"Rainbow, quit shovin' me," Applejack hissed, returning the pegasus's shove with enough force to knock her into Rarity.
"I'm not shoving!" Rainbow protested, picking herself up and staring accusingly at Applejack while Rarity screamed and frantically attempted to fix her newly-mussed mane. "I'm just trying to make room for my wings, because your butt is so fat there isn't any!"
"Oh, really? Y'all wanna say that t' mah face?" Applejack snapped, narrowing her eyes.
"I just did," Rainbow snarked.
"Can you girls please stop fighting?" Fluttershy asked softly. "I - I don't think it's very nice... um... or you could just keep on going," she finished meekly as the pair of them proceeded to initiate a shouting match.
"Does anypony want a cupcake?" Pinkie Pie incongruously interjected. "I have some in my mane!"
Twilight facehoofed in exasperation. "GIRLS! We're kind of in the middle of something here! This is our first official Elements of Harmony photo shoot, and I would really appreciate if everypony could cooperate for it! Remember, all of Equestria is going to be seeing this in the newspapers tomorrow!"
Applejack sighed and backed away from Rainbow. "Sorry, Twi. Yore right. An', uh... sorry, Dash. Ah guess Ah got a bit carried away."
"Me too," the polychromatic pegasus conceded. "Your butt's not that fat. Just a bit bigger than average." Applejack gave her a warning growl, and she held up her hooves placatingly. "Just kidding, just kidding! I'm sorry!"
"Yeah, she's sorry!" Pinkie drew in a deep breath and began to sing, holding her hooves out to Applejack. "She's sorry, she's sorry, to make up for it she'll take you on an, ummm, safari -"
"Okay, enough with the singing, Pinks," Dash interrupted, rolling her eyes. She shot Applejack a crooked smile. "Whaddya say we start taking pictures, partner?"
"It sounds amazing," Twilight cut in impatiently before Applejack could even reply. "Let's position ourselves." She cast the wide-eyed photographer an apologetic smile. "Sorry, we're ready now." Together, they moved into the positions they (well, just Twilight, really) had planned out beforehand - Fluttershy and Applejack reclining on the ground, Rainbow floating with her elbows on Applejack's hat, Twilight and Rarity next to her with their hooves draped around Applejack and Fluttershy respectively, and Pinkie in the back with her hooves somehow wrapped around all of them at once.
The photographer nodded and lifted up his camera. "Right. Shooting in three, two, one -"
"Wait!" Rarity yelped. "My mane!" Everypony snorted with amusement as she paused to tuck a loose purple strand behind her ear. "There. Much better."
The photographer rolled his eyes. "Alright. Starting over." The six Elements of Harmony allowed large grins to form on their muzzles, truly content to be in each other's company. "Three, two, one."
Flash.
Applejack glanced up at Twilight and frowned, swiping her sweaty forehead with one hoof as she prepared to buck another apple tree. "Twi, not t' be rude, but Ah'm a bit busy right now."
"I know," Twilight said brightly. "That's exactly why I'm here."
Applejack paused mid-buck. "Say what now?"
The unicorn cleared her throat in a businesslike manner. "I'm writing a research paper on the Elements of Harmony. It's been four years since we became Elements, and there's still so much we don't know!"
Creasing her forehead in a thoughtful frown, Applejack stepped away from the tree, blowing her windswept blonde locks out of her eyes. "So, uh, y'all want an interview or somethin'?"
"No, I just want to take a picture of you," Twilight explained, holding up a small, boxy camera. "I'm trying to figure out if the nature of the Element somehow correlates to the looks of the pony who bears it, and I thought getting a picture of you while you were in your - well, element, so to speak -" she gestured to the surrounding apple orchards - "would be the best time."
Applejack shrugged. "Okey-dokey. Fine by me." She crossed her legs, tilted her head towards the camera, and flashed Twilight her trademark friendly grin, her honest, grass-green eyes crinkled with warmth. Her powerful hind hooves scuffed the dirt and her golden mane and tail rippled gently around her lustrous orange coat, giving her an air of simultaneous softness and strength. "There. Did yore picture come out alraght?"
Twilight grinned down at her camera. "Perfect."
