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// Letters 
// Story: Letters 
// by jtc09999 
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Twilight looked at the seven letters in front of her. They all reminded her of pain. Cold, bitter pain that she had endured for the past ten years. The letters were all addressed to her, by her five friends and wielders of the elements of harmony, Spike, and Celestia herself. 

“Ten years,” She murmured, “Ten years since you've all been gone.” Twilight ran her hoof on top of all the folded and bent up pieces of paper. After sitting in her desk drawer for those ten years, they had become bent, stale and somewhat moldy, and the unicorn was careful to not act too harsh with them.

For the past week, Twilight had been having the nagging feeling to read them again. She resisted, for they would sink her into depression, and she didn't want that. But after having this feeling for this long, she had to read them. She carefully examined all the letters closely. The paper was made out of Cyprus leaves, and still looked and smelt like she had just received them days earlier. The letters were each sealed with a simple sticker. Each sticker was a pony’s cutie mark, signaling who the letter was from. There was one letter which had a sticker that looked like fire, and Twilight gingerly picked it up and placed it against her chest.

“Spike…” She whispered. “Spike… I love you…” She said as tears began trickling down her cheeks. Twilight lost herself in memories with her faithful dragon assistant. Everything from the day he was born to the day she found the letter in her mailbox. The lavender unicorn held nothing back as she let years of emptiness and sorrow pour from her eyes. After she had finished, she placed the letter directly in front of her and thought about the day she wanted to forget so dearly.

“At first, I thought it was a joke.” She said to no one in particular. “Then, I realized I was slowly losing the ones I cared for, the ones I loved. They were fading away like smoke from a fire, ash from burnt remains, memories from-“She choked back tears as she forced out this final statement. “A broken heart.”

Once again, past memories flooded her mind. Her moving to ponyville, the Best Flier’s Competition, Spike trying to find his “True dragon self”, and her becoming an alicorn. She jolted from her trance, and saw her salty tears were falling from her eyes on top of the letters. She quickly dried her eyes and the letters off, and went back to staring at them.

Twilight could fight it no more. She picked up the first letter, and began reading.