//------------------------------// // Affirmation and Desolation // Story: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic -- Off The Record // by The King of Hearts //------------------------------// //// Friendship Lost //// The entire hospital ward was thrown in to chaos when Twilight vanished, especially Celestia. Her remarks just before her student disappeared were entirely off-base, and she knew that comforting the pregnant mare was the most important thing could do, despite the now reopened wound on her side, darkening her bandages. “I can’t believe I was so careless,” Celestia sighed, walking slowly down the hallway toward the main entrance, ignoring the pain coming from the wound in her side. “Do you think she teleported back to Ponyville?” Trixie asked, humming to herself in annoyance at the itchiness of her new wings, “Because I can ask some ponies to look around for her—“ “No, she couldn’t have gone that far.” Celestia shook her head, closing her eyes briefly as she considered her old hiding spots in Canterlot, “Without the Element of Magic, she can’t have gone any further than the city limits.” “…Oh.” Trixie said, looking down dejectedly. “I’ve dispatched guards to search her usual study spots, as well as her childhood home, and her old room.” She said, stepping through the open front door, and looking up at the sky, “Trixie, I think you should go back inside, and get some more rest.” “Rest?” She asked, shaking her head instantly, “I need to help find Twilight! I stole the Element from her!” “This is nopony’s fault.” Celestia said sternly, looking downward at the blue mare, “The truth is, the Element of Magic would have been removed from her either way. Discord had specific instructions to carry out the purge if you all failed in stopping her chaotic side.” “I just… feel like I need to apologize to her.” She said quietly. “You’ll get your chance, I promise.” The princess said, a little ashamed that she hadn’t seen Trixie’s turmoil sooner, “For now, please rest. Your body isn’t used to the influx of new magic, or those two new wings.” Trixie sighed, and then nodded. “Thank you.” She said, turning away from the mare, “I’ll see you soon.” With that, Celestia briskly headed out in search of her student. Trixie watched for a couple of moments, just to be sure that Celestia had left the area, before she looked toward the large tower that they had all just escaped from. “I can feel you, Twilight…” She said, biting her lip as she felt the tremendous energy running through her body, “I’ll find Celestia after I apologize.” //// Rarity sat with Spike in her hospital bed, both were resting their heads on the wall behind them as they each read a book, enjoying the silence between them. Looking over to the mare next to him, Spike closed his book and sighed happily. “Just one more thing to do,” he said, softly breaking the quiet between them, “You use the Elements one more time, save the world, and everything will go back to normal.” “Not too normal I hope,” Rarity said, smiling at him as she closed her book and removed her glasses with a quick spell, “Without the craziness, a certain pony would still be a dragon.” “Oh, I think you would have still fallen for me.” Spike said, almost laughing at the skeptical expression Rarity gave to him, “Really, you would have!” “Spike, as mature as you may have been as a dragon, you were still relatively- well, young. And I wasn’t exactly in the market for a man the size of a plush toy.” She said, with absolutely zero shame in her tone, “My shallowness would have hindered any relationship from growing between us. Thank Celestia you changed forms!” “Brutally honest with me, as always,” he laughed, looking back to his book as he quickly leafed through pages, “I only bring it up, because dragons hit a growth spurt around… well, maybe four or five years past where I am now.” “Oh?” She asked, “You get thirty feet taller?” “No, maybe four or five feet, though.” Spike said, turning his book to face her, showing a picture of a drake standing upright, clearly showing off its incredibly sleek form, and muscles for the camerapony. “Oh. Oh my.” Rarity said, blinking rapidly, “That’s certainly not a bad looking creature.” “I’m a bit disappointed that I’ll never get to see myself reach that point.” Spike said, showing little regret in his voice, “Hmm…” “You know, while we’re on the subject, I’ve always wondered something about you,” Rarity said, looking away from him for a moment, “How long does a dragon typically live for?” “Uh, It depends,” he answered, scratching his ear lightly, “Anywhere between several hundred, and a couple thousand years.” “Well, what about the kind of dragon that you are?” She asked again, moving toward her intended target. “About a thousand years,” he answered instantly, closing his book once again as he moved a little closer to his marefriend. “Will you live that long as a pony?” Rarity asked, inhaling softly, and holding her breath. “Of course not,” Spike said with a confused smile, trying to work out why she was acting the way she was, “I’ll be lucky to get ten percent of my old lifespan.” “And you’re okay with that?” She asked, perplexed by his unwavering positivity, “I mean, a thousand years is a long time to live!” “Are you kidding me?” He laughed, shaking his head for a moment, “There’s no part of me that wants to see you, or anypony else I love, get old and die, while I just keep existing.” Rarity was stopped in her tracks. “I… never thought of it that way, I suppose.” She said, a smile crawling on to her lips. “Immortality is a curse,” Spike said confidently, gesturing with his head toward the castle outside of his window, “After my transformation, both Luna and Celestia told me that I should be happy with living a shorter lifespan. At first I wasn’t too sure about it, but the more I thought about it, the better I felt.” “I suppose outliving your friends would be a tough ordeal.” Rarity said softly. “But it wasn’t just that,” He shook his head, “I’d live long enough to see the children of my loved ones grow old and die. And their children, and their children… watching that happen so many times would make me want to spend my whole life asleep in a cave.” Clearly, this train of thought had put Spike in a bit of a down mood. So, Rarity leaned over to him and softly kissed him on the