"Woo-hooooooo!" Rainbow cried with glee as she embarked on another wild sledding trip down the hill with Pinkie at the helm. "This is so awesome!" They coasted over a bump and were launched into the air, shouting and flailing for several seconds before they crashed face-first into a snowdrift.
Pinkie popped up and spat out a mouthful of snow, giggling madly. "Twilight, come on!!! You should join us! There's room for one more on the sled!"
Twilight hesitated, her actuarial mind instantly calculating the probability of damage either to herself or to the sled (very high). "I don't think it's very safe..." she began hesitantly.
"Oh, come on, Twilight! We've been friends for eight years now, and you've never come sledding with us! Please?" Rainbow begged, clasping her hooves together.
"Pleeeeeeease?" Pinkie chimed in, the intensity of her puppy-dog eyes still as strong as ever even though she was all the way at the bottom of the hill.
Twilight mulled the issue over for another few seconds before making her decision. Her muzzle curled in a roguish smile. "You know what? Let's do this." As Rainbow wrapped her hooves around the sled and flew it back up the hill, Twilight nuzzled her camera out of her bag (photography had become a hobby of hers after her Elements of Harmony project) and hoofed it over to a stallion passing by. "Excuse me, could you please take a picture of the three of us while we're sledding?"
"Of course," he replied kindly, accepting the camera.
Twilight settled herself onto the sled, wrapping her hooves around Pinkie. "I can't believe I'm doing this, I can't believe I'm doing this, I can't believe I'm doing this," she repeated to herself in a haze of disbelief as Rainbow sat down behind her and grabbed her tightly. "I can't believe I'm - AHHHHHHHH!" Rainbow used her powerful back hooves to kick the sled into action, and they zoomed down the hill.
Twilight cracked an eyelid open. She wasn't dead yet. A large smile came to her muzzle, and she raised her hoof and whooped with glee along with Rainbow and Pinkie. Maybe this wasn't so bad after all.
Twilight sniffled and wiped away a happy tear as she stared at the picture she had just received in the mail: Rarity, beaming from ear to ear and resplendent in a gleaming red dress, holding a pair of scissors and standing in front of a newly cut scarlet ribbon. Smiling almost as widely as Rarity herself, Twilight reached out for a piece of parchment and began to pen a letter.
Dear Rarity:
We've been friends for fifteen years now. We've been through so much together - you helped me get through becoming an alicorn, we went on friendship missions together, you opened your boutique in Manehattan. But never have I been more proud of you than I am now. I know it's been your dream to open a fashion school for years, and I am so happy that you have achieved that dream.
That being said, I miss you a lot. Manehattan is so far away, and I know you won't be able to visit often. I get lonely sometimes - Rainbow is off touring with the Wonderbolts, Pinkie lives in Canterlot now - to 'teach those stuffy nobles how to throw a good party', as she put it, and Fluttershy tours Equestria to raise awareness of animal living conditions. Go figure. The only one still here in Ponyville is Applejack, and she's... well... she's not going through an easy time right now, what with Granny Smith passing away last year and Apple Bloom moving to Los Pegasus with Sweetie Belle to start their entertainment business. Apple Bloom's quite a good musician, did you know? I think Applejack taught her how to play the fiddle. Anyway, Applejack now has to deal with the whole farm on her own, ever since Big Mac went lame in that plowing accident. I try to help her as much as I can, but she's just as pigheaded as ever. But she's also still as optimistic and hardworking as she used to be, much like you.
I just wanted to let you know how proud I am of you. Keep following your dreams. And please write soon! I miss you.
Love,
Twilight
"Fluttershy, Ah am so happy t' see ya," Applejack gushed, throwing her hooves around the pegasus's back in a tight embrace. "It's been, what, five years since we saw each other last? An' jus' think what y'all have accomplished in that time!"
"Yeah, 'Shy," Rainbow agreed, swooping overhead. Despite not being able to fly as fast as she used to, she still spent as much time in the air as possible. Rainbow Dash was one pegasus who would never stop loving to fly, although she'd given up her position as Captain of the Wonderbolts to Scootaloo a few years ago (she'd insisted on keeping her uniform, however). She refused to give 'middle age' as her excuse for doing so, but everypony knew that was the case. "Getting Princess Celestia to set aside an entire territory where all animals are protected? That's pretty cool!"
