“Then I landed back here, in my younger and healthy body. Sable was over the map.” I glanced at the Alicorn Amulet, in the middle of the table. “And I stopped him from casting the spell that would have created Despair.” I sigh, it’s taken a long time to finally get back to where it began. “So now you know the story.” I look down at my hooves, shaking.
“That’s a bit anti-climactic. It’s just… over?” Rainbow Dash was apparently hoping for something a bit more explosive for a finale. “So, we won? I’m confused.”
“Do we have to keep an eye out for Despair now?” Applejack scratches her head, almost as lost as Rainbow Dash.
“Despair doesn’t exist. He never existed.” Starlight Glimmer understands and explains. “It never happened in the first place.”
“Yes, it did. Twilight remembers it, and that makes it real.” Thank you, Fluttershy. I smile at my yellow friend.
“I guess, from your perspective, it’s an insane story.”
“It is a bit hard to swallow, Dear. But I believe you.” Rarity nods deeply towards me.
“What do we do with the Amulet now?”
“Now that I know the spell that was used to find it, we can put better security on it. Maybe I’ll have it buried with the changeling throne. It’s safe here, for the time being.” I know, for a fact, that there isn’t anypony coming for it anytime soon.
“Twilight, are you going to be alright?” Spike puts a claw on my arm. He saw me shaking.
“It may be a while, but I’ll be fine.” I patted his hand. “Although I may need Luna’s help dealing with some new nightmares.”
“Well, I can’t help with that, but I can lift your spirits!” Pinkie jumps from her seat. “Everypony follow me! It’s time to party!” I let myself laugh as we all stand and start to head out of the map room. In her haste Pinkie isn’t watching where she is going, she suddenly slips and falls. Something silver glints as it skitters across the floor. “Woo! I’m OK!” The pink Pony leaps back to her feet, laughing afresh.
I, however, go over to see the object Pinkie has slipped on. It’s a silver mask with Lightning filigree, Sable’s silver mask. I hadn’t seen it when I arrived; I thought it hadn’t made the journey back with me. Gingerly I pick it up; it’s not damaged by Pinkie having stepped on it. I fight back the tears, holding it against my heart.
“Something wrong, Twilight?” Fluttershy steps up beside me, concern evident on her face.
“You can all go ahead, get the party started. I’ll be there in a while. I have… one last thing I need to do.” I turn towards all my friends, alive and well, beautiful and strong and happy. Everypony is here, except one. “I need to go see Sable Stardust.”
Slowly, and alone, as I did those months ago, I approach Sable’s hovel. I have to remind myself that it was only a few days, not months. As I come closer, I can first make out the charred remains of the willow out front before I see the burned out shell of his hovel. I had expected to find the cathedral tree here, but of course, it doesn’t exist yet.
Sable’s hovel is ruined; its four walls all wrecked and twisted, only this morning, by my actions. The roof has once again been hurled into the hillside. Out front, the door has been set up as a makeshift table, covered in the salvaged objects pulled from the ruins. How odd, that hadn’t happened yet. Then I realize Sable has been here for some hours, as I told my story to the others. I almost chuckle, he's repeating the actions we all took together.
I know where to find Sable, and step around to the back, where the garden had been. He’s there, sitting by the pond. The blue ceramic bowl with the crack down the side balanced on a hoof as he inspects it. For the first time, I take a long look at his coat, it's old and ragged, torn in some places. It matches him perfectly. I drop my saddlebag by the hovel’s wall.
“Sable.” I speak calmly. He glances my way. I don’t know what I thought I would see; resignation was not it. He takes a long deep breath and flings the bowl into the water. Then he stands and faces me.
“Fine. Do it.” What does he mean? “Turn me to stone, send me to Tartarus. I don’t care. It doesn’t matter.” He still can’t bring himself to meet my eyes.
“Sable…” Even I can hear the sadness in my voice.
“Get it over with.” He scowls, holding back tears. This version of Sable is more restrained than the one I know… knew.
“I’m not going to punish you.” He blinks, utterly bewildered.
“What? Why?”
“Because…” I want to step up beside him, but I know he will back away. So I settle for standing nearby, at the water’s edge. “I know what you’ve lost.” My ears droop, and I watch my reflection in the pond’s surface. The water is murky, my visage distorted.
