"Yes, chancellor. Of course!" Twilight said to the voice in the crystal ball, trying her best to maintain a professional attitude.
"And what about the issue with Sir Crescent Banner? Has that been resolved, as well?" the voice asked in a rather snooty tone.
"No, Your Highness," the princess reluctantly informed. "I'm still working on it."
"Still working on it?" the voice repeated in an irritated tone. "You've been working on it for the past three weeks now!"
"Forgive me, Your Highness, but--"
"And furthermore," he interrupted the princess. "The last report you sent me about the findings in Stargem valley is outdated! My informant just brought me a report from our scouts about the events from last week and it still a lot more recent than the one your messenger delivered to me just three days ago!"
"T-there must be some sort of mistake!" Twilight insisted in a somewhat desperate tone.
"The only mistake here was me putting my trust in your capabilities, princess! I've been patient with you for long enough." The voice continued after cursing in a dialect unfamiliar to the princess. "I am giving you three more days to resolve the issue with Crescent Banner, as well as deliver me a full report about the newest findings in Stagem valley!"
"Three days?" Twilight exclaimed. "But that's--"
"Make no mistake, princess. Should you fail to hold up your end of the bargain, I will be forced to look for a more reliable ally in this matter."
"But I--"
"Three more days, princess Twilight... Three more days." With those words, the connection between the two ponies was severed.
Frowning and letting out a sigh of despair, Twilight stepped away from the table with the sphere on it. "Sometimes I can't help but feel like we would have been better off with just sticking to writing letters instead."
Stepping even further away from the table, the princess stopped to take a look outside the window, at the clear skies without a single cloud in them. At the streets full of happy ponies who had no idea about the sort of trouble the princess had to go through every day, and just generally at the Ponyville that she had spent most of her life in... The day was beautiful, or, as Twilight would've called it -- dull.
Letting out a short sigh from sheer boredom, Twilight balanced her elbow on the windowsill and held her chin up with the same foreleg. "Where's a crazy lunatic trying to take over Equestria when you need one?" Just mere moments after she had made herself more comfortable, the crystal ball on the table started glowing again. "Uggh!" she groaned as she started walking back to the table. "Can't a pony have so much as a minute of peace and quiet around here!?" she shouted. A split second before answering the call, she turned her infuriated expression into a fake smile. "Hello! You've reached Twilight Sparkle's kingdom of friendship! How may I help you?" she asked and kept smiling.
It seemed like the voice was about to say something, but it remained silent, only letting out an exhausted exhale.
"Don't be shy! Here at Twilight Sparkle's kingdom of friendship, we're all friends!"
"Twilight?" the tired, old voice addressed her.
"Hello good Sir! How may the princess of friendship assist you on this fine afternoon?"
The voice chuckled before answering. "Gods... Your voice hasn't aged a bit..." The author of the voice paused for a moment and coughed a few times. "It's nice to hear your voice again, Twilight."
The princess didn't answer right away. She only furrowed her brows as she tried to recall all of her recent and not-so-recent conversations, and not a single one of the ponies she had spoken to sounded even remotely as old as this one. "Forgive me, kind Sir, but I seem to have misplaced the memory of our last conversation... Who is it that I have the honor of speaking to?" she asked politely.
"It's Inhio, Twilight... Inhio Hellbridge," the voice introduced itself.
"Inhio..." Twilight quietly repeated. Why does that name not ring any bells? she wondered. She was just about to ask him to provide a few more details about their last conversation, but then it finally dawned on her. Just as she recalled the seemingly-unfamiliar name, she let out a gasp of sheer astonishment. "Inhio!"
The old man chuckled. "How's it going, Twilight?"
"What happened to you, Inhio? You sound so... old."
"I am old, Twilight." He laughed quietly.
"Well, yeah, but I mean, not much older than me," she told him with a wry smile on her face.
"I'm not an alicorn, remember?"
"What's that supposed to m--" she blurted out without thinking, afterwards interrupting herself with a loud gasp. "Oh my goodness..." She covered her mouth. "Hang on!" she exclaimed and began casting a spell that surrounded both her and the crystal sphere.
