All that was left was a scorch mark. That was it. Nothing was left of the lavender unicorn that Bob had come to consider family. She was gone. One moment, she was celebrating with her friends, having made a solution to an old, ancient spell that had come so close to ruining those friends. The human slowly walked over to the spell. He read it over, and over, trying to figure out how a seemingly random sentence could make his sister disappear. The rest of Twilight’s friends weren’t doing too much better. Zippy and Rainbow teamed up, looking high and low for an answer. Apple Jack and Rarity ran to try and get some of the town folk in on their missing friend.
Pinkie was wearing a detective hat, eying the scorch mark that was Twilight mere moments ago. Fluttershy was just crying.
“Bob, c’mon,” Rainbow nudged him. “Maybe we can-”
“Dash,” Bob said sternly. “I don’t think we can find Twilight. How can we find Twilight? What is even left of her? She’s fucking gone.” Bob glared down at the spell. “I can’t even be mad at anyone; how could anybody know what this spell would do? Even Celestia didn’t know what the spell would do; she sent it to Twilight for that reason after all. While that’s fine and dandy, my sister is fucking dead.” Bob sighed and dropped to his knees. “God. I can’t even have siblings without something going wrong.”
“Guys!” Apple Jack damn near knocked the door off its hinges. Daylight was starting to wane as Luna’s Moon rose in the east. It was nearing night time. “There’s a huge flash of light over Town Hall!” The farm pony shouted. “It looks like Twilight’s Cutie Mark!”
Bob immediately perked up. “No way…” The human got to his feet and ran past Apple Jack at a speed that shocked everypony. While it certainly wasn’t fast, none of them had really ever seen Bob break off into a dead sprint like that. The only time the human had ever run that fast was when trying to flee the Royal Guards that were chasing him just before he was sent to Ponyville. The human barreled past several ponies that were watching as the light, now a full rendition of Twilight’s Cutie Mark slowly touched the ground.
Despite Bob’s efforts, Rainbow Dash did get to Town Square first, but even she couldn’t comprehend how fast Bob reacted. The very moment the light dissipated, Twilight stood to full height and revealed two new appendages. However, before anyone else could react, Bob tackled Twilight. Regardless of his injuries, Bob barreled into the, now, alicorn at full speed, tackling her and nuzzling his cheek into his adoptive sister. Wings be damned, he was just happy that Twilight was okay.
“Bob!’ Twilight giggled as the human nuzzled her cheek with his own. “What-”
“You were missing for fucking hours! I caught the tail end of you blowing up. Let me have this, Twi.” Bob said his body weight made Twilight lower herself to her knees. Most of the town, that was already in awe at the sight of a new alicorn, ‘awed’ when the two siblings nuzzled into each other. Twilight, now fully understanding why her little, adoptive brother was so clingy, allowed Bob to cry into her neck and hold her tightly. Rainbow was gushing about a new flying buddy while every one of her friends were still shocked.
“Wow, you look just like a Princess!” Fluttershy remarks.
“That’s because… she is a Princess.” Everyone turned to face Princess Celestia, who just made a graceful landing. Even if Bob caught her almost stumbling and tripping on her face for half a second. The human slowly pulled back, realizing what this all implied. While Princess Celestia and Luna are clear exceptions, both have mentioned how a normal alicorn such as Cadance would still live for at least five hundred years. Twilight would easily out live him, her brother, each one of her friends, and so many ponies.
“Hold it the fuck up.” Bob pulled back. “Celestia, while I’m glad and happy for Twilight, I can’t help but ignore the implications of her being a Princess.”
Everypony in Ponyville stopped, their eyes now on Bob.
“What do you mean, Bob?” Celestia asked.
“Twilight’s gonna be around for a while, your highness. A long while. She literally can’t have a normal life anymore, given her new status that you’re shoving onto her,” Bob was now holding Twilight’s head to his chest, like he was the older of the two. His gaze softened as he looked down at the alicorn in his arms. “I’m proud of you, I really am, sis. But I… Really don’t like what this all implies for you, or your future.”
“What do you mean?”
“Twi,” Bob whispered, gesturing to all of her friends. “I’ll let Celestia handle telling you what this implies; she’ll know more than I will. Just… Make sure you cherish everyday with your friends. I sure wish I did just that on Earth before ending up in Equestria.” Twilight tilted her head before deciding that her little brother was being over dramatic.
“Now Twilight, we must head off to Canterlot to begin the preparations for your coronation!” Celestia pointed to the chariot that was now touching down. “The coronation will be happening in four days. Train tickets and castle rooms are already set up for your friends. It’ll be here tomorrow morning so that you all can pack up and get ready for the coronation!” The Sun Princess giggled when Twilight tried getting up, only for the human to not let her go.
“Bob…”
“Twilight,” the human started. “I already lost three brothers. I thought I lost my sister too. You aren’t leaving my sight.”
