Aftermath

A lot of ponies asked me why i was okay with Twilights assassination. In reality, I wasn't. I hid it well under the guise that I had pupils die before. In all honesty, I cried myself to sleep for years after she died. She was so young, had such a bright mind. She was going to take Equestria into truly a golden age.

I despised how ponies talked about her. I despised what they did to her. I made them pay. I for justice for Twilight. Yet why do I still feel empty inside? I thought getting revenge would have made me feel better. For making them suffer. I know she cried often at night to her brother about how ponies talked about her. It broke her heart. To see the citizens she saved countless times just throw her ideas aside and stomp on her heart like it was nothing. I'd honestly never been so disgusted in all my life. The only thing I'm grateful for, is she never saw it coming. She was asleep when it happened. She didn't suffer. She didn't feel a thing. I would have burnt this world to the ground if it was otherwise. And trust me, being in control of the sun makes burning this world very possible. The only thing that stopped me was Luna.

When I even mentioned burning this world down in one of my drunken rages, she threatened to banish me to the sun. Just like I had banished her to the moon so many years ago. It made me get my act together and be the leader my country needed. Even though nobles hated it, I implemented all the ideas Twilight had. Me and Luna were the last Princesses. Cadence willingly relinquished her authority. Equestria became a democracy as Twilight had wanted to change. Ponies could vote who they wanted in charge.

A bunch of ponies said, "it'll never work" or "our country will fall into ruin and fail this way". It never did. In fact, Equestria prospered. We made peace with new lands, established new trade routes.

Me and Luna proved that Twilight was correct. That it was possible. That it could be done. It was my final act in tribute to her. I'm grateful for nobles like Fancy Pants or Fleur De Lis who supported Twilight unquestioningly from the start. Whenever she needed a vote or an opinion, even if it was one saying it couldn't work, they were her advice and counsel. I know they were equally as disgusted as I was with their fellow nobles.

Most ponies assume alicorns are immortal. That is technically true in a way. While we don't succumb to age, we can be killed if hurt enough in a fight or if ponies just stop believing in us. We literally fade away from existence. It happened to one ruler eons before me and Luna were born. She stopped showing herself to the public, became greedy and selfish and they just all stopped believing she still existed after a while. All the ponies combined doubt willed her out of existence, unknowingly to them of course.

Twilight was like the daughter I never had. I absolutely adored that mare from the day I met her. All the birthdays, all the Hearths Warming Eves I spent with her and her parents were the greatest times of my life. I wouldn't change any of that for a second.

A small part of me wonders if this is my fault. Maybe if i had kept walking past her class room that day, none of this would have even happened. When my sister found out I thought this way, she was quick to put down such thoughts. I owe Twilight so much, for reuniting me with my sister from just showing me how to be a better ruler each day. I'll regret I'll never be able to say that to her. We all suffered her loss.

Discord even quit being chaotic for a while there until he slowly started to fade from existence. Discord is like us in a way, if he quits being even a tiny bit chaotic, he'll die and fade away. It took Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie to get him to act how he used to. Even then, he never truly was the same. I think Twilights death broke him more than he was willing to admit.

I know he didn't feel like they were truly his friends, but they really did love him. In their own way. Some ponies need tough love and I'm sad I didn't intervene when it went a bit too far. I'll have to add that to my list of regrets. I took another sip of my wine and laid down in my bed. My head was spinning from the alcohol. My eyes locked onto a picture of Twilight as a filly when she first became my student and the tears came out. I didn't notice Luna entering the room until I felt her wing wrapping around me and her snuggling up close to me.

"You know, not a day goes by that I don't thank her".

Taken aback, I stared at her.

"Why?"

Luna gave a heavy sigh. "She saved me. From being that evil being. She gave me a chance, she saw the good in me. She truly was an extraordinary mare. All of Equestria could learn from her".

I feel a bit guilty that I never thought about how Luna felt about this. My sister always was a bit more reserved than I. She was just as emotional as i was some days. I sometimes forget how much her and I are alike in that way, among many others. I pulled her in close for a hug till she fell asleep. I used my magic to pull a blanket over us both. I gazed out the window towards Ponyville. Towards where my beloved student lay resting.

I closed my eyes and sighed, a faint smile crossing my lips.

"Goodnight my dear Twilight" I managed to say before I fell asleep. It was my routine, to always say goodnight to her now before I fell asleep.

A purple cloud formed in the room and formed a ponies body. Twilight gazed down lovingly at the two former princesses. She tried to stroke their mane with a hoof but her hoof went right through.

"Right", she giggled. "I'll never get used to that. Goodnight, my mentors". She disappeared out the room from a open window as a purple cloud just as a guard cautiously entered the room who had heard voices. He quickly left when he realized the former princesses were asleep and assumed they were talking in their sleep. Luna was incrediblely notorious for sleep talking and even sleep walking.

Celestia and Luna ensured Twilights memory was never forgotten and her ideas were fully implemented in Equestrian society and culture. Twilight Day was a somber yet favorite national holiday throughout Twilights beloved country. Luna and Celestia hid their selves from their former subjects till they were forgotten about. That way they could both move onto the afterlife and be reunited with their beloved friend and student.