Author's Note

While this is E-rated, it technically follows Chapter One, “Eats a Peach Sensually”. The only part that relies on the first chapter, however, is the peach theme.

While writing this, my media player randomly selected "Melodies of Life" from Final Fantasy IX. It quickly became the background music for the entire chapter.

Twilight Shares a Peach, Fondly (Sad, Everyone)

Rarity blinked the sleep from her eyes as she stirred awake in the bed, gradually becoming aware of the presence of another in her room. She turned her head just enough to make out a tall, dark figure at her bedside, framed by what seemed to be a long, flowing mane. She sent a weak flow of magic to her bedside table in search of her glasses. “...Princess Luna?”

Twilight looked up with a start, then smiled and returned the knife she had been using to prepare a small meal for them to the tray. Rarity felt her magic being gently brushed aside by a much more powerful force as her glasses made their way to her, floating to her eyes in a magenta glow.

“Sorry, Rarity, it’s just me,” Twilight replied as she leaned down to nuzzle her old friend’s cheek.

“Oh, I’m sorry, darling. I always forget how tall you’ve gotten.” The old mare pushed herself up slightly in the bed. “But if you’re here, does that mean..?”

Twilight nodded. “Spike’s here as well. I found him sulking in the mountains of Neighpon. He thought I’d quit writing because I’d forgotten about him. I’m still not certain he believes that our magic grew out of sync after so much time apart, but he came regardless once I told him about you.”

“Oh, the poor little darling. He’s just as sensitive as ever, isn’t he?”

“That he is.” Twilight smiled and looked out the window at the dragon in the courtyard below. “Hardly little any more, though. We’ve switched places since we were young. I rode him back.”

“He’ll always be Little Spikey-Wikey to me,” Rarity said with a chuckle. “Still, I must say, I was beginning to fear you wouldn’t make it back before... well, before.”

Twilight shook her head and gently placed a hoof on Rarity’s shoulder. “I’d have found a way. I know Celestia may not be one for goodbyes, but I couldn’t let another friend go without a proper farewell.”

“I hoped not.” Rarity looked thoughtful for a moment. “I’ve actually been wondering about what she said to me, when she visited.”

“‘Until we meet again, my little pony’? She is fond of that one.” Twilight smiled at Rarity’s questioning glance. “She said the same thing to Applejack and Fluttershy. I imagine Rainbow would have heard the same, if there had been time. But it is a nice thought. I like to think she’s right in saying it.”

“So it’s just you and Pinkie, then.” Rarity sighed and looked out the window. “How do you handle it, darling? It’s something I’ve worried about ever since you earned those wings. That one day the rest of us would be gone and you’d find yourself alone. And don’t think I don’t appreciate you – it’s such a joy to have somepony calm and cheerful around when everypony else has already started mourning. I just worry, sometimes, that you put this on for the rest of us when you’re really hurting inside.”

Twilight was silent for a minute, seemingly lost in thought. But just before Rarity tried to get her attention again, she spoke once more.

“It’s not that it never hurts. Trust me, when I lose you, nopony and nothing could ever replace you. I’ll miss you just like I miss the other girls, just like Shining Armor, my parents, McIntosh, the Cakes...” She paused a moment. “But I’ve learned that none of them have to leave a hole in my heart. Instead, I can fill that place with memories, and remember all the good times we had. I keep them with me that way.”

Twilight’s eyes were drawn to the tray of fruit she’d been preparing, and she giggled.

“Peach?” she offered, floating a slice towards Rarity.

“Sorry, darling, but I’m not terribly hungry at the moment.”

Twilight nodded and returned the slice to its place. “That’s alright. It’s just that we’d been talking about memories, and I recalled having you over for breakfast one morning, when you put me off of peaches for a few weeks.”

“I did?” Rarity closed her eyes and brought a hoof to her chin, focusing on recalling the incident for a moment. Finally, her eyes lit up. “Oh yes, I do remember that! I’d offer a repeat performance, but I think the effect would be lost coming from a wrinkled old mare like myself.”

“Nonsense. Most mares can only wish to age as gracefully as you have, and your real beauty has always been an inner one, anyway.”

“You’re too kind, darling,” Rarity said, but she smiled and settled back into her pillow. “Very well, I’ll have half of one, just for you, and no more. A lady must watch her figure, after all.”

“Of course. I’d expect nothing less.” Twilight smiled and floated the peach half back to her friend as she took another for herself. The two ate in comfortable silence, though Twilight had to hold the peach for Rarity, who could no longer maintain a magical grip long enough.

“We should have done this sort of little thing more often,” Rarity said with a sigh after Twilight wiped her mouth for her with a napkin. “Life always seemed so busy, somehow.”

“Shh.” Twilight put a hoof softly to Rarity’s lips. “None of that, okay? No regrets, no tears. We’re here now, for as long as we can be, and I’m never going to forget you once that’s done. Nothing else matters.”

Her ear flicked and she looked up at the sound of a claw tapping on glass.

“And it sounds as though someone finally decided to join us.”

Twilight stood and lit her horn, the entire window and most of the section of wall around it cleanly separating from the hospital’s outer walls and floating gently to the ground below. She could put it back later, or easily pay them for the repairs. Even with an opening so large, the purple dragon couldn’t even fit his entire head into the room.

“Rarity?” Spike asked as softly as a creature his size could be expected to.

“Right here, Spikey-Wikey.” She reached out a hoof weakly to brush the side of his face, letting it drop to the side of her bed after a moment. “I’m so glad you could make it here in time.”

“Is it...” Spike swallowed. “Is it really that close?”

“I’m afraid so, darling.” She yawned as Twilight tucked her foreleg back into the bed. “I’m so tired lately, but I’ve enjoyed my visitors so much. Though there weren’t any I was looking forward to as much as yours.”

“I think I’ll give you two a few minutes,” Twilight said as she stood and took the first steps towards the door. She paused, however, looking back over her shoulder at the dragon seeing his old flame like this.

“Of course, darling.” Rarity yawned again. “And thank you so much for the visit. For everything.”

“It was the least I could do for a friend,” she said.

Until we meet again, my little pony, she added in her head as she slipped out of the room.

She took a seat in front of a set of large windows in the hallway, watching towards the sun as it slipped lower in the sky, leaving the afternoon and making its way into evening. She paid no mind to the brief mutterings of “Your Highness” from the ponies who passed her there, and was not giving much thought to the scene outside the window, either.

Instead she was watching her own reflection, and the image of tears rolling down her face, despite everything she had told Rarity just a few minutes prior. She closed her eyes to the sight and rested her head against the glass.

She wasn’t there long before she heard Spike, the power of his voice easily carrying through the walls as he forgot himself.

“Rarity? Rarity! Twilight, help!”

Until we meet again, my little pony.