Twilight Sparkle lay in her bed, staring up at the crystalline ceiling that loomed over her, unable to even sleep. The castle was large, of course, but tonight it felt different, it made her feel different. She felt unsure, like something would grab her in the night. But tonight, she was awake because of reasons besides a hostile takeover by a centaur, a bug queen, a draconequus, or basically anything really at this point. And it wasn't a reason she particularly loved. Especially at night when she should be asleep.

"Well, who would like to be up till dawn thinking about death?" the pony princess wondered aloud, remembering the conversation she had with Applejack when she was helping her at Sweet Apple Acres.

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Twilight sat in the barn with Applejack, drinking some cider and looking at the sky. It was nice, just enjoying the quiet aftermath of a long day with her friend.

"Ya know, Twi, I haven't just took a minute to sit and smell the blossoms in a while now," Applejack said, breaking the silence Twilight had lost herself in.

"I know what you mean, AJ. I used to be holed up in a room of books before I came out here to learn about friendship.. it's funny how things change," Twilight finally broke her own silence.

"I know what'cha mean Twi. I didn't think farmwork was so hard till I had to do half of the whole danged harvest," the farm pony chuckled, taking a sip of her drink with an audible gulp.

"Half of the whole harvest? Doesn't Apple Bloom help?" Twilight raised an eyebrow at her friend, tilting her head a bit.

With another slight chuckle, Applejack looked at her. "Yeah, when she can. She's got school, ya know? I want her to finish her studies b'fore she has to start farmin' right away."

Twilight kept her quizzical gaze on Applejack, thoroughly surprised. "But, why do you have to do half of this all?"

"Well, since mama 'nd papa passed onto greener pastures, Big Mac and I have kept this farm runnin' single-hoofedly. Now it ain't been easy, that's fer danged sure, but we've handled it for about ten sun cycles now," Applejack's voice cracked at the thought of ten years without her parents, her voice trailing off as she stared at the sky.

"I-I'm so sorry, Applejack.. I really am," Twilight looked at her friend, sorry she even brought it up, and for her friend's loss.

Applejack's hoof cut off her apology as she raised it, looking at Twilight with a sad smile. "Let's just finish our cider."

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Twilight stirred in her bed, thinking about the numerous possibilities of things that could happen after ponies died.

'We could go to a whole new plane of existence, surrounded by pegasi of all white that serve a giant pony who rules over us all, deciding if we have been good or bad.. no, that's ridiculous, Twilight. I must really be tired to think up such stupid hypotheses.. I need to get some sleep. Hey! I know, I'll ask around town tomorrow, maybe somepony has a legitimate theory!'

And with that, the purple pony forced herself to sleep, ignoring the new thoughts that popped into her mind.

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The next morning, Twilight was awake bright and early. She grabbed a pad and pencil with her horn, fixed her mane and trotted out the door to the busy Monday morning crowd.

'Alright, so where do I start?'

She noticed two mares walking by; one Earth pony with a swirled mane of pink and blue with a beige coat, the other was a unicorn that had a mint green with white highlighted mane and coat, they both seemed happy despite it being morning. Twilight made out a distinct conversation about an upcoming concert they were going to attend before they nodded a 'hello' to the purple princess.

"Excuse me, girls, but can I ask you your opinion on something?" Twilight stopped the mares politely.

"Yeah, Twi? What's up?" the green coated mare sat in front of her like the humans of the world she visited before a few times, but Twilight shrugged it off. Her friend stopped, but stayed standing.

"It's kiiind of a weird question, but it's been bugging me," Twilight admitted, rubbing the back of her head with her hoof, looking at the two before taking a breath. "Do you have any theories of where ponies go when they pass on?"

The two mares raised one eyebrow almost in unison, before looking at each other.

"Excuse my asking, but... why?" the swirled mare asked, giving Twilight a look of complete confusion as to why that would be bugging the princess of all things.

"Well, I was talking to a friend of mine, and she brought something up about it and I just... I'm curious to find a suitable answer," Twilight stated, looking at them and levitating the pad in front of her face.

"Well, I guess I never thought about it, have you Bon Bon?" the mint mare looked at her friend.

"It never really crossed my mind, to be honest, Lyra," Bon Bon admitted, shrugging. "Sorry Princess, but we can't help you with that question of yours."

Twilight's face fell slightly, looking at the two. "Oh no, it's okay! It's understandable, it really doesn't happen often for many here. Thank you both for your time."

Twilight watched the two walk to the market in Ponyville Square. She trotted into the middle of the commotion to find other ponies that seemed to be friendly enough to ask her important question. She spotted a white unicorn with an electric blue mane, her head bobbing to music that could be audibly heard over the chatter of ponies, her eyes covered by over-sized purple glasses.

'I'd ask her but, she looks... busy.'

She gave another scan before settling on a brown stallion with a spiked mane. Twilight trotted over, tapping his shoulder with her hoof.

"Excuse me, sir, but can I ask you a question?" she waited for the stallion to turn around before continuing.

The stallion turned around and gave her a warm smile. He spoke with a foreign accent, like he was from Great Bronctain. "Princess Twilight Sparkle, it's nice to see meet you. I'm Doctor Whooves, pleasure to meet your acquaintance."

"Hello, um, Doctor, I have a question to ask you, if you don't mind?"

"Certainly not, my good mare! Ask away," he said with a confident tone.

"Well, do you have an idea of where ponies go when they pass on?" she asked with slight caution in her tone.