Fluttershy beamed with pride. She had retained most of her youthful charm, but her eyes were weary. "Thank you."
"Having a party thrown at the palace to celebrate the opening of the territory is pretty cool too," Dash continued casually. "I mean, I'm just here for the food, but -"
"Rainbow!" Applejack disapprovingly swatted her with her tail amidst the laughter of their other friends. Although her blonde mane was graying faster than anypony else's, and she was no longer the rodeo champion she had been in her youth, she could still kick Rainbow's butt. The two of them would never cease their friendly competitions, no matter how old they were. "Take that back!"
Rainbow chuckled. "I'm just kidding, Fluttershy. I'm so proud of you." She slipped a hoof around her oldest friend's back.
"Me too!" Pinkie agreed smilingly. From thin air, she pulled out a cupcake that read I AM SO PROUD OF YOU! in pink and yellow frosting. Although her bouncing gait was slower than it used to be, she was still just as weird and random as ever. This observation was only intensified as the cupcake mysteriously vanished again, perhaps into her mouth.
Fluttershy's shyly accepted her friends' praise. "Thank you, everypony. But, you know, I only let Princess Celestia have this party because I wanted to be with the five of you again." She allowed her gaze to sweep around the ballroom, filled with chattering partygoers, and then over her friends' beaming faces. Her teal eyes shone with joy. "I'm so grateful that you were able to come here even though you have so many other things to take care of. I've missed all of you so much. It's been ten years at least since we've all been together, and I'm just so happy to be here."
"I second that," Twilight announced. The alicorn was the only one of the six who hadn't aged a bit, but her friends were too happy to see her to bring it up or treat her any differently because it. Surrounded by her friends for the whole evening, Twilight hadn't been able to stop smiling. Her heart almost overflowing with love, she wrapped her hooves around her fellow Elements of Harmony and squeezed them as tightly as she could, never wanting to let go. "I've missed you girls so much."
The moment was ruined as the official party photographer decided to interrupt. "Excuse me, would you mind if I took a picture of you six?"
Rainbow huffed. "Well, it's not like we were in the middle of anything."
"Oh, darling, no pictures, please," Rarity added in a much kinder tone. "I can't bear to be photographed. There's far too much gray in my hair."
Applejack rolled her eyes. "Rarity, hush. Y'all look amazin'. Let th' nice pony take a picture. What's th' harm?" The alabaster unicorn was, indeed, being unkind to herself - she looked even more elegant and regal than she had in her back in her heyday. The only real change was the wrinkles that lined her forehead, a testament to her hard work and dedication to her craft over the years.
Cajoled by her friends, Rarity had little choice but to acquiesce. "Oh, fine. I suppose one picture wouldn't hurt."
The six of them slung their hooves around each other and smiled for the camera, their fancy dresses (designed by Rarity, of course) swaying around their hooves as they moved. Their eyes were bright and their smiles warm, but their hearts were weighed down by fear, a fear that none of them wanted to name. They knew that they would be friends until the end of time, no matter how much distance separated them, but... how much time did they have left?
The Elements of Harmony stood behind the closed front doors of Celestia's palace. The air was cold and still, ruffled only by the shaky breaths of the six ponies gathered there.
"Twilight, are you sure you want to do this?" Rarity asked softly, placing a hoof that trembled with age on the young alicorn's back. "You don't have to..."
Tears welled in Twilight's eyes. "Of course I have to... I couldn't bear to carry my Element alone." She stuttered over the last word, and bowed her head, squeezing her eyes in a futile attempt to stop the tears trickling down her cheeks. "W-without you five."
Rainbow Dash trotted closer and held her hoof to Twilight's cheek. Her wings, old and tired, hung limply at her sides. The pegasus who had lived in the sky was grounded at last. "Twilight, don't cry. We're just giving up our Elements. We're not, like, dying. Plus, crying is sappy, so..."
