Tomorrow Was Beautiful

by Flashgen

Rating: everyone
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, Drama, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 1702

Tomorrow was beautiful. Twilight knew because she had seen them all.

After taking over as the ruler of Equestria, Twilight sought out a powerful artifact said to hold infinite wisdom. Now, every night she falls asleep with the faintest knowledge of what tomorrow holds.

First place story for the Quills and Sofa Speedwriting group contest #32 "The Beautiful Future" with the prompt "Letting Go."

Published 2020-01-26 18:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2020-01-26 18:50:01 UTC

Tomorrow was Beautiful

Tomorrow was beautiful. Twilight knew because she had seen them all. It took effort and patience and hope that ancient texts and tales held portions of truth, but she had seen them all through an orb of endless wisdom. Every night, she went to bed with the truth of the morrow at the edges of memory. She couldn’t hold every moment of the truth in her mind, but at least a vague impression gave her an idea of what was to come.

When she awoke, the faint buzz of crickets came from outside of the window. She stretched, pushed the covers off of her body, and pulled herself from bed. It was only a short trip to the balcony before she rose the sun, its bright rays shining down over Canterlot.

Golden rays of sunlight graced the beautiful buildings of the city, the far off plains and valleys of Equestria, and many lands she couldn’t, regretfully, see from her balcony. She smiled and went about her business. Meetings, court, meals, decisions, and verdicts alike passed with little incident.

In the evening, she received a letter from her student, Luster Dawn. Another week, another friendship report, another lesson with the faintest echo of her own experiences. Names and particulars changed, but she knew that Luster was receiving the best education of a great and powerful magic. She chuckled when Pinkie and Starlight were mentioned, unfortunate bystanders to an antic of one of Luster’s more energetic friends.

In the end, all things came to a wonderful close. Growth, learning, and understanding passed in its wake. She wondered, faintly, if Luster’s friends truly learned the same lessons.

Tomorrow was beautiful. Twilight knew because she had seen them all.

Tomorrow was stormy. Twilight knew because she had seen them all. Of course, the weather ponies would argue otherwise, planning nothing but sunshine for the cold winter day in Canterlot.

When she awoke, there was the howling of wind against the windows. She stretched, pushed the covers off of her body, and pulled herself from bed. She did not bother to approach the balcony before raising the sun, and not a single ray graced the city.

A name floated at the fringe of her memory: Thryx.

She went down to her court to find Spike pacing back and forth. Seconds later, a letter arrived via magic from Luster Dawn. She asked about the weather and said that a powerful snowstorm blanketed Ponyville overnight. Other letters arrived shortly afterwards. The Yaks, Griffons, Hippogriffs, Dragons… Every creature reported the same.

As Spike fidgeted, Twilight smiled and placed one of her massive wings over his shoulder. “Relax, Spike,” she cooed. “We’ll find a way to solve this. We always will.”

After days of searching in the Canterlot archives, the snowstorm unceasing, Twilight found the name in an ancient tome. Thryx was a storm giant, one sealed long ago by dragons. His storms challenged their fire and rage, and so the Dragon Lord Spark had challenged him to single combat. Twilight knew such a challenge wouldn’t be possible now; the storms outside meant Thryx had grown powerful. However, the tomes said Thryx gave birth to the Windigos, and Twilight had her solution.

She gathered her friends, along with Luster Dawn’s, and lead all of the creatures in Equestria and at its borders in summoning the Fire of Friendship. A great, pink plume formed over Canterlot, growing by the second. Storm clouds broke around it and far above the great image of the giant Thryx came into focus.

Against the unending warmth he wilted and melted, his body shrinking until he fell to the ground outside Canterlot with a thunderous crash. It took weeks to clear the snow completely, but Thryx was gone forever.

Tomorrow was beautiful. Twilight knew because she had seen them all.

Tomorrow was dark. Twilight knew because she had seen them all. Ponies would panic, thinking the Princess was indisposed, but it was nothing of the sort.

When she awoke, she heard nothing. She stretched, pushed the covers off of her body, and pulled herself out of bed. As she walked to the balcony, her horn lit. When the sun breached the horizon, there was a great black thing blocking its light.

While Spike paced back and forth in the throne room downstairs, Twilight went to her telescope. The surface was as black as it appeared to the naked eye, smooth and unblemished even with inspection. A name the pony tongue could not pronounce graced her memory and left her feeling drained.

