Last Request
The ancient lavender mare gently closed the old book, looking up to the foals seated on the floor in front of her in a semicircle, “And that's how the Elements of Harmony rescued Canterlot, saving Equestria from the changelings and the Element of Magic's brother from the queen's spell.” The lavender mare finished, slowly standing up with the aid of a young red foal, and walked over to a large bookshelf built into the wall. Surrounding the book in a purple haze, she put it into its place near the top of the bookshelf. “Thank you Honeycrisp, always so considerate of the old.” She patted his head as she spoke.
“You’re welcome Grandma Twilight.” He smiled up to her before helping her back to her chair. A knocking sound came from the door as she settled down again; a small off-white unicorn filly quickly trotted over to the door and opened it. “Well hello little one, is Twilight Sparkle in?” the visitor asked, smiling at the young filly.
“Yes Ma'am,” the filly turned and called into the library “Grandma Twilight, Princess Celestia is here to see you.”
Twilight smiled gently, “Then let her in,” she said before raising her voice to speak to everyone else, “The rest of you are excused. I would like some time with the Princess if you don't mind. Oh and Crystal, can you run and get that package I left with your mother at the Carousel Boutique, it should be done by now.”
“Sure Grandma Twilight, I’ll be right back with it.”
Crystal started to leave when Twilight called out, “Actually dear I will be on the street, me and the Princess are going to take a stroll.” Crystal smiled and shook her head as she took off with the rest of the foals. “They are such dears, she reminds me of her grandma, Sweetie Belle. She has the same gorgeous voice and the same smile.” Twilight said to herself nostalgically as she rose and walked over to Celestia.
“Shall we my faithful student? I know this day is important to you.” Celestia asked, gently putting a wing over Twilight to help her walk as they left the library, closing the door behind them with her magic.
Twilight turned back to it and sighed, “It's grown so much bigger. I remember when it had one central room, an upstairs and a basement. Now the tree has several rooms, not including the two new stories. Though the basement has been filled in and the name has changed, it’s still the library I remember.” Twilight turned to the library's name sign, tracing the letters of her old assistants name as she reminisced. “These books always where your hoard wheren't they, my number one assistant.” She whispered before turning and beginning her walk through Ponyville, nodding to each pony she passed and being greeted warmly in return.
Not halfway down the street, Crystal came to a sliding halt in front of her with Honeycrisp and Honeysuckle, a yellow pegasus with a pink mane and tail. “Here you are Grandma Twilight, one pouch enchanted to never be misplaced or lost and to have its contents returned to it if ever lost or stolen.” Crystal announced proudly, handing over a lavender pouch with a six pointed star embroidered in light pink on it, a deep purple chain holding it closed and with enough chain spare to be worn around a large pony's neck.
Twilight smiled, “Thank you very much Crystal, try not to get into too much trouble today, okay? I know finding your cutie marks is important to you but you can't be causing trouble to everypony while trying to find them.” Crystal offered Twilight a cheeky salute before speeding off with her two friends. Twilight sighed as they ran off, “So much like her grandma… Honeysuckle is the spitting image of her grandmother and Honeycrisp his grandfather. I remember Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle running around calling themselves the cutie mark crusaders. They were such a handful. Crystal and her friends are just like them, always getting into trouble trying to find their special talents.” She said, smiling, though there was a touch of sadness in her eyes. “Can you please send this to your sister?” She pulled a letter out from a small bag she’d picked up at the library, wrapping the letter around the pouch, and holding it out for Celestia.
“Of course.” Celestia smiled gently at Twilight as the letter disappeared with a puff of magic, “Shall we head to the hill while we wait?” Celestia asked, to which Twilight smiled and began walking towards the hill. “Yes, lets, I hope your sister will join us soon.”
~~
Luna sat in her room, staring out the window sadly. She always had trouble getting thoughts of her wife out of her head on this day every year. It used to be so special to them both. Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a small burst of magic that brought a letter from her sister to her. As it fell to the bed in front of her, the letter fell away from a small bag, the writing upon the letter glowing blue as an illusion spell activated and Twilight Sparkle appeared in front of her.
“Luna, my love, before you throw this message away, I would like to say that I am sorry. I should have told you I had stopped using the spell and I shouldn't have snapped at you for your reaction. Enclosed in the parchment I sent is a pouch I had made for you. It holds my last gift for you. After you open it, I hope you can come and join me and your sister on the hill where my friends are buried.”
