Memories With a Student

Orchid soon noticed something up against the far wall. If she wasn't seeing things, it looked like a mirror of some kind. But why would it be here? Unless. "Is that what I think it is?" She asked, pointing at it.

Twilight's ears dropped as she looked at the mirror and the memories it held. "Yes. That was the World Mirror. I'd almost forgotten it was there."

Orchid looked at it in awe. She knew the story of course. Of how Empress Twilight had traveled to another world to retrieve the stolen Element of Magic, and in the process, made seven friends that would last a lifetime.

Her gaze fell on a battered and beaten old journal, the sun in glory cutie mark faded almost beyond recognition now. "What happened? You guys didn't get into a fight, did you?"

Twilight shook her head, smiling. "No. Far from it in fact. It was the march of time. The girls eventually graduated, and I was proud to be there and watch them do so, and eventually drifted apart. Sunset came back to Equestria after that. She had no reason to stay behind."

Orchid gave her teacher a look. "That doesn't seem fair. I thought they were friends?"

Twilight sighed. "We all were Orchid. Some of the best friends I have ever had. But after graduation, someone finally spilled the beans about the magic at Canterlot High. We never did find out who it was. But the damage was done."

Orchid's heart dropped. She didn't like where this was going. "What happened?"

Twilight's eyes glistened as she fought back the painful memories. "The girls destroyed their geodes. But not before we permanently destroyed the connection between our world and the Human World. It took all of our magic, combined with their own, to sever the connection forever."

She sniffed as her tears fell now. "Sunset had left her journal with my counterpart. There was just enough magic left in it so that she told us that the geodes were gone forever now, and magic had ceased to exist in their world. They had enough to write one last message before the Journal went dark for good."

Opening the Journal in front of them to the very last page. On it was a simple message, addressed to both Princess Twilight and Sunset Shimmer, and two photographs. One taken on the night of that fateful Fall Formal, and the day the Rainbooms had graduated from Canterlot High.

Twilight's smile grew as she read it again, as poignant now as it had been that first time she and Sunset had read it.

"Rainbooms Forever!"

Twilight wiped her eyes, only helping slightly. "After that, I moved the mirror to storage and kept the Journal in a safe place only me, Sunset, Starlight, and Spike knew about. Sunset stayed with me in Canterlot for a while before she moved to the Crystal Empire." She giggled. "And, go figure, she and our world's Flash Sentry ended up dating one another, and eventually getting married."

Orchid rolled her eyes a bit. That seemed a bit corny, but whatever. "You weren't mad?"

Twilight scoffed, wounded at the very thought. "Mad? I was the one who married them. Flash and I had tried to date for a while not long after the Battle of the Bell, but we both eventually found it just wasn't going to work. We were still friends of course, but we both moved on. I was happy for both of them."

"You've never been married?" Orchid asked.

Twilight shook her head. "It was just after Flash and I stopped that I found I didn't even like boys like that. And very few mares were less interested in my position and what it could give them than they were in me as a pony."

"And that goes double for me," a new voice said, as Empress Flurry Heart trotted into the room, a knowing smile on her face as she and Twilight shared a muzzle. "Why did I know you would be here today of all days Aunty?"

Twilight chuckled. "It is important to me Flurry. No matter what else has changed since then."

Orchid was lost as she looked at the two alicorns. "What? What is it? Am I missing something? I don't think I've missed any holidays."

Flurry giggled. "It's not a national holiday, no matter how much Aunty Twilight wanted it to be."

Twilight glared daggers at her niece. "Excuse me for not being in the best mood at the time. I was in mourning. Ponies do stupid things in that state."

Orchid turned to her teacher. "What happened?"

Twilight's glare melted into a sad sigh as she slumped. "Today marks the anniversary of Applejack's death. The last living, non-alicorn, Element of Harmony. Three hundred years old, and as stubborn as the day we first met."

Flurry nodded, her own expression softening. "Mom had to take over for a time while aunty mourned. For a while, we even thought she might try and kill herself."

Twilight nodded, a hurt look in her eyes. "It took me longer than I wanted to really get over their deaths. I never once thought of making them alicorns. I loved them, but even I wasn't that insane."

Orchid thought about that for a moment. It all made sense now. Why her mentor was always like this on this day every year. No matter where they might be in the galaxy, on Harmonia, another planet, or between worlds, Twilight always became a recluse on this day. Not even Orchid could get to her.

She had known most of these stories since she had become Twilight's student. But she had rarely ever heard them told like this. They felt more real now. She looked at Flurry. "So that's why you told me where to look?"

Flurry nodded, smirking. "Aunty really needs to stop being a stick in the mud about other ponies knowing about this. Especially students. It's not fair to them. You're the first in a long time to see this Orchid."

Twilight nodded, mentally kicking herself now that she thought about it. "Flurry's right. I have done this for too long, and not let other ponies know why I do." She draped a wing over Orchid's back. "You're not just my student Orchid or my friend. You're like family. All of my students have been. I never told them enough. No more."

Orchid's smile lit up the room as she hugged her teacher, one that was happily returned by Twilight, and they were soon joined by Flurry Heart as well.