After Five Thousand Years Apart
Twilight Sparkle lay on her deathbed, something that would have happened a long long time ago if not the far greater lifespan of five thousand years she had acquired from becoming an alicorn. How she had been ready for this day for a long time, ever since the last of her friends had passed. The last of her pony friends at least.
“Twilight?” a male voice said her name.
The elderly alicorn looked toward the window of her tower. She saw a massive green eye looking at her through it.
“Spike,” she said. “You’re awake.”
There was a small descension of Spike’s eye, but it shot back up again. Seemed as though he were nodding through the window. The dragon had just woken up from another hundred year nap, probably one of the last he would take. He was getting old as well, being the same size as Dragon Lord Torch had been when they had first seen him.
“I’m glad I made it in time,” he said. “Seems every time I go to sleep I find everypony I last knew is gone, except you. I wasn’t here for Celestia and Luna when they both passed.”
Twilight nodded. Her former mentor Princess Celestia and her sister Luna were both now gone. Their longer lifespans had come to an end two millennia ago. They’d been there for Twilight when the times were dark, kept her company when her friends passed. Twilight remembered Celestia’s words.
We alicorns live longer lives, but eventually it will come to an end. All living things come to an end one way or another. But your friends wouldn’t want you to spend all the time mourning them. I know it hurts, but new happiness can come.
There had been happiness, but it had never been as strong as when Twilight had been through her first century. She’d had students, servants, and other ponies that looked up to her. But it was more being looked at as though she were a goddess of some sort. Not the same as having actual friends, but some happiness was better than none. It had been tough, and she’d watched many of other ponies pass afterwards. But their loss was nothing compared to the loss of her friends which still weighed on her heart.
Some ponies were capable of moving on, but Twilight’s circumstances weren’t so easy. All the ponies that came after did not have the same bond she had possessed with Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy. They had been connected by the elements of harmony, before most of them had even met. They had been comrades, fighting alongside each other in battle to save Equestria, that sort of bond was deeper than anything. Celestia might have been completely content with being viewed as a goddess more than a friend by everypony, but that was not Twilight.
Twilight smiled. “Soon, I will be with everypony else again.”
Spike blinked, Twilight’s vision was slightly blurry but she thought she saw him tearing up.
“I… I know its been hard for you Twilight. Some part of me wished you’d never become an alicorn so that you didn’t have to live with this pain all your life! But at the same time… I was… grateful. Because it meant I would not have to live thousands of years without you!”
Twilight nodded. “You were probably the biggest reason I decided to stay. I’ve wanted to be with my real friends for so long, to be free of this pain. But at least I had you… most of the time, as well as…”
The door to the bedroom suddenly opened. A servant pony entered followed by two alicorns. Luster Dawn and Flurry Heart, Twilight’s top student from her first few decades of running the school for Gifted Unicorns, as well as her niece. Flurry had been Twilight’s only family that lived on with her through the millennia. Cadence and Shining Armor had both been assassinated and left her as ruler of the Crystal Empire.
“Hello Twilight,” Luster said.
“Aunt Twilight!” Flurry exclaimed as she threw her hooves around her aunt.
“Hello, Luster, Flurry,” Twilight said. “I’m glad you could come.”
“We brought some ponies to see you,” Luster said.
“Auntie Twilight!”
Several foals entered the room. Twilight recognized each of them as decendants of her best friends. Crabapple and her sister Fastfruit, descendants of Applejack and Rainbow Dash’s children that they had adopted. Diamond, Rarity’s 48th granddaughter, and Partypopper, Pinkie’s descendant. Among the ponies of Equestria, the families of her friends, their legacy, were the only ones Twilight considered close to having true friends. Unlike the majority of ponies they had a bond with her rather than viewed her as a goddess.
The foals gathered around Twilight, looking up at her sadly.
Twilight just smiled. “Its okay little ones.”
“How can it be okay, you’re dying!” Crabapple said.
“We don’t want to lose you,”
“We all live, and when our time comes, we die,” Twilight said. “That is the way the world works. No pony or creature lives forever. Not even true immortals.”
