//------------------------------//
// And memories never die. 
// Story: Old Memories, Older World 
// by Eltirions 
//------------------------------//

First it had been her parents. That, she had been able to bear, with the support of her friends.

Then Celestia and Luna. The departure of her mentor hurt, but again her friends had pulled through for her.

Then her friends, one by one. And this time, only her remaining family could offer any comfort.

Then Discord. He had been unable to live on without Fluttershy, and she hadn’t had the heart to convince him.

Her brother, and with him, Cadence. The alicorn did not want to live without her love, and they passed in each other’s embrace.

Students, friends, all came and went, eventually becoming nothing more than the blink of an eye.

But it was the final death that broke her.

Spike’s.

When he passed, after more than two thousand years, she stopped caring. Nothing mattered anymore.

That wasn’t wholly true. One thing mattered, and she was sitting in front of her.

‘’Auntie?’’

Twilight opened her eyes, and looked at her niece. Images flashed in her mind’s eye: the first time she had met her, together with her first friends. Gaining her cutie mark, and the celebration that followed. Her coronation, and the long talks over the trappings and responsibilities of being royalty.

Now, the alicorn stood just as tall as her, with the same flowing mane that Celestia had once had, tied up in a bun. And she really looked a lot like her old mentor, now that Twilight thought of it. Their coats weren’t precisely the same colour, but it was close enough, and if she added a light green streak to her mane she could perfectly pass for her, if one ignored the crystal heart with a snowflake in it that adorned her flanks, and also ignored her larger-than-normal wings, even for alicorns.

They sat on what had once been Mount Canterhorn. Now it was destroyed, a ruin that was the result of nuclear war. Thousands of years had passed since she and Flurry had left Equus to its fate, travelling the galaxy. And when they had returned, they had found a planet devoid of life, only overgrown ruins remaining of the great civilizations that had once been there. They had searched long and hard, but no life was to be found. The ponies were gone, the griffons were gone, the dragons were gone. 

The Crystal Empire had crumbled into shards, no longer sustained by the power of the Crystal Heart. Only the tallest of skyscrapers yet remained in the cities of Equestria, and even they would fall soon. In Ponyville, just her castle still stood, but it had dimmed and darkened.

‘’Auntie?’’ Flurry asked again.

Twilight fixed a smile. ‘’I’m fine.’’

Flurry rolled her eyes. ‘’You’re not. You haven’t been for a long time.’’

Twilight inclined her head in acknowledgement of the truth. Flurry was right; she hadn’t been fine since Spike’s passing. Even now, thinking back to him still stung her with grief.

‘’So what are we going to do?’’ Flurry gestured at Canterlot, or what remained of it. ‘’There’s nothing left for us here.’’

Twilight nodded. That was true. ‘’I… don’t know.’’

They had seen most of what the wider galaxy had to offer. Where else could they go?

Twilight gasped aloud as she realized the answer. ‘’Flurry,’’ she addressed her niece, ‘’follow me.’’ Twilight spread her wings and kicked herself off into the air, joined by the younger alicorn a few seconds later.

‘’Where are we headed?’’ Flurry asked.

‘’To Ponyville,’’ Twilight replied, and they flew in silence to the Castle of Friendship. Seeing it, and the dusty remnants of Ponyville with it, broke Twilight’s heart, but she soldiered on and landed in front of the doors.

She pushed them open with her magic, then sent a gust of wind through the hallway, cleaning away the dust that had accumulated in there. The hallway that had seemed so large when she first visited it now felt small and cramped.

After a short walk through familiar corridors, the two mares entered the library, where a familiar mirror stood.

‘’That thing hasn’t worked since…’’ Flurry trailed off as she saw Twilight look at it.

‘’I know,’’ Twilight said, ‘’but I have a plan.’’

She walked over to the mirror, horn glowing softly. ‘’Flurry,’’ she said after a minute of examining the relic, ‘’On three, I want you to hit this thing with the most powerful beam you can, okay?’’

Flurry eyed Twilight with a dubious look, but nodded nonetheless, horn glowing. 

‘’One, two, three!’’

A brilliant beam of light yellow magic shot from Flurry’s horn, hitting the mirror dead in the centre. Flurry kept the beam up for over a minute, then Twilight signalled her to stop.

As the light died down, Flurry walked over to the mirror and placed her hoof against it. It rippled at her touch. ‘’Well call me crazy, that actually worked.’’

Twilight could barely hide her surprise herself. ‘’It does?’’ She cast a barrage of detection spells at the mirror, and they all came back positive. ‘’It does.’’

‘’Great, what now?’’ Flurry asked. ‘’Are we just going to go through?’’

‘’No,’’ Twilight shook her head, ‘’not yet.’’

She turned around and walked through the castle to the basement. There, she unlocked a hidden door with her magic. A set of golden armour hung on a ponyquin, next to a staff made of white wood with a purple crystal at the end. The armour consisted of a helmet that left room for her mane, provided it was tied into a braid or ponytail; plates that enveloped her body, with holes for her wings and legs of course; rimmings on her wings, protecting her feathers; and horseshoes that reached up to her fetlocks. Twilight’s cutie mark was emblazoned on the horseshoes, her breastplate and the front of her helmet.

Twilight quickly put the armour on, grabbing her staff in her magic.

‘’Getting ready for a fight?’’

Twilight turned around to see Flurry approaching. The mare was dressed in her own set of armour, identical to Twilight’s own but coloured steel and with Flurry’s cutie mark instead of Twilight’s. Instead of a staff, she wielded a spear of metal with a tip of hardened blue crystal.

‘’No more than you,’’ Twilight shot back.

‘’True,’’ Flurry agreed with a chuckle. ‘’Anything else you want to get?’’ That they wouldn’t be returning was left unsaid, but obvious. There was nothing left on Equus.

Twilight shook her head. ‘’I have everything I need with me.’’

‘’So do I.’’

Together, they walked through the crystal halls for a final time, only pausing to make a stop next to the Cutie Map, which was now dead and withered. After a moment of silence, they continued on to the library.

The mirror was still there, of course, thrumming softly and glowing with magical energy.

‘’We’re going to go together, right?’’ Flurry asked as they stood in front of it.

‘’Of course,’’ Twilight affirmed. ‘’One, two, three!’’

And they jumped through.