Princess Twilight Sparkle rolled up the scroll and sealed it with the wax emblem. "Spike?" she called out. The large drake entered her study. "I have a letter that needs to be sent right away."
Spike looked at the ornate letter C embossed on the scroll seal and frowned.
"Twilight, you don't need to keep sending friendship reports," he said.
"I know. This is different," she said, levitating it over to him.
"Twilight, you need to stop doing this," he said with growing concern.
"Please?" Twilight begged him. "It's important. Please send it right away."
"You know my dragon fire doesn't work like that anymore," he said.
"Can you please deliver it?" she asked.
"You could just send it by post to Silver Shoals."
"I need you to make sure that- that it gets to her!"
Spike could see that Twilight was on the verge of tears. Her eyes were already red. She had been crying again recently. He looked down at the scroll in his hand. It was dotted with watermarks from her teardrops while she had written it. On any other day, he would have accused her crying as emotional blackmail. But he couldn't bear to see her cry again over this.
"Okay. Okay Twilight. But this has to be the last time!" he said. She nodded. He turned to leave, stepping out onto the balcony and spreading his wings. He knew damn well this would not be the last time. It was a long flight to Silver Shoals, but he knew the way well.
The staff and residents of Silver Shoals were familiar with the dragon courier. He had been there far more often than he would have liked. The manager stepped out of her office onto the patio to greet him once again.
"The usual?" she asked, seeing the familiar scroll in his palm. He nodded. "Would you like some company?" He nodded. She walked alongside him to his delivery destination. "How is she doing?" she asked. She didn't even have to say who. He knew what she meant.
"She's having another bad day I think," he said. "I thought she was doing better for a while but..."
"She has lost a lot of ponies in her life. You both have," she said, walking beside him on the stone walkway.
The memories of his friends flittered through his mind in a flash, and then they were gone just as quickly. Even the pony he thought that he loved more than any other. The expression on his face never changed. He had become used to it. Almost numb to it. Everypony he had met since then, their mortality was always at the forefront of his mind. It kept him distanced from getting attached.
"I thought that it would have gotten easier for her by now," he said.
"I work in a retirement village," she said. "I've seen more than my share of ponies pass. It does get easier, but it's never easy." The stone walkway turned into a gravel path as they neared their destination.
"Do you think that's why they retired?" he asked. "To not have to watch so many ponies... pass?"
"Maybe," she said. "But I really can't say. They never talked about any of that stuff." She stopped walking. He looked back at her. She waved him on. "This is you," she said and then turned around to leave. Spike sighed and pressed on, walking to the end of the gravel path to where Celestia was.
"Hey," Spike greeted without formality. "I've got another letter for you. From Twilight, of course. I keep telling her she doesn't need to keep sending you these, but she, uh, she really misses you. We all do..." He held out the scroll. He looked at where Luna was, beside her. "Both of you." He scratched the back of his neck, unsure of what else to say. After making the trip so many times, there wasn't much else to say. He wiped his eyes. "Anyway, I'll just leave this here with you." Before he flew away, he tossed the scroll into the eternal flame, just below the engraving in the stone memorial.
In loving memory of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna