“That's it Twilight! I've had enough!”
The shout, nearly a roar, echoed throughout the library. Near the door stood an angry adolescent dragon, his claws balled into fists. A purple mare rushed down the stairs at the opposite end of the room, distress clear on her face.
“Spike, can we please talk about this?” pleaded Twilight.
“No!” he roared, holding a hand up near his neck “I've had it up to here with you treating me like this. I'm done with... all this!” he waved a hand around, gesturing to the surroundings. “I'm sick and tired of you treating me like a child! I'm my own dragon now, and I'll make my own decisions!”
Spike whirled around and reached for the door, only to be blocked by a wall of magenta force. Turning his head around, he glared at Twilight.
“Let. Me. Go.” he growled.
“There's nothing I can say to dissuade you?” Twilight asked, only to be met with silence and Spike's stony expression. “... Fine. I'll drop the spell on two conditions.”
“What's to stop me from knocking you out?” Spike interrupted.
Twilight merely raised an eyebrow. “Try me.” After several moments of tense silence, she continued. “I thought not. The first condition is that after you leave, I don't want to see you for at least two years.” Spike's mouth gaped at the ultimatum, shock and pain in his eyes. “If you can't make it on your own for at least that long and you come crawling back well... we'll talk about it if it happens.”
Spike stared at Twilight for several long moments. Eventually he grunted his agreement. “Fine. What's the other condition.”
Twilight closed her eyes and nodded, and shortly an ornate scroll case drifted down from her room to float in between them. “The other condition, is to send this to the Princess.”
“Feh. Even now you're using me as a glorified mailpony.” Spike made to grab the letter, but it jerked out of his hand. He looked back at Twilight, impatience written all over his face.
“A warning, before you send this. This scroll will completely nullify our... relationship. You'll no longer be my assistant, and any dealings you have with the authorities will be on your own terms.”
Spike hesitated for a moment, then snatched the scroll out of the air without taking his eyes off of the mare in front of him. Holding it up, he belched a gout of flame that reached so close that Twilight could feel it's intense heat, then crossed his arms and stared pointedly at the door.
“Alright then.... Goodbye, Spike.” A tear dropped from her eye as Twilight banished the barrier and the dragon stomped out of the library. She gazed morosely at the door for several minutes before turning around and heading up the stairs.
“Right, time to set everything in order, I suppose.” She said to herself, voice shaking with emotion as a quill and a stack of blank paper levitated in front of her.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Princess Celestia sat enjoying her afternoon tea, idly gossiping with some of her attendants, when she spotted the puff of green flame heading towards her.
“Oh my,” She thought to herself “It's been awhile since the last letter from Twilight, I wonder what has happened?”
With practiced ease, she caught the contents of the flame as it re-materialized, sipping from her tea. The sound of shattering china caused all conversation to stop, as everyone turned towards the Princess. She sat almost entranced, staring at the scroll case with a mixture of horror and sadness, the shards of her cup and saucer littering the ground by her hooves. A unicorn with her hair tied up in a bun was the first to break the silence.
“Your highness?”
Celestia blinked once or twice before regaining most of her composure. She turned to the one who had spoken, and with a slightly shaking voice commanded “Cancel all of my appointments today.”
The mare was shocked. “Even the one with the griffon..”
“All of them.” Celestia interrupted, steel in her voice. “A deeply personal matter as arisen, If the Griffons wish to talk so badly, they may talk to my sister.” She then abruptly teleported away, leaving the gathering shocked.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
There was a knock on the library door, followed by a slow creak as the knocker discovered it was open. An orange head surmounted by a worn, old stetson peered in the door, quickly followed by the rest of the pony, and a group of four others.
“Twi? You in here?” called Applejack as she led the others into the building. “We saw Spike leave in a huff, an we was wonderin' if everything was alright.”
“Up here.” called Twilight from somewhere upstairs.
The others found Twilight in her room, finishing writing a large stack of papers. She turned to them as they entered.
“Spike and I had... an argument. A big one. I wish things had gone differently, but it looks like you won't be seeing him for awhile.”
“Aw, you two having a row isn't anything new. So how long d'ya think he'll be gone this time? A week or two?” Applejack chuckled.
“More like two years.” Twilight averted her head as the others gasped. “It got really, really bad this time. And I kinda made him promise to stay away for that long.”
“Now why did you ever do a thing like that?” Rarity cried, holding a hoof up to her chest. “And what is that you're writing, it looks dreadfully boring.”
“Oh, this?” Twilight held up the sheaf of papers. “This is my Last Will and Testament.”
