MLP: The Second Chapter

Twilight sniffed and looked up at Celestia. The princess's face radiated the sun, and she looked back down with kindness and understanding. In that moment, both were transported back to a much simpler and better time, when Twilight was nothing more than a student and Celestia was nothing more than a teacher, and they both didn't have such monstrous burdens to bear.

Celestia saw a pain reflected in her former student's eyes that made her heart ache. She didn't know what to say. For the first time in the thousands of years since she had taken the throne, she was completely speechless. What kind of right did she have to tell Twilight that everything would work out fine, when the purple princess's daughter lay dead behind her? She knew that nothing anypony said would ever erase the damage that had been done that day.

As the three princesses stood around each other, trying to figure out how to break the silence between them, other ponies slowly crept forward and gathered around Midnight's body. In death, she had turned from the malicious Midnight Mare back into the sweet and kind Midnight Sun. This only made Twilight's pain worse, as she recognized the filly she had poured her entire heart into. This pain was felt by all who stood next to her.

Her friends gathered in a close circle and joined hooves in a sign of unity and solidarity with her. They all gave her a look that silently told her of their support. Flash made his way through the crowd and embraced his wife. Once again, Twilight burst into tears and wept into his shoulder. "She's gone…our baby is gone," she whispered agonizingly. Flash tried to comfort her and fought back tears of his own. "I know, darling," he said in a shaky voice, "but we can have another one."

Twilight pulled back and gave him a gut wrenching look. "How?" She asked, "how can you just sit there and move on when our little girl is lying dead right there?! HOW?!" Flash was taken aback by the tone of his wife's voice. He had never heard her shriek like that. Her grief was horrifying to behold. She finally gave in to madness and threw herself upon the dead filly, wailing and weeping loudly. Her friends turned away, unwilling to see the pony they loved so dearly be put through such an experience.

Flash bent down and nuzzled Twilight, but she threw him off. "NO!" She screamed, "DON'T TOUCH ME! I just want to be alone with my filly! PLEASE, LEAVE ME! ALL OF YOU!" Her voice transitioned from heart rending grief to blazing anger in the space of a second. She turned up, her eyes burning with rage and sadness. "I SAID LEAVE! GO! GET THE HECK OUT OF HERE!"

But nopony moved. They loved the princess too much to leave her there in that state of mind. She began advancing on the group of supporters, her eyes glaring and her teeth grinding. Flash, Celestia, and Luna moved forward and quickly restrained her. "NO! GET OFF OF ME! GET OFF OF ME! JUST GO!"

"TWILIGHT!" Celestia shouted, "that's enough! You've gotta get ahold of yourself!"

"NO, IT'S NOT!" The Princess of Friendship wailed as she transitioned back into a grieving mother, "NO AMOUNT OF WAILING WILL EVER BE ENOUGH!"

"That's just the point, Twilight!" Flash said sternly as he shook his wife, "so you need to move on! Midnight's gone, and there's nothing we can do about it!"

Twilight gave him a distraught look as her anger faded. She felt completely empty inside without her beloved foal. Her heart was broken, and she thought it could never be repaired. She had given life to the filly that now lay at her hooves, and she had taken it away. She shed some more tears. The filly's tiny heart had stopped beating. Her small chest no longer rose and fell as it once did. Her eyes, though still open, stared blankly. Her mouth, which had once spoken loving words to her mother, had shut forever. Twilight reached a hoof over and quietly shut her eyes in a last show of love.

She sat up and turned to the crowd, which was quickly beginning to dissipate. They had been frightened by her tone of voice earlier and were carrying out her command to leave her. But then, she smiled and opened her mouth. "Wait, everypony!" So the crowd stopped and turned back to her.

"I'm sorry for my outburst," she said, "but my heart is shattered. I am no longer a mother, and perhaps I was never meant to be one in the first place. I made a lot of mistakes while raising Midnight, and I believe that contributed to the tragedy that has taken place here today. But, still, this was my daughter, and I loved her with every fiber of my being.

When she was born, I was the happiest mare in Equestria. I could finally experience what my brother and sister-in-law experienced with little Flurry Heart." Here, she stopped and cringed. She knew that The Crystal Empire was well within Midnight's firing range, and she hoped that Shining Armor and his family got out unharmed. They meant so much to her, and she would give anything to see their smiling faces.

