Twilight Beneath a Starless Sky
Twilight Sparkle gazed out into the night sky. Where once, countless specks of light danced across the cosmos, tantalizing the imaginations of all who gazed upon it, now there was nothing. Nothing, save the infinite blackness. The end of time. The rock Twilight stood was cold and lifeless, just like everything had been for trillions of years.
Quiet. Quiet and empty.
It was peaceful, yes, the natural state of things. Sounds and sensation, the very idea of life itself was an irregularity, a mere blip on the cosmic scale. Come and gone in the blink of an eye to Twilight
She missed it dearly.
Although she had to admit, over time she had grown accustomed to the silence. She felt at one with it. Taking a deep yet airless breath, she let the moment wash over her.
Gazing out into the darkness, she witnessed a beautiful thing. While she once would’ve glimpsed merely blackness spiraling out unto eternity, now she glimpsed the truth of the matter; space, folding in on itself in rapid degree, hurtling the edges of space and time inward at a marvelous pace. Soon there would be nothing left, the end of the universe.
She of course had chosen the perfect spot to witness the event.
Quite the view, is it not?
The thought intruded into her mind, a necessity given the total lack of atmosphere; another amenity which the cosmos all too frequently lacked. Turning her head slightly, Twilight beheld a familiar alicorn. Color seemed more of an abstract concept to Twilight as of late, the absence of light would certainly have that effect on any individual. Nonetheless, she perceived her mentor as she always had, a brilliant white mare shining like the sun.
It is, truly, Twilight responded in kind, turning her gaze back into the void.
A rare treasure, for mortals such as us to glimpse upon it, Celestia responded.
Twilight found herself mildly amused by the thought. Mortals? Perhaps they still were. Who could say? To call herself a god would be presumptuous, no matter how long she had lived. Yet still, mortals felt rather… mundane, given the circumstances.
A shame Luna elected not to attend. She would have greatly enjoyed the sight,Twilight commented.
Muted as it was, Celestia still felt a pang of sadness. She made her decision. For that I shan’t ever fault her.
Twilight hummed, gazing outward. While the passage of time had been eased by the use of magic, she found herself agreeing with the sentiment. Until the end of time; as close to eternity as one could hope for she suspected. Sometimes she wondered why she herself had made the journey. Curiosity, duty, stubbornness, who could say.
You could come with me. The journey would be far more interesting together, Twilight proposed.
Her response was warm, as always, my journey ends here, Twilight. Yours- well, only you can decide that.
The two of them both sat there together, enjoying a few moments of silence. They could both sense the end approaching, the pull of entropy tugging at their very essence.
Will you write, Twilight Sparkle?asked Celestia
Of course. Always. I am your faithful student, am I not?
Celestia cracked a smile. Of course. She extended a wing and pulled the mare into one last embrace, holding it for as long as she dared. She closed her eyes, and after what felt to be forever, slowly pulled herself away.
Goodbye, Celestia.
With her final farewell, Twilight’s braced herself to cast a well rehearsed spell. Her horn lit with a furious light; the last light in existence, yet twice as bright as any star to ever shine in the sky. Twilight shone with a brilliant defiance of all reality. Celestia watched as the light expanded, absorbing Twilight completely in a ball of untamed magic. Reality warped and tore around the sphere as time itself broke down around them, space itself reaching its own limitations and failing.
Celestia smiled once more, as everything ended.
Goodbye, Twilight Sparkle.
The universe exploded into existence. Where there once was nothing, now everything that could ever be found flung itself out into the universe. The building blocks of creation, as it were, took their place.
If anyone had been around to witness the event, they would have found it marvelous.
As the particulate matter of the cosmos flung itself around, mashing together, exploding and generally misbehaving, waves shot off every which way. Things were getting busy.
Something beyond the mundane detected the nature of existence. A stray wavelength said hello, and with that a brilliant ball of magic returned itself to existence in spectacular fashion. The light slowly dimmed, withdrawing into itself, retreating ever slowly until from within emerged a lavender alicorn, curled up, as though in a deep slumber.
Twilight cracked an eye, uncertain of her fate. Then another before unfurling herself and beholding the blackness before her. Lights danced before her eyes as she gazed upon the proto-universe and the myriad of reactions occurring.
Running a few brief calculations in her head and casting a spell or two, the mare nodded to herself.
Fascinating.
