In a flash of light, she was gone. The five ponies Twilight had returned their original cutie marks to were gathered in a circle. There was nothing left to the poor unicorn but a large scorch mark on the wooden floor. Applejack was the first to react. She took a step forward and touched the mark, “Where’d she go?”
Rainbow Dash shook her head, “No no no, this can’t be happening.”
Pinkie Pie cocked her head to one side, “Maybe... Maybe she just teleported? You know, like SHAZAM!” Even with her happy go lucky words, everyone could feel the melancholy in her voice.
The farmer’s eyebrows furrowed, “Teleporting doesn’t leave a mark like that, Pinkie. At least from what I’ve seen.”
Rarity swished her tail to one side, her face as distraught as everyone elses. She brought her hoof to her chest and slowly moved it away with an exhale. “There’s got to be some explanation to all this. There’s no way Twilight would have taken the risk... if she knew...”
Fluttershy’s bottom lip was wobbling under her teeth, and her eyes were already full of tears. Her voice shook like a rockslide, “She w-would have. For us.” her voice squeaked.
Spike had run upstairs and back down, “I looked out all the windows. Didn’t see her.” He rushed to the front door and flung it open. His eyes searched every square inch outside, but Twilight wasn’t anywhere he could see. He ran out the front door as fast as his little legs could carry him.
Rarity shook her pure white head, “Even with my limited understanding of magic, she wouldn’t have had the energy to perform a teleportation spell while under the effects of the magic she intentionally procured.”
Applejack spoke with enough morose to deafen the room with silence, “So the only explanation is...” She took off her hat and put it to her chest.
Fluttershy took off out the door, tears flying off her in a cascade of sorrow. Rainbow Dash took off after her, her usual rainbow trail being left behind for a few seconds. Rarity held her head up high, but her quivering mouth and tearing eyes betrayed her. “At this time... We need to keep our heads. Overreacting will do... Do nothing!” said the drama queen of Ponyville.
Applejack walked next to Rarity and put her hoof on the fashionista’s shoulder. “It’s okay to cry.”
The unicorn shook her head and put her hoof upwards in front of her, “No! There must be a way, there must be some spell to bring her back. There’s no way she would just leave us like this!” Small dots appeared on the floor as she spoke. “She doesn’t make mistakes, she plans everything out. She knows so much more than us!”
“Which might be why she didn’t want to tell us.” the country pony’s voice was calm, peaceful even. “She might have known that if she had told us it would... take her to make us go back to normal, we wouldn’t have let her.”
“Thats selfish cretin!” Rarity slumped to the floor, her hoof banging against the wooden boards. She repeated the word “selfish” until Pinkie Pie nuzzled her cheek. Rarity’s sobs penetrated the silence around the three ponies. Pinkie picked her unicorn friend off the ground and wiped her tears away with her hoof. Her own eyes were releasing droplets, but she smiled nonetheless.
Applejack let a sigh escape, then hugged both her friends tightly. “It’s going to be okay. It always is, right?”
A sobbing laugh came from Pinkie, “You guys are so silly. It always ends with a laugh, doesn’t it?”
Spike came running into the library with a scroll in his claws. He had a smile as wide as Applejack’s barn door as he stopped in front of his three friends. “Letter!” He stopped to catch his breath. He was panting hard as though he’d run across all of Equestria. “Celestia... She told us... It’s...”
Applejack released the embrace and turned to Spike, “Catch your breath, buddy. What is it?”
He leaned on his knees for a moment, then stood as tall as a baby dragon could. Princess Celestia sent me a letter. She knows what happened!”
Rarity interrupted him after a sob, “Well, what did she say about it?”
“She said not to worry! Twilight’s fine.”
“Let me see that.” a twinge of hope was stuck in Rarity’s voice. She took the letter from him and searched the corner. “There’s a direct time to this letter.” She looked at her friends with large eyes, “It’s stamped for ten minutes ago.”
“But...” Applejack cocked her head to one side, “It only happened about five minutes ago.”
Rarity furrowed her eyebrows and spoke accusingly. “She knew.” A large sigh of relief could be heard in the room by everypony but Rarity. She stomped her hoof on the ground, “What makes her think she can cause all this worry for us, then send us a letter practically telling us she knew what would happen to our dear friend beforehand?”
Applejack chuckled, “Don’t worry, I’m sure she had good intentions. We just have to trust the Princess.”
Pinkie was already bouncing around the room, laughing the whole while. Applejack trotted to the door with a laugh, “C’mon girls, we have to find Fluttershy and Rainbow. Tell ‘em the good news!”
Rarity smiled, a tear protruding from her eye, “I suppose... Yes. It always does end in a laugh.”
