Twilight Sparkle was lying in a very uncomfortable hospital bed, in an equally uncomfortable room.. The blankets felt scratchy, and the mattress was annoyingly springy, which made her shift constantly in a desperate attempt to achieve comfort. The air in the room was extremely cold, making Twilight feel as if she were in a tiny version of the Frozen North. The moon provided little light from the open window, which was only somewhat remedied by a dim candlelight sitting near the hospital bed. The room, however, wasn't Twilight's real problem.
Twilight's problem was that she felt horrible. She had a painfully horrible disease that she was seeking treatment for, and yet the doctors had no idea what she was sick with. The only thing they were sure of was that she contracted it during her trip to Zecora's homeland, though they say symptoms took some time to develop, which is why Twilight didn't notice immediately.
At first it just seemed like a flu, Twilight just had a fever, headache, and occasional chills. She vomited profusely when it first hit her, but she just assumed it was nothing major and ignored it. Eventually though, other symptoms started to appear. She started to develop very painful, almost crippling feelings in her back, which made it almost impossible to move properly. Soon after that, Twilight was hit by a seizure, and found by Spike convulsing in bed.
That's when the baby dragon decided to take his best friend to the hospital.
The building reeked of disease and had a very small book collection, which made Twilight remember how much she hated hospitals. She never mentioned it when Rainbow Dash broke her wing, but she hated being in that place. Especially since she read all the books they owned last time she visited.
This time though, it was fine, because she had Spike to keep her distracted from her boredom and the stench every night. He told her how the girls were doing, brought her new Daring Do books, and delivered get well soon letters from Princess Celestia. Twilight's number one assistant was there for her even as she lay in her hospital bed, moaning and groaning like an elder pony with cramps.
Twilight yawned and set her Daring Do book on her lap. "Oh Spike, what am I gonna do."
Spike, sitting beside his best friend in an old wooden chair, tilted his head. "What do you mean, Twilight?"
"I mean I'm stuck here in this hospital bed while my friends are probably out protecting Equestria." Twilight looked down and sighed. "What if my symptoms get worse and I can't leave for another few months? What if they send me away to some far away hospital in Manehatten for some sort of special treatment? What if- what if I..."
"What if you what?" Spike asked.
His question was met with a long silence. The only sound in the room was the clock, ticking away towards the 12. It slowly counted away the hours of moonlight, before night time would reach it's end and day would begin anew.
Meanwhile, the candle silently burned next to the hospital bed. A slight breeze nearly extinguished it, yet it's dim flame was determined to last a bit longer.
Finally, Twilight raised her gaze to him, her eyes desperate. "What if I die here, Spike? What if I never see them again, my friends?"
Spike exhaled heavily, and lifted himself off his chair to sit beside his friend on the hospital bed. "Listen Twi, I'm not sure how this is going to turn out. The doctors haven't exactly been able to give us a diagnosis yet after all, let alone a remedy."
Twilight lowered her gaze again, unable to see the tear fall from Spike's face.
"I'm not gonna lie, Twilight, I'm scared about you not making it through. It's why I spend every night here at the hospital with you, whereas the rest of our friends just visit weekly." Spike choked back his urge to cry, ignoring the growing knot in his chest. All he wanted to was break down in sobs, but he couldn't. He had to be strong for his friend.
"But just know, no matter what happens; your friends will always be with you. It doesn't matter what happens here, you'll see us all again sooner or later. You just might need to wait until we all join you, up there."
Twilight looked into Spike's eyes, noticing the moisture in them. She felt sorry for the poor dragon, spending his days here worrying about her, rather than enjoying himself. However, this conversation was going somewhere she didn't feel comfortable with. Twilight didn't believe in the afterlife like other ponies, and didn't feel like hurting Spike by explaining why such a thing just wasn't possible. After all, there was no proof for it's existance, and nopony alive can logically claim to have seen the afterlife. So, Twilight just faked another yawn and decided to prepare for bed.
