Even with the admittedly very warm coat covering the front half of her body, Twilight still felt the cold wind and temperature of the desolate world on her body. A strong breeze blew by her, making her feel like her legs were turning into ice. Her hooves once again felt the coldness of the ground, freezing to the touch. For a moment, Twilight wasn't exactly sure if she would be able to make it to Canterlot Castle. Alive, that is.

"Ugh... Hah..." Twilight huffed in the near-frozen wasteland, her breath turning cold the moment it touched the cool air "I'm... not sure if I'll... m-make it there... Well, warm, at least..."

Twilight continued to walk, now finally over the hill she looked over earlier. The horrid view reminded her of the damage Lavos had done to this world. Lavos. She swore she heard that name before in one of her books. She couldn't think of that now, though; she had to continue on towards Spike.

"Spike..." she muttered "I wonder w-what you've been doing while I-I was gone..."

She continued on her path to the castle, sliding down the hill which was a lot longer on the other side than she thought. However, just a few more steps after that, shivered once again and collapsed onto the dirt, finally feeling like she was too cold to move again. Her wings felt as if they were falling apart, and her horn, being part of her bone structure, was giving her pain every time cold wind passed by her head.

"C-Crud..." Twilight sighed, trying to inch her body forward, to some success "C'mon, T-Twilight... You can't... pass out... n-now... You still need... t-to meet with... Spike... again..."

Slowly but surely, the willpower to see her literal last friend alive was enough to bring her back up on her hooves and keep trotting along. She shook her head, attempting to free herself from the fatigue the cold winds were giving her, but nothing she could do really helped. At last, she collapsed again, this time for good.

"Ahh..." she winced at the cold "N-No... I have to... k-keep going... S-So... cold... Need to... M-Must... Nng..."

Her eyes felt heavy. In one last desperate attempt, she reached her hoof out towards the castle, wishing she was there. Wanting to be there. Needing to be there. But nothing happened. Soon enough, Twilight's eyes closed completely and she passed from this world, regretting she couldn't be with her friends one last time...

Or she would have, if not for something grabbing her and tugging her along towards the castle.

(Music Stop)

Twilight felt warmer for some reason. Why? Wasn't she supposed to be dead out in the cold wasteland of Equestria. She heard the light sounds of fire crinkling near her, and saw the soft orange light of fire through her eyelids.

She at last opened her eyes to see that, surprise, surprise, a small, controlled fire pit had been made near her. On the other side of the pit was a familiar-looking beige diamond dog with floppy ears, a black unzipped jacket and a spiked collar around his neck. He had a less than excited expression on his face.

"It's about time you woke up" he said "Do you have any idea how difficult it is to start a fire when it's minus 30 degrees?"

"T-Tucker?" Twilight questioned "Were you the one who saved me? Why?"

"Yeah, I was" he nodded "I knew you'd freeze out there, so I brought you to the castle. Don't take this the wrong way, pony; once I'm done helping you, I'm out of here."

"Tucker, um..." Twilight shrugged, not quite knowing how to respond to that "...thanks."

"Whatever..." Tucker rolled his eyes.

"...Celsius or Fahrenheit?" Twilight wondered.

"What?" Tucker scoffed.

"You mentioned that it was minus 30 degrees outside" Twilight recalled "You never said if that was in Celsius or Fahrenheit."

"Is this seriously how you ponies try to spark conversation?" Tucker insultingly questioned "Does it really matter, anyway? Celsius, Fahrenheit, what's the difference anyway?"

"Well, Celsius is a temperature measurement created by an inventor in Vanhoover... or what's left of it, but this point" Twilight chuckled a bit "Fahrenheit was created by a mare in Manehatten. Both measure temperature, yes, but both are different. Celsius measures 0 degrees as the freezing point, whereas Fahrenheit measures 27 degrees as the freezing point. So by that logic, we're either facing the new ice-age, or it's just a mild minus 17 degrees Celsius in Fahrenheit measurement."

Tucker just looked at her like she had five heads and four noses.

"...and I'll just assume that went over your head" Twilight sheepishly giggled "Basically, Fahrenheit and Celsius DO have a difference, but the difference is a little weird."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Tucker wondered.

"Hmm?"

"All this about Celsius and Fahrenheit. Why would you want to tell me something I clearly don't care about?"

"Well, because I'm just trying to spark some conversation, like you said" Twilight smiled "It's important that you talk with at least one other pony, er... person every once in a while, or you might start to go a little insane."

