Across town, Starlight Glimmer lay on one of the numerous couches that were interspersed throughout Twilight’s castle. It was not particularly comfortable, as Rarity had selected most of the furniture and although it matched everything perfectly its primary purpose seemed to be to support constant fainting rather than for actual sitting, or in this case laying.
Despite the seating not being comfortable, the air was cool as always and the crystal as beautiful as ever. Best of all, it was rent-free.
As she was contemplating the facets overhead, Starlight suddenly felt a pinch against her chest.
“Ouch!” she cried. She looked down to see Trixie- -who was lying on her chest- -biting her. “Did you- -did you just bite me?”
“Um…” Trixie slowly lifted her head, revealing that she had in fact left tooth marks. “The Nonviolent and Definitely Not Cannibalistic Trixie may have taken a small nibble.”
“What the heck, Trixie?!”
“It’s not my fault!” cried Trixie, suddenly be coming defensive. “I can’t help it if you look like you’d be blueberry flavored! The Great and Powerful Trixie is hungry and requires sustenance!”
“I’m not blueberry flavored!”
“Actually, you kind of are.” Trixie licked her lips. “I mean, it’s some kind of berry. Or maybe grape…hey, there’s a thought. Do you ever wonder if Twilight is grape flavored, or, like, a punch or something?”
Starlight blushed profusely. “I definitely do not think about what Twilight tastes like! Even if her wings do smell like grapes…”
“I knew it!” Trixie turned back to Starlight, who she was still laying on top of. “But, hey, sorry I tasted you. If you want take a bite of me, you can. I bet I’m delicious.”
“Eew, no!”
Trixie appeared offended. “Oh, what, is it because I don’t taste like grapes?” She turned her head and licked her shoulder. Her tongue came back covered in blue hair. “GAH!” she cried. “The Great and Powerful Trixie does not taste like she expected!”
Starlight was not sure if she should laugh or probably vomit slightly. She was in the process of doing both when a piercing scream suddenly rent the air.
In a panic, Trixie flailed and fell off the couch. “Sweet Luna’s Lumps, my uncle was right!” she cried. “Licking unicorns DOES make you hallucinate! GAH!” She began to flail. Starlight levitated her off the ground and set her down on her feet.
“You’re not hallucinating, I heard it too!”
“That’s exactly what a hallucination would say! How can I be sure you’re really Starlight? How can I be sure I’M not Starlight?”
“I don’t have time for this! Somepony’s in trouble! We have to help!”
Starlight began to gallop.
“Hold yourhorses!” grumbled Trixie. “I can’t go out like this! I’m completely nude!” She grabbed her hat and cape off a rack near the door and slid them on. “Ah. Much better. Now I’m not naked.”
The two of them raced through the crystal hallways until they nearly tripped over Spike. That in and of itself was not uncommon, as he was often underfoot and neither of them tended to pay much mind to him until they were literally trampling him. In this case, though, he barely seemed to notice them. He was lying on the floor in a pool of tears- -or what Starlight hoped were tears- -and was blubbering incessantly.
“Spike, what’s wrong?” cried Starlight.
“Did you lick a unicorn?” demanded Trixie. “Because that can make you hallucinate, you know!”
“I- -I just- -” Spike let out a horrible wail and continued weeping. As he did, he started running, leaving only a newspaper behind. Starlight watched Spike go, and then picked it up. It was soggy and partially unfurled, but it was left open to a specific page near the obituaries. The whole page only contained three large words. Starlight looked at them and read them aloud.
“Rarity has died,” she read, and then gasped as she realized what it meant.
“No, no, that’s not what it says,” said Trixie, taking the paper. “It’s in all caps. It actually says ‘RARITY HAS DIED!’” Trixie paused. “Who the heck is ‘Rarity’ and why the nubs do I care?”
“Rarity, you know, one of the Mane Six? The Element of Generosity? One of Twilight’s friends? Spike’s unrequited love interest?”
Trixie stared at Starlight blankly. “Not ringing any bells.”
“She’s white. You turned her mane green once.”
“I’ve turned a lot of manes green, Star. I can’t be expected to remember all of them.”
Starlight looked at the ad again. “This must be a misprint. This page usually just has advertisements.”
“Yes,” said Trixie. “Last week it was all about a horn enlarger pump. Which didn’t work at all.” She looked up, her eyes meeting Starlight’s. “Not- -not that I would know anything about that. The Great and Powerful Trixie already has a long, hard horn and is not trying to compensate for anything…”
“We need to talk to Twilight.”
“Why? Her horn is freakishly long.”
“About this!” cried Starlight, holding up the tear-soaked paper. “Come on!”
There were only a few places where Twilight could be found in the castle. She was either in the library reading, in the throne room being royal or discussing friendship and reading with her friends, in her bedroom sleeping or reading, or in the bathroom doing bathroom reading. On this particular day, Starlight found her in the throne room, lying on the magical map in the center and staring upward at the ceiling.
“Um…Twilight?” asked Starlight.
“You saw the paper,” she said without hesitation. Her voice sounded flat and distant. A tiny holographic model of Cloudsdale drifted by her head, bumping against her horn.
“I did,” said Starlight, holding it up. “Spike was a mess, but this doesn’t make sense- -”
“It couldn’t be clearer,” said Twilight. She turned her eyes upward so that they met Starlight’s. “And the Ponyville Courant is one of the most respectable newspapers in town.”
“But this has to be a misprint!”
“Star, I know it’s hard to deal with…but it’s written in a newspaper. With words. That’s just one step below being a book. It has to be true. Rarity is…she’s…” Twilight sighed and looked up at the ceiling again. Tears welled in the corners of her eyes.
“We should at least go out and see if- -”
“Is it wrong that I knew this would happen?”
Trixie frowned. “You knew that this was going to happen? Like…a planning kind of knowing, or…”
“No. Just a consideration of multiple possibilities.” Twilight rolled on her side and poked at Griffenstone Mountain. “I was afraid of this.”
“Of Griffenstone?”
“No. Of my own mortality. Or rather my lack of it.” She looked into Starlight’s eyes. “I’m immortal…and I’ve already outlived one of my best friends. I’m going to watch them all die…I’m going to watch YOU die. Oh Celestia…I’m going to live forever. I’m going to outlive Equestria. I’ll see the destruction of society, the extinction of ponies…” She shook her head. “In half a million years I’ll be wandering a planet covered in ice and giant apple trees with a weird robot or something…”
“That’s oddly specific.”
“You don’t have to worry,” said Trixie. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is also immortal, simply due to her sheer magical force. At least you’ll have me.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better.” Twilight closed her eyes. “Why didn’t Celestia warn me? Poor Rarity…but she’s just the first…I think I’m going to go stare at the infinite cosmos and lament my eternal existence. Then I’m going to read a book.”
Twilight’s horn glowed and she teleported somewhere else.
“Well,” said Trixie. “That went better than expected.”
“How was THAT better than you expected?”
“I’ve come to expect…what’s the word when you light yourself on fire?”
“Immolation?”
“That one. That happens to me a lot. This went okay by comparison.” Trixie smacked her lips. “Hey, do you have a craving for grape soda?”
“Come on,” said Starlight, grabbing Trixie.
“Come on where? Or what?”
“We’re going to go talk to Rarity to see if she actually died.”
“We’re going to talk to a dead body? Eew. Gross.”
Despite her protests, Trixie allowed herself to be pulled along in the hope that they could stop for something grape flavored along the way.