It had been Applejack who was the first to go.
A testament to her stubbornness, she had insisted on doing work around the farm far past her frail haunches and graying back would allow. Nearly dislocated a hip at one point, broke a few bones another. Yet, to her credit, she hadn’t let age take her in life, nor death. Instead, she had been swiftly knocked dead by a tree she’d kicked just a bit too hard. It had crackled down, easily crushing her skull in. At least she’d gotten a tree full of apples down out of it, tree included.
Twilight probably had the hardest time dealing with that one, not only was it unexpected and painfully (literally) quick but because the rest of the Apple Family had to go and be so damn secretive about it. Family only funeral, buried out in the far back of the orchard, telling people only on a need-to-know basis. Honestly, the only thing that assured Twilight she was really dead and gone, not locked up in a cellar with the cider was when she got a postcard with Apple Bloom wearing her straw hat. Kidnapped and locked in a cellar sure, but not without that hat, then again...she might have had spares… Twilight hadn't ruled out murder either, Big Mac and just a very large shovel, it was a possibility! She assured herself. Though it was also a possibility she had finally lost it after another one of those 5-hour meetings over….what was it this week again? Kirin inclusive architecture? Or was that last week? She didn’t care enough to check.
Rainbow Dash had been next.
Twilight couldn’t help but wonder if somewhere in the pit of the afterlife that upset her, she’d come in second, to her old-time rival Applejack, in like the most important race ever! It sounded like something they would compete over, she could see them in some twisted alternate universe hitting themselves with blight sprayers and jumping off clouds. Betting over who’d die first.
Twilight was glad she was taking the slow and steady route on that one.
Anyways, how’d she die you ask? She’d just got kinda sick, feather flu can get really bad in April, it can get really bad when you’ve been pushing yourself. Leading the most elite flyers in Equestria ain’t easy. Twilight had spent the entire week in the hospital with her, switching between bawling her eyes out and giving Rainbow half-awake friendship will survive speeches. She was right too, friendship did survive, Rainbow not so much.
Twilight set out her work along the rim of the crystal table, taking care to keep the frail pages from smudging into each other. Holding Down the curls in the thick, yellowing parchment with inkwells and some of her more elaborate Quills, crafted with thick medal tips and intricately painted feathers. Personally, a quill was a quill, but they were great paperweights. They’d been a gift actually, hence why they weren’t her usual style, from one of Pinkie's many… “Super Awesome Really Sad I Superduper Miss You Parties”. Almost beat out Trixie with that one, then Trixie had started her “The Sad and Grieving Trixie’s in honor of her great and powerful assistant Equestrian Moping Tour”. Guess Pinkie would have to live to make the best “working title” another day. Or not.
After she’d set out her notes, Twilight pulled out the fully copied scrawl, pressing it down with her hooves, glancing at Starswirl's cutie mark scrawled on the top. She then pulled away, smiling while giving herself what she considered a well-deserved pat on the back with a wing.
Not that setting this all up was some unusual accomplishment. This in fact was just her ordinary weekend, but it was a magical marvel nonetheless.
Starlight would have appreciated it, it was a perfect copy of her altered spell after all. If she were still around. Then again she did kind of destroy the world a few times, kinda had it coming. Not that that stopped Twilight from missing her. They’d had some good times together, and who else was there to practice magic with?
Well, there had been Rarity…
She’d gotten rather into studying magic on her last legs, something Twilight wouldn’t have expected. Then again, she didn’t fully buy it. Rarity was probably just worried about her, after all watching all your friends get picked off one by one, knowing you’ll live for thousands of years bearing that grief, it does things to a pony.
Rarity seemed to be willing to do just about anything to keep Twilight's mind off of it, even if that meant letting Twilight teach her magic she’d never use. She didn’t have anything else to keep her busy anyways after she’d handed off her boutiques in her old age. Magic filled that space, she had a lot to learn, still did, too bad.
Twilight motioned for the small snake-like shadow who was now posted, cautiously, at the door to enter, turning her back as a furry slithering whispered behind her, coming to a tentative stop at her side. “You called.” It was a low, deep voice, old but with some spirit, some slyness buried deep within its throat.
“You said you wanted to come this time.” Twilight pointed towards the outline of the spell, “I know you can't bring her back with your magic, but this, this is the real deal.”
“Fluttershy is really… somewhere in this table?" sarcasm. How unlike him these days.
“They all are.”
“And you do this every week?”
“Some friendships last a lifetime… but I promised them… I’d make ours last an eternity.” She smiled, clicking her tail against the back of her hooves as she swallowed some small lump of triumph.
“Next time, Twilight, next time, I need to think about this.” And in a snap, he was gone, and Twilight was alone, she was alone a lot recently.
But not for long. No. Not today.
Twilight shook her head, bringing her front legs to rest upon the table as her horn burst into a flash of light, a hot purple glow encasing it, the magic leaving her with a soothing burning sensation. She closed her eyes, before releasing the full front of her magic at the scrawl, resting squarely in the middle of the table. It lit up, and with the twist of an ethereal clock, she was sucked into the map.
It was a familiar sight, right where she’d left off, but with the table cleared of spells and notes, and with a few party cannons sticking out from chairs and chandler, oh! And the corpse hanging onto her leg.
(“I created that spell to send myself back in time. So even when you cast it, I still get sent back here.”)
It got worse every time. Oh, Starlight, what did that graveyard do to you?
There, hugging onto her hind leg, was an old, and decayed corpse. Its fresh bones were yellowed and muddied, roots tangled amongst ghostly white ribs, strange lichen growing up the leg and hip. There were thick clumps of mud and sand in the stomach and a nest of ants spilling out of the mouth, which was properly deformed, the marrow stretched and chipped. There were also various clumps of clotted fur and flesh still holding on, though only by thinning strands of dry blood and rotted tissue.
Twilight sighed, sucking in hot air as she shook her hoof free, bones and flesh groaning and rattling in protest, but ultimately falling away, crumpling against the floor.
Then, after pulling herself out of the grasp of death, she could turn her head up. The hardest part was over, and she greeted the expected sound of knocking at the castle door.
Her friends were there, and she could hear Starlight outside wandering the hallway. She was probably lost again. Spike ought to be waking up from his afternoon nap.
She could go and join them, for now until...well until she had to return to ruling Equestria at the end of the weekend...and then after that, infinity.