“Bob, I’ll be in a chariot with Princess Celestia! I’ll see you tomorrow morning after you get off the train, I promise.” Bob didn’t look convinced, opting to hold onto the alicorn for a moment longer. “C’mon… we can’t keep Princess Celestia wait-” only then did what Bob said set in. “ing… Bob, you thought I died?” The human simply remained silent. Since the newly ascended alicorn couldn’t exactly twist her neck around, she could only assume the answer. “I won’t randomly get killed, Bob. Trust me on this.”
“You know,” Celestia rested a wing over both siblings. “There is enough room for one human and two ponies in the chariot,” the Sun Princess whispered. “Trust me, I know what you’re feeling Bob. I know it more than you could ever imagine. And while I have wronged you in the past, I’ll be damned if I separate you two right now.” Now satisfied with the option presented, Bob, with one arm, lifted Twilight up after slipping said arm under her forelegs.
“Bob!” Twilight yelped, before accepting what was happening. “What the buck?” She asked after the three of them piled into the chariot.
“You might be the older of the two of us, but I know you still like being carried around.”
“I’m not complaining about that! What about your arm?!”
“I didn’t use my bad arm. You woulda heard a snap if I did; you’re heavy.”
“I am not fat.” Their conversation was so loud that most of Ponyville could still hear them when they were in the air. It certainly was an experience, the Little Library that made residence in their town was going to be a Princess… of what, they weren’t sure, but there was going to now be a fourth princess. That fourth princess was having a casual, very loud, conversation with her adopted, alien of a brother.
“I wasn’t saying you’re fat, but you are heavy. Celestia’s heavy, but I wouldn’t call her fat. Nothing but muscle, fluff, and mischievousness.”
“You just called two mares fat, Bob. I think you should just be quiet.”
The very next day, Twilight was pulled out of bed to go greet her friends. The two of them were sharing a bed, since Bob carried the soon-to-be-princess throughout the castle, only for her to fall asleep in his arms after all the excitement of the day before. So Bob was just sitting idly, Azolf managed to apparently stick himself to the bottom of the chariot that took the human and alicorn to Canterlot, so most of his morning, and the next few days was spent petting Azolf, being seen to by Rarity to make sure his new suit fit, and him writing a song.
Because for some reason, part of the coronation involved giving Twilight a song. While they were giving a common, traditional song to the alicorn, Bob figured it would be more fun to sing a song. And apparently Celestia did too. She walked in on the human, hunched over something. Bob was bone dead tired, having just spent the whole first day in Canterlot writing the song itself. He had managed to steal a guitar from somewhere and was practicing it.
“You know,” Celestia started. “I might have you play that on stage before we reveal Princess Twilight to Equestria.”
“Cool.” The sleep deprived teen said. Zippy was sitting on the bed, Azolf was forced out of the room, and the filly was Rainbow Dash’s plus one. She giggled as the human almost flawlessly played the song again before attempting to sing it. The human’s body was on autopilot before it slumped over from exhaustion by the second chorus.
“He was so into writing that he didn’t even notice me walking in here,” Zippy giggled and clapped her hooves. “The way his nose scrunched up, or his eyes widened when he had an idea or was struggling to come up with an idea was adorable!” she hopped down from the bed and nuzzled her coltfriend.
“I must say, it is impressive that Bob could play the guitar while being on the verge of collapsing like he was. Flawlessly too.”
“Ergh… Luna stop nuzzling me, it tickles,” Bob grumbled in his sleep as he slumped over. In a heartbeat, the Princess of the Night teleported in.
“Darnit, he’s already knocked out. I was just informed that the human was in Canterlot to join in on the coronation of a new princess… And he’s fast asleep already.” Luna pouted for a brief moment, before she walked up to Bob, nuzzled him, and turned to go resume her nightly duties and to get harassed by Rarity about her dress for the coronation. At Bob’s suggestion, Luna had decided to go without a dress, as in Bob’s words:
“Luna looks fucking adorable in a suit.”
So that’s what Luna was doing, even if it was against ‘tradition’ for a Princess to wear a dress to another’s coronation setting. On top of that, Celestia even suggested it to ‘appease her favorite little human’. Rarity was less than thrilled.
On the fourth day, it was time for the coronation. Bob’s sheet music was copied down and given to an entire orchestra to play while the human sang along. Despite agreeing to do this, the human had no idea he was supposed to; there isn’t much one can remember while running on zero sleep after fixating on a song. It really wasn’t an original piece, but Bob figured that he could steal a page from Weird Al. The human stood in front of a microphone while his fellow musicians were preparing.
Octavia Melody was leading the cello section. Surprisingly, Vinyl Scratch was playing what looked like an electric drum kit that she built herself. The human figured he would have to ask Vinyl about it afterwards. “And a wonderful song was written for this spectacular moment. Think of it… as an introduction to our newest Princess!” Princess Celestia said at the end of her speech. Twilight was meant to make an appearance after the ‘concert’. The human’s heart was pounding, adrenaline coursed through his veins, before he closed his eyes and thought of every single pony being bald instead of having fur. The human giggled before taking a deep breath. “One, two, three, four!”
