This story is a sequel to Cocktails
Twilight has ruled Equestria for three centuries, spreading harmony throughout the lands both inside and outside of her country.
Now, her job is done. She is ready to let everything go. But before she does, she delivers one last speech.
Expanded from my entry to KrazyTheFox's 10th Anniversary Panic Write(alternatively 62nd Panic Write) at Quills and Sofas Speedwriting Group, where it placed 5th. Participants were given 30 minutes to write and 10 minutes to edit. The prompt was Friendship is Magic.
Tone inspired by A Final Twilight. Story Concept inspired by Zontan's The Last Decree.
Preread by Holtinater, Vis-a-Viscera, Shaslan, Scoping Landscape, Atom Smash, Nailah, Cara, Emotion Nexus, Speccer, The Red Parade, and finally KrazyTheFox.
Edited by AuroraDawn, Speccer, and Cara.
Cover art by Speccer.
Featured 1 hour and 30 minutes after publication from November 13th to 14th. You guys are amazing! 
Now with a voice reading done by the lovely Nailah!
Edit, 06.13.2021: Even though this story is a sequel to Cocktails, no knowledge of the prequel is required as the story was meant to be a standalone fic.
Congrats on the feature box, Sunlight!
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Thank you! And thanks for adding this story to your favorites!
I just now found out that the plural for crisis is crises. I never knew that, lol.
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Haha, same! I only knew that when Grammarly pointed that error out to me lol
You now have a tenth like!
AND STILL 0 DISLIKES?! Nice!
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You're welcome!
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lmao
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Gotta say, I'm impressed too. I never expected this story to even hit the popular stories list, much less get to the feature box.
Couldn't resist. Love the story. Just kinda shocked Twilight only lasted 300 years. Was kinda hoping she'd go longer than that. Oh well. Least she won't be lonely.
Spike, Celestia, Luna, and I assume Cadance and Flurry Heart are still alive and well, will be there. And if she's really desperate, there's always Discord. You didn't say anything about those last three. So I'm assuming they're still fine.
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Haha, yeah, panicking makes both ponies and humans say or do stupid things in general. I can tell from both watching people panic and panicking myself.
If I'm being totally honest, I didn't have any particular reason as to why I set the number of years to three hundred. I merely selected a number that wasn't excessively long so that everything Twilight and her friends did would become a myth—like how the Tale of Nightmare Moon became after a thousand years—but also not too short since I wanted to give this story a sufficient time gap from the show's ending for Twilight to be reminiscing and cherishing her memories with her friends. So, all in all, it could've been even shorter like two hundred, or a bit longer like five hundred. Honestly, I don't think it wouldn't have mattered in either case; the story still would've made sense.
There are two reasons why Cadence, Flurry Heart, and Discord are not in this: one is that I didn't have enough space for character tags, and two is that I didn't want to cram so many characters into such a short story. If I put all three of them into this story on top of the four already existing, it would've been very hard for me to properly give characters the right amount of dialogue without making any of them a background pony, not to mention it would have become quite confusing to the reader. And you are quite correct; I assumed Cadence and Flurry Heart were busy ruling the Crystal Empire while Discord was off doing... whatever Discord does three hundred years after the show's over.
I'm super glad that you enjoyed this story and thanks for pointing out the vague plot points in the story! I appreciate that you took the time and effort for this.
Beautiful! It inspired a single tear to run down my face...
No, like literally. That actually happened.
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Thanks for the praise! Inspiring people and delivering emotions like this is one of my goals when I write. Glad that you enjoyed the story, and thank you for reading!
No just no this can not and will not be a good ending the Six aged somewhat but they are all immortal. Word Of God decreed it so. Have Twily step down that's fine But the Six should be together when she does
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Eh... hehe... whoops?
But for reals, thanks for reading my story, and thanks for favoriting it! Glad that you enjoyed it.
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Don't get me wrong I know that word of God can't always make up for deficiencies in stories but in this case Lauren Faust said it while she was still working on the show. That's why I take it at face value she said that "Twilight would never lose her friends". I understand that most people would say that they were in her heart the whole time but no Lauren specifically said that they would never be lost and she was implying that they would be alive. I can understand the fact they aged could point to them dying at some point but I see it as they all had to grow into their immortality since Twilight was still growing into a full Alicorn. This would translate to ageing that the other elements went through as they're all connected, Twilight's immortality is a supposedly transitive property through that connection to the elements
Man this was just perfect, it’s always great to see fics where Twilight is happy even after her friends pass. This was truly a testament to the legacy I imagine Twilight and her friends leave behind. Nice work
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Personally, I feel like that part is up to interpretation, especially on what defines "lost". I am a person who believes that if someone is remembered after their deaths for a long time along with their legacies, then that person still lives among us. Also, I felt like this was a more touching way of telling the story rather than to have the Mane 6 still around after three hundred years.
But like I said, it's up to how each person interprets it, so I would definitely say that your argument is just as valid as mine.