"Talking with... others?" Tucker questioned "...that's stupid. What good are others anyway?"

"Tucker, sorry if this sounds rude of me, but," Twilight began, sighing for a moment before continuing on "do you, um... have any friends? Any at all?"

His response was something Twilight sort-of expected: he tossed a plastic bag filled with grass. Plastic was something Twilight had seen in Equestria before, though she hadn't seen all that much of it. She was only able to recall knowing this was plastic when she saw Pinkie holding some at a party she threw one day.

"Eat it" Tucker sounded almost commanding "Or don't. I don't really care."

"Just grass?" Twilight wondered "I mean, I'm not complaining, but-"

"Diamond dogs are carnivores, so we ate the surviving animals to live" he explained "All vegetation was wiped out in an instant when Lavos emerged. You're lucky you're even getting this."

"Okay, okay, I'll eat it..." Twilight opened the bag and took in the scent of freshly cut grass; something she was secretly always fond of "Mmmm... Wait, where did you even find this? I thought you said all vegetation was killed. "

"Aren't you supposed to be a nerd or something?" scoffed Tucker "Life always finds a way."

"Oh, right, sorry" Twilight nodded before looking down and sticking her muzzle into the bag, munching on the fresh, uncooked grass with a gleeful smile on her face. She gulped her food down and let out a satisfied sigh before turning to Tucker. Before she could ask him anything else, he got up and walked away from her.

"C'mon; let's get this over-with" he said in an annoyed tone "The mountain is warmer inside, so we'll climb the old mine shafts to get to Canterlot. That's where you dumb dragon friend is."

"Hey, he's not dumb!" Twilight dropped the plastic bag and ran after Tucker.

Not many ponies in Equestria knew this, but the old mines of Canterlot were made of the entire mountain; hollowed out from the bottom to the top. A thousand days and a thousand nights is how long it took, Twilight's mother told her. Since she was a filly, she was always so interested in the mines; the ancient technology, the questionable design choices. But the beauty of the sparkling crystals in the mines was always something that captivated her.

When Twilight entered the caverns after all this time, she was thankful that not much had changed. The crystals were not quite as beautiful as they were before the apocalypse, but still, they retained most of their beauty. She took a moment to take in the sights as they continued on their trip upward.

"Stop standing there and move it!" Tucker shouted "It's bad enough I have you with me anyway."

"Jeez, what pruned your pineapples?" Twilight sighed, recalling that Pinkie Pie said something along those lines once before "But yeah, you're right. I think we both need to go home after this... Speaking off, how did you convince your parents to let you go?"

"I didn't" Tucker flatly said.

"...oh."

"Here: this looks like an elevator" he pointed at a highly technologically advanced lift that seemed to bring them into the upper levels of the mine. As Tucker walked towards it, however, Twilight blinked and curiously examined the elevator. This caused Tucker to groan and wander the cave a bit.

"Look at the edges... they're so... perfect..." Twilight's eyes sparkled with interest.

"Long story short, so I won't have to explained everything," Tucker began "fifty years after your original time, that kid of Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor said this mine was safe, they started mining again. Technology advanced, Lavos killed everyone, end of story. Happy?"

"Well, when you put it like that..."

"Just shut-up and get into the elevator" Tucker groaned.

Twilight nodded and entered the lift, despite Tucker's rude behavior. How badly did the talk about Lavos really affect him? She didn't know, nor could she feel his pain. It must have been horrible learning about how his world became like this. How do you tell someone it'll be okay after something like that? Short answer: you can't.

The elevator ride was surprisingly short, though that was partially due to the elevator being so fast. According to the blinking elevator map inside the lift, they had already escalated up halfway through the mines. As the door opened, Twilight saw they were now on a very long bridge that seemed to go straight onto the other side of the mountain. Below the bridge was a long, long drop, so both travelers tried not to fall off. Thankfully, the bridge seemed wide enough to allow both passage, though the sides had no railings.

"There's another elevator on the other side of this bridge that will bring us to the top and into the castle" Tucker explained "After that, you're on your own."

"Well, as long as you don't push me off..." Twilight muttered under her breath.

"I'm certainly thinking about it" Tucker scoffed as he began walking forward. She wondered how Tucker fully understood her muttered sentence before the thought hit her.

"Oh, right... You're a dog..." she sighed before running up to him walking alongside him, much to his dismay. They continued on their long walk until Twilight felt something tap her head. She quickly looked around her to see what had done so, but to no avail. She tread carefully from then on.

