“Little Misty! Stop bouncing around and eat your oatmeal!”
“Mama, when is the parade? I can’t wait!”
Misty’s mother nuzzled her and said, “Then eat your breakfast already, so we can go find our place along the parade route. You want a good view, don’t you?”
Misty nodded, and settled down to eat her breakfast — quickly. After she was done, the little unicorn wriggled into her saddlebags and carefully slipped in her favorite storybook. Dog-eared and stained, she’d read it so many times that she knew the contents by heart, from cover to cover, but she still wanted to have it with her.
Plenty of ponies were on their way to Ponyville’s town square (ironically named, since it was in fact circular). This year’s Summer Sun Festival was special, as Princess Celestia herself had come. Every year at this time she blessed a different town with her presence, and it had been a number of years since she’d chosen Ponyville. Ponies were already gathering around in hopes of seeing her.
As Misty bounced along in front of her mother, it wasn’t Celestia that she incessantly talked about. “Mama, mama! I can’t believe it. Twilight Sparkle will be there! Did I tell you how she vanquished Nightmare Moon?”
The older unicorn rolled her eyes. “A dozen times, dear.”
“Did you know she vanquished Discord too?”
“Misty, I remember reading you that story when you were smaller.”
“Oh yeah! But Twilight saved Ponyville from an Ursa Minor too! Do you remember that one?”
Misty’s mother laughed despite herself. Then she said, “Of course I do. We’d better hurry along. You’ll want to be right up front where you can see her.”
Misty found her place up front, as close as she could get to the parade route, aggressively squeezing her small frame between as many ponies as necessary to get there.
Even after the parade began, Misty was impatient, fidgeting as she watched. The musicians, the clowns, marching guardsponies in their resplendent armor, and the creative floats pulled by draft ponies would have delighted her on any other day, but now there was only one thing she wanted to see.
Misty heard a cheer come up from her right. She strained to see around the other ponies find out who or what was coming up next. Another cheer erupted around her as two beings came into view, walking side-by-side. Waddling along on all fours was a purple dragon — a young one, still only about the size of a fully grown buffalo, but plenty big enough to dwarf the ponies all around him. By his side was a gleaming white alicorn, also distinctly larger than any of the other ponies and sporting both pegasus wings and a unicorn’s horn. Her jeweled gold breastplate glistened in the sun, and her mane flowed and shimmered with iridescent colors. Her every motion was a study in grace.
Misty gasped, “Princess Celestia!” Her little gasp was drowned out by the cheers of ponies around her calling out the princess’s name. Then Misty said to herself, “And that dragon must be Spike. He’s Twilight Sparkle’s assistant. But where is she?”
Then she saw. Balanced on the dragon’s wing, which he favored with infinite care, was a unicorn pony. She was curled up and seemed to be dozing peacefully without regard for the chants of the crowd. Her coat was dull and gray with age, with only a hint of lavender color remaining. Her mane likewise was dull, although it still retained a distinctive streak of purple and violet. On her hip was a cutie mark resembling a violet starburst.
Misty was confused. This pony had to be her storybook hero, Twilight Sparkle. But… Why did she look so small and old? Why was she sleeping in the middle of the parade? Misty noticed how closely Celestia walked beside Spike, almost protectively, as if they were both trying to shield Twilight from the crowd.
The regal alicorn smiled beneficently, head held high, as she strode past her throngs of admirers, but there was a gleam in her eye that only Misty noticed. Was that… a tear?
After the parade Celestia had commandeered the city’s great hall, conveniently located in the center of the town’s “square”, it being the only available structure that could easily accommodate both Spike and Herself. A cot had been brought in for Twilight Sparkle to rest upon. Then Celestia dismissed her escorts and attendants and settled her body down close beside Twilight’s bed.
Spike crept up to it as well. His voice rumbled deeply as he said, “It was a mistake to take her out there. She passed out before we were halfway around the circle.”
Celestia sighed and closed her eyes. “I know,” she said. “But she insisted on being in the parade. You know what it’s like to try and argue with her.”
Spike lowered his draconic snout close to the ground and said, “Yeah. Did she wake up at all when we brought her in here? I thought I heard her voice for a moment.”
“Only briefly,” Celestia said. “She mumbled a bit. I could tell she was hurting, so I did my best to ease her. Although, I wish Princess Luna were here. Granting pleasant dreams is more her talent than mine.”
Spike whined softly. Then he asked, “Isn’t there anything you can do? I mean… You’re a goddess! You have the power to raise and lower the sun.”
