Endgame

Endgame

Fading Away

Moonshine The Brony

"Princess Celestia is dead!"

The reactions were varied. Fluttershy's jaw dropped, whereas Rainbow Dash rounded on Trixie and Applejack teared up. "There is no way Princess Celestia is dead! We'd know!" Trixie scowled, then sighed. "No, you wouldn't. With all this cloud cover, you can't even see the sky, let alone the Sun. I suppose I don't deserve your belief. What, with all the things I've said and done in the past? I wouldn't believe me either if I was in your place." Applejack mouthed wordlessly, but it was surprisingly Fluttershy that spoke up first.

"Trixie, I believe you."

Trixie's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "Why do you believe me? I've done nothing but lie and hurt other ponies! You have no reason to believe me!" Fluttershy frowned and stepped forward.

"Trixie, it's true that you've done a lot of bad things, and that you've hurt other ponies. But you know what? That doesn't matter. What matters now is that nopony else has to suffer. Look at Princess Luna; she's widely accepted and she's redeemed herself for what she did as Nightmare Moon," she faltered strangely on the words 'Nightmare Moon'. "Look at Discord! We thought that there was no hope for reforming him, but you know what? I kept trying, and he turned out to be a pretty great guy! I believe that everypony deserves a second chance, and that you've earned yours. So yes, I'm choosing to believe you."

Trixie was tearing up. "I... I don't know what to say," she whispered. "Nopony even likes me anymore, let alone trusts me. I... I just don't know how to describe how I'm feeling right now." She looked up at Fluttershy. "Thank you, Fluttershy. I needed that." She glanced at the wounded ponies around. She looked up at the three ponies with a new determination in her eyes. "It's too late for the wounded now. Disease is already spreading. The most we can do now is prepare the living for whatever lies ahead." She nodded at the others and held her hoof up. "No more running, no more hiding. We make a stand against nature now." Slowly, one by one, the three put their hooves in starting with Fluttershy and ending with Rainbow Dash. An unspoken vow was shared between them, a vow to keep all of ponykind safe. Behind them, a break in the clouds shone light upon their manes.

~ ~ ~

Carousel Boutique looked empty. Spike poked his head out from the bushes and looked through the window. The lights were on, but there was no sign of Rarity. He sighed, then made his way around the building to the front door. He noticed that the window next to the door was shattered and that glass littered the floor inside.  Spike shrugged and opened the door quietly. "Rarity? Are you home?" he called out nervously. There was some shuffling upstairs, which Spike attributed to Opal. "Opal? You there girl?" he asked loudly. A meow came from behind him, where Opal had been laying on her pillow. Spike frowned. "Wait... if you're there, then who's upstairs?" he asked Opal.

A loud thump from upstairs made Spike jump. Okay, there is no way that Sweetie Bell could do that, he thought nervously. Hoofsteps echoed in the hall upstairs, and Spike turned to open the door. He turned the knob, only to find that it was stuck. "Come on, come on, come on!" he muttered frantically. The hoofsteps stopped, and Spike turned around slowly. There was a stallion, clothed completely in black except for his eyes. His eyes scared Spike; they were red and bloodshot, signs of either a desperate or crazy pony. His eyes weren't what scared Spike the most, however. The long, silver knife that hung loosely from his outstretched foreleg glinting in the light scared him the most. Spike turned and started trying to break the door down, hoping, praying that it would open. When he looked over his shoulder, he almost jumped three feet in the air. The pony was closer, his black hood off so that Spike could see his gray hide, and his wide, twisted smile before feeling a sharp pain in his stomach, followed by burning. He looked down and saw the knife embedded in his stomach. He coughed, blood and fire spurting out as he looked at his killer. Spike tried to speak, but could only mouth the word 'why?' before his vision faded to black and he felt no more.

~ ~ ~

Twilight opened her eyes and yawned. She felt around her bedside table and found the button that turned on the lights. As she did so, she called out, "Spike?" She waited for a few seconds before calling out again. When she got no answer she blearily staggered out of bed and into the kitchen. "Spike?" she called out again nervously. She was alert now, completely shaken out of her sleepy state. She opened the door to Spike's room and gasped; his bed was empty. On his nightstand, however, was a note where Spike's familiar yet hastily scribbled handwriting was blurred from what appeared to be tears. Twilight picked it up with a shaky hoof, blinking tears from her eyes. She read:

Dear Twilight,

If you are reading this, then I have left the Emergency Living Quarters to assist in the survival of everypony else. I'm not ditching you or leaving you for dead; it's better this way for you and for me. You will end up having more supplies for yourself and will not be burdened by me when you leave the ELK. Until I find out whether the rest of the girls are alive or not, I won't be coming back. I won't be able to live with myself if they end up dying and I wasn't there to say good bye. It is with a heavy heart that I bid you farewell, especially after all these years that I have served as your assistant. I will always remember our time together with fond memories, and I will see you again, whether in this life or the next. Please, don't let me disappear from your life, as I truly cherished what time we spent together.

Love, Spike.

P.S.

I'll tell the others where you are so that they can visit you.

Twilight let her tears flow freely as there was no longer anyone to see her cry. "Oh, Spike... Why did you leave?" she whispered shakily. She took the note and magically sealed it within a plastic covering. Twilight brought it to her room and attached it to the wall. She then pulled out a piece of paper and took a quill in her hoof. She then wrote a letter to Princess Celestia to ask how things were going on the outside. When she was done, she focused and sent it to Canterlot with a teleportation spell and collapsed on her bed. She stpedd trying to hold back her tears and sobbed into her pillow. She laid there for about 20 minutes before falling asleep again, cuddling up against it and staining it with her tears. Her soft, steady breathing filled the silence of the room.