A Change for the Princess

Chapters

Chapter 1 - Spike's Farewell
Chapter 2 - Extinct Apples
Chapter 3 - Return to Tartarus
Chapter 4 - Chrysalis Arises
Chapter 5 - The Final Battle
Chapter 6 - Epilogue

Chapter 1 - Spike's Farewell

“Mm-hmm. Mm-hm. That’s great, Spike. If you could just have the kitchen send in a sandwich for me before you go, I’d really appreciate it, and I’ll see you at dinner. Oh - and no crusts on my daisy sandwich, you know how I like it.”

“Twilight, are you even listening to me? I said I won’t be back for three hundred years.”

Princess Twilight Sparkle jerked her head up so sharply from Aeternus Apotheosis Illuminatus that it dislodged the light cloud of dust that had settled on her coat and made her sneeze. “That’s today?”

Spike sighed, and lowered his neck a little so he could huff out a blast of sulphur-scented breath and wash the dust from Twilight’s coat. When he was little, his breaths wouldn’t have even tickled her eyelashes; now it was like being bathed in a desert windstorm. He’d grown so large; when had that happened? It felt like only yesterday he was just a little thing who rode on her back. As the books and pages around her settled after the tornado, Twilight realized Spike was speaking again.

“The Draconic Change? I know you have to remember, Twi, you’re the one who did all that research about it! Dragons go to sleep for hundreds of years, and undergo the final growth spurt that transforms us into full-sized dragons. And I’ve been waiting for it for so long!” Spike chuckled, and smoothed a scaled paw over his spines. “Ember’s been teasing me about being a late bloomer.”

“Oh, yes, right!” Twilight Sparkle lied. She was a princess now, and she’d gotten better at it; but Spike was practically a sibling, and the sidelong glance he gave her with one slitted pupil was all the judgment she could stand. “Oh, fine, I forgot. But I knew it was coming! I put it on my planner - uh, my planner - it must be under this one.” Twilight huffed as she began digging through a nearby stack of books.

“Is this a pile of planners? Twi, there are decades of planners here!” Spike admonished her quietly, surprised as he began going further and further back into the pile.

“How else am I supposed to keep track of things?! I’m a princess, I just - I have a lot to keep track of!” Twilight Sparkle huffed, and kicked over a tower of books with her hind leg, emerging at last with a planner held aloft with her magic. “HA! See? I found it! And right here - here we go! ‘Spike begins his special dragon sleep.’ So I’m totally ready! Totally prepared! I can even tell the kitchen myself how to make my daisy sandwiches!”

But the Spike she returned to wasn’t cheerful; his expression was pinched with worry, and the green eyes that stared back at her weren’t a child’s at all, but filled with adult concern. It startled her to see Spike as he truly was. “Are you going to be okay, Twi?”

“What? Pfft, of course I am! I’m the Princess! I have a whole castle here to help me, if anything I’m over prepared! I’m -”

“No, Twi, that’s not what I mean.” Spike stood for a moment, and let the silence stretch out. “I think you know what I mean.”

Twilight Sparkle found herself at a loss for words. “I - I’m sure I don’t know.”

“You don’t leave the library anymore, Twi. You spend too much time in here, locked up by yourself. I know it was hard, losing your friends, losing the Princesses, but you can’t - you can’t lose yourself, too.” Spike swallowed, and the way he knit his claws in front of his middle reminded Twilight Sparkle so painfully of the little dragonet he once was. “I’m afraid of what’s going to happen to you without me here. You only come out when I ask you to, and - and I’m so worried, Twilight.”

“That’s not true! I came out for - for Daisy Shine’s birthday party, didn’t I? That nice little librarian!”

“That was fifty years ago, Twilight.” Spike murmured. “She’s a grandmother now.”

Twilight Sparkle opened her mouth, then closed it, and repeated it once or twice before she stood in silence. That was true, wasn’t it? It hadn’t felt that long ago, but … but it must have been. She’d worked her way through the whole first rack of Ancient Ponish tomes since then, hadn’t she?

“I think this might be why I haven’t had the change yet, Twilight.” Spike continued, watching concern overtake Twilight’s regal expression. She might be a princess, but Spike could still clearly see his beloved bookworm even through the royal features. “I’m afraid to leave you alone.”

“It’s … my fault?” Twilight Sparkle’s voice was a whisper now, and she looked down at the ring of books surrounding her - and the books that stretched almost as far as she could see down the library’s aisles, vanishing into darkness. Ring after ring left on the floor, evidence of uncountable days spent reading and learning. Reading while the world moved past her.

“Not on purpose! I know you wouldn’t, Twilight, I know you didn’t mean to. I just … I couldn’t leave you.” Spike admitted, and swallowed, the motion so much larger now. “I don’t want you to be alone. Not even for three hundred years, even if you barely notice I’m gone.”

“Oh, Spike. Of course I’d notice.” Twilight Sparkle insisted as she pushed the books aside, crossing to his side to hook her forelegs around the dragon in a tight hug. It was harder to do now that he was so much bigger, but … well, she supposed they were both bigger now. “I’m going to change things. I promise. You will go, and I will be fine.”

Spike returned the hug tightly, and held her there for a moment, almost too long, until her bones creaked. “Could you come with me?”

Twilight chuckled fondly. There was the little dragon she remembered, putting up a brave front but still a little scared deep down. “Of course, Spike. I’ll pack our lunches to go.”

***

The kitchen staff surprised her, but Twilight managed to bite back her reaction; it had been many decades since she’d appeared in person, so she didn’t recognize any of them. She thought she had, until the cheerful little dishwasher informed her that her mother had been the former master of sauces, and that’s why they looked similar. Twilight refused to let anything get in the way of Spike’s big day, and so she briskly soldiered on, all the way up to the grassy hill where Spike’s sleeping cave was.

“This is nice!” Twilight Sparkle announced brightly, peering into the cave’s entrance. “Spacious, but not drafty; is this lava rock? I hear it has amazing insulation properties! It’ll keep you nice and toasty in the winter!”

Spike chuckled, and shook his head as he set down the picnic basket. “Thank you. Ember helped me to find the best cave to hibernate in. There’s a bend back there, so you can’t see the gems I used for my bed.”

“Wow! You really thought of everything, huh?” Twilight sat beside the picnic basket and pulled out their lunch - one daisy sandwich for her, no crusts, and one hundred thirty-five daisy and ruby sandwiches for Spike. “I guess you really are all grown up now.”

“I should hope I am - it’s been hundreds of years!” Spike laughed, then paused, and considered Twilight Sparkle sidelong. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay?”

