Darkest Days, Brightest Nights

[A/N]: So uh... TAB just kinda left in the middle of editing without saying anything so... I think this is done?

Anyways, This'll be going on hiatus until at least Act 4 is done. Moonlit Skies will continue to update in the mean time.

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Chapter 4: Joy and Pain-‡—————————-——————————‡-

At the last moment, I was thrown out of the way by an extremely powerful telekinetic force. I looked back and saw Twilight rolling around, screaming and on fire. One of her legs appeared to have broken from the sheer force of the spell's impact. I quickly ran back over to her and patted the flames out. She was unconscious, but breathing.

I turned back to Celestia, who at least seemed to be regretting her actions. That didn't matter to me though. What did matter, was vengeance. The princesses could probably tell that, seeing as I was slowly walking towards them, glaring, with blackfire starting to swirl around my body. In order to give one final chance to diplomacy, I used my amazing negotiation skills. "I. WILL. END YOU!" Yeah, I should totally be an ambassador or something.

Realizing that my threat was completely serious, and potentially possible, Luna finally decided to assist her sister. The two of them were standing side-by-side about ten meters away from me. We stared each other down for about five seconds, then Celestia gave a battlecry and launched a fireball at me. Luna followed suit with an orb of darkness. I jumped over Celestia's fireball, then deflected Luna's spell back and into Celestia, who staggered sideways as the spell impacted her right foreleg. Either she was really immortal, or Luna was using non-lethal spells. Good to know.

I retaliated with a flurry of weak bolts of blackfire, all aimed at Celestia. If Luna wasn't going to make herself a threat, there was no reason to harm her. Unfortunately, she was providing defence while Celestia attacked. Luna absorbed my attacks into her horn, then transferred the energy to her sister, who used it to launch another one of those big fireballs.

Unable to block the powerful attack with a shield, I dive-rolled to the left, feeling the heat from the blast as I barely managed to move in time. Upon finishing the roll, I put up a shield to deflect two more shadow orbs from Luna, inches from my face. I immediately followed with another burst of blackfire, and then following that with a single modified blackfire bolt that flew straight up and out of sight. Amongst the other spells, neither Princess noticed the lone bolt flying away from the battle.

Luna concentrated on absorbing my blackfire, allowing her deflected attacks to strike her sister. The aforementioned orbs of darkness struck Celestia in the chest, causing her to spasm once and fall to the ground. She quickly recovered, and launched another unblockable fireball. I decided to kill two birds with one stone, and dodged the attack by teleporting. I reappeared beside Luna, where I quickly whispered, "Five turns, then duck." before teleporting back to my original location, now a patch of blackened dirt, leaving behind a thoroughly confused Princess of the night.

Exactly five times we repeated the sequence of deflect, attack, dodge. Each time, I added one bolt to the ones hovering in the air above us. When five of them had amassed, I let the flames around me die out, giving the impression that I was surrendering.

Celestia laughed. "Giving up already?"

"Tam ne budet kapitulyatsii, i ne budet nikakoy poshchady. Five turns are up." Luna dived to the ground, and the hovering blackfire rained upon Celestia from all sides, forcing her down.

Her mane returned to normal, and she slowly got up, shaking the ice off of her. She looked at me for a second, then at the spot where Twilight was lying on the ground. She seemed a little guilty, but after a few seconds, her fire started up again. "This is your fault! You will pay for harming my student!"

"You have got to be joking."

Luna placed a hoof on her sister's shoulder, then quickly pulled back again as Celestia's flames drifted too close. "Sister, leave this for another time. Twilight Sparkle needs medical attention."

She hesitated for a moment, then extinguished her mane again. "That heretic can handle her health." With that, they both disappeared in a flash of light.

I finally relaxed, and immediately realized that I had expended more energy than I thought. I stumbled over to Twilight's burnt and unmoving form. "I'm sorry, Twi. I should have been stronger for you." Then I collapsed, and the blackened landscape faded into nothing.

I woke to the sound of voices. "Over there! I think I see somepony."

"Oh my goodness! I think she's hurt!"

I blearily opened my eyes and saw Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy examining Twilight. Upon seeing her condition, I was immediately wide awake. "Vot der'mo!" Both of the pegasi jumped back at my outburst as I jumped up and ran over to Twilight. 'Third-degree Burns, one broken leg. This isn't good.' "Hold on. I think I can figure out how to do a healing spell." They both took another step back, and glanced at each other as I cut my right foreleg with the tip of my horn. I examined the wound closely, trying to determine what I would have to do in order to invent an entire healing spell in a matter of seconds. It was rather like rearranging a physics equation to find an unknown variable, and that is something I am good at.

