//------------------------------// // One Last Lesson // Story: A Time to Let Go // by TheExhaustedBrony //------------------------------// Proofread by: Shinola A Time to Let Go Dear Princess Celestia, You haven't been writing back to me lately, I'm assuming that you are very busy ruling Equestria as usual, but I can't help but feel worried, you haven't written back to me in about two weeks. I'm taking the first train to Canterlot first thing tomorrow morning to check in on you. I know that the castle staff are probably already there to take care of you in every way possible, but I feel that it is my duty as a friend to see that you are safe. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle Princess Celestia rolled up the letter, and gently placed it down on the floor. She looked down at the note and said, "I hope you're prepared for the heaviest burden friendship has to offer." Twilight woke up at four o' clock sharp. She quietly got out of her bed, making sure not to disturb Spike, and went to get her saddlebags which she packed with a couple books for the ride and headed out the door. Twilight felt bad about leaving Spike, but someone had to watch over the library while she was in Canterlot. Walking down the street, she felt the cool morning breeze on her face and and through her mane. The quietness of the town caused her to stop and look at what time had done to her home. Sugarcube Corner, its colors have faded from bright to plain over the past ten years, both Mr. and Mrs. Cake passed away a few years ago, they passed ownership to Pinkie Pie and their children, Pound and Pumpkin Cake, run the shop. The next sight was the, now old, schoolhouse, the white paint had almost completely peeled off the fence surrounding the building, the flagpole was covered in rust and the clip that once held a beatiful red flag, now just rattled in the wind. These sights had made her realize that she's spent a very long time in Ponyville and that time really does leave its mark on all things, however, they are still the same regardless of their appearance. "Boy, it sure has been a long time. To think that I came here because the princess told me to make friends." Twilight gave a brief chuckle at the nostalgia before moving along to the train station. Once there, she approached the familiar wooden platform, and purchased a ticket to Canterlot. She slept peacefully on the train. The unicorn dreamed of her times spent in Canterlot under the watch of her mentor, Princess Celestia. Specifically, she dreamed of when she got her cutie mark, for that day brought about three wonderful things into her life. Spike was born, Princess Celestia became her close friend, and she got her cutie mark. Before she could trot down memory lane some more a loud whistle followed by a deafening screech snapped her back into reality. She hopped off the train to see the familiar sight of tall buildings and hundreds of ponies walking the streets going about their lives. "Okay, off to the castle." Twilight said as she began to trot down the streets of Canterlot. She approached the large doors to the castle, which were opened by a familiar stallion with a vibrant blue mane. "Twili! It's good to see you again!" Shining Armor said with a smile on his face. "Brother!" Twilight ran up to embrace him, which was returned, "where's Cadence?" "She's talking with the princess right now." "Oh, I see. Well, can you take me to her? I have some very important things to discuss with her." "Of course, follow me." Shining Armor tilted his head, ushering for Twilight to follow. The throne room hadn't changed since she last saw it, only, there was no alicorn sitting at the end. She followed her brother up the stairs into a large corridor, at the end stood two large, ornate, double doors. "The princess is inside, I'll be right here if you need anything." "Thank you." Twilight entered the room to see two alicorns, a pink one and a white one. "Twilight!" Cadence shouted in excitement. "Princess Cadence! It's been so long!" "Twilight, the princess has been asking for you nonstop lately, it's unlike her to be this worried about anything." Cadence's expression lost its excitement as the discussion grew darker. "I'm still here you know, there's no need to talk off to the side. Princess Cadence, could you please bring some tea?" asked Celestia. "Yes of course." Cadence quickly left the room to fetch some tea. The room was silent for a while, neither of the ponies knew who was going to break the silence. "Princess, why haven't you been writing back to me? You haven't written back in at least two weeks." Twilight said, breaking the silence. "My faithful student, before I answer your questions, which I'm sure you have plenty, please answer some of mine first." Chuckled Celestia. "Sure, what would you like to