Twilight let her eyes drift out to the horizon, and huffed out a deep sigh. “I think so. I guess I lose track of time when I’m in the library, sometimes. It’s easier than being out here, sitting on the throne, surrounded by strangers.”

Spike nodded, and tossed the first sandwich into his mouth, crunching the gemstone thoughtfully. “I know it was really hard, when we lost Rarity. She was … she was the last.” Spike looked down at his second sandwich, and peeled back the bread to look at the gem nestled against the daisy. “I really miss them.”

“Me too.” Twilight Sparkle replied, and for an instant, she felt something dark and hungry awaken in the pit of her stomach. She stuffed it down with another bite of her sandwich, too large to swallow, and coughed until she could muscle it down far enough to speak again. “Oof, they need to cut those daisies a little thinner, huh?” Twilight grinned, and pushed herself up to her hooves. “I’m gonna check out your bed!” And off she trotted, brisk and elegant, as befitted a princess without a care in the world.

Spike came to find her a few minutes later, and laughed as he peered around the corner. “Twi, you don’t have to arrange them by color!”

“Well, I know sometimes you get a craving for only the emeralds, and you’re like me, you like to work around your plate in order of least enjoyable to most, and this yellow citrine is - oop!” And here Twilight was abruptly cut off as Spike lifted her by the scruff of her neck and gently deposited her on the other side of the cave. The thought came to her unbidden; was this how Spike felt being carried around Ponyville?

“Thank you Twi, really.” Spike chuckled, and regarded her fondly for a long moment. “Thank you for always taking care of me.”

Twilight returned the long look, and reached up to give him a tight hug. “You’re welcome, Spike. I’m going to miss you for the next couple of centuries.”

“Me too. What will you do? Not stay in the library the whole time?”

“I thought I’d go … out. I want to see Ponyville again. I want to see Applejack’s farm again, see if it’s still there. You know; all the places we used to go.” Twilight tried to shrug it off, like it wasn’t a big deal, but Spike’s gaze was too knowing for her to escape.

“I think that’s a good idea. It’ll be hard, but … it’s nice. Sometimes when I get lonely, I’ll go by Rarity’s old boutique. There’s a lot to see out there.” Spike yawned widely, and padded over to his bed of gems. With a carelessness born only of his tough dragon skin, he launched himself onto the jagged pile, wriggling until he’d formed a little crater to sleep in.

“Well, you have a good sleep, Spike. I’ll make sure to make a note in my planner each year until it’s time to come see you again!” Twilight Sparkle promised, and began walking towards the mouth of the cave. “Of course I’ll have to visit each season and make sure you aren’t disturbed, and check on the vegetation, and make sure the Ursa Minor hasn’t taken up residence, and -”

“Twilight?”

Twilight turned back. “Yes, Spike?”

“Could … could you tell me a story? Until I fall asleep?”

Twilight Sparkle returned to the massive dragon’s side with a smile, laying a gentle hoof on his paw. “Of course, Spike. And I think I have just the one. This story is called, How Spike the Dragon and The Elements of Harmony Saved the World.”

Chapter 2 - Extinct Apples

She hadn’t intended to cause a stir simply by coming into town; but, well, she supposed that ‘mysterious princess who hadn’t been seen for centuries’ might draw some attention, once she thought about it. She just didn’t expect … this.

“Who’s that?”

“She’s huge!”

“I’ve never seen a winged unicorn before! Do you think she’s foreign? Should - should we be concerned? Or is this Nightmare Moon?”

“Daddy, you know how the legend goes! Nightmare Moon only appears on Nightmare Night!”

“She isn’t supposed to appear at all!”

Twilight Sparkle turned sharply to look at the small crowd, and they rapidly dispersed, too nervous to make direct contact with the alicorn they’d just been whispering about. She folded her wings tight against her body, and returned to her consideration of Sugarcube Corner.

It looked much the same as it had centuries ago; but it was wrong, too. The paint was off, just by a shade or two, and in places it was clear the patterns had been changed. Restoration, done over centuries; keeping the spirit alive, but each time it had to be repaired, it changed by microns. Too subtle for anyone to notice, unless they had been there to see it when it was new. The town had grown around it as well; what had once been a very modern, appealing little cafe now looked … antiquated. She could have gone at length about how the shape and size of the windows of neighboring buildings illustrated a growing knowledge of glassblowing and building techniques, and how the change in architecture meant improved airflow for the occupants within, and due to structural changes suggested by Greebleknee Green (as set down in his text Architecture For All and its sequel Airflow Isn’t Only For Pegasi) more ponies now had freer access to safer building techniques and materials -

“Princess - I mean, Princess Twilight Sparkle!”

Twilight didn’t quite realize how quickly an entire crowd could drop to their knees.

“Princess Twilight Sparkle, we didn’t know you were coming into town today!” The mare speaking directly in front of her, the one who had just come out of the bakery; that was someone she recognized.

“Appledust!” Twilight gasped, and the group gasped as well; she hadn’t realized just how enthusiastic she sounded. “I mean, hello, Miss Appledust. You’re my - royal pastry chef, aren’t you?”

“Yes ma’am! Your Majesty! How - how gracious of you to remember!” She was clearly nervous about being recognized, and Twilight wondered who would ever be nervous of her? But the memory of Princess Celestia’s first arrival in Ponyville arose, unbidden, and she found herself overwhelmed with sympathy.

“Oh it’s nothing, really. We met today in the kitchen.” Twilight found herself reverting to her more nervous mannerisms, but when she looked to her left, she didn’t find Applejack or Spike to direct her aside to; she found a worried-looking green stallion who nodded much too quickly. “Um - what are you doing in Ponyville? Too?”

Appledust was still eyeing Twilight Sparkle with the way she had once eyed a Princess; awed, a little frightened, afraid to misspeak. “I … I wanted to fetch some of the historic treats for you, ma’am. I thought … it might please you, to taste something from your days in Ponyville.”

“Well - that would be lovely, actually! They still make those?” Twilight Sparkle had perked up considerably, and she took a step towards Appledust, now eyeing the box she carried. “I remember when Pinkie first started in this shop - it used to be owned by Mr. and Mrs. Cake, you know. She lived upstairs -”

“- In the space over the bakery, yes! It’s all explained in the plaque!” Appledust agreed readily, and nodded to the little metal plaque that had been mounted near the entryway to the shop.

“Huh. Pinkie would have gotten a good laugh out of that.” Twilight Sparkle admitted, chuckling as she glanced over the plaque. A plaque! Of all things, such a fussy and academic item seemed so out of place for someone as spirited as Pinkie. She probably would have built a balloon arch instead, perhaps with an artistic rendering of herself made of balloons.

