Songs in Silence

"Legend says that when Celestia first touched the ground during the reign of Discord, even the plants which had defied all rules of nature to grow into grotesque forms retreated to their natural state and everything the mad god had created headed for oblivion rather than meet her. Which brings me back to my original point that--"

The dragon stopped dead on the bridge, "Twilight," he said as calmly as possible.

The elderly mare turned around just as she stepped on the other side's ground, "What, Spike? Spike, Spike..." she would continue to repeat the last word until he'd speak up. The dragon growled.

"Listen, I know we have to keep talking, but, you know, it's just, well...I mean," he mumbled, trying to get what he wanted to say right.

"Would you please speak up!"

Before she could start repeating the last word again - oh how he hated that - Spike did indeed speak up: "Could we talk about something interesting? For the past two days I have listened to nothing but theories about black holes, books, Star Swirl the Bearded being an earth pony, books, spell research and, hey, I think I forgot to mention books. Plus, if I recount correctly, at least SEVEN hours of you bashing your university colleagues for being, well," he had to find a milder term when what she had used, "bad."

All the while Twilight watched her assistant and the moment he stopped, she immediately followed up.

"Spike, I'm perfectly aware of how annoying this is but I have to keep talking, since a.) I have lots of things on my mind and b.) the moment the sound stops we're..." The dragon could see it in her eyes, the pain coming up again. Twilight was scared, very, very scared. "Come on, it isn't much farther until we reach Canterlot."

The small dragon started moving again, the wood of the bridge creaking with every new step. He looked down once, where once a river had been flowing, a seemingly unpiercable darkness had appeared. He tried to focus on the wood rather than the question if it still was deep as the last time they had taken the road. Nobody had put much care into the old path ever since the train network had been built to its full height.

His sight moved forward again, checking on his companion. Twilight Sparkle's coat had once been a stronger color, but the purple had faded and her mane was nearly white, with only the multicolored streaks remaining. The mare was so old by pony standards, not just physically. The things she and the other bearers of the Elements of Harmony had seen and fought...

He thought that maybe he should cheer her up a bit. This whole journey had been more than a bit draining, plus him talking would keep her from opening her mouth again. Spike really couldn't take anymore of the unicorn techno-babble.

He sped up a little and moved besides her, "Twilight," the baby dragon said. She stopped in her talk and for one moment, the only sound in the mountains were their own steps on the ground. "Remember before the trains?" he asked with a grin on his face.

The unicorn looked at him, wondering what he wanted to say when she clearly had such groundbreaking and fantastic theories to present as she did for the past two days.

"The first time we came to Ponyville we had to take the royal chariot. Never imagined just one year later the train line would be established," the dragon continued, laughing. Twilight smiled a little, remembering her first time in Ponyville...

From meeting the other Elements to the first party they all had together. That had been such a wonderful time.

The smile faded as the laughter of Nightmare Moon resonated through her head again.

"Let's go Spike," she said, tears forming in her eyes.

The purple dragon wanted to say something, but Twilight started up with the history of magic. He knew what that meant, so he followed suit.

Since the path led across the side of the Canterlot Mountains one always could get a good view on Equestria. Spike remembered when he, Applejack and, funny enough, Rarity had taken the path about four decades ago. It had been bristling with life. Ponies traveling across the countryside, enjoying every second of it. Now he looked to the side and there weren't green forests or vast grasslands, there was only a deep blackness and complete noiselessness. It was almost as if the life had vanished from the land.

The purple dragon really wanted to say something profound but the problem was that he seriously doubted that he'd get Twilight in a better mood. This wasn't a situation for Spike the dragon but rather for Pinkie, Celestia bless her. World's one and only pink party pony. Spike didn't feel sad when he thought about her, though. He smiled. Just the memory of her elicited laughter.

That was enough for him but a memory wouldn't get Twilight the energy back she once had. The mare he was following really was old.

