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// Please Forgive Me 
// Story: Dear Friends 
// by RealityPublishing 
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	Caskets of wood rested atop the stage, listening tirelessly as a dear friend of Twilight’s spoke words true, 
“They… they were my friends, too. Each one of them, and… it was they who taught me… They taught me to be better than myself…”
Her head sank and her eyes gave in, joining the light evening drizzle in its practice. The audience, as large as Canterlot, wept for the princess’s tragic loss. 
“I-I just… wish I got to know them better,” choked the student, struggling her way off the stage to make room for the still and composed Twilight Sparkle. The Princess shed not a tear, her head high above the rest. Extended to each side were the wings of honor, denial, and deception. As she turned to face the crowd, who, remained ever desperate to hear her words of regret, she, from the corner of her mouth, smiled and looked down at a small, white, script she had written in short time before arrival. 

“To my friends who show their faces today, I thank you,” She began, raising an elegant hoof to welcome the ones who came to share their feelings of despair,
“For these ponies who gave their lives for an, I’ll be it, arrogant cause, I wish you a graceful departure from this land. You six will always be remembered as the ones who granted hope, and love, to this beautiful country we reside today. I thank you for the service you all have provided, and years you have granted me. I will forever always remember the times we spent, and the adventures we had protecting the land many of us choose to call home today. I would never be the pony I am now, had it not been for our eternal bond of friendship. As I leave my letters with you, I hope that through any means possible, you will forever remember me as I did you.”
Twilight swallowed the choking lump that formed in the back of her throat, placing a letter beside each of the resting corpses while holding back the tide of tears that eagerly waited to release.

A crowd may have cheered for the speech, as thoughtful as it was, but nothing fooled the Princess. For each masked word of formality was just another crack in her fractured heart. What she wanted to say wasn’t ready to be revealed before a crowd this large. What words rested in the letters, was a truth not ripe to unfold. As she walked down the isle, paved with mournful citizens, the words of a scripted eulogy echoed in her mind. Everything she wrote, couldn’t she have just said it? Were the words she spoke even close to what was written? As Twilight Sparkle kept a high head upon her shoulders, she could only think of how much a fool she’d been, and how much disrespect she showed her friends by not revealing a painful truth.
“If only Celestia were still in power, perhaps none of this would’ve happened,” Thought the heartbroken, youthful, and foolish Twilight, slowly closing the corridor doors behind her, and listening in as the crowd of tearful ponies carefully stood up. 
“Why couldn’t I say it? Why did there have to be so many of them? Why did any of this happen? If friendship was supposed to include self-sacrifice, why couldn’t I risk it?”

Before long, it would be she who’d lower the sun and prepare for the restless night beyond. The coffins of her friends would be transported to the Fields of Friendship, and the lowly Princess could begin her business as she always did during the nightly hours. As she stood upon that balcony, higher above the rest, Twilight began to weep. Holding the moon in her grasp, she looked back to remember the six who watched her cast in the moonlight. The six whom now lay, cold and fatigued; they wept not, but rested under an unexpected demise that ripped them away from the one who cared. An accident is what they called it; a murder is what she’d define. Twilight lowered her head, shedding but a single tear for the friends whom lost their way. 

As the night toiled, so did the Princess who mourn. Papers that piled received no attention, and instead, they waited patiently as the crowd did earlier in the day. Sitting in the old wooden desk whose origins were of a familiar library, sat Twilight, who rested her head, lost in the memories of a discarded past. She dreamed of dancing along sunny fields, calling her friends’ names aloud through the crowds of forever. Though she’d dance, sing, and play; nothing would hide the truth of her bleeding sorrows. As each of the seven spent their time in the fields, one by one they’d disappear, revealing identity as no more than a mirage to take their place in the lowly stones that slept through the night, and rested throughout the day. As wings grew and rain fell, the heads would speak to her, reminding her that no matter where she went, they would always be there. No matter what she’d say, her friends would be watching. 

Weeks blew by, leaving the princess behind, the nights longer, and the guards worried.
“She’s been locked away for a month now,” they’d say, knocking on the door of their silent leader.
“Princess!” They’d call, waiting eagerly for even the slightest hint of their withering master, “Are you alright?”
Out from the silence, came a lonely, cold whisper that escaped through the sealed doors, “How may I help you?”
The guards, shocked for the most part, adjusted themselves, and told Twilight of their kingdom’s struggles, 
“It’s Equestria, your majesty. Many believe it is but a mere shadow of its formal self. With you absent, who will we turn to?”
Twilight, coughing in the shade of drawn curtains, replied with a hidden smile, “Elect somepony else… if you truly have lost faith. Perhaps another suitable of speaking for me would be best.” 
With that as the final word, the two guards who worried, left the Princess in search of somepony else to call master. 

It took great effort for the kingdom’s citizens to decide, but with help from a close, northern ally, it became clear to elect nopony other than Twilight’s own pupil, the one who spoke true at the time of loss. With her experience, and reformation, her opinion benefited all as she grew Equestria for the better. Twilight, as she remained inside, continued to perform her planetary duties with a heaving heart. Each time the moon rose, she was reminded of a bitter past and a forever-mournful future. Each time Twilight slept, she was forever submit to the torture that had befallen upon her restless subconscious.  

As her student was crowned, Twilight looked down from the balcony and watched Starlight’s coronation. Cheers of joy rang in the watchful mare’s scarred mind as she could only think of regret, as opposed to the inspiring words spoken by the insightful young mare. No, Twilight did not attend the celebration, but instead chose to watch idly by as the student, who once enslaved, accepted her new role, and agreed to encourage and protect the ponies who honored her. As each guard greeted the newly appointed royal into the castle, Twilight appeared from the corridor, and greeted her long-lasting acquaintance with a welcome, but meaningless, smile,
“Welcome, Princess Starlight; how are you?”
The cheerful and newly selected princess, filled to the brim with joy, gave her loving mentor a long-deserved hug, 
“Why, Twilight? Is that you? By golly, I haven’t seen you since… well… I’ll just say forever!”
As a subtle laugh echoed throughout the bear corridors, the guards smiled as they all agreed; laughter was something they dearly missed.