Prologue - Never Coming Home
“Rarity?” Twilight’s voice echoed throughout the room, the only reply being silence as her voice faded to echoes. “Please talk to me,” she begged, calling out once more.
Rarity could try to hide from her day after day, but her ragged breathing was something she’d always be able to hear. She began to walk forward, hushing the sound with clops of her hooves unto the marble. As she kept a steady pace through the hall, she turned her head to look around.
Twilight instantly noticed the pale, glimmering moonlight pouring through the windows scattered about the castle, lighting up small patches of the floor before her sight descended into blackness. It made all the dust the place had collected visible as it drifted about in the patch of light, wafting the the breeze she created as she entered the light. Proceeding to ruffle her wings slightly, she felt a hoof touch hers as her breath froze in her throat. Whirling around, her eyes met Rarity’s own puffy ones, and she instantly regretted trying to find her.
“We’re at the end of the world,” Rarity then whispered through a raspy voice, keeping the pressure down on Twilight’s hoof.
Twilight blinked in response, fighting off any emotion that threatened to leak out of her. Rarity was a ticking bomb, always on the peak of an emotional break down.
With her words, the mare snarled at her before turning around, gently retracting from the purple alicorn as she headed down the hallway. Unsure of what she was planning for today’s adventure, Twilight followed in suit, giving her wings another stretch. The sound echoed, and while Twilight payed no mind to it, Rarity focused on every little bit of her.
“You know you don’t have to be so nervous around me,” Rarity suddenly piqued in as they began to hike up the castle’s winding staircase, Twilight flinching a bit at the sudden intrusion of her voice in the silence. With that she fell quiet, and Twilight began to swish her tail back and forth. While there were about one or two more flights of stairs within the palace, this once felt odd against her hooves. Rough and cold, unlike the others… Her pupils grew large in the darkness.
Soon enough moonlight could be spotted again, this time not restricted to a window, and Rarity quickened her pace. Twilight responded by slowing her own down, each hoof tapping down onto the stone as if it were to fall beneath her at any moment.
Twilight was beginning to see what Rarity intended to show her, and the gnawing feeling within her stomach protested against it. Heart clawing at her chest, teeth biting at her lip; Twilight could only pray Rarity wasn’t going to be in one of her moods again.
But as Rarity bounded onto the next step while Twilight came to a complete stop, Rarity pausing herself for a few seconds before looking back at her, all was left to hear was something she heard every day.
“Come on, Twilight,” her voice took on a pleading tone,“you have to see it for yourself.”
No.
She shook her head, trembling hooves moving backwards behind her.
“N-No, I think I’m feeling sick-” her jittery voice was cut off by Rarity touching her hoof to hers again. Their eyes met again, and the sharp blue hers held had fear lurking in the back of them. Twilight swallowed.
“I can’t do this. Everyday I tell you this.”
“I never said I’d lie and wait forever,” Rarity murmured back, turning to face the last step that lay a few feet away. “Must I drag you to the balcony?”
While Twilight shook her head and began to ascend to their final destination, Rarity at her side, she wished that she could be treated like a foal one last time. Her legs soon began to tense, and she stretched them out with each step she took; but it only seemed to stiffen her even more. All the while Twilight’s eyes remained averted to the ground, and she let out a hiss of pain when the light suddenly entered them full blast.
“We’re here.”
Her head remained tilted down, until a soft hoof brushed under her chin.
“Look up,” the voice commanded. Twilight, helpless under her touch, obeyed.
There lay in front of her scorched, crumbling buildings that once flourished with the life of ponies rushing into and out of them; foundations looking like skeletons poking out from them.The fumes of smoke spiraling upwards painted the sky black, blotching out any stars that could be seen.
Behind those buildings lay mountains of ash and debri, and Twilight could’ve sworn she’d seen a foal rummaging through the mess. The choking smell of burnt flesh mixed with smoke stung her throat, forcing her agape mouth to slam shut, eyes tearing up a bit. Her attention was then snagged away by a stray piece of fabric flying through the wind, charred and torn as it followed the winding path of the air. She then suppressed a yelp as she realized it was a piece of a dress.
“I… I-I…” she was at a loss for words.
“Luna and Celestia are gone, Twilight. Tirek imprisoned them and they gave you their magic. But guess what you did? You let him win. Twilight, do we really matter over an entire country? Because I know half of us are already dead!”
Tears began to streak down Twilight’s cheeks, cascading into a small puddle below her. Walking forward, she touched a hoof to the sky, only to see the magic dome around her ripple, distorting the image. Rarity spoke up as Twilight let out a wail, collapsing onto the ash-ridden floor.
“He imprisoned you too!” she shrieked, laughing at her through her vexation. “You’re nothing but a toy for raising the sun and moon now. And I’m stuck here to make sure you do that job; was this all worth it?”
The words rang in Twilight’s ears as she sobbed on to her own hooves, feeling her fur become wet and sticky with each tear.
Was it worth it?
Still feeling snivels clawing in the back of her throat, Twilight’s breathing slowly began to resume its normal pace. Tears still poured out though as her quaking hooves pushed her body up from the ground. Hunched over with her eyes scrunched shut, Twilight opened them again as Rarity stood over her, raising an eyebrow.
She could feel her ribs push against her skin in this position; making her starved state visible to Rarity. She’d been hiding this for a while; always coming up with the excuse alicorns needed less to give her more. Rarity’s face twisted into a frown at the sight.
Lifting a hoof to brush her hair away from her horn, Twilight proceeded to draw Rarity’s eyes to it, seeing her muffle a gasp.Twilight grimaced in turn, tracing all the familiar cracks and chips.
Then diverting Rarity’s attention to her wings, there wasn’t much that need be done about them. Feather’s missing, skin missing, bones pointed in jaunty directions; everything about Twilight spoke for themselves. Rarity already knew about this one.