Walking across the silent pathway, probably nearing Canterlot and listening to the scientific babble of the Element of Magic he couldn't help but just looking at her. She held fifteen different titles, amongst them headmaster of Celestias School for gifted Unicorns, Archmagus of Equestria and of course, her ladyship, Princess Celestia's most faithful student.

Her eyes were filled with fear and sadness. Emotions Spike didn't share. He only felt confidence. Twilight had solved so many problems over the course of her life, this right here, right now was just another stepping stone. With a smile on his face he started to sing one of Pinkie's old songs to lighten the mood up a bit more.

Giggle at the Ghosties...

The path ended at the white gates of Equestria's most beautiful city, the royal residence of Canterlot. The moment they stepped through, Twilight immediately changed the subject to its history.

"The ponies of olden days built Canterlot as thanks to the princesses for defeating Discord, the princess told me. In its own time it was a monument to the world. Its mere existence told of the magnificence and potential us ponies had back then."

Spike only heard how tired Twilight sounded. She got worse and worse by the moment and even though this tale would've sounded uplifting in a classroom, here in the desolate city it felt crushing. They walked across the open main road. The houses were abandoned and if it weren't for Twilight's Light Spell they probably wouldn't have seen the hands before their eyes. Just the moon itself would've been enough to keep Spike feeling a bit of hope. Alas, the princesses were gone and the celestial bodies with them.

The small dragon looked around. This had to be the first time ever that Canterlot was quiet. No stuck-up upper-class ponies prancing about, no guards marching around the corner, no lady's fainting at the sight of Cap'n Pip, wherever that guy had gone and of course, nopony that walked into him and then would shout at him, because they were the baron/baroness of that and that part of the country he had never even heard of. Still, Spike didn't know whether he should feel good about the quiet.

Sure, in the beginning he had just been as afraid as everypony else, especially when the dragons had vanished and the memories with them. Years had passed since then and in the end even Ponyville had succumbed to the silence. THAT was the one and only scary thing he could still think of now. From Lyra poking into everypony's life, trying to find clues about 'humans', Derpy raiding Carrot Top's fridge and the follow-up screams of anger from Carrot Top to the late CMC's giving the new ones advice about crusading. There had always been noise in Ponyville. One day, though, it simply stopped.

There had always been light, too. From the Sonic Rainbooms Dash had performed at nearly every festivity, having the only pony who could do one in her town had made wonderful bragging material for the mayor to the occasional spell gone wrong. One day, though, it started to die out. With it, everypony's memories vanished. Derpy couldn't remember Carrot Top, then they all forgot about Lyra and so on.

That had been the scariest day of his life but at least Twilight was still here. She'd save Equestria, she always did. Even with the others gone, she'd do it.

The duo never stopped and as Spike never stopped thinking, Twilight Sparkle never stopped talking. For two and a half days she had done nothing but constant talking, Spike had mentioned on the beginning of the second day that she didn't even stop in her sleep. The unicorn was getting tired but there were more important things than her health, there always were more important things.

Of course this time it all didn't matter to her. She'd just do her thing and then she would leave. That was the plan: Save Equestria and then quietly leave. Twilight Sparkle didn't even want to leave a memory behind. Equestria had long enough a history and was full of names that were so much greater than hers.

As the unicorn rambled on about physics and mathematics she couldn't help but sigh. As Element of Magic she'd been called the strongest Element even though without the others, she was just a spark with no fire to ignite. She was worth less than her titles said and even those weren't that wonderful and magnificent as anypony else made them out to be.

As they reached the steps to the castle, Twilight remembered the day she became the Archmagus and Chrysalis having disguised herself as whoever-that-was. Probably the weakest day for the changeling queen but hey, even she couldn't be able to be at her top game every time.

That was everything she associated with the title though, that and the praise of the princesses, Luna had recognized her as a pony whose knowledge was on par with Star Swirl the Bearded himself. Celestia had smiled and told her that she so proud to be a friend of Twilight's.

