Friendship not only glows, it sparkles.
Twilight glided down and landed, a stoic expression on her face. All around her were barren wastelands, nothing lived here, not even plants. Before Twilight stood the one thing that drove breath. She had not wanted to come here, the side effects were never... pleasant. Twilight's mane hung limp against her back, another side effect, it would never really recover as long as she ventured here. Still, she had to come, she was not left with much choice.
"You're late, Princess," the familiar pegasus snarled, her cyan mane blowing in the wind. In front of them lay a pony with a sword embedded in their side. The mare gripped the handle of the sword in her mouth and pulled, the purple pony it had previously been attached to falling limp.
Internally Twilight screamed and cried, there was so much she wanted to say, so much she wanted to do; all of which would fall upon deaf ears. But no, she would not reject her principles, not now; not when it was the only thing she had left here.
Twilight sat down on her rump. "Is this really what you want Cozy?" She gestured with her hoof at the surroundings.
The pegasus mare spat out her sword so she could speak, it too falling lifeless to the ground. "We have had this song and dance so many times before Princess. I do something you don't like, you punish me, and then we start all over again!" Cozy shrugged, a small smile resting on her face.
Twilight just gave her a flat stare in response.
"Oh, that's right," Cozy continued, tapping a hoof to her cheek. "I won this time, you, don't have any friends anymore."
"And you do?" Twilight replied tersely, glancing about.
Cozy Glow put her hoof back on the ground. "No, I suppose I don't. The era of friendship is over," Cozy answered. Putting on a sickeningly cute smile, one that rang in stark contrast to her blood covered coat, before she continued. "unless of course, the wittle princess of friendship wants to," she audibly gasped. "make friends with wittle ol me!"
Twilight snarled, she knew it was unbecoming of her as the sole ruler of Equestria. "I would if I thought you'd actually ever had it in you to care for another pony."
"Golly! The princess of friendship finally gave up on me!" Cozy started laughing, the malice it carried a sick contrast to how she had just spoken.
Twilight sighed. "So what are you going to do now? That's what I don't get," Twilight raised her front hoof up in the air. "What's even your end goal here, because I can't imagine you're happy with this either."
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe now I can finally live my life the way I want to," she pointed her hoof straight at Twilight. "Now I don't need to deal with anycreature thinking they can decide what my life should be like."
Silence reigned between the two, there was nothing else needed to be said. If Twilight had more courage, she might attempt to take the pegasus's life, but she couldn't will herself; she never had. If she had done so in the past, maybe this all could have been prevented and she wouldn't have lost her friend. But now? Now there was little point.
Cozy let out a grunt before turning about, launching herself into the air using her wings. "Goodbye, princess, may we never cross paths again."
Twilight remained seated, there was little point in giving chase. There was not a place in Equestria where Cozy would find haven or acceptance; she had made sure of that. Her eyes turned to the body in front of her, the wrinkles were clear on their face; yet they had insisted on going, they had felt obligated.
Twilight got up and took a slow few steps over till she was next to the body of what had been her latest pony friend to be lost to death. She reached out with her hoof and closed their eyes.
"Goodbye Starlight, you were not only the best student I ever had, but also a great friend."
She carefully stroke her hoof against the dead unicorns body, it was cold. The fight must have long since been over before she even arrived. Twilight could feel the tears running down her face, she ignored it, just like she had so many times before. She was almost surprised she could still will some out.
Once again she sighed. Taking a deep breath Twilight turned her gaze towards the horizon. The wasteland was as dead and barren as it always had been, but not for a lack of corpses covering the terrain from one end of the horizon to the other.
It had been a long flight back from the wastelands to Ponyville, she had considered teleporting once she had left the null magic zone, as it was so aptly called, but she had decided to use the time to gather her thoughts.
She was still the Princess of Equestria, while she might be the only one carrying that title anymore, that did not mean she could just stop. There was a country to run, and her workload had just doubled with the loss of Starlight. Still, she could not give up, she could not stop, not now.
Setting down in front of the castle of friendship, she quickly trotted forwards and pushed the doors open. In many ways it was sickening how quickly she had gotten used to just doing everything without unicorn magic. The null zone might have receded to what was now known as the wastelands, but that didn't mean the scars it had left on Equestira and its population had disappeared .
She quickly trotted up the staircase to the second floor, a destination well in mind. She'd need to stop by Sweet Apple Acres later to attend the food situation, but Ponyville could survive her putting it off a few more hours. Reaching the door she was aiming for, she pushed it open.
The room itself was unremarkable, similar enough to any other room in the crystallised castle. No, the thing that stood out rested at the center of the room. Large tree like roots made out crystal shoot out of the ground and completely entombed what Twilight knew was an altar. She quickly entered the room and put her hoof on the roots, sensing her connection to the spirit of harmony she willed them to recede.