“Would you like one, Your Majesty?” Appledust curtsied, and held a cupcake aloft in her hoof towards the princess.

“Oh, you don’t have to do all that - but - sure, thank you!” Twilight Sparkle eagerly took the pastry from her hoof, gulped down half of it in her first bite - and had to fight the urge to spit it back out. “Oh, it’s … it’s so good.” Twilight lied, and forced the cupcake down her throat, coughing heavily once it landed.

Appledust wasn’t as easily fooled as some ponies, and she affixed Twilight Sparkle with a small squint. “Is everything alright, Your Majesty?”

“It's … not how I remember.” Twilight Sparkle said carefully, and offered her a warm smile. “But change is - is good! I’ll just save the rest for later.”

“Well, I know they had to change the recipe once the original strain of apples they used went extinct -”

“Extinct?!”

“An apple blight, around a hundred years ago. I’ve - I’ve been researching historical cooking practices.” It was Appledust’s turn to look a little embarrassed, and she fussed with the box in her front hooves, closing it up extra-securely. “I’m sure it tastes different to someone who was there before it - Your Majesty!”

But her call was for naught; Princess Twilight Sparkle had already taken to the air, and flown to the top of Sugarcube Corner.

They had painted over the window Twilight used to fly in through - probably not ergonomic enough, not good for the airflow - but Twilight kicked it open with one mighty princess hoof, and alofted lightly in what had once been Pinkie Pie’s bedroom.

It didn’t look right; but none of Sugarcube did, not really. It was a dry academic’s idea of what Pinkie Pie’s living quarters might have looked like, hundreds of years ago. There was no fresh splatter of frosting from a cupcake mishap; there was no pile of deflated balloons waiting to be blown up for the latest party. Her bed was made neatly; the blankets were the right color, but they weren’t disheveled in the least. She had an armoire that had never existed; they didn’t know that Pinkie liked to keep her belongings out on the floor ‘so they could get some air and stay fresh!’

It broke her heart when she realized that Pinkie’s beloved Gummy was nowhere here; nor were any of his toys, or his bed. Perhaps Pinkie had gotten rid of them when Gummy died during her lifetime, but it had been a part of her room for so long, it didn’t make sense not to have him there. If this was the story of her life, how could they have forgotten that?

What about the rocks? She’d had a collection, the last time she’d been here; beloved treasures from her sisters, from the farm! Were they thrown away, thinking they weren’t ‘in tune’ with her persona as a silly party pony? Perhaps thinking they were mistakes, thrown in by careless foals? Where had they gone? Lost, erased, like Pinkie Pie had never existed at all? Instead they had some image of a silly pink pony who thought only of parties until the day she died, who never felt uncertain, or angry, or sad? Did they remember the Pinkie Pie who had been so sad thinking that her friends had forgotten about her, that she had created a friend out of - who had it been - Madame Le Flour? The memory brought a sudden laugh to Twilight’s lips, which almost as quickly turned into a sharp sob.

What was happening to her?

“Princess?”

And just like that, Princess Twilight Sparkle vanished in a flutter of powerful wings. Gone out the same window she’d come in, leaving a confused Appledust standing in her wake, wondering just what kind of strange events she was witnessing.

***

The Princess thing had to stop, that was for certain. She couldn’t go through Ponyville with everyone bowing and scraping for her at every turn.

Centuries of book learning had prepared her for this, and the Illusion Spell rolled off of her lips before she even had to think about it. Soon, instead of an imposing alicorn Princess, she stood as she had always seen herself - a small, bookish unicorn, of a middling sort of purple color. She didn’t even have her wings; she hadn’t had those, when she’d first come to Ponyville. She looked down at herself in the pond she’d found in the center of the Everfree Forest, and heaved a sigh of relief. For the first time in a long time, she felt like herself again.

The Everfree Forest wasn’t a quick walk to anywhere, but it was secluded, and she encountered no other ponies on her trip over to Applejack’s farm. The rolling orchards of apples had certainly grown since Twilight Sparkle had been here last; but then, over her lifetime Applejack had seen to the growth and prosperity of the farm. Still, even comparing it to the last memory she had of the farm, this was … big. She inhaled deeply, and she thought she could almost smell the new strain of apples in the sweet scent of their blossoms wafting on a warm breeze.

“‘Scuse me, ma’am!” The voice behind her was bright and high; she was surprised when she turned to see not Big Mac, but a mare almost as large, but of such a violently pink hue that she might have thought it one of Pinkie Pie’s descendants.

“My apologies!” Twilight Sparkle called back, and stepped out of the path of her cart. “Excuse me, but do you know where the Apple Family farm is? I seem to have lost my way, with all of the orchards.”

“A course! Hop on!” The mare paused just long enough for Twilight Sparkle to heave herself onto the cart (with a little help of her invisible wings, of course), and took off at a gallop. The scenery whizzed by very rapidly, and Twilight Sparkle was pleased to note that alongside orchards of apples now grew orchards of pears.

Twilight Sparkle once more found herself confused, however, when they came to a halt in front of a massive barn - or a barn shaped house, she supposed. But it wasn’t the barn shape house she expected, but rather something that almost looked like a hotel. It was massive! Windows everywhere, as if it had dozens of rooms for - oh.

She slid off of the wagon, and came face to face with - well, they had to be the Apple Family, didn’t they? But what once had been a family of Applejack, Granny Smith, Apple Bloom and Big Mac, was now dozens strong. A handful were bent over in the fields, pulling weeds from the latest crop (rutabagas, if Twilight had to guess), and another passel were in the nearest orchard, bucking apples. Even more still were clustered around the front of the house, laughing and mashing apples into cider with their hooves, and she could hear more voices from parts unknown. It was a little dizzying; so many apple ponies, but none she recognized, and so many voices that were almost right but not quite the same.

“Hey lady?”

Twilight Sparkle jerked back to reality. “Uh?”

“You’re in the way of my mud pie confection-ury.”

Twilight Sparkle looked down, and followed her shadow to where it loomed over a small filly, a mud hole, and a neat line of mud pies, baking in the sun. “Oh! My apologies. Do you know, uh, or know ofApplejack? She might have been your - grandmother?”

The little filly laughed, and went back to working on her mud pies, elbow-deep in her mud hole. “That’s not my grandma! My Grandma is Applemay. I dunno an Applejack. You sure you don’t mean Applejeck?”

“Apple -? No, it’s definitely Applejack.”

“Applejoke my uncle?”

“Applejack.”

“Applejerky, my cousin who makes fruit leather?”

“No. Applejack.”

