Chapter 1- Loss of a Midwinter Twilight
As Rarity walked around her boutique, she had a sense that someone was watching her. That's normal now, I suppose, she thought. For weeks now, she had been on edge-just last week she had shouted when Fluttershy knocked on the door for one of her weekly tea visits. The timid little pony high tailed it out of there, leaving Rarity feeling guilty and lonely. I will not let this get the best of me, she promised herself as she started sketching some designs for her upcoming spring line.
About an hour later, Rarity decided she needed a walk, and left the boutique. The feeling, as always, followed her all the way to Twilight's house.
"Good afternoon, Twilight! I wanted to return these books I borrowed!" Rarity called as she entered the library. She didn't see Twilight, but assumed that she was in another room and dropped the books on a table. "Twilight? Where are you, darling?" No response came, although she did hear a faint sobbing sound, lower than the purple unicorn's voice, but not too low. Trotting into the next room, she found the source of the sobbing.
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"Oh dear, what have we here? A sobbing dragon, mare, and owl? I didn't know owls could cry. Interesting…"
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"T-Twilight!" Rarity ran to the librarian on the ground, with blood dribbling out of her mouth, staining her coat and the floor a deep maroon. "Spike, what happened?!" The dragon held his knees to his chest as he sobbed an indecipherable explanation. Rarity lifted his head up. "Now Spike, you need to calm down and explain it more clearly. I need to understand how she got this way,"
Spike sniffled, took a deep breath, then muttered, "She said she was trying out a new spell. It was supposed to remove her acne, but something went wrong and the last thing she said was 'n-no h-heart, need to f-fix…' and t-t-then, s-she was d-d-d-dead!" his sobbing commenced once more as the white unicorn in front of him gasped. It can't be! she thought. This is all a dream, that's it! Just need to wake up, is all!
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"Looks as if the unicorn is having some trouble coping with the loss. Perhaps the time has finally come-what do you think, master?"
"Not yet, loyal servant. We must wait for our chance, we only get one, after all."
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No matter what she tried, Rarity could not find a way to prove this to be fake. She sat down, cleared her head, and took in the cold hard truth- her friend was gone, and there was nothing she could do about it. She had been taken to the hospital and officially announced as deceased. The rest of the gang were devastated, and the more Rarity had to explain what happened in place of Spike, who had been taken in for shock, the more she felt the sense of being watched.
"Rarity? Can ah come in?" The unicorn lifted her head, and half-heartedly allowed her friend into her temporary bedroom, where the garbage cans were overflowing with tissues.
The orange mare sat in a nearby armchair and sighed, "Ah just can't believe she's gone. And fer you t' be the one to find poor Spike. Yer the one who's the closest t' him after all," at the mention of Spike, Rarity cringed. The sight of him sobbing over Twilight, who had treated him as a son for so many years, had been haunting her dreams recently. She looked over at Applejack, and shed a tear. The poor mare had been wearing a black bandana ever since the tragedy, as well as the rest of the Apple family, Winona included. The shadow of death had always been over them, and as it enveloped the entire town they were hit the hardest, added grief weighing them down as memories of their past haunted them with every memorial they passed.
The rest of the group were stricken with grief at the discovery of Twilight's death as well. Pinkie had a straight mane, and wasn't eating. She had to be hospitalized as well after a few days, tubes pumping food into her body after she collapsed in the middle of the castle courtyard. Rainbow had locked herself in her room, only seen at meals, with a permanent look of defeat in her eyes. Rarity knew that she felt responsible, that she could've prevented this somehow. Fluttershy was constantly visiting Rarity, talking about how she misses Twilight and of her fondest memories, only to get carried away in tears. At these times, Rarity would hug her, and eventually guide her to her newly-appointed therapist.
Their lives were falling apart in front of them, crumbling away like a sandcastle after it's been hit by a wave.
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"My, my, my, this is a change in direction. I wonder where it will lead the unstoppable 6-well, 5- that have defeated so much? Perhaps their reign of power has ended, gone away with the wind. I guess I'll have to wait and see,"