know?" "Firstly, tell me what friendship is." These words confused Twilight as this was unexpected. "Ummm... Friendship is a magical bond that is shared between ponies and other living beings, in which love and trust flourish. It is a bond that, if strong enough, can overcome any hardship." Before either of the ponies could say anything more, Cadence entered the room with a cart. On it was a teapot and two cups. "Thank you Cadence, now if you'll please give me a moment with Twilight?" Celestia asked as she poured some tea into both cups, "Oh, and you can tell the others that it's okay for them to enter, it's not like they aren't welcome here." Cadence nodded and left the room. "Others?" Twilight asked, wondering who else she was referring to. The door creaked open to reveal five ponies and a small purple dragon. "Thousand pardons your majesty, it's jus' that Spike told us that y'all had left for Canterlot this mornin' and something just didn't feel right." Applejack said. "Yea, I mean, why would you leave without your friends Twilight? I know you can become overly worried and do crazy stuff, but this is PRETTY crazy to go off on your own." Rainbow Dash scolded. "Well, I guess I should have given you a heads up, I'm sorry." "Oh don't be sorry silly filly!" Pinkie Pie giggled, "after all, we're friends and we look after each other." "When I noticed you were gone this morning, I just felt like... like you would need us. I don't know why, maybe it's just a gut feeling." Spike explained. "Well, I think that it's quite lovely to have all of you here." Celestia assured. They discussed everything they had learned about friendship and magic. They shared stories and told jokes, all in all, they were having a fun time with the princess. They were in the middle of a lengthy discussion of the elements of harmony when Celestia lowered her cup and looked straight into Twilights' eyes and said. "Twilight, there's one more thing about friendship that you have not learned of yet." "Princess, what are you talking about? I've been studying friendship for the past thirty years, I think I know a lot about the subject." "Indeed you do, that much was never in doubt, but the most important lesson of friendship is knowing when to say goodbye." The whole room went silent. "Applejack, I believe you have an understanding of what I'm talking about." "Ah reckon ah do. Granny Smith, bless her soul, was very old and her time was due. It hurt everyone in Ponyville when she passed." A tear fell from her eye, "but I'm afraid ah still don't quite understand what you're tryin' to tell us princess." "Twilight," Celestia turned her head to the window, "I'm sure you know that alicorns are gifted with immortality." "Yes, I do remember reading that in one of the books in the royal library." Twilight was still confused, as Celestia had just dodged her question. "Well, I'm afraid that what you've read is not true. Alicorns such as myself and Luna, are gifted with long life, but it does not last forever. A true friend knows to accept that a loved one has left them. "What are you talking about? Who's leaving?" Twilight's heart sank into her stomach and tears began welling up in her eyes. She knew where this was going and it hurt her more than anything in the world. "The one who's leaving... it's you isn't it?" Celestia could only nod as there were no words that could be said to comfort the purple unicorn. Everything disappeared into blackness except Twilight and Princess Celestia. She felt empty inside, as if the majority of her heart was missing. "But you don't look old at all! In fact you don't look like you have changed since the day we met." Twilight said while fighting back tears . "Twilight, there's no use trying to reason with it. I am dying and I want to teach you, my most faithful student, one final lesson about friendship, and that is letting go. I want you to know that the only thing in this world that can last forever is friendship." Twilight had so many questions to ask, but there were simply too many for her to comprehend. The only words she could conjure up were, "What will happen when you're gone? Who will raise the sun?" She choked. Celestia let out a deep sigh and said, "I'm giving that responsibility over to my sister, Luna. After all, she deserves it, after what I did to her one thousand years ago." Twilight was now sobbing, she didn't want to believe it, but she knew that Celestia was trying to teach her an important lesson. Celestia needed her more than ever to get through this hardship. "Princess, what do you want me to do?" "Take a note." Spike pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill to write a letter, as he usually does, but Twilight put her hoof on Spikes' shoulder and said, "Spike, please, let me do this." "Sure thing Twilight, I understand." Spike