“Thank you for returning so quickly, Princesses” Rarity greeted the alicorns with a bow as they stepped off their carriages. “We didn't want to disturb you as I’m sure you have a lot to do given today’s events but…”

Celestia held up her hoof to silence Rarity’s babbling “Do not concern yourself Rarity. When I got Spikes letter, we knew we had to return. Pray, where is she?”

Rarity and the others led the three Princesses and Shining Armour through Ponyville, towards Golden Oaks Library…or where it used to be. Sitting a little way from the smouldered carcass of the tree was a shimmering shield, in the middle of which sat an unmoving Twilight Sparkle.

“She’s just been sitting there for hours staring…and with that shield we can’t get to her to help!” Applejack explained to the guests.

“…or hug her!” Pinkie added.

“Oh, I’m so worried about her.” Fluttershy chipped in.

“I see, well we've dealt with this before!” Cadence looked on with some concern “Shining, would you do the honours?” The others expected Shining Armour to perform some sort of spell to dispel the shield, but instead the stallion walked round to the front of the shield and sat down in front of Twilight.

“Hey Twilight, it’s me, your BBBFF!” Shining Armour spoke with a different tone than usual, a tone he used when she was a little filly “How about you take this down so we can talk, hey?”

Twilight looked at her brother, a slight smile forming on her frowning face as the pony she loved growing up was there for her. She lit up her horn and dispelled the shield. Her friends rushed forwards to hug their friend but Shining waved to stop them in their tracks.

Instead, he slowly walked forwards and put his hoof on her shoulder whilst the others moved closer but gave them some space “Why don’t you tell me what’s wrong, little sis?”

The alicorn looked up with big eyes like she always gave her brother as a filly. “It’s all gone…” Twilight practically whispered looking over her shoulder towards the friends gathered “Everything I had…it’s all gone. My home, my belongings… everything!”

“Yeah, but you have a brand sparkly castle to live in!” Pinkie Pie replied with her usual enthusiasm.

“I don’t think she’s worried about being homeless” Rainbow Dash facehooved.

“My home…destroyed!” Twilight stammered, ignoring her friends “My books, my reports, burnt. My telescope, smashed! My desk, my bed…” she nuzzling her brothers hoof on her shoulder slightly “Everything, all my clothes…”

“I can always make you some nice new dresses Twilight.” Rarity interrupted kindly.

Twilight stood up and turned to her gathered friends, Shining Armour moving back to stand next to his wife, his task at breaking Twilights sulk complete “It’s not the clothes themselves, it’s the memories they represent.”

Her friends looked at each other as Twilight started to slowly pace back and forth “Take the all-team leader jacket from winter wrap up. It was the first time I felt Ponyville properly accepted me into it’s heart, and not just for saving the day with magic! Everytime I worried about how being a Princess will affect my friendships, I could look at it and be reminded everypony in Ponyville was my friend long before I was famous!”

Twilight turned round to look at the rubble “And my Grand Galloping Gala dress. Not only does that remind me of the lesson we had with dressmaking…” Twilight turned back to look at Rarity “…but it also reminds me of that momentous night for failure turned triumph, that all we needed to have a good time was each other, not a fancy party!” Tears were starting to reform around Twilight’s eyes, her friends starting to join in.

Twilight than turned to her brother and sister in law “My best-mares dress from your wedding, that’s gone too! I was so happy to be involved and given everything that happened it holds such a special place in my heart.” Cadence and Shining Armour shared a nuzzle as they spoke “The dress that reminds me that family is worth more than anything…vapourised!”

“And my starswirl the bearded costume!” Twilight suddenly shouted, before slumping to her haunches. “My costume!” she sobbed “It’s not just the hard work that went into it, but it reminds me of my first nightmare night…of Luna...”

Luna stepped forwards and much to everypony, not least her sister’s, surprise embraced her fellow alicorn in a strong hug “I remember it well. You were the first pony on my return not to run away, but to welcome me as a friend… ” the Princess choked back her own tears as she spoke “…thank you Twilight Sparkle, you have no idea what that meant to me! How much that has changed my life!” The pair held onto each other for a few moments, before the Princess of the Night broke the hug.

Twilight looked back at the charred tree, taking a few paces towards it “I know that the most important thing is that everybody is now safe. Tirek is back in Tartarus and everypony has the magic within returned to them. And I managed to save Owlowiscious so at least nopony, or creature, died” She turned to face Celestia and Luna “I understand that as a Princess I will sometime have to make sacrifices…as you did a thousand years ago Celestia…but every possession I have is gone, and I just don’t know what to do!”

Spike slowly walked up to stand next to Twilight “Everything I’ve had is gone as well!”

Twilight turned to look at him, and unspoken bond between them interrupted by Rainbow Dash “Don’t worry, we’ll be able to trade some of my Daring Do first editions for some new comic books for you!”

Spike turned and smiled “That’s very generous, but I don’t care about some stupid comic books, even rare mint condition ones. It’s the stuff that can’t be replaced” Spike picked up some of the ashes in his paw allowing it to fall slowly between his claws “Pictures of Pee-wee…I knew I had to let that little fella go, but those pictures are all I had left of him!”