After a short moment, she disappeared into the sphere and reappeared in very different room. Shaking her head after the exhausting spell, she took a look around and instantly noticed a very old man with white hair and a long white beard, sitting on a chair, next to the table with the crystal ball on it. Her expression was baffled, at first. Both her eyes and mouth were wide open, and it almost seemed as though she wanted to cry, whereas the old man simply stared back at her with the most cordial of smiles covering his wrinkly face.
"Oh my goodness... Inhio..." Twilight stepped closer and threw her forelegs around the old man's shoulders. Inhio gladly returned the hug. Despite the happy reunion, Twilight's eyes instantly gave into tears.
"I've missed you, Twilight," Inhio gladly admitted after disengaging from the hug and staring into Twilight's teary eyes.
"Has it really been so long?" the princess quietly asked.
"Longer than I would have wanted, that's for sure." The old man laughed.
"Oh, Inhio..." Twilight whispered and hugged her old friend a second time. "I'm so sorry we stopped contacting you..."
"It's okay, Twilight."
"Things have just been so tedious in Equestria lately!" she ranted. "It's starting to feel like they made me and my friends alicorns just so we could help the other princesses with their political affairs! I'm actually starting to consider un-reforming Discord just to have something other to do than sorting through paperwork and accepting calls from snooty royals, for pony's sake!" she shouted and threw her forelegs into the air.
Inhio couldn't help but laugh at the notion. "Well, now... That does sound like a recipe for a fun afternoon."
"Oh, you have no idea how much I miss having to save Equestria from power-hungry lunatics!" she said without exaggerating and sighed. A barely visible but heartfelt smile crept onto her lips as she looked to the floor and started recalling her past adventures.
Inhio gave her a few moments to calm her thoughts and then quietly asked, "That bad, huh?"
"It is, Inhio... it is," she answered just as quietly and sighed again, her expression now devoid of any cheerful emotions. "Back then, I could never really realize what an important role those events played in my life, but now..." She frowned and closed her eyes. "I'd give anything just to relive any one of those days again..."
"Funny you should mention..." Inhio added. Twilight's curiosity was immediately peeked. "I was actually hoping to see Equestria again... If maybe just one last time."
"Of course, Inhio." Twilight smiled and placed her hoof on the man's shoulder. "Hang on!" closing her eyes, she exclaimed as her horn started glowing.
***
No more than a few seconds later, the two individuals were already back at Twilight's castle. Leaning on his cane, Inhio helped himself get up and took a good look around himself.
"Seems you're not the only thing that hasn't changed a bit..."
The princess giggled. "Well, I wouldn't say a bit..." she slyly added while hinting at the round table in the center of the room, which now seemed much less like a dining table and more like a business table. Various documents and writing tools surrounded nearly every inch of it. "It's been decades since the cutie map has called any of us anywhere, and seemingly even longer since me and my friends have gathered around it..." She hung her head. "Piece by piece, I just had to bury all the good memories under piles of paperwork."
"I see..." Inhio whispered. "What happened between you and them? ... You're still friends, aren't you?"
"We are... just..." Twilight hung her head in sadness and looked away. "Not in the same way as before... Ever since all the actual threats stopped endangering Equestria, all of us found our hooves always full with whatever our roles as princesses of Equestria required of us."
"You mean... they also all live like this now?" the man curiously inquired.
"Not exactly," the alicorn replied and shook her head. "But similar... They don't deal with paperwork, but from what I've heard, they would even prefer my job over their own..."
"You can't be serious..." Inhio said in disbelief. "Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, even Pinkie Pie? How could they possibly take this over what they've always loved doing?"
"See, that's the thing... one can only love their own element up to a certain extent... The things they've been doing lately... it's nothing but a travesty of what it once was," Twilight sadly explained.
"How so?"
"Pinkie Pie, the princess of entertainment... Ever since she took on the role, she thought it would mean endless partying in places all over Equestria, when in truth, all she does lately is just make massive lists containing details of all the parties she has to organize. As the lists grew ever longer, she soon found herself no longer able to actually attend any of the parties herself, but rather just arranging them to go according to the client's wishes."
"That doesn't sound like the Pinkie I know..." Inhio added.
"It doesn't..." Twilight agreed and frowned. "To tell the truth, she just hasn't been herself lately... With how fast she has to serve every customer, it sometimes almost seems like she no longer even recognizes me as I visit Sugarcube Corner."
