Scratchpad

"Hello?"

"I'm here, Twilight."

"What is this place?  It's... strange."

"Yes.  It is.  That is its... its Nature.  Its Purpose."

"Where is Celestia?"

"She's dead, Twilight.  She's been dead a long time.  Only the Sun remains."

"She's-- Oh.  Right.  I remember that.

"Is Luna dead too?"

"Yes.  They died within mere years of each other."

"A year is a long time."

"Not when you've spent a thousand years waiting, hoping, praying for even the slimmest chance to be together again."

A pause.

"Why am I here?"

"There is a disaster coming.  It's always been coming, of course, and it's coming again.  Only you can deal with it.  And there are things you must know, things you need to avert it, things you can only learn here."

"Oh."

Another pause.  A longer one, this time.

"How did you know Celestia?"

"Much the same way you did, Twilight.  But oh-so-different."

"Oh.

"That... doesn't tell me anything."

"I remember so much, Twilight Sparkle.  So, so much.  From your first magic test, far, far back, all the way back to the first rays."

"But Celestia..."

"Celestia is dead.  But for a while... I still cherish those memories, Twilight Sparkle.  Those were the only two true friends I remember, of all the many, many years I can."