When I thought that I had it, I cast the new spell on my foreleg. The cut healed instantly, and I rubbed it a few times to make sure it wouldn't just open up again at the next touch. It seemed fine, so I turned the spell on Twilight. Nothing happened. "Chert voz'mi! Why isn't it working!?"

I backed off, and started to go over the spell in my head again. My thoughts were interrupted by the worst thing I've ever been told in my life. "Oh no... Dusk? She doesn't have a pulse."

"No. Nonononono. No! Twilight has to live. She has to!"

Fluttershy walked around Twilight's body and pressed herself against my side. "There's nothing you can do."

"No... I will not accept this." I gently pushed her away from me, then laid down and pressed my horn to Twilight's. I began to pour as much magic as possible into her. At the same time, I cast my healing spell, as well as one to absorb her injuries into me.

Through my tears, I saw Twilight's blackened skin being replaced by her normal lavender coat. At the same time, I felt my own skin crackling, then repairing itself. As the magic did it's work, my head felt like it was going to explode. The headache got worse as I used up more and more of my reserves. Suddenly, the flow of magic stuttered. I knew that the spell had started using my own lifeforce to power itself.

I nearly stopped the spell in shock when I saw Twilight start breathing again, but she wasn't fully healed, so I had to keep going.

Eventually, there were no more wounds for the spell to heal, and I cut off the flow of lifeforce. I smiled slightly at the sight of Twilight, perfectly unharmed. Then the world started to spin, and I collapsed again.

The next time I woke, I found myself in an uncomfortably bright room. Everything was white. I didn't like it, so I decided to voice my opinion. "OH GODDESS, TOO BRIGHT!"

A nurse came running into the room. "Oh, I'm sorry." She turned off the lights that were for some reason pointed at my face.

"Whew... That's better." I thought for a second. "Wasn't something important going on?"

"The ones who brought you in said that Twilight Sparkle was injured. They said that you saved her."

"Oh yeah. That is kind of important." I rolled off the bed and onto my hooves. "So where is she now?"

"No! You can't go yet! You shouldn't even be up!"

"Ma'am, I draw my power from the energies of the universe. I think I'll manage." I walked out the door, then stuck my head back in after a few seconds. "Uh, you wouldn't mind helping me find the exit, would you?"

On the way out, the nurse informed me that Twilight was being taken care of at her library by Fluttershy. That didn't sound good. There shouldn’t be any reason for Twilight to need taken care of.

I arrived at her door at a little after ten, and knocked. It was Fluttershy who answered it. She immediately pulled me into the Fluttershy-equivalent of a bear hug. "Dusk! Thank goodness you're alright!"

"Uh, I thought everypony hated me."

"Well most of them do, but they don't know that you saved everypony at the party, or that you risked your own life to save Twilight."

"Oh yeah, how is she?"

"Um... The doctors say that she's fine, but... She won't wake up."

"Wait, how long has it been?"

"Oh, um, about a week."

"Yeah, that's not normal. Can I see her?"

"Oh, yes. Come in."

She led me up to the bedroom, where Twilight was laying on the bed, perfectly fine, but fast asleep. I examined her, but found nothing wrong. "Fluttershy?"

"Yes?"

"Can I... stay here?"

"Aren't you staying here already?"

"Well yeah, but... I mean like, right here."

"Oh! Um, of course. I'm sure Twilight will enjoy your company." She gave me a knowing look.

I felt my face start to heat up. "Uh... Yeah... Right." She smiled again, then left to go do something downstairs.

Weeks past, and still nothing. I was highly considering getting Spike to send a letter to Luna, but Celestia would probably intercept it. Fluttershy and Spike brought food up for us, so I rarely left the room. Every time somepony came by to visit Twilight, they would either completely ignore me, or give me a dirty look. I felt very loved.

Oct, 1004th Year of Celestia's Reign.

By the middle of October, I had nearly given up hope. The doctors had officially declared Twilight to be in a coma. Of course, the stupid doctors had no idea how to handle something magic-related. Fluttershy had accepted that there was nothing she could do, so she returned to her cottage, leaving me to take care of Twilight. That was what I should have been doing from the start. It was my fault she was hurt in the first place.

Twilight's ear twitched. I almost fell out of my seat in the corner when I saw the slight movement.

