It was a lonely night in Canterlot, a lonely week in Equestria, and a lonely world in Equas. As far as Twilight could tell from the lack of responses to the many thousands of messages she had sent through space, using all the power she had gained over the years, it was a lonely universe.

Discord was busy creating new galaxies just to fuel his magic, but without the spark of life, nothing would come of it. Still, he tried, and Twilight tried as well. After all this time—after millions of years of being the last two living beings they knew of in the universe—they still tried.

Twilight Sparkle Experiment Log L̅MM

Based on discussions with Discord, I hypothesise that since life is inherently chaotic, death may represent a form of harmony. Therefore, the Elements of Harmony, which embody balance and order, should theoretically bring about death. It is important to clarify that I have no desire to die; however, the universe is already devoid of life, and Discord's attempts to restore it have proven futile. I believe there is no alternative left but to test this theory by using the Elements of Harmony.

Twilight placed the elements of Harmony in a machine crafted from gold taking up the majority of her regrown tree laboratory.

The Elements of Harmony require a living power source to channel their magic. Historically, the Bearers and the Tree of Harmony served this purpose, and now, my new laboratory will fulfil that role. Growing my new oak tree lab in this isolated environment took 250 years, a painstakingly slow process, but a necessary one. While it was growing, I dedicated myself to gathering as much gold as possible, crafting several magical conductors.

Gold, known for its excellent conductivity of both electricity and magic, has proven ideal for this purpose. Hypothesis: This is why storage units, whether magical or technological, have always been constructed using gold, regardless of their form. Its properties make it the most efficient vessel for energy storage and transmission, whether for ancient spells or modern constructs. With the conductors in place, I am now prepared to attempt drawing power directly from the Tree to fuel the Elements, though I am still wary of the outcome.

Twilight levitated the Elements one by one into their respective slots on the wall. Magic went in the top slot on the second row, followed by Honesty and Loyalty, then Generosity and Kindness, and finally, Laughter at the bottom. Twilight’s magic glowed as the machine amplified the spell, making it shine as brightly as the sun.

Meanwhile, four galaxies over, under the watchful gaze of Harmony, Discord was playing with hydrogen atoms. “Do you think that will work?” Harmony asked curiously, leaning on a ball of gas that Discord was hoping to turn into a star.

“Well, it’s really quite simple,” Discord replied. “You are currently lying on a gargantuan cloud of hydrogen.” He added the last atom for emphasis. Flying around with a net, he collected a lot of dust. “Sprinkle in some dust for flavour,” Discord said, tossing the dust into the gas cloud which also accidentally on purpose hit her in the face. “And give it a good squeeze with gravity until it starts to collapse!” Harmony flew out of the way as Discord placed both paw and talon on each side of the ball of gas and dust, squeezing it until the gravity was so high that it collapsed. “Then, as the core heats up, wait for the gas to ignite in a fabulous fusion frenzy, and voilà! You’ve got yourself a shining, radiant ball of chaotic fusion lighting up the cosmos! You know, in a few million years or so. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Discord picked up the new star, bouncing it on his feet until he heard the distinct sound of teleportation. “Rude!” Discord exclaimed. He faced a group of potential planets, kicked the new sun among them to start orbiting, and, just to make sure Twilight knew he was doing his job properly, found an ice-filled asteroid and flicked it in the general direction of the new solar system. “I still got it,” he said with a grin.

After the flash, Twilight broke the spell and was immediately hit with a massive headache. “OOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW OW OW OW OW OH CELESTIA THAT’S OOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW!” After taking several deep breaths, she cast a spell to remove the pain and performed several diagnostic spells to check for any permanent damage. It appeared that she was perfectly healthy and alive. Rubbing the base of her horn, she still felt like she had a headache.

“I would suggest getting some water,” said a voice. Twilight nodded, then realised that something had spoken to her. Her eyes widened, and a smile spread across her face.

“A PONY!” Twilight ran over to her. “A living, breathing, actual, proper, living, honest-to-the-universe pony! PERFECT! It worked... kind of.” Then Twilight passed out.

“Hmmmm,” Harmony said, picking up Twilight and laying her on a hammock set up in the lab. There was a tapping on the window. Looking over, Discord was angrily inspecting the Elements. Harmony removed them, at which point Discord teleported into the tree.

“I hope you understand that you disappeared right before I formed a world that will have life on it… probably.”

“I’m sorry, Discord. I got called away.”

“Twilight isn’t even dead, though.” He poked the sleeping alicorn with her own horn to check. “See?” He placed the horn back.

“I know, but she called me anyway. I wonder why.”

“A lonely alicorn who has spent 1000 years alone— that messes with anypony. At least Luna was asleep at the time.” They decided it would be pointless to try to solve the mystery before Twilight woke up.

When Twilight woke up, she gazed at the stars for a while, meditating and reconnecting with the magic around her. It was still the same night, which was good—she hadn't been unconscious for too long. Her thoughts turned to her friends. Over the years, she had made thousands of close friends, but it was her first ones that came to mind. It was as if she could still feel them. Breathing deeply, her mind sharpened, and then all the memories hit her at once.

Checklist for Memory Organisation:

• New pony
• Same night I lower the moon and raise the sun
• Check how long this night has lasted
• Panic

“OMC 110 HOURS I WAS ASLEEP FOR NEARLY 5 DAYS NO NO NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DAMN IT”

• ~~Panic~~

• Raise the Sun

Discord and Harmony were rearranging the clouds above Manehatton when they saw the sunrise.

“I think she’s awake,” Harmony observed.

