It was a sunny day, a day where the birds sang and the bees buzzed and the plants danced and the wind blew softly and coolly over the hills and the trees and the land. It was a day where foals and fillies would be playing and mares and stallions would be singing and laughing. It was a perfect day, the perfect day and as Spike looked up at the clear blue skies with the chattering, chanting, chuckling birds and the radiant sun he couldn't help but let a small, soft, sad smile cross his draconian features, sharp but tiny fangs just becoming visible in the pale yellow gaze of the luminous orange sphere that rested so snugly in the sky.

He had grown, not by much for the growth rate of a dragon was a rather slow, rather boring process but he had most certainly grown, a fact that he was partially proud at. His purple and green scales now shone with a lustre that would make even the most famous jewellers jealous and his height had increased, allowing him to stand over the larger stallions whenever he would take a stroll into Canterlot. Acceptance had been a quick thing for the ponies in the capitol, especially with the added backing of the Princess of the Sun herself, and now there were no horrified shrieks when he walked down the cobbled streets, no calls for his removal and no stories that foals were told about the dragon who would eat them if they didn't come home in time for tea. He had been okay with that story to be honest to the denizens of Canterlot, the idea of him munching on foals had certainly managed to keep the average level of destruction and mayhem to a minimum, well, at least after the foals tea times had come to pass.

Mentally he had grown too, both his personality and his mind having absorbed knowledge and lessons and experiences that had shaped his once young and childish mind into that of an adult. Responsibility had helped shape him, his job as the Canterlot Librarian providing experiences and lessons that he had not learnt, moulding the foolish drake into a new, civilized and wise citizen. He had maintained the job for the last ten years of his life in Canterlot, having taken over from the old and wizened mare who had once roamed the libraries shelves, Miss Tome. She had been a kind mare, with wrinkles that had laced her faint yellow coat like a spiders web, the same faint yellow coat that brought back old but not forgotten memories for Spike, each memory after seeing her having revolved around a humble and kind yellow mare living beside the dark and dangerous forest. He had attended her funeral, Miss Tome, when she had breathed her last breath a mere two years after the care of the library had been handed over to Spike and though he had not known her for long and though they had never talked for more than an hour at a time he had still wept because loss was yet another lesson that he had learnt and yet another experience that he had survived through.

Memories of the old librarian whistled through Spike's mind like a faint remnant of a dream as he walked calmly and quickly down the old beaten dirt path that he had been following for the last few minutes, a small bundle of carefully wrapped wooden stalks that had been merged into a basket nestled under one of his purple scaled arms. Each step he took along the speckled brown path kicked up another waft of remorseful dirt which was sent spiralling into the wind to find a new home for itself.

As he walked the old path a collection, a cacophony of different coloured mares, stallions, fillies and foals moved past him, some garbed in black dress, some singing and laughing, some sombre and silent and others smiling with bullet tears in their eyes. Each equine that walked past him shot him a light glance with eyes that didn't really care about his appearance and, quickly enough, each pair of eyes returned to the path, dismissing the draconian figure that continued to move down the journeyed groove. Spike passed a lone cherry tree, its branches laden with heavy buds yet to bloom, weighing down the tree and causing it to droop slightly, raking across his left shoulder as he walked past, reptilian eyes picking up on the faintest traces of pink which blossomed majestically from the tree, once again dredging up another memory from his mind. Pink and bouncy and spiralling in the wind and free, petals as free as a bird as they danced through the sky and the memory of a mare as pink as those petals and similarly as free.

A family passed him, a mare and a stallion leading along a small and fragile looking colt who had the sparkle of the bright world in his eyes. They seemed like a young family, the mare still having a succulent coat of shining emerald whilst the stallion had managed to maintain a full head of luscious black hair which sat atop his golden bodied head like the covering of snow on a mountain top. An object caught Spike's careful eye, a small brown, worn, beaten object that flared to life in his eyes only, an object which sat atop the young colts head as the family passed him, eyes tracing his presence before they swivelled away. A stetson. A steson atop the colts head, that image caught in Spike's eyes and he laughed aloud but it was a choked laugh, a laugh filled with unladen memories and emotions of a hard working, level headed mare who wouldn't let anything slow her down.

A small, crudely painted gate stood feebly in the distance, an old, golden hatch glinting in the blazing sun as Spike neared the barrier of brown dappled wood, his feet treading suddenly on soft green grass as he reached his one free hand out to gently lift the hatch, the gate swinging free with a timid creak. Closing the gate, Spike tossed his scrutiny upwards, canopy green eyes wincing as gleeful sunlight poured into his irises, a puffy white cloud temporarily blocking the mischievous luminosity from piercing his perfect pools. His sight lingered on the cloud and, for a split second, he half expected to see a hole appear in the middle of the cloud, he half expected to see a cyan mare with all of the colours of the rainbow poke her head over and he half expected to hear the scratchy voice call out to him, as a friend and as a companion. But there was no hole in the cloud, or face in the sky or voice calling from above. There was only silence and Spike turned away silently.