Barely able to believe his ears, Inhio gazed at Twilight's saddened expression and realized it truly didn't hold the slightest sign of lies or exaggeration. "That is truly sad news..." His expression mimicked Twilight's. "What about Fluttershy? She still takes care of animals, doesn't she?"
"She does..." Twilight quietly responded and went silent for a moment.
"But not in the same way as before?" Inhio read the words from her face.
Twilight nodded. "Who better to nurse somepony's wounded pet back to health than the princess of the woodlands herself? ... Or so everypony thought... Instead of just a single cottage, Fluttershy is now in charge of an entire facility, and all of the attention she's been getting lately..." Inhio opened his mouth from slight shock as he saw a single tear escape Twilight's eye. "The poor girl hasn't had a chance to just lie down and relax at the heart of nature in ages..."
Inhio kept staring at her with the same expression for some time before hanging his head in sorrow. "I... I'm not sure I even want to hear more..."
"It's not so bad for the others, I suppose..." Twilight added, knocking the man out of his sadness for a moment and drawing his attention. "True, they're all working themselves to the bone, but, miraculously enough, they still manage to do it with a smile on their faces. There's not an outfit left in Equestria that wouldn't have the seal of the princess of finery on it. Applejack, A.K.A. the princess of welfare still enjoys working the fields and providing food for everypony, and the self-proclaimed princess of the skies gets all the praise she could have ever dreamed of," she finished her sentence with a smile.
"Princess of the skies, eh?" Inhio repeated. "Taking a break from being a Wonderbolt, I assume?"
"Spitfire's got that covered, for now."
"Spitfire?" Inhio exclaimed, sounding rather amazed. "She's still teaching new recruits?"
"And how!" Twilight confirmed. "It might seem like she's just a cranky old lady at times, but as soon one of the new recruits dares to try slacking off, they always end up personally finding out just how Spitfire got her name." She laughed. Inhio also joined in on the laughing.
"Can't say I'm surprised." As the room filled up with laughter, both of them quickly forgot about their depressing conversation from earlier. "So it's not all bad then."
"Eeh... No," Twilight reluctantly admitted after exhaling loudly. "It's just..." She paused for a moment and walked over to the window and gazed outside. Slowly and steadily, the old man followed her, helping himself move forward on every step using his cane. "Everything has become so tedious..." she continued after her companion joined her side. "So repetitive... So... mundane."
Taking a look outside the window, Inhio saw that the heart of Ponyville seemed to look exactly the way he recalled it. About the only things that were different about it were the homes of Twilight's friends, which had expanded dramatically in size and would now bear signs saying things like "Pinkie's Prime Entertainment Palace" and "Passion for Fashion". Fluttershy's cottage seemed to have undergone the biggest changes of all, now being a massive facility taking up a large part of what used to be the Everfree forest."
"Is this how you used to feel like back before you met us?" Twilight suddenly asked. "Like every day's the same. Like time has become irrelevant, and seemingly meaningful events that occurred months ago feel like they happened just--"
"Yes," Inhio interrupted and stared deeply into Twilight's eyes. "That is exactly how I used to feel," he confirmed.
The two of them kept their saddened looks fixed on each other for a short while before Twilight hung her head, nesting it on her forelegs which she was holding crossed over the windowsill. "Then that only makes me twice as sorry we stopped contacting you..."
"Given the circumstances, I can't say I blame you one bit... With how exciting your lives have been over these last few decades, I imagine you had thought that you'd be showing mercy by not bringing me here."
Twilight suddenly awoke from her downed state upon hearing those words. "That's... actually pretty accurate," she said in approval. "At first, after all of the more exciting events stopped occurring in Equestria, we had just thought that we'd wait for something interesting to happen before calling you again... but nothing ever did happen... We just kept postponing it at first, thinking that we'd have to get a good chance sooner or later, but as the days became months, and months became years..." She chose to leave her sentence unfinished... Her expression said everything by itself.
"You blame yourself for what happened, don't you?" Inhio asked compassionately.