Without these things, the word 'Archmage' meant nothing to Twilight. She could live without being respected, without being constantly hassled by the so called 'lesser' ponies. There always had been the faintest bit of regret in the back of her head. It always kept asking why she hadn't stayed in Ponyville, why she hadn't stayed with her friends, why she hadn't lived a happy life instead of a successful one.

Then, there was Fluttershy saying those words she'd never forget the day she left for the university of Canterlot.

"You will always be welcome here."

It would've been a happy memory if it wouldn't be tainted by the darkness. Every face she had ever seen, every word ever spoken to her. Nopony in the whole wide world remembered any of it. Every single part of their existence had been absorbed by the dark and it had only been Twilight's connection to the ley lines that she still remembered everything.

No, that was wrong, it was the bond of friendship that kept her mind sane and everything together. That bond had brought her here. She was for science and all that but here in the dark, she wanted it to be her friends that protected her, even if they weren't there.

They went on, talking, thinking. Going through the shadows of what had once been the greatest city in all of Equestria until they reached their destination.

"Spike, we're here," Twilight then announced with a smile as reality hit her again. "The Twilight Sparkle Library. Celestia had it built for me and in it there is every single book, it is quite remarkable, because-" she kept on talking, her mind drifting, asking. She didn't even want to tell the dragon the obvious, she didn't want to brag.

What the pony wanted, was a moment of peace.

The building was huge, with artful spires, like the rest of Canterlot, with a dome atop of it, containing the third greatest observatory in the world and the second best in Equestria. As they opened its painted gates, silence and dust awaited them inside.

Twilight didn't dare look at the pictures on the gates, instead she just walked past them and told Spike, "Search for a lantern, then I can switch to a different spell."

The dragon nodded understandingly and walked right up to the foyer, jumping behind the counter. There he went to search for something, anything to create a light with. After going through a few drawers he sighed in defeat. Even worse, the bucking dust was everywhere. Just their luck, Canterlot had been abandoned for years and maybe the darkness was actually smart and took away whatever could make light. What kept him going was loyalty to his friend, it was the fact that if he found a light, he could give the purple unicorn a chance to shut up.

Twilight held the spell close to them as she looked across the room. Yet she continued to talk, instead of going for something intelligent she just blabbered about. Like how this place was extraordinary. How there were entire floors dedicated to specific subjects, from scientific essays to books for children. It went up for about 4 floors but the cellars extended deep into the mountain.

If she remembered correctly back then they had to bargain with a local gang of diamond dogs. They'd go south, the ponies would get their tunnels beneath Canterlot. Twilight still regretted pestering the Princess to do that.

The princess had been right, probably and the diamond dogs might have had something to do with AJ disappearing like-

"GOT ONE!" Spike exclaimed with a bit too much enthusiasm at that moment and for the first time in a long time, Twilight was thankful for the interruption. The small purple creature grinned as he held up an old lantern with a candle inside of it. The dragon breathed a small green flame into it and closed it shut.

"That should be enough light for the beginning," he said. Twilight nodded and began to concentrate.

The arcane white of the light spell began to twist and fade, before it exploded coloring the ley lines of Twilight's world purple and spreading into the many corners of the library. Then, for a moment there was silence. It took the spell a few seconds to built itself up but then in the distance, a tune could be heard. A lonely voice singing a sad song.

Twilight smiled. "If we ever meet Lyra again I've got to thank her for that," she told Spike, "but now, how long's that flame going to hold?"

"Till the day I die of old age, if you catch my drift," the dragon answered with a smug smile. Twilight groaned and turned around.

"Anyway, give that to me so that I can find a book that explains this whole...everything. I doubt the scholars here really searched for anything," she said before grabbing the lantern with her teeth and moving away from the dragon. Her horn still glowed a bit but at least the talking could stop and they could just search the book to the song of her heart.

As she grabbed the lantern with that silent rage shut within her, Spike felt a shiver. Twilight really had come to disdain the scientific elite of Canterlot and it wasn't helping the mood that now he had to listen to this song.

"Ah, well," he said, before moving back to the door of the library and closing it. He took one last peak before he did so only to discover that truly only darkness remained in Canterlot. Lucky them.

