“But mum why do we have to leave?” A little green colt asked a light pink unicorn mare who was busy loading bags and suitcases onto a cart.
“Because dear, your father got an important job in the Crystal Kingdom so we have to move there.” The mare explained to the colt.
“B-but I haven't gotten to see the princess of friendship yet!” The colt whined as a tear started to travel down his face.
The mare sighed and turned to her son and sat down. “Look, sweetie, it's unlikely you'll see her even if you stayed here your whole life.”
“You can't know that!” The colt argued.
“Son, she hasn't been seen out of her castle in around ninety years.” The mare explained. “So when I say you won't see her, you won't-” Suddenly a purple blur shoots through the streets and slowly lifts into the sky. “-or I could be wrong...”
“Was that?!” The colt gasped then started jumping into the air in delight. “I told you! I told you!”
--Canterlot Castle--
Twilight forced the doors to the castle open and pulled one of the guards over with her magic. “WHERE IS SHE?!” Twilight demanded.
“Wh-who Princess Twi-Twilight?” The Royal guard stuttered.
“Who else?! Celestia you dunce!” Twilight cried furiously causing the rest of the guard to bolt out of the room.
“Sh-she's in her room.” The guard explained. Before he could say more Twilight charged a teleportation spell, leaving the guard in shock.
“Princess!” Twilight cried as she appeared in the room.
“Twilight!” A pink alicorn cried in surprise.
“Twilight Sparkle.” A dark blue Alicorn said as more of a greeting as if she expected her.
“Luna, Cadence! How is she? Has her condition worse-?” Twilight's questions were cut off when Princess Luna covered her mouth with a hoof.
“Shhh. Keep your voice down Twilight.” Luna hushed her. “Let us speak outside.” After the three of them exited the room Luna pinched her nose and sighed. “There's no easy way to say this, so I'm just going to go out and say it.” She paused. “Celestia is dying Twilight.”
“Aunt Luna!” Cadence cried in disbelief.
“She'll find out one way or the other dear niece!”
“How?”
“I beg your pardon?” Luna asked.
“How can this be happening?” Twilight asked. “She's an alicorn! She can't-”
“Twilight Sparkle,” Luna interjected. “Contrary to popular belief, we alicorns are not immortal. We live, we die. Just like all ponies, just much slower.”
“B-but Princess Luna! You don't look a day older than when I first met you, aren't you and Celestia only a few years apart?” Twilight questioned.
Luna sighed and nodded. “It is true. My sister is dying of old age and only a few years older then I, and yet she looks much older then she should.”
“What? You mean She's aging faster than normal?” Twilight asked.
Luna nodded. “Over the past couple of years, we noticed that Celestia started to get wrinkles under her eyes, which shouldn't happen for at least another few hundred years.” She explained. “Not only that but lately she's been showing sign's of her magic started to give way. She even needed my help to lower the sun a couple of times, because she couldn't conjure up the magic to do so on her own.”
“Didn't you ever confront her about this?” Twilight asked.
“Of course I did!” Luna yelled. “But each time I asked she'd just blame it on exhaustion. I didn't believe it for a second, but no matter what, she wouldn't tell me anything.”
“But what is causing her to age so fast?”
Luna and Cadence shared a knowing glance. “We may have an idea,” Cadence said.
“You remember when you read through our Journal back at our old castle in the Everfree Forest all those years ago?” Luna asked.
“H-how did you-” Twilight began.
“From pages 105 to 109 it explains that the unicorn who raised and lower the sun would eventually lose their magic forever,” Luna explained.
“Yes, I remember.” Twilight confirmed. “It also said that Starswirl the Bearded was the only one who had enough magic to do it each day and night.”
Luna nodded. “Correct. We suspect that this may be the cause of my sisters rapid aging.”
“What? How?” Twilight questioned.
“We suspect that my sister may have been using her own life force as magic to raise and lower that sun. Doing such a thing takes years off your life.” Luna explained.