Even in her old age, Rainbow's snarky streak still shone through. Twilight smiled through her tears and wiped her eyes. "T-thanks," she managed to croak. "I just feel like... like this is the end. We were so amazing, and now... now I'm going to go on forever while you five just- just -" She broke down again and flung her hooves around Rainbow's faded, once-bright mane, weeping brokenly into her coat.
The pegasus's legs trembled as she was almost knocked over. "Hey, be careful. I'm old now." Twilight started crying all the harder.
"Awww, honey, don' cry now," Applejack soothed her, rubbing her back comfortingly. The farmpony's mane was silver and her legs frail, but her eyes shone with that same piercing, unflinching honesty and warmth that she had been born with. "It's jus' time t' move on, that's all. Everypony's got to. We had our day, Twilight, an' a great one it was. We had fifty entire years together as Elements. But we're old now, an' we can't carry our Elements no more, so we gotta give 'em up. Right out there, waitin' for us t' come out, are th' ponies that are gonna take over for us. So we gotta step back an' give 'em their time t' shine. It don' mean we're leavin' jus' yet. Least, Ah don' plan on it. So don' feel bad - we're still here, ain't we? An', sugarcube, th' fact that yore choosin' t' give up yore Element along with us even though ya coulda kept it means more t' me than anythin' else right now." Applejack wrapped her in a gentle embrace.
"B-but someday soon I'll have to say - say -" Twilight stammered, her eyes red.
"Goodbye?" Applejack interrupted, drawing back to look her in the eye. "Twilight Sparkle, if y'all learned anythin' from bein' friends with us then you'll know there ain't no such thing as goodbye. We'll be here always - in those ponies outside, in yore memories... in yore heart." She touched Twilight's ruffled chest fur with the tip of her hoof.
"Yeah, you won't be able to get rid of me any time soon," Rainbow wisecracked.
"Dashie, must you always ruin the mood?" Rarity sighed heavily.
Twilight gave a half-laugh, half-sob and threw her hooves out to squeeze all of her friends into a firm hug. "I love you girls," she whispered. "I love you so much."
"We love you too, Twilight," Fluttershy replied in her characteristically soft voice, her own tears trailing down her cheeks, her hooves shaking. Pinkie Pie echoed the sentiment, her voice quiet and thoughtful, having lost of all its ebullience over the years. She didn't even have any cupcakes to pull out of her mane, which had retained little of its former curliness.
After several minutes of holding her friends and being held, Twilight drew back, swiping at her eyes, and tried for a smile. "Well... I suppose we should head outside. Princess Celestia will be waiting to start the transfer ceremony." Her voice hitched as she said the word 'transfer', but she bravely kept on.
"Excuse me? Princess Twilight? I was sent to get a picture of you six before you head out." A young brunette mare trotted up before them with a camera around her neck. "Will that be alright?"
Twilight glanced back at her friends, who nodded encouragingly. "Of course. It's fine," she replied, swallowing back her misery.
By unspoken consent, the six Elements posed exactly as they had all those years ago, when they were young and fresh and just entering their prime. Twilight felt the tears trickling down her cheeks, and knew without having to look that her friends were crying too. This picture marked the last time they would ever stand together as Elements of Harmony, Protectors of Equestria... and perhaps even the last time they would ever stand together.
The mare snapped the picture and nodded approvingly, apparently not noticing their tears. "Excellent. We'll be waiting outside, whenever you're ready to start." She began to trot away, but then turned around with a shy smile. "And... thank you for your service to Equestria," she added softly, before spinning around once more and walking away.
Wordlessly, the six ponies turned around as a group to face the ominous-looking doors. They could hear murmurs of excitement and anticipation emanating from the other side; presumably the whole city of Canterlot had turned out to watch the ceremony. Fluttershy swallowed and covered her eyes. "Oh, dear, I hate crowds..."
Rarity chuckled, shaking her head. "Still the same old Fluttershy."