“That was my only chance to get them all back.” Anger seeps into his voice. “And you took it from me.”
“I’m sorry… But I couldn’t-”
“You’ve killed them all over again.” His voice hardens into Despair’s. New tears come to my eyes, and I can’t stop them, they drip off my face and into the water.
“I had to stop you.” With a hoof, I wipe my eyes clear. “You didn’t know what you were about to do.”
“I know exactly what I was doing. I know I couldn’t manage the magic on my own. The Alicorn Amulet would have given me the power and the ability to control it. I planned to remove it the moment the spell was done. I wasn’t going to let it control me.”
“Sable, listen to me.” I turn to face him now. He’s standing close by, visibly struggling to control his anger. I know if I continue down this path it will only drive us to conflict. With a heavy sigh, I change course. “You once asked if I knew what failure felt like.” He blinks, not expecting this response. “I didn’t then.” I choke back more tears. He eyes me carefully, studying me.
“Now you do.” His voice drops to a quiet tone, always so perceptive. I nod.
“I lost a… very dear friend today.” His face is more than I can bear, I have to look away. “I don’t think I’ll ever see him again.” Admitting it aloud hurts almost as much as when Despair impaled me.
“You can’t possibly be referring to me.” Of his own free will he steps up beside me, I can see his reflection alongside mine in the water. “We were never that close.”
“You don’t even know. It’s not fair.” Sadly I shake my head. “It should have been you to come back.”
“What… you can’t mean…” Has he already figured it out? “What did I do?” The sheer heartbreak in his voice almost breaks me too.
“Your spell failed.” He starts to shake, as he did when we first found his family. “The consequences almost destroyed Equestria.”
“No… no… It was supposed to save them. Nopony was supposed to die because of me.”
“You had to send me back, to stop you.”
“That’s… impossible. I had it all figured out.”
“There was a factor you were unaware of.” I look back to the house and my saddlebag. Using my magic, I remove the silver mask from the bag, the face of hope, and bring it over to me. Sable eyes it carefully as it passes before him and into my arms.
“Where did you get that?”
“It’s a gift. I know it will hurt, but you need to know the truth.” I make to put the mask on him, but he backs away. “Please, Sable. I couldn’t save you then, let me save you now. Let me help you save your family.” He blinks in confusion, stunned for a moment. It’s the only moment I need, and I slip the mask over his face. “I’m sorry.”
He stumbles back, reaching for the mask as it begins to glow, trying to remove it. The mask refuses to let him go. One hoof falls into the pond, and he stumbles; I right him with magic as he nearly falls over, and I set him where his garden had been. His eyes flare with light, and he freezes in place. I can’t watch and have to shut my eyes. For several long moments, he sits there in silence.
“Twilight Sparkle.” His voice is surprisingly calm. I open my eyes and turn to face him. He stands there, just in front of me, in all his restored glory. My Sable Stardust. His mane has the streaks of gold and silver. Alicorn wings spread wide, the feathers glittering like the night sky. His gold and silver cutie-mark visible on his flank.
“Sable!” I rush to embrace him. But my arms fall through his body, and I almost fall to the dirt.
“If you are seeing this message, then my fears have come to pass.” It’s an illusion. Looking again, I can see the physical Sable still where he was last, face raised and eyes open full with light emanating from them.
“No… no, please.”
“I am sorry.” The illusion sighs. “You will have questions. I will try to answer as many as I can guess.” Alicorn Sable sits, in nearly the same stance as the physical one. “I know you will give the mask to Sable, to me. You think it will restore my memory of my family.” He’s right, that is what I am doing. “I hate to tell you this, but it won’t work. I don’t think you will have noticed, but it’s not the same mask.” I blink, and my heart drops. Alicorn Sable taps his head, over his right eye. “My original mask has no left eye socket, and the right one is damaged. This one, which you have now given to me, it was created by the magic that restored my body, using the Alicorn Amulet as material.”
“Then what is happening?” Alicorn Sable doesn’t answer my question. He glances around, out the windows of my room which I cannot see through the illusion. He looks forward with confidence, and I place myself where I can imagine him looking at me.