The others were stunned into silence as Twilight turned back to the papers, blowing on the ink to dry it. It was Rainbow who finally took a tentative step forwards.
“Why.” she swallowed, her mouth dry and voice breaking, “Why exactly do you need one of those?”
“Well, Spike … leaving got me thinking about things. And I decided that it would be better to be prepared no mater what, and....” As she spoke tears began flowing from her eyes and she began to sob. “Oh Celestia, I can't do it. I can't lie, not to you guys.”
The others were taken aback by the sudden outburst, and were about to comfort the distraught mare when Twilight suddenly began to cough violently, beginning to slump forwards. Rainbow reacted first and rushed forwards to catch her, but was blocked off by a large, white wing.
Celestia brought the coughing mare close to her side, supporting her with a wing. “It's started already, has it?” she said mostly to herself before turning to the others. “I'm very sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave, you shouldn't be here for this.”
The others wore various expressions of shock and outrage, Rainbow most of all. As the cyan mare took a deep breath to begin arguing, Twilight called out weakly.
“Wait. I... I want them here, they deserve to know.” She tried to say more, but was interrupted by another fit of coughing.
Celestia looked at her student with concern, her horn aglow with energy as she moved her head closer. “Are you sure?” she asked softly. Twilight nodded, coughing too much to speak. With a touch of her horn, Celestia calmed the fit, and levitated Twilight into her bed, propping the unicorn up with pillows.
Twilight took a deep breath, exhaling slowly before facing her friends. “I suppose I should try to explain everything.”
“You got that right.” Rainbow groused before being shushed by Rarity.
Twilight took a shuddering breath, exhaling it slowly before turning towards the others, “I guess the simplest way to say it would be... I'm dying.”
Their mouths hanging open in shock, the room was silent until Applejack took a hesitant step forwards. “N-now that ain't funny sugarcube, April foals day is still a few months off.” she said with a shaking voice.
Sadly shaking her head, Twilight interrupted, “It's not a prank Applejack. I'm dying, I have been for years and nothing I do will stop it.”
“And you didn't think to tell us!?” Rainbow screamed, rushing forwards to put her fore-hooves on the base of Twilight's bed. “Even if we couldn't stop it we could of... helped somehow. Don't you trust us?” she sobbed, voice dropping to a whisper at the end.
“I couldn't telly anyone Rainbow, as much as I wanted to, I promised not to ... not even my parents know.” mumbled Twilight, head hanging down to avoid the desperate glare of the pegasus.
Rainbow fell to the floor at this revelation, sitting in stunned silence. Finally she squeezed out one word. “Why?”
“That would be because of me,” Celestia interjected, “After what happened, I deemed it was necessary for as few ponies as possible to know. I swore Twilight to silence.”
“Begging your pardon Your Majesty, but what exactly happened?” Applejack asked, putting her hoof around Rainbow's shoulder, supporting the stunned mare.
Glancing at Twilight, who quietly nodded at her, Celestia took a deep breath. “This happened the day Twilight got her cutie mark. The first sign I knew that something was wrong was a surge of energy in the castle, then a gigantic dragon hatchling sticking out of the roof of one of the wings. I immediately rushed to the scene to find a young filly in the throes of an intense magical Flare.”
At the questioning gazes from all but Rarity, who had brought a hoof up to her mouth in horror, Celestia explained. “A Flare occurs when a unicorn tries to use more magic than they are capable of controlling. The excess magic is expelled as light and heat, and an experienced spellcaster is able to disperse it safely. Unfortunately, I arrived too late to do such for Twilight. I found her dying amidst the ruin, her parents and examiners turned into plants from the energy. When I saw that little filly, so much potential, so much to live for, just slipping away... I-I did something horrible.”
Twilight put her hoof on her mentor's wing as Celestia momentarily stopped. “Don't feel like that. You gave me years I would have never seen without what you did.”
Smiling sadly down at her student, Celestia turned back to the others, “The thing I did... I banned it myself so many years ago, but..." Taking another breath to steady herself, she closed her eyes. “I cast a forbidden spell on Twilight. One that bound her very soul to another's. She would continue to live so long as the other still needed her. I thought myself so clever, but none can escape the grip of Thanatos for long.”
“So what happened then? Why's she dying now?” Applejack asked, confusion written all over her face.
Celestia merely shook her head, retreating to the balcony. Applejack continued to stare until Twilight's voice quietly brought her attention back. “Spike... Spike doesn’t need me anymore.”
Realization dawning on their faces, Twilight was caught up in a group hug from everyone but Rainbow, who still sat shivering on the floor.