Then the dragon moved back inside. The green light of the lantern moved through the shelves and the faint sound of Twilight's song echoed through the halls. Books upon books where piled up in this place and Spike could feel it again. Life. He felt it like he hadn't in a long time. Everything here had just waited for him and Twilight to come.

Even though the mare had grown old, their relationship hadn't changed much since he was by all accounts still a baby dragon. So this was just the one thing he'd waited to do for such a long time, ever since Twilight had left the ponyvillian library in the care of him and her friends.

"Let's study the hay out of this place," he announced, cracking his knuckles.

And far away

they would go

Now lost to me

these ponies of my dreams

The torches burnt in a bright green color and somewhere, three floors down the gramophone was playing one of the many hits by a certain Sweetie Bell. This one was aided by the canterlot symphonic orchestra so it was kinda appropriate for the situation. Spike rubbed his eyes before he turned the pages back again. Maybe he had overlooked something.

Twilight was mumbling in her sleep again, he heard it. Whenever she had a nightmare the dragon would move to her side and hold her hoof. Whenever she wanted to speak, he would listen. It was good to talk when there wasn't any pressure that forced them to do so.

The fear had vanished from Twilight's eyes after she had found a book called 'The Nightmare Wars', written by Princess Luna and Princess Celestia as an historical accurate portrayal of the first appearance of Nightmare Moon. Nighttime Eternal seemed so much better than what was happening outside Twilight had concluded after being done with it.

Spike had felt his own sanity shift towards the better end now that there wasn't constant talking and managed to look at all these selfish thoughts he had gathered during the journey with a bit of shame. The dragon had no idea what had gotten into him. For better or for worse, though, he'd remain by his trusted friend's side.

As he went through the pages of the books the song ended and was followed up by another, performed by the same artist and then another. The dragon would just stop with the reading and listen to the beginning of every new song that came up. They sure had been lucky to find a gramophone in the library and that whoever had brought it here had been a fan of Sweetie Belle. Her singing seemingly made everything at least, what was it again, ah, twenty percent cooler.

She had been revered as a star before silence fell unto the country, after that, Spike remembered, she was called a hero. Sound had been known to be the only effective weapon against the silence, as light against the dark. That had made the unicorn the most able fighter on the front, if it could even be called that.

It was sad, though, nopony else remembered her...If there was anypony left beside them. Spike didn't even want to think about what happened to those that had vanished. Instead he focused again on finding something in the books.

It was bad enough that they didn't know what to search for, but Twilight just knew that there had to be something here. They had ravaged the top floors and had gone down into the basement. Book after book went to the ground after the old unicorn had skimmed through them. It was good that her reading skills had become completely unrivaled in all of Equestria. They had to go through every book known to ponykind and with a history that stretched back to...

She couldn't remember.

Not that it mattered, though, as the beginnings of the ponies probably hadn't anything to do with the task at hand. She had done the whole thing in her head. A creature of that power could've only been created between the beginning of the Sisters' Reign and the coming of Discord.

Celestia had once told her that there were four eras before Discord came. The era of dreams, the era of darkness, the era of light and the era of earth. As she dug through the books, further and further away from Spike's location she eventually came across some books that held musings for these times.

The author's name was "Twilight Sparkle".

It was the book that had gotten her the position of the headmaster of the academy for gifted unicorns. It illustrated that the first records started during the era of earth and they were  mostly bad illustrations of what was thought to be important events with no hint of any blackness or silence. The darkness and the silence probably hailed from before, she figured.

Thing was, Twilight also knew that she could be completely off with that guess. Did that make whenever history itself started important?

She slammed her head against the book that she until then had held up with her magic, groaning annoyed. They had been on it for about a week now and the music started to become somewhat annoying, aside from everything Sweetie Bell had done. That mare just had a voice like no other.

They had thrown away the album where Celestia and Luna had tried themselves on music. Of all things, singing wasn't the forte of either, unlike Cadance, she remembered.

