She sat, looking down at the grave in front of her. Tears slowly trickled down her cheeks, even though she had cried now for nearly a week after he was gone. He was the last of her family... save for one, who waited patiently behind her.
Stellar moved to Twilight, placing a hoof on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Twilight."
"I know." Twilight replied.
Stellar tried to think of something else to say... but no words came to her mind. She'd never had a family, never had foals... so the pain wasn't as real to her as it was to Twilight. She had cried as each one of her nephews and nieces, great-nephews and great-nieces had passed, and had always stood by Twilight as she grieved. But, after so many deaths, Twilight was cursing her immortality. Each one was a crack in her heart... and the last of her immediate family's death hung heavy on her now.
Then Twilight spoke. "Did you find it?" She asked Stellar. Stellar remained silent for a few minutes, then Twilight asked again "Stellar... Did you find it?"
"Yes." Stellar finally replied.
"Will it work?" Twilight asked.
"As far as I can tell... Yes." Stellar answered.
"Then give it to me." Twilight said, her voice almost giving a command, not relaying a request.
"It won't work on all of them, Twilight." Stellar told her sister. "With what you have... it might work on five, no more."
"That will be enough." Twilight said as she got to her hoofs.
Stellar rose as well. "You do realise, you have one shot at using this. If you fail, alicorn or not, you will join them."
"Then at least we'll be together again." Twilight answered as she walked past Stellar.
Stellar nodded as she turned and fell into step beside Twilight. "And if it does work..."
"I know." Twilight replied.
"You'll have to watch it all over again... but this time..."
"I'll cross that river if I get to it, Sis." Twilight said as she looked up. "If I did it once before, I can do it again... and this time, maybe they will too."
"Maybe..." Stellar said as they approached Canterlot from the old graveyard.
"But... you'll stand with me on this, Sis?" Twilight asked, sounding unsure.
"Always, Sis." Stellar replied. "I may not agree with what you're planning, but it's your right to try this... now that everypony else is gone. And I will stand by you... not matter what."
Twilight gave a sad smile, but her tears slowly dried up. "Thank you, Stellar."
Stellar just nodded. "If you do go, Twi'... wait for me. I'll join you at the end."
Twilight looked back at Stellar for the first time. "At the end?" She asked.
Stellar nodded. "The end of Everything." She clarified.
Twilight nodded to Stellar as their eyes met, and the bond they shared flared brighter than ever. "I'll wait." She promised.
=======
As Twilight and Celestia walked down the long corridor towards the Vault of Harmony, Stellar watched from the back of the hall. Sheathed in white-and-gold armor, she watched Teacher and Student as they walked along. She saw the ghostly figures surround Twilight in a way that Celestia couldn't, because she could feel what Twilight was feeling almost as well as Twilight herself could. She'd felt the loneliness crawl up over Twilight as the years passed.
Twilight had never gotten over the deaths of her friends.
Stellar just sighed. She'd tried to make up for their absence, Faust above knew she had. So had Shining and Cadance. But the hole in Twilight's heart was just too big to fill. They'd talked about what was more important, and nothing Stellar had said would change Twilight's mind, now she had made it up. Stellar had found the spell in the Great Tome... and now Twilight was going to use it. Not even Celestia could change Twilight's mind, now that she had found a way... a way back to the happiness she had missed so much.
But Stellar knew what it would cost Twilight...
It would cost her Forever. It would cost her Eternity.
It would cost Twilight her immortality as an Alicorn.
Stellar followed along behind them as they approached the Vault of Harmony, as the resting place of the five mares that had formed Team Harmony had been dedicated upon its completion. Stellar had been in there many a time with Twilight, as she remembered them on the anniversary of the day they had gained the Elements of Harmony and freed Luna from Nightmare Moon. But today, Twilight was going in alone. She'd even told Stellar that she didn't want her in there with her, in case Stellar's presence caused something to go wrong.
Stellar watched as the Great Door opened and Twilight went in, the door closing behind her. Stellar took up her place before it, guarding it from anypony or anything that might approach it. She looked up at Celestia as the older alicorn looked saddened and gave her a soft look of sympathy. Celestia returned it with a sad smile, but the heaviness on their hearts was so hard to bear.
Then Stellar felt the magic begin.
Stellar heard the impossibly-powerful Spell of Ressurection that she had found and given to Twilight as Twilight started to sing it. No mere chant or reading, this spell altered the web and weave of Time and Space, bringing back the immortal souls of those it was cast upon; and it was sung, for to break Harmony using this spell... It ironically required Harmony to empower it.
Stellar felt the dedication in Twilight's heart as she put everything on the line for those she loved more than Life itself. She felt the pain as the magic ripped Twilight's immortality away and fed it into the graves in the room...
Waited as the moments passed...
And she felt the joy as Twilight regained consciousness and saw her friends there before her once again, the same ages they were when she'd become an alicorn. To Twilight, it was as if no time had passed, and to the Five, it was also as if no time had passed. They had their memories of their aging and deaths, but the life that flowed through them was if they'd never aged from that point, just as Twilight hadn't aged. Stellar smiled again as she felt her sister's heart blossom once more, the love she felt reviving her within herself, back to the state of Life she'd missed so much.
Stellar looked at Celestia and just nodded, the smile on her face telling Celestia all she needed to know. The solar alicorn let out a sigh of relief and looked at the huge closed door. Then she realised and looked at the door a little harder. "If Twilight is no longer an alicorn... how is she going to open the door?" Celestia asked.
Stellar thought on that, then the irony of the situation got to her, and she broke up laughing. "I think I can do it." Stellar answered as she grinned.
Celestia returned Stellar's smile, her whole being lightening as the alicorns shared a moment of hilarity. Then Celestia's face turned serious again. "Open the door then, Knight-Captain Sparkle. Let us see what has eventuated within." She ordered.
Stellar nodded, walked forward and turned, then her horn lit up as she remembered the key-spell Twilight had taught her. The huge star-tumblers of the great door rotated and the doors opened, to reveal the six friends lying in front of the stands holding a lifetimes' worth of memories in the group photos they held...