"Goodnight, Spike. I think I'm going to lay down for the night." Twilight closed her book and set it down beside her.
"Okay, Twilight. Goodnight," said Spike. He knew she was faking, but he didn't want to tell her that. She was -for all he knew- fatally ill, and he didn't want to risk things ending on a negative note. The young dragon went back to his chair and laid down for the night, drifting to sleep hoping to see his friend the next morning.
As Twilight closed her eyes, she felt wave of fatigue hit her. It was an exhaustion unlike any she had felt before, and it came rather unexpectedly. It felt good really. She never did get much sleep, since she was always either studying magic, solving friendship problems, or saving Equestria from world-threatening villains. Twilight decided to embrace the sudden tiredness, hoping a good night's sleep would help relieve some pain.
A final breeze entered through the open window, putting out the dim candle as both of them slept.
Sunlight shone in through the open window, casting its warm rays down upon Twilight Sparkle's body. She stretched out all four legs and yawned loudly. Twilight felt pleasant this morning, the sleep really doing wonders to relieve some of the pains of being sick. The hospital bed felt better too.
However, she quickly realized it wasn't the hospital bed.
Twilight opened her eyes to find herself laying in her own bed, in her castle in Ponyville. She shot up, looking frantically in every direction to confirm her location. "Why am I at home in Ponyville?" she thought, "I can't possibly be cured yet, can I?"
At the thought, she stopped and noticed that she did feel much better. Her back felt fantastic, she didn't feel nauseous, she didn't even feel tired. In fact, she felt better than she did before getting sick. Twilight couldn't remember a time when she felt this good. It was like having a complete lack of fatigue, hunger, thirst, and pain all at once.
Twilight trotted to the lower floor of the castle, hoping to find some answers from her friends or Spike. Yet, she slowed as she noticed that the ground beneath her was changing with every step.
As her quick trot turned to a slow, cautious walk, the floor became more and more like a starry trail. It reminded Twilight of the same one she saw during her ascension to Princess-hood. Before she knew it, the entire path became an otherworldly glimmering road while the space around it dissolved into emptiness.
Then, in a blinding flash of light, a familiar white alicorn appeared before her.
After moving a hoof used to shield her vision, Twilight gazed up at her mentor, eyes wide.
"Princess Celestia?"
"Hello, Twilight." Celestia replied.
"Where are we? What is this place?"
"This is heaven. You have moved on to the afterlife.".
"A-Are you saying-"
"I am afraid so." Twilight sensed a hint of pain in Celestia's words, although she was expertly hiding it behind her normal motherly tone. "It appears the doctors were unable to save you."
Twilight's ears dropped, and she stood in silence for a moment. However, a tinge of disbelief kept her from accepting what Celestia was saying.
"How is any of this real, Princess?" Twilight asked.
Celestia raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
Twilight waved her foreleg at her surroundings. "All of this, how is it real? How do I know this isn't a dream? I mean all of my studies seem to point to the afterlife being non-existent. There isn't any proof that this could exist. In fact, it seems that there's more proof pointing against it!"
Celestia was silent for a moment, deciding she had to choose her words carefully so as to explain this in a way Twilight could understand. The obvious answer that she was living proof of the afterlife might not be acceptable for the young princess.
"Tell me, Twilight," she finally began, "How do you define reality?"
Twilight cocked her head. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, what do you think reality means?"
"But why do-"
"Please. Just answer the question, Twilight."
Twilight although still confused, decided to give Celestia her definition. "Reality is defined as the state or quality of having existence or substance."
Celestia nodded. "Now answer this Twilight, how do we know what classifies as reality or not?"
"Well, it has to be observable," Twilight began, "It needs to be something that we in Equestria can engage in a scientific study of, and has to be backed by repeated experiments and repeatable by other ponies. In other words, if we can't apply the scientific method, nor engage in magical study, than it can't be reality." She had no idea where the Princess was taking this, but it was only making the situation more confusing.