I ran over to her and said, "Twilight? Twilight, you need to wake up. Please. Please wake up."

She yawned and squinted at me. "Why are you-?"

"TWILIIIIGHT!"

She yelped as I gave her my equivalent of a bear hug. “Dusk... Air...”

“Oh, right. Sorry.”

“Uh... What happened to warrant that greeting?” She sounded almost like she didn’t really want to know.

“You... Were unconscious for a while.”

“I know it was more than that. You were crying.”

“No I wasn’t!” I quickly faced away and wiped at my eyes with one hoof.

“What. Happened?”

“You were unconscious for... over a month.”

“There’s something more. What aren’t you telling me?”

I found myself unable to meet her eyes. “Nothing.”

“Dusk.”

“Nothing.”

“What did you do?”

‘Damn that mare is smart.’ “I didn’t do anything.”

“I’m sure somepony else could tell me, since you won’t.”

“You died, okay!?”

“What?”

“Celestia killed you, so I took all of my magic, and most of my lifeforce, and put it into you. I also absorbed all of your wounds into myself.”

“Wounds... that were enough to kill me?”

“One broken leg, and third-degree burns on seventy percent of your body.”

“You idiot! What were you thinking!? You could have died along with me!”

“Eh. I was only out for a week.”

I may have done something highly abnormal, because Twilight looked very confused by that. “How? It should have taken much longer for your body’s magic to regenerate that, and you said you gave all of it to me.”

“Oh.”

“If you have that much, it’s no wonder I was in a coma. My body had to adjust to that amount of power.”

‘Uh-oh...’ “Physically adjust?”

“Yes.”

‘Oh well. Most people thought it was going to happen to her eventually anyway.’ “Well at least you’re fine now.”

“What happened to the Princess?”

‘Uh-oh again.’ “She, uh, left.”

“Before or after you fought her.”

“Govno...” *sigh* “After.”

“Did Luna help her?”

“...Yes.”

“You beat them both?”

I cringed. “Well not really. I mean, Celestia attacked while Luna concentrated on defence.”

“How could you possibly have defeated two Princesses!?”

“Superior tactics and... I was defending you.”

“Me? Why would- You were sitting in that chair the entire time I was out.”

“Uh-huh.”

“A whole month?”

“I’ll just... go downstairs and make you some breakfast.”

“No. Come here.” I sat down on the bed beside her, and she gave me a definitely-not-at-all-awkward hug. She then got up and went to make breakfast herself. I sat there for a while, then I remembered that Twilight couldn’t cook. I ran downstairs to ensure that nothing burnt down.

Spike had already made breakfast. I gave him a puzzled look, and his only response was, “I heard you two yelling, so I figured you’d be down soon.” Then I got it. The little bastard didn’t want to seem like less of a stallion than me by bawling his eyes out in front of Twilight. Since when has showing affection been a bad thing?

I pretended not to notice his ploy and sat down at the table. Twilight glanced at Spike, then looked at me and rolled her eyes. Apparently she had reached the same conclusion I had. Spike brought us our food, glorious waffles, then sat down and started to take a swig of orange juice. Twilight turned to face me. “So, what did you do to amuse yourself the entire time you were watching me sleep?”

Spike snorted into his cup. I took both my front hooves, and smashed them into my face. “That’s not fair...”

“What are you talking about?”

Spike completely burst out laughing at her naïvety when he realized the she really didn't understand the way she had made it sound. I slowly shook my head. “Nevermind... I spent my time inventing spells.”

“You invented spells?”

“Well, I expect that they’re all in a book somewhere, but all that magical theory stuff just gave me a headache so I figured them out on my own.”

“What!? That’s dangerous! I thought you were more responsible than that!”

I mumbled, “You weren’t complaining when I used my spells to save your flank...”

“Oh! I- I didn’t mean to seem ungrateful! I just- I- Thanks.”

“Are you sure you’re okay? You’re usually not... flustered... this easily.”

“Nope! Perfectly fine! So what are some of the spells you’ve mastered?”

‘Fine. Just change the subject.’ Well there’s the ones I used to save you, then there’s a few combat spells for in case something like that happens again. I’ve also got all the basic utility spells down, as well as a powerful invisibility spell.”

“What do you need that for?”

“Nothing in particular. Invisibility just seems kinda useful.” Her suspicious gaze caused me to shift slightly. It just so happened to be that same way that a pegasus would shift if their wings were uncomfortable. I think she noticed, but she didn’t say anything about it.