***
Luna’s moon was bright in the sky that night. Bright enough to illuminate the two pegasi in the grass. Fluttershy’s ears pointed down, and her lips followed suit. Her sobs could barely be heard by Rainbow Dash, who was sitting a mere three feet away. She situated herself for a moment, getting comfortable in the green beneath her. “Look... I’m not good at this whole comforting thing...”
Fluttershy raised her head and looked at her friend. Her eyes were as wide as a vibrant moon above them. Not a word left her mouth, she just kept on staring with those eyes that would penetrate even the most hard hearted of creatures. Rainbow gave an awkward grunt of frustration that sounded like a dog wanting food. “We don’t really know she’s gone, Fluttershy. We can’t be certain!” She stood for a moment, then hovered in the air, touching her friend’s shoulder with her hoof. “The others have probably already figured out something by now, we can’t always assume the worst!”
Still no words from the yellow pony, just eyes.
“Fluttershy!” She snapped at her friend, “This isn’t the time to mope, we need to find her! We need to find some way to bring her back! This can’t be the end.” The reality of the situation dawned on her. Her mouth started to pout. “This can’t be...” Her forelegs lowered, and her eyes drooped in solemnity. She landed abruptly. A small breeze flew through her multi-colored mane as she stared into oblivion. “She’s... Really gone, isn’t she?”
Fluttershy stood. “Yes.” came the quiet, choked reply.
Rainbow could feel her eyes welling up. Her friend leaned against her and spoke in a manner only a mother would to comfort her child. “It’l be alright, Rainbow.” And with that, tears rushed down the racer’s face and fell on the damp grass. She sobbed and leaned back against Fluttershy. The moonlight shafted through the two of them, a single strip landing on the grass between them. Silence was held, and a few minutes passed by with the two of them sitting quietly in the breeze.
As though on queue, a voice called to them from afar. “Fluttershy! RD! Where are ya?”
Rainbow acted first, flying high into the sky. She spotted the three ponies not far away with a unicorn providing light. She rushed down and met with them. Fluttershy followed slowly. Rarity hugged her yellow friend with a wide smile. “We come with glorious news!”
Rainbow Dash interrupted her, “What? Is it Twilight? Is she alright?”
“Well,” Applejack poked at the ground with her hoof. “Celestia sent us a letter saying so.” She held up the piece of rolled parchment. Rainbow took it and read aloud.
“Dear Elements of Harmony,
I know you’re worried. I know you’re probably wondering where Twilight is, or if she even exists anymore. Fear not, my little ponies. She is with me. I hope there wasn’t too much panic caused, and I fear that this letter will not arrive in time as the magic ways are slow at the moment due to some preparations. Please, trust in me. She will return to you.”
“Well then.” Rainbow’s eyebrows furrowed as she looked at the corner of the page, “What’s this? A time?”
Rarity rolled her eyes, “We figure it’s because she wanted us to know she knew about what would happen. Not exactly sure why, but still useful.”
Applejack’s mouth widened warmly as Fluttershy could be heard sobbing with her face in the grass. Rarity nudged her side, “Dear, it’s fine. Twilight’s alright!”
Fluttershy lifted her head, her teeth shining in the artificial light. She gave a mix of a sob and laugh as she hugged the pure white seamstress. The rest of the ponies just laughed along with her. Pinkie bounced around the group, then gathered them all in a large group hug. “Hug time! Just like party time only better! Because hugs are awesome and fantastical!”
The whole group hugged their pink friend back tightly. Rarity cocked her head to one side, “I suppose we shouldn’t jump to conclusions so quickly.”
Applejack shook her noggin, “This was justified. There was no way we could have known Twi was okay without the princess tellin’ us.”
The group of friends returned to the heart of Ponyville, and not a word was spoken by any of them but Pinkie Pie, who had already gotten on the subject of meat pies being better than horseshoes in terms of usefulness. Just as she was changing subjects again, a shaft of light illuminated them. A star in the sky, Twilight’s Cutie Mark was growing. The five Elements looked up and smiled.
In a flash of light, she was there.
Author's Note
Truthfully, I loved the season 3 finale. It was perfectly executed for the time the writers had. The music was fantastic, and mashed in a ton of information into song so we could remember it. The idea of Twilight progressing as a character was done so beautifully it almost brought me to tears in my friend's living room in front of twenty other people. I love this show, I love its fans, and I love writing.
I got to thinking a while back, "What did the mane 6 think when Twilight "blew up" in a big scorch mark of doom?" I thought about it for a good long while, then started writing what I thought how Twilight's friends would react to her death. It was hard, really hard. I think this was the hardest thing I've ever written. I've never put so much emotion into my fanfiction before now (mostly because I never write enough to get to the feels parts. -.- ), but I thought about my sadness if the character of Twilight disappeared from the show, or "died" in other words. Along with the frustration coming up with ideas can bring, I also found myself being sad while writing. It was extremely tough thinking about my favorite character of the show dying off like that.
Then I remembered she didn't die, and I was happy. ^-^