Tears leaking from her eyes, Twilight returned the hug with crushing intensity. “I'm gonna miss you guys, you're the best friends anyone could ask for.”
“Ah'll miss you too Twi. And don't you worry about Spike, we'll take care of him if he ever comes back.” Applejack gave Twilight one last squeeze, then backed away from the bed, hiding her face in her hat.
“Oh dear,” Rarity sniffled, “I'm going to have to make some funeral dresses, aren’t I?”
“I don't want you to go!” Pinkie blubbered, “It'll be all sad and lonely and no one will smile and be all depressed forever-her-her.” The pink mare sobbed into Twilight's chest as the unicorn placed a hoof to her mouth.
“I... I don't want to go either Pinkie. Just promise me one thing, alright?”
Pinkie stared up at Twilight, tears still leaking from her eyes, “W-what's that?”
“Make sure I have a good wake, will you?” Twilight smiled sadly as Pinkie redoubled the strength of her hug.
“It'll be the best wake in the entire history of wakes!” she proclaimed, holding the hug for a few moments longer before moving back to the others.
Fluttershy hovered over to the bed and embraced Twilight, silent tears falling as she nuzzled her friend. Backing off slightly, she looked over to Rainbow, who had yet to say anything. The cyan pegasus noticed she was the center of attention and took several shaky steps back, a mixture of horror and pain in her eyes.
“I... I... I'm sorry” she croaked out, barely a whisper, before bolting out of the door to the library's entrance. The others caught up to her just outside, Applejack placing a hoof on her back.
“What was that about up there?!” she asked, rubbing the back of the shivering pegasus. “This is hard for all of us, do ya really want it to end without even saying goodbye?”
“You don't get it!” Rainbow yelled, swatting Applejack's hoof off with a wing. “I don't deserve to say goodbye!” at the confused looks of the others she continued in a softer voice. “Don't any of you remember how she said she got her Cutie mark?”
“She said she got it during her entrance exam if I recall correctly.” Rarity answered, “But what does that have to do with this?”
“She passed that exam because she hatched Spike's egg. She told me that the only reason she had enough power to do that was because she got startled into a flare. I had no idea what she meant then, but now...” Rainbow sat and hugged herself tightly, still shaking.
“Celestia's story...” Rarity murmured.
“But that still doesn’t explain what'cha did up there.” Applejack interjected.
“Remember that we all got our cutie marks at the same time? Didn't something happen to all of you that set it off?” Rainbow looked at their confused faces. “My first sonic rainboom shocked her into that flare. That flare killed her. Don't you see? I killed her! I killed Twilight with my stupid, foalish race!” she shouted into their faces, voice rising with hysterics.
Rarity attempted to calm her, approaching slowly. “That was just an accident, you had no idea that-”
“It doesn’t matter if it was an accident! I still did it!” Rainbow yelled, surging to her feet with wings fully extended, glaring at Rarity with tears in her eyes.
“N-now Rainbow, we know you're hurting. But that's no reason to take it out on us, is it?” Fluttershy asked as she moved in closer, hoof extended.
Rainbow violently swatted the hoof away. “None of you understand how I feel! None of you just found you killed the mare that you lov-” Eyes widening, Rainbow cut herself off. She leaped into the night sky, a trail of rainbows and tears in her wake.
“Oh my.”
The others jumped, not realizing Celestia had been behind them. “I realize that this is hard for all of you, but I have one last little selfish request. I would like to spend her last moments with her, alone. Would you please grant me this?”
Applejack opened her mouth to speak, but — noticing the glimmer in Celestia's eyes — instead shook her head and said nothing, leading the others off in silence.
Celestia returned to Twilight's side, an old, worn book held in her magic. Twilight smiled as she recognized the title, it had been her favorite bedtime story as a filly. Celestia's soothing voice filled the room as she read aloud, Twilight gradually falling asleep.
“Celestia?” Twilight mumbled, half asleep.
“Yes, Twilight?” she asked, voiced choked with emotion.
“Will there be books?”
“As many as you could ever read.” Celestia answered, a tear falling onto the book she held.
“I see... that sounds... good..” Twilight murmured as she drifted off, Celestia rearranging the covers with her magic. A contented sigh escaped her lips as her eyes closed, smiling softly as Celestia's serene voice lulled her to sleep.
Celestia smiled a small, sad smile as Twilight drifted off. Quietly setting the book down, she gently kissed the slumbering unicorn on the forehead. A single tear rolled down each cheek as she softly whispered.
"Good night, my faithful student."
Author's Note
For those interested in a happier ending, please proceed to the epilogue. otherwise, enjoy.