nodded and held the pen and paper for Twilight to take. Using her magic, Twilight levitated the pen and paper from Spike’s hands and held them in front of her. "Thank you Spike." Spike dropped his head and covered his face as he began to cry. Twilight pulled the baby dragon close to her chest and after a moment of silence she asked, "are you ready princess?" Celestia gave Twilight a nod and began speaking, "Dear Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Spike," As the names were said, each of her friends began to appear from the darkness, now it was Twilight, the princess, and all of the other ponies. "For the past thirty years, I have taught you all about the true meaning of friendship. I have watched you all grow from acquaintances to the best of friends. I am proud of everything you've done for this world. You have overcome many tasks, great ones such as the return of Nightmare Moon and Discord with the power of the elements of harmony. I pray that you never lose sight of that power. With my parting words, I would like to say farewell to you, my little ponies. Sincerely, Princess Celestia" "Princess, is there anything else you need? Anything at all?" Twilight quietly sobbed. "My dear, all I really need is some much needed rest, I'm sorry but if you could please leave me, I'd--" "Of course, no need to say anything," Twilight cut her off, "I understand completely. See you later princess." She said opening the door. Twilight was still trying to take in all that has just been thrown at her and is in denial of the news she had been given. "Thank you, I'm just going to close my eyes. Goodbye Twilight Sparkle." "Wait, princess, I have one more question to ask you." Twilight waited for a response from her mentor, but was answered with silence. She realized that her closest friend, the one she had looked up to all her life, had just passed away. She ran over to the bed and burried her face into the lifeless princess. This angered her, how dare she leave! How selfish of her to leave her friends! Not to mention just leaving all of Equestria behind to her sister! Suddenly, she realized what Princess Celestia was trying to teach her. A true friend will not hold on to their emotions when someone passes. It's not fair to both the living and the dead. The dead don't mean to be a burden to the ones they've left behind, so there's no reason to let your emotions make them a burden. With this realization, Twilight ran out of the room, crashing into Shining Armor, who had been waiting outside the whole time. "Twilight, is everything alright? What did the princess need?" Shining Armor asked. "She wanted to teach me," she began tearing up, "one last lesson about..." her emotions began to slip, "FRIENDSHIP!" Twilight lost her composure and burst into tears. Shining Armor quickly embraced his younger sister. "Twilight! I still don't understand, is Princess Celestia alright?" "She... Sh... She... She said tha... tha... th... th... that she was d... d... dying!" Shining Armor closed his eyes and lowered his head. Princess Cadence was immediately overcome with the sadness and began to cry. "We must get a doctor here right away." He said with great urgency. He looked down and met his eyes with Twilight's. After looking into them, he knew that it was too late. "I... I... I... I ju... ju... ju... just wanna go h... h... home." With those words said, she passed out from exhaustion in the embrace of her brother. The other ponies walked out of the room to help ease their pain. Applejack took off her hat, lowered her head, and closed her eyes and softly began to sob, Pinkie Pie's hair deflated, her coat darkened and her smile vanished as her eyes began to fill with tears, Fluttershy burried her face into Rarity. She quickly put her arms tightly around the sobbing yellow pony and began to cry, Rainbow Dash tried to keep her composure, but it only lasted for a few seconds, quite literally a few, for this is the one time in her life where not crying would not be cool. The mourning lasted for what seemed like an eternity. Everyone had a special connection to the princess and they were devestated with her passing. The first pony to break their wall of sadness was Applejack. "Shinin' Armor, what do we do?" Applejack said trying to wipe all the tears from her eyes to no avail. "We..." he paused, "I suppose it's best that we inform Princess Luna." "Yea, but I don't think that Luna would want know about this. Maybe we should--" "Let Princess Luna find out by herself?! Rainbow Dash are you crazy?! Nopony would want to hear this!" Pinkie Pie snapped. "Come, let’s go see Luna, I feel that it would be better if everypony were with me when I... we, tell her what has happened." He looked down to the sleeping unicorn in his arms, "I'm sorry Twilight Sparkle, but we can't leave yet."