"Any animal that DID survive Lavos mutated from the radiation coming from the core" Tucker told her, causing her to stop in her tracks and widen her eyes in fear "If you actually want to see your stupid dragon pet again, I'd quiet down if I were you."

"He's not stupid!" Twilight angrily whispered.

"I don't really care, pony!" Tucker turned around and scolded her "Now shut-up, or I'll do it for you. You're lucky you're still alive. Without me, you'd be dead."

"You can call me whatever you want, but never insult my friends!" Twilight was shouting by this point "I get that you're sad that you have to live in a world like this, but-"

"You don't get anything..." Tucker growled "You aren't from this time. You don't know what it's been like living the way we do!" he paused for a moment "...why am I telling you this? Just get a move on and..." he suddenly turned his head over to the left side of the bridge, sniffing a bit.

(Music Stop)

"W-What?" Twilight looked at her escort curiously "What is it?"

"You mean you can't hear that?" Tucked wondered before rolling his eyes "No wonder you ponies went extinct. If you really have to know, I hear something getting closer to us..."

"Like what?"

"Will you stop asking so many questions all the time?!" Tucker shouted at her "Y'know what? I'm not answering that question for you. You can just figure that out by yourself. And I guess today's your lucky day, because here they come. I hope you still have some energy left from all that walking, pony!" he began running towards the other elevator on all fours.

"One of these days, you'll call me by my name!" Twilight shouted as she ran after him. At last she saw what got him so riled up; chasing after them were what seemed like thousands of giant bats with glowing green eyes. Were these the mutated animals he spoke about? If not, Twilight didn't want to know what else was mutated.

"They're gaining on us!" Twilight updated Tucker "We have to run faster!"

"No, I just have to run faster than you!" Tucked called out behind him "If they catch you, I'll have an easier time escaping! Not to mention I won't have to go through this stupid quest of yours!"

"You're a jerk!" Twilight shouted, now starting to run out of breath. After her legs could take no more stress, she flapped her wings and took to the skies, now going faster than Tucker. She passed him and reached out her hoof.

"Grab on!" she urged, much to his dismay.

"Like heck, I would!" he scoffed.

"We don't have time for this, Tucker!" she groaned "It's either die here or suck it up! Your choice!"

"...fine, whatever" Tucker sighed and leaped up onto Twilight's hooves, having her take him away from the fast-approaching bats "But know I'm doing this so I can live, not to help you."

After a little while longer, they finally reached the other lift, and with just moments to spare. Twilight threw her passenger into the elevator before flying in herself and closing the doors behind her. The last thing she heard of the bats before the elevator started its journey upward were their desperate attempts to try and reach the two. Twilight then let out a sigh of relief.

(Music Stop)

"Sorry for throwing you" Twilight sheepishly apologized "Some Princess of Friendship I am, huh? Hahaha!"

"Don't throw me next time" Tucker angrily clenched his front paws into a fist "You could have killed me."

"Well, you know what? Sorry for saving your life!" Twilight crossly spoke to the teenager "Speaking of, you still haven't told me why you went with me without telling your parents. Is this something you want to talk about?"

"What do you think?"

"Tucker..." Twilight sighed "I don't care if we're friends or not. It's always a good idea to talk about your problems to someone just to get them off your chest. Since we're the only ones here, and I'm not exactly sure there are any other living beings here for miles, I think you can tell me. I won't tell anyone, I promise."

"It's... It's none of your concern..." Tucker turned away from Twilight "I already told you enough about me anyway. Why should I tell you even more, huh?"

"...I asked you before about how many friends you had" Twilight recalled "You never answered, but I think I finally understand now. You have no friends. Not even your family feels close to you anymore. Is this why you act the way you do? Is this why you're so... this?"

"I told you, I don't want to talk about it" Tucker growled "You of all ponies should understand that."

"Tucker, I..." Twilight was about to say something, but she ultimately decided against it "...you're right. Sorry for intruding..." she did however give him a warm smile "But if at any time you're feeling up to talking about your feelings with me, don't hesitate for a moment. I'll always be here to listen."

"...whatever" Tucker scoffed. But Twilight knew he was thankful. She knew after looking at him from every angle that despite his rough and rude exterior, he still cared about something. But what could it be?