The stallion looked at her for a moment, before rapidly shaking his head. "Great wickering stallions, Princess! What brought this thought into your mind?"

"Well, a friend brought it up to me, and I was curious," she explained herself for the second time, looking at him.

"Well, if I had any idea, I'd say we would be reincarnated! Once one life ends, another begins, does it not? Why not come back to change the world again? Ha ha!" he gave a hearty laugh at the end, smiling at Twilight.

Twilight Sparkle jotted notes down, smiling politely at Doctor Whooves. "Thank you."

"Anytime, Princess. Allons-y!" he trotted off confidently.

Twilight put the pad away, looking back around for more familiar ponies. She saw the white mare from before with her headphones around her neck now, talking to a charcoal mare with a purple bow-tie. She approached the two, smiling at them. "Hello, I'm--"

"Oh hey, Octavia, it's Twilight Sparkle!" the electric mare shouted, grinning at the purple pony.

"Yes, it is, and I'm sure you just deafened her, Vinyl," the gray mare, with a similar accent to the Doctor Whooves fellow from moments before, then looked at the princess, bowing politely before standing again. "Excuse Miss Scratch, Princess, she's not used to the sound of ponies being quiet, and not accompanied by thumping bass."

"Oh, it's all right," Twilight shook her head a bit to get the ringing out of her ears. "Would you mind if I asked you two a question?"

"IT WASN'T ME, I KNOW NOTHING! TELL HER OCTY!" Vinyl blurted out, putting her glasses back in place with her magenta magic aura.

"U-umm.. okay?" Twilight stared at the white unicorn with slight fear in her eyes.

The gray Earth pony face-hoofed, looking at her friend. "Vinyl Scratch, you're impossible. Yes, Princess, go ahead and ask away."

Twilight opened her mouth before looking at the white unicorn for any sign of a future interruption, finally asking her question with a slight stutter. "D-do you two have a clue where ponies go when they pass?"

"Pass? Like a ball?" Vinyl tilted her head in confusion.

"No, Vinyl, she means-" Octavia started.

"Or when they pass you in the carriages? Probably to their destination. This one time-"

"VINYL." Octavia sternly interrupted her friend, huffing slightly. "She means, do we have an idea of where ponies go when they pass on."

"Oh. Well, in the ground, obviously," the bizarre unicorn stated matter-of-factly.

With a heavy sigh and another face-hoof, Octavia spoke. "I believe what she means is, we really don't go anywhere." The charcoal pony fixed her bow-tie before continuing, "I believe we may go to a place that makes us happy, somewhere we can watch over the family and friends we have, maybe even watch their fillies and foals grow to have happy, loving lives. Just sit back and have a spot of tea while we watch our families grow."

Twilight Sparkle jotted down everything they both said, word for word. While Vinyl's was blunt, she enjoyed Octavia's ideology of the matter a lot more. It seemed more peaceful to the alicorn princess. Like she could relax and watch Equestria from another plane of existence.

"Thank you both, very much," she watched the two trot off and smiled at the notes she had written down, before a loud grumble stopped her train of thought.

'That's right, I haven't had lunch. A quick bite to eat at Sugarcube Corner and then back to my quest!'

Twilight looked at the clock. 11:47. It should be noon by the time she got there, just in time for lunch. With that in mind, she set off for the sweet shop.

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The little bell rang as she walked into Sugarcube Corner. It was busy at lunchtime, so she wasn't surprised to see all of her friends at their corner booth. She happily trotted over to them, immediately greeted by Pinkie Pie with a cupcake in her hand.

"Hi Twilight! Man, you just missed it! Dashie was telling us the story of how she cleaned up the sky this morning! Apparently there was a big storm cloud coming and she single-hoofedly made it go away!" her always excited friend exclaimed, smiling wide.

"I don't mean to brag, but yeah, it was totally awesome. Did it in ten seconds flat, too!" Rainbow Dash grinned smugly, looking at Twilight.

Twilight sat at the end of the booth by Rarity, raising an eyebrow at Dash. "Then why didn't we see clouds coming in last night?"

Rainbow's eyes went wide as she chuckled nervously, "W-well, because it came in the late night, after everypony was asleep."

"Everypony.. except you?" Twilight wasn't buying her story for a second.

"Yes! Don't you have somepony else to pester with questions? I'm tired from cloud wrestling all night!"

"But you said you did it in ten seconds flat, darling," Rarity chimed in, smiling at Rainbow knowingly.

Rainbow Dash exaggerated a groan, slamming her face into the table.

Twilight giggled before eating the offered cupcake. "Actually, girls I do have a question for you all."

The five looked at her, waiting patiently.

"Where do you think ponies go when they pass on?" Twilight looked up at her friends, who all had the same looks as the ponies she spoke to earlier that day. "I'm just curious to know what your ideas are."

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Twilight dug through the last of her books, groaning. "Well, today was a bust. Nopony has the same answer, and if they do, the way they word it is too crazy to go off of. Not even my books have answers about this topic. I guess nopony has ever been too fascinated with the idea to even ask it, let alone write about it.."

And just like all her ideas, another came to her mind in a flash. Twilight stood up, hurrying to grab her saddlebag and some things for the road.

"Nopony here gave me any information to go off of, but I know somepony who does!" Twilight continued talking out loud to no one in particular, writing a note and leaving it on the Cutie Map table, finally flying to Ponyville train station.

'If the princesses don't know, I don't know where to turn.'

Author's Note

Part 1 of 2! Part two will be out in a flash, don't worry!

Much love,

Pandora