The surface stirred with terrifying force as winds up-heaved large chunks of rock and dirt. Reddish soil whipped through the atmosphere as frothy liquid bubbled within massive craters dotted across the landscape.
An alicorn landed upon the ground with a thud, crunching the dirt beneath her hooves as the harsh sands pelted against an invisible magic barrier surrounding the mare. She could feel the vibrations of the world as unseen forces roiled beneath the surface.
Unperturbed, Twilight approached a nearby pool, casting a short spell as she gazed upon the liquid. She stood there for some time, scrunching her muzzle deep in though. Eventually, satisfied with her analysis, the alicorn once more took off, leaving the surface behind.
She watched as, under a cloudy red sky, strange creature swam within the primordial sea. As a fish-like creature barely the size of her hoof swam close the surface she levitated it nearer with her magic, closely observing the being. She watched as it’s mouth gaped, quite uncomfortable in the open air. With a sigh she deposited it back into it’s home.
Twilight watched as a reptilian creature sunned itself on a nearby rock, taking in the rays of the sun. She nickered quietly and gazed at the sky, a cool blue, observing a few errant clouds drifting past.
“No, not quite.”
A small furry creature nibbled on a nearby plant within the vast cascade of a seemingly endless jungle. Hearing a rustling, the creatures ears perked up and it quickly dashed into the thick underbrush.
Sitting in the branch of a great gray tree, Twilight smiled and caught a glimpse of a large insect buzzing past.
“Cute.”
Sitting around the campfire, a young, green earth pony mare focused intently and slowly wove dried grass over and under, attempting to make herself a basket. It was nice and sunny out today and she could hear laughter as some of the younger ponies chased each other around the campsite. Leaning in closer, she stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth for good measure and carefully completed her current section.
Wiping some sweat from her brow, the pony gazed at her work. Although it was far from complete, she was quite satisfied with the roundish bucket shape that was slowly coming together. She set it down beside her and let out a sigh.
Life wasn’t particularly easy for her, ponies weren’t exactly at the top of the food chain, yet they made up for it with their quick thinking and ingenuity. Most importantly of all however was their cooperation. No other animal could come close to the schemes ponies could cook up; making tools, building fires, even passing on their history to new generations. Yes, life was hard for the ponies, but they worked together, and they lived.
A rustling near the edge of camp caught her attention, and she looked over to spot a blue pony she recognized pushing her way through the brush while carrying a basket over his back. She quickly hopped to her hooves and trotted over to the edge of camp to greet him.
“Blueberry! Welcome back!” she greeted him happily, alongside two other ponies which trotted into camp behind him, “I hope you brought something good for dinner tonight!”
Blueberry grinned. “I have indeed, as well as something a little more interesting.”
The mare tilted her head quizzically, but her unspoken question was soon answered by the arrival of a strange new mare. She was visually a young adult and had a lavender coat, with a purple mane and the mark of a six pointed star upon her flank. Most curious to her however, was the horn protruding from the new mare’s forehead, quite the standout to a camp entirely of earth ponies.
The new mare smiled sheepishly. “Hello there,” she said somewhat bashfully.
Blueberry coughed. “We found her down by the river all on her own. She said she’d been separated from her band, and with no way to find them I couldn’t just leave her out there alone,” he flashed a cheesy smile before adding, “ponies gotta stick together, right?”
At this point the entire camp had gathered around to gawk at the stranger with the horn on her head. Roughly thirty ponies, some pointing, others mumbling to each other, all gazing at the stranger among them.
“I really hate to impose like this, if you all want me to leave I’d be more than willing to.” The unicorn looked to the ground after speaking, as though ashamed of her intrusion.
Walking up to her, the green pony extended a hoof, and the unicorn brought her gaze upward.
“I’m Daffodil, nice to meet you.”
Smiling, the unicorn extended a hoof to match the gesture. “I’m Twilight. Twilight Sparkle.”
Daffodil lowered her hoof. “Well Twilight Sparkle. I think I can speak for everypony here when I say, we’d be more than happy to be your friends. As long as you’d like that is.”
Around her she could see the gather ponies nodding. Although there was still curiosity, there wasn’t a shred of animosity. One foal even waved at her enthusiastically, and Twilight felt a a sensation she hadn’t felt in quite a while.
Twilight nodded, looking as though she were about to cry. “Thank you. I- I think I’d like that.”
It’s been a long, long time since I’ve had friends.
