If anyone who had known her when she was a mortal princess were to see Twilight Sparkle now, they would not recognize her any more. She still had the same basic shape -- that of an alicorn -- and the same cutie mark, but even those had greatly changed. What had once been a flesh and blood being was now a construct of energy: a transparent purple form that glowed with light from the inside. The six pointed burst of magic that had once been her cutie mark was now the jewel she had once worn in her crown, the one which represented her Element of Harmony. Around it, where there used to be small white stars were now the five gems of her friends. Each of the six magical gems glowed with their inner light.
None who had known her were still around, however. In fact, there was no longer an Equestria. It had come to an end long ago, with its sun burning out and the planet becoming uninhabitable to even anaerobic bacterium. How long ago that was, Twilight could not even begin to speculate. First, a year was relative, with each planet having their own which -- along with day and night -- varied massively. One world could have days that are equal to days and a half and years equal to three-fourths on another. That did not even take into account trying to measure time for a world that no longer existed, thus having no way of measuring a year. Second, even with a consistent year, how would one possibly keep track of such in the void of space? When traveling between stars, there are no days, no seasons, and thus, no way to mark a year. Only the relative distance for various astronomical bodies allowed for a sense of even movement, but with no concept of speed, there was no way to calculate time traveled, thus concluding a potential duration of time passed.
Although, in a way it hardly mattered. When the years of ones life could be measured in googols, even millennia were a microscopic fraction of that time.
So many years. So many lifetimes. So many worlds.
Now it was all coming to an end. Only two things remained in the entire universe.
Wings that stretched on before fading into the darkness rose and fell slowly, flapping with Twilight's forward motion. Ethereal mane and tail trailed behind her, flecks of light sparking off in a rainbow of color before disappearing. Glowing white eyes looked forward, focusing on the faint, winking speck of light.
"There you are," she said aloud, despite no air to carry her words, nor any living being around to hear her.
The last star in the entire universe. Although at this point, calling a "star" was being extremely generous. It had been a white dwarf that had gone through its red shift phase and was on the verge of releasing the last of its heat, becoming a black dwarf. What was once a star was now going to be a planet-sized crystalline sphere.
As she continued to approach, Twilight began to change in size. The transparent purple form grew brighter as it began to compress, growing smaller with each flap of her wings. Once she came to a stop, her size in relation to the star was the same as when she was a filly standing before a dragon egg.
Spike!
Spike. Her assistant, her little brother, her friend. Of all the mortal creatures she had been close to, he had been the one to stay by her side the longest. He had been there to help comfort her after she lost her first spouse, just as she had been there for him both times he lost his wife.
Twilight's lips pulled into a sad smile at the memory. If it was still possible, she would have shed a few tears at the memory. It was strange in a way. She had grieved, and cried, but had also moved on. Yes, she missed them, even after so many lifetimes, but she had not felt it so much in such a long time. It was like something had forced a long healed scar to suddenly be torn open. Not completely fresh, but not as healed as it was moments ago.
Maybe it was because the end of her own incredibly long life was coming to an end. Some believe that when a being dies, their life flashed before their eyes. While Twilight did not entirely believe that, it did make sense to her that one would look back and think of their history when they were approaching their last moments.
Reaching out with a hoof, she placed it against the surface of the soon to be black dwarf. She could withstand the heat of a supernova's core and the gravitational pull of a black hole, so the cooling remains of a star that had shed most of its mass was nothing she had to worry about.
She could still feel the warmth from the core, but it was not going to last much longer.
"It's okay," she whispered as she gave the star a gentle pat. "You and I are about to do something great, even if no one will ever know."
Turning around, her horn lit up. The rosy pink aura of her magic lit up around her horn, spreading out and out around her. It wrapped around the matter that surrounded her and the star, the mass that the dwarf had shed as it lost its energy and collapsed in on itself. Pulling the matter toward her, Twilight turned it into raw energy before absorbing it into herself.
"We don't need you yet.
Returning her attention to the dwarf, a hole opened up in her chest, right where the heart would be. From that opening, a heart did appear. A large, crystal heart, encompassed in a pale blue glow. It was not just The Crystal Heart from The Crystal Empire back on Equestria of long ago, although that was a part of it. It also held the magic of Princess Cadance, as well as any sort of love magic gathered from other worlds that have reached their ends.
After the heart came a yellow sun surrounded by white, then a white crescent moon with a black background. It was followed by a ball of green flame, and a dark red gemstone in a necklace. Finally, she projected an ever-morphing mass of flannel-patterned energy.
"That should be enough for now."
As this was happening, the dwarf had reached its end. What had once been a star was now a massive crystalline sphere.
"First thing's first."
Horn lighting up once more, her magic engulfed the black dwarf. The pink color flowed across the surface before seeping into the crystals. With each pulse, the black coloration faded, the surface taking on a comforting, rose color.
Once the initial spell matrix was finished, it was time for the real work to begin.
Taking a hold of the crystal heart, Twilight Sparkle brought it down to the altered dwarf. As the two came into contact, the pale blue energy spread out across the pink, streaking through the surface, as well as mixing to create glowing lines of lavender. Shards of the heart broke off, fusing to the star crystal and leaving streaks of blue across its surface.
With the last of the heart fusing into the star, Twilight repeated the process with the sun. Yellow and white energy poured off, adding more streaks of color as well as mixing to create oranges, greens, and lighter hues. The new fusion started to glow, giving off a gentle, comforting warmth.
Next was the moon and night sky. Lines of silver and black formed, and darker shades appeared across the surface. Hints of the crystal underneath glittered and glistened, looking like stars shining through an aurora.
Twilight took a hold of the ball of green flame and added it to the mix. As soon as the two touched, the energy around the star flared up, shifting and dancing like living fire. The flame twisted and shifted, turning into a dragon before diving down into the swirling energy. The colors ran together, making it harder to tell where one ended and another began.
Lips pressing tight and ears pulling back, Twilight Sparkle turned her attention to the red crystal in a silver setting. It was tempting. She could leave it out. Forget about it. Just toss it aside and move on to the next. Except that she knew better. Good and evil were interlinked, and could never be separated. "The brightest light casts the darkest shadows." "In the darkest times, the faintest of light can shine like a beacon." Plus, sometimes life needed bad things to happened. Yes, it was horrible, and the beings who went through hurt and hated it, but it also draw many of them together and make them grow in ways the would not have otherwise. If not for the threats and challenges she faced, she would not have become who she was, nor would have any of her friends.
With a sigh, she took a hold of the necklace and placed it against the star. This one ripped apart and shattered, the pieces being yanked in as a blackness pulsed over the surface. It quickly vanished, mixing in with the other energies that had already been added.
And now, Twilight thought as she took a hold of the ever-morphing mass of plaid coloration, Chaos! Like with the previous, this was something she would have considered excluding once, long ago. However, her experience taught her that a little bit of chaos in life was necessary. Not everything could happen as expected, and learning how to adapt and accept the unexpected was an important part of life.
As the chaos energy was added to the rest, she swore that she could hear Discord laughing. The energy jumped from Twilight's grip, did a back-flip, and dove into the swirling mass. And swirl it did. No longer did the colors simply line up. Now they swirled, twisted, and shifted, taking on shapes and changing in size. The surface was also no longer smooth. It would raise up into spikes and ridges, or sink down into divots.
For the first time, Twilight Sparkle felt something that she had not felt in eons: tired. She felt an ache along where her bones would be, and a stiffness in her muscles, especially along her back. Her eyes itched, and she felt a dull throb in her head. It was like she had spent the day running around, and then stayed up all night reading. It was both nostalgic for how long it had been since she felt that way, and novel since it was like feeling it for the first time.
However, now was no time to rest. She was only about five-twelfths of the way through... or maybe six-thirteenths? Regardless, she was less than even half way through, and had no idea what would happen if she lost her concentration. The energy she had expended so far could simply return to her, it could stay where it is, it could disperse, requiring her to seek it out again, or it could be lost and cause the entire project become incapable of completion.