“So... Just out of curiosity, what are your favorite combat spells?”

“Well, blackfire, obviously.” I answered, summoning a small flame in one hoof. “But I also really like bladecasting.” The flame shifted into the burning form of Terminus.

Spike yelped and fell out of his chair. “Don’t most households have a rule about ‘no weapons at the table’?”

“Right. Sorry Spike.” I allowed the sword to turn into a flame once more before extinguishing it.

Twilight seemed outright fascinated. “I’ve never seen a design like that before.”

“It’s a nineteenth century Cossack shashka from back home.”

“I see... And you made it out of solid magic?”

‘Oh Goddess, tell me I didn’t do something weird again...’ “Yeah. Is that strange?”

“No, no. Not at all. I just don’t understand why a unicorn would want to have a sword made of magic when they can just use regular magic.”

‘Whew...’ “Ah dunno. Cause it looks cool?”

“Ah. ‘Because it looks cool.’ Of course. Why didn’t I think of that?”

“I’m not gonna answer that!”

“Right. Anyways, did I miss anything over the last month?”

“Not really. Well, most of the town and all of your friends except for Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash hate me because they think Celestia had a good reason to attack me, and they all blame me for getting you hurt. Though, that kind of was my fault.”

“Don’t be silly. I pushed you out of the way. You were trying to save me.”

“But I failed!”

“I don’t care.”

“I have no way to respond to that. You win. I am awesome.”

“Well the rest of the town sure doesn’t think so. How about after breakfast we go for a walk and see about getting you back on everypony’s good side.”

“Meh. Fine with me.”

So that’s exactly what we did. Well, first I inhaled my waffles. Then I had to wait for Twilight to finish. Then I had to wait while Twilight wrote a letter to Celestia detailing how she died and then got stuck in a coma for a month. Then we could finally leave. I raised an eyebrow at Twilight’s last action. “Is antagonizing her really wise?”

I really didn’t like the look she gave me then. “I trusted her. I looked up to her. I loved her, And she BUCKING KILLED ME! I DON’T CARE IF IT’S WISE OR NOT!”

“Yeesh... Easy on the Royal Caps-lock there...” I noticed that Twilight was on the verge of tears, and in no mood for my jokes. I put a hoof on her shoulder and forced her to look at me. “Hey Twi, I know she still cares. Luna kept acting like something was wrong, so I think there’s something else going on with Celestia other than what we saw. Like, I think there’s something wrong with her.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” As we continued out the door, I asked, “Say, when’s Nightmare Night?”

“A little over a week, I think.”

“Well I’ll have a talk with Luna then. Celestia would never hurt you.” ‘I hope...’

“Thanks.”

“No problem. Now let’s go socialize!” I ran out the door. I came back in a few seconds later. “Where are we going again?”

“I was thinking that we should see Pinkie first, since she’ll be the likeliest to be friendly. And we’ll definitely be going to see Applejack last.”

“Heheh... Yeah. That’s probably a good idea.”

True to plan, we set off for Sugarcube Corner. A few ponies along the way stopped to talk to Twilight when they saw that she was awake. Most of them gave me dirty looks, but Twilight fixed that by explaining how she was killed by an ‘accidental’ fireball to the face, and I saved her. Those ponies were easy. Pinkie Pie on the other hoof, was a different matter entirely. We should’ve gone to her last...

I walked into sugarcube corner, and immediately got hit in the face with a pie. From behind it, I heard Pinkie yell, "Meanie-pants!"

I swatted the pie off my face, then turned around and walked back out the door. "Let's come back later."

Twilight seemed to be having trouble suppressing her laughter. "Ohhh no you don't. Get your flank back in there."

*sigh* "Only for you, Twilight. Only for you." I proceeded back into hel- I mean, Sugarcube Corner. This time, I managed to snipe the incoming pie out of the air with a bolt of blackfire. Pinkie completely forgot about me, and began licking the frozen treat, whilst mumbling something about 'piecicles.'.

"Mm! That's really good."

"That's nice. Now, there's something I need to tell you."

"Okey-dokey!" She continued licking her... piecicle. I recounted my tale once again. Pinkie had stopped smiling by the end. "Twilight d- died?"

"Yeah. Heh. Remember when death was permanent?"

"Nope!"

"Course not. Well, I've gotta go see Rarity and Applejack still, so I'll be off."

"What about Fluttershy and Dashie?"

"Oh, we've been friends since the start."

