The mirrors don't reflect the same ponies
The lavender looked outside of the window in her own chambers of her crystal castle and sighed with nostalgia as she looked to see a Ponyville that had grown into an enormous city similar to the Crystal Kingdom when it had first appeared. They had all decided to follow the structure of Twilight's crystal tree, which, in of itself, was rather flattering. Unfortunately, it simply wasn't the same. The town had lost its humble and somewhat calm atmosphere of the past, leaving place to the energetic marketing and fashion of big cities.
Twilight missed the little events that would join everypony together as well as the Nightmare Moon festival. Sure, Luna would come back to do it, but the size and fantasy of the festival didn't have that familiar charm she just couldn't name. Perhaps it was because the rhyming Zecora was long gone? The alicorn just didn't know. To feel the calm, countryside feeling and smell of fresh grass in the morning once more, Twilight tried desperately to modify the time travel spell so she could elongate her stay in the past as long as she wanted, but her plans never worked. She even ended up breaking through to another universe with a rather bizarre fellow wearing red and black.
Twilight was filled with grief and sadness. All her friends, who had died prior, their clocks of life stopping, had left a great big hole in the castle. Pinkie Pie had a habit of constantly starting a party whenever an envoy would come to the castle. Surprisingly, they would always lighten up to the castle and become rather friendly, easing up the discussions of political discussions. She died after doing one last party. This devastated Twilight and her friends when they discovered her fallen in a cake. She was still smiling even after that event.
Rainbow Dash? She became a captain of her own squad of Wonder Bolts and lived a good life like this, even training a special squadron just for Twilight. 'Blue Lightning' they were called. The rainbow pony was found sitting in the chair of her office, slouched over and clutching a picture of Twilight and her friends between her hooves. Tears had apparently leaked over them. As for Rarity and Applejack? Rarity managed to start her own fashion company thanks to her own fashion sense, but she insisted that everything be hoof crafted. She refused any of that artificial riff-raff others would use.
Surprisingly, this led to her enriching and subsequent growth of wealth and contact with others famous ponies. Eventually, many began to envy her and see Rarity with the same regard as she saw many ponies in the past. The white unicorn had died while trying to finish her best design yet. It is a tragedy that she could never finish it, and Twilight took that dress into her room, safe-keeping it for a reason that even she didn't know.
Applejack died at the exact same moment as Rarity. She followed the same traditional Apple family way of farming. Sure, it was disheartening to see how she, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom were when Granny Smith died, but they eventually overcame their grief and continued on with their live. Apple Bloom and her friends eventually got their cutie marks and spread out to discover more about the world. Apple Bloom eventually met somepony, and they built a farm near Appleloosa, employing the bison to flatten the lands and overthrow the earth when necessary. It was a good way for them to work out, and the farm eventually became a place where young bison would stampede for the first time. Whether they failed or succeeded didn't matter. The lands were always put in a rotation, and new trees were grown every year whilst the old were shipped to Applejack's old home to renew the 'crops'.
Sweetie Belle became a singer and eventually gained her own fame, but she is barely more than a footnote in singing history. She never got that fame she wished for, but she didn't care. She died doing what she loved. Scootaloo eventually followed in Rainbow's hoof steps and joined the Wonderbolts. She became a professional flyer and acrobat for special shows. It was always something amazing to see.
As for Fluttershy, no pony knows what happened to her. One day, Twilight went to visit her last friend tending to her animals in the cottage and went in to see all the animals in a horribly saddened state. The alicorn was certain she caught a glimpse of a breezy, but she wasn't certain. Fluttershy's body was nowhere to be seen, and the cottage was eventually abandoned. The animals left, and the place eventually crumbled into the ground. Some of the great-grandchildren of those old animals would sometimes go to the old cottage to pay their respects. An interesting phenomena indeed.