She thought back to Discord and she said this, the Spirit of Chaos had been so in love with Fluttershy. After she’d passed, he had lost the will to live and allowed himself to fade away so as to be with her.
“I’m going to see all my old friends, your ancestors,” Twilight said.
“We’ll miss you though!” Partypopper said.
“I know, but we will meet again someday,” Twilight said.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because, I’ve felt your ancestors with me. They may not be here physically… but… I’ve heard them speak to me in my head sometimes. No one’s every truly gone. I will live in all of your hearts, as your ancestors have lived in mine for millennia.”
The foals all tearfully hugged her. Twilight smiled. Soon the room emptied. The servant pony, Loyal Care, tended to the Princess.
“Loyal Care, can you fetch me that book please?” Twilight asked, pointing her head to the book on her bedside table.
“Certainly Princess,” the servant said.
Princess, that’s what she was to most ponies and nothing else. A goddess or close to. A feeling of both appreciation and disgust filled Twilight. She liked being held in high regard by the ponies around her but also felt that they looked up to her a bit too much. As powerful as she was… or had been… she was no goddess, and didn’t want to be. She just wanted to be with her friends now.
Loyal Care set the book beside her bed, and Twilight opened it. This caused the nurse to widen her eyes.
“Princess you mustn’t use up to much magic! It will quicken your passing!”
Twilight shook her head. “I’ve been ready for the end for a long time now.”
She opened her book of memories, saw the moving pictures of her times with her friends in Ponyville. Rarity making them dresses for the Gala, Rainbow Dash teaching her to fly, working hard on the farm with Applejack, Pinkie throwing that party in the Golden Oak library the night Twilight had arrived. Twilight smiled as she turned the pages on the best days of her life. Her magic slowly waned, and her strength failed. She felt herself sink on the bed.
“Twilight?” Spike’s voice called.
“It’s time for me to go Spike. To join all our friends. Thank you… for being my number one assistant, royal advisor… and little dragon brother.”
The dragon looking at her through the window let out loud sobs. “I’ll miss you, Twilight! Thanks for letting me be your number one assistant. You gave me a better life than anything I could have had if I’d been born in the dragon lands!”
“And thank you Spike, you helped me become the Princess of Friendship and make such wonderful… friends. We will meet again someday.”
Spike nodded sadly. Twilight took one last look at the dragon that had marked the beginning of her path as Celestia’s student and eventual ascension. She closed her eyes and soon a white light appeared in her vision as her life finally ended. Then from that light emerged five familiar mares.
“Twilight!” A familiar voice rang through the ether and Twilight was tackled to the ground by a pink Pony she knew all too well.
“Pinkie Pie, oh I missed you so much!” Twilight said as she wrapped her hooves around the first of the friends she’d made in Ponyville long ago.
“We missed you too darling.”
Rarity spoke with a smile. Twilight returned it as she saw her other four best friends gathering around her. Tears filled the eyes of Twilight’s spiritual form which she noticed was the same the size as her friends.
“Been a rough time for you without us hasn’t it, Sugarcube?” Applejack asked.
Twilight nodded. “I just felt so incomplete. No pony could ever be as good of friends to me as you five were.”
They all gathered her in a group hug, Twilight smiled. She was back with her true friends after five thousand years. They would be together forever now, nothing could ever split them apart again.
***
Spike, Luster, and Flurry Heart all stood before Twilight’s gravestone. She had been buried in the spot toward the middle that had been reserved for her among her group of friends, between Rarity and Applejack. They all looked at the grave with teary eyes.
“I hope she’s at peace now, with all her friends!” Flurry said. “I still miss her though!”
Luster nodded. “Its… it’s only natural to miss someone when they are gone.”
Spike had to look down at the spot where the graves were. He couldn’t even see Twilight’s name on the stone since he was so big and couldn’t bend down without damaging anything like other stones.
“Goodbye, Twilight. Give Rarity and all the others my love. I’ll be with you again someday.”