“B-but-”
“Luna-” *Cough* *Cough* A weak voice came from the room. “May I speak to Twilight?”
“Sister-” Luna began.
“Please, Luna?” Celestia asked.
Luna sighed and gestured for Twilight to enter. Twilight slowly walked into room stopping for a second to calm her nerves. “We'll give you two some privacy.” Luna said and closed the door.
Twilight slowly inhaled then exhaled and continued to walk up to the bed. Upon reaching the bedside she could see just how bad it was. Celestia had wrinkles all over, she had bags under her eyes, and had trouble just looking over to her. She slowly opened her eyes and smiled weakly at Twilight. “My faithful student.” She began as she tried to hold out a hoof to her former student. Twilight Grabbed her hoof with both her hooves and tried to smile back at her, but failing as she let a tear fall down her cheek. “Don't be sad for me Twilight. You have brought so much joy into my life when I was alone, you have helped me to live a happy life that I never thought I'd have after my sister was banished. I can't thank you enough for that.”
“Y-your welcome Princess. I'm glad I got the chance to be your student.” Twilight said trying to keep her emotions in.
“Then why do you cry?” Celestia asked.
Twilight sniffled. “Princess, I've already lost everypony. Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Shining Armor, Mom and Dad. Even Spike's not around much any more cause he's off helping Dragon Lord Ember run the newly established Dragon Kingdoms. I can't lose you too!”
Celestia struggled to chuckle. “Twilight you never did lose anypony.” She explained. “As long as you keep them in your heart, they'll always be with you even after they’ve left this world. And I have no doubt you'll do the same for me after my passing.” Celestia finished as she began to cough heavily.
“Princess?!” Twilight cried with worry.
“My time has come Twilight.” Celestia began. “Don't weep for me, my faithful student. I lived a good and fulfilling life watching over and caring for my subjects. But now I leave Equestria in the capable hooves of my sister, my niece, and you. Twilight...”
“Y-yes Princess?”
“Don't give up... on... the magic of... Friendship...” And with that, the light in Celestia's eyes faded and her breathing stopped.
“C-Celestia?” Twilight whimpered. Realizing that her longtime mentor has passed Twilight broke down into tears as she has lost yet another friend. “Celestia!”
S1 E1 part 1: The Return of Friendship - Part 1
“Lift me up a little Higher. Keep me steady...” A pink Pegasus mare commanded as she reached for the nearby window.
“Why do I have to be the one to hold you up?” A green Unicorn stallion complained as he tried to balance her on his back.
“Because I’m a lady.” The mare answered bluntly.
“You're also a Pegasus, and I’m a Unicorn!” The stallion cried angrily. “Your naturally physically stronger than me, and-" He paused for a second. "Hey wait a minute can't you just fly?!"
“Uh, what are you two doing?” A third voice asked as he stared at the pair.
The mare then lost her balance because of the unexpected guest and the two ended up in a pile. After regaining her senses she turned towards the pony in question only to be surprised to find a purple dragon around twice as tall as a pony. “Oh, we’re uh...” she scrambled to find a decent excuse as she got back on her hooves.
“Trying to break into Princess Twilight’s castle?” The dragon bluntly answered for her.
“What? No! We’re... Ok yes, we are, but we do have a good reason!” She admitted nervously all the while the green stallion finally recovered.
“Let me explain.” The stallion interjected.
“I’m listening.” The dragon said as he crossed his arms.
“My name is Ashura Origans, and this is Aurelia Charm. We’re let’s just say, ambassadors of sorts.” Ashura explained. “We’ve been sent by Princess Cadence to speak with Princess Twilight about some... Issue’s she’s been dealing with.”
“Cadance sent you? Well, why didn’t you say so!” The dragon exclaimed. “But wait. Why were you trying to get in through the window?”
“Well the front doors were locked, so we tried knocking, but she never answered.” Aurelia groaned.
The dragon sighed. “Well, that’s typical of Twilight these days. Oh, where are my manners, my name’s Spike, the Princesses number one assistant, or at least I was her assistant! Come on I have an extra set of keys.”
