Twenty thousand years into Twilight Sparkle's rule, the burden of the countless trillions of ponies killed Equestria. Depleted, polluted, and dead, the planet was abandoned. The Goddess Twilight Sparkle and her alicorn compatriots led the surviving ponies to a new life among the stars.

Ponies advanced. They evolved, and grew. A golden age of peace and prosperity occurred that lasted for thousands of millennia.

But that was long ago. Before evolution turned against them, and before the deadly Mortality Virus raged through their ranks. Now, at the twilight of ponykind, their final hope is for a small crew to return to their long-dead and long-forgotten homeworld one last time.

Millions of years in the future, Celestia and Luna watch over a dying world. Its surface is a cracked, barren wasteland, baked by a dying sun. The ocean is a caustic soup, choked with salt. Few creatures can survive this hellish future, and even their days are limited.

Yet, despite the desolation, there is some good news: Celestia's birthday is coming up, and Luna has a surprise for her...

Special thanks to Themaskedferret, BronyWriter, and Georg for proofreading and editing. Seriously, you guys rock!

Orphaned from birth, with only the memories of a soft touch and gentle voice to remember her by, Twilight yearns for her mother. What pony wouldn't want to know why they were abandoned, why they were left to be found by the Princess of the Sun herself.

That was nearly two decades ago though. Twilight was older now, and hopefully wiser. She is happy with her two best friends, Cadance and Shining Armor. They are like family to her, the brother and sister she never could have. Though dreams still haunt the young mare, dreams of lullabies and tender kisses, she has moved on.

The personal servant to the Princess of Helios, the land of the Sun, Twilight enjoyed both rank, and knowledge. But it also means that when Princess Luna comes to visit her old friend, Twilight is given the task of tending her. The Princess has come in search of marriage, at the behest of her ruling Council. They demand an heir to ward off the potentially catastrophic attacks of the neighboring dragons.

Soon, Twilight will be tested and tried. She will be given the a choice between the life she has known, and the duty she is sworn to. But never, not once, will she forget.

For who can stop loving their mother.

It is Twilight Sparkle's first night as a princess of Equestria, and she cannot sleep. As the excitement she felt during coronation fades away, it gives way to a deeper anxiety. The young alicorn lies awake, her thoughts dwelling on her new destiny, her responsibilities, her fears, and her own mortality.

Or, as the case may be, her lack of it.

As morning draws nearer, Twilight leaves her bed haunted by a question, and so she decides to seek out the one pony who can answer it.

Now has a dramatic reading on Youtube! Major props to Goombasa.

Celestia pays Twilight and her friends a visit.

It has been a very long time since she saw them last.

In the days after her ascension, every newspaper in Equestria is talking about how Princess Celestia transformed Twilight Sparkle into an alicorn princess.

There's just one problem – Twilight knows that's not what happened.

Why does Celestia let them believe something that isn't true? After all, it isn't like knowing could hurt anypony, right?

When Twilight visits Celestia's private hall of stained-glass windows, each bearing the image of a long-gone friend, one in particular catches her eye.

Who was this pony?

Why was she so important to Celestia?

And why does she look so familiar?

There is now a Spanish translation of this story, courtesy of Spaniard Kiwi

Falling in love with the mythological book series Midnight Castle, Lyra Heartstrings has created her very own fan fiction site, a home to all that enjoy reading and writing human fiction.

This is the life and times of that site.