"Do you reeeally have to leave?" asked Pinkie, wiping through tears. "Please, pretty please, stay here in Ponyville!" She whimpered, making the other 6 start feeling down, as Pinkie rarely ever was sad, much less this tearful. Fluttershy was no different, clinging to one of her best friends and bawling about how she'd miss Twilight.
"Oh... I'm really sorry, girls..." said Twilight grimly. "I have to go. I know we're best friends, but I have to rule alongside Celestia and Luna." Twilight was being promoted to a new head princess, as Luna and Celestia raised the sun and moon, yet never helped arrange the stars. This resulted in a turmoil that was never expected, the two sisters although ruling for millenia had never accounted for the stars aiding in Nightmare Moon's escape (although in the end it was what brought back Luna) and never accounted for the stars being misaligned, as they were out of their original shapes from thousands of years ago.
"Although you're princess of the stars and all," said Starlight, "you still will come out of your busy schedule to visit, right?"
"I will," stated Twilight. "And If I can't, I'll be sure to write you letters from Canterlot."
Then all the ponies started saying their goodbyes, Rainbow Dash even giving Twilight a bear hug while shedding a tear. "I'm gonna miss you, buddy," she said.
Twilight started walking toward the train, but turned around to say one more thing before the train left: "I may be the new princess of the stars, but I'm still the princess of friendship. And whenever you look up at the night sky and see a constellation, you can see that group of stars as our group of friends: inseparable, no matter what!"
As she boarded the train and waved to her friends for one last time, she looked out the window into the mountains and pondered her new life.
She ruled for decades after, rearranging and organizing the stars, and wrote and visited her old friends. That was until Celestia passed, leaving Twilight to raise the sun and reorganize the stars. Twilight fell into a deep depression after, and even with Luna's consolation still separated herself from her friends. When she had finally gotten over it, and started visiting her friends again, another tragedy struck; Luna had passed away as well. Each year after, her visits seemed more infrequent, and she stopped writing letters, as she was so swamped with her duties as co-princess and fell into another state of grief when Cadance took over to control the sun. For many more years, Cadance and Twilight ruled Equestria, with peace across the land every day.
That was, until, it was Cadance's time.
She was the only princess left, except Flurry Heart, who took over the Crystal Empire when Cadance left.
She was alone.
Never in a million years would Twilight have thought she'd been alone. Her only friend left was a matured Spike, and sometimes Starlight came to visit, yet only for brief periods of time, and Rarity never showed up at her booming Canterlot boutique as she'd hired multiple workers to help her.
She'd never seen her five friends from Ponyville aside from fifteen years ago. She still remembered their names- Applejack, Rarity (although everypony knew her name nowadays,) Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy.She wondered what they were doing now...
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Twilight's friends had shaped themselves into the ponies they always inspired to be.
Applejack, now taking over the farm, had happily married and gave birth to a filly who she named Buttercup, after her mother. She also supported her sister, Apple Bloom, as the new mayor of Ponyville when Mayor Mare retired.
Fluttershy had gotten over most of her fears and lived deep in a sanctuary in the Everfree Forest, where she tended to all sorts of animals: bears, bunnies, and even manticores from time to time. Her help had made the Everfree a very safe place for ponies now.
Pinkie had started her own shop at Sugarcube Corner, called "Pinkie Pie's Pranks and Pastries," a joke shop that doubled as a bakery.
Rainbow had become Captain of the Wonderbolts, and had made Scootaloo the first flightless Wonderbolt ever, as her mobility on the ground made up for her struggles to fly.
Rarity, of course, became one of the most famous fashionistas ever to exist. She designed ensembles for Sweetie Belle, now a famous singer. She created a line of Rarity stores in every city in Equestria, becoming one of the most popular ponies second to the Princesses.
Starlight was just a simple librarian, however, but was still content with her life as it was.
The CMCs were inspirational ponies who, even if they lived separate lives, came together to lead seminars every year at the schoolhouse about cutie marks.
Twilight was above all those things, a previous princess and newly appointed queen, but she still felt empty inside. Every night, after raising the moon and organizing the stars, she's stare off her balcony looking up at the constellations, thinking of the princesses.
Which was exactly what she was doing that night. Spike noticed how depressed she looked, and tried to comfort her. "Twilight, it's going to be okay. You're the queen of Equestria, former princess of friendship, and-"
"Former," said Twilight. "I'm the former princess of friendship. You don't understand how this feels- to lose your friends, family, everypony-" she started weeping remembering the lost lives of the previous princesses- her idol, Celestia, the pony she'd helped reform and earn friends, Luna, and her sister in law, previous babysitter- she couldn't take it. they didn't deserve to go like this. "Dammit..." she said, wiping a tear from her eye. "I'm doing it again, aren't I...?"
Spike nodded. "Twilight, if they saw you now, they'd be proud. You're now the queen, leading a semi-centurial Pax Equestria. You're one of the most successful ponies around, and you should be proud."
Twilight turned around, flecking her waves of tears into Spike's face. "You don't get it. I'm a wreck. I still haven't gotten over Celestia's death, so even in the depths of The Isles of the Blessed they'd be looking down upon me."
"Twilight..." Spike said, but couldn't think of anything to say. He'd seen Twilight freak out, but lately, she'd just been crying. He couldn't help but feel bad for her, but he didn't know how to make her feel better. Suddenly, he got a bright idea.
"Twilight, tomorrow we're going to Ponyville."
Twilight sighed. "I can't," she said. "I have too much work to do."
"You just spend all day mourning. You never have work to do," said Spike. "Whether you like it or not, we're going to see our old friends.
Twilight at least looked a bit less sad.
