//------------------------------// // Twilight is Suceeded // Story: Passing On Together // by SamSwordsman123 //------------------------------// Many years dragged by for Twilight as she ruled Equestria to the best of her abilities. But to her relief, she had found a worthy successor. Coincidentally it was Starlight and Sunburst’s daughter, Luster Dawn. Now, tonight she would be able to leave Equestria in the hooves of somepony else and join her friends. All of them had begun discussing retirement, and they wanted to all go to Silver Shoals, the same place where Celestia and Luna had gone. It was perfect. Twilight would still be following in her mentor's hoofprints, and she’d be following her friends as well. Their time would soon be upon them, and she needed to get rid of her immortality if she was to join them. She’d observed Luster’s progress ever since Starlight and Sunburst had enrolled her in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns (Twilight kept it named after her mentor to honor her, even though she could have changed it to her name). As Starlight and Sunburst had hoped, Luster had been very gifted with magic, and was the first to succeed in a near impossible task that Twilight had set up for an “entrance exam”. She’d been able to move the sun using the amulet Twilight had first used when preparing to take over for Celestia and Luna. That was no easy task as it required a great amount of magic power to perform, Twilight herself had struggled with it and required Sunburst's help to reset the amulet when the moon and sun appeared together. But somehow, Luster had managed to do it. Applying a great power that caused the sun to move back more than a full day to dawn. That was far greater than any of the other students Twilight gave the exam to. They’d barely managed to move the sun back a little. Now, Twilight realized that the impossible entrance exam she herself had gone through when hatching Spike's egg as a filly had never been a test to get into the school of magic. It was a test to show you had the powerful potential of an alicorn. Luster’s deed had earned Twilight’s recognition. She’d taken the young filly on as a personal protégee just as Celestia had done for her. Luster had proven to be a lot like Twilight had been when she’d first started out her journey. Like Twilight, she’d believed friendship was a waste of time, only to embrace it happily after Twilight sent her to Ponyville and she began to make her own friends. She was also kind, intelligent, and always thought about others before herself. Now Luster was an Alicorn just like Twilight. She’d been of great aid in a recent catastrophe where the REAL Grogar returned. If not for her, Twilight would not be alive now. Twilight’s eyes widened as she got to her hooves. All of her friends were down on the ground after being hit by Grogar’s magic. The evil ram laughed. “No! Girls!” she screamed desperately as tears filled her eyes. They couldn’t be- “It seems all the magic of your friendship will be your undoing!” Twilight narrowed her eyes and tried to call upon all the magic she could. But without her friends, the Princess of Friendship had nowhere near as much power as before. They had been able to fight Grogar evenly together but alone she stood no chance. Grogar sent a dark rainbow out like before, it sent Twilight’s beam back and hit her. She fell and was not able to rise again. Twilight had thought Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow were strong when they’d had this monster's magic. But it had been divided among them. This was all in one vessel, and the bell he’d stolen back had absorbed the energy from her own friendship magic when she’d hit those other three villains and stripped them of his power. Now her greatest triumph was going to result in her ultimate defeat. She could only watch helplessly as Grogar approached her, a yellow orb forming above his head as he grinned evilly. “Get away from the Princess!” a familiar voice shouted. Grogar’s attention was drawn to the side. Twilight weakly turned her head in that direction as well as her vision blurred. Luster stood there with the four best friends she’d made in Ponyville some time ago. Twilight then passed out. When she awoke, she saw to her relief that her friends were alive. Luster’s friends were still there, but she was not. Grogar was gone also. “Princess Twilight!” Luster’s griffin friend Georgia exclaimed as she lay over her. “Where’s Grogar?” Twilight questioned. “We defeated him!” Georgia said. “Luster was putting everything she had into shielding you and the rest of us. Then she suddenly turned his own magic against him somehow! But now she’s… she’s gone!” Twilight felt her horn suddenly radiate magic. She let out a gasp and wide smile of relief as she realized what it meant. Luster was it! With a spell she’d learned from the forbidden archives, she entered the area filled with flowing light. The place where she herself had received her alicorn wings from Celestia all those years ago. Luster was looking around frightfully. “Luster!” Twilight called out to her student. Luster looked in her direction. “Princess!” She galloped up to Twilight. “Where are we? Are we… dead? I thought I’d defeated Grogar.” “You did,” Twilight assured her with a nuzzle. “You turned the magic of friendship against him. You’ve proven that you are ready.” “Ready? Ready for what?” Luster