Finally, the elevator stopped and the door opened, showing the two that they had arrived in building in Canterlot which had certainly seen better days, as shown by the giant hole leading into the outside world. Tucker immediately got up and walked out, never once looking at Twilight. However, as soon as she stepped out, she looked to her left and saw a control panel that seemed to connect to the elevator. With a sigh, she pressed the down button. This attracted Tucker's attention almost immediately.

"What are you doing! No!" he shouted, but it was too late: the elevator was gone "Are you kidding me?!"

"I'm sorry, Tucker, but I can't allow you to abandon me now" Twilight shook her head "I still need your help, and you still need to talk to someone about your problems."

"I'm not going any further with you" Tucker stated "I'll wait here for the elevator to return."

"Don't be stubborn" Twilight bowed her head and aimed her horn at the control panel, firing a small beam of magic at it and utterly destroying it, causing much anger to start swelling up inside Tucker "Now c'mon, we have to find Spike. He should be around here. Stay with me, okay?" she grabbed him with her magic, much to his reluctance.

(Music Stop)

"Stop! Now! Let go of me!" he complained.

"SPIKE?!" Twilight shouted "ARE YOU THERE?! HELLO?! SPIKE?!"

"I doubt it would be able to hear you" Tucker mentioned "It lives deep within the castle. It doesn't usually leave unless it needs to find something to eat."

"Spike is a he not an it, just so you know" pointed out Twilight.

"Whatever..." Tucker rolled his eyes.

"Well, if he's in the castle, then we have a long way to climb" Twilight shrugged "In that case, I guess we better get going. Hey, do you know how big he's gotten over the course of over 1000 years? Well, I guess over 1500 now. 2000? He has to be bigger than this castle by now, wouldn't you think?"

"I've told you before that I don't care" Tucker grumbled "And guess what? I still don't care."

"Well fine, be that way" Twilight rolled her eyes "With an attitude like that, I'm surprised Spike hasn't eaten you already... Not that he would; dragons tend to eat gems, but-"

A great roar fell upon the two's ears, forcing them to cover them. The both looked up to see that a silhouette had appeared in the sky and was coming straight for them. Tucker looked blankly onward, knowing exactly what it was. But Twilight looked like she was about to have a miniature heart-attack.

"W-What is that?!" Twilight panicked.

"You'd think you'd be able to recognize your old friend, wouldn't you?" Tucker spoke flatly. Twilight looked confused for a second before finally realizing what he meant. Taking a closer look at the silhouette, she noticed the large wings and purple scales on its body, as well as the long, green spikes running down its spine. Twilight gasped; the silhouette was none other than her number one assistant, long-time friend and practical younger brother, Spike.

"SPIKE!!!" she shouted, causing the silhouette to suddenly stop in place. It then slowly descended down to where Twilight and Tucker were, finally confirming Twilight's suspicions. Now that she had a closer look at him, he saw that he was a little more than an old dragon now. He stood five-times as tall as Twilight, though he was more likely taller since his neck hunched over. A white beard and mustache dawned his face, as well as bushy white eyebrows.

"Twilight?" he questioned in a much deeper and older voice than she remembered him having "Is that really you? No... These old eyes must be seeing things... Leave now, I'd like to be alone."

"No, Spike, it really is me" Twilight tried to convince him "Remember the time machine and how I was flung into it? This must've been where I ended up."

"So... the time machine... worked?" Spike's voice brightened up "But... how can I be certain you're the real Twilight?"

"Because I'm the only one who knows you sometimes use my old and unreadable books as toilet paper" Twilight smirked, causing Spike to blush through his beard.

"Heh..." Tucker chuckled darkly.

"Okay, okay, so you're the real Twilight..." Spike sighed before realizing something "...wait... you're the real... Twilight..." he then started smiling before bending over and laughing "Twilight! I can't believe it! Never did I think in my old age did I think I'd see you again!"

"It's nice to see you too, Spike" Twilight laughed with him "And I see you've grown old without me!"

"Heh... Don't remind me..." Spike blushed "But at least I have that mustache I always wanted. And look! Wings of all things! They started growing a few years after you vanished."

"So I noticed" Twilight giggled "We really need to catch up with each other."

"Boy, do you ever" Spike joked.

"Oh, shut-up, you."

"Are you two done bonding yet?" Tucker called out "Or was that the entire purpose of this trip and I just wasted my time for nothing? If it's the latter, then you can go and suck my-"

"Tucker, let the adults talk, okay?" Twilight scolded him, now that he was in HER custody, before turning back to Spike and continuing their conversation "So, any way you can tell me what happened during all that time?"