"How can I not?" Twilight immediately counter-questioned. "Here we were, absorbed in our work, but also always remaining young and strong while time only kept eating away at you..." She released the windowsill and placed all four of her hooves back on the ground and faced her conversation partner. "You seemed so full of life the last time we met..." She was forced to close her eyes from the pain she felt in her heart and looked away. "I just can't believe we let this happen to you! If you hadn't contacted me now, then..." The horrid notion that Twilight had in her mind proved too hard for her to say out loud.
"Don't be silly, Twilight." Inhio knelt down on one knee and placed his palm under Twilight's chin, turning her head towards himself. "I already lived every dream that I never thought possible thanks to you and your friends... I wouldn't even dare ask for more." He smiled at her. Her own expression also quickly lightened up after hearing such comforting words. "Though I was kinda hoping for just one last adventure together."
"Oh, you're getting it! Like it or not!" Twilight answered with a determined smile on her face. "Come on! We've no time to lose!" she exclaimed and started trotting towards the door. "You coming, old man?" she asked with a sly smile on her face as she held the door open for Inhio.
"Hold your horses, darn it!" the old man shouted and laughed as he followed her as quickly as he could. "I haven't done any running in years!"
***
The seemingly young princess of friendship only giggled as she trotted through the town with an old man trying desperately to catch up to her.
"Darn it, Twilight!" Inhio cursed and shook his cane at Twilight. "You're going to get me to breathe my last breath before I even get to go on that journey with you!" Despite his seemingly harsh words, the old man was still full of joy.
Letting out another round of cheerful laughter, Twilight finally stopped running and let Inhio catch up. As he reached her, he began panting so heavily it really did seem like he was about to breathe his last. "Easy there, old man," she said in a playful tone. "Have a sit, catch your breath before you burst a blood vessel." She directed him towards a nearby bench.
"Don't mind... *pant* If I do..." Taking a few slow steps towards the bench, Inhio turned around and dropped his haunches on the bench with a heavy exhale and reclined against the building the bench was next to.
Twilight couldn't help but giggle at the sight. "Sorry, inhio..." She sat down beside him. "I haven't had a chance to do anything even remotely fun in years... Compared to my usual routine, even a small trot through the town seems like an adventure."
"No need to apologize, Twilight," Inhio happily admitted after he stopped panting and smiled at her. "I've been wanting to remember what it used to be like, too."
While the two old friends kept smiling at one another, a certain other princess was busy patrolling the skies and happened to be passing through Ponyville at that moment. The years had not dulled her senses, and her keen eyes could still notice everything going on in the streets no worse than the eyes of any eagle. She immediately spotted her good friend keeping a strange guest company and decided to fly down and say hello.
"Hey Twilight," Rainbow Dash greeted her past friend in a casual tone upon descending, drawing both Twilight's and Inhio's attention towards herself. "Long time no see."
"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight immediately jumped towards her and gave her a warm welcome hug. "It's so wonderful to see you again."
"He he... yeah... You too, Twilight," she replied sheepishly and hugged her back, but nowhere near as heartily.
"It's been too long, if you ask me," Twilight added after disengaging from the hug. "You remember our mutual friend, don't you?" She stepped aside and directed Rainbow's attention towards her unusual companion.
"Uhm... I'm pretty sure I would have recalled someone like that if I knew em..." she replied and rubbed the back of her head.
"Oh, come now, Rainbow," Inhio addressed her in a friendly tone. "Never took you for somepony that forgets about someone you promised to beat in a race."
"Huh?" The confused sky princess raised an eyebrow at him. "Wait... No way," Rainbow blurted out and widened both her eyes and her mouth. She kept staring in shock for a good moment before she dared utter another word. "Inhio!?"
Chuckling at first and coughing a few times afterwards, the old man replied, "I've missed you, too, Rainbow."
"How... what?"
"Inhio's not an alicorn, remember?" Twilight explained to her baffled friend. "He's not immortal, like us."
"But... But..." Rainbow Dash shook her head from the sudden revelation that was simply too much to bear. "Why are you so old? You looked as young as any of us the last time we saw you."
"And pray tell me, when was the last time you saw me?" Inhio counter-questioned.
"Not too long ago. I think it was last..." She paused for a moment and rubbed her chin while pondering on something. "No wait, it was before that... I think it was... Hmm... Aha! Got it! It was..." She kept her mouth open, ready to say something, and her expression seemed full of enthusiasm for a moment, but then, her jaw just suddenly dropped as she realized just how long it's been. "No..." she whispered sadly and shook her head.
