Author's Note

Just a random idea I came up with off the top of my head. It had taken a day just to figure out how to go about this, and I'm still a bit unsure. So i'll let you guys decide. Should I keep this one up? Or not? If you like it, please hit the button and vice versa. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: The Last Princess

The sky was alive with the colors of the ocean as dawn broke over the city of Canterlot. A weak light glared off the clusters of glass that littered the streets.

Mirrored in their broken reflections was the prone form of a tree, its charred and blackened bark falling off little by little, like dead skin off of a human body.

Its brother, standing side by side with it like a sentinel overlooking this grim reality, could only watch in silent horror as the dead form of its partner lay etched into the side of a building, its leaves having long since joined it.

The building, crumbling, broken, and full of debris, served as its final resting place.

In the midst of all this chaos, surrounded by a softly glowing blue light, was a sleeping Alicorn, seemingly unaffected by all the gloom and despair around her.

Soon, the glowing light began to dim, fading in and out of existence as it struggled to maintain its form around the Alicorn.

As it did so, purple eyelids slowly fluttered open, revealing purple irises underneath.

Twilight Sparkle, had awoken.

Its purpose served, the light faded completely, leaving Twilight in full control of her body.

"Ugh...my head. I have the worst headache right now..." she said as she sat up, wiping the sleep from her eyes with her hands.

Within the haze of post rest exhaustion, she looked around, seeing nothing in particular.

She rose to her feet and walked around in circles in an attempt to shake off the last of her tiredness.

When she'd seen to it that the sandmare had gone and was not coming back, she checked her surroundings again, and was surprised to see that several things were wrong.

Several royal tapestries either littered the ground or had been burned to a point where it was nearly impossible to discern the pictures they used to contain.

Several busts of the princesses were smashed to bits on the floor, and underneath them, there were cracks and crevices in the marble that it was composed of.

The last, and final piece to such a horrifying painting, stood right in front of her.

Looming over her like giants, were the thrones of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, littered with cracks and deep gouges. They too, were crumbling away, slowly joining the busts on the ground.

"What...is all this? What...happened to the princesses?" Twilight said as she walked around the room. She walked up to the thrones and gently placed a hand on Celestia's.

Only to nearly fall over when the top of it came crashing down. She looked it over. There it lay, a single piece of the thing that helped symbolize her position as princess to all of Equestria. Now useless, there it remained, as the purple princess backed away from it in horror.

She turned around and sped up her walking, too preoccupied with her racing thoughts to see that she was about to run into a door.

"Ouch!" she exclaimed, grabbing her horn and rubbing it gently. She looked up at the offending door and glared before taking a good look a it.

Unlike the rest of the room, this door was in perfect condition. Not a single scratch adorned it's surface, not a single sign was present of it having begun to crumble away. There wasn't even any dust present on its white surface.

"How is this door so well maintained, when the rest of this place is such a...such a disaster!"

Slowly, carefully, ever so cautiously, she brought her hand up to the door, only to recoil back when she was hit with a terrible headache.

She dropped to her knees and held her head, groaning as she felt the pain growing stronger.

And then, just as quickly as it had come, the pain subsided.

"Mnnn...ugh...what was that? That really hu-"

She was cut off when a sudden recollection hit her.

"Stay here, and don't come out until I tell you!"

Twilight had no idea what was going on. She had been visiting Princess Celestia, and they were in the middle of a stimulating conversation about where to send Starlight should the need arise for her to go away. Sure, they had already had this conversation before, but that was when she was panicked and flustered. When she couldn't think straight out of worry and fear. Now that she was more composed, she thought she would be able to talk about it and prepare.

But then, just as she was about to bring up a possible location for her to start her journey, Celestia's face grew serious.

"So, it's finally time, is it?"

Huh? What was the princess talking about? What's finally time? For what?

"I knew this day would come."

Twilight had to ask. "What day, princess? What's going on, tell me!"

"Twilight Sparkle."

That stopped her cold. Celestia had used her full name. It had been a while since she had done that, and even less so when she became an alicorn. Whatever this was, it was serious.

"Yes, Princess?"

"Come with me."

With that, Celestia ran off, Twilight hot on her heels.

Five minutes later, they both stood in Celestia's throne room, Twilight looking up at her former teacher with worry in her eyes.

"Celestia, what's going on?"

"No time, Twilight. Listen to me very closely."

"Yes!"

And with that, she walked out of the room, stopping just inside the door. She lit her horn, and the door lit up with magic. The light soon faded and Celestia turned away, not looking at her student.

"You are not to leave this room, do you understand?"

"What? Princess, why?"

"It is not safe anywhere else."

"Not safe. Princess, what do you mea-"

"I said we have no time, Twilight! I cannot explain it. Just know that something very bad is coming this way. Something that could spell the end of all equestria."

Twilight's face showed determination. "Princess, if that's the case then-"

"No, Twilight!"

"P-princess?"

"It is already too late. It is on its way here. Stay here and don't come out until I tell you."

"But princess, we can get the Elements and defeat-"

"No! Were you not listening? It is already here. As we speak, people are dying in its wake, you must stay here."

Twilight continued to walk towards Celestia. "Princess. Please, tell me what's going on."

