If you had a choice between friendship and forever, which would you choose?
I hadn't given much thought to my newfound immortality since my Ascension. But in this century since their passing, I've had time to think. The five of us alicorns have all experienced loss. For Cadence and Flurry, it was Shining Armour. For Celestia and Luna, countless lovers and subjects have passed. And I have lost not only my brother, but my parents, and everyone I had known pre-Ascension. Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie. My best friends and fellow Bearers. They taught me about friendship, about other ponies.
I don't know where I would be without them.
Probably dead by now-if not for them, I wouldn't have learned anything about friendship, wouldn't have become a princess. I would have been living in a book if not for them. And now that they're gone...
I don't know what to do.
They shaped my life, they shaped my mind.
When they died, they left behind a legacy. Dash was a Wonderbolt, Applejack was the owner of the most famous apple farm across Equestria, Fluttershy had built a veterinary hospital that was the most renowned in Canterlot. Rarity had a booming business in Manehattan, and Pinkie Pie, was well, Pinkie Pie.
Her death, as the first, was the hardest to deal with...
* * * * *
She had called us together at Sugarcube Corner. But she wasn't herself. Her mane was dull and droopy, and she had lost her usual energy.
"There's no easy way to say this..." She held her breath for a moment. "I have cancer." None of us could believe it. Pinkie Pie, the most energetic pony around, had cancer? "The doctors estimated I have about two more months to live." Which sent all of us to tears, but Rainbow took it hardest. She spent all of her time with Pinkie, or locked away in her room crying. We spent our time with our pink friend, laughing the days away.
* * * * *
Two Months Later...
The rain poured down on us as we said our final goodbyes to Pinkie. Our friend that had laughed away the pain, our friend that had cheered everyone else up. Laughter had left our lives.
A loud crack resonated through the sky, and a wave of color swept over the landscape. Rainbow's farewell.
The Pies gathered around her coffin as Rainbow Dash fluttered to the ground beside us.
"Why did she have to go?" Dash buried her face my mane. I put a hoof around her as she sobbed. Rarity was leaning into Applejack, while Fluttershy was curled into a ball at our feet, crying into her hooves.
The Elements would no longer work. Laughter had left.
* * * * *
I sighed as I walked through the corridors of Canterlot Castle. When the last element, Applejack, died, I moved back to Canterlot-it was too painful to live in Ponyville. As I trudged through the halls, I encountered the stained glass window depicting our defeat of Discord. Next to it sat the picture of Cadence and Shining Armour's defeat of the Queen Chrysalis. My eyes began to water as I gazed at the pictures, and I closed my eyes as the tears began in earnest. Hoofsteps sounded against the stone floor, and I turned around to see Princesses Luna and Celestia. Celestia noticed my teary eyes, and worded her concern.
"Is everything all right, my faithful student?" I shook my head. She put her wing around me, and I nuzzled into her side.
"How do you do it?" I murmured.
"Do what?" Luna inquired.
"Survive. Survive the deaths of your friends, of your lovers, of your subjects."
"We have lived for so long that a lifetime of a mortal pony is like the blink of an eye." Celestia responded.
I pushed Celestia away.
"So you just don't care?" I yelled. "You let your ponies die without giving them a second thought?"
"We do care, Twilight Sparkle. But we can't give time for all of the ponies."
Bile rose in my throat. "So the deaths of my friends, everyone I ever knew. They were all insignificant, specks of dust in the wind?"
I closed my eyes as the tears cascaded down my face. Rage filled me, anger at my helplessness, anger at Celestia, but most of all anger at myself. Since the Elements passed on, I have had nobody but the other princesses to lean on.
"Luna, I think it's time that we show Twilight."
* * * * *
I had no idea that this existed.
We were standing in front of a large vault. An enlarged gold carving of my cutie mark was the lock, surrounded by the cutie marks of my lost friends. I could feel my eyes start to water as I gazed upon the door, remembering as memories flashed through my mind. Celestia and Luna reached out to me, laying their hooves over my withers. Celestia turned me to face her.
"Twilight-we know how much their deaths have affected you. And now we offer you a choice." Celestia looked at me with sad eyes.
"Thou may choose to give up thy immortality and join your friends in the realm of death. Thy other choice is existing as thine does." Luna spoke to me.
"Within this vault is a way to return you to your friends. You will lose your immortality and spontaneously age the century that has passed, forcing your death. With your death, you will once again join your friends in Neverland."
"So if I enter, I won't come out again..." My voice trailed off as I saw the Royal Sisters nodding.
"Indeed. Thy will lose thine wings, and with it thine immortality."
I took a deep breath. "I'll do it. Anything for my friends."
"Twilight Sparkle, this is a one way journey. Once you pass these doors, you are alone."
I gave her a sad smile. "I won't be alone. I'll be with them."
Her eyes watered as she wrapped me in her arms-our last goodbye. Luna wrapped her arms around my neck, and I buried my face in her mane. When we broke apart, I wiped the tears from my eye with a hoof. I turned toward the door and ignited my horn. The gemstone that resembled my cutie mark turned 180 degrees, then stopped. I pushed it open with my magic. Glancing back at the Royal Sisters, I raised my hoof in farewell. Then I stepped through the door.
* * * * *
The room I had entered was large and spacious. As I stepped beyond the threshold, the doors swung shut and locked. The first things I noticed were the statues. Realistic life-size statues of the others. Shelves upon shelves of photos and letters lay among the rays of sunlight shining through the mosaics of the other Bearers. Tears rolled off my muzzle as I looked at the memories. Pinkie's party cannon, Dash's Rainboom. Opening my mouth, I began to sing a song.
"I miss you. Miss you so bad. I don't forget you. Oh, it's so sad." Tears were streaming down my face, but I kept singing. "I hope you can hear me. I remember it clearly. The day you slipped away, was the day I found it won't be the same."
"I didn't get around to kiss you goodbye on the hand." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a foreleg move, an ear twitch, a wing shiver. "The day you slipped away, was the day I found it won't be the same." As I sang, a magenta glow surrounded me, lifting me into the air. I could feel the life leaving me, could feel my immortality slipping away. I didn't care. "I miss you." I finished the song, and a blinding flash swept through the room. I fell to the ground, living but dead. I had reached Neverland. I looked up from my position prone on the ground to see my friends looking down at me with smiles on their faces.
I had reached them.
Author's Note
Hope you liked this! Leave a like if you liked it, and throw all the criticism at me! Also, I'm sorry if I offended anyone with the little part about cancer. My friend's mom passed away from cancer relatively recently, and she was the one of the most energetic people I knew. That section was supposed to be a tribute to her.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-L_x88POBo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZDhMKk4tfg&t=277s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5anLPw0Efmo
These were my inspiration songs.