"Apparently time flies even faster than you do, Rainbow Dash," Inhio added.
"But that's... I..."
"I was surprised too, believe me," Twilight interjected and placed her hoof on Rainbow's shoulder. She offered a comforting smile to her friend as she stared back at her with a saddened expression.
"Jeez, Inhio..." Rainbow Dash uttered after a loud sigh. "I would say It's good to see you again, but... y'know..." She raised her head and gazed into Inhio's eyes with a face full of remorse. "I never thought the next time we'd see each other would be like this."
"None of us did," Twilight added and Inhio nodded in approval.
"Guess we'll have to cancel that race, huh?"
"Why?" Inhio asked playfully. "You afraid of losing to an old man?"
"Ha ha ha!" Rainbow dash laughed. "Beard longer than my tail, but still the same Inhio I used to know and love."
"Seems you haven't aged a day, either. Neither mentally, nor physically."
"You know it!" she proudly confirmed. "Like I say, "Awesomeness doesn't age.""
"Hm... Not a bad quote, really," Inhio admitted. "For some reason I get the feeling your friends get to hear that a lot from you."
"Too often," Twilight answered and rolled her eyes, making Rainbow Dash put on a sheepish grin. "Speaking of which..." She took a few steps away from her two companions. "Rainbow? A word with you in private, please," she called her friend over to herself.
"Sure, Twilight," Rainbow Dash replied and instantly joined her side. "What's up?" she asked and got her answer in the form of a barely audible whisper in her ear. "You got it, Twi!" She saluted and took off. Not wasting any time, she disappeared from their view after just mere seconds.
"Keeping secrets from me, already?" Inhio inquired as soon as the princess that stayed behind got back to him.
Twilight giggled before answering, "Don't worry. You'll find out soon enough," she said with a smile that couldn't possibly hold any lies.
***
Turns out the task that Twilight had assigned Rainbow Dash to wasn't all that easy... Nevertheless, she had faith in her friend, and her faith did not let her down.
No more than twenty minutes later, the same rainbow-maned alicorn was already on her way back, and in the company of four other princesses, no less.
"We came as fast as we could..." Rarity breathed out as soon as she reached Twilight's earshot, still panting rather heavily. "Rainbow Dash said it was urgent, and that--" She cut her own sentence short with a loud gasp from sheer shock. The four sets of surprised and wide-eyed faces quickly found themselves locked on Twilight's strange companion. "Sweet Celestia! ... Inhio... is that really you?" she asked in naive hopes that the man would say "no"... Alas, he could only answer with a nod as firm as the smile covering his lips. "Inhio, darling, what has happened to you? ... You look..."
"Old?" Pinkie Pie interjected.
"That's putting it mildly."
"Aww, sugarcube..." Applejack said compassionately and took off her hat. "We're sorry we--" Before she could say another word, the man in front of them simply burst into laughter.
"Remarkable!" Inhio exclaimed and stood up. "You've sprouted wings and horns and aged several decades, and yet, none of you have changed a bit!" He kept on laughing cheerfully as he took a few steps closer to them and dropped on his knees in front of them. "Give an old man a hug, you darlings and sugarcubes!" As he threw his arms sideways, not even a split second passed before the six ponies jumped at him with tears of joy already shimmering inside their eyes. "I've missed you so much..." he whispered while his palms gently caressed the backs of the two ponies they covered.
***
Despite the lack of excitement in their lives since their last adventure together, the seven old friends still had a lot of catching up to do, and so they just sat there for hours, telling each other about the more memorable events that they had gone through.
"He he he. Yup! No more Rainbow crash! Been called nothing but "princess of the skies" ever since!" Rainbow Dash proudly finished her monologue.
"Fascinating!" Inhio replied, only further boosting Rainbow's ego. "I feel like I could spend the rest of my days here, just listening to the voices I've missed more than the deserts miss the rain." Inhio smiled at each of them before letting out a sigh of regret. "But from what I've heard, the six of you don't have that much time left to spare these days..." He hung his head. As he kept his head lowered, the six ponies shared a series of sad glances between one another. Sad glances that quickly turned into sincere smiles.
