Twilight Rainbows

by Cynical

A Funeral

“- and so, it is with great sorrow that we commend my student, Twilight Sky, to the grave and the great pony above, may she live out the rest of her immortal life in peace, prosperity and happiness.”

Celestia’s horn glowed a light green, lifting the small coffin in front of her and lowering it into the deep pit within Ponyville cemetery slowly. She shed no tears and the whole graveyard remained silent as she laid her Most Faithful Student to rest. It was with some finality that, a moment later, her horn stopped glowing and she stepped back, her head bowed and eyes shut.

Two ponies stood up from the front row of chairs, one was a sombre tan earth pony, his cutie-mark a single slice of an apple, while the other was the alicorn of the night, Princess Luna. They both walked silently towards the waiting grave and the two shovels dug in beside it. Both of them picked their shovels up with the aid of tooth and hoof alone, and both made sure that the first shovels of dirt hit the coffin at the same time.

Celestia watched her sister and Applejacks descendent fill in the grave of her student, the only sound within the graveyard was the intermittent ‘thunk’ as the dirt hit the bottom of the grave. Her eyes were dry, and her resolve was steely. She’d come to terms with her demons weeks ago, she’d accepted the situation and prepared herself for it, for the loss of yet another of her ‘Most Faithful’.

The graveyard was still, save for the two ponies that were still laying Twilight beneath the Earth. All several-hundred ponies gathered there remained deathly quiet, deathly still as the work continued. The world was silent, the wind didn’t gust and the clouds didn’t move across the sky, as if the world itself mourned for the loss of the last bearer of harmony.

Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and now Twilight Sparkle. They’d all left the world doing what they loved, none of them regretted a thing. But ponies could only live for so long.

A resounding ‘Thud’ echoed through the graveyard, the tan pony and the dark alicorn stood back from their work and bowed their heads simultaneously, each muttering their own goodbyes to the pony who had, through one way or another, taught them the meaning of friendship. Then they straightened, not a tear in their eyes, and re-took their seats.

After another moment, Celestia rose her head and spoke to the masses, all crammed within the small graveyard. “It is done. Let us remember Twilight as she would like us to remember her, and let us never forget our own memories of her.”

Short, sweet and sonorous.

Every head bowed and mumbled their own words, a final prayer for Twilight Sparkle. And one-by-one, they stood, they turned, and they left the graveyard until the only ponies remaining were Celestia, Luna and the tan earth pony.

Celestia sighed, the emotions she’d been denying herself through the funeral finally meeting the air as a tear tracked its course down Celestia’s cheek. A glance towards Luna, waiting patiently beside Celestia, strengthened her resolve as her horn glowed once more, lifting a large and flat stone from behind the podium and guiding it towards her student’s grave, before driving it down into the earth with enough force to leave it standing freely against the still air.

Luna offered a smile towards her sister, lighting her own horn a dusky blue colour before surrounding the stone with her aura. Slowly, ever-so-slowly, the stone began to shape itself, smoothing the rough edges and leaving a teardrop grave-marker behind with the Star of magic engraved onto it. Beneath it, the inscription read:

Twilight Sky
Element of Magic
Sep 982 – Jul 1104
Friendship is Magic
Love is Eternal

“She’d like that.” The earth pony behind them spoke, his voice a gentle burr against the silent wind. Luna smiled her appreciation at the pony before glancing at her sister. Celestia just kept looking at the stone, a sad smile on her face as she walked towards it, coming to a halt just in front of it and sitting down on the ground.

Luna started forwards, prepared to comfort her sister, when a hoof on her shoulder stopped her; the pony beside her wore the same look of sadness as her sister, but his offer was clear. Luna nodded, turned and left the graveyard, being careful to keep her eyes dry.

The tan pony waited a moment before walking up besides Celestia and sitting down, looking at the stone in front of him. Apple Slice spoke into the silence, “I met Twilight twenty-five years ago. She taught me the meaning of friendship and the magic that came from it. I’ll always remember her for her smile that she managed to keep just for me and her memories.”

Celestia nodded, shutting her eyes against her memories.
“If you don’t mind me asking Princess, who was she?”

Celestia opened her eyes, looking at the gravestone with a slight smile, “She was my student, my Most Faithful student.”
Apple Slice waited for a moment for her to continue, realised that it was unlikely and spoke up again, “Yes, but who was she?”

Celestia sighed, her omni-benevolent smile slipping for a moment before replacing itself as she talked, “Twilight Sparkle, that’s her given name, she was my student oh-so long ago. Not unlike you for that matter, she never saw the need for friends until I forced her hoof. I sent her to Ponyville so long ago, to oversee the Summer Sun Celebrations of the millennium and to make some friends.”

“She fought against it, she never wanted friends before and could never see the point in them.” Celestia smirked, her smile lifting momentarily, “But she made them nevertheless, fighting Nightmare Moon, she realised just how powerful the magic of friendship was. That was when she started studying the magic of friendship here, in Ponyville.”

“She studied for around five years in Ponyville before she came back to Canterlot. Officially it was because she was instrumental in some new research on magical theory pertaining to flight, in reality… it was because I missed her. She was my only friend back then, Luna was nocturnal and every other pony was constrained by formality. Twilight was the only one I could ever really relax around, so I brought her back to Canterlot.”

“I extended the offer to her friends; I knew how much friendship could sour with isolation, but nearly all of them had their lives to live. Applejack, the bearer of honesty and your grandmother, she had the farm to take care of. Fluttershy, the bearer of kindness, she cared for the animals around Ponyville and the Everfree, she could never leave them to fend for themselves. Rarity, the bearer of generosity, had her business, if she’d had her way that wouldn’t have counted for naught, but Twilight insisted that she stayed here, ‘no point coming with me if you have to completely relocate’, and Pinkie… if I remember correctly, Pinkie’s response was to wish her luck and to throw her a leaving party.”

“And then there was Rainbow Dash.”

Apple glanced to the side, then back at Twilight’s stone, “The element of loyalty?”

“Bearer.” Celestia corrected automatically, “But yes, Rainbow Dash, the bearer of loyalty…”

Comments

[NotATree]

Technically this story should be labeled AU because Twilicorn is cannon now, and based on the information we have indicating that Celestia and Luna are at least over a thousand years old it can be assumed for now that alicorns live much longer than 100 years.

[Pheonix]

Who's twilight sky?