“No kidding.” Discord rolled his eyes out of his head and back in. “Do you think she’s having a panic attack?” he asked, sipping from a chocolate cloud through a straw about ten feet long.

“Maybe.” Harmony watched the sunrise settle. “She might want to talk to me, and I do have my offer for her.”

“Are you going to kill her?” Discord feigned surprise. “That’s so kind of you.” The sarcasm in his voice was so poorly suppressed that it was entirely pointless. He leaned over to a pink butterfly on a tree. “You know, I always said, Buttershy, if you want a pony to die, she’s the goddess for the job.”

“No, I don’t kill anyone. Once they die, they can’t be forced to stay.” Harmony’s tone barely hid her annoyance, but since it was just the two of them, she didn’t bother trying harder. “It’s been half a billion years—you’ll never let it go!” she huffed, then teleported away.

“NEVER!” Discord shouted after her. A butterfly then landed on him, and he sighed. “Come on, Buttershy, we’ve got a solar system to make.” He teleported back to his new sun.

Back in the lab, Twilight paced up and down, thinking, pausing, listening, shaking her head, and then thinking again.
“Okay, Twilight, this is something worth studying and a result. They’re gone, which is not helpful, but there was a pony there. Right?” She paused and looked around, scanning for magic and getting a ping of a magic signature different from hers, but not chaotic like Discord’s.
“Discord has been away too long. What has he been doing?”

There was a distinct sound of teleportation behind her. “Where have you been? We had a result, but now they’re gone.” Twilight didn’t bother looking; she just flew to the shelves to call for the books in her library. ‘Old’ was a moot point, since it had been 10,000 years since a book had been written. The preservation magic over the books, created and maintained by the librarian, meant they stayed readable, but they still felt, looked, and smelled old.

One of the last books ever printed was The Elements of Harmony: A Scholarly Exploration by Twilight Sparkle. The publisher was more than happy to produce it for her, though it never went into mass print. Twilight read aloud:

“The Elements of Harmony were not created by Celestia and Luna.” She skipped ahead. “They were created by a magical force known as Harmony.” Skipping further, she continued: “HERE, a recent hypothesis following the death of Princess Cadence is that once the concept dies, the Alicorn who represents that concept also dies.” She took a moment to remember Cadence.
“That must mean that this new pony is an Alicorn who represents Harmony. Luna and Celestia were linked to the sun and moon, but they died when the last pony died, and Luna lost her power over dreams. Celestia was so linked to Luna that she, too, perished. That must mean this pony represents death, or Harmony. Life is chaos; death is harmony. That makes sense, right?”

“It does make sense, and you’re about 60% of the way there,” said a voice, very different from Discord’s.

Facing the new Alicorn, Twilight’s eyes widened. To her credit, Twilight’s internal freakout only manifested as an eye twitch and a racing heartbeat.
“W-what am I missing?” she asked.
“Your assumption is that they are dead. They’re not. Alicorns can’t die because their concept will always exist somewhere. Cadence, for example, is now a spirit of love named Cupid, and she will return once there is romance in this universe again. Celestia and Luna have become spirits, balancing each other. Luna is the spirit of darkness, passivity, femininity, intuition, cold, and receptiveness, while Celestia is the spirit of light, activity, masculinity, logic, warmth, and assertiveness.”

Harmony drew a simple representation of Celestia and Luna as two symbols, white and black, seeming to follow each other in a circle.

“You, on the other hoof, represent friendship, and unlike the others, this universe still has friendship, so you are still active. You won’t become a spirit unless you lose your friendship.”

Twilight took this all in, taking a deep breath in and out before nodding.
“So, spirits aren’t dead?”
“No, the body dies, but unlike ghosts, which are linked to a place and memory, spirits still affect the world and will continue to influence the universe for as long as there is life.”
“There is no life. Not here, not anymore,” Twilight pointed out.
“Not sapient life, not anymore, not here, and not yet. So, these concepts are dormant for now, until new creatures create, need, and above all, crave them. All will be created again in a few billion years, but you are still here. Friendship never died because, through your power, you became friends with Discord. I admire that. So, I have a proposal for you. You can wait for new life and guide them in friendship as a spirit—Discord can turn you into one quite easily—or you can do something more interesting.”

Harmony shot a spell into the space just behind Twilight. The gap it created made Twilight feel sick. It was impossible to look at directly—like darkness, but worse—just nothingness, a void.
“This universe was created by chaos. By its nature, it does not care about the concepts your mentor represented; only the sapient life in the universe cares. You, on the other hoof, have a chance to create another universe, one in which friendship is its core. Every living creature will know friendship. You can shape it in the image of your will, and you can make it a utopia for all the creatures living in it.”

"A universe built on friendship? Is that possible?" Twilight stared into the void, imagining its potential.

"Maybe, or it might be a complete failure. It's impossible to know for sure, but I know one thing." Harmony stepped beside her and wrapped a wing around Twilight. For the first time in millennia, Twilight felt like a foal – a new student next to Celestia.

"I’ll be with you, now and forever," Twilight took a deep breath and thought for a few moments.

I either go to wherever my friends are, which might not even be a real place, or I spend billions of years with just me and Harmony, hoping that I can create creatures who are happy. A leap of faith either way.

Twilight took a deep breath and flew into the void. A purple spark started a universe filled with potential, while Discord began to build his own. Whatever form it would take, he raised a glass of chocolate milk to the setting sun.

"Good luck, Princess. Let’s see what happens next."

Author's Note

This is the end of my first fan fic I hope you like it. I had this idea for a while needed to get it out.