The room itself had once been sealed with powerful spells and wards, meant to keep anypony from entering and retrieving the contents. Having the altar be covered and protected by harmony itself had been Starlight's idea, one born from the exact reasoning that had willed the wards away in the first place: Should magic ever disappear, the contents within should still be protected.
Atop the pedestal rested a thick tome, on its face rested a very familiar cutie mark; one that she had seen just a few hours prior. She picked up the tome and made to leave.
"I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise," She quietly whispered as she left the room.
After all, the book contained all of Starlight's achievements when it came to magic, nothing left out, nothing forgotten. A trimmed version had been released years prior for public and academic use, but the two of them had promise that the original should never see the light of day; not unless there was a need.
There was now a need.
Twilight chomped down on an apple, they were never quite as good as when Applejack had still been alive to manage Sweet Apple Acres. If she knew how the place was being run now... she'd be upset, but she'd also understand; Twilight knew that. She returned her focus to the book and the mass of papers and notes on the surface of the cutie map.
"You have a guest Twilight," the booming voice of Spike echoed through the halls.
"Tell her I'm in the throne room!" Twilight yelled back, take in use the royal Canterlot voice.
She didn't stop reading or taking notes even once, not even when she heard the soft clopping of hooves against crystal floor. She did have the decency to offer hospitality though.
"Come, have a seat, I did expect you eventually," Twilight snickered, though there was no mirth in her voice. "I even took the time to get rid of the other thrones and put Spike's on the opposite side of the table. He's too big now to use it anyway, but I'm sure it fits a young filly such as you!"
The hoof steps stopped, as if her guest was considering her offer. Twilight levitated over another empty paper and started scribbling additional notes on it, she had to get the math perfect, she had to know everything. The hoof steps recommenced and she could make out a sigh before the pony sat down on the chair.
"This is a bit small, I'm not a filly you know, I haven't been for a long time."
Twilight snickered. "We both know that's not true."
She could hear grumbling from the other side of the room, but no objection. Twilight smiled, maybe it wasn't kind, but at this point she had stopped caring. Still, she should be a good hostess, Celestia knows no one else was these days.
"Do you want me to bring you something to eat? We got plenty of apples as well as lots of veggies. I usually don't bother cooking much these days, but if you want something I'm sure I can try to remember how to make a meal."
"I- really? That's what you say?" The filly on opposite side of the table let out.
Twilight snorted. "Do you want something or not Cozy?"
Cozy sighed. "No, I ate some grass before venturing into... town."
Twilight smiled. "Great!" She exclaimed in an upbeat tone, not once stopping in her scribbling.
Had Twilight bothered to look up she would have seen Cozy Glow awkwardly wiggling back and forth in the much too small throne, clearly struggling in both finding words and comfort. But she didn't, her research was too important for that.
"...aren't you going to ask?" Cozy eventually managed to say.
"Ask what?" Twilight answered without missing a beat.
Cozy audibly swallowed. "Why I'm here."
"Sure, why not: Why are you here Cozy?"
"I... I was lonely."
"Well that's a relief," Twilight giggled. "For a second there I thought it was something serious. I'm sure you have already thought of plenty of good solutions to your predicament!"
The conversation once again came to a halt, the only sound filling the room was more ferocious scribbling. Was it perhaps a bit rude of Twilight to not set aside her work when she had a guest? Obviously, but she had a country, and it sure didn't run itself!
Cozy eventually let out a sigh. "I went to see Chryssalis and Tirek a few weeks ago."
Twilight scuffed before gathering her thoughts, she could humour the filly. "And how did that go?"
"Gee, I don't know Princess, how do you think it went?" Cozy snarled out, the opposite of how meek the filly had seemed just moments prior.
Twilight slammed the book shut in her magic placed it on the table, likewise so with her quill and paper. "Well, I can tell you exactly how it went," Twilight replied with her own snarl. "You were speaking to two pieces of granite, because your-" she reached out her hoof pointedly at Cozy "-great plan of once again draining the worlds magic essentially just killed them."
"The spell that kept them sealed in stone was also the spell that kept them alive, instead of just being a regular piece of rock," Twilight continued. She got up from her seat and started to round the table. "And you know what the best part is Cozy? I know that you knew that, yet you still went through with it all!"
Twilight stopped in front of Cozy, the aforementioned pegasus not meeting her eyes.
"But it's okay," Twilight smiled. "We all make mistakes some times," She levitated the inkwell, quill, and a paper over by dragging them against the table, a shrill sound ringing out from inkwell scrapping against table. She angled them up and let them come to rest in front of Cozy. "Perhaps you would like to write a friendship report about it? You know, tell everypony what you learned?" Twilight chuckled and started slowly walking back to her side of the table.
