It was a typical summer Saturday in Ponyville. Birds were chirping, foals were playing, and six friends were sitting at a table in the town square, drinking the lemonade they had gotten from a nearby stand. The six sitting in the circle were none other than the Elements of Harmony. Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie were conversing about their past adventures, telling of times they won against many forms of adversity. As they laughed in unison, Twilight couldn’t help but look thoughtfully up into the sky, smiling.
“Somethin’ on yer mind, sugarcube?” Applejack asked.
“Hm?” Twilight looked back down at her friend, “Oh, I’m just thinking about how wonderful it is to have you gals as friends. I couldn’t pick a better group of ponies to hang out with!” She said, taking another sip of lemonade. They all smiled, nodded. Not a second after Twilight had finished her drink, Spike ran up with a letter in his claws.
“Twilight! Princess Celestia sent you a message! She says you need to come to Canterlot. It’s urgent!” Spike seemed panicked as he handed the letter to Twilight’s magical grasp. She unfurled the scroll and read over it. Her brows furrowed. With a puzzled look, she set the letter down on the table.
“That’s odd. Usually she asks for all of us now. This letter only mentioned me. Oh well, mind tagging along, girls?” Twilight asked.
“Of course, dear,” Rarity answered, “It’s not every day I get to go to Canterlot!”
“If you want me to, I will...” Fluttershy managed to squeak out.
“Are you kidding? I’d never let my friends down!” Rainbow Dash claimed.
“Sure thing!” Applejack hollered.
“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie Pie cheered.
“Then it’s settled, we’re leaving for Canterlot!” Twilight stated. The group and Spike arose from their seats and followed Twilight’s lead to the train station. They each bought a ticket and the train arrived. “Wow, how convenient! Right, girls?” Twilight rhetorically questioned. They all nodded, except Spike. Twilight looked at him and rolled her eyes. “And Spike?” she said to please her assistant.
“Very convenient!” He smiled. The ponies and baby dragon boarded the train as it began its departure. Every minute brought them closer and closer to Equestria’s capital. Twilight busied herself with a newspaper while the others continued chatting. One by one, they started falling asleep. Twilight tried to fight her eyelids’ heaviness, but she eventually lost that battle, drifting to sleep like the others. She dreamt a pleasant dream of her and her friends going about, doing various fun things with each other.
The train halted at its destination platform, stirring the group from their sleep. Twilight smiled at her friends and they smiled back. Though Twilight noted that her friends looked a little tired, she shrugged it off to the train ride taking its toll on them. The group disembarked the locomotive and started their way to Canterlot Castle. It wasn’t far, but as they got closer, Twilight noticed her friends slowing down. She matched their pace and soon they reached the palace.
The guards on duty nodded to them as they passed through the entrance. Twilight and the group kept walking until they reached the door of the throne room. The purple alicorn walked through the door, stopping as she heard the sound of collapsing behind her. She turned around and gasped as she saw her friends lying haphazardly on the floor, silent with their eyes and mouths open.
“Girls? W-What happened?!” Twilight panicked, only able to stare as the color started to drain from her friends. She put a hoof to her mouth and stepped back slowly, only to push back against what felt like a large pony. She tilted her head up. Princess Celestia look returned the look. “Princess!” Twilight clung to her mentor. “I-I don’t know what happened! We were walking a-and they just collapsed!” Celestia pushed Twilight off of her. Twilight stumbled and fell, thrown roughly onto the floor.. “Ow, why… why’d you do that?”
Celestia simply returned a smirk. The white princess’s horn lit up with magic. “Your friends are tired. It’s time for them to finally rest.” Twilight blinked in disbelief. The colors of her friends flowing into her idol’s horn.
“What are you doing? What do you mean finally rest? What’s going on!?” Twilight shouted. Celestia remained unchanged. Twilight got to her hooves and looked up at her once beloved teacher. Her once greatest friend. Celestia finished her spell right as Twilight turned around, looking once more at her friends.
She ran to their grayscale bodies and put her hooves on the closest one. As soon as Twilight’s hooves touched the lifeless Rainbow Dash, the body crumbled into nothing. Twilight’s eyes went wide and she leaped over to another friend, this one being Rarity. She too became nothing and disappeared. Twilight went through the group, tears welling up in her eyes as each of them faded away. Celestia trotted to Twilight and put her hoof on her student’s shoulder.
Twilight lashed out, smacking the hoof away with her own, crying for her lost friends. “W-Why?! Why did you do tha-” Suddenly, Twilight couldn’t speak any more. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get any more sound out of her mouth.
“Hush, my little pony.” Celestia spoke softly. “The time has come for your story to end. You’ve done everything you needed to, and saved this world many times. Now it’s time to rest. Your duty is done. You are no longer needed.” Twilight shuddered in fear as Celestia’s horn began to glow again. She looked down at her hooves and noticed her color fading. Sensations of pain began to besiege her whole body.
As Twilight writhed, Celestia continued. “You see, Twilight, you six were created as a defensive counter-measure for Equestria, a means to prevent any harm or threat from befalling the nation. That use ended, however, once you had perfected the Spell of Starswirl. That spell is the key to ever-lasting life. Now that my sister and I have used its power, we are invincible. There is only one remaining loose end that must be tended to. You cast the spell on you and your friends. Luckily, we were able to create a counter spell from your research.”
Twilight’s eyes widened, a realization filling her. She wasn’t a real pony. She was a tool. Her friends were tools, nothing more than a means for Celestia and Luna to become gods. Only one threat remained that could have risked the Princesses’s power. Twilight’s tears ran down her face.
“Thank you for bringing your friends, by the way. Otherwise, we would have had to gather them ourselves,” Celestia praised, “The risk of them reacting to your disappearance is now gone.”
Twilight tried to scream, but nothing would come of it. Her body weakened and her legs buckled, sending her to the floor. The pain was unbearable. Her head hit the floor. In her final moments, she looked up at Celestia with pleading eyes. Her last sight was her purple color flowing into Celestia’s horn. Her vision tapered out and her mind gave up. Celestia leaned down and kissed Twilight’s cheek, causing the body to disappear gradually, never be seen again.
Some ponies wondered what had happened to Twilight and her friends. Soon, however, the memories passed as generations went on. The Elements of Harmony became legends that nopony could prove existed and eventually the legends died out with no trace, much like themselves.