“Applejalopy?”

“Applejack!”

“Applejoiedevivre?”

“Who?! No! Applejack! She would have been from many years ago!”

The little filly’s eyes widened, and she stared up at Twilight Sparkle in sudden understanding. “You mean great-grandma Applejack? The one who made this farm? The Apple who saved Ponyville?”

“YES! Yes! That Applejack! Your great-grandmother?”

“Well, she’s not my great grandma; she’s more like my great, great, great great great great, great-great, great great great GREAT great great great great -”

“I get it.” Twilight Sparkle cut her off a little suddenly, something tight clutching at her chest. “Listen, do you - do you know if there’s anything -” but Twilight could see some of the ponies in the field lifting their heads now, taking notice of her, and Twilight cut herself off sharply. “You know what? You’ve been such a big help, thank you for all of your information! Best of luck with the mud pies, I’m going to go find - someone I’m here to see!”

“Well I hope it’s not Applejalopy,” the filly said mostly to herself as Twilight skittered away, “that guy’s annoying.”

Twilight Sparkle tried to trot, as subtly as she could, past anyone who might take notice of her. It was tricky, since she was the only non-fruit themed pony there. She found her way to the back of the barn-hotel-house, and stared out at the orchard behind it. From here, she was stuck; this wasn’t how the layout of Applejack’s farm had ever been! Where the new house stood had once been the carrot patch, on the furthest boundary of the farm. But then, she reasoned, even the road must have been reconfigured; as the farm had grown, so had the infrastructure.

She stood for a moment, trying to remember, then closed her eyes. If she was near the furthest edge of the farm, then where was Applejack’s home? Her real home? The one she had spent so many happy days and nights in, celebrating Hearth’s Warming Eve? Birthdays?

Slowly, with her eyes closed, Twilight Sparkle took a few steps forward, and let her memory fill in the gaps. She let her magic spill ahead of her, guiding her away from obstacles, as she slowly remembered the path. Here was the gentle downslope that drove the rain away from the carrot patch so it wouldn’t flood; for a brief, aching moment, Twilight Sparkle wished Applejack was there to bore her with another speech about the farm’s layout, just one more time.

Slowly, silently, she made her way past the old herb garden, the vegetable patch, the well, the chicken hutch. Even as lost in her own memories as she was, she couldn’t deny her other senses; she heard no familiar clucking of chickens, or the sounds of the goats in the barn. She smelled the apple orchards, but even their scent didn’t match her memory. It seemed time had reached even here, in the place that should have changed the least.

Twilight’s memory brought her to the front door of Sweet Apple Acres, to the familiar red barn of Applejack’s home. She could see it in her mind even better with her eyes closed; the familiar homestead where AJ had helped raise Apple Bloom, and how it had changed in later years to host the new addition of the trellis leading up to Rainbow Dash’s home. Pegasus homes were ephemeral by nature, but Applejack had built a spiral staircase into the top floor of her home and a bedroom on a platform, so that they might be able to spend their nights together. The perfect blending of earth pony and pegasus architecture; Twilight was reminded of the many happy days she had spent helping them build it, with the aid of her wings.

Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes to find herself in a graveyard.

Chapter 3 - Return to Tartarus

The stark difference between her memory and reality made Twilight Sparkle sick to her stomach, and she took a few jerking steps back, yelping out loud when she ran into a headstone. She skittered forward again, and her illusion spell dropped as she spun in tight, panicked circles.

Her magic had brought her to the center of a very old graveyard, centered on where Applejack’s home had originally stood. Everywhere she turned were more headstones, and many yards away she could see a low fence. Nothing remained of Applejack’s barn, or the henhouse, or even Rainbow Dash’s trellis; only headstones, and a disused path running between them. The boundary of the graveyard was ringed by a thick gathering of apple trees, with a few dead trunks still standing; victims of the apple plague, perhaps.

Twilight Sparkle took a few heaving breaths, trying to calm herself, and slowly took stock of her surroundings. Where the barn had stood held some old gravestones, yes; but she could see even older markers, moving back and further out, closer to the furthest edge of the yard. The yard that, if she remembered correctly, would have been far behind the house, when it still stood.

Slowly, Twilight Sparkle began to move. She willed her hooves to take one step, and then another, and she began making her slow way through the Apple graveyard. She moved towards the stones that had been worn away by time and weather, until they were little more than unmarked boulders standing in a row. As she reached the furthest boundary of the graveyard, she found two stones that had been recently tended to; or at least, more recently than the others. Their etching had been redone, over and over through the years, but even that could not save their legibility.

Princess Twilight Sparkle lowered her regal head, and pointed her horn at the stones. “What once was new, make again; reveal yourself as you have been.”

Magic spilled out of her horn, flooding the graveyard; behind and around her, broken gravestones rebuilt themselves, and ancient epitaphs engraved themselves anew. Twilight Sparkle took no notice of them.

In front of her, the two headstones revealed themselves as she had first seen them, hundreds of years ago.

HERE LIES APPLEJACK,
BELOVED SISTER, MOTHER, WIFE.
THE ELEMENT OF HONESTY
SO LONG AS APPLES GROW
SO TOO SHALL HER MEMORY BLOSSOM

HERE LIES RAINBOW DASH,
THE ELEMENT OF LOYALTY
INVENTOR OF THE RAINBOOM
AND DOUBLE RAINBOOM
LIVE HARD, FLY HARD, LOVE HARD
I AM ALWAYS BY YOUR SIDE, AJ

Twilight Sparkle snuffled, and as her magic leaked out, her tears watered the new blooms that began to grow over their graves. “Applejack, Rainbow Dash; I miss you both so much. How am I supposed to do this without you? I don’t - I don’t think I can.”

A sharp, broken sob escaped the princess, and she lifted a hoof to rub at her eyes, struggling to control herself. She looked for a handkerchief in her dimensional pocket (a nifty little invention she’d found a century or so ago, so much easier than carrying a satchel), and instead came back with the half-eaten cupcake.

“Not even Pinkie’s cupcakes taste the same anymore.” Twilight Sparkle chuckled wetly, eyeing it for a moment before she reached back to lob it into the orchard - then paused.

Things had changed; that was true. Plants went extinct, and friends died, and nothing could ever be the same again. But one thing stayed the same … and that was the past. The past couldn’t be changed! The past was where all of her friends were, alive and unhurt! It suddenly seemed so simple! If she wanted to be happy again, she just had to go back to her friends! And she knew just the spell to do it!

By the time the mud pie filly had found someone to accompany her, they found the old Apple family graveyard empty, covered in unseasonal spring blossoms and half a cupcake, and a storm brewing on the horizon.