"Indeed," Celestia said, "However, not everypony can observe everything, nor can every experiment be replicated. Take for instance, Twilight, your adventures in the mirror world. You are a pony who can attest to it's existence as reality, yet other ponies may disagree. Some ponies may argue that it doesn't exist, that it can't exist.
"Other ponies also cannot attempt to duplicate your studies of the human world, as it would not only be dangerous, but jarring for most ponies. Thus, Equestrian science has no way of proving that there is an alternate reality. Even Starswirl the Bearded could not prove that such a place existed, and he opened a portal there himself to banish the Sirens. Does that make it any less real?"
Twilight opened her mouth to retort, but no words came. There simply wasn't a good response to that. Sure, her friends and the Princesses knew about the mirror, and they can say they've seen her go through, but what about everypony else? If she went around claiming she saw another world where she walked on two legs and had those "finger" things, everyone would call her insane. If they wanted to see it for themselves, she couldn't allow it.
"I-I guess not," She finally replied. "But that means I'm really-"
"Yes, Twilight. You have passed away," said Celestia.
Twilight's stared blankly, silently, at the older alicorn. Then, she looked down at the ground, tears dripping from her eyes. Silent sobbing soon followed. while tears continued to drop from her now closed eyes. Twilight was really dead. This wasn't a dream, and it wasn't a mean prank. Twilight Sparkle was dead, and nothing could change that.
Her quiet sobs eventually turned to pained cries as she realized she would never see her friends again.
Celestia knew from experience to let Twilight cry. In cases of loss, especially when a pony realizes their own death, it is best to let their tears flow freely. Celestia had seen it time and time again over countless millennia; good ponies, smart ponies, strong ponies, even other students of hers, all broken down at tragedy. She couldn't visit every one of them
individually, but she tried as often as she could to greet them and help them adjust.
Twilight may have been a strong pony, making it through the harshest challenges and saving Equestria multiple times, but she was not immortal like Celestia. She would not have lived forever, but she couldn't been prepared to die so young.
Celestia could however, still give her student a shoulder to cry on.
She walked over to Twilight, and gently took her beneath her wing. Twilight leaned into Celestia's chest, and continued to cry away her pain. Celestia didn't care of she would have sit there from the time when the sun should rise to the time the sun should set, she just had to be there for Twilight while she adjusted to her new existance. She rested her head on Twilight's, and pulled her closer to her chest with her wing.
The two sat together for several minutes; Celestia holding Twilight close, and Twilight matting the fur on Celestia's coat with tears. To them though, the time felt more like hours, days even..
Slowly, Twilight's cries became soft sobs, and finally silence. She had no tears left, and there was nothing she could do. Nopony could be brought back to life, even Princess Celestia had taught her that. That's one of the reason's she didn't believe in the afterlife to begin with. Twilight Sparkle was dead, and would never be able to see her friends again. Unless...
Twilight sniffled. "P-Princess?"
Celestia looked down at the alicorn, still lying under Celestia's wing.. "What is it, Twilight?" Her motherly tone soothed Twilight, even if only slightly.
"Will I ever s-see my f-f-friends again?"
"Yes, Twilight." Celestia responded. "One day each of them will join you here." She smiled warmly down at her student. "And maybe I can talk Luna into allowing you visits to their dreams until the time comes."
"R-Really? Is that really possible?"
"Indeed, it is possible, and I will allow you to visit provided Luna agrees to help." Celestia nuzzled Twilight's mane. "After all, you and your friends have done more than enough for Equestria to earn such a privilege."
Twilight quietly enjoyed a last moment of Celestia's comforting embrace, before slowly breaking away and standing to her hooves.
"Thank you, Princess, for all of your help."
"You're welcome, Twilight. I will come to visit you soon."
The two parted and walked in opposite directions. Celestia going back along the fading ethereal path, and Twilight trotting towards Ponyville.
