Homeward Bound

by The Collapsed Library

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Luna, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Random, Princess Celestia, Alternate Universe, Twilight Sparkle, Sad
Length: 2066

A collection of pieces written at the crack of dawn

Current premise: Twelve years the war dragged on, taking countless lives, and at last it is finished. As the survivors pick up the pieces, a new world beckons them; new and terrifying, it will test all who live there. One thing is certain, nothing will be the same.

Basically an ever-growing collection of one-shots I write at early-o-clock, just because I can. They'll follow the general premise, which will change from time to time, that I've come up with above, but will be as diverse as I can make them.

--NOTE--
This will probably become a catch-all for various Ideas I have that I feel wont pan out.

Published 2016-03-23 20:10:02 UTC
Last updated 2018-05-19 02:34:22 UTC

Into the West

The soldier felt nothing as he opened his eyes, it was only as he shifted that he felt it: A fiery pain in his chest, and he dared not move his head for fear of eliciting more pain. Letting his head rest on... whatever it is his head was resting on, he simply continued to gaze up at the sky and its beautiful violet hues. He could not remember whether it had been night or day before he lost consciousness. His view was suddenly dominated by a lavender mare. Slowly, as if his thoughts came from miles away, he realized that he was staring at his princess. Gazing upon her however, he no longer saw the princess of magic, nor the mare he'd met so long ago. As he stared at her tear stained face, he saw the child of days gone by. With a grunt he forced his hoof up in order to brush away her tears. As his hoof brushed against her cheek, she reached up to hold it and began to openly sob.

"Don't... Don't cry Twilight." He pleaded despite the pain from his chest, " you needn't cry over me."

"I mu... must cry for something, I've failed." She sobbed, before his hoof gently wiped away her fresh tears.

"You've not failed Twilight, the battle's over isn't it?" He smiled, "and you've even made it out alive."

"This wasn't a success, it was a slaughter." She looked away as guilt and anger flashed across her face. "Damn those nobles."

For a long time they just sat there, all he could do was stare at her as she battled with her emotions. He had long lowered his hoof, and now he just waited for death. Looking as far away from Twilight as he could, he continued to gaze at the stars. He thought about how he'd gotten mixed up in this mess: there had been a missive sent, he'd been visiting when it happened; then he'd accompanied her to the battlefield, some beach if he remembered correctly, as the soldiers had been getting ready. She'd said a few words, inspired the troops, and then they'd began the waiting game. The initial skirmishes had come out of nowhere, with enough ferocity to decimate the front line. That had been when the real fight had begun. He remembered losing men left and right, then there was a flash and the sensation of flying, and that had to be when he lost consciousness.

Taking stock of his current condition, there was little doubt of what awaited him. Glancing back to the mare sitting in the sand next to him, he sucked in a breath of air before talking, "Twilight?"

Her ears perked at the sound of his voice, and she turned back to him with concern etched on her face. "Yes," she answered, "what is it?"

"What do you think awaits us?" As he asked it, he watched her face, and saw the uncertainty written there.

"I don't know-" Before she could finish he kept talking.

"Because I've always wondered..." He stopped to gulp down more air, "wondered if we'll just keep on going, or if there's just nothing, if we'll just cease after our last breath. It terrifies me that I'll soon find out and I would just like to hear your thoughts on it."

As she took in his question, he saw a quick flash of confusion in her eyes, quickly replaced by the confidence she was known for. She stood straight and looked back at him.

"Can I show you something? I'll need to prop you up so you can see it."

"Sure... I can't feel most of my body anyways." Quickly and gently would be the two words the soldier would've used to describe her helping him sit up. When they were finally facing the ocean, he couldn't help but gape at the spectacle before him. The stars appeared to be dancing across the horizon, flitting in and out of the water while their neighbors waited for... Something.

"What do you see on the horizon?" As she asked it, he felt her tighten her grip on his shoulder.

"The stars, dancing." He felt as he'd said it, that that was somehow incorrect.

"That's not what I see." Glancing over at her, he once again saw tears staining her cheeks.

"What do you see Twilight?"

"I see ships, made of starlight." As she said it he too began to see them, they were exquisitely built: they each had four masts, with billowing sails catching some unknown breeze; their prows each had a matching owl figurehead, each with a certain uniqueness about it in order to differentiate the ships.

"What are they?"

"They come after every great battle," as she said it he continued to watch them come closer, and then he caught something out of the corner of his eye. It was almost transparent, an equine shaped light; and there, another of them, hundreds of the lights were moving towards the shore.

"They've come to take you home." He turned to face her, and saw in her eyes joy, "go, there are ponies waiting for you." Suddenly he felt like standing up, and as he did so, the lights he'd been seeing turned into ponies, mares and stallions he'd just met, and those who he'd known for some time. There were those he'd fought with this day as well, walking shoulder to shoulder with their pony counterparts. Turning to Twilight, he saw tears of joy shimmering on her eyelashes. rushing back to her, he gave her one last hug.

"Thank you Twilight, for everything."

"I should be thanking you... Now go, they're waiting for you." Pulling away, he smiled before turning and walking to the shore.

As the ships left that night, he gazed back at the shore for a moment, and felt thousands of eyes follow his, to see Twilight waving goodbye. Waving back, he felt nothing but joy in his heart. Turning back to the distant shore, he couldn't help but let a few tears fall at the sight before him.