After unlocking the castle’s doors the two ponies followed Spike inside. The main hall was nearly pitch black to the pair as the lights were off and most of the windows were covered. Spike, however, had no trouble finding his way to the light switch. “Sorry about the state this place is in. I only recently returned to Ponyville after hearing just how bad Twilight’s gotten.” Spike explained as he led the two through the hall. “So I’m guessing Cadence sent you because of Twilight’s depression?”
“Something like that.” Ashura answered bluntly.
“Would you care for some tea?” Spike asked as they entered the lounge.
“I would!” Aurelia cried cheerfully.
“None for me please.” Ashura happily declined.
After a few minutes, Spike returned with the tea. Aurelia took hers and sat down on the couch next to a table, while Spike sat down on the chair on the opposite side of the table.
“So when did it start exactly?” Ashura asked getting back to their reason for being here...
“Well, I guess you could say when her parent’s died. She was handling that fine though, but it wasn’t long before she lost another.” Spike paused to take a sip of his tea. “The Wonderbolts were called to duty when a rogue group of dragon’s lead by Garble, who I’ve had previous encounters with before hoof, set their sights on Ponyville.” Spike paused for a second to compose himself. “By the end of the battle some of the dragon’s died while the rest fled, but they weren’t the only ones with casualties. A few members of the Wonderbolts fell in the battle, including Blaze, Fleetfoot, and... Rainbow Dash.”
“My goodness.” Aurelia spoke somberly. “Did they ever catch those dragon’s?”
“Dragon Lord Ember thankfully was able to identify them, and handled their punishment herself.” Spike answered with a smile. “She also helped out with Blaze, Fleetfoot, and Rainbow’s funeral to apologize for their action’s. Everypony else died from more natural causes. First was Fluttershy, then Rarity, followed by Pinkie, then Applejack soon after.” Spike stopped to take another sip of his tea. “Soon after Twilight began to cut herself off from the world outside her castle. Me leaving for the Dragon Kingdom’s roughly Ninety years after AJ’s death didn’t help, and a mere week later Princess Celestia passed on. Now the only Ponies she lets into the castle are Cadance, Flurry Heart, Luna and her daughter, and myself. Oh and the Mayor for their regular meetings. But that's about it, heck if I didn’t come back I don’t think she’d even bother getting out of bed-”
“Spike? Who are you talking to?” Came a voice from the hallway. The owner of the voice stepped into the room and started glaring at the two visitors. “Spike I told you NO pony is allowed in here!”
“Twilight they were sent by Cada-” Spike began.
“I don’t care!” Twilight cried and picked the two up in her magic.
The next thing they knew they were flung out the door and into the street. “Well, that happened...” Aurelia groaned.
“We should have expected this.” Ashura sighed as they got back on their hooves.
“What do we do now?”
“I guess all we can do right now is book a room at a hotel and try again tomorrow.” Ashura stated.
Aurelia sighed and hung her head. "Maybe we should speak to the mayor about this?"
"Hey yeah! Spike did say the Princess does have regular meetings with her. Maybe she can tell us something!" Ashura concluded as they started to head to the town hall.
A few minutes later...
“I’m getting the feeling like we’re being followed.” Ashura answered while discreetly looking at their surroundings.
“Really?” Aurelia looked around. “I don’t see any WOAH!” Aurelia cried as she almost bumped into a Light brown colt that was staring at them.
“Hello!” The colt cried with a smile.
“Uh, hi there random colt.” Ashura replied in confusion.
“Colt! I’m a fully grown stallion thank you very much!” The colt cried.
“But your half my hei- oh your a little pony aren’t you?” Ashura asked in realization.
“Yes, and you're a stallion that looks like a mare!” The stallion teased back.
“What!” Ashura cried and glared at the mini stallion, all the while Aurelia's trying to hold in her laughter.
"My name is Lil' Lovey, but you can call me Lovey!"