cheek, leaving a small lipstick print. “When you put it that way… I almost feel bad for all the dragons out there.” She said, “Although I guess most dragons live with other dragons.” “Exactly,” Spike said, with a confident smile and a nod, “I was always a pony at heart. Even if you wouldn’t go out with me before the transformation.” “After you said all this… I feel a little guilty for admitting that.” She said a little sheepishly, “Although, if you truly had grown into a dragon like the one in your book, I certainly would have shown a little more interest.” “By then you probably would have been married to some guy from Manehattan.” Spike said, his smile once again shining toward her, “Which would have been fine. I’ve always wanted to be a homewrecker.” Rarity burst in to laughter at the odd comment, as she leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder. “I think you’ve been spending too much time with Alex, Spike.” She said, as she closed her eyes and exhaled. Leaning over and placing his head on the top of hers, he closed his eyes as well, and thought about the ordeals that were still to come. He always found that he could dwell on upcoming crisis a bit too much, which would lead to losing hours of his day worrying. But, after five minutes, he took a deep breath and decided to take a moment to be happy with the mare beside him. “Well, we might as well enjoy our company together now, in case the world ends.” He said quietly, opening his eyes and looking down to her. Rarity didn’t answer. She instead let out a tiny squeak as she pressed her head lightly into his neck, seeking a more comfortable position in her sleep. “I love you, Rarity.” He muttered, as he relaxed back in to her, “We can worry about the end of the world tomorrow.” //// Trixie’s teleportation spell placed her at the top of the staircase in Star Swirl’s tower, only a short distance away from the mare she had just taken the Element of Magic from. Her form was collapsed in the center of the room, her hooves covering her eyes as she cried with just enough volume to be heard. However, Trixie was unable to move. Her legs were shaking under her. “How was that spell so… easy to cast?” She said aloud, looking up slightly toward her horn. “Is that how it’s always been for Twilight?” Trixie was horrified as the reality of what she had done sunk deeper into her mind. The Element of Magic was a lot more than a title, and an incremental bump in magical power. It was the power of a god, stuffed into a little form. “It’s amazing… isn’t it?” A voice said from in front of the blue mare, as she looked up to see Twilight, standing and facing her, with beet red eyes and damp cheeks, “Just how much stronger the Element makes you.” “Twilight- listen,” Trixie said, taking a step forward, “I had no choice! You were going to hurt—“ She sighed quietly and closed her eyes. “I don’t want to hear it.” “Please, just let me—“ “No!” Twilight shouted, as a gust of air blasted away from her body, forcing Trixie to take a step back, “Do you have any idea what you’ve done to me? Do you?!” “I—“ The purple mare shook visibly as she stared down in to Trixie’s eyes, streaks of magic escaping her body as the obvious rage within her reached it’s boiling point. “I was special!” Twilight shouted, throwing her hoof in the air as she took an aggressive step toward her, “My entire life has been about tapping the magic within me, so I could help further the study of magic! So I could protect my friends!” Trixie looked at the floor and sighed. “But now I’ve got nothing! I’m no better off than- than you were!” Twilight shouted, staking an even more aggressive step forward and throwing her hoof up to point at her friend, no longer worried about filtering the anger she was exuding, “I might as well pack up and start doing magic shows! Maybe I should wear a stupid cape too!” Taking a step back, Trixie found no words to respond with. She could only feel a dry lump in her throat that seemed to push itself outward. Her heart was pounding harder than it had during any of their battles, and because Aurora was gone, she felt even more isolated. Even more alone. “Why did you come to Ponyville anyway?” Twilight continued, turning around sharply as she shouted over her shoulder, “Was this all part of some plan to become the next Element of Magic and grow a pair of wings? So you could show me up in another competition?!” “No!” Trixie shouted, feeling her strength return after the ridiculous accusation, despite knowing that she didn’t truly mean what she was saying, “Don’t you dare say that! You’re just angry, and you don’t know what you’re saying!” Twilight growled audibly, as her body began to glow with magic, “I wish you had never come back to Ponyville! And once you a-and the rest of my f-friends save the world, I don’t want to ever see you again! Do you hear me?!” As she said the last word, a blast of magic fired in all directions around Twilight, destroying the last bits of the room that were still standing. “You don’t mean that, Twilight. We both know it.” Trixie said, perhaps too quietly to be heard. “You made me… ordinary.” She said, her tone noticeably softer, as she walked toward the large broken window overlooking the Everfree Forest and Ponyville. “And I’ll never forgive you for it.” She opened her mouth to reply one more time, but was cut off abruptly as a series of sparks began flying just behind Trixie. “Twilight!” Celestia called, as a portal opened in the center of the room, “I urgently need to speak with—“ Celestia made eye contact with Trixie, and immediately sighed, “Go rest, Trixie. That’s an order.” Before she could say another word, a portal opened at her feet, and she fell in, landing in her hospital bed that she had just woken up in ten minutes prior. At this point in time, she was well out of tears. Her eyes were puffy, her throat was as dry as sandpaper, and she had the worst headache she had ever experienced. But, in no way did she feel any malice toward Twilight, or the things she had said. “I know I’d be scared if I lost something that important to me…” She said aloud to herself, “I’d probably hate the pony that took it from me too.” Sighing for what felt like the millionth time that day, she closed her eyes and muttered. “Thank Celestia I know a sleeping spell…” And with that, she was out like a light. ////