Twilight looked at the book before her. Shaking her head she turned its page and, funny enough, a piece of paper fell out of it.

"What?" Twilight asked no one in particular. Spike was sleeping safe and sound by the gramophone since a while back, he couldn't have placed it there.

Curiosity got the better of her and so she picked the letter up and read it out loud.

Don't  stop talking.

Don't stop listening.

NEVER STOP THE SOUND!

Don't let the lights flicker.

Don't stay alone.

ALWAYS REMAIN IN THE LIGHT!

And before the end comes

And everything falls to pieces

KILL HER!

- T.

"What?"

Twilight looked around. The torches created enough light to cover every bit of space and the songs were loud enough to be heard through the entire floor. There was nothing to worry about. The letter or whatever it was was flung to the ground again as Twilight began scrambling through the books again. This time determined to find something.

Every work of literature she held in her hooves seemed to be written on subjects she either knew everything about or just had plain nothing to do with everything. Yes, the thoughts and theories about the lost book of Star Swirl were pretty neat to go through and if the world hadn't been dying around her, she would've enjoyed Tartarus out of it. Yes, the celestine history was a good read, but there was nothing that had to do with both the dark and the silence, since this time it only went to the Time of Tribes, which marked the end of the era of earth.

Groaning once more, she stumbled away from the books. Her stomach grumbled and a moment later she stumbled over her own feet and against one of the bookshelfs, a huge work of literature falling on her head. It took her a few seconds before she could crouch out from beneath it and sighed. They had scarcely any food left and even with proper rations they'd-

Her train of thought stopped as she saw the title of the book.

"Nothing?" asked Spike. Twilight nodded in response as she made her way back towards Spike. The gramophone started up another song from the next aisle.

"The celestine and lunar histories both," she said, not even remembering the letter, "And it get's worse."

Spike sighed and threw his head back, readying himself for the even-worse-than-bad news, trying to get a listen to whatever song currently played. He couldn't quite make out which one it was, despite having listened to the whole platter a gajillion times already. Although, he figured, it had to be 'Lunar Conqueror', that one had a pretty quiet intro.

"Do you remember how I made transcriptions of every spell and text from the Star Swirl the Bearded wing?"

"Yeah..don't tell me, the old guy had noth...ing?" As Spike spoke those words a grin started to form itself on Twilight's face widening with every word the dragon spoke. He looked at her quizically. Hadn't she just said it would get worse? Had that been a joke? Had she actually found something?

The old unicorn started to concentrate and her horn began to glow. Within a moment she produced a scroll from behind her saddlebag. The parchment was still young compared to most residents of the library and the seal of the archmagus held it together. That seal was normally the most impressive thing on magic scrolls. The symbol was exactly like Twilight's Cutie Mark with the Sun and Moon at it's heart. This certain scroll had a distinct blue aura surrounding it, which meant, it was probably levitating on its own after it had been conjured up.

Spike's heart jumped, because if the magic of the scroll was strong enough to keep it from falling it had to be something good. "This is great! We can save everypony, right? So what kind of spell does it contain? Some sort of huge fireball? Some kind of ultra-super cage-spell? Can you transform yourself into a magical warrior?" he asked in a rush of euphoria.

Twilight chuckled, her eyes going to the ground, "Yeah..." she mumbled, unsure.

Seconds passed with Twilight looking to the ground, trying to figure out how to explain this scroll to spike without him trying to stop her. Then, she noticed something. It was far too quiet and the dragon hadn't responded to her. The music had stopped by the time she had reached Spike and with a look to the side she realized something else. The torches had gone out. Immediately she threw her head up, looking at Spike, who was waving frantically, his mouth opening and closing, as if he was shouting something but no words left his mouth.

Don't stop talking!

"No, no, no, no, NO!" Twilight screamed, closing her eyes and concentrating once more. Her horn started glow as the magic began to pulsate through it. The unicorn tried bring up every bit of magic that rested within her to play the song of her heart.

