//------------------------------// // Ch 2: Mentor // Story: Reunion // by rlogic1994 //------------------------------// Reunion Ch2 By Rlogic1994 She sobbed into the ground for nearly an hour, having collapsed in a heap of tears moments after bursting into a fit of sadness. Only after this agonizing hour of despair over her lost friends was she finally able to look up at her friends’ faces, immortalized in enchanted marble and gems. They all looked so happy to the unicorn, so unaware of the future. She got on to her hoofs, still wobbly at the knees, and started talking to them. “Well…I really wish I had come earlier. I really didn’t realize how much I missed you until now. I really do miss you girls, even though this is the first time I’ve come back. Sometimes I get depressed because of it, but also because I am cursed to outlive you. My Element gave me long life, but it’s been so empty without you girls at my side. Even with my research facility running smoothly and making leeway in new fields of magic, I can’t help but feel alone. But I shouldn’t burden you with my sorrow, I should tell you girls what’s been going on with your legacies,” spoke Twilight, her voice still edged with shaking sniffles of anguish. “Rainbow, you should be here to see you’re little sidekick. Scootaloo’s the captain of the Wonderbolts now. She’s just like you. She even got her first sonic rainboom a few years back. She still does memorial shows for you every year on the day…it happened. And they’re beautiful, so amazing. I talked to her after one of the memorial shows, and she was crying. Both for her love of you and happiness that you were at peace.” She now turned to Pinkie Pie. “And Pinkie, you should see The Party Pie now! It’s been booming for so long now and Celestia even made them the official planners for the Grand Galloping Gala every year. I still go every year, if only to remember better days.” She shifted to Rarity. Rarity, you would be proud of your legacy. It truly is, as you probably would have put it, fabulous. Things are in full swing and dresses are being sold by the thousands. They still use your designs. You always had the best sense for things. Then she turned to Applejack. “Sweet Apple Acres is doing amazing as well, Applejack. Applebloom’s doing so well with it! She’s just like you, stubborn and an extremely hard worker. She finally got her Cutie Mark; it was a single red apple, but she was just as proud of it because it reminded her of you. I really do wish you were here to see it.” Finally she shifted to Fluttershy. “Oh Fluttershy, I really do wish you were here to see your cottage. After you…moved on, a couple who had secretly admired your love for nature for years were inspired to fix it up and transform it into what it once was; a place of refuge for animals of all kinds. They even have a pony-made cave for injured dragons. You would be so happy and probably a little scared too.” As she finished what she had to say to each of them, she felt her eyes cloud up with tears again. But she suppressed the will to give in and blinked them away, promising she would not worry her friends with her tears. She looked up at all of them again and couldn’t dare look at their innocent stares. If only they had known the horrors of what she had done, they would not be smiling at her so. “You know,” she started, her voice cracking with emotion, “It’s just that the future is just getting dimmer and dimmer, but the past, even the darker parts, keep on shining bright. I…I just wish I could be with you!” She could feel the tears coming for a third time and before she broke into another spasm of despair, she turned slowly and started down the hill again. Albeit her exhaustive efforts to keep her emotions from flowing out, the melancholy leaked from her eyes and stained the dirt and grass below. She could not stop here, though. She still had a few more people to visit. As she looked back one more time, she hoped that wherever they were, her friends were living their dreams. She turned away and slowly trotted back to the edge of the forest before using her magic to teleport. With a bright flash and a crack she evaporated into nothingness. She appeared with a whoosh on the steps of Canterlot Castle, looking up to the regal balcony of the throne room. The guards let her in without delay and she traversed the labyrinth of corridors to get to her destination, an easy task as she had memorized the layout for the entire castle over the years. When she reached a familiar set of wide stairs that preceded an ornate door, she went up the steps and to the door, which opened when she was a few feet from it. Inside laid a familiar chamber, which was bathed in the glowing light of the sun, and now being occupied by only one pony. “Twilight Sparkle. My Dear Friend,” said a soothing voice from the back of the chamber. “Princess,” said Twilight, her voice saturated with relief at finding her mentor in the throne room unoccupied with other business. “Aah! You need not address me with such formalities Twilight. Just call me Celestia. Please,” the sun goddess said, her expression illustrating her distress at her favorite unicorn’s label for her. “Sorry…Celestia, but it’s been some time. I just really wanted to visit you and…Luna,” Twilight explained quickly, but anguish edging into her voice at ‘Luna’. “Yes. It really has been too long. Come and sit with me. We can talk in peace.” Twilight made her way over to where Celestia was sitting and sat down on a wooden chair next to her. Twilight immediately noticed Celestia wasn’t sitting on her golden throne, which was covered in dust like its sister throne next to it, a deep blue lapis lazuli throne. The princess had still not recovered from what had happened to Luna, evident by the end of her vibrant mane, now almost