She sighed and prepared to continue her small eulogy when suddenly, three new ponies shouldered through the crowd and stood before her. Her face broke into a smile as she recognized her brother and his family. She breathed a huge internal sigh of relief. They were okay, after all. She would ask them about it later, but first she had to finish her speech.

So she breathed in and continued. "That experience is something unlike any other. Before Midnight was born, Princess Celestia told me that there was an element of magic in motherhood unmatched by anything else in the world, and she was absolutely right. There are no words to describe the sheer amount of love Flash and I held for her. She was such an amazing filly. She was so kind and sweet, before she turned into this.

It was foretold thousands of years ago that she would become what you witnessed here today. We knew this, and we tried to guide her away from a life like that. But in so doing, we pushed her away from friendship and inadvertently helped turn her into a monster." She stopped and shuddered, remembering her daughter's screaming insults and terrifying power. "Thankfully, that monster no longer plagues Equestria. But I don't want my daughter remembered as a monster. I want her remembered as the sweet filly who used to go around Ponyville inquiring about things and trying to learn as much as she could. I want her remembered as the wonderful foal you all came to cherish just as much as Flash and I did.

Please, don't go. Especially in this hour of darkness, I need all of you. You're all my friends, and I shouldn't turn you away when you're trying to help me. I don't know what I've done to deserve such a wonderful group of ponies surrounding me."

"It's simple, Aunt Twily!" Flurry suddenly squeaked out, "you've given them friendship, and they've given you the same in return. That's how friendship works, isn't it?"

Twilight smiled down at her niece. This was a young filly who truly believed in the power and the magic of friendship. She couldn't have been prouder. "Yes, sweetie, that's definitely how it works, and you're right. These ponies have reflected true friendship to me. You know what? That's what's keeping the Spirit of Equestria alive. The friendship shown in this hour. We may be standing here amongst smoldering buildings and dead loved ones, but we also have our friends to lean on during this time. Take time to mourn your losses, and comfort each other. But just as sure as Celestia's sun rises to begin the day, and Luna's moon to begin the night, we will rebuild our land…and Flash and I will rebuild our family."

She finished and smiled at the crowd, who met her remarks with a great cheer. Flurry ran up and leapt into her aunt's arms. Twilight hugged the small one close. "I'm so proud of you, Flurry Heart! You understand so much about friendship. I'm thrilled that you're my niece!"

"I'm so glad you're my aunt, Aunt Twily! I love you!"

"I love you too, sweetie!"

Shining Armor and Cadance stepped forward and Twilight gently set Flurry down. Her brother and sister-in-law threw their hooves around her and wept tears of their own. After all, Midnight had been their niece, and they adored her just as much as Twilight and Flash did. "I'm so sorry, Twilight," Cadance said when they broke apart.

"Thank you, Cadance," Twilight said, "you three being here means a lot to me. But what happened to The Crystal Empire?!"

"It's completely buried in snow," Shining said sadly, "some of the ponies were already too far gone to save. Luckily, most got out alive. We made sure of that before we left."

"Well, you can come stay with us until we rebuild Equestria," Twilight said as she smiled, "we'd love to have you."

"Oh, Twily," Shining said, "we couldn't impose…"

"I insist," Twilight said.

"What did we do to deserve such a wonderful friend and family member like you?" Cadance asked, her eyes shining.

"You didn't do anything," Twilight said, "like Flurry said, friendship is reflected around by those who share it; and we definitely share it." They all smiled and grasped Twilight in a hug once again.

After a few minutes, the purple princess pulled away. She turned and looked around at the crowd. What she saw was amazing. The ponies were all helping each other in some way. Some of the unicorns used their magic to lift away broken beams and shattered glass to help find lost belongings. The pegasi searched high in the air for missing friends and loved ones. The Earth ponies used their magnificent strength to help move heavier parts of buildings.

This…is exactly what Equestria is all about, she thought to herself. The day had suddenly turned from one of despair, hopelessness, and utter devastation into one filled with hope and the light of friendship. The Spirit of Equestria lives on, she thought to herself, and there's nothing anypony can do to destroy it.