"It can wait," Twilight declared as she and her friends stood up. "You said you wanted to go on a journey with us..." All of them instantly donned smiles full of determination after Twilight's last remark. "Wherever you wanna go, we're here for you, Inhio!" Her friends all nodded in approval.
"Actually..." Inhio interjected. "There's no need to go anywhere..."
"Huh?" the ponies uttered with their eyebrows raised.
"I've had my fill of adventures in life, and as I sit here dwelling in all of the wonderful memories I've lived through, I feel like any breath I take could very well be my last... and I would very much like to take that last breath here, on Equestrian soil," he explained and smiled at the ponies whose eyes his words had just filled up with sorrow. "Consider that to be the last wish of more than just one old coot."
His words confused the ponies, at first. It took Twilight some time to pick up on the meaning behind Inhio's riddle. "Wait... You don't mean--"
"Who else?" Inhio interrupted.
"Star Swirl the Bearded..." Twilight quietly finished her sentence.
"The old sage has seen more of planet Earth than he would have wanted... More than anything, Star Swirl just wants to just see his homeland again."
"But..." Twilight uttered, but couldn't say anything more than that.
"Go home, Twilight," Inhio calmly suggested and started walking back towards the bench. "Seeing the six of you together again has filled up the void that had settled in my heart over the last few decades, and for that I will be forever grateful to you." He continued after sitting down. "I have no desire to take up any more of your precious time... I am sure all of you have more important things to do."
"Don't be silly, silly!" Pinkie rejected the notion. "There's nothing more important than your friends!"
"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash agreed. "So stop acting like you're already... y'know..."
"Dead?" Inhio asked.
"Yeah... that."
"I may as well be," Inhio added after a long sigh. "I've already lived my dying wish."
"But you're still here!"
"Does that really matter?" Inhio asked back so quickly it seemed like he was already prepared to hear those words. "My bones are too old to go on any more adventures anyways..." he sadly admitted and hung his head. "Please... I am eternally grateful for everything you've done for me, but it's for the best if you just leave me be now, before any of you get into trouble for being absent so long."
"But--" Pinkie uttered, but the glance Inhio threw in her direction dissuaded her from continuing.
"What's done is done... It's time you all buried this part of your past." He leaned on his cane and acted as though he no longer acknowledged their presence.
Unable to simply up and leave like that, the six ponies kept staring at the old man with heavy remorse.
"So... that's it?" Rainbow Dash suddenly asked. "You're just gonna sit there until you..." No more words needed to be said... Inhio's silence said everything by itself.
"Isn't there anything else you want to do with the time you have left?" Twilight asked in a concerned tone. Inhio did not answer, but somehow it seemed like her words didn't remain unheard. "Somewhere you wanna go? Someplace you wanna see?" Acknowledging her words, the old man slowly lifted up his head. "I happen to know of a place I bet you'd love to see." The more Twilight said, the more pondering Inhio had to go through.
"So whaddaya say, sugarcube?" Applejack interjected. "One last journey together? Just for the heck of it?"
Finding it impossible to refuse the offer, Inhio chuckled and stood up. "Why not? I doubt I'd make a good wall decoration for this house anyways." He laughed, also making the six ponies laugh and cheer with him.
"Then come on!" Twilight exclaimed and led the way. "It's not far."
"I hope you're right," said the old man limping at the very back. "Otherwise you're gonna have to carry me."
***
The destination Twilight had in mind wasn't far from Ponyville... Or so it seemed to her, at least. If it was just her and her friends, they'd have been there long ago, but that would have meant leaving Inhio miles behind.
"Blasted old bones..." the old graybeard grumbled as he kept trudging along and panting. "Can't believe I'm about to say this, but..." He paused until the moment he caught up with the pack leader that had just stopped to wait for him. "Could we sit down for just a moment?"
"Sure!" Twilight happily replied.
"Thank the gods!" Inhio exclaimed and nearly collapsed as he attempted to sit down.
"Wouldn't you rather sit there?" Twilight asked and pointed over yonder.
"Just here is good enough, thank-- " He paused with his mouth agape without letting the last word off his lips. "You..." he whispered as his eyes bore witness to a beauty similar to the one he had shown the ponies many decades ago...