gray. “Well, Twilight, I think I should apologize for not doing this earlier. I wanted to tell you something, but I didn’t have the heart to after what happened to your friends.” “No need to apologize, Celestia. I am at fault too. I should have come earlier. But I’m here now, so I just want to ask you something. Are you alright?” The question had clearly caught Celestia off guard. After her sister’s death, she was guilt and sorrow stricken, but all anyone else could worry about was political matters. No one had stopped to ask her if she was alright. They always assumed she was a cold ruling machine with no emotions for any pony whatsoever. It didn’t help that most people thought she was a tyrant. She only bottled up her emotions, so that people wouldn’t be frightened. Because if a “goddess” was crying, who knows what chaos would ensue? She had not even had a chance to cry because of the hell she had to go through to keep Equestria stable. At the sight of her old student asking her with sincere care and affection whether she was alright, a thousand years of held back heartache and burning sorrow burst out as she crashed down onto the cold floor with a puddle of bitter tears forming around her. “I-I’m s-sorry, T-t-twilight. It’s-” she started, but cut herself off when she felt the tender touch of a hoof around her waist. The violet unicorn had pulled Celestia into a hug, her eyes watering at the sight of her mentor and friend. “It’s ok. I know how it feels. When I met my friends, I felt like I had known them for a thousand years. Don’t feel bad. Not showing emotion like this is just a part of being someone as powerful as you. Please don’t cry princess. It just makes things so much worse,” the unicorn cooed. When Celestia calmed down, she wiped the tears from her face and gave Twilight a grateful nuzzle, which the purple pony returned happily. Their eyes met for a moment, and a silent message was sent between them, a message not of words but of unbridled emotion, a beam of happiness, sadness, regret, knowledge, wisdom, and friendship being exchanged between them. The 2 mares had come along so long in life that they had no need for words in matters of friendship. They simply enjoyed the fortune of being alone in their company without any distractions like in the past. “You know Twilight, even though I am much older than you, sometimes I think that you’re just as old as me. You really do know me quite well,” said the sun princess stoically, slowly strolling onto the royal balcony looking over the rest of Canterlot with Twilight following. “Well we have had some time to get to know each other prin-Celestia. But I still miss our Sunday tea. So much has changed…” replied Twilight, her voice full of nostalgia over her calm past. “I can tell you out of personal experience that things come to change, even things that seem everlasting. It saddens me to see today’s ponies so much darker than those of years past, but that is just because of all the events that have befallen Equestria, something that is unavoidable.” “I know that from experience too, although I really wish that I didn’t, if it meant I could take it all back. I look back and see a carefree young mare who doesn’t know what’s coming. Doesn’t know that when it hits, it will shake her world. I want to sit her down and talk to her. Tell her how things are. But I can’t and I am where I am because I didn’t. But the signs of age are really catching up to me now. That young mare is gone.” “You aren’t alone there Twilight. I really wish I could turn back the clock as well, but I cannot. As you can probably see, but are politely not mentioning, I have given in to age as well.” “Don’t be silly. You look just as-” she started, but stopped when she finally took time to pay attention to Celestia’s appearance. She had truly fallen from her past beauty. Her formerly flowing bright mane now lay flat and dulled by time, the original blue, green, purple, and pink instead replaced by monochromatic shades of gray tinted by a little color. The princess’s once beautifully snowy coat was now nothing more than a drab pallid white. Even her wings, which long ago were a wonder to behold in their majesty, were ruffled and disorganized, feathers sticking out at awkward angles throughout the appendage. All of these features combined, Princess Celestia no longer held her implied sense of power and kind authority. Now she looked more like an old mare due past her time. “Surprised?” said Celestia languidly, “You see I am perceived as immortal, but I am not truly forever-living. You should already know that through your studies. We Alicorns possess unfathomable amounts of power, which is our source of long life. The magic surrounds our souls in a cocoon that slows time itself, and in extension aging. You probably guessed this when you found the source of your own long life as the magic ingrained in your soul by the Elements.” “But even though we have so much power, there is a reason for it; we are meant to do things that not even ten thousand pegasi and unicorns could not do. We are meant to move celestial bodies. Although it may not show, this is a task that strains our magical ability to an alarming extent. Something a normal unicorn would worry about. But with our massive magical potential, we can shrug it off. But as you can see, when push comes to shove, no one can avoid time’s effect. I may be able to slow my travel to my final destination, but I cannot stop it completely.” “What do you mean Celestia? What path?” Then Celestia turned to Twilight and looked straight into her eyes, conveying that what she was about to say might upset Twilight. “It cannot be avoided my dear Twilight. I am dying. And I feel my time is approaching quickly,” she said, with considerable difficulty and pain. “W-what? B