She hadn't even made it halfway across before Cozy let out a groan and punched the inkwell, sending it flying and spilling ink all over the cutiemap.
"What's your problem Twilight? I get it, you're pissed at me, tough! We have to deal with each other now, and you know that!"
Twilight let out a grunt and continued walking till she reached her throne, which she proceeded to get comfy on again.
"Gee, golly Cozy, I don't know. I seem to recall a young filly saying we should never cross paths ever again before flying off into the sunset," Twilight exclaimed in a happy voice while putting on her best fake smile.
Cozy huffed. "You can be right mean when you want to, Princess."
"I guess I learned from the best then, and it still doesn't change the fact that you decided to show your sorry flank here of all places. I knew you would, eventually, but the fact of the matter is that I don't need you; but you need me."
"You can't seriously be implying that you're content," Cozy gestured around with her hooves, "here."
"Admittedly it's a bit lonely, but Spike can he quite the dear," Twilight put on a more genuine smile. "He's even started helping out around Sweet Apple Acres, it makes things so much more convenient. It's just a shame he doesn't fit inside the kitchen anymore."
Cozy Glow just stared at her in disbelief, her eyes blinking. "Seriously?"
"Oh yeah, he used to be the best chef, truth be told I was never any good at cooking," Twilight giggled.
Cozy slammed a hoof against her forehead. "So what you're saying is, you're perfectly fine here on your lonesome... because your animated dragon corpse out there does your gardening for you?" Cozy all but yelled the last few words.
"Hey! He'd take offence to that, he's very sensitive about his scales you know."
Cozy placed her two front hooves on the cutiemap and raised herself up. "He's a pile of bones!" Cozy yelled out.
The voice echoed across the castle before eventually turning to silence. Two ponies sat across a table from one and another, both snarling at the other. Eventually Twilight let out a harrumph, she had better things to do than entertaining this filly. She glanced over her research, some of it had been ruined from the inkwell that had been sent flying; she'd need to redo it.
Seeing Twilight returning to her scribbling Cozy sighed and settled back down in her undersized throne. "You could at least treat me like an adult, you know?"
Twilight briefly halted in her scribbling before returning to it. "I'll do so when you start acting like one, besides, you're, what, twenty?"
Another loud sigh reverberated through the room. "I'm thirty one Twilight, it's been almost a decade since we last talked...." her voice grew quiet, though still perfectly audible within the castle halls. "Since I talked to anyone."
Twilight didn't immediately answer, finishing up her current calculation first. "I wonder why that might be."
Cozy scoffed and waved her hoof as she turned her eyes away. "You know very well why that is Twilight; we are the only living things left on this planet that aren't plants."
Twilight stopped writing and looked over the edge of Starlight's book. "At least one of us is trying to do something about it."
Cozy let out a tired snicker. "And how's that going?"
Twilight grumbled. "It's going fine, thank you very much. I just need to make sure I get everything right before I go."
"Go, go where?" Cozy asked with a confused expression.
"Somewhere else, another planet one could say; beats staying here. Maybe next time things won't fall into ruin."
"You're just going to leave me behind?" Cozy asked, fear seemingly creeping into her voice.
Twilight laughed. "It's a bit too late to worry about that now, is it not?"
"I- I suppose so. I guess I deserve this place," Cozy turned her head down, staring at the floor.
Twilight nodded. "You do, I'm glad we both see it! But don't worry, I don't plan on leaving you behind."
Cozy's head lifted up, staring into Twilight's eyes. "You- you don't?"
Twilight laughed a bit again. "Of course not! After all, by my estimates, which are always right, my research for the perfect solution won't be finished yet for a century or two, you'll have long since passed away!" She smiled.
Two mares stood at the peak of mount Canterhorn, the sun was starting to set in the distant horizon. Admittedly, the peak wasn't as tall as it used to be, only shy some three times the height of Twilight's own castle. Still, it was the tallest mountain in the region.
Cozy let out a sigh. "Do you have things you regret?"
Twilight took a moment to properly think it over. "Sure, I have lots of things I regret."
Cozy turn to look at the alicorn, her mane once again flowing as if on some unseen breeze; it had returned two or so years prior. "Like what?"
Twilight sighed. "It might sound cruel, but I still regret giving you that last chance all those years ago."
Cozy shook her head. "Come on Twilight, I thought we agreed to put those things behind us half a decade ago."
Twilight forced a smile. "You're right."
Cozy turned to face the sun again. "Besides, I don't blame you. Sure, I don't think I would have enjoyed spending the rest of my existence stuck in a block of stone but..." Cozy sighed. "...the alternative hasn't been much better."
Twilight scrunched her lips. "Maybe so, but I think I made more mistakes back then too. I could have thought further ahead, made better plans to contain you, made sure you couldn't-" Twilight didn't get to finish, a hoof put in front of her mouth.