With the realisation that the baby dragon was just as impacted at the loss of the tree as Twilight, some of the gathered ponies started to shudder slightly as they held back from crying, Rarity, Fluttershy & Shining Armour feeling for Spike in particular.

“Everything I brought we me from Canterlot is gone, everything. All thouse letters from friends, birthday presents...wait…my… my shell fragment?” the dragon stammered at the end, nearly falling over.

Twilight’s horn began to glow and she lifted a rag that was next to her, before pulling Spike into a hug. She unfurled the rag to reveal a piece of purple eggshell. “It survived the blast…it was the only thing to. I guess dragon eggs are made from the same tough stuff as baby dragons, hey?” Twilight spoke softly as she hugged her dragon brother.

Spike just wept into Twilights chest, soaking her fur with his turned, and then turned to take the offered shell out of Twilight’s aura. “I just wanted to clean it up properly for you before giving it back.” Twilight cooed as Spike studied the dirty piece of his shell “It’s pretty much the only thing that survived.”

“Thanks Twilight!” Spike sniffed. The pair hugged for a short while, before Twilight turned back to her friends, new tears forming and her voice raspy from crying.

“Oh! Spike’s blanket...a nurse handed me that baby blue blanket an hour after Spike was hatched. I wrapped my new baby in that blanket before putting him into basket to take him to the hospital. It’s been with us ever since!” Twilight pulled Spike into a hug, this time for her own comfort rather than his, the pair that had been together since Spikes hatching crying into each other like never before.

After a few more moments, Twilight noticed a glass of water floating in front of her in Cadences blue aura. She took it gratefully and after a few gulps composed herself. “I may have spent more time in Canterlot Castle, but this was my home...our home" she looked at Spike at the end. Twilight then turned back to Celestia as she spoke "I’m very thankful for everything you did for me but I learnt everything about the magic of friendship in that tree!”

She walked over to Pinkie and put a hoof on her shoulder “Pinkie Pie…it’s where you threw me my first party. But not just my first party in Ponyville, my first party since I became Celestia’s student. It was just the first step along my journey into having friends, but it was such an important one!”

Pinkie remained silent but wiped a tear from her eye as Twilight trotted to take two more hooves in hers “Applejack, Rarity…it’s where we had our sleepover…my first sleepover. But it was also where the two of you bonded like never before.” Twilight released the two hooves, but the pair kept holding each others, a look of friendship shared between.

Twilight turned back to all the ponies gathered “It’s where, thanks to the power of friendship, I got these!” Twilight ruffled her wings, starting to sniff again.

“It’s where I spent countless hours studying, it’s where we met every time there was trouble, it’s where I taught Sweetie how to use her magic…my whole life revolves around that stupid tree and everything in it, and now its all ashes!”

Twilight started sobbing again. Applejack stepped forwards, and turned Twilight towards her “But you still have the memories, in here!” Applejack prodded her friend in the chest, Twilight grabbing the hoof with her own “Tirek may have destroyed your home, but he could never break your spirit. And we’re all here for you!”

“Yes, of course!” Twilight cried back as Applejack started to hug her, being joined by her other friends as well Spike and the Crystal couple “They may be only things, but with the topsy turvy world we live in and the adventures we go on, it was nice to have a place of my own with my own things! My own little bort-fort away from the world if you will...”

After a good long hug and lots of encourage words from her friends and family, Twilight let out a big yawn. She looked up to notice the sky was slowly darkening as evening approached and looked over to the new home that had sprung up earlier that day. She picked up Spike and placed him on her back “Well, it’s been a tiring day, and I need some sleep. I guess we better go and find a bedroom in this new place, hey Spike?”

“Wait up Princess, we’re coming with you.” Rarity called out “We can help you settle in, and worse case scenario that theres no furniture in their, you can stay with me for few days”

“Thanks guys, you really are my best friends!” Twilight smiled back as the seven of them headed to the new palace, leaving behind the older ponies. A quiet fell over them as the four ponies and Discord walked back to their carriages, until one finally broke the silence.

“What have I done?” Discord turned to Celestia, his face still filled with genuine sorrow.

“You’ve hurt some of your true friends, and whilst they may forgive you, you will have to live with that guilt for a long time!” the wise alicorn spoke tenderly to the draconequus, not wanting to cause him any further pain than he was already in.

“But everypony makes mistakes Discord, you just have to learn from them.” Luna added in sympathy.

“How would you know?” Discord replied, looking over to where Luna just raised an eyebrow “Oh, of course!” Discord sniggered “But Can’t we fix it? I mean surely it’s in our powers?”

Celestia put a wing around Discord “We could replicate some of the items, but we don’t know what the pictures looked like, we won’t know exactly how that blanket felt…we can’t replace the fact that Twilights home is gone! No Discord, I’m afraid there’s no quick fix for this one…”

Author's Note

If you like this story, you may also like my story Goodnight Sweet Dragon