Dear Applejack,
I'm afraid your letter must have been lost in the mail, because I did not receive your reply to my last. Fear not, though, I feel I know exactly what you said. You must have been so grateful for the Gala tickets, but you weren't able to attend due to business on the farm. That must be why you didn't show up, right? I'll have to have a word with my mailmare here in Canterlot. She loses everything! The letters from the others have been getting mixed up too. I don't even receive them anymore! At least I can still talk to you, though.
Hey, have a word with Rarity about business with the boutique, will you? Last I heard, she was a famous fashion designer! Please let me know how al the others are doing too. I
Twilight paused, thinking about the next line. She had expressed every greeting and question in her previous letters. What was left for her to say?
hope you write soon.
Your friend,
Twilight Sparkle
Her letters grew shorter and shorter every day. Last week she had received a letter from Applejack's daughter, apologizing and giving her the condolences of the family. Twilight had laughed it off. It wasn't their fault that Applejack was too busy to come to the Gala! Twilight smiled, and rolled up the letter, sending it to Sweet Apple Acres with a burst of pink magic from her horn. She would have to visit PonyVille soon.
"Your Highness," Her personal Royal Guard said from a crack in the door, "Dinner is served in the main hall." As Twilight followed him out, she wondered what had happened to Flash. Perhaps he was no longer serving in Canterlot? She hoped he would return soon. Dinner was a crispy dandelion salad accompanied by apple strudels, pastries, and pies, and daffodil sandwiches cut into flower shapes.
"Applejack's letter got lost in the mail again." Twilight missed the worried glance between the two other attending princesses. "I'll have to speak with Nifty Flight about it. She loses EVERYTHING these days."
Luna cleared her throat, looking at Celestia again before continuing. "Perhaps you should visit PonyVille next week, Twilight. You know, to catch up with the Apple Family, maybe?" The princess of the night flinched under her sister's sudden glare. Twilight watched, confused. What had she missed between the two of them? Were they fighting again?
"Yes..." She hesitated, not wanting to disturb the fragile atmosphere. "I think I will. I can't wait to see everypony again." They finished their dinner in silence. "Well, I think I'll get some rest. Goodnight, everypony." Twilight said cheerfully, as the last of the dishes were cleared away. She left the table with her personal guard escorting her. In the instant that she was out of earshot, Celestia whirled around on Luna, eyes blazing.
"Why would you suggest something like that? We both know what she will find!"
"Maybe it will help her. She can't go on not knowing that her friends have passed."
"No! I will not stand for it!"
"So it's this 'game' again, is it, Tia? Twilight has to be aware of her surroundings if she is ever to gain higher status! What princess knows not of her own friends deaths?"
"Well, I must say, you didn't, while spending one thousand winters on the moon! Snowdrop didn't even get to say goodbye! She was all alone, with no friends to comfort her in her last days!"
Luna flinched, her eyes filling with hurt. "And now, neither do Twilight's friends. Twilight wasn't a monster like I was. She didn't deserve to be separated from her friends like I did. You have to stop protecting her!"
Celestia's anger faded as she watched tears drip of Luna's face and onto the pristine carpet. "Oh sister," She gasped, pulling Luna into a tight embrace. "What have I done?"
In Twilight's chambers, the light dimmed. She couldn't help but wonder if her friend's letters were really getting lost as she slid under the covers. Maybe... Maybe they don't want to be my friends anymore... At the thought, her eyes opened wide. She began trembling under the blankets and tears slid down her face. Oh Celestia! I've been a terrible friend! I have to make it up to them! Even though it was a comforting thought, she cried herself to sleep.
Dear Rarity,
I worry that I've been a terrible friend! Please, let me know if I've been doing anything to anger you! I just want to get a letter from you again. I really do hope that Nifty Flight has been losing your letters. If so, I can dismiss her and get a new mailpony! Please, please write back!
Your friend,
Twilight Sparkle
The candle flickered, sending shadows dancing across the parchment. Tears still ran down Twilight's face as she rolled up the letter with such fear and desperation that it nearly tore. The frantic burst of magic illuminated her face, red and blotchy where tears had dried. Had she really disregarded her friends' needs and wellbeing so much that they refused to write to her?
A choked sob escaped her throat, and almost immediately, the door creaked open. Twilight turned, to see Celestia standing in the doorway. A horrified look crossed the white alicorn's face as she took in the scene. Blankets and quill pens strewn everywhere in a frantic search for more parchment, ink spilled on the mahogany desk by an unsteady hoof. With just a simple teleportation spell, Twilight was wrapped in an embrace warmed by magic.
"Twilight, I'm so sorry... Who told you?" So it was true. Her friends- they were no longer her friends. Ripping herself away from Celestia, Twilight made a decision.
"Let me ask you something. Why didn't YOU tell me?! Why did you let me go on believing everything was FINE?!" She sobbed. Celestia flinched away at her volume.
"I-"
"NO! No excuses! Not this time! You were always stalling me, occupying me with some "important" papers, preventing me from seeing my friends! Because of YOU, thy aren't even my friends anymore!"
Tears filled Celestia's eyes as she realized that Twilight hadn't made the right discovery, as she realized that SHE would have to tell her the truth.
"Twilight... Your friends love you very much..."
"But?" A stray tear fell from Celestia's muzzle.
"But I'm afraid you can't see them now."
"Because of my 'duties'?"
"N-no... Twilight... Your friends...."
Silence. Then, "What?"
Silence. "What happened to them?!"
Celestia stepped forward. "Twilight, you must know by now that alicorns have.... Extended... Lives..."
"...And?"
"Twilight, normal ponies do not... What may have seemed like two or three years to you has been one hundred years for them."
Twilight's eyes widened. "They aren't...? They're not.... D-de...." The purple alicorn slumped forward, eyes rolling back into her head.