Twilight pushed Cozy's hoof away and sighed. "You're right, we agreed to put it behind us."
Cozy snickered, it was a genuine sound. Twilight always liked hearing it, it wasn't something she got hear very often. Maybe they shouldn't be friends, not after what she had done. But... Twilight knew her friends would have wanted her to be happy, even despite everything that happened.
Besides, it would all be so fleeting anyway, just a few more decades and Cozy would be gone too. Then? Then she would be alone. She should do her best to take advantage of the time she still had, she hadn't even touched her research for some years now; and even before then she had started dedicating less and less time to it.
A nudge interrupted her thoughts. "You got that expression again," Cozy spoke, a sad smile on her face.
Twilight ruffled her feathers while trying to fix her expression. "Sorry."
"It's okay... I get it," her smile turning a bit more genuine.
The sun slowly moved across the horizon, colouring the stray wild clouds orange.
"Why did you ask?" Twilight glanced her companion.
"I..." Cozy swallowed and sighed. "I regret a lot of things, but mostly I regret who I was."
Twilight stretched out her wing and wrapped it around the smaller pony. If she knew things right, it wouldn't be long before the tears started falling again.
"I took so much for granted. Everypony around, every day, every night," Cozy sighed again.
Twilight remained silent, letting Cozy speak as much as she needed.
"I just... I just think back now, and all I can see is the stupid foal I was," she grunted before clearing her throat, speaking in a higher pitch voice. "I'll just convince a bunch of creatures across the plant to be my friends! Oh, oh, and then I'll just have them start the biggest war the planet has ever seen! Great idea Cozy! And when everything is all said and done you execute the survivors!"
Twilight glanced away from the sun to watch her companion's tears hit the ground, she sighed. Some days the past was too much for the pegasus, not that Twilight herself was much better; she knew that now.
She had heard her self flagellation before so she tuned Cozy out, instead opting to rub the pegasus back with her wing. She had tried to butt in and comfort Cozy when she got in one of her moods before, it usually didn't help; she needed to cry herself dry.
Twilight watched the sun start disappearing beyond the horizon, and not for the first time her thoughts turned to Celestia and Luna. She could feel her stomach starting to turn from the thought, she missed them badly. Celestia would have known what to do, she always had a plan. And Luna? She would have been there to see it through till the end, no matter what.
But then, that's how they died.
When she no longer could hear the crying or mumbling Twilight used her wing to pull Cozy close to herself. "Feeling any better?"
"A little," Cozy let out, still snivelling.
Twilight smiled. "Why don't you fly back home and get started on the dinner? I know you like to cook."
Cozy couldn't help but snort. "One of us has to be good at it," small smile rising on her lips.
Twilight nuzzled Cozy lightly. "Yeah."
Eventually the two separated, Cozy getting ready to take flight before looking back to Twilight. "Aren't you coming?"
Twilight shook her head. "I want to go talk to Spike first, I'll catch up."
Cozy frowned but nodded, taking to the skies.
Twilight watched her fly a fair bit away before turning and walking down from the peak to what remained of the mountain. It was just a short trot to get to the familiar cliff, if one could call it that. At the center stood a headstone with Spike's name engraved upon its surface.
"It's been a while Spike. I... I know you know, and I know I have said it before, but I'm sorry for what I did to your remains; you didn't deserve that. I was lonely... but you know that."
Twilight could feel the tears in her eyes but did her best to hold them in.
"I'm not sure I'll make it, being alone again I mean. I know I can use Starlight's spell as a basis to travel back in time, but..." she gestured wildly in the air with her hoof. "You know what I turned into when I started working on it last time. There are so many variables, how could I possibly change things perfectly? How far back should I go, what should I change?"
Twilight shook her head. "I'm worried I'll get single minded again, especially when I won't have anyone else around anymore to ground me;" she sighed.
"Maybe I should start working on it again soon, maybe Cozy could help?"
Silence was her only answer as she stood there in the dwindling twilight. "I just... I just don't want to waste the days we have left. I know she tries to not think about it, and, so am I; but it's hard not to."
Twilight sighed and glanced back towards what remained of Ponyvile, home. A small smile fought its way onto her lips.
"I guess I can decide another day, I shouldn't keep her waiting. And besides, at least for now, we have each other; and isn't that what friendship is all about?"
Twilight took one last glance at Spike's grave before taking to the air, slowly flying towards home and her lone friend within. Equestria could wait a little bit longer.
Author's Note
I wrote this in an evening in a burst of inspiration, I hope you enjoyed reading it!
I left a lot of the things happening remain in the subtext, but I'm sure most of it should come through. I'm not sure if I'm even trying to say anything with this story, I just kinda wrote as it came to me.