Letters poured in through magic fast enough to nearly flood her room, but she teleported to the throne room with them. She summoned her friends, along with Luster Dawn and hers. Discord spoke the name that Twilight could not utter, shivers running down the spines of all in ear shot.

Spike once again fidgeted and Twilight pulled him close with a wing. “We’ll find a way to solve this, Spike. We always will.”

It took a month of utter blackness and nightmares for the answer to arise. Artifacts from every nation were gathered and a ritual was performed. Friendship, in a way, won out, and Twilight received daily lessons from Luster Dawn throughout.

The sky cleared when the black, terrible thing was tossed eons away.

Tomorrow was beautiful. Twilight knew because she had seen them all.

Tomorrow would be the last. Twilight knew because she had seen them all. Her friends were long gone. Luster Dawn and her friends had grown so much, though ultimately apart. Spike was still at her side, now massive enough to no longer actually be allowed in the castle, and Discord still managed to make an appearance every week or three.

When Twilight awoke, the sun was already shining through the window. She didn’t move, pulling the covers over her head. After an hour, Spike rang for her on a crystal ball at her bedside. Lazily, she turned over to answer him.

“Twilight, what’s wrong? The noble ponies said you weren’t at court. Are you sick?” he asked, concern crystal clear despite his deep, rumbling tone.

Twilight smiled. “Yes, Spike, just a little. We’ll find a way to solve this. We always will.”

“What?”

Twilight said nothing else. Spike left her alone after several minutes.

Before sunset, Discord appeared in her bedroom. She banished him with a spell, leaving him unable to reach her.

The sun lowered without her magic.

Tomorrow was going to be nothing. Twilight knew because she had seen them all.

Only two years into her reign, Princess Twilight found word of a great magical artifact. It was said to hold boundless wisdom, the ability to see the truth that had, was, and always will be. Certain that it would help her to rule Equestria in harmony for a great many years, she went in search of it.

Five years later, Twilight broke into a great and ancient tomb. She did not bother to translate the ancient words marked outside of it nor make a note of the circular patterns they formed. As she entered the final room, she saw a great stone pedestal with a crystal clear orb hovering just above it. Flying up to it, she could see through it, the image of the room behind it refracted and morphed.

As her hooves touched it, the knowledge of all that had and would and will be came flooding into her mind. Endless days of joy and peace filled her mind. Troubles that she and others would overcome followed, as well as countless obstacles overcome by creatures ancient and long past. Then, peering into the future, there was a great nothing. Not black, not dark, nothing.

Her hooves came free from the orb with sweat dripping from them. Her chest heaved up and down in great, deep, shaky breaths. Slowly, details slipped away and Twilight’s panic faded. Eventually, she found the strength to leave the room, then the tomb, and finally return to Canterlot.

When she drifted to sleep, she knew that tomorrow was beautiful and smiled.

Tomorrow was still nothing. Twilight knew because she had seen them all. She had seen the last.

When she awoke, she felt and heard nothing. She opened her eyes, greeted by a great expanse of nothing about her. It was like a bright white void, but part of Twilight knew that there was no light to truly blind her. Still, her eyes strained against it.

You have come.

The words filled her mind and rattled skull. She pulled her hooves up as her ears pressed flat, but no attempt could silence them.

As all who have seen before you and that will see after.

The words reverberated in her skull, but Twilight’s body slowly began to relax. In the aftermath, faint echoes of the voice still vibrating within her mind, she felt calm. Her wings splayed out behind her and she let her head hang back. There was the sensation of rotating, spinning within nothingness, but her eyes could find nothing to focus on. Instead, she closed them.

“Where am I?” she finally muttered and thought, hoping whatever spoke to her would understand.

You have seen. You know. The end.

“The end of what? Of me? Of Equestria?” The truth lingered on the edge of her mind, just before the voice replied. She spoke it with them.

Of Everything.

She felt tears welling in her eyes, the truth she could not tell to others facing her.

Things beyond mortal knowing shape reality. You and others have seen. Others will see.

“There’s nothing now. How can—” She opened her eyes in anger and could make out a faint shape before her. It curved the imperceptible nothingness ever slightly, refracted and morphed.

What is was. What was shall be. What shall be is.

The orb vanished. Twilight vanished. The voice remained, until nothingness was something.

Tomorrow was going to be the beginning. Twilight knew because she had seen them all.

Tomorrow was going to be her first. Twilight knew because she had seen them all.

She opened her eyes to a bright light, before hearing the sound of her own shrill cries.