Too preoccupied with the pain in his legs, he had failed to notice that he and the ponies had been walking through a large meadow of flowers for some time now, and that right in front him there was the most beautiful sunset he had ever seen. As if no longer himself, Inhio dropped his cane and pushed through what was still left of the meadow in front of him and grabbed the edges of the bench sitting at the very border of the meadow. Mesmerized by the sight, he calmly sat down and reclined his back against the bench without breaking his gaze on the golden sunset glimmering in the water before it.
"Sunset valley," Twilight quietly uttered as soon as she and her friends joined Inhio's side. "You can probably guess how it got its name."
"I've seen my share of both sunsets and sunrises in my time..." Inhio whispered. "But I never imagined that they'd be just so much more beautiful in Equestria."
"That's funny," Twilight added. "I always thought they looked better on Earth."
The old man chuckled before replying, "I suppose it's a question of taste." He then smiled sincerely at the same pony that got the idea to bring him here. "Thank you..." He turned his sights to her friends. "All of you... I..." He hung his head for a moment, but just as he did, all of his companions joined around him to cheer him up with a heartfelt hug... A hug which he gladly returned. Drawing himself closer to them, he nuzzled the two ponies right in front of him.
"Hi hi hi hi!" Pinkie Pie giggled. "His beard is tickling me! Aha ha ha ha ha! Make it stop!" Unable to take it any longer, she was forced to break free from the hug and drop on her back in gleeful laughter. After seeing Pinkie in such a jubilant state, the rest of them couldn't help but join in on the laughter.
After a short while, just as the laughter had begun to fade, Twilight placed her hoof on Inhio's shoulder and told him his own words while looking in his eyes with the sincerest of smiles. "Thank you, Inhio... for everything."
Not needing a single second of consideration, Inhio returned both the smile and the hand on the shoulder. "It was my pleasure, Twilight... I'm ever so glad that crystal ball of yours found its way into my hands."
"Me too," Twilight replied, and all of her friends also agreed.
"Me too."
"Me three!"
"Oh!" Inhio suddenly called out. "I almost forgot..." He placed his hand in his pocket, afterwards taking it out and placing it on Twilight's hoof. "Take good care of him for me, will you? ... Coin Mistress," he said with a sly smile.
Even before Inhio took his palm away, Twilight already recognized the tiny, metal object that he had handed her. "Star Swirl..." she whispered to herself. "Are you sure? What if--"
"No need to worry about it, Twilight," Inhio calmed her. "The old sage and I agreed on this long ago."
"Really?" Twilight asked in disbelief. "How'd you--"
"Let's just say that he really didn't like the alternative idea," he interrupted her with a smirk on his face... A smirk that convinced Twilight that his words held the truth. "Just make sure no one else gets their paws on it, alright?"
"You can count on me!" Twilight replied with a determined smile.
"I know I can." He smiled back at her.
If it weren't for the day already ending rapidly, they probably could have spent hours just smiling at one another... Alas, they knew all too well that they could not indulge in this moment for much longer.
"So... I guess this is goodbye," Twilight sadly declared.
"Actually..." Inhio grabbed her foreleg before she could turn around. "Could you stay with me for just a few more minutes? ... It would mean the world to me."
Even if it weren't for the old man's cordial smile that was utterly impossible to turn down, Twilight didn't have to think twice before giving a positive reply.
"Sure, Inhio," she answered and sat down next to him, as did the rest of her friends.
Forming a line and nesting their heads on the shoulder of the pony or person next to them, the seven friends watched as the sun slipped ever deeper into the sea.
***
A few moments later...
After having parted ways, the ponies stayed behind for a moment longer to watch their old friend gazing at the final moments of the sunset without moving an inch.
"He looks... so peaceful," Fluttershy uttered, sorrow eating away at her heart.
"Yeah..." Rainbow Dash added in the same kind of manner.
"How long do you think he has left?"
"I'd rather not think about it..."
"Do you think things will ever be the same again for the six of us?" Rainbow asked after a good while of silence. "You know... Before our lives became so..." She glanced at Twilight before finishing her sentence. "Tedious."
"I don't know..." Twilight sadly admitted and hung her head.
"Can't believe it ended up this way..."
"What do you mean?" Twilight inquired.