“This world is dead. I can see that now, so can you. I suspect the map no longer has the strength to send us both back.” I have to choke back more tears; this is no time for sorrow. I want to hear Sable’s final message clearly. “I think you’ve noticed; your body is failing. I don’t think you will last more than a few more days, for whatever counts as a day here in this ashen place. If I don’t send you back into a healthy body, you will die. I cannot let that happen.”
“You didn’t.” I smile, even though I know he cannot hear or see me.
“I’ll go with you, if I can, and you will never see this message. I’ll be able to say this all in person. I don’t know what will happen to this horrible place when you stop Despair. Maybe it will continue to exist, and maybe I’ll be stuck here for the rest of my life. If that’s true, I will search it.” Alicorn Sable smiles. “Who knows, maybe the Crystal Empire survived. Maybe the curse only affected Equestria; there are still lands far to the south and across the seas. There may still be sources of power I can use to return to you.” But his smile fades. “Most likely it will cease to have ever existed, and I’ll be nothing but a memory. I won’t say, ‘don’t cry for me.’ I want you to remember me. I want you to remember my orrery, my drawings, all the little things which brought you a smile.”
“I will.”
“I suppose I am only delaying the inevitable.” Alicorn Sable sighs again. “I am sorry. For so much. For all the pain I’ve caused you, that I’m still causing you. For all the trouble and hassle of taking care of me. Of course, for creating Despair.” He pauses for a few moments. “I know it’s not fair to ask this of you, but I want you to apologize for me. To Pinkie Pie, for always being angry with her. To Rainbow Dash, for calling her names. To Rarity and Applejack and Starlight Glimmer and everypony else. Especially Fluttershy, for all her sweet kindness towards me, I never got the chance to thank her properly.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll tell them all.” Now the Alicorn Sable laughs briefly.
“I also want to apologize to the Cutie Mark Crusaders as well, although I imagine in your new timeline we will never have met. Such a shame too, I just figured out how to safely give Scootaloo wings like mine.” He glances down at his Alicorn wings. “Well, maybe not as they are now, you know what I mean.” I giggle quietly. He takes a deep breath and looks back over his shoulder, to where I would have been sleeping. “I suppose that’s all I want to say.” He blinks slowly before returning his gaze forward. “But… that’s not true.”
“What then? Don’t keep any more secrets, please.” He takes several deep breaths, I know when he is steadying himself for something challenging to say.
“I love you, Twilight Sparkle.” He smiles, honestly and softly. It’s my turn to blink in confusion. I didn’t know. I didn’t see it. The others could tell, even as I told them the story, they could see it. Looking back, even Cadence could see it. It all makes sense now. “I finally said it. It’s why I could do those things; at the Crystal Empire, to stand before Despair, to save you with everypony’s power. And even now, sacrificing myself because I love you. It’s what my cutie-mark means.” He laughs at himself, tears flowing down his face. “It’s not fair.” He wipes them away. I can see his wings shaking; if they were still glass, they would be chiming. “I thought I was ready to go. But I’m not.” He looks up at the sky he can’t see, tear-streaks still wet. “Ah, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I can’t do it; I can’t leave you.” He looks forward again, where I am sitting and listening. “So I’m going to have to ask you for one more apology.”
“Anything.” I let my tears flow freely now as well.
“I want you to apologize to me. To Sable Stardust. Because I’m doing it again. I’m recreating that spell I cast on Pinewood.”
“What?” I say it aloud, dumbfounded.
“I’ve been stalling this whole time. As I speak, my silver mask is re-writing my memories. Installing myself as I am now into the body I was. By now it should all be done.” I pull myself away from the image and stare at the physical Sable. He knew I wouldn’t interfere with the message. “If this works, then I’ll be there with you again.” Still, the illusion of the Alicorn remains. “If it doesn’t, then I guess I never existed. All I’ve got now is hope.” He smiles warmly, and nods, that same familiar and loving bow. “I suppose that will have to be enough. Goodbye, Twilight Sparkle.”
The illusion blips out of existence. The light fades from Sable’s neon blue eyes as he brings them to meet mine. Ten thousand thoughts race through my mind; I don’t know what to say. Which Sable Stardust is here with me now?
Slowly, with trembling hooves, he reaches up and removes his mask…