She had to finish.
Twilight turned to look at her cutie mark.
We should start with Kindness, she decided. Taking a hold of the pink butterfly-shaped crystal, Twilight pulled it from her flank. A small pink outline remained where it had been.
As The Element touched the magic sphere, it did not react like the previous items had. When the two came in contact, The Element broke apart into smaller crystal butterflies. Instead, it formed a ring around it, slowly spinning in a circle horizontal to the sphere.
Twilight took a hold of the diamond shaped purple gem that was The Element of Generosity. Like with the previous Element of Harmony, it broke apart into smaller versions of itself and created a ring that spun around at a slight angle. Next was the red lightning bolt of Loyalty. Again it broke into smaller version and created a ring, this one at the opposite angle of Generosity. Then the same happened with the orange apple that was Honesty, and the pale blue balloon that was Laughter.
All that remained was one Element. Her own.
A sense of anxiety filled Twilight at the prospect of taking it off her flank. All six Elements had literally been a part of her for a very long time, but her Element had figuratively been a part of her life even before then. It was key to the events that led her to meeting her best friends, and to her becoming a princess. It was like giving up a piece of herself.
Although, by the time this was finished, she would have given all of herself to it.
Closing her eyes, Twilight went through the action of taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out. Taking a hold of the last Element in her magic, she pulled it from her flank. Like with the others, it left an outline of its shape; this one in the rosy pink of the stone. Then all the outlines vanished, leaving her side completely blank.
As the final Element of Harmony came in contact with the rest, the diamond shaped center disappeared and the six points of the starburst separated from each other. The points took their matching position around the sphere, setting it at the core.
Now, there was only one thing left for Twilight to do. Closing her eyes, she spread her wings as wide as they could, bracing herself. The glow around her horn grew brighter and larger, tracing along her form before encompassing her entirely. A beam then shot from Twilight's horn to the top-most point of Magic's crystals, arcing from it to the others before reconnecting at the bottom. The inner edges of the crystals grew and grew, following along the lines of magical energy until reattaching to each other. The rosy crystals continued to grow, thickening and spreading until engulfing the entire sphere.
The beam grew in size and intensity as Twilight poured more into it. The crystals no longer grew as they absorbed energy. Instead it grew brighter and brighter. Flickers of rainbow colored lights in numerous shapes could be seen through the shell at the core, dancing and changing.
As she continued to pour more and more energy into the crystal, Twilight began to grow smaller, and smaller. The entire mass of the universe had been converted to energy and stored in her divine form. Now that energy was being poured into a star turned magical crystal.
Where once stood a Twilight that dwarfed the dwarf star was a Twilight Sparkle whose height rivaled her former mentor, Princess Celestia. As the energy transference continued, so did the reduction of mass, until Twilight was back to her size after first becoming a princess, and just as solid.
The energy continued to flow from Twilight's horn to the crystal. Bits of her wing started to disappear, feather after feather falling away from the tips and moving toward her back. The hair of her mane and tail grew shorter and shorter, a glow at the tips moving toward her head and rump.
Once those had vanished, the same began with her body. Hairline fractures formed in her hooves, climbing higher and higher up her legs. The white glow of her eyes had faded long ago, leaving her normal purple ones which were losing their color, and their sight. Where once were wings were now holes, which grew wider and wider, spreading over her shoulders and along her back.
With her body gone, Twilight's head began to disappear as well. She could feel herself, her very energy, her soul, pouring through her horn and into the massive star shaped crystal. If she still had a face, she would smile at the thought of seeing her friends again.
The horn that had once been part of a unicorn turned alicorn turned goddess glowed as the slow screw of its shape disappeared, pouring energy through its own tip until that too vanished.
All that remained was a large, rose colored crystal in the shape of six-pointed star, glowing and pulsing with the energy of an entire universe in its core.
The star exploded.