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Thank you! Glad that you enjoyed this story!
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Oh I still like the story but I disliked it due to you forgetting Starlight and Sunset
I liked this. The idea of Twilight dissolving monarchy when she'd feel Equestria is ready is something I totally see in FiM's future.
That still opens the question of what was done to replace this regime.
Did she discuss and write a democratic constitution with some of her ponies? Will she start going for various jobs after that? These two points could make interesting fanfics.
Ok, I think I saw plenty of fics where Princess Twilight get rid of the 'princess' title, be it no longer becoming an alicorn and what not, but this is the best~ Stepping down from her rule feels so natural instead of say, using some kind of magic to return to her friends or something.
I might ramble a bit, but I wonder if Twilight will get a successor? Or Equestria will use a new government system? I'm curious how a near perfect world (Or maybe even already perfect) will function, where everyone can very easily unify to solve a problem, or achieve an incredibly long period of peace, because realistically, that's something impossible to achieve.
Anyway, the fic surely brought up some interesting topics~ Bonus points for including Spike, sometimes people forgot about him
. Have a 9/10 
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Nah, she just dumped the crown and left, Equestria will be fine, they've got friendship!
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I mean I could've expanded it in a way the last scene includes every single character I could think of. I just chose not to since I wanted to focus on the six ponies that started it all.
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To answer both of your questions, I assumed that Twilight already finished preparations to hand power over to a democratic government, one ran by the people of Equestria themselves. Then she would step down and enjoy her life, doing whatever she wished to do with her friends.
And yes, that is certainly fertile grounds for additional fanfics, Black Hoof. Imagine the shenanigans that would've occurred while Twilight was writing the new constitution or trying to get a new job.
"But Ink Note, isn't Article 13-C contradictory to what was defined as "power" in Article 1-A?"
"...[deep sigh]"
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Could jokingly imagine this with how often she and her friends needed to solve everyone's problems.
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Preparing a constitution might indeed take some time
This also reminds me of a pretty good fanfic in which a mare stumbles upon the former princess Twilight, working as a company's associate director at that time. A story which I would totally imagine happening in the future of this one.
Then we can imagine Twilight, and the other princesses, using their long life to try various things. Imagine Celestia baker, Luna sportsmare, Twilight movie actress, ...
Don't mean to be an editing snob, but maybe remove one of these.
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...dammit, Nexus. Too late, there's no fixing it now! >:)
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I tried... Also, just read the story all the way through and the quality really shows. You've really improved this since the panic, and I really hope you publish some more of your lighter stuff eventually.
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Only if you promise to publish yours! ;)
Interesting. One nitpick I would have that one does not 'resign' from a throne, one 'abdicates', but that's by the by.
I also find it interesting that you think Twilight would choose a democratic form of government for Equestria, when it seems that an aristocracy based on 'harmony'/'virtue'/'friendship' seems to have dominated for much of the history in it. (that in itself is an interesting form of democracy, where anyone can become 'special'/have authority, if they demonstrate the virtues)
For me, I still believe Twilight won't outlive her friends, alicorns too.
But it seems that so many fans fans like her being immortal. In my opinion, immortality will cause a lot of problems, it's a curse.
So, people love tears rather than smiles?
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So I've noticed. It's a slight error I allowed myself to make to avoid repeating the word "abdication" too much in a short amount of word count. I would rather have a small error in the contents than to have the flow interrupted by a repetition of the same words.
Also, while I haven't thought about the specific political structure Equestria will have after Twilight's abdication, I thought that a democracy where everypony could voice their opinions and run the nation based on friendship would be the one Twilight would choose.
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Well, we can't really tell for sure whether alicorns are immortal or not, because the examples from the show are too small of a number to make a general argument. Celestia and Luna seem to be virtually immortal as they have lived for 1000+ years, but that may be due to the magic of the Sun and Moon they are connected to. Cadence and Twilight are both young enough that not a single generation has passed since their ascension. So I just went ahead with the most common lore and set it that alicorns are immortal, while normal ponies are not. It was the best way to tell the story the way I wanted to, and also the best way of representing the legacy the Mane 6 left behind.
Also, while immortality most certainly can be a curse, it can be a gift provided that you have someone to be with during your lifetime.
And yes, some people certainly love sadfics, myself included.
Thank you. I needed to cry on my own terms today, and your work was a beautiful way to do it.
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Aw.
gives hugs
Glad that my story could help you in any way. Also thanks for favoriting this story, and glad that you enjoyed it!
Hello SunlightRays.
Here is my review on your story above.
I hope you have fun writing the story with all of us in the Q&S server.
Sincerely,
Scoping Landscape.
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Thanks for the review, Scoping! I'm super glad that you think highly of this work. Thanks for all the praise, and see you in Quills and Sofas!
Greetings, have a review!
i forgot I read this story and hurt myself again
And yes, I remember the story I just forgot the title