The day had just started, and it was promising to be beautiful. The newly risen sun bathed the sky in colours: blues and pinks and purples. A fuchsia haze reflected into the eyes of the princess as she sat, savouring her last sunrise.
Twilight let the flow of magic come to a halt with a sigh. She felt tired. It could have been that she didn't sleep last night, but a small part of her knew that no amount of sleep would shake the pressing fatigue that had settled down on her. It was thick and unyielding, like a heavy blanket. She'd spent too long trying to throw it off, or worse, trying to ignore it. But today, today would be the day. Today she'd accept the blanket of sorrow, and maybe in doing that it would save her.
The cup of chamomile sitting next to her was beginning to cool, but she sipped it nonetheless, relaxing into its calming taste. It was a strange thought that it could be the last time she ever taste that taste, so she decided not to think about that, deciding that she could always make another later on.
A sudden breeze ripped through the balcony, making her shiver and wrap her wings around her for warmth. She'd miss them. When she'd first got her wings, she'd been unsure of them, and if she was to be completely honest to herself, hadn't liked using them that much. However, thanks to the help of Rainbow Dash and the others, she'd soon learnt to embrace her new role and wings. Her eyes burned a little as she thought of them, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Her best friends. Celestia was right about so many things - and yet she'd overseen the biggest flaw. What would happen when everyone left her and she was all alone? Stuck, like a needle on a record. But that wasn't the worst of it. If she was left all alone, the last to leave out of her friends, even that would be okay. Hard, for sure, but she had other friends besides them. Twilight considered herself a strong-minded character, no able to crumple easily. After all, the life she now led had not been easy to attain, or maintain, for that matter. No, their deaths wasn't the worst part. The worst part was the unfairness of it all. She was trapped in a curse, trapped in a youthful body, swanning round with no fear of death, only hatred of life. It had come to the point that every time she looked in the mirror, she longed for something - anything - that would signify some sort of change. Grey hairs, bags under eyes, something that would signal imperfection. Every time, she was disappointed. She was as youthful as ever, tall and slim, with her mane constantly shimmering and flowing as if there was a pony constantly walking behind her, blowing a fan at it.
Twilight missed how she used to look. She hadn't minded the alicorn part, but she liked her hair smooth and still, cut in a straight line down her neck. She liked her status as ever-so-slightly taller than everyone, with a horn ever-so-slightly longer. She disliked towering over everypony, and the horn that was constantly a hassle, banging into ceilings and scraping off the plaster with its abnormal length. She rubbed a hoof over her face. Too long.
Far, far, too long.
It was moments like these where she realised why she was doing what she was. It was so much further than what she wanted. It was what she needed. All her years of being immortal had only served to remind her that immortals don’t live. They simply exist, watching as the world passes them by. Time becomes meaningless and never-ending, and eventually, everything fades into the background as the world moves slower. Everything becomes unimportant. Just chess pieces to move on a board. And Twilight was sick of it. She wanted to smile again.
And she missed the ponies that made her smile more than anything.
Slowly, she stood. The sun glared her in the face, trying to pull her back, promising warmth and love and peace. She declined and began to walk.
In pride of the old castle was something she treasured above everything else: A chandelier, its arms made of wood, with glass jewels, glinting in the soft light. Only a few knew of the story behind it, how the wood was made of her first real home, the Golden Oak Library, and the jewels contained secrets, and stories behind their polished colours.
Despite the obvious neglect, the castle was in good shape. the walls were made of crystal, so were still strong and glimmering. The floor was coated in an inch of dust, which for Twilight, symbolised the moment she learnt what had happened to Starlight Glimmer.
And on the blackboard... multiple calculations. Lines and graphs. Endless numbers. Rainbow's eyes would have fallen out of her head if she'd seen any of this. Twilight took a deep breath, remembering the words she'd sworn never to forget.
Never stop smiling.
For this to work, she needed memories, only happy memories. She could do that, she knew she could. What was the point of calling them her friends if she couldn't even smile at them?
She'd be lying if she said that, as she stood under the thing that was to kill her, she wasn't having second thoughts. It wasn't too late to back out, after all. But the moment her horn ignited, it would all be over. It wasn't in Twilight's nature to give up. Maybe she could try again, start over...
Twilight breathed deep. Her brain screamed at her to leave, to leave before it was too late, but her heart was what made her stay. It beat against her chest like a trapped bird, fluttering its wings. Twilight looked around slowly, at the place she'd once called home. If she craned her neck, she could see the small village of Ponyville, still under her spell of slumber. Soon though, it would be awake and bustling, ready for a new and glorious day.
If she stretched her head and eyes upwards, she could see the shimmering gaze of the chandelier. Its gaze filled her with strength, and with no more hesitation-
CRACK!
The magic from her horn propelled the beamer to shoot its force into her body. Almost immediately, her wings cracked and tore. Twilight screamed, but liquid just filled her mouth. She choked, spluttered and tried to step out but couldn't move her legs. She felt an energy pouring through her. Gamma radiation was in her body, and although the rational part of her brain knew that Gamma didn't do nearly as much harm as Alpha, there was so much-
Think! A voice urged in her head. Of course. Twilight focused on what she wanted. To be with her friends. She closed her eyes against the glare that was threatening to blind her, and thought-
* * *
The princess disappeared with a flash of golden light, leaving everypony else slack-jawed, gazing at the new princess.