“A long, long time ago,” The choir began as Bob strummed the guitar. It wasn’t a long performance, but it was a lengthy one. By the end of it, Princess Celestia was singing her part, while Bob retreated to get in the crowd with everyone else. The human smiled when the whole crowd started applauding Celestia’s part, while completely forgetting that he was there. The human and every musician participating were going to be credited, and apparently paid, for their work so Bob didn’t really mind.
After all, it probably wasn’t everyday that the Princess sang to thousands of ponies. Twilight came out onto the balcony, beginning her speech. One of studying friendship, of her hardships, of everyone she met along the way to get to that point. Bob thought it was a great speech, even if it was a bit cheesy, but he still clapped and cheered as the castle gates opened up to reveal Twilight being pulled in a chariot along by a couple of guards. Twilight’s friends, for some reason, were allowed to run past the guards and join her, while Twilight began to singing.
Bob hopped out of the crowd to join them, since Zippy was skipping alongside Rainbow Dash, both of whom looked… Dashing in their dresses. Zippy had a simple, black dress with a lightning pattern going through it. Her hat was of a design that Bob suggested, which was just a baseball cap with her cutie mark on the front. The dress had several ribbons with blue, red, and yellow mixed in. All of them were colors that went perfectly… If she weren’t so far away, and it being uncalled for at a ceremony, Bob would’ve run up and booped the filly on the nose.
Rainbow was wearing a simple, hot purple dress with yellow lining edges just before it fluffed out. The dress had a tie on her rear, covering her tail. Upon her head was a similarly colored fedora with a phoenix feather sticking out the band. There were two slits in the dress, which allowed the pegasus to comfortably flap her wings as she trotted beside the rest of the girls. Her normally messy mane was held in a ponytail, funnily enough, and was neatly braided near the top.
As soon as Bob made it past one of the guards, he was tackled into the ground… only for pink magic to envelope the guards as the human ran on without knowing. Two guards were going to get an earful from their captain, it seems. Nopony seemed to mind, or care when Bob quickly caught up, and started stretching his stride to keep up with the girls. Bob quickly worked out what Twilight was singing and couldn’t help but sing along as well.
The human had a huge smile on his face; it was hard to not live in the moment. They reached the wall, and soon all the ponies in their group, that had wings, took off. Twilight glided into the city, before climbing higher using her momentum as Rainbow Dash helped the newly crowned Princess reach new heights. Fluttershy was the slowest of the three, but was happy to just be present.
The next day, Princess Celestia said it would be unfair to thrust Twilight Sparkle into her Princess duties just yet. So they were going to have a Princess Summit up in the Crystal Empire as a seminar for the younger Princesses in Equestria, those being Cadance and Twilight. Before that though, Bob pulled Celestia to the side and requested a meeting with her as soon as she could. Given that they were waiting for the Royal Train to be set up, with the girls heading back to Ponyville to get packed up for the longer trip to the Empire, there was plenty of time for a quick little meeting.
“So,” Bob said, sitting in the sitting room with Celestia. “What are the implications of Twilight being an alicorn? She’s gonna outlive her friends?”
“...No. Her friends will live as long as Twilight does; much like the Sun and Moon, those tied with the Elements of Harmony tend to live for much longer. As long as she and her friends… remain friends, their respective Elements will keep them alive for centuries to come.” Celestia admitted. “I don’t know why you’re so dead set on finding out what will happen to Twilight. She’ll be fine.”
“...I was making sure she wouldn’t go nuts in time. Humans aren’t built for living past a hundred years if we’re lucky, and by extension, our brains aren’t wired to either. I know pony brains are different, but I wanted to know if Twilight would be burying every single pony she met in the years to come… Wait, so technically Twilight and my friends are immortal?”
“So long as their Elements have power, and as long as they remain friends.” Celestia nods.
“Shit dude… I don’t even wanna imagine what AJ would look like while attending her little sister’s funeral… I can’t even be there to comfort any of them because I’ll likely get buried by Twilight long before she looks a day over thirty…” Bob paused. “Rainbow’s gonna watch me and Zippy fade into dust, Princess. I can’t… I can’t fathom that.”
“I know Bob, I know. The life those six mares are going to lead will not be the most pleasant one. Please… keep their lifespans secret.”
“You best tell them at some point then.” Bob sighed. “Shit… Twilight was gonna easily outlive me no matter if she were an alicorn or not.”
“She will remember you, Bob,” Celestia walked around the table and laid a wing over Bob. “She’ll love you dearly for as long as she lives.”
“...Good. I don’t care about how long I live; I just hope I can make an impact.” The human nuzzled into the alicorn. “Luna will remember me too?”
“She wouldn’t dare think of ever forgetting you.” They both sighed. “Come now, you have a train to catch, unless you wish to be separated from Twilight again?”
“Fuck that, I ain’t letting her leave this city without me nearby to boop her snoot!”
“Come, let us make haste! We might be able to get you on the train back to Ponyville before long!”