***

“What do you mean, no venom?!”

The changeling leader winced, and gestured with her front hooves in a calming manner. “That’s just what I mean, Your Majesty. I’m terribly sorry to inform you of this, but … well, we just can’t do it. Changelings only created venom back when we were a predatory species, and, well …”

Twilight Sparkle ground her teeth together as she looked over the courtyard where they stood; behind them, a group of changling youth were practicing yoga. Further beyond, a group practiced hoofball, and in the distance, a group were flying kites.

“Can’t you just - become angry for like, fifteen minutes? I don’t need a lot!”

The changeling leader rubbed her temples as she tried to calm the increasingly upset Princess of Friendship. “Your Majesty, I’m sure that you understand it’s not that simple. Isn’t there any other way we could help you with your important mission? Perhaps if you gave us some more clarity on what the mission was about -”

“The mission is of the utmost secrecy. If anyone asks, I was never here.” Twilight Sparkle turned abruptly, leaving the sputtering changeling in her wake.

No venom?! How was she going to make Silverswirl the Bearded’s spell work now? The first time travel spell she had tried had been a passable success, at best; but if she wanted to succeed in travelling back centuries, she’d need the power promised in Silverswirl’s private diaries, which she’d discovered by chance during her exploration into the Old Ponish tomes. It was only by luck that she’d become fluent before she found it; otherwise she might have never been able to transcribe the instructions behind his Spell Enhancement Spell. Any spell could be made more powerful, more potent; but only by using the rarest ingredients.

Her friends had helped her, in their own way; she recalled that Fluttershy had explained once that ‘Manticore’s Heart’ wasn’t actually the literal heart of a manticore (“That’s a terrible spell ingredient!” she had gasped), but the core of a spiny shrub that grew on the edges of Appaloosa. ‘The tears of a cloud’ - that was just rain, but it had to be the rain gathered on the foggiest, earliest morning of the season. Luckily, Rainbow Dash had gathered her several gallons over their years together. And various gemstones - well, those were easy to find in Rarity’s mine. Rare plants, rocks, herbs - all ingredients that once might have been alien to her, but after a lifetime of friendship and centuries in a library, they were as easy to gather as dandelions in spring. (That was very easy, as Twilight had discovered during her youth in Ponyville.)

The only difficult item on the list was the venom; it should have been simple, but now Twilight sat in the library, staring at a wall of books blankly. How could she make the time travel spell more powerful without the venom? She couldn’t risk trying the spell without it; she might get stuck halfway back to her friends, and have to try and gather all of the ingredients again while dodging her past self. No: in order for this spell to land perfectly, she needed a changeling, one that hadn’t become good yet. And that, apparently, no longer existed; even the last rebel changelings, it seemed, had been converted. Or they’d died off. All, perhaps, except for one.

She’d seen a stone immortal brought back to life once before; now she just had to hope it would work again.

The path to Tartarus had been forgotten in the centuries since the enemies of Ponyville had been trapped here. Who could blame them? It was a mark of shame, that a society so focused on love and friendship could house such unforgivable villains. A forest had sprung up around the path over the years, and Twilight Sparkle had to force her way back to the path again and again, bending brush and branches aside until she simply began slicing through them with her magic. This reminded her of a Daring Do story, which would have amused her more if she wasn’t so focused.

Finally, she made it to the gates, which opened obediently at her command. She was a ruler; they bent to her will. The statues inside would not.

Two of them had been destroyed, or removed. There were piles of rubble in the cave of course, but it was a cave. That’s how caves were.

The sight of her prize made her heart leap into her throat, and she stared up at the stone visage of Chrysalis with a desperate hunger. She imagined this might be how a changeling would feel when it caught sight of some love to devour.

“Right, the spell to unstone…” Twilight muttered to herself, and placed her satchel on the ground. There might be no time to reach into her magical pocket if Chrysalis came out ready to fight; today she was working old school. She unfolded a piece of parchment and read back her own writing to herself, her voice every inch the royal, commanding timbre. “Beast of stone, hear my cry; freed from your stony prison, come nigh!”

Her voice echoed through the chamber, ringing back upon itself until nothing was left. Chrysalis remained unmoved.

Twilight Sparkle held her breath for a moment, and after a long beat, released a harsh swear. “Beast of stone, hear my cry; hear my cry! Come - ‘Freed from your stony prison, come nigh!’ That’s what it says! Come - nigh!! Rrrghh!!”

Twilight Sparkle kicked a stray stone as hard as she could, and as it rocketed away into the darkness, she stamped her now-sore hoof. “I said come nigh! You - it has to work! You have to come nigh! Or else - or else I’ll never - I’ll never -” She wasn’t aware she had begun crying, until she felt the hot, angry tears rolling down her cheeks. Princess Twilight Sparkle let her head drop, and she sobbed out an angry, choked-off cry, trying to hold it back.

The sound of her weeping was interrupted by the sudden unnatural crack! of a slab of stone being split.

Twilight Sparkle snapped her head up as quickly as she could, but she only caught the barest glimpse of a skeleton with skin pulled tightly over it before the form of Chrysalis rapidly filled itself out, returning to the glossy, malevolent, unnatural form of the changeling queen.

“Mmm, keep crying, Princess; your grief is delicious.”

Chapter 4 - Chrysalis Arises

“You - Chrysalis! Queen of the changelings!” Princess Twilight Sparkle commanded, jerking herself upright as she tried to wipe away the offending tears. “I demand - your assistance! You will obey me! I have freed you, and you will - you will bend to my will! Give me the changeling venom!”

Chrysalis laughed, a cruel and ragged sound, and bared her teeth at Twilight Sparkle in a grin. “Oh please, you think you freed me? I was starving to death in there, Princessy. People stop leaving offerings and gifts after a few decades. And once that awful forest sprung up, well - ponies forgot we were here at all. And I suppose I have you to thank for that.”

Here her voice became sharper, and Twilight felt her strength being sapped away as Chrysalis came closer and closer. “But just as all seems lost, suddenly I hear someone emoting over me - maybe not over me, but close enough that I can hear it, and then I can taste it. Love is what changelings feed on, but grief … grief works in a pinch.”

“I don’t - I don’t have to grieve!” Twilight barked, even as her knees buckled and she fell to the cave floor. “You will - you will give me your venom! And I’ll - I’ll be able to go back to my friends!”

This made Chrysalis pause in her dramatic monologuing, and she turned, kneeling beside Twilight Sparkle to peer into her face. “You’re not joking. You’re serious, aren’t you? Please tell me you’re joking.”