After awhile of attempting to reach the past and stay there for a day, at least, Twilight gave up and wondered if there was some way for her to communicate with the afterlife. The mediums who claimed to be able to do this were all discovered to be charlatans and liars. After all, it's usually the ones who roar the loudest who have the least to show, and the lavender alicorn had no luck in finding actually ponies who could communicate with the resting spirits. It would've been so nice to see them one more time. Remembering the bison at Appleloosa and their ancient traditions, Twilight had gone there hoping she could get their aid in speaking once more with her friends. P
inkie Pie's humor in that situation would have been quite rewarding and heartwarming despite the way her singing and dancing enraged everypony there the first time they had gone, but alas, they said no. The reason? One could communicate with their ancestors without fear, and this did help the alicorn in some regards, but communicating with other spirits was a bad idea. One had a direct and faithful connection to spirits that were once of the same family and blood line, but just because some were friends at one point did not make that spiritual line safe and without risk. Evil spirits could hijack it and take the form of the pony temporarily. The bison had the event happen quite a few times in the past no matter how many times they tried implementing prevention methods. The events never ended well.
Twilight Sparkle did get to communicate with one of her ancestors though; Shining Ray, as he was called. He was rather eccentric and overly proud of simplistic exploits of his, but Twilight did not want to tell him that anypony could do what he was proud of no matter how annoying he became. Apparently, he was an explorer of ancient magical artifacts and had come across the rumors of ruins in the Chinmin Desert just south of Appleloosa. This was a stroke of good luck for Twilight. She might not have found what she wanted, but a bit of exploration and the chance to discover new books was a great opportunity. Plus, it wasn't too far away to reach, but she still had to leave with some of her own guards, of course. She seemed forced to travel with a few bodyguards ever since she had become an alicorn princess who acquired her own kingdom. A few hours of waiting for them to prepare, and Twilight was off.
It didn't take long to find the ruins in the gusty desert sands. The heads of the ruins were jutting out of the sand on the horizon, and the stones were blindingly bright and white, easing their discovery. It just took longer to dig below the surface and explore the ruins because of the enormous quantity of the tiny bits of rock covering the whole place. In fact, it took Twilight's magic to properly dig through and keep a tunnel up. Bizarrely, the ruins didn't seem that ancient. In fact, the architecture looked similar to Manehatten in its olden days. Apparently, after looking over historical records kept in the Canterlot Archives after the trip, it was revealed to Twilight that this was an old city that was destroyed by a violent sandstorm. Not much was written on it, though.
The book the alicorn was searching for had belonged to an old collector, it seemed. The house the book was found in was in an absolute mess, with the roof collapsed and the ground overgrown with plant life. There were also many other artifacts, from old papers to rusted armors and broken weapons strewn about the extremely dark area. With the owner dead for quite some time, Twilight got to take the book out from the home, not without an apology to the previous owner, and left the rusted and broken glass case it was held within to decay even further with time.
That little trip was a week ago, and the alicorn had taken the entirety of that time to eagerly translate everything within the ancient book. It took quite some time as she had to reference everything and cross-reference everything and cross-reference the cross-references. It was exhausting, but it was worth it. Moving away from the window, Twilight walked back to the pedestal holding the book and analyzed its cover. The book had a strange circle on its cover with what seemed to be a skull impale by a vertical sword. The skull was facing Twilight directly. The hard cover itself was made of some sort of dried leather, giving it a black appearance and crispy-hard texture. A lump of nervousness formed in the mare's throat, and she gulped painfully for it to go away. She was filled with nervousness and excitement, but it wasn't a good feeling. It was compressing her heart the longer she held the book in her magic.
"I wonder if I really should use that spell. It said that they would be reborn, but I would lose eleven months of my time. Oh. I wish Spike were here. He would comfort me...with his pessimistic attitude. Hmmm. Maybe I don't need him...but it would be nice to have somepony I know to talk to again," Twilight thought to herself.
While it's true that Spike was gone, he had become a connection between dragons and ponykind. An emissary of sorts, and, thanks to Twilight's teachings, he was pretty good at his job. The lavender alicorn really wanted him next to her when she would cast the spell, but he had his own duties to attend to. His familiar presence would have at least offered her some comfort, but she had to do without it, and sighed in disappointment.
"I...I have to do this. I must! Let's do it! I want to see my friends again...even if the spell makes me pregnant with them. No! I mustn't falter! I will have the guards keep anypony out of here and bring me the necessary. Yes! I'll reunite with my friends once more! I've missed them so much. It hasn't been the same since they left."
Levitating the book towards her, the alicorn opened it up with her magic until she reached the page she was looking for. It was rather stained with ancient scriptures covering most of the text, but the princess only translated what she needed to. As the mare began to race the spell through her mind, letting her horn spark and ignite, an explosion of black rocked the world, casting a venomous shadow over the sky. Everything had become dark, and Twilight was worried that she had released an evil being upon the world. Yet, a freezing but soothing voice caressed her ears in the darkness.
"So, you are the one who has tried to cheat death, hm? And with that detestable spell, no less."
"Who...who said that?! Show yourself!"
"But I am right here, little pony," the voice said once more.
A sickly green light blinded Twilight who covered her eyes by reflex. It didn't long for them to readjust and see that the light was coming from an orb floating above bony hand. Above that hand was a gigantic skull staring at Twilight through the shadows. The darkness writhed and twisted like smoke around this being, but nothing more could be seen, until, with a loud thunk, its scythe appeared on its left. The alicorn fell on her rear and began to scoot back, but the being would not relent, and seemed to float towards Twilight without effort. Twilight was frightened to a level beyond even death. It was as if a bony hand of bone and ice was grabbing her spinal column and freezing it. Her pupils had shrunk quite violently and she bared her teeth as she showed her fear began to grow. Her frantic need to back away from the entity despite being blocked by the wall holding a window amused said entity, but it didn't show it.
"A-are you--"
"Yes. I am the Grim Reaper. I do not take kindly to those trying to defy my work. Without me, there is no renewal, and you are trying to break that process. You did not read what was in that book did you?"
"I did."
"But you did not read those little messages around it, did you?"
"I didn't think they were important!"
"They never do. I am afraid I must claim your soul now."
"Wh-what?!"
The orb floated away from the Reaper's hand and remained in its position above its head, illuminating the whole room with a faint green glow. With no hesitation, it grabbed the handle of the scythe and slowly lifted it up, ready to strike at Twilight. The alicorn closed her eyes as she awaited the strike. She expected it to be swift and to feel release from her body. A nice coolness to her already broken soul and freedom from the restraints of her immortality. Time would finally grab her by the hoof and take her to her friends in the afterlife. Even with all of these overly poetic thoughts, the strike did not come. Opening her eyes, Twilight saw the scythe of the reaper waiting in the air, completely still. The lavender alicorn's emotions just seemed to have turned themselves off.
"Hm?" the Reaper wondered.
"Wh-what's wrong? I thought you were going to kill me."
"It seems that you are being let free. I am very disappointed," the Grim reaper said as it lowered its scythe.
"Wh-what? Why?"
"Because the elements have not been recreated in this world. It is abnormal. It is possible that your actions were going to summon them back. At least, that's what she says."
" 'She' ?"
"The angel of reincarnation. She is very unhappy...all the time, but that is not of the current problem. She has told me that she will grant you the right to bring them back through your flesh, blood, and marrow."
Twilight's fear immediately gave way to joy and happiness, and the little pony bounced up to give Death a hug, as strange as that may seem, but the joy did not last.
"I wasn't done," it hissed.
The shadows around it nearly caved in onto Twilight, but the orb kept them back, revealing the pony back against the wall holding the window.
"You must listen to everything that rebirth encompasses."
"But...I already know about pregnancy and all that it entails as well as how to take care of foals."
There was a moment of silence as the Reaper just looked at Twilight with bemusement. It wasn't expecting such a strange and stupid answer.
"I was not talking about life. They won't be the ponies you knew."
"Wh...yes they will! They have to be!"
"No. They will not. While it is true that you will recreate their bodies, I never said that it was their souls who would return within them."
"What do you mean?"
"It is the choice of the soul whether to be reincarnated or not. It is then their choice on where to be reincarnated and how. All of these go through the angel I mentioned prior."
"So?"
"Let me explain it to you this way."
The Reaper looked to its left and, with a movement of its hand, raised a giant mirror held by several skeletons in the rims.
"Step in front of the mirror and tell me what you see."
