//------------------------------// // Cast Off // Story: Sometimes Things Don’t Last // by TouchofDestruction //------------------------------// "My dear student. I am so sorry for the way we treated you. I understand your pain now, as do we all. But you must believe me when I say this. These events this day and your actions to help save the REAL Cadence will be a huge day to be remembered not only from us here, but everyone across all of Equestria. And I promise you, there will be no more excuses to not hake heed of all that has been learned today. But right now, all we need is your help one more time to help piece together a day that will still be celebrated and enjoyed by all... especially for you too. Please Twilight" she lowered her head and nuzzled the still sobbing unicorn, "Please help us just one more time to make your brother's wedding possible". Upon hearing that, the purple unicorn immediately pushed the ruler away, as her very touch burnt the mortal equine’s skin. “Oh, I see. So, that’s what I am to you. I’m just someone who you think you can just toss out like trash, but when you need me, you expect me to be there.” She stood up, gazing at Celestia with despair and rage.  “Twilight no, you’re anything but!” The ivory Princess answered. “Please, believe me-“ she reached out to her student, but the unicorn slapped her hoof away.  “Don’t touch me,” Twilight hissed. “I don’t recall allowing you to do so.” Celestia’s eyes began to water, the true magnitude of what her negligence and ignorance had caused. “Twilight, please…” the Princess begged, practically on her knees by this point. “Please…I…I’m sorry. We’re all so, so sorry.” Despite her pleas, her student just gazed at her coldly. Any sort of familiar affection and childlike awe for the Solar Monarch was gone. Twilight felt nothing for her anymore, and this realization shattered the Princess’s heart. “If I recall correctly, you told me I had a lot to think about,” Twilight said, the alicorn lowering her head as a few stray tears leaked out from her eyes. “So, I have. And I’ve come to the conclusion that, unfortunately, this can’t continue any further.” Everyone froze in fear upon hearing that. “What do you mean?” Fluttershy questioned in a frightened tone, trembling with dread as Twilight spoke again.  “Everything,” Twilight answered, looking at the yellow pegasus, along with the other five ponies. “Our friendship,” she then looked at Celestia. “My role as your student,” she then glared back at Shining Armor. “Or being my Big Brother Best Friend Forever.” The entire room fell silent. “You…you can’t mean…” Shining stammered, shaking his head in denial. Twilight answered with a nod and eyes that rivaled the coldest of tundras. “You’re none of those things to me anymore. And I’ve realized that I’m better off without you.” The five ponies’ eyes widened in horror, Cadence gaping in disbelief at what she had just heard. “Twilight…” she said, looking upon the unicorn with sympathy. “Twilight, please, don’t do this, please!” Celestia begged, unable to compose herself any longer, tears falling freely down her face. “I beg of you, please don’t cut us out of your life,” she cried. “Please, you’re the best student I’ve had in centuries. I…I don’t want to lose you.” “You already have.” Twilight responded coldly, making Celestia’s blood grow cold with horror. “I’m not your student anymore, nor do I wish to be.” Celestia just stared at the unicorn, eyes wide and flowing with tears. “Twilight…”  “Enjoy the wedding without me,” the unicorn snarled as she began to make her way to the exit of the grand hall, only to be stopped by a white stallion with nothing short of desperation on his face.  “Twily, please, don’t do this!” Shining Armor begged his younger sibling. “Please don’t leave, I’m sorry about everything I said and everything that’s happened! I really am!” He then extended a hoof out to her. “Please, don’t go. I want you to be my Best Mare-“ He got no more out before his sister slapped his hoof away, rejecting him and his words entirely. “Find somepony else,” Twilight hissed coldly. “Because, while I can’t stop being your sister,” she narrowed her violet eyes. “You are no longer my best friend forever.”  The ivory stallion was robbed of breath and words, his chest felt as if it were weighed down with stone. “Twily…” “Don’t call me that,” Twilight hissed. “It’s a stupid nickname anyway.”  Again, she tried to move toward the door, but her brother wouldn’t let her pass, desperate to try and repair the damage that had been done. “Twily,” “That’s Twilight Sparkle to you, Captain.” He sighed. “P-please, I’m sorry,” her brother said, voice beginning to crack. “I’m so, so sorry. But please, believe me, there’s nopony I want more at my wedding than you-“ “That’s not what you said earlier.” Shining flinched. The venom in his sister’s voice was almost painful to listen to, as if he were steadily being poisoned by her disgust and disdain. “I know what I said, I know. And I really am sorry. I was wrong, there IS no wedding without you, Twily.” “It’s Twilight! Don’t call me that! I hate it!” “Please let me make this right with you! Please, everyone will know what you’ve done to save us, I’ll tell everypony! I’ll tell them you’re the best sister and Best Mare! I’ll let everyone know how you and Cadence helped save Canterlot and Equestria! Just please, please let me make it up to you. Let me give you your place beside me at the altar.” “I refuse,” the unicorn responded coldly. “You wanted me gone, you got it.” “Twilight, please!”  “I will not, nor will I EVER be your Best Mare, let alone be involved in your wedding,” Twilight narrowed her eyes. “I wish I had never come here,” she then turned to her friends. Her “former” friends. “I wish I had never gone to Ponyville,” then, she centered her eyes on the ivory Monarch with a flowing, iridescent mane. “And I wish I never became your student.” The five ponies she addressed, along with the Princess, felt their hearts collectively sink and turn ice cold, their worst fears slowly transforming their way into reality. “You…you don’t mean that,” Pinkie Pie began to whimper, tears pricking the sides of her ducts. “We…we were wrong, b-but we won’t do it again!” She said, “We…we’ll throw you a party even better than the wedding if you just-“ “Parties are occasions for friends,” Twilight interrupted. “And we are no longer friends.”  The pink-colored mare’s blue eyes were consumed with moisture, her legs growing weak as what was happening came crashing down on her and everyone else. “But…but Darling…” Rarity stammered, choking on tears.  “I think we’re done here,” Twilight hissed. “I’m going back to my room to pack,” she said. “I need to do some reading on where to move.”  Fluttershy’s teal eyes widened in horror. “Move?! Wha-what do you mean?!” “You’re not my friends anymore, so there’s no reason for me to stay in Ponyville. I don’t have any need or want to be around any of you,” She narrowed her eyes. “Go to Tartarus, all of you.”  “All right, that’s enough!” An accented voice shouted, a blonde pony rushing in front of Twilight. Applejack stood in front of the unicorn. “I get your sore with us, and yes, you have every right to be angry, but you can’t stand there and tell me that you’re just going to throw away everything!”  “You’re no longer my friend, so what value does your word hold?”  “Hey! Now that is uncalled for!” “It’s the truth! I thought that’s what was supposed to matter to you, Miss Honesty!” Twilight argued back. “It certainly matters more to you than me.” “That’s not true!” Applejack protested. “I just thought you were being clingy with your brother! But that doesn’t mean I don’t care about you!” “Then why didn’t you look for me?” The blonde pony paused. “Wh-What?” Twilight continued. “The Changeling Queen, when she sent me down to the caverns, said that nopony would even think to look for me,” she said. “And, seeing how I saw you all here, I guess she was right.” Applejack’s green eyes grew large. “No, Twi. She…she’s a liar. She-” “Let me ask you something,” the unicorn interrupted. “Did you even notice I was gone?” “What?” “From what I can estimate, the Queen sent me underground last night, which means that given it was morning when I and Cadance first got here, hours had passed,” she said. “I was gone for hours, Applejack. And you didn’t even think to try and look for me?” Applejack went silent. “I…” she stammered. “We…we didn’t…mean…to…” “Answer my question,” the unicorn repeated. “Did you even try to look for me? Did the possibility of a threat not give you even the slightest inkling that maybe something was wrong if a friend that you supposedly care about was gone for an unusual amount of time?” The other pony was rendered speechless, unable to respond.  “It’s because you don’t care,” Twilight answered. “If anything, I owe the Queen for showing me that.” “Twi,” Applejack said, voice far less confident and proud. In fact, it sounded as if she had been broken a little. “If…if you want someone to be mad at, be mad at me,” she told the unicorn. “I…I’m the one who said we should check on the Princess, and…” she paused. Despite her penchant for honesty, a good part of her dreaded what she was going to say. “And…I’m the one that said you needed to think about what you did. Some of us wanted to check on you, but…I…told them not to.” Twilight said nothing, violet eyes cold and icy. “That doesn’t surprise me in the slightest.”  “But, please, PLEASE believe me, I care about you, WE care about you,” the farmer pleaded. “And…I’m downright ashamed that I did this to you. We all are.” Still, Twilight said nothing. “Please,” Applejack choked out, her emotions beginning to become overwhelming. “Please…just…just don’t do this. Don’t remove yourself from our lives.” The purple unicorn only stared back at her, bright green orbs that looked into a pair of violets that echoed disdain and loathing.  “I’m going home.” Twilight then stepped past Applejack and her brother, entering the hall leading out of the expansive chamber. “Have fun at the wedding without me.”  Then she left.  “Twily, wait!” Shining Armor called out, about to follow her, but the doors were shut by her magic, blocking him from going forward.  The entire chamber fell silent at the absence of the unicorn, everyone stunned and shocked at what had just happened. But, most importantly, remorse.  Today was supposed to be perfect. But now, it was one of the worst days of everyone’s lives.