Twilight gritted her teeth and fought to get back on her hooves, but Chrysalis gave her a harsh backslap as she laughed, and it almost made her fall completely. She felt so weak, and so shaky; the tears felt uncomfortably close again. “Get away from me!”

“‘Get away from me!’” Chrysalis mimicked in a whimpering voice, then laughed. “Or what? You’ll get your Elements of Harmony to come turn me to stone again? Newsflash, Princess Crybaby, they’re DEAD.” Chrysalis cackled, and rose a few feet off of the floor with a hum of her wings. “Oh, I’ve missed this; flying, being able to move my joints, being alive again. I can’t say I’ve experienced the joy of taunting you with your friends’ deaths before, but I gotta say, I’m liking it.”

“You - you won’t - you won’t -”

“I won’t what? Get away with it?” Chrysalis cackled, and landed a few inches from Twilight’s face, so she could push it down onto the cold stone floor. “I’m not getting away with anything, because it’s been got. I’m free again; that’s all I need. Now I can go rebuild my army, march on Canterlot, yada yada, queen of the world, baby. Thanks for the nice head start; it really was very nice of you. Now, I hate to eat and run, but … well, toodles Princess.” And like that, in a hum of wings, Chrysalis was gone.

Twilight Sparkle struggled to lift her head for a few moments, and finally succumbed to the changeling queen’s magic, slumping to the floor.

***

Twilight Sparkle wasn’t certain when she woke up next; she slept for a long, dreamless time, only occasionally interrupted by the vision of Chrysalis’ face cackling from above her. When she at last began to return to consciousness, it was slowly, and with the sensation of pain trickling into every inch of her. Despite her regal bearing, Twilight Sparkle groaned.

“Yeah, that’ll wear off in time.”

Twilight Sparkle thrashed, and paid for it immediately as she banged her head into the stone floor of the cave. With a muffled growl, she pushed herself up into a sit, and tried to look around the cave.

There was Chrysalis, just as she had seen her before, but … not, somehow. She sat aloft the stone pedestal that she had once been trapped in, and considered Twilight Sparkle as she slowly bobbed one holey hind leg.

“What are you doing here?” Twilight Sparkle hissed, her voice tight. “I thought you were off - building your army.”

Chrysalis snorted, and rolled her eyes as she considered the edge of one hoof. “Yeah, about that; turns out, changelings have gone soft in the last few hundred years. They invited me to hot yoga - and, if you can believe it, that’s somehow worse than regular yoga, and still it doesn’t drive them to bloodthirsty madness.”

Twilight Sparkle offered Chrysalis a feral grin. “Poor baby.”

Chrysalis’ sarcastic glance shifted to rage instantly, and she snarled at Twilight Sparkle before she could quite restrain herself. “Fine, I walked right into that one. Well, you were out cold for a long time, so I did some looking around. Turns out this new world is a bit of a dump. No immortals to sap for miles around.”

Twilight Sparkle’s grin faded as she looked away, and she shook out her mane, trying to remove the cave dust from its regal length. “Yes, well, that happens when you get locked in stone for crimes against ponykind; sometimes you miss some things.”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes, and made a circular motion with her foreleg. “Alright, blah blah blah, I’m the bad guy. Spill. Where are the other princesses? Weren’t there like, a bunch of them?”

Twilight Sparkle paused, and held still as she took in a slow breath. “Princess Cadance … she abandoned her immortal life, to spend her days with my brother.” Twilight Sparkle smiled a little bit at the memory, remembering how funny it had been to see Cadance with wrinkles, bouncing Princess Flurry Heart’s foal on her knee. “Unicorns can live a longer life, but even that isn’t forever. And then Flurry Heart, and - well, she had an alicorn daughter, but all things must come to an end, I suppose. Even royal bloodlines.

Princess and Celestia and Princess Luna … they sailed away one day. They were here for such a long time, I never thought they’d be gone for … for good. I just thought they’d keep going on their vacations. Then one day they came to say goodbye, and … they were gone.”

“Ugh, I didn’t ask about your pony drama, I asked about immortals. Do you think I could give one fig about your princesses if they aren’t here to make a meal of? What about the Dragonequus? Discord?” Chrysalis snarled, and gestured loosely to a pile of rubble. “That old blowhard Tirek got smashed centuries ago, so now I wonder where his pal went. Did Discord do the smashing?”

Twilight Sparkle turned to consider Chrysalis, and squinted at her a little. “You really don’t know anything, do you?”

“I don’t know how to make this any more clearer; I WAS STUCK, IN A ROCK, FOR CENTURIES!” Chrysalis enunciated each yelled syllable very carefully, rising to her full height on the pillar. “Don’t tell me Discord did some stupid self-sacrificing nonsense too, I know he was fond of that yellow one - Flutterbutt.”

“Fluttershy!” Twilight Sparkle found herself yelling as she rose to her own hooves, her strength rapidly returning. “Her name is Fluttershy! And she - and she loved Discord! More than he deserved at times, but he loved her back just as much! I know this might be hard for you to understand, but for some ponies, the idea of being without the ones they love - it’s unbearable!”

Chrysalis snorted, but she was cut off by a sudden bolt of energy shooting at her from Twilight Sparkle’s horn. “You need my venom; you’re really so eager to shoot the fang that feeds you?” Chrysalis hissed, and slowly lowered herself from her pedestal.

“I can cut it out of your limp body if necessary.” Twilight Sparkle growled, and this time it was Chrysalis’ turn to look worried as the princess’ horn glowed. “Get out before I change my mind.”

“I think I like this new Princess Twilight Sparkle; she’s crazy.” Chrysalis grinned wickedly, and before Twilight could respond, she kicked up a cloud of dust with her buzzing wings and vanished into the night sky. Twilight scanned for her, but by the time she caught sight of her again, she was only a dot on the horizon, and all Twilight Sparkle could do was sink to the floor and watch her go.

Chapter 5 - The Final Battle

“Princess Twilight Sparkle?”

The silence had been like a physical weight over the past week; hours passed like minutes, days like hours. What was time, anymore? What meaning did it hold for her, what power could it hold over her? She could lay here for years, and all that would change would be the layer of dust over her coat.

“Your Majesty? It’s been a week, and you haven’t eaten the daisy sandwiches we left for you … are they not to your liking? My lady?” The voice was tremulous, and heady with concern; Twilight Sparkle could recognize Appledust’s voice, but couldn’t bring herself to care.

“Please, Your Majesty; we are all so worried for you. I - I even brought some books from your library, I thought you might like to read them?”