As she watched the ships pass back to their realm, she could no longer bury her despair. Going back to where she'd been sitting, she couldn't help but embrace the body of her friend.

Author's Note

Hooray for early morning crapshoots! I just felt like writing this, after listening to this. Any criticisms are welcome, please try to keep them constructive though. There will probably be more chapters to this (I know I'll do at least one more) so if people like it then :yay: yay.

(No Premise, 0 edits) I Could Do So Much More

Twilight gasped for air.

She could scarcely remember why she was so short of breath, the last three hours or so had been engulfed in a red haze. What she did remember however, left little need to retrace her steps.

One could hardly blame her for flying into a rage when a giant red centaur reduced her home to rubble.

Standing in the middle of their battlefield, Twilight had been outflanked.

Tirek stood before her, using her captured friends as meat-shields, offering her a choice: Turn over her magic, or watch those she cared about suffer. Almost as soon as he finished giving his ultimatum, her friends began to object--their voices flowing together and merging into one incoherent stream of noise. She wouldn't have heard much anyways with the blood bounding in her ears. Although as the chaotic noise finally died down two voices eventually made themselves heard.

"Don't do it Twilight!" Rainbow Dash shouted, the sorrowful look on her face etching itself into Twilight's memory.

Oh how she'd miss seeing that face.

"We're not worth it!" Fluttershy cried, tears streaming down her cheeks and pooling in the bottom of the bubble that held her.

She would see those tears every night.

"... You're right." The words she spoke were soft, so soft even Discord, with his superior hearing, couldn't quite make out what she said.

"What was that Princess Twilight?" Tirek mocked, punctuating his words with laughter, "I couldn't quite hear you, maybe you should speak up!!!"

"You're right, you aren't worth it." As she spoke, her eyes drifted to each of her friends, "It's not even that hard of a decision really," she reasoned, "six lives to save millions more, anyone would take that choice. I could end this fight right now, and history would most likely forget about your fate, about how I could've saved you. I could go on to do so much in your memory, striving to ensure future generations remember and learn the lessons your lives teach. I could lead Equestria into a golden age, the likes of which would never have be seen" Twilight's sight finally drifted across Discord, curled in on himself as the realization of what he'd done took it's tole. He was the newest member of her circle of friends, and despite everything that he'd done she still felt he was her friend. His mistakes were vast and varied, many came from the past few days, but he would learn from them. She felt the tears rise unbidden as she looked at his defeated form, waiting for execution.

She wished she hadn't.

"I COULD DO SO MUCH MORE!!!" She screamed, the suddenness of it startling her friends and even causing Discord to flinch. "SO MUCH MORE!!" She felt herself collapse to the dirt, tears obscuring the forms of her friends.

There never was a choice, not really.

"I guess we'll never find out." She stated as she wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at Tirek.

She'd never be able to live with herself if they died.

"Do it." She growled, the embers of her hatred for the centaur fanning in this last moment, as she ignored the pleas of her friends, as she ignored the future that might've been.

She watched as Tirek activated his magic, she felt it as he lifted her into the air so he could look her eye-to-eye.

Then he pulled.

Celestia and Twilight had talked once about what it meant to be an alicorn, about how every alicorn exists as a representation of a concept, idea given form.

They'd never figured out what hers was.

They'd sat in the gardens of Canterlot Castle for hours theorizing about what she could represent, friendship was the likeliest answer they'd arrived at. But the other Alicorns had remained doubtful. Perhaps she represented knowledge, or somesuch thing Luna had said. While Cadence was still of the firm belief that she represented something far larger, far grander than anything they could possibly imagine.

Twilight had kept her final guess to herself.

In the moment that he began draining her magic, Tirek found out.

She was magic.

As he drew more of her magic out, there was always more to fill it's space. She was like a fountain, gushing magical energy and never running out.

Or more precisely, an infinite magical battery.

and anypony knew not to tamper with a battery.

He looked in her eyes and saw that same steel from before, and in that moment he knew something was wrong.

For one thing he couldn't turn the damned spell off.

Another was that she was smirking.

"What's the matter Tirek?" Twilight mocked her smirk growing even more as her coat began to change to a blinding white, "Can't you take it?"

He tried to back away,

her mane and tail caught fire.

He tried to escape,

she somehow became even brighter.

Then the light disappeared,

and quiet reigned once more in Equestria.

Author's Note

IM ALIIIIIVE!!!
*lightning flashes*
*Thunder crashes*
*horses whinny*

This was an experiment to see if I could properly write a scene, it's not meant to be anything (unless someone wants that) I just wanted to see if I could still do it.

To anyone wondering about my other stories, FEAR NOT!!!

I'm wholly planning to get back to writing them, I even have some chapters mostly done on each of them from forever ago(fun!) I'm currently working on a proper storyline for Should I? instead of a dartboard with ideas taped to it(more or less) or Manatees with idea balls(they never listened anyways).

See you all in the next chapter!
HAVE ALL THE MOUSTACHES!!!
:moustache::moustache::moustache::moustache::moustache::moustache::moustache::moustache::moustache::moustache::moustache::moustache::moustache::moustache::moustache: