Ten Years' Transformation
Do you know those days when you've just finished half an episode of singing, and all the sudden get blown up by your best friends in the whole wide world? If you haven't, then I envy you. If you have... well, welcome to the afterlife! I'm Twilight Sparkle and you're gonna die of boredom.
Sometimes, I gotta wonder why Celestia does these sorts of things. At first, when I was twelve, I got sent to the town of Ponyville to learn the magic of friendship, a cheesy plot for a first chapter. But just hours later I'm scared half to death and due to near-death experiences befriend ponies who I didn't even know. Then with the draconequus. As if seeing my home being torn a part wasn't good enough... and then Celestia nearly died at Canterlot. And I get a test from the alicorn to save a nation from a shadow slave driver that was killed to death unlike our past foes. My sister-in-law shows no mercy...
And here I am, at the end of Celestia's solo. "...your destinyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy..." she sings as I am lifted into the air (is there even air in that dimension? Because I don't recall breathing) by a weird aura.
Then she just leaves. There I am, suspended in the air by a purple-ish glow. Seriously? I expect something more climactic, something like the swelling glow filling up all the space in the hall of memory. But nope. She just leaves. And I still think that it's not over.
"Celestia?" I call out, looking in either direction. There are window panes of memory that contain Celestia in them, the vivid voices swirling in my head making me question my sanity. "Princess Celestia!" I call out again, my voice cracking as my voice gets louder. "For Tartarus' sake! This is sincerely fu—"
The white princess with a sky-like mane reappears, sighing. "I'm glad that's over. A year holding a note is not what I call easy work."
My eyes widen as I cock an eyebrow. "Excuse me, Princess?"
"But all is well and good," she continues, wiping sweat from her brow. "That's one year out of ten. Nothing long at all."
"Out of ten??"
"Naturally, I'd think you'd be much more patient, Twilight Sparkle."
I bite my lips. "Princess Celestia, if I may?" I grunt.
She nods. "Much better."
"You've got to be joking, right? Like, this whole entire thing could not have been a year!"
"I know, right?" Celestia grins. "But, unfortunately, that's how us immortals see time as passing. All of a sudden, shwomp! There goes a year."
"But..." My voice falters for a second. "Everypony, my friends, you did tell them I am not dead, right?"
Princess Celestia hesitates. "Oh..."
"Princess Celestia...?"
She laughs with a nervous edge. "I... may not have..."
"WHAT!"
"Don't worry, though!" Princess Celestia reassures. "Your friends are only going through a little bit of a depression spike."
I crane my neck up. "You have got to be kidding..."
"Nope." Princess Celestia's ears twitch as if she hears something. "Hold on," she commands. And then she disappears again.
I let my head down again, looking at the ground that yet wasn't a ground. One whole year, I think, letting it sink in. There's no way in Tartarus that ten years can pass that quickly.
Princess Celestia pops back into existence again. "Whew. Just got back from two Summer Sun Celebrations. Three years down, seven more to go."
I sigh. "Princess Celestia, you know you're a big troll, right?"
"I try my best." She frowns at me. "Have you grown your wings yet?"
I cock an eyebrow. "Wings?" I ask.
"Yeah! That's the whole entire reason why I brought you here. It's just about year four, and your friends have all but forgotten about you."
"Thanks for that info!" I snap, and all of a sudden, my back feels like it is popping in a hundred different places, my back burning as two new limbs pop out of there.
"Oh! Splendid!" Princess Celestia comments. "Now, I would just like to let you know that your cycle is going to be a tad bit early because of the dimensional change. You can expect it to come two weeks sooner."
I groan. Yeah, I think, if there's anything I want more than to get out of this hellhole, it's to have my period two weeks earlier. "I hate you, Princess Celestia..."
She gives me a big smile. "Love you too, Twilight Sparkle!" She checks her hoof as if to look at a watch, then disappears again, this time for the longest time.
I groan in the resounding chamber of nothingness. "Great," I mutter. "Now I have more problems than I started out with." I look left and right to all the memories making a hallway in front of me. I see Applejack and I talking, me trying to convince her to stop being so stubborn. I see Pinkie Pie and the rest of them enjoying a more or less wild party that ended with Rainbow Dash passing out. I see Spike in the library, writing on seemingly ancient parchment, looking up at me with an accomplished smile that said, "Done!"
I choke back tears. Obviously, things are going to be different when I return to Ponyville. Probably, me returning from the dead will be too much for them. I didn't want to make them uncomfortable, make them relive the day where they blew me up with the Elements of Harmony. Even so, if things did return back to normal, there would be so many things that I missed. I will be twenty-five when I return. Maybe one of my friends got married. Maybe Spike got a girlfriend. And all of them with the bitter taste of a dead Twilight Sparkle in their mouth.
I cannot hold back the tears any longer. I let them dribble down my face, gasping for air that I didn't even know was there. I couldn't even know if we were friends anymore, or going to be friends in the future. "I'm sorry girls..." I manage as I continue to sob.
With horrible timing, Princess Celestia returns. "Nine years, kiddo. You're going to do great... Twilight?"
"H-how could you?" I stammer through tears. "You leave me here for ten years in complete disregard of my friends? What sort of cruel punishment is that!" I scream those last words out, the tears a constant stream down my cheeks.
Princess Celestia hangs her head, almost regrettably. "I'm sorry. I mean it. But, your role as a princess will take you into eternity." She looks up at me, eyes glassy. "There have been a great many things I've missed in my duty. Some day, your friends will be gone, and you'll be back to this slate. But, nothing has changed."
I stop sniffling when I hear those words. "What? How could they not have changed...?"
Princess Celestia smiles. "I've lived ever since this world was created. You'll be surprised how much things have not changed. As technology advances, ponies are just the same. These ten years will teach you that. Your friends will welcome you with open hooves, I promise you that."
I look up. "Nopony got married?"
Princess Celestia shakes her head. "Rainbow Dash and Rarity have cycled through boyfriends, but nobody got married."
"And Spike hasn't got a girlfriend yet?"
"He hit puberty, but he's hopeless without you, let's be honest here."
I chuckle. For about a minute there, or five years, I was worried of things being so changed that things wouldn't be what they were. But, at this moment, I think that everything will be fine.
Princess Celestia nods toward her hoof. "Your time here's up. Are you ready to go back to your own dimension?"
I nod. "Yeah. Let's go back."
You know those moments that you are blown up by your friends? Would it shock you that it's my most cherished moment?
Bet you didn't see that coming.
I appear at the west entrance of Ponyville, the sun setting behind me, the dark twilight taking the sky slowly. There are all of my friends, shocked to see me alive for the first time in ten years, with a new pair of fully developed wings. I am half-zoned out of everything. All I want is to hug all of them. And when we bring each other into that warm embrace, I'll truly know what has and has not changed.
And to be honest, nothing. Nothing at all.