Luna gently took the pouch in her hoof and opened it to find Twilight's wedding band. She gently emptied the pouch into her hoof and the illusion began speaking again. “That wedding band, along with yours, was enchanted to record our memories and our life together. Both bands are a piece of one band that I split in two, just like you and I are two halves of one thing. If you place the band on your horn next to your half of the wedding band, then speak my name, the enchantment will activate.”
Luna gently placed the wedding band on her horn. As she spoke Twilight's name she felt a brief surge of magic and the illusion of Twilight Sparkle faded. The ring that now sat on her horn began to glow and a song began to drift through the room.
As the song began, Luna saw projected before her the first time she had met Twilight properly, at the festival of Nightmare Night. The memory faded and shifted to the first Hearth's Warming Eve she had spent with Twilight, when she’d found the unicorn lying alone on a hillside while she looked at the stars, she saw the kiss they had shared that night under her moon. It shifted then to their first date in Canterlot, then to their wedding. This memory played the longest and brought tears to Luna's eyes as she watched Celestia marry her sister and her student. The memory switched to their first days with their adoptive foal being introduced to the library they had moved into.
It played the memories of them raising the foal, from her first day of school to getting her cutie mark. It moved on to their daughter introducing her first boy friend, to the wedding a few years later. The memories progressed through the years of their life together and their lives as grandparents, letting Luna relive some of the greatest days of her life. Days she wouldn't trade for anything, days she had stopped thinking about in her depression. She stood up and took off out the window towards Ponyville.
~~
Twilight and Celestia crested the hill together and looked upon the six gravestones lined up facing the sunset. “Hello girls, how are you? It's been about a month since my last visit, looks like your graves have been tended to quite well.” Twilight said, smiling as she walked over to the first stone and placed a hoof on it. “How's the flying up there Rainbow? Hope you aren't causing too much trouble with your crashing.” She walked to the next one, “How're the animals up there Fluttershy? Is Big Mac with you helping you care for all the little critters or is he in an orchard with Applejack, helping feed heaven's residents with the best apples possible?” Twilight moved on to the next grave.
“Applejack, how’s the harvesting up there? Any easier than it was down here?” She asked the old stone, before shifting to the next one, running her hoof over it and whispering, “I wish I could make it up to you, my number one assistant, but some accidents just can't be reversed.” She patted the stone and moved to the penultimate grave, “I hope your dress designs are as famous up there as they are down here, I hope Spike is as good an assistant to you as he was to me.” She said, her voice cracking slightly before moving to the final stone, “How are the parties up there Pinkie? If you have any say in it I bet they’re a blast.” Twilight finished; her voice resonating sadness, longing and loneliness as she spoke to each gravestone.
Twilight walked around them to the tree where Celestia stood, sitting down under it and continuing her monologue, “I miss them Celestia, it's been a long time but I miss them so much still. I miss Luna too; we haven't spoken since the fight spell. I just couldn't keep doing it after I lost Spike. I probably should have told her I was going to stop doing it, but I knew she wouldn't take it well. She can be so foalish sometimes but she means well. I wish she had stuck around so I could explain. She reminds me of Applejack and Rainbow in her stubbornness. I wrote to her so many times but I doubt she read any of the letters. It's been so long since I have heard from her.”
“She was hurt by your refusal to use spell. She put all of your letters in a box and hid them away. I tried to get her to read them repeatedly, but she was just so hurt by your acceptance of death, she thought you were abandoning her.” Celestia tried to explain, wrapping Twilight in one of her wings, “I tried to talk her around many times, but she kept ignoring me. I think she knows you’re not abandoning her, but she takes death so much harder than I do. She has never been good at accepting it.”
Twilight looked up at the sunset, “I know and I feel so bad about it. But if there's one thing Rainbow Dash's crash taught me, it was that death comes to ponies and it's natural. Sure it hurts, but it can't be prevented. It took me awhile to let go of Rainbow Dash, but it was better for everypony that I did, there was no way to save her.” Twilight said, the sorrow in her voice clearly distinguishable, “If I had let go sooner she probably wouldn't have suffered as much as she did in the end. It's those kinds of lessons you learn through experience and not books.”