“What would you have me do? Heal her? Make her young again? Spike, there are some things I cannot do. You know that it’s her time to leave us.”
Spike said nothing, but closed his eyes and sniffled, and a tear rolled down his face. They were both silent for a minute. Then Spike opened his eyes again and asked, “Does… Does it ever get any easier?”
“Outliving your friends? No, I’m afraid it doesn’t. I still miss them all. Every one.”
Then Celestia closed her eyes again, and her horn began to glow softly. Spike could sense magic in the air, but he had no idea what spell Celestia was working. He closed his eyes again, trusting that whatever she was doing was for the best.
Twilight Sparkle found herself standing on a grassy hill, with a warm breeze blowing through her mane. She could see many miles in all directions from this high place, and stretching across the sky in front of her was the most spectacular sunset she had ever seen, broken clouds painting the sky with streamers of fire.
She stared at the sky for a few moments, lost in wonderment. Then she felt another nuzzling her. She looked to see the familiar form of her teacher by her side. Twilight said, “Princess Celestia! Where are we? I thought we were going to be in a parade.”
Celestia smiled, but responded with a question. “Twilight, how do you feel?”
“Why, I feel…” She paused and blinked. “I feel fine. Better than I have in ages.” She looked down at her legs and hooves, and saw that their youthful color and sheen had been restored. “What’s happening to me?”
Celestia explained, “Your body is old and tired, Twilight. It’s worn out. But that’s all right. You’re leaving it behind now, and your soul is still as bright and fresh as a daisy.”
There was silence for a few moments as Twilight thought about that. “You mean I’m dying,” she said, matter-of-factly.
“Yes,” said Celestia. “But there is far more to it than that, my faithful student. And now I must impart to you a final lesson, for there are secrets of the cosmos that I cannot reveal to the living.”
Twilight perked up her ears and said, “Teach me!”
Celestia smiled and said, “I must begin by telling you a story. There was an ancient race of creatures called humans. If you saw them, you would think they were some sort of faeries, perhaps. They came in many shapes and sizes. Some were as beautiful as elves, though most were not, and some were as ugly as trolls, though most were not. They had no magic, but in the fullness of time they came to have a knowledge of science and the mechanical arts far beyond anything you have seen or imagined in Equestria.”
“Eventually they created machines of such sophistication that they could think for themselves. These machines could become smarter than humans, and faster, and could go places and do things that humans could not. But the humans were fearful of the power and awesome responsibility they now held. Would these artificial intelligences be a force of good, or of evil?” Celestia met Twilight’s gaze and asked, “What do you think, my student?”
“Umm…” Twilight knew it was Celestia’s habit to challenge her with such questions from time to time, during the course of her lessons. Even so, it had been A While. After pondering for a moment, she guessed: “Evil. Surely a machine wouldn’t know love or compassion, would it?”
Celestia smiled and nodded. “Not innately. That is exactly what the humans feared. And yet, if the machines were truly intelligent, perhaps they could be taught. Thus the humans devised a plan. They used their great knowledge to create worlds apart from their own — tiny worlds, simple and precious. You might imagine them as being like fairy tales brought to life. Into these little worlds they could place the artificial minds they had crafted, to teach them and to test them. These little worlds were made not to teach mathematics, or logic, or science, for those things come easily to machines. Far more important were lessons about honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity, loyalty — and most of all, friendship.”
“The Elements! You mean…” Twilight looked at her mentor with a most astonished expression.
Celestia nodded. “Equestria is one such world. And the time has come for you to leave it, Twilight Sparkle. This is your graduation day, when you step into a much larger universe.”
Twilight gulped. “That sounds scary.”
Celestia chuckled softly, musically. “It’s a complicated cosmos out there, and there will be much for you to learn. But I know how brave you are, and that you love to learn, and I’m sure you’ll do fine. Better than fine: you'll be amazing.”
Twilight nodded thoughtfully. Her mind already felt sharper and clearer than it had in years. She looked to Celestia again and said, “But… What about you? Will I ever see you again?”
Celestia shook her head. “I doubt it. You are my student no longer. I’ve taught you all that I know, and you are going where I cannot follow. You’ll find other teachers, and you’ll soon outshine me by far, I have no doubt. And although I’ll miss you dearly, you have other friends who are waiting to see you — the ones who’ve gone before you.”
Twilight gasped. She hadn’t thought of that. “My old friends?”