asked. Twilight smiled and sung the exact same song her mentor sang to her when she’d become an Alicorn. Then she cast the spell, and they returned to Equestria with Luster having a pair of wings. Now. A few years after crowning Luster as the second Princess of Friendship, Twilight was ready to step down and finally let a new Princess take charge. All of her worries about outliving her friends would be put to rest, and she had somepony that she had absolutely no doubt would work for the best of Equestria. Luster Dawn: Luster waited nervously as Rarity adjusted her dress. “Do you really think I’m ready to become the next ruler of Equestria?” she asked the older mare. Rarity giggled. “When we were younger, Twilight doubted herself many times. She’d have the worst panic attacks and make long lists which we called her "Twilighting" phase. You are a lot like her, darling. That’s why I’m sure you are ready. You’ve come to understand friendship as much as she has. Believe in yourself, Luster.” Luster sighed. She waited until Rarity was done. After the fashionista pony was satisfied the dress was perfect, she took one last look to be sure. “This is going to be the last dress I will ever make,” Rarity said sadly. “I have to make sure it is perfect. At least I don’t have to worry about leaving spiders on you like I did with Twilight at her coronation. I do hope everything else goes smoothly for the others. It will be a good chance at redemption this time around.” Luster chuckled. She’d heard about the coronation disaster. Everything had gone wrong with Twilight’s friends doing their tasks. She’d assumed it had been the reason that they’d apparently drifted apart. But she’d been wrong, Twilight and her friends were still close as ever. Now that she was taking over, they would be able to spend their final days together at Silver Shoals. All of them had done so much for Equestria over the years and they deserved to be reunited permanently after spending so much time apart. Luster would be taking Twilight’s place as Princess, and Twilight would be taking back her place in her friend’s everyday lives like it used to be. She emerged from the changing room to meet her parents. Starlight and Sunburst both smiled as they looked at their daughter in the purple dress Rarity had made for her. Trixie was there with them as well. “You look beautiful, Luster,” Starlight said as she nuzzled her daughter. “We’re both so proud of you.” “Yeah, first you go to Celestia’s School and became so talented. Unlike me,” Sunburst said with a nervous grin as he adjusted his glasses fidgettingly. “Then you become Twilight’s protégee, and now you’re going to be the new Ruler of Equestria!” “You’re one great and powerful pony. Taking after your Aunt Trixie!” Trixie said with a smirk as she poked Luster. “As well as Mommy, Daddy, and goody four hooves Twilight.” Luster blushed. “Thanks Mom, Dad, Aunt Trixie. I’m glad you guys are all so proud.” “Well, you best not keep Twilight waiting. We’ll see you down there,” Starlight said. The family hugged and then Luster made her way up to the tower where Twilight would be addressing her subjects for the transfer of power. The Princess stood there magnificently. Spike, now a large dragon and not the baby or even teenager he’d once been long ago, stood by her side as he always did when not performing his duties as Friendship Ambassador. Twilight smiled at Luster, then turned to address her subjects below. The crowd contained every race in Equestria, Ponies, Yaks, Kirin, Changelings, Hippogriffs, and Dragons. “It has been my honor to govern this country in place of Celestia and Luna. But now it is my turn to hand over the throne to another successor. Luster Dawn has proven to me that she is capable- “Now, hold on!” a loud voice echoed throughout Canterlot, startling every creature present. Discord, the spirit of chaos, suddenly materialized out of thin air above them. Twilight jumped. “You honestly expect me to let you simply walk out on your crown after all the tests I gave you to prepare you to take it?” he asked, grabbing her by the face. “Why in Equestria are you doing this? Oh wait, let me guess! It is because you’re afraid of outliving your friends since you’ve been made immortal!” There were gasps from the crowd below at this revealation. “Princess Twilight is immortal?” “Can that really be true?” “She has the same flowing mane as Celestia and Luna!” “But they died!” Discord looked from Twilight to the crowd below. “Why don’t you go ahead and tell them the truth?” Twilight was silent for a moment, then gave him a big frown. Everything had been going perfectly so far. She walked over to the balcony and spoke once again. “Yes. It is true. I am immortal like Celestia and Luna were. During my coronation they transferred their immortality to me so they could pass on.” Many ponies began speaking at once, their voices overlapping so Twilight couldn’t make what they were saying. “Quiet! One at a time!” she screamed in her royal voice before pointing to a random pony. “You! What are your thoughts on this!” The stallion she’d pointed to hesitated. “Well I… I am surprised that you are trying to pass on the crown to someone else even though you could rule forever.” Many ponies nodded at this. “You are our princess! How can you just choose to leave us like this!” “Please stay, Princess Twilight! We love you! We need you to