Twilight, standing in the middle, swung her head from left to right to stare at her friends, who stood tall and proud despite their age. The Element necklaces around their neck glimmered from within, radiant despite the darkness of the room... much like the mares who bore them. For one shining moment, the mares' bodies flickered, and Twilight saw -
Rainbow Dash in her Wonderbolt uniform, eyes hidden behind flight goggles and her vibrant mane windswept as though she had just been flying high and strong. Pinkie Pie, her mane and tail a windstorm of corkscrew curls, her body vibrating with manic energy and her muzzle stretched in a huge beam. Rarity, her hoof raised elegantly and confidently, tossing her mane with ease. Fluttershy, her eyes bright and her mouth creased in a soft smile, gently pawing the ground. Applejack, her mane blonde and free, her mouth settled in a complacent smile, her body lithe and rippling with muscles.
Then the vision faded, leaving no more than a fuzzy afterimage behind, and Twilight was left staring at the old and wizened bodies of her friends, once so daring and strong. Her heart ached. She blinked back another tear and cleared her throat. "A-are you ready to go out?"
Without hesitation, the five of them dipped their heads in a nod. They were going to give up their Elements of Harmony with as much flair as they had received them.
Twilight swallowed hard, her legs trembling, and opened the front door. And the six Elements strode out hoof-in-hoof, renewing the unspoken promise they had made to each other so many years ago, to be together forever. Their promise of friendship.
Their promise of Harmony.
***
Slowly, slowly, Twilight Sparkle closed her photo album and turned aside, fresh tears welling in her eyes as the memories which the pictures had brought to mind faded away.
One thousand years. It had been exactly one thousand years since the day they gave up their Elements.
And it had been exactly nine hundred and eighty-eight years since Twilight had been left alone. Since Spike had grown too big and too independent to stay, and had flown off to make his home in the nearby mountains, promising to visit often. A promise that he had kept dutifully for a few hundred years before becoming too aloof and sleepy to bother, like all other dragons.
Exactly nine hundred and eighty-eight years since the last of her friends had bid her farewell and taken one final breath.
Their faces were fading, hard to recall, like the faces of her brother and parents. Twilight often had to turn to her photo album to remember what her friends had looked like, just like she had today. But there was one thing that even the passage of time could not make Twilight forget, and that was how important her friends had been to her.
She still remembered what it felt like to laugh with them and hug them. The picture of her sledding with Rainbow and Pinkie still brought to mind her epic tumble into the snow that had numbed her hooves with coldness for hours. The excitement she had felt when Rarity opened her school of fashion still pounded in Twilight's heart every time she stared at the photograph in her album. Their faces may have often escaped Twilight's memory, but the depth of her love for them never would.
Twilight sighed and stood up, scraping the legs of her chair back as she eyed the great hall of her home. The castle no longer seemed as enormous as it had a thousand years ago, and Twilight seemed to fit into it perfectly - she was tall now, taller than Princess Celestia, with great feathery wings that were almost too wide to fit through the front door, to her constant annoyance.
Idly ruffling those same wings, Twilight crossed over to the window and peered out upon Ponyville, preferring not to wander the halls of her castle as she occasionally did when she was bored. The corridors were altogether too empty, and rang with silence. Applejack laughing with more warmth than newly-baked apple pie as she told her friends a story in the library over hot chocolate; Pinkie's party cannon exploding in odd places; Spike's labored breathing as he helped carry things to and fro - all memories of the past. And they hurt. They hurt so much.
Hence Twilight's love of the window, where she could lose herself for a happy few hours before having to return to her lonely life. She could have gone to live anywhere in Equestria, but she had chosen to remain right here in Ponyville, where she could watch the town grow up and teach the little ones about the Elements of Harmony - not the Elements that protected the land now, but the original Elements. The ones who had battled for the safety of Equestria time and time again, while remaining the same kind, honest, generous, loyal, and funny ponies they had been before - and magical. For they had been magical, the five of them. They had been, in their own unique way.
Twilight crossed her elbows on the windowsill, still staring down at the town beneath her. In the past thousand years, Ponyville had grown unrecognizably large, thanks to the Elements of Harmony - everypony wanted to live in the town where the Elements had spent so many happy years. The town was a bustling station of commerce, with mostly two- and three- story buildings; it had lost its small-town charm long ago. Twilight supposed she should be fortunate that Sweet Apple Acres, Carousel Boutique, and Fluttershy's cottage had been preserved. Nopony wanted to be the one to raze the home of a former Element to the ground.