A spark emitted from the horn and wave of light illuminated the hall, forming a glowing orb around them. Spike had only managed to cover his eyes in the last second. Before he opened them again he heard it, Twilight's song. A lonely voice, singing her sad song and the drums of war beating the darkness away.

Yet now wasn't the time to care about that. There was noise and as the dragon opened his eyes, he didn't care about the situation. He could see Twilight again and now they could fix Equestria.

The old mare was breathing heavily, her legs were shaking. She knew that she was too old for casting two spells at a time. Still, it would be the last time anyway.

"We need to get to the archives, to the Star Swirl the Bearded wing!" Archmage Twilight ordered, "Grab the scroll, Spike. We're moving out!"

He did as she said and with the scroll they hurried up the stairways and out of the library. The light of Twilight's spell illuminating their way and the war drums of her heart keeping them safe.

Don't let the lights flicker.

The two of them went past the main gate into the royal halls. Neither had time to notice just how empty it all was. They went through the doors into the royal garden, taking an old short cut to the Canterlot Archives. Past the statues of old pony heroes and long forgotten villains that had wanted to usurp the power of Celestia's leadership and through the Cadence's shrubbery. As they ran Spike noticed that in the corner of his eyes, it seemed as if the surrounding darkness was moving with them, keeping away from the magic that illuminated the area around the two.

"Twilight!" he yelled, panicking, "I think it's following us!"

"What is?"

"The dark!"

"Just..." she started, wondering if the creature was actually IN the blackness, "Just keep up Spike. We've got to make it!"

Twilight was sure that the spell would work and that was enough to keep Spike's moral up. The duo went through a window, fast as they could, dashing through the corridors of the archive, the dragon keeping close behind Twilight.

Don't stop listening.

Then Twilight stopped all of a sudden, with Spike nearly crashing into her. Neither spoke a word, for they were at their destination. Before them were the old halls of the Star Swirl the Bearded wing. The gate had been torn down during the battle against the harpies and, as most of the archive, the literature was burned during the Sacking of Canterlot. Twilight still couldn't help but smile at Tirac's fate, considering all the terrible deeds he had done.

They moved into the room. Aside from the black burned wooden shelves only the hourglass in the middle of the room remained. It was said that the world would end when the last corn of sand went down through the middle.

The clock seemed far away from reaching that point.

What got Spike wasn't the hourglass, though, but something entirely different.

"Our steps are echoing again Twi," he said with a grin. He had no idea what was going on, but this was definitely something positive. The drumming had vanished, too.

He used this quiet moment to take a closer look at the archive. He had come here every now and then together with Twilight. The most vivid memory was when they had tried to break in, though, Twilight, Pinkie and himself. That had been the worst stomachache he had had ever. The archives looked different, too. The old beard probably wouldn't have liked what Tirac had done to the place. Now, with only ashes and the hourglass remaining it had probably been luck that Twilight had made it one of her duties to make transcripts of every piece of work the last Archmage of the Unicorn Kingdom had ever written down.

Luck, or just Twilight being Twilight. Anyway, even with the knowledge saved, they just had to rescue everypony now. All that remained was to cast whatever spell was written inside that scroll.

The dragon went towards his friend who looked almost entranced at the hourglass, "So, what do we do?"

Twilight stared as a single sand corn fell down. "Everypony's gone, Spike," she started, her voice hollow.

While she spoke, the voice of her song became clearer, Spike almost understood what she was singing.

"I've been thinking...during that time in the library, during the run from Ponyville. I've been thinking the whole time. Ever since Applejack-" she stopped and took a deep breath.

"Sorry, vanity. I'm getting old," the mare told herself more than Spike and with a bit of concentration she pulled the scroll from his claw and levitated it towards herself, walking towards the hourglass.

"I've just seen too much, lived a bit too long. Everypony keeps relying on me while I have nothing left," she mumbled on.

With every step the song of her heart became clearer.

Spike smiled, "What are you talking about Twilight? You've got me, and the princesses, and your brother, and..."

