Princess Twilight looked over her city. The buildings of glass and steel reached to the sky, piercing the very clouds. Despite its bright neon lights, the spells weaved into its foundations made Luna's stars clear and visible. It was a city of dreams, and as the pegasi say, such a thing can only be built in Heaven. Perhaps that's what Canterlot was, nowadays. A place where the impossible can come true. Twilight thought back to the generations of scientists who made this possible, whose sweat and sacrifice made her dream come true.
If she were to be honest, this prosperity had always been a means to an end. While the rising living standards of her citizens was something she found worth of celebration, all these advancements were meant to satisfy the aching hole she had in her heart. Twilight Sparkle didn't want to be alone any more. She didn't want to keep making friends and lovers, only to lose them to the ravages of time. She also didn't want to distance herself from those who cared about her, just to prevent her heart from breaking beyond repair.
Generations of scientists had worked on her project, and many of them were still in stasis, awaiting the day of their final victory. Some of them decided that the chance of success was too small, and prefered the certainty of death. Most of them had spent their entire lives working on a project they knew would not be finished in their natural lifetimes. Twilight honored them all.
She looked at the statue of her last childhood friend. Her face in a cocky grin, her pose reminicent of a famous statue of Commander Hurricane. Knowing her, it was probably on purpose.
"I hope you don't hate me", she whispered to no one in particular.
Twilight's magic pulsed in waves as the stone receded, to be replaced by living flesh. The encased mare shuddered a little as the magic wore off, catching herself before she fell. Still unsteady, she opened her eyes, and smiled through her discomfort and fatigue.
"Twilight. How long has it been? You don't look a day over over twelve hundred."
Twilight laughed loudly, releasing some of her anixiety and guilt, taken off guard by her friend's brash sense of humor. Rainbow Dash was still the crazy daredevil she remembered. The other mare joined in after a few moments.
"Too long, Rainbow. The world has changed."
A look of worry came across her face. "Don't sugarcoat it for me, Sparks. How long has it been? How many of us are left? You did ask the others to enter stasis, right?"
Twilight frowned. She was hoping that wouldn't be Rainbow's first question. "I, uh... Well, Scootaloo decided to enter stasis about fifty years after you did, said that she wanted to be in a world where she can learn to fly."
A few seconds of silence followed. The tension was thick enough to be sliced with a knife.
"And what happened to the other Elements? Our friends? Applejack? She promised me that she would be there on the other side- that we would be together."
Tears started forming in Rainbow's eyes. The continued silence told her everything Twilight's words didn't. "I know that I was young when I got cancer, but we promised that we would be together. Forever. Why did she leave me behind? Explain that to me. Please." Rainbow gave Twilight a begging look as her worst fears came true.
Twilight Sparkle has had 521 years to consider the answer to that question. She still didn't have a good answer.
"She told me that it was the toughest decision she ever had to make. I was there with her when she visited her parents' graves for the last time. Said that she knew what she promised, but that we- you and I- were chasing a fantasy. Said that she didn't want to be woken up for a few days long after everyone she knew died, just to die a second time."
Rainbow cried, the floodgates now open. Twilight had never before heard those cries of anguish from Rainbow before. She had always been reserved about her negative emotions.
"Even then, she was seriously considering entering stasis, just for you. Thought that a few days with you at the end of your lives wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. I'm so sorry."
"B-but why didn't you try to convince her?"
"Because it wasn't my decision to make."
Her expression turned savage. "That's bullshit, and you know it. We always knew that you were the smartest of us all. If you spoke up, she would have listened. We all trusted you, we-"
Twilight couldn't stop herself from yelling. "Because I didn't believe in it any more, alright? I told her what I thought at the time, which was that we were chasing a dead dream. I- I'm sorry."
Twilight paced a little in the room before regaining her composure. "I should go. There's food and reading materials here. We're both too emotional. An hour should-"
"Please don't leave. You're all that I have left."
The two ponies looked at the night time glow of the city, silent for what seemed like an hour.
"So, what are you going to do now?"
"I don't know. Connect with Scootaloo, maybe. Go on tour with the Wonderbolts, assuming ponies still remember me."
Twilight smiled. "Of course they remember you. You might not be the fastest any more, but you were still the first to make a Rainboom. I've made sure of it."
"You know me so well." Rainbow looked back to the glowing skyline. "Want to fly with me? I haven't stretched my wings in- goodness, how long has it been?"
"More than five hundred years."
The two ponies jumped out of the terrace and into the night sky. Twilight thought once more of the friends she would never see again. Her tears were swallowed by the drizzling rain long before they hit the ground.
It wasn't fair. Their smiles and joys were forever lost, because of her loss of faith. She still remember Celestia telling her to let go over and over again, to accept things as she has. And eventually, Twilight came to believe her. The two Alicorns weren't on talking terms. Haven't been for a hundred years. But today? Twilight wanted to see her again. Forgiveness was more for the benefit of the forgiver than the forgiven.