Straightening her posture, Rarity met eyes with Twilight. Twilight mimicked her, face still wet as her face remained blank. “It wasn’t worth it.”
Twilight then tried to walk forward, only to trip on her own hooves. Rarity rushed to her side, supporting her shoulder as she shifted her neck under Twilight’s.
“Look at me,” she mumbled into Rarity’s ear, soaking her neck as she buried her face into her fluffy, white fur. “I’m pathetic. What kind of princess lets her country fall into something like this?” she groaned. “At least Tirek left me with you.”
“Well, I can’t always forgive you like this,” Rarity said back as she began leading her down the stairs. “You know how… her death has made me feel about you.”
Twilight scoffed into her, and Rarity shuddered a bit at the feeling. “No need for censorship in the apocalypse; Tirek killed Fluttershy to intimidate us.”
Wincing at the words, she but couldn’t help to find some truth in Twilight’s words as she pondered them for a moment. Did it really matter how much it hurt to say her name? After everything that had happened to them, it was nothing to say her name…
Twilight continued talking as Rarity buried herself in thought.
“Spike is dead too, whoopdedoo! Shining Armor’s also trying to lead a rebellion in the Crystal Empire, ever since Cadance escaped and made a sanctuary of sorts there. But it’s all hopeless. Tirek has my magic, has her magic, he has all of our magic!Ahaha!”
Rarity snapped back to reality, freezing at her words. “Cadance isn’t free.. what are you talking about?”
Twilight felt a grin crawl onto her face, and she bounded onto her own hooves, struggling to do so as she was still weak.
“Wellll.... Tirek didn’t steal all of my magic. He only recognized Luna, Celestia, and barely Cadance’s love magic; not the friendship magic that makes me an alicorn. But he still managed to consume quite a bit of it. How else could I lift the sun and moon? That stupid device he made is worthless.”
Twilight’s face fell flat again. “Basically I’ve been spying on him in my free time.”
But Rarity didn’t hear her last part. Her eyes had narrowed, and her teeth were grinding against each other as her body convulsed. Her mind was racing with thoughts at the phrase “magic”, and she scowled at what she was coming up with.
Twilight caught on to this quickly, panic flooding her body as she scrambled to her side.
“I-It's not like that magic, Rarity, it would never be able to stop him-”
Rarity whirled around to face her, jabbing an accusatory hoof into her chest.
“You mean to say, that for almost two years now in this blasted castle prison, you’ve had magic in you, and never once considered using it to get us out of this hell-hole!?” she screamed, Twilight retracting her ears and cowering in response.
“W-Well…” her voice trailed off.
“Well what? Were you too scared to face what you’ve caused? To fix your mistakes?”
Twilight solemnly nodded in response, sliding down into a lying position. Rarity’s breathing quickened as she grit her teeth once more, opening her mouth to yell again. But her voice betrayed her, coming up with nothing but a scream. But that was all she needed.
Gripping her hair with her hooves, she fell down onto her back as she screamed out to her heart’s content. Screamed until it transformed into a wail. Covering her eyes, she flipped onto her stomach, wailing with no tears to accompany it. Her eyes were already dry from the tears she’s spilt before.
Twilight didn’t know what to do. She was the reason Rarity was in this state, indirectly or not. She knew she’d be forever blamed for this too; so she might as well start making up for it now.
Rarity had been the only one to stick with her out of the five friends she had.
Scooting to her side, she rested her head beside her. “You know what Rarity,” she said through her wavering voice, “I promise this- I’ll try to look for a solution for you. To break out of here. But know this; I’ve tried. Time and time again when you were off doing something I tried. Yet I can’t lose you.”
Rarity’s wails had died down to soft whimpers, and she shifted her body closer to Twilight’s. “You drive me insane,” she hissed in an almost teasing way. Twilight smiled.
“It’s odd; who thought the apocalypse would drive us closer?”
Rarity snorted. “Who said we were close. Fluttershy’s still dead because you put us before a country of people. I’ll always remind you of that.”
Twilight thought for a moment, the words stinging as she tried to ignore them. “W-Well, who would’ve thought Tirek would smash the tree before we even reached it? You and I both know the elements would’ve saved us. Celestia knows, Luna knows, Cadence knows. It's… it’s like something happened that shouldn’t have.”
“None of this should’ve happened.”
Twilight leaned up a bit, while Rarity opened her eyes to see what she was doing. Lifting a hoof to her chest, she matched it with the position of her heart. She looked crestfallen.
“I’ve been so dumb these past few years.”
Rarity, intrigued, leaned up beside her.
“It’s about time you realized this.”
Twilight nodded, continuing, “So here’s another promise; I’m never coming home.”
Rarity’s pupils dilated, taken aback by the words. Fumbling with her hooves for a second, she said, “Wa-ait, what do you mean?”
Twilight sighed, turning to face the staircase they’d just come down.
“For all the… the smiles of you that are going to haunt me, for all that horrible things that I could’ve prevented with this bit of magic I have left, for all the things I never, ever told you; can you be the last thing I look at?” she frowned.
“Because I’m never coming home once we do this.”
Rarity, though not understanding a word she meant, nodded. Twilight’s eyes then bore into hers before she leaned forward in a flash of purple, lips smashing against hers. Rarity instantly jerked back, but found herself stopping. Something about the kiss entranced her. Letting her eyes flutter closed, she gently returned the gesture, wrapping a hoof around Twilight.
She almost felt herself cry as Twilight leaned back, pushing down the tears as Twilight turned around, horn flaring into a purple aura. Rarity stepped beside her.
“C-Can I…?”
Twilight nodded.
Rarity tapped her hoof on to Twilight’s.
