The First Unicorn

An Alicorn’s Despair Never Ceases

Forty years passed like a day to Twilight, and the time she spent with her friends wasn’t enough to satisfy. Every day would be met along with the terrifying thought of the fact that it was one day closer to a loved one’s time to pass over. The gates of heaven, though never seen, has been depicted by many pony eyes as honorably blessed, but if one can’t rejoice in the knowledge of them being able to witness the holy moment of admission, does that make them unblessed, or are they the blessing towards others during their living life? This concept is completely perspective and totally religious, so some ponies would argue that there is no heaven, a fallacy that forces many to shutter. In any case, Twilight had never gave much speculation about it, but with the passing days, these imaginings were impossible to ignore, and even harder to mentally discuss with herself.

A letter came in on the fifteenth of January informing the purple alicorn that there had been an occurrence. It involved her dear friend, Rainbow Dash. During one of her practice runs as the moderately new leader of the second generation Wonderbolts, she had a horribly fatal heart attack. In the Canterlot infirmary, Twilight materialized via teleportation. She hastily approached the counter and demanded to see her friend. The nurse gulped as she rose and instructed the power embedded being to follow. Walking down those long, dimly lit halls put shivers into the princess’s spine. Every hoof step echoed and bounced all around Twilight’s ears. Her body, colder than ice now, swayed with her imagination running wild. Her mental awareness was a slender, scared little filly, afraid to lose her friend. When they reached the room, the nurse turned and startled Twilight out of her panic-like state of mind and into the solid, cruel world she grew insensible of.

Inside, the room chilled her wings while putting an endlessly torturous sentiment into her heart. All her feelings became downright, relentless sadness once she saw her friend lying on the gurney, motionless and open mouthed. The heart monitor beeped slowly, cooling the sudden sensational shock of seeing her friend in this condition. Rainbow was now very old, and her time in this world wouldn’t last much longer. Twilight walked while heaving with every fervent tromp. Staring into those shut eyes of the cerulean Pegasus, Twilight felt her own tears shed as they always did during toughly aggravating times. Her hoof laid itself upon the furry chest of the Wonderbolt and rubbed her scar where the surgery took place. She wanted to use her magic skills to heal Rainbow, but with no way of knowing if she’d be doing any help, or simply causing more trouble, she had no choice but to just stand there, burning in her ruthless sorrow.

The eyes stirred, pealed for a split second, blinked and finally opened to see Twilight’s crying face. Her smile told the alicorn she was happy to see her. “Twilight,” Rainbow began, wheezy and low toned, “I’m glad to see you.”

Twilight fought back her tears with extremely little success. Her lip trembled intensely, and all she could form as a sentence was, “I’m sorry.”

“For what,” Rainbow replied, “This isn’t your fault… I was too cocky with the aerodynamics, but the wind was-”

“No,” the alicorn interrupted. Her eyes closed as her head tilted to the side. Her words were killing her; just speaking to the mare was hard enough. “I mean… for not telling you… that I’ve known.”

“… Known what?”

Rainbow stared into the mare’s flooded eyes, making Twilight even more discomforted. Her lips opened and hung there while she blinked several times. The still air put a feeling of halted time, but once her words departed, things raced with unfair velocity. Everything was happening too fast now.

“I’ve known you love me… for a long time.”

Rainbow’s eyes questioned how it was possible. She never physically showed it, but she figured Twilight was able to figure it out just as she became an alicorn. The secret of Dawning Light was never revealed to anypony but the princesses and their guards, so now, with this statement revealed, Twilight just stood there, bathing in her depression.

“I’m that easy to read?” Rainbow asked with a kind grin. “So, I guess… you’ll never feel the same way about me though, huh?”

Shaking her head, her highness choked out, “No… but… I’ll always love you like a friend, but that’s all I can do… and I’m sorry that I haven’t been spending more time with you, and that goes for all my other friends, but… I wish I could give a reason…”

“I understand… You’re busy with other things. Do what you want, but my time, it’s close… it’s like… I don’t know; I can feel it coming.”

Twilight grunted, “Don’t say stuff like that! It’s so… painful. This pressure in my chest, it’s… killing me.”

The Pegasus chuckled and claimed, “And here I thought you were immortal.” This was followed by a fit of nasty coughs. Rainbow gripped her royal friend’s hoof tightly once she finished. “I’ll always love you… way more than I should… but just remember the good times we had… they will always live, just like my love for you will as well.”

The mare’s hazy, blackened eyes slowly blinked as she continued to smile. Her head lowered down to the pillow, and everything became silent once more. Twilight felt her friend's hoof become limp and slowly slide away, just as the Pegasus’s soul slipped out of this world. Everything became cold; Twilight’s body, the floor she stood on, the railing on the gurney, everything was like ice. Twilight’s distraught cheeks were soaked with an endless fountain of salty tears. The outcome was predictable, but nopony could prepare for the death of a friend, and loved one. The time that ticked away in that room moved by so slowly, that minute became seconds, and the evening felt like a mere hour for the alicorn. One never expects the loss of friend’s to occur, but when they finally arrive, they always emerge after the calming of the storm. Everything can seem like nothing will go wrong. Then fate takes his next victim. No matter what this friend is doing, his or her death will always occur when others are in the safety zone of their minds. It happens in an instant, and after words, the event, for those who were there, feels like it lasted an eternity.

Days, months, years and generations strolled by with one death of a close friend, followed by another. Twilight learned to accept this, but she would never recover after each loss. Celestia and Luna were always there to help her recover after each tragedy, but the mental poverty just grew like wildfire. Eventually, memories would scorn her, but she would never give these up for the world. The fond, heartwarming events she shared with the other five elements was the best time of her life, and she’d never let them slip into amnesia, no matter how distraught they left her at the end of each painful day.

This ending is dedicated to my recently deceased friend, Jonathan Moy. I found out a few days ago that he had a heart attack. He was sixty five years old, and lived in New York. I wish I’d spent more time with him before he left my life, but like I said, these things happen when you least expect them to.