She smiled, “Something Applejack taught me after she got sick. She needed someone on the farm to help harvest and do their taxes. I read everything I could about apples and harvesting and caring for the trees, but it all paled in comparison to her knowledge. It was all this common sense stuff that books just couldn't teach me, learned only through experience.” Twilight shook her head, “It hurt to watch her wither away before our eyes. To think such a strong pony could lose out to a heart disease so rapidly. I often wonder if we might have been able to help more if we had caught it sooner. I learnt that same lesson so many times; it never really stuck until Applejack passed on. If I had only learnt it sooner.”
“Her brother was lucky not to be around for Applejack's decline. Though I wish Fluttershy had been. She was so kind and had such a great demeanour around the sick. It would have been very helpful for Applejack if she had been there.” Twilight looked up at the sky and sighed, “It kind of fits that Fluttershy died of a broken heart after Big Mac's accident, she was too kind for her own good sometimes. It's good that both of their kids were grown up and able to care for
themselves before she passed.”
“It's funny the only two of my friends to die of old age were Rarity and Pinkie Pie. Pinkie, with her parties, lasted the longest; maybe she was right and laughter was the greatest medicine.” Twilight said, chuckling a bit as she remembered Pinkie Pie and all her crazy parties. “Rarity probably didn't outlast Pinkie because of the stress; if she hadn't led such a stressful life I bet she could have been with us ten years longer. She was so tenacious, even if it didn't show all the time.”
A tear formed in Twilight's eye, “She never did forgive me for Spike. It was an accident and she knew it, but she always blamed me for letting him die. She said I shouldn't have been experimenting with dimensional forces like that. She once compared it to poking ancient gods with a sharp stick to see how they would react.” Twilight continued, chuckling with Celestia for a moment before starting again. “She thought I could have saved him, I wonder if maybe Spike was as important to her as her work. She could never be with him but she could still love him. I think she did even if she denied it. She was the one who got the library renamed to the Spike Memorial Library; she even did a lot of the redecorating.”
A shadow fell across them both as Luna glided in and landed on the hill besides Twilight. “Sister can you give us a moment, privately?” Luna requested, to which Celestia nodded her head and went down to the bottom of the hill.
“Twilight, I’m sorry. I should never have tried to force you to stay alive longer than you wished. I know you weren't abandoning me, but it felt like you were. I have watched so many ponies close to me pass on while I could do nothing, and it hurts so much to watch. I hope you can forgive me for leaving you alone these last eight years.”
Twilight smiled at Luna, “I can forgive you for anything now that you are here, but I am the one who should be sorry. I should have discussed my plans with you before ending the spell. If I had known what it would mean to you and that I wouldn't see you for years, I would have talked to you first.” Twilight murmured, wrapping her hooves around Luna's neck.
Luna took a deep breath, “It was the right choose my dear, I know I have trouble with ponies passing on but it’s much harder to watch ponies spiral into depression as they lose their friends and family, unable to join them because of spells like that. I have thought long about your decision and I know it was right, it's just hard for me to admit.” She wrapped her hooves around Twilight and returned the embrace.
They ceased their hug and sat down together, watching Celestia lower the sun as Luna brought the moon up and the stars out. “Twilight,” Luna started, “the memories we have together are greater than any gift that has ever been given me. The ring enchanted to play them back is the second greatest. My immortality means my memories will fade over time but this gift will keep them fresh and as immortal as myself. You have given me the ability to relive the greatest times in my life forever and the thus greatest gifts imaginable. Thank you, for everything you are and were.” She gently nuzzled Twilight as she wrapped her in a wing.
Twilight smiled, her eyes heavy as she replied, “You’re welcome dear, our marriage and life together was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. Greater than any of the times I saved Equestria, than when I met my friends, or when I wrote the laws of harmony. All those pale in comparison to marrying you and adopting a foal together. I am so happy you could forgive me and you were able to join me today. I know it must be hard for you, but it means the world to me that you came.” Twilight finished, leaning into Luna as she sighed and closed her eyes for the last time.
“Goodbye my love, say hello to all your friends for me.” She tapped the ring on her horn and the song began to play without the memories showing. She stared up into the night sky as she placed the final star in her constellation tribute to the Elements of Harmony. It was the brightest star that sat at the center of six starred constellation, with a small green star next to it.