"I've been being mean to my old friend's new friend? Oh no! I'm just like-"

"Pinkie, you are nothing like Gilda."

"How'd you know I was going to say that?"

"Magic." I left it at that, and went to go meet Twilight outside.

She noticed how I was grinning when I walked out. "I take it things went well?"

"Yep. Hey, why didn't you come in and say hi to Pinkie?"

"We're going to need lunch after we talk to Rarity, so I figured we could just go there."

"Why does everypony seem to think that cupcakes for lunch is normal?"

"Are you complaining?"

"Nope."

The sun was high in the sky by the time we reached Carousel Boutique. For some reason, that made me feel unsafe. I determined that there was no possible way that could be a sign of what was about to happen. Afterwards, I determined that I was an idiot.

I walked through the door of Carousel Boutique. "CHERTOV AD! SHE HAS NEEDLES! O, BOGINYA! TWILIGHT, HELP!"

The first thing Twilight saw when she stepped through the entrance was Rarity, standing over me, levitating a dozen or so sewing needles around her. Twilight facehoofed. "You can take two Princesses, but at the sight of a dressmaker with sewing tools, you scream like a little filly."

"Hey! I have severe trypanophobia."

"Oh! I'm sorry. If I'd known that, I wouldn't have sent you in by yourself."

"Wait. You knew she'd have needles!? What if she went for my eyes!? What if she went for... *gulp* other places?" I found myself pressing my hind legs together tightly.

"She'd never do that! Right Rarity?"

"Twilight! Good to see you up and about! Actually, I was, uh, going to go for his second idea..."

I realized that Rarity was still standing over me with sharp objects. "Could you maybe put those away and let me up.”

“Very well.” She stepped to the side and all of the needles floated over to a table and organized themselves by size. “Now, if you’ll excuse my language, GET THE BUCK OUT OF MY BOTIQUE!”

Twilight grabbed my tail with her magic as I attempted to do just that. “Rarity! Would you mind being just a little nicer to my terrified filly savior?”

“Savior? He attacked the Princess and then tried to kill you!”

“Where do ponies keep hearing these things? The Princess killed me with fire, and Dusk gave me most of his lifeforce to bring me back to life.”

“Oh. My. How can you say that so calmly! This is the worst. Possible. Thing.”

I kindly removed the couch from under her just as she was about to land on it. Twilight caught her with magic and shot me a disapproving glare. She placed Rarity upright before answering, “The story starts to get old after your thirty-seventh time reciting it.”

“Oh. I see.” She walked over to me. I prepared myself to have to run again. She gave me a hug. “Mister Star, I believe I have been extremely unfair to you. Thank you for saving Twilight.”

“I’d always put her safety before my own. And by the way, If you really must be all fancy about my name, call me Stella. ‘Mister Star’ just sounds stupid.”

She finally released me. “Very well. I’ll let you be on your way now. Your suit should be ready in about a week.” She then proceeded to herd Twilight and myself out the door.

I stood there, confused and perhaps just a little worried.  “Suit?”

Twilight giggled. “She fitted you while she was giving you that hug.”

“I knew there was a reason it was so uncomfortably long!”

We headed back to Sugarcube Corner, where I nibbled unenthusiastically at an overly sweet cupcake while Pinkie told Twilight about all the fun things she did over the last month. After that was done, came the thing I was most worried about. Applejack.

“Do we have to go see her? I mean, why don’t we leave her, and then she’ll start acting nice when she realizes that she’s the only one of her friends who isn’t.”

“You’ll be fine.”

“Fine!? Have you seen what she can do to a tree? Imagine what that would to to, say, my internal organs!?”

“I’ll wait here for you. Go make nice.”

“More like ‘go make hoofprints appear on my face’...” I continued over the hill in front of us, and immediately spotted the orange mare bucking trees. ‘If this doesn’t go over well, I’m totally making jokes about her bucking a tree.’ “Hey, AJ!” She turned around, spotted me walking towards her. She started running at me. ‘That looks a bit hostile... perhaps I should just...’ I turned around and started running the other way.

From behind me, I heard Applejack, catching up much too fast, yell, “Get back here! Ah wanna have the pleasure of beatin’ yer flank off mah land mahself!”

“No thank you!” I glanced behind me. She was right there. “I NEED HEEELP!”

Twilight walked over the crest of the hill, shaking her head at how I managed to make things go wrong so fast. “Dusk, why-” *CRACK* “Oh Celestia!”