"To avoid a paradox, nothing really..." Spike shrugged, much to Twilight's dismay "What I can tell you however is that saved that old time machine of yours in case you'd ever need it again. Truth is, Twilight, I kinda already knew you were coming to this time period. I may be old, actually coming close to my end now, but I got smarter."

"Spike, you're dying?" Twilight worryingly asked.

"Twilight, I'm over 2000 years old" he explained "Dragons can only live up to 1900 years. I'm lucky I managed to hold out this long. Besides, I think I still have a good 100 years left in me."

"Well... Did you live a good life?"

"Twilight, with you and your kids, then their kids and so on, I had the greatest life I could have ever asked for" Spike smiled "And what a great way to end it off with seeing you again. The mare that started it all."

"Ohhh, Spike..." Twilight began to cry.

"Oh, nonono! Twilight, don't cry..." Spike delicately put one of his pointy fingers below Twilight's chin "This happens to everyone, right? Besides, who would want to live in a bleak world like this? I'll be going to a better place."

"...t-true..." Twilight sniffed.

"There we go" Spike smiled before flapping his wings "Now, stay there. I'll be right back" he then took off back to Canterlot Castle quickest that she's ever seen him go.

"I still can't believe you brought me out here for nothing" Tucker grumbled "I could have stayed home and stayed grounded, but you had to show up from the past and ruin everything..."

"What, ruin your sulking?" Twilight asked, now calmed down a bit from her crying "I think I may have just made you life ten-times better. And, if I can get back home, you'd love to meet with Pinkie Pie. She's basically the life of a party, and I can bet you that your day will be brighter when she's around."

"You're not actually going to take me to your dumb past, are you?" Tucker questioned.

"Where else would you go?" Twilight wondered "Back to your home? Don't you hate it there?"

"Anywhere is better than where you are" Tucker rudely stated "If you never showed up, I would have been just fine living my life away in my room."

"Would you have been?" Twilight asked him with a raised eyebrow "I think we both know that's not exactly the case, Tucker."

"Back!" Spike flew in, flapping his wings a bit before he landed "And I brought something you, Twilight might enjoy" he placed down an old-looking machine that looked very similar to the time machine Twilight created, if not the exact same creation "After all this time, it still works! It only has enough power for one more trip, though."

"Spike, this is amazing!" Twilight's eyes sparkled "Even in old age, your always faithful to me and the people around you."

"Aww, thanks, Twilight" Spike chuckled.

"It sounds so weird hearing you say that with that deep voice" Twilight smiled before shaking her head "Anyway, thank you so much, Spike. I, um... guess we better get going."

"Your taking him with you?" Spike wondered "Be sure not to cause a paradox!"

"I'll try" Twilight smirked before stepping onto the machine "Okay, now... how does this work again?"

"The lever, remember?" Spike reminded her.

"Oh, right."

Twilight used her magic to pull the now rusty lever on the side of the machine. With a sputter and a clank coming from the invention, the lights on the upper dome flickered on and a blue tear in the time-space continuum opened up. Before entering, Twilight checked to make sure it was set to the right time, just in case something horrible happened again. Once confirming this was the case, she smiled and entered the rift, levitating Tucker along with her.

As soon as the rift safely closed up, the machine shook and stuttered before internally exploding and giving off dark gray smoke that mixed with the atmosphere. Spike smiled, knowing his friend was at last safe from this unspeakably terrible world.

"See you later, Twi..." he chuckled "I guess we'll meet again on the other side soon... Well, this time's version of you, anyway."

With that, he began flapping his wings before taking off and heading towards the ruined castle where he called home. There he would at last take the eternal rest he so desperately needed and deserved. He was ashamed he lied to Twilight about living for a hundred more years or so, but he didn't fear anything anymore; he had seen it all. And now, after seeing his friend one last time, he was finally ready to go.

It was a calming feeling, to say the least.

Author's Note

And so, Twilight escapes the bleak future and returns to the past... or present, I guess. Spike, from his old age, finally passes away peacefully. The future Spike anyway. Don't worry, our favorite baby dragon will appear in the story frequently.

I should point this out right about now: Like Chrono Trigger, there will be a few optional side-quests right before the final battle. I'll post these as "Extra Chapters", as they're not actually part of the main plot. It would be wise to read them, however, as they will have elements of the plot that will carry over into the final battle. What are these elements, you may ask? Well, you'll have to read and wait to find out. Sorry!

Be sure to Like, Comment, Favourite and Follow, and until then, dream on everyone!