"You know..." Rainbow Dash tried to avoid answering directly, but quickly realized that there was no way around it. "With all of us being so young, and him..."
"I know what you mean, Rainbow," Applejack interjected and hung her head. "I always thought we'd be going on crazy adventures til the end of times."
"As did I," Rarity added.
"We still had a lot of fun times together!" Twilight exclaimed in an attempt to lighten up the mood.
"Hah! Yeah!" Rainbow approved. "Remember that time when I tricked him into thinking Pinkie Pie was in trouble and had him search Sugarcbue Corner for something that he could use to find her?"
"Hi hi hi!" Pinkie giggled. "The Cakes were so mad at him after that! Aha ha ha ha!" She doubled over, nearly laughing herself to tears. "And remember how he got back at you with that fake weather device?"
"He he he... yeah..." Rainbow Dash timidly admitted while rubbing the back of her head.
"Remember the time when we got Zecora to think that he could see into others' minds?"
"Ha ha! Yeah!" Rainbow Dash laughed. "Oh ancient spirit of forbidden lore! Why have you not answered my summons before?" Just as she finished imitating the said zebra, all of her friends burst into laughter as well.
"Remember the time he nearly caused a divorce between Cadence and Shining Armor?"
"Ha ha ha! Ye--" Twilight paused mid-sentence as her face turned wry. "Wait... He what!?"
"Or the time he made that dragon think his gems were cursed?" Ignoring Twilight's perplexity, Rainbow Dash just kept going.
"Remember the time when--"
"You went with him on a date?" Rainbow Dash took over Fluttershy's sentence. She thought that she had gotten it right, but the way the expression of the shy princess wavered from cheerful to confused and ended with a timid smile with a shade of red on her cheeks made it look otherwise.
"It wasn't that much of a date, really..." She tried to convince them.
"Oh, don't be so modest about it, darling," Rarity insisted. "The way he carried you. The way he looked at you while holding your hooves. The way he promised to catch every single butterfly in the meadow for you if only it would make you happier... Why, most mares could only ever dream of their beloved treating them so." Realizing that she couldn't talk her way out of this anymore, the timid alicorn just hid behind her mane, her blush still as bright as ever. Rarity quickly saw that she was only embarrassing the poor girl. "Oh, fine... I shan't pressure you anymore with this subject... It's just that it's such a shame to see true love being wasted like that."
"Huh?" Fluttershy uttered, the red on her cheeks vanishing in an instant. "What do you mean?"
"Oh, don't pretend like you don't know," Rarity retorted. "We all know that the two of you never got back together again after that... Such an abrupt ending to what could have been a happy life together." Rarity huffed.
"That's not the way Inhio saw it," Fluttershy insisted, catching Rarity's interest back to her again. "In fact, Inhio insisted that--"
Before she could finish, she and all of her friends gasped loudly as they felt something that they hadn't felt in decades. Just to be sure that their senses weren't deceiving them, they all looked over their own shoulders.
"The cutie map!" they shouted in unison.
"Could it really be?" Rarity asked in disbelief.
"This can't be a coincidence!" Twilight declared without so much as a shred of doubt in her tone. "Come on, girls! We've got a friendship problem to solve!"
Determination filling up their faces and loud cheering surrounding the air around them, the six eager and excited alicorns galloped away, back to Twilight's castle.
***
A short while later...
As the sunset faded away completely, and the six princesses left the scene and had already trotted far away by now, the old man still sitting calmly on the bench at the end of the meadow decided that it was finally time to stand up.
Walking up to the beach and leaning down, he used the sea water to wash the gray out of his hair, afterwards ripping off and tossing away most of his beard.
Turning around and starting a relaxed walk, Inhio said to himself, "Well... My job here is done."
Author's Note
Life doesn't end when you're old and out of breaths to take... It ends the moment you stop feeling alive.
~ Inhio Hellbridge
Actual author's note:
Hey guys!
A huge thanks to everyone that stayed til the very end. I hope you all enjoyed it.
So, I was thinking... this series didn't seem to be getting all that much attention, so I figured I wouldn't bother making any more sequels... However, I just couldn't leave this story unfinished and really felt like bringing it to a final close.
As for the ending... Well, I'll just leave it up to your own interpretation. 