Twilight remained still on her bed, unmoving; she barely even drew breath, yet she sustained. She would sustain forever, she supposed. After a few more minutes, she heard Appledust’s retreating hoofbeats fade down the hallway, and she returned to her silence. She would need to get used to it; she had 300 more years of it before Spike returned, but even he would only be a reprieve, not a solution. Was this why Celestia and Luna had left? All of the memories, so heavy that they had to carry them around like a cloak? Why had Celestia been so eager to take an apprentice, to subject her to this as well? Perhaps so that she wouldn’t have to carry the heavy burden by herself?

Twilight was already losing herself in her circling thoughts, when she realized a new sound was tickling at the edge of her hearing; the sound of her window latch being undone from the outside.

Well, perhaps a robbery might liven things up, she thought dourly, and didn’t even bother to open her eyes.

“Holy hoof, Princessy, you live like this?”

Princess Twilight remained unmoved. “I didn’t take you for a common thief, Chrysalis. This is getting exciting.”

“Your sarcasm is as dull as a butter knife, don’t bother next time.” Queen Chrysalis sneered, but it wasn’t quite as vicious as it had been before. “I thought we left it at - how was it - ‘zap zap, I’ll cut it out of your limp body’? What happened to that?”

Twilight heaved out a low sigh through her nostrils, so unbothered she couldn’t muster up the energy to approximate a bitter laugh. “Feel free to cut it out yourself, if you feel so moved.”

Queen Chrysalis stood for a moment, then huffed, and took a few stomping steps around Twilight’s luxurious room. “Well, it’s not as fun if you just … LIE there. You’re supposed to - I dunno - ‘Look hence, evildoer! I shall not allow you to bring Canterlot to any harm! Your reign of evil is at an end!’ But, you know, more dorky.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“I’ve been menacing the townsfolk all this time, you know. A full week of menacing! Leeching little bits of love here and there! I even masqueraded as a blacksmith’s wife for a day. I sucked up so much love, I thought I was gonna puke!”

“That’s great. You must be happy.”

Queen Chrysalis froze where she stood. “That butter-knife sarcasm is getting really tiresome, you know.”

“No, I mean it.” Twilight Sparkle continued speaking to her bedside lamp, where her head had been pointed for the past week with little change. “That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it? You didn’t have a lot of motivation beyond ‘eat love, build army, cackle evilly.’ So I guess it’s time to build an army.”

Silence hung in the room long enough that Twilight wondered if Queen Chrysalis had left; still, she couldn’t muster up the energy to turn her head and check.

“You would think so, wouldn’t you?” Chrysalis spoke at last, so quietly that it hardly sounded like her at all.

Twilight Sparkle had to admit that this piqued her interest; still, coming from such a low place as she was, it really only lifted her mood from the Mareiana Trench to - well, still pretty deep down. She turned her ear back to better listen to Chrysalis, and when she heard the soft rattle of a glass bottle landing on her vanity, she finally lifted her head to look.

Sitting on her vanity was a tiny vial of perfect, kelly-green changeling venom, and no changeling queen in sight.

***

When the changeling queen returned the next night, she found Twilight Sparkle still in bed, sitting up and considering her hooves; the vial stood, untouched, on the vanity.

“Oh come on! I gave you the venom, aren’t you going to even get out of bed and LOOK at it?!” Queen Chrysalis groaned, dragging her hooves down her cheeks in frustration. “What happened to all that nonsense about friendship?!”

Twilight lifted her head this time, and considered Queen Chrysalis with new eyes. “I hoped you might come back.”

Queen Chrysalis couldn’t manage to hide how taken aback she was. “You - WHY?! I’m - the bad guy! Shouldn’t you stone me or zap zap or something?”

“I wanted to ask you a question. A couple, actually.”

Queen Chrysalis’ annoyance scaled back rapidly into consideration, and she couldn’t fight her curiosity for more than a moment. “Alright. But I reserve the right not to answer your impertinent pony perusal.”

“Why did you leave the vial of venom for me?”

“Why didn’t you use it?” Queen Chrysalis sneered.

“Why didn’t you build your army?”

Queen Chrysalis’ smug grin abruptly dropped from her face. “Next question.”

“At first I thought your answer must be tied up in my answer; if I used the venom, then you would use the opportunity while I was gone to terrorize Equestria.” Princess Twilight Sparkle spoke with a clarity of tone that she had not possessed in awhile; it felt good, almost as if she could feel her friends nodding at her sides, encouraging her. “But the more I thought about it, that felt like an excuse. There have been many threats in the past hundreds of years, and every time I have allowed my guard and minister of security to manage them with peace and friendship. There was reason to believe that they would be able to handle you, too.”

“Doubtful,” Chrysalis smirked.

“But that didn’t explain why you made the venom so easy for me to obtain. If it was a trap, you laid it out too easily; if I didn’t have to fight for it, it wouldn’t feel like I ‘earned’ it, and I would begin to suspect your motivations.”

“Maybe I just didn’t think that far ahead.”

“Maybe you did, and you realized something that I’ve been trying to ignore for the longest time.” Twilight Sparkle let the silence hang in the air between them for a moment. “You can never go back.”

Chrysalis stilled; Twilight Sparkle wasn’t even sure if she was breathing anymore.

“I wanted to make the Spell Enhancing Spell; I even prepared some of the ingredients last night.” Twilight Sparkle’s eyes had gone unfocused, no longer looking at Chrysalis. “But even as I thought about how wonderful it would be to see my friends again, even if I had to be in disguise, I was already thinking about how I would have to watch them grow old and die all over again. I couldn’t think about the new hellos, without also thinking about the new goodbyes. I could go back in time a hundred times, and each time I would have to say goodbye to them all over again. Even if I only saw them for a moment, I knew I would eventually have to return to a future where they did not exist anymore.”

Twilight Sparkle let the silence spread between them, a silence that Chrysalis didn’t dare infringe upon.

“That’s why you haven’t raised a new army, isn’t it? Because at some level, even if you won’t admit it, you know it will go the same way. So you had to sabotage yourself.”

“Don’t you DARE pretend you know my thoughts, Princess!” Queen Chrysalis shrieked, enraged.

“You’ve been immortal even longer than I have, Chrysalis; is that why you have drones, and never friends? A hive, but no family?”

“A hive IS a family, you - you vile fleshling!” Chrysalis hissed, her pupils slitting.

“The changelings are a family now!” Twilight barked back at her, voice rising. “And that’s not what it was when you ruled, and you know it!”

“Lies! Liessss!” Chrysalis hissed, and reared back onto her hind legs, pawing at the air between them as her wings hummed. “Do you want to know why I left you my venom?! Because I felt BAD for you! The great Princess Twilight Sparkle, ruler of Equestria, the Princess of Friendship who locked herself up in her library for centuries until her people even forgot her NAME!”