He walked along a new path now, one that was meticulously clean and perfect, fields of eloquently shaved grass bending underneath his feet as he passed by a variety of stone faces that rose up from all sides around him like an enclosing tide of water. His left hand, claws neatly trimmed, skimmed over something, something smooth and refined and cold and he paused to eye whatever had snagged his hand. A pure white marble headstone sat to his side, its surface only touched by deeply set engraved words, the rest remaining a magnificent and royal snow white casing. Visions of soft white fur with soft purple curls drifted into his mind, a distant but elegant voice called in his ears as Spike the dragon shuddered as a single tear fell from his eyes, splattering the ground in silence. And then, just as swiftly as his stop, the tall dragon was moving again.

He came to a rest moments later, his feet tearing up tufts of grass as his sharpened talons dug into the earth. The sun still blazed high in the sky as Spike the dragon knelt on his tremendous legs to brush off a single, wind whipped piece of grass from the glimmering black headstone before him, a set of six different images surrounding the centre of the headstone.

Here lies Twilight Sparkle
Bearer of the Element of Magic
Royal student of Princess Celestia
“True magic doesn't stem from a horn, it comes from
friendship and she had the best of friends.”
Rest in peace

And underneath, in scrawled, haphazard and broken writing rested another message:

“I'll miss you Twilight, I hope you'll miss me too.”

Spike the dragon took the basket from his hands, and with a gentle touch, pulled a bouquet of purple lilacs from its depths before he rested them on the grave of his mother, teacher and dear friend.

“I would have thought that in ten years the pain would have gone but it hasn't. I miss you more each and every day.”

“I miss your voice and your smile and your eyes. Everyday I wake up and I miss them all a little more.”

“I wish you'd nag me. I wish you'd yell at me. I wish you'd talk to me. But you can't...

“I've learnt so many things Twilight, I've experienced so many things but this, coming here and speaking to you and missing you it...it never gets any easier and I can never, ever get used to it.”

“I wish you'd come home... I wish you'd see the library, I've made it better, much better.”

“There are so many books now that I think you'd like, I should...I should bring you some next time. Yeah, next time...”

“I still need to thank you though, like I have done every year because you gave me a great gift, the best.”

“I wouldn't have been able to cope, you know? Without you I would've just...stopped. But you gave me something to live for.”

“Thank you. I say it every time and every time I mean it. Maybe I mean it more and more as the years pass.”

“I miss you Twilight but I think...I think maybe I love her just as much as I miss you.”

“She makes me laugh and smile and she makes me cry. She is the only reason I can get up in the mornings, she is the only reason I can survive being here.”

“What do you think Twilight? I love her, so much that it hurts. I love her so much that every second away hurts, every second away grates on my soul.”

“I can't bear to be apart from her Twilight but you need to know before I do anything because you were my very best friend. You deserve to be the first to know.”

A glittering ring sat in the centre of the box, throwing off the light and spreading it to the sky.

“And if she says yes I'll be the happiest, luckiest, most thankful drake on the planet.”

“And if she says no then I will chase her for all of time, anywhere and everywhere, until I convince her.”

“So thank you Twilight, I promise you I won't let your gift escape me. Never.”

A delicate sound made Spike turn his head, just in time to see white wings fold into a white body, just in time to see golden shoes touch the ground, just in time to see a swirling cascade of billowing multicoloured hair spiral around a white, perfect and beautiful head, just in time to see magenta eyes filled with love and compassion. And his little dragon heart beat faster and faster.

Princess Celestia stood stock still at the entrance of the graveyard, waiting for Spike to finish his farewell, a patient and pure smile lighting up her face as she caught Spike's eyes.

And suddenly Spike wanted to run to her, to embrace her and cry and cry and cry like he had done all those years ago because Twilight Sparkle was still dead and there was nothing he could do about it. But he had grown, he had learnt in his sparse ten years and so he turned back to the delicate burial site and whispered gently, as if they would break in the air.

Spike stood up and began to walk back to Celestia, back to his lover but emotions guided his feet and sadness guided his mind and soon he was running to her and wrapping her in his arms and crying with tears that seemed to never want to stop and she was whispering to him, comforting him even as tears filled her eyes and spilt down her cheeks.

Together they cried as animals danced amidst the pale yellow daffodils in the field around.

Together they cried as a lone foal picked up his misplaced stetson from down the crooked path.

Together they cried as lilacs danced in the fragile breeze trickling through the air.

And together they left the pain and the misery behind them, together they walked through the gate and together they laughed at their own foolishness.

Spike shot his eyes back at the resting place of his friend, his mother, as the sunlight dimmed and as Celestia pecked him lightly on the cheek.

And somewhere, far, far above the clouds, surrounded by five friends, Twilight Sparkle smiled a soft, proud smile.

It's been a while. Quite a long time actually but I finished the epilogue. Sorry about the disappearance, I lost interest in writing for a very long time but I think I'm going to start up again soon.

Please do remember that this was written before Alicorn Twilight was born so in this Twilight is entirely mortal.

Anyway, tell me what you think of this reasonably short epilogue and if you have any constructive criticism to provide, please do leave a comment.

Oh, and the reason that it took Spike 10 long years to pop the question is because he can live forever, what's the point in rushing things? Hell, if I could live forever I'd spend a solid majority of my time doing nothing rather than getting stuff done.

Hearts Of The Millennia

by LemonDrizzle

Epilogue