Twilight laughed out. "I know, Spike," she spoke softly, "but, if there was a way for everypony to be together again. Once more, us all, no darkness, no wars, no cold winds and long winters. Don't you think that maybe..."

Don't stay alone.

The dragon looked at his old mare friend. Walking towards the hourglass as slowly as possible, almost as if she was asking him, no, begging him to stop her. Her head was held low and with every step she seemed to become less confident. Yet every step echoed and the hall kept being lit. He turned around, the darkness kept the whole place shrouded, he couldn't even see past the entrance.

Whatever Twilight was planning, it was big and would probably kill them, judging from her hesitation. "If you're talking about an afterlife. There's nothing scientific on that Twi...Well," he said, "If you ask me. I wouldn't mind us all being in Ponyville together again..."

He saw that her ears perked themselves and her neck was lifting itself up.

"I'd probably try to get together with Rarity again,while she just uses me as a pincushion or get's me to drag carts full of delicious diamonds for her," the dragon mused. Twilight looked at the hourglass again.

"Rainbow Dash would show us another new trick she learned to join the Wonderbolts. Like that one time she crashed and landed in the hospital, or the other twenty times that happened," he spoke. Twilight's eyes narrowed.

"Then Fluttershy would start worrying really much about her. Like that one time her assertiveness training came out again and she started yelling at nurse Redheart." A hopeful smile got on Twilight's face.

"After Rainbow Dash's release Pinkie'd do a party, like always and we'd all go through it all night. It would be nice to hear her rambling on once more. Never found out about that oatmeal." The unicorn's steps grew faster.

"And Applejack..." Spike looked down and then up again, "She'd be there, too. Together with Big Mac and Granny Smith and Applebloom. They'd all be there, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Ditzy, Mayor Mare..." he wanted to go on but stopped as Twilight did upon reaching the middle of the room.

NEVER STOP THE SOUND!

The reflection looked at Twilight. An old mare, with a nearly white mane, wrinkles and eyes so tired of the many adventures she had lived through. The Element of Magic, now at the end of her road. Carefully, she levitated the scroll above the hourglass. One moment, one second.

All noise faded, making a clear way for the elegy of Twilight Sparkle.

Now Spike could hear what the voice in Twilight's heart was singing and with it his heart sank. He understood immediately what Twilight was planning and as she turned around to him one last time, he could finally see why her eyes were filled with such hesitation. She had given up.

The unicorn looked at her dragon assistant, the one who had been there with her from the very beginning and would remain by her side to the end. Probably forever now. He'd be happy, too. There wouldn't be any problems. Still she didn't know if this was the actual right thing to do. The world couldn't be saved from something like this. It was just a battle against time, and nopony could win a fight against that. If these were truly the last of days then she'd rather not spend them here.

Twilight Sparkle would go, not leaving a memory behind.

"I'm sorry, Spike. I'm so sorry."

Lifting her haunches she let out a roar as she bucked the glass, cracking it.

A bright light spread across the wing, then the whole archive, then the castle, and then the whole of Canterlot. Engulfing every part of it, every shadow, every cloud above it. The sands spread into the air, controlled by the magic of the scroll, the wish of the unicorn and heart of a dreamer, releasing a spell that should've never been performed. So the noise faded from Canterlot but so did the silence, the darkness, the light and a tomorrow and only a dream remained. Twilight Sparkle's dream.

Somewhere in the distance, Ponies watched a bright light and took it as a sign. Celestia hadn't left them, there was still a fight to be done.

And they fought on against eternal darkness and noiselessness. For ten years, for a hundred years, for a thousand. They fought until the Princesses of Day and Light became legends and the elements of harmony a tale to tell the foals. They marched across the wastelands, fighting off the remaining diamond dogs, whatever had been left of the changelings and even the dreaded creatures of Tatarus who had looked for refuge.

They all fought, until one day a filly was born in one of the caravans and if the hourglass would still work, its last grains would pass with every year the foal grew.

Prologue

~The Elegy of Twilight Sparkle~

End