Applejack had tackled me to the ground, and was in the process of attempting to smash the shield I had placed over my head. It was working. Meanwhile, I laid there mumbling, “Pomoshchʹ... Pomoshchʹ... Pomoshchʹ... Pomoshchʹ... Pomoshchʹ...”

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?”

Applejack had just enough time to look up before she was hit with a wave of telekinetic force. I immediately surrounded myself with blackfire to ensure that she couldn’t get close to me again. “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PONIES!?”  I jumped to my hooves and looked at Twilight. “WHAT KIND OF PLAN IS ‘GO HAVE A PLEASANT CONVERSATION WITH THE PONIES WHO WANT TO KILL YOU’!? THAT’S THE STUPIDEST THING I HAVE AFTER TRIED IN MY LIFE! IF YOU HAD ARRIVED A FRACTION OF A SECOND LATER, YOU’D HAVE BEEN LOOKING AROUND FOR PIECES OF MY SKULL!” I looked at Applejack. “AND YOU! YOU ALMOST BUCKING KILLED ME! WHAT  THE BUCKING HAY IS WRONG IN YOUR HEAD!?” I proceeded to do something to the nearest apple tree that would likely cause Discord to cry if he attempted to comprehend it. “THAT’S FOR TRYING TO MURDER ME! NOW IF YOU WILL ALL EXCUSE ME, I AM GETTING THE BUCK OUTTA HERE!”

I then walked away, breathing heavily, but allowing the blackfire to dissipate. Twilight caught up to me after a few seconds, and stopped me with a hoof on my shoulder. “Dusk...? You were right. That was stupid, and it was my fault... Can you forgive me?”

I smiled. "I didn't mean what I said. I was just angry. You're already forgiven."

She smiled back. "Thanks."

"I'll miss you, you know."

"What!? Where are you going!?"

"Twilight, a pony just tried to murder me. My life is in constant danger, and there's nopony in this town who wants me here."

Twilight looked at the ground. “I want you here. Doesn’t that count?”

‘HNNNNG’ “I suppose it does. Very well. I’ll stay. Only for you, Twilight.”

“Good. Now, we’re fairly close to Whitetail Woods all the way out here. Why don’t we go for a walk. A real walk. No destination, no ponies to talk to. Just a nice afternoon walk in the trees.”

“I think I’d enjoy that.”

We proceeded west, into the bright autumn leaves of the Whitetail Woods. Neither of us spoke along the way. We just walked. Away from all our problems. Away from the ponies who would judge us.

We walked until we found a hill that was tall enough to overlook the entire forest, where we sat and looked out at the half-spectrum of colors. I didn’t expect Twilight to rest her head on my shoulder as we sat there, but who in their right mind would complain about that? Of course, I had to go ahead and buck everything up by instinctively wrapping my wing around her. I immediately pulled it back, but it was too late.

“Buck.”

“Dusk?”

“Uh-huh?”

“You have wings.”

“I know.”

“I’m trying to stay calm here. When did this happen?”

“Two weeks ago. I woke up one night with a horrible pain in my back. I looked in the mirror and noticed that the wings had started to sprout. I knew that I couldn’t let anypony see, so I teleported myself into the Everfree. Took about a day for the wings to grow in completely. And it hurt.”

“So that’s when you made the invisibility spell?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright.” She slowly exhaled, trying not to hyperventilate. “How is this possible?”

“Well, best I can figure is, I got too powerful. I had too much magic for my body to contain, so it made a new body.”

Twilight looked completely crushed. “I was thinking of asking you something, but now... You’re going to live forever, and I’m not, so... I don’t think there’s really a point anymore.”

‘Is she talking about... Us? Together!? RECTIFY SITUATION NOW!’  “There’s something else you should know.”

She was struggling to hold back tears. “What?”

“You remember when I said asked if your body would have physically adjusted to the magic I gave you?”

“Yeah...”

“Enough magic to catalyze ascension?”

“Wait... I’m-?”

“Yes. And soon.”

“But... What about my friends?” She started crying.

‘Maybe I shouldn’t have told her...’

“I’m going to be forced to watch everypony I care about slowly wither away, and I can’t do anything to stop it! I’m going to be completely alone again!”

“No you won’t. I’ll be there for you when that time comes to pass. When everypony you know is gone, I. Will. Still. Be there.”

*sniff* “Dusk?”

“Yeah?”

“Never leave.”

“I won’t.”

Is it bad that that was the moment at which I remembered that I had neglected to joke about Applejack bucking trees?