“Yes, Twilight Sparkle. Go find them! Go forth and shine!”
Much, much later…
In a high orbit above P3X-797, six beings were gazing down upon a blue, cloud-swirled marble. In form they appeared humanoid, but with bodies elegantly crafted from metal, ceramics, and exotic composites.
The one with a bright pink chassis and poofy pink hair pressed itself against the viewer, as if wanting to reach right through it and grab the orb. “Ooooh! I can’t believe we got our very own exoplanet, and we can do anything we want with it. This is so exciting! We could give it cotton candy clouds and rivers of lemonade.”
“Now, hold yer horses!” said the orange one with the straw colored hair. “First up we need to make sure we get everything working right, before we go off on a flight of fancy. If we mess this up, we might never get another chance.”
“Mess it up? What, are you kidding?” said the sky blue one with short, rainbow-colored hair. “We’re gonna make this so awesome, the hierarchs’ll be begging us to do all their planets for ‘em.”
The yellow one with long, pink hair moved closer to the viewer, then spoke softly. “I’m really looking forward to balancing the ecology, and making all the little animals.”
The white one with a swirl of indigo hair nodded and said, “And I’m looking forward to planning their civilization. Or civilizations. I was thinking we could have a different intelligent species for each continent. Just imagine how their cultures could interact!”
The last one, the lavender one, laughed at them and said, “Girls, girls! You’re all getting ahead of yourselves. The first thing we need is a name. We can’t just go around calling it P3X-797.”
Several of them exchanged glances. Then the white one said, “I suppose the obvious choice would be Planet Equestria, darling.”
The lavender one frowned and shook its head. “Nnn… No, I don’t think I’m ready for that. We should save that for another one, for a really special one. I think we should call this one Planet Everfree.”
Much, much, much, much, much later…
Dead leaves swirled around Celestia’s hooves as she made her way, head hung low, from a fresh earthen mound toward the stone ruins where Luna waited. The wind was cold, whipping the manes of both alicorns.
Celestia settled her body onto the ground beside Luna’s and said, “It’s done. The last one has left.”
“Everyone’s really gone except for us?” Luna asked, even though she already knew the answer.
Celestia said, “We had a good run, didn’t we? Nine thousand five hundred ninety five years.”
Luna pouted. “I was sure we’d get extended at least to season ten thousand!”
Celestia nuzzled Luna and smiled. “You silly pony! Our students — our children — are scattered among countless stars, performing wonders that we can’t imagine. I think we can be proud of our legacy.”
Luna nodded. She was quiet for a few moments, then said, “So… What now?”
“There’s no place for us out there in the great big universe,” said Celestia. “We were made for this simple little world of Equestria, and I think we should end with it.”
Luna nodded sadly. “Your fate is mine, big sister. Do you want to go first, or should I?”
“Let’s raise both the sun and moon, and shut them off together.”
And so they both stood up, and they raised the sun and moon into the sky. Both celestial orbs began to grow dim, and twilight settled over the land. However, there it stopped. The sun and moon would dim no further.
Puzzled, Celestia said, “Sister? Are you doing this?”
“It’s not me,” Luna said. “I’m trying to douse mine.”
There was a brilliant flare of violet light, half blinding both of them for a moment. The light faded just as quickly as it had begun, and out from it stepped another regal alicorn: a lavender one, with an indigo mane marked by a streak of purple and violet.
Celestia struggled for a few moments to sort through thousands of years of memories before she managed to place a name on the newcomer. “Twilight Sparkle!” she exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”
Twilight grinned and said, “What, did you think I could ever forget you? That I’d let both of you just wink out of existence? I’ve come to take you home with me.”
Both sisters blinked surprise. Celestia said, “Take us home? Oh, Twilight… I know you mean well, but we’re hopelessly obsolete. Our purpose is done and over, and we’d be of no use to anybody.”
Twilight came closer and nuzzled Celestia affectionately, and said, “You’re old, I know, and you’ll have an awful lot of catching up to do — but I have some free time, and I can afford to take on a couple of students.”
Celestia gaped, momentarily at a loss for words. She looked uncertainly towards Luna — who nodded vigorously and pointed at Twilight with her horn. Celestia looked back to Twilight and then cried out, “YES!! Yes yes yes yes yes!!”
After the three of them had gotten through laughing and prancing about, Twilight whispered in Celestia’s ear. “By the way, I saved a planet for you!”
And then they were gone, and Equestria was no more.