Twilight Sparkle was startled into silence, watching Chrysalis as one might watch a rapidly-approaching hurricane.

Chrysalis was all but frothing now, her eyes slits of black in poisonous-green pools, and her wings hummed behind her at a fever pitch. “You lecture me about family and friendship! You’ve been gone so long, I doubt you even remember what those words mean!” Chrysalis roared, baring her fangs. “You horrible little pony! Let me show you a TRUE queen’s power! I don’t need to pretend I’m something I’m not - I know what I am! I don’t need family, or friends - I need blood on my hooves! Fight me!”

“I refuse!” Twilight yelled, and then stilled, a new awareness alighting in her gaze. “I - I refuse. I won’t fight you, Chrysalis.”

Queen Chrysalis brought down her hooves mere inches in front of Twilight, and shrieked into her face, fangs glistening in the moonlight. Twilight Sparkle remained unmoving, unflinching in the face of her violence.

“I can’t fight you, Chrysalis; you’re hurting, like I am.” Twilight Sparkle whispered now, her voice tight. “Just like I am.”

“Don’t you dare try your filthy pony mind games on me, you - you pony!” Chrysalis spat.

Twilight Sparkle couldn’t help but chuckle, the sound less sad than she’d expected. “Oh, Chrysalis; who’s got a butter-knife wit now?”

The sight of a stunned Chrysalis prompted another chuckle, and then another, each sound lighter and happier than the last. For a moment, it was as if she had Pinkie Pie back at her side, and no time had passed at all. For a moment, she was in the spring of her life, and she was a young filly again.

Chapter 6 - Epilogue

“... and that was how the Yaks usurped the cruel Actolom regime. It was really a matter of reflecting their powerful magic back at them, through a series of glyphs hung between the horns of their herd, and when used in perfect unison -”

“Princess?”

Princess Twilight Sparkle looked up suddenly from where she’d been walking in the garden, a book held aloft with her magic. “Yes? Oh - Appledust! It’s good to see you, how was your vacation back to Sweet Apple Acres?”

Appledust’s worried expression melted into a smile. “It was lovely, thank you Pr-”

Princess Twilight Sparkle lifted her brows meaningfully.

“-Twilight.” Appledust shook out her mane a little shyly. “I thought I heard you talking to someone out here, but - I must have been confused.”

“After a few centuries, you lose track of when you’re reading silently or aloud. I’m sure I was boring the roses to tears.” Twilight Sparkle chuckled, and Appledust shared her laugh. “Is there something you wanted to ask me?”

“Oh, pony apples! I mean - yes, Your - Twilight. Lunch will be ready in a few minutes, I was sent to tell you.”

“Well, thank you very much, Appledust. If it’s possible, might I take my lunch in the garden today? The weather is quite close to perfection, I think.” Twilight Sparkle gazed up at the sky, as clear and cloudless as if Rainbow Dash had cleared it herself. “I dare say the weather team has been doing a fabulous job.”

“I think that sounds like a lovely idea, Twilight. We’re due for a storm tonight, actually.”

“A storm! That sounds positively delicious, I haven’t felt one of those in ages.” Twilight Sparkle turned her smile back towards Appledust, and offered her a regal nod. “Thank you for the tip.”

“Ah - of course, Twilight. I’m happy to be of service.” Her smile was so familiar now, and at first Twilight had only seen Applejack there; now, it was hard to see anyone but Appledust. “I’ll let the kitchen know right away.”

“Wonderful. Oh, and Appledust?” Twilight Sparkle called, halting the young Apple mare. “How would you feel about taking lunch with me today?”

“I’d love that!” Appledust grinned, and offered the princess a quick curtsy before she galloped away.

“She’s really going to have to stop doing that,” grumbled the rose bush, “it’s getting annoying.”

“Hush, you.” Twilight Sparkle grinned, and waited until Queen Chrysalis removed her rose-patterned disguise. “She has to meet you sometime.”

“No one asked me.” Chrysalis grumbled, and pretended not to notice when Twilight Sparkle gave her a comforting wing-bump.

“That’s how making friends works. It rarely happens when you’re prepared. Appledust is a bright mare; I think she’ll take to you well.” Twilight Sparkle soothed Chrysalis gently, and despite everything, she found herself surprised when Chrysalis relaxed in response. She wasn’t certain she would ever get used to that, no matter how many centuries she and Chrysalis were friends.

“Yeah, well, why don’t you get back to the Octorok -”

“Actolom.”

“- Action Man Empire, this mushy stuff is giving me hives.”

Twilight Sparkle laughed, and resumed as before, walking in slow, steady circles around her garden as she read aloud. She only got a page further before Chrysalis stopped at her side.

“How are you going to do it, Twilight?” Chrysalis’ voice was small. “She’ll just die on you again, like the others. They all will.”

Twilight Sparkle paused, slowly closed her book, and let her eyes wander over the garden. “I know.” Twilight Sparkle said, finally. “I know she will pass on. So will many other friends I make. But … friendship goes on, even if life doesn’t. Pinkie Pie isn’t here, but she lives in my memory. She lives in the jokes I share with Appledust, with you. I can still hear her giggling as if it was yesterday. One day, someone else will pass those jokes to another pony. One day, all of this will pass away, and we will all be nothing but a speck of stardust, twinkling in the night sky; but I will have existed, and I will have loved my friends. And I don’t think that ever goes away, not really. It just took me a little while to realize that.”

Twilight Sparkle was looking up at the sky now, cloudless and blue; Chrysalis followed her gaze, searching. “I think the love we share goes on and on, out into places we’ll never see. It never ends. So even if I won’t ever see my friends in this life - I know we’ll find each other again, some way or another. Because in the greater scheme of things, we’re really only apart for a little while.” Twilight Sparkle breathed out a deep sigh. “I can hold on for a little while longer, until I see them again. I think Celestia knew I would figure it out; it just took me a little longer to learn her lesson this time.”

Silence stretched between them, but comfortably this time. “And I have you, until then. That’s a comfort I never thought I’d have.” Twilight Sparkle’s gaze was gentle where it rested on Chrysalis.

“Yeah, I guess you’re pretty lucky to have me, Space Cadet Twi. Now can we get back to the Autobot Empire?” Chrysalis cackled, but Twilight Sparkle noted the way she rubbed at her eyes.

“We could, Chrysalis, but I thought I’d tell you a much better story instead.” Twilight Sparkle’s grin was wide. “Have you ever heard of the tale of Madame Le Flour?”

[THE END]