There was a loud rap on the door.
The princess was instantly stirred from her sleep, if you could call it that. She had not slept in days, worrying over her top student and closest friend.
The thing about being a princess… is the immortality. She didn’t like making friends, and usually avoided doing so for this very reason. As the world moves past, she sat still.
Celestia was at the door in a second; She actually teleported to the other side, startling Luna who now looked at her in a sorrowful and pitying way. Without a word Celestia teleports away, leaving Luna alone outside the camber door. Luna turns her face to the floor, tears dropping onto the cold stone beneath her.
_-_-_
Celestia appears outside the door to a chamber that she had become very familiar with in the past few days. Nothing outside denoted it’s importance; no guards were stationed there, no sign of its contents, and very dim lighting in the hallway.
Celestia gently raised a hoof, knocked on the door once, then pressed it against the door as it swung open, revealing a chamber that was lit slightly better. In this chamber, floor to ceiling there were bookshelves, most filled with books, and one filled with scrolls. Scrolls it had taken a lifetime to craft. To the side, there was a stair case, leading up to a platform.
Celestia quietly walked over to the stair case and walked up, careful not to make too much noise. As she reached the top, the platform was strangely empty. It was devoid of the books that had always been piled around the desk and bed that currently sat there.
Spike, whose body was now as big as the bed, rested his head on the edge of it. He turned and looked to Celestia, and with tears in his eyes, he stood and made his way down the stairs to the larger chamber below.
Celestia, after waiting for the dragon to move, took his place by the bed, and looked down onto it.
Lying on the bed was a violet pony. She was obviously very old and it almost seemed as if death had taken her already. But, she wasn’t dead…she was slowly breathing in and out. And she opened her eyes to her teacher.
Celestia had tears streaming down her face, as the violet pony looked up to her teacher and a smile spread across her face.
“I have lived a long and fruitful life. I have learned many things and I have you to thank for all of them. Books give information, however if you truly want to learn something valuable, it is from experience, and you forcing me to make friends gave me the experiences that I learned from. Not all the answers are in books, and I have found that to ring true with the studies I had done within the last years.
“My friends have passed before me. Seeing them go one at a time was painful, but it teaches you to appreciate the friends you have. All five went peacefully, while lying in bed, surrounded by friends… the same as me, surrounded by all my friends, while I hold on to the memories of the ones already gone.”
Twilight closes her eyes as she coughs, struggling to hold onto the strings that bind her to this world.
“I wish I could keep you here, with me forever… but that’s not in my power… I can’t do that, it would be unfair to you,” Clestia said sorrowfully, tears streaming down her face while her eyes were closed trying to hold them back.
“I would never ask it of you.”
Celestia opened her eyes, and Twilight was looking up to Celestia again and smiling. “I spent the last few years, while in this library, looking for my advice to give.” Twilight smiled to her teacher, “what can I teach my teacher that she doesn’t already know? Then I changed my goal; I want to reinforce things you should know well. I also realized I will have to make it up as I go.” Twilight’s eyes shifted to where Spike was, and her smile faded a bit. “I will give him the secret to immortality. You I will give the secrets to surviving immortality.”
She looked back up to Celestia, and smiled at her puzzled face. “Your body is immortal, but your heart isn’t. I have lived a long life, and throughout most of it you were there. You were happy, I was happy, and you can’t let those things leave you… You are afraid to make friends, but they are the most important things you will ever receive… you taught me that. Make friends, because a lifetime of happiness is worth the sadness that comes at the end.”
She paused again, breathing a little heavier than before. “Drop the shield and pick another student like you did with me. To them I leave this room to learn from, however tell them to make friends like you did for me. This room will never hold all the important things to be learned.”
Again she began coughing and when it stopped her eyes did not return to Celestia, they turned down toward Spike, and Twilight whispered, “call him up here, but don’t leave… you will never make it back in time…”
Without even being called, Spike made his way up the stairs to the bed.
Twilight giggled, or tried to… “eavesdropping is dangerous, you never know what someone may be talking about. It could mean your downfall.”
She looked between them and smiled. “The secret to immortality… well, there are actually two.” There was a pause in which Twilight was trying to catch her breath. “First, to never grow old and to never die young. Mature, but never to the point where you can’t have fun. Pinkie died young she wanted a party for a funeral, Applejack grew old, and became… grumpy… you have to find a middle ground.” It was really taking a toll, all this talking. Twilight closed her eyes but continued with her speech. “The second is to be remembered by someone, it doesn’t matter who, but you have to leave a mark on this world or it is like you were never there.”
She rolled her head back toward the ceiling, her breathing becoming more labored. She opened her eyes, then quickly shut them tight, as if in pain, “nopony knows what is on the other side, but I’m about to find out.”
She smiled again “I’m sure I’m immortal now… Immortal in the minds of a dragon and a princess….”
As Twilight faded both the young dragon and the princess think back to all the good times they had with the elderly mare before them. How over the years their bonds grew stronger to the point where loosing this one pony is a loss that neither the old nor the young wanted to experience.
The good times roll through the three minds, while one’s consciousness faded from existence.
Spike, whose tears were making pools on the floor, opened his mouth to say one last thing to his big sister… his mother…
Celestia, whose tears were now freely streaming down her face, opened her mouth to say one last thing to her star pupil… to her only friend…
The smiling pony on the bed lay perfectly still and seemed almost as if it was asleep, however there was no breath, the body was lifeless…
Authors note like always:
This was something I wrote differently than anything else I have ever written… I’m not in it. As my third story, I wanted to write something short to test and see if I can write something in this style. A few things… I never claimed to be a good writer, yet I enjoy writing. This seemed to move faster when you read it than I really wanted. I wanted it to feel slow and a bit more sad than it does. This is the final edited version so if you see any mistakes feel free to correct. I love feedback and if this sucks tell me.
Also the song at the end was not inspiration or anything, but I wanted a song to end it. Post your ideas in the comments. If there is one I like better I might edit it in!
Thanks again for reading.