Twilight did this with confusion and looked at herself. She didn't know what she was supposed to see, but her heart was racing and pounding in her chest as she slowly walked forward. She looked around the reflective surface for a while, expecting to find some hidden secret, but was pleased to discover that there was no such thing and said:
"I see myself."
"Really?" the Reaper said with skepticism.
"Yes. What am I supposed to see?!" Twilight answered.
"Look at it now. What do you see?"
"I told you. I see-Ah!"
The lavender alicorn was horrified to see her Right eye missing and a wanted poster hanging on the left side of the mirror. She had a horridly twisted face and a body covered with scars. She was also a pegasus for some bizarre reason.
"What--"
"I see Chu, the murdering pegasus. You were quite something at the time. You gave me much hard work, but it was enjoyable."
"But I--"
"And now?"
Twilight saw herself wearing golden armor as an earth pony. She was a guard of Princess Celestia.
"I saw Twinkling Barrier, Celestia's favorite guard. This status gave you many a jealous rival and you died by poison of someone jealous of your position and the benefits it entailed."
"But..."
"Do not worry. Your beloved immortal discovered the culprits and brought them to justice."
The Grim Reaper looked at Twilight with its skull and an eagerly moving right hand. She just looked into the empty ocular cavities with confusion, her eyes jolting back and forth between both. It seemed like Death was disappointed.
"Do you remember any of these moments?"
"No...I don't."
"Because the angel of reincarnation did not want you to. She also chooses who gets to remember their past lives, and this privilege is never accorded. Your friends won't get this privilege. Just because your body is the same does not mean that your soul will be as well. A clone will never be like the original, and a work of art remade by the same artist will never be the same as the first."
"But this book says--"
"It says that they will be reincarnated. Nobody said whether or not they would return with their memories or not. You must expect that they never be the same. This is being permitted because, unlike the previous cases who did it because they 'missed their loved ones' or 'never got to finish a special project' or 'couldn't live without them'. Kind of ironic, really. Heh."
"But I only wanted to bring them back because I missed them," Twilight began tearing up.
"Yes, but you are using the most difficult of methods instead of, say, using a flesh golem or some such abomination that the previous fools used. It is also because, as I previously mentioned, the elements haven't been chosen again. Therefore, you are being given a free pass."
"Th-thank you!"
"Do not thank me. I am only following orders. Do not forget that just because they look the same does not mean they will be the same in personality. If you remember this, you can react accordingly. Now, what will you choose?"
"I...I will do it. Even if they aren't the same friends I once knew, at least I'll get to see them again and bring back the elements."
"And those rainbow keys of yours will glow again?"
"Yes!"
"Then all I can also tell you is that you must be cautious. If they start asking questions about themselves, it is your choice on telling them the truth, but they won't understand until they're older. The mind is a frail thing, so telling them early will allow them to absorb it. They won't understand afterwards, I'm afraid. Telling them when they're older and understand things with greater ease and clarity can destroy their minds, but they will know everything at that moment."
"But you said that they were going to be revived!"
"Through unnatural means. It causes some discrepancies. This is not my choice to make. It is yours. Now, when you are finished with this endeavor, I shall take the book and destroy it."
"But I...Okay," Twilight wallowed in defeat.
With a book more concentration and book reading, the lavender unicorn found herself being filled with some strange lights which immediately receded. The book, resting in Death's hand was closed shut in one movement and retracted into the shadows.
"All that happens from here on is of your doing. Consequences and actions are not my concern, but pull this off one more time and I will not hesitate to reap your soul. Am I understood?"
"Y-yes, sir."
"I stopped time while we had our...conversation. You needn't worry about anyone noticing what happened when you tried to defy death. I will probably see you in the future. Alicorns ARE immortal after all, but this does not mean they are invincible."
With those words, the world returned to normal almost immediately, letting Twilight regain herself and marinate on the thoughts. All she had left to remember of that moment was the rough and gravely laughter of the Reaper. What exactly did the future have in store for the princess? And what consequences would arise with an artificial reincarnation? The lavender alicorn preferred not to think of it and just dreamed into the future of being reunited with her friends once more.