"Horse apples, that's a cracking pair of flyers you've got there, Twi!" Rainbow Dash finally said, pulling one out to examine. Applejack roughly shoved her out the way.
"Have a bit more tact, Rainbow Dash!"
"What did I say?!" Rainbow fired back.
Twilight stood, shivering in the cold night. Seeing this, Rarity came forward and put her hoof around Twilight's neck.
"Come now, Twilight. Let's make a nice cup of tea and get you warmed up."
"Thanks, Rarity, but I'm not..." Twilight untangled herself. "I don't think I'm ready for this, girls. I mean, I'm just me. Just your average uni... alicorn. I don't... know about this." Twilight trailed off pitifully.
"Aww, shucks, Twi, you'll learn. I didn't learn how to buck apples on ma first day, did I? And now look at me!"
"Applejack is quite right," Rarity said crisply. "I've already told you girls how long it took me to get my cutie mark, and I had already been designing dresses for years beforehand!"
"Well, I don't know what any of you are talking about!" Rainbow boasted. "I was the best flyer in my class from the very start!"
Everyone looked at her. Applejack glared the hardest. Rainbow looked around smirking, then the smirk froze at the ferocious look on Applejacks face.
"I mean, uh, I was awful at flying when I first started. Mmm. Yeah. A complete egg-head. Don't worry, Twi, soon you'll be nearly a sixth a cool as me!"
Applejack rolled her eyes, but Twilight finally smiled.
"Thanks, Rainbow. Thank you, all of you. I-I couldn't have done this without you... any of you. It just doesn't seem right that I'm the one to benefit from this, when it was all of us,"
"Nonsense, Twilight!" Rarity said immediately. "We might have helped. but it was you that led us through it all!" All the ponies around nodded in agreement. Twilight felt a warm wetness beneath her eyes.
"Girls..." She said suddenly, rubbing her eyes quickly. "Can you all stay here tonight? I don't want to be alone... after all this..."
"You're never alone, Twilight." Rarity said.
"But of course. I'll meet you all back here in, say, fifteen minutes?"
"'Shy and I will get the snacks!" Rainbow immediately said, grabbing the pegasus and taking off in the air. Fluttershy screamed quietly, but didn't complain otherwise.
"Alicorn slumber PARTY!" Pinkie whooped, bounding off at a hundred miles an hour.
"I gotta tuck Applebloom and see to the farm. But I'll be round in a bit. Later, Twi!"
When they left, Twilight walked slowly into her house, looked at everything. For some reason, it all looked different, even though she knew that it was just her imagination. She began to empty all the cupboards, finding all her spare duvets and mattresses.
As she finally finished, she walked over to the mantlepiece, where a photo stood in pride. It was all of them, taken shortly after defeating Nightmare Moon and Twilight moving permanently to Ponyville. All of her friends sat there, save for Spike, who was taking the picture. In the middle, she recognised the lavender unicorn curled up, gazing at the camera with a happy grin. At the bottom, inscribed on the frame, was a quote:
"Good friends are like stars. You don't always see them, but you know they are always there."
Twilight was pulled out of her gaze by the pounding of many hooves at the door, many voices calling her name. She walked down to let them all in, the words still fresh in her head.
Good friends, like stars. Don't always see them... But always there...
* * *
Twilight groaned and stretched. Her head hurt, and her duvet was unusually hard. She must have fallen asleep whilst working again. Twilight sighed, and not bothering to open her eyes, reached for her quill.
Her hoof coming into contact with grass was the first moment she realised that everything was not as it seemed. Her eyes snapped open, and she didn't recognise any of her surroundings. For one, the sky was purple-blue, and had an ethereal look to it. But as she gazed at her new, unfamiliar surroundings, memories began to flood back.
This must be It.
And with that realisation also came the prickling sensation as the hairs on the back of her neck rose. Someone was watching her.
She turned, slowly. She was still an alicorn - how did that work? - but back to her old size. This would have pleased her, but it was drowned out by the thudding fear. There was someone standing behind her.
It couldn't be-
She was aware of the fact that she looked a wreck. Her hair misshapen, bruises forming from her fall, blood leaking from where the spell and radiation had hit her. Above her was a tall, solid figure, only a silhouette in the glare of the light. Despite this though, she knew immediately who it was, and her throat tightened. After so many weeks of longing, Twilight suddenly couldn't thing of anything to say, except:
"Hello again."
"Hey there, Sugarcube,"
Author's Note
I think that this is kinda sweet.
Don't cry when I'm gone was my most popular story, so I thought I'd do this, since I was bored, and... yea :/
I also want to mention that in Heaven, everything reverts to being perfect and how you are happy, and Twilight was happiest at the point where she was still an alicorn, but a young one, which is why she's an alicorn at the end... and yea.
Hope you enjoyed :D