Celestia looked down at her and smiled sadly, lighting her horn once more. "It's the end of the world, my dearest Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight's eyes widened as realization donned on her. But she didn't even have time to comprehend those thoughts, before a warm, comforting feeling swept over her, and she fell to the floor, extremely tired.

"P-princess...why did you...what..."

"Shhh... Hush now my child." Celestia put a finger to her lips. "Whatever happens from this point on, Know that I love you, my most faithful- No, my most wonderful friend."

With that she walked off, leaving Twilight to her slowly fading consciousness.

Or at least she thought so. She heard footsteps behind her, and turned to see Twilight, walking groggily towards her. "P-princess...I-I..."

With that, she hit the ground, not to awaken for a long, long time.

Celestia walked out of the room, turning back to look at her friend. The only mare to ever be so close to her.

"Oh, Twilight. Even in these final moments, you still insist on calling me princess. If only I had been able to tell you how I truly felt before..." she wiped away a tear. "Well, it doesn't matter now."

And with that, a light that Twilight hadn't witnessed, engulfed her, and she was erased from this world.

"Celestia!" Twilight woke up sweating. She was breathing heavily, and her clothes were sticking to her skin.

She sat up. Apparently, at some point during that flash of memory, she had fallen to the ground.

She stood back up on her feet and touched the door again, but the flash of memory did not resurface.

Even so, she remembered every bit of it. The memory was as fresh in her mind as if it had happened yesterday. And it hurt. bad.

She pressed her head against the door. "Oh Celestia..." she now knew what had happened to her. She was gone. Gone from this world along with all the other people she knew. She thought of Luna. Surely she survived?

No. Stop. Why would she fool herself into thinking that when she saw what happened? Or at least she could guess from the memory. She thought back.

'It's the end of the world, my dearest Twilight Sparkle...'

'The end of the world huh? Well, it makes sense that it would take something like that to...to...' She couldn't even bare to think the word. But she knew what it meant. The princess was dead. Her princess. Her teacher. Her friend. Her love.

"And to think she...she loved me. I'm...I'm so sorry, Princess! I'm sorry for-" she cut herself off with a gasp. She had felt something in her hand just now.

She looked up from the door and saw a piece of paper stuck to it. She pulled it off and began reading.

"To my dearest Twilight Sparkle. If you're reading this. That means that I am now long dead, and that a thousand years have passed, just like I planned."

Twilight had to reread that first part a few times to understand it. It had been a thousand years since she was put under the spell? And wait, Celestia planned this?

"Oh dear. Why must it be now of all times that I fail to think of anything to say. Well then, I suppose I should start with this. I love you, Twilight. Ever since you first came with me to my castle, I have loved you. I could sense that you had something special about you. That you were destined for great things. I had no doubt in my mind that you would grow up to be greater than even my sister and I some day. As I watched you grow, I noticed your insatiable love of learning. I sought to nurture that in you. To give you the knowledge that you would one day use to become the best you could be."

at this point, Twilight was in tears.

"As time went on however, I found my love for you growing. Where you were once my subject, you were now my student, and where you were once my student, you were now my daughter, I wanted to hold you. To protect you, to keep you safe and warm. I wanted nothing more than to make sure you were happy. Every time you came to me for help, my heart swelled with the thought of being the one to give you the answers you sought. The thought of being needed by you made me the happiest I could be. Every time you asked me a question, or brought a problem that needed solving, I was filled with pride to know that you came to me and me alone."

Twilight sniffled.

"And then, when you became an Alicorn. Oh, how could I be more proud? We were finally equals, you and I. By then, my love for you had grown past that of teacher and student, or mother and daughter. I now loved you for the mare you were. I loved everything about you. From the face you made when you worried, to the face you made when you found some new book or other thing to research. Simply seeing you smile was enough to make my day."

Twilight wanted to look away. To cry and put the paper away, but that would have been disrespectful. To not hear Celestia's last wishes would be a grave offense to her.

"I love you, Twilight Sparkle. I always have, and I always will. I know that this letter will find you in dire straits, and I know that the memory spell on the door will have confused you or possibly even brought you to grief, but allow me to say one thing. Live, Twilight. Live. Live so that Equestria may know a new age. live so that you can rebuild what has been lost. Live for those around you who survived, if any did. Live for me, whose spirit would surely weep if you were to come to despair because of this. But most of all, live for yourself, so that you may find happiness in a world that has lost its way."

"Love, Celestia."

Twilight stood there, dried up tears on her face from all the crying she had been doing. She had no words. Here was Celestia's last will to her. Her true feelings. Her dreams and hopes, her aspirations. And who could she tell it too? There were no other people here anymore. Celestia's words about survivors seemed less than impossible now. And worse yet...

'What do you mean live? How could I live without you here to guide me, to teach me. To show me the way. I may be a princess, but I couldn't have achieved it without you. I...I need you...Celestia...'

Fresh tears ran down her face, and she sobbed some more.

"No! I have to do this. This is no time to be wallowing in grief. Celestia wants me to live? To lead equestria into a new age? She wants me to surpass her and find happiness? I'll do it! For her, for equestria, and for myself!"

She threw the paper away from her and stood at her full height in front of the door, hands on her hips and a smile on her face.

"Look out world, Twilight Sparkle is back!"