protect us!” Twilight’s heart fell seeing all the saddened and angry ponies who were now upset by her decision. “Believe me! I wish I could please you all! But if I stay immortal, it will mean losing all my best friends!” This caused the ponies below to be silent for a moment. Down in the crowd, Twilight’s friends were looking up at her with tears. “She’s actually willing to give up something like immortality and ruling to be with us?” Applejack said. “Oh, what a friend!” Rarity exclaimed in her dramatic voice. “I don’t know if I could do that.” “So loyal,” Rainbow Dash said. A blue dragon wielding a scepter flew up to the balcony where Twilight stood with Luster, Discord and Spike. Like the purple and green dragon, Ember had grown up these past few decades. Though she had grown slower and Spike had become taller, she still maintained her more lean dragon figure. Still when she landed, she caused a thud. “You know Twilight, even if you do outlive your friends, its not like you will lose all of them. You still have me, Spike, and others.” Twilight sighed. “You’re right, Ember. I will always have friends as the Princess of Friendship. But many more of them will pass sooner or later. I’d be facing an unending cycle of loss. Just like Celestia did during her time ruling. That was the hardest part of her job, she only remained on the throne for a thousand years because she wanted Luna back.” Discord chuckled. “You don’t need to necessarily lose any of them, your highness. I brought Sombra back from the dead! I’ve kept little Angel Bunny from aging all these years for Fluttershy. I could easily halt every creature’s aging process with a snap of my fingers! You can rule over a land of immortals!” “Are you crazy!” Applejack yelled from down below. “Do you have any idea how much the population would grow if every creature was immortal! We’d never be able to feed that many ponies without seriously damaging the environment!” Discord sighed. “You’re right! So much for that idea. Well, here’s another option. I could simply make the five of you immortal!” He pointed to the Mane 5 whose eyes widened. “That way Twilight has all her best friends by her side. Together forever.” The five of them were silent for a moment. “Immortal Rainbow Dash does have an awesome ring to it!” the Pegasus said. Applejack put a hoof on Rainbow Dash. “That’s a generous offer and all,Discord. But I’m gonna have to refuse. Death is a natural occurrence and… should be accepted. We’ve already lost members of our family.” Applejack looked down, clutching the scarf that had once belonged to Granny Smith who’d passed on shortly after Celestia and Luna. Her eyes began to water. Noticing this, Rainbow Dash put a foreleg around her friend to comfort her. When Granny Smith had passed away, Applejack had fallen deep into depression. The Apple Farm had nearly collapsed until Rainbow had been the one to pull Applejack out of it and get her back on her hooves. Rarity sighed. “As much as I do relish the thought of remaining young and beautiful forever. I find the idea of watching everypony else I love die to be ugly beyond words.” “Wouldn’t be a fun thing,” Pinkie Pie said. Fluttershy nodded. “It would be cruel, not only for us, but of us as well to do that.” Discord sighed. “Oh poo! Well, what does every pony think Twilight should do than?” The ponies looked up at their ruler who shivered nervously. “Well,” the same stallion who’d spoken first said. “We don’t want Princess Twilight to rule us if it would hurt her. But… if she is gone than who is going to be responsible for maintaining harmony in Equestria?” “All of you will of course,” Twilight said proudly, now feeling a wave of relief. “All of us?” the stallion asked. Twilight nodded. “When I defeated Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow I told them that there would always be darkness in Equestria. But there will always be light as well to oppose it. The Magic of Friendship is that light, and even if I and all my friends are gone, others will continue our mission after we are. But more… I believe that it is truly my time to pass the torch on. Truthfully, I don’t think that if I stayed behind after my friends died, I’d be able to wield the Magic of Friendship anymore. It would only grow weaker as I lost more and more friends. Even the thought of that weakens my magic. If not for Luster, I would have fallen against Grogar. There is no doubt in my mind she is fully capable of taking on my role as the Princess of Friendship now. I know that I’m leaving you all in capable hooves. But to be fair, I think it would be best to vote. All with faith in Luster raise your hooves.” Twilight did so, quickly followed by her friends sitting at their table. The rest of the ponies raised their hooves as well. Knowing that Twilight’s magic would weaken if she lost her friends, they knew they needed a new group of Protectors to defend them and carry the magic of friendship. Twilight smiled. “Well, that settles it then.” Twilight lifted her crown from her head and shot a beam of magic into it. Just like at her coronation years ago when Celestia and Luna transferred their power to her, it took a new form. Now it was a sun crown like Celestia’s though with Luster’s rising sun cutie mark at the top. Twilight then put it on Luster's head, Equestria now had a new ruler and Princess of Friendship. “All hail Princess Luster Dawn!”