Still, despite all of the changes, there was one place in town that would always remain the same. Twilight stared out of the window, her gaze riveted on that special place in the distance, and then closed her eyes, allowing her mind to leave the confines of her castle behind and travel far, far away...
High up on a hill, a pink force field of magic shimmering around it. The wind howls around outside, but it cannot penetrate the shield. The hill will remain undisturbed until the end of time.
There is silence. The leaves of the lone apple tree on top of the hill do not move. The grass is still; the gravestones are stiller.
There are five of them, arranged in a neat row. Applejack's is first, simple but sturdy, just like her. Her hat is hooked over the corner, and a trio of apples is carved into the front. Then Rainbow's, her flight goggles draped around the top, a lighting bolt inlaid with blue, yellow, and red stone decorating the front. Pinkie's, a pale pink stone with oddly cut sides and three balloons hewn into it. Fluttershy's came next, smaller than the rest but with a horde of graceful butterflies spreading their inlaid wings over it. And Rarity's, elegantly curved with a radiant purple gem in its center.
There are no words; no names. Twilight doesn't need names to recognize the gravestones of her loved ones.
That's what they had asked for when they died. A simple affair, no huge funerals, just Twilight and the Princesses and a few family members. And simple gravestones. They had been ponies of few needs. Although, every so often, Twilight comes and sits beneath the apple tree and talks to her friends, reads to them, just like Applejack had requested before she went. And sometimes, Twilight brings a fresh balloon to tie to Pinkie's stone, fulfilling the the unbreakable Pinkie Promise she had made to Pinkie before the mare closed her eyes for the last time. Twilight brings some rabbits with her to play around Fluttershy's grave while she talks to Rainbow about her her own latest flying maneuvers and makes sure that Rarity's stone still looks as pristine as ever.
Just as Twilight promised.
The alicorn was jolted back to reality as a hard knock sounded on the castle's front door - probably somepony coming to ask for friendship advice again. Spike wasn't around to answer the door anymore, so Twilight would have to do it herself.
She cast a final glance at the distant hill and turned around, biting her lip. She didn't feel the ghostly hooves, orange and white and pink and yellow and blue, that wrapped around her. She didn't hear the warm voices that murmured in her ear, comforting her. She didn't know how hard her friends were trying to let her know they were with her, looking out for her. How could she? Even an alicorn cannot reach into the realm of the departed - alicorns can only hope to join them one day; to leave behind their lonely lives for good.
As Twilight turned around, her eyes settled on the portraits that hung grandly on her bedroom walls, and her breath caught in her throat. And like all those centuries ago, Twilight saw again, for one shining moment -
Rainbow Dash in her Wonderbolt uniform, eyes hidden behind flight goggles and her vibrant mane windswept as though she had just been flying high and strong. Pinkie Pie, her mane and tail a windstorm of corkscrew curls, her body vibrating with manic energy and her muzzle stretched in a huge beam. Rarity, her hoof raised elegantly and confidently, tossing her mane with ease. Fluttershy, her eyes bright and her mouth creased in a soft smile, gently pawing the ground. Applejack, her mane blonde and free, her mouth settled in a complacent smile, her body lithe and rippling with muscles.
Oh, those were the days.
Author's Note
Right, so. I know the whole 'Twilight living on while her friends die' thing has been done a million times before, but I wanted to put my own unique spin on it. Hopefully it turned out ok.
Not be patronizing, but I wanted to explain a couple things in case they weren't obvious. You probably figured them out, but I did actually have someone tell me they were a bit too subtle, so I wanted to explain just in case.
1) the flashback scenes that made up the first half of the story were Twilight's memories, prompted by the corresponding photos during in her album. All of the memories involved somepony taking a picture, and Twilight was staring at that picture in her album as she thought back to that particular memory.
2. The portraits on the wall I described at the end were portraits of her friends.
Both of those things seemed very obvious to me, but then again, I'm not qualified to judge since I'm the author, and since I actually showed this story to someone who didn't get it I thought it was best to be safe and explain.
Anyway. I hope you enjoyed.
