” Twilight said, keeping her voice low. “You going to be okay later?”
“I will be fine,” the unicorn replied, taking a deep breath. “Just anxious to go home and go to sleep. Not looking forward to tonight.”
Her words left an uncomfortable silence at the table. Pinkie, who'd left her head sitting on the cake plate after eating, looked away from her friends. While Rarity busied herself with another cup of tea, Twilight's gaze drifted out the window. Tonight, eh?
The sound of plates and glasses shattering snapped the trio out of it. Unfortunately for Rarity, it caused the unicorn to jump, sending hot tea flying towards Pinkie. The earth pony, returning to her comical roots, went six feet into the air, screamed “I'M ON FIRE!!!”, and from her position in the air, rocketed straight into the kitchen, blowing the swinging doors open hard enough to cause Sweetie Bell's mane to break free from its braid and instantly poof up into a full-blown afro. The young unicorn, who'd been carrying clear silverware out of the kitchen, stood still for several seconds before slowly looking up at her mutilated hair.
One of the ponytail holders she'd been using to keep the braid in tact had managed to pop off with enough force to fly through the air and hit the lamp hanging above the table Twilight and Rarity were sitting at. Upon impact, the lamp, which weighed nearly ten pounds, had tilted over far enough for a few of the light-emitting crystals to fall out and land in the now open-topped tea pot. As it turned out, tea and light-emitting crystals formed an explosive combination; a second after the landed in the tea, a small mushroom cloud of the liquid had rose comically out of the top.
The sight was too much for Rarity, who spent a few seconds processing what she'd just seen before going into a fit of laughter that left her rolling around in her seat. Twilight also found herself starting to giggle at the sight of the afro; the exploding tea had only been caught by a couple of onlookers that couldn't see the poor unicorn. Scootaloo hadn't been kidding about a prank on her friends that would leave Rarity on the verge of a heart attack. The first time she'd seen Sweetie Bell's afro, the fashion designer had indeed nearly gone into cardiac arrest. The poison joke had yet to wear off, and despite both Twilight's and Zecora's best efforts, the afro was still standing strong when not physically contained.
“Come on,” Sweetie Bell muttered, turning and heading back into the kitchen. A moment later, Pinkie emerged, humming to herself. The earth pony was quick to locate the source of breaking plates and glass; another of her waiters had tripped and fallen over an apple that had managed to make its way into the middle an isle.
“I needed that,” Rarity laughed, sitting up. Any signs of embarrassment were absent from her face, though she quickly resumed her typical lady-like mannerisms.
“You sure you'll be okay later?” Twilight asked. “You know I can get us a few minutes in private if-”
“No. No no no.” The unicorn levitated the tea container towards her, though when she noted the small puddle under it, it caused her to pause. “What in Celestia's-” The second she tilted the container towards her face, the tea and crystals again reacted, though this time, the explosion of tea nailed the unicorn in the face.
Rarity's gaze slowly drifted to Twilight. The unicorn's facial expression was frozen in a look of confusion and disbelief; acceptance and realization hadn't started to set in her. The funniest thing, though, was a single tea leaf hanging on her horn. The alicorn tried to suppress the laughter building inside her, but failed miserably. It wasn't until she was home thirty minutes later that the mental image stopped being funny.
~~~~
With the sunset just a few hours away, Twilight made her way into Traveler's Square, taking a quick guess at the number of ponies present. She quickly identified her students, who were all near the makeshift stage in front of the water fountain that made up the center of the Square. Instead of making her way towards it, Twilight instead slipped off into the Carousel Boutique.
The building still smelled fresh; Rarity had claimed to love the smell of freshly cut wood, and instead of putting up walls and wallpaper around the entire building, she'd opted to leave all of the support columns for the roof as they'd been the day they were put up.
Her eyes went to Rarity, who looked mildly upset. Choosing not to linger on the fashion designer, Twilight instead looked to Applejack and Spike, who were looking over some blueprints the earth pony had brought with her. Rainbow Dash was speaking with Rarity, attempting to keep her busy with an argument about different forms of headwear.
The alicorn drifted over to Spike and Applejack. The two greeted her, but quickly went back to discussing what they were working on. It looked like extended blueprints for the dam, though Twilight wasn't entirely sure what to make of AJ's writing. The way she shortened her notes made it almost impossible for anypony else to make much sense of them.
Deciding she was of no use there, Twilight turned her attention to Rarity and Rainbow. It seemed as though Rainbow had given up hopes of entertaining her friend.
“Twilight?” Rarity asked softly, her eyes pointed towards the platform outside. Mayor Mare was starting to speak, and while they couldn't hear it, they knew what she'd be going on about.
“Hm?”
“What does she mean?” Rarity looked her friend in the eyes. The unicorn was getting closer and closer to tears. “Why does she always end this with 'burn the remembrance?' It doesn't make any sense. We shouldn't be burning the memories. We should be... should be...” Suppressing her tears but letting a sniffle out, Rarity looked back towards the Mayor. “Nopony should ever be allowed to forget what happened.”
“I've told you,” Rainbow replied, not giving Twilight a chance to respond. “There's no point in being... well... There's no point in dwelling on what happened. We have to go on with our lives.”
“It just doesn't make any sense, though.” Rarity's voice was a whisper, though clearly heard in the now silent Carousel Boutique.
The group stood in silence for several minutes, their minds all drifting between what had happened and what was about to happen. Concentration was finally broken when Pinkie pushed the door opened and motioned for them to come to her. Rainbow and Twilight gave Rarity a reassuring touch on the back before heading for the door. Applejack and Spike were the first out the door, followed by Rainbow and Twilight, then a moment later, Rarity. The unicorn had stopped to remove a hat from a locked strongbox. It was her latest project, and she'd been highly secretive about it. This was the first time anypony else had seen it.
Moving silently, the six of them made their way towards the stage, then slipped past it. Mayor Mare, still in the middle of her speech, took no notice of them.
“...so we rebuilt. We're still rebuilding to this day. Canterlot is expected to be finished in another three years, Stalliongrad is still working around the clock, and we too are still finishing. Life is returning to the way it was before this started.
“Five years it's taken to get to this point. Some of you don't even remember it, but those of you who do... No. Those of us who do...” The Mayor looked up at the sky, her voice loosing its energy. When she spoke again, she was somber. “We've seen one of the worst recorded events in the history of Equestria if not the worst. Friends, family, property, sanity; they were all victims. It would take centuries to return the land to the way it was.”
“Isn't that impossible?” Rainbow whispered to Twilight, who was leading the group out of Ponyville.
“No. Several ponies wanted to try and drain Angel Lake, but Celestia personally blocked it,” the alicorn replied.
“We will never forget what happened, but we must not dwell! Tomorrow depends on today, and if we do nothing today, then we will do nothing tomorrow. Five years ago, in the aftermath of the rampage, the sun remained in the sky for four days. There was talk of Celestia's passing, but instead of listening to rumors, we struggled on! We removed the rubble, we rebuilt, and we are still here! “Ponyville is our home. Equestria is our home. The land has been kind to us; it's taken care of us, nurtured us, and provided us with everything we've needed to come as far as we have. As long as we continue to take care of each other, the land will take care of us.
“I ask of each of you to look to your left and to your right. Look at the ponies standing next to you. Put any grievances aside, forget any wrongdoing. It was on this night five years ago that Ponyville was nearly lost.” The crowd grew entirely silent, not that it had been loud before. “Everything almost fell apart. It was only kindness that saved us.
“Without kindness, nopony would have been able to rebuild. The Night of Lost Kindness would have marked the end of so many had somepony not gone out of their way to help a fellow pony in need.
“So tonight, on the anniversary of that horrible... nightmare...” Mayor Mare let out a loud sigh, her speech temporarily forgotten as emotions started to build. “On the anniversary of the near end, let us remember that a little kindness is all it takes to save somepony's life.
“Let us go and visit our lost ones. Burn the remembrance.”
Twilight narrowed her eyes slightly as the Mayor's last words reached her ears. That phrase had become tradition, but the real meaning was known only to her and Celestia. Using it here seemed almost sacrilegious, but she knew better than to let it bother her too much; she'd never speak of it.
Her group was the first to reach outskirts of Ponyville, though they waited a moment before entering the cemetery. Once more ponies were forming up behind her, the alicorn pushed the heavy metal gate open. Over the next two hours, the spherical graveyard was slowly filled with mostly silent ponies.
Splitting off from the others, Twilight found herself drifting towards the back fence line, though she specifically avoided the center. It wasn't just her; everypony was avoiding it. The center was separated from all other graves by a small rotunda. It was twenty foot in diameter, and was separated by the other graves by a further twenty foot. Nopony could get inside; the only entrance was locked. Once a year it was unlocked, and that time was just a few minutes away.
Twilight found herself standing in front of the final resting place of Ponyville's previous school teacher, a mare named Cheerille. Her tombstone was simple, as were most. Just her name, cutie mark, and a few words about life's work. It made Twilight smile a little to see Spike's handiwork on her tombstone. He'd insisted on being the one to handle her tombstone, and nopony had objected strongly enough to prevent him from having his wish.
“I wish you could see this place now,” Twilight said softly, a faint smile on her face. “You managed to get most of your students out, and now, they're doing okay. Twist is still learning to cope with being blind, but she'll manage.” The alicorn looked up to the sky.
“I feel like a total moron for not speaking with you more. I still get nervous in front of my students. They see everything I do, every mistake I make. It's frustrating sometimes, but I understand why you did it. There's nothing better than knowing a new generation will be a little better off because of your actions.” Twilight let out a long sigh. “Less than a third of us made it through that night, but yours are doing just fine.”
Catching sight of a few ponies coming up behind her, Twilight bowed her head before moving on. Cheerille's students deserved to spend time with their former teacher more than she did, and it didn't bother the alicorn to move on. Most ponies would remain here until the sun finished setting, at which point they would all gather in the square again for a dinner of apples, carrots, and water. Twilight, however, was heading towards the rotunda.
Coming to a stop outside of it, she spent a short moment confirming that everyone was there. Rarity was between Pinkie and Rainbow, who were doing their best to provide some comfort to their friend. Spike was beside Rainbow, looking up at the sky. It looked as though he'd been there for a while. Applejack was the last to arrive, and even she seemed a little bit upset by the memories she was reliving. Twilight guessed she'd gone to visit Winona, who'd been buried next to her Granny Smith.
After a deep breath, Twilight started probing the gate with her magic, jogging her memory as to which spell she'd used to lock it. It took a moment, but she finally got it to open. The gate creaked on its hinges, though swung inwards easily enough.
As she stepped inside, the optical illusion that made the inside impossible to see through the gate faded away, giving way to the sight of a small flower-filled room. The air in here was warmer than the air outside; instead of being close to winter, it felt like a pleasant spring morning. It also smelled like spring. The illusion, the source of which was a mystery, was far too detailed for Twilight to even begin to decipher. The alicorn didn't question it, though.
Applejack was the last to enter, leaving the gate wide open behind her. It was only after she was standing beside Rarity that the unicorn broke down and started sobbing. With a reassuring nudge from Spike, she continued in, the six of them coming to a stop in front of a small tombstone in the center of the rotunda. The corners were all mirror images of butterflies, and unlike the stone outside, these were carved into a highly polished metal. The butterflies were carved into it, as were the words.
Fluttershy
Born in Cloudsdale. Died in Ponyville
It was you who the Element of Kindness chose to wield it. It was you who always went out of her way to help another creature, regardless of species or size. It was you who melted the most solid of hearts. You will live forever in our memories.
Rest now. You have earned it.
Twilight looked out of the corner of her eye as Applejack leaned in closer to Rarity. It had been Rarity who'd taken the loss the hardest, and even now, she was still grieving. Wordlessly, she pulled her friends into a hug, using both her magic and her wings to ensure everyone was together. The emotions of the group were overwhelming, and the alicorn soon found herself on the verge of tears as well.
Save for the crying of the group, the tomb was otherwise silent. After ten minutes with their friend, however, all turned to leave. The gate would be sealing soon, and once sealed, nopony could get in or out. Twilight's spell was a time lock that had a mind of its own. Celestia couldn't break through it, nor could Discord.
When they emerged, they found themselves face to face with Princess Celestia, who looked as somber as all of the other ponies. Here, no one payed the princess any respects she was normally owed. This graveyard was the one place where the princesses were on equal footing with their subjects.
“How is she?” Celestia asked softly, looking at the entrance to the gate. Her question had been directed at Twilight, but it took the mare a second to respond.
“The same as always,” Twilight finally replied, looking towards her friends. Rarity was starting to dry her tears, but Twilight knew her emotions would continue to emerge as the night went on. “Resting comfortably.” The alicorns looked each other in the eyes, a knowing expression on their faces. “How about him?”
“Still a ghost in the darkness,” was the hushed reply. “Twilight, cancel whatever you're doing tomorrow. I need you in Canterlot.”
“Canterlot?” The mare's heart rate went up a little. “Princess, you know I won't speak to-”
“You're not speaking to anyone, Twilight.” The princess moved in to whisper into her former student's ear. “Discord woke me up screaming last night. Probably woke up half of the castle.” The princess's words were growing unsteady.
“No,” Twilight whispered, starting to shake. Discord was afraid of two things that she knew of, and if either were coming back to Equestria... “He could be wrong,” the mare whispered quickly, her brain in overdrive. “There's no way that-”
“Twilight.” The mare went silent, listening to her former teacher. “Malice is waking up.”
Aforementioned and Unforeseen Consequences
Prologue: Burn The Remembrance
Author's Note
This was originally plotted back in 2012, and has nothing to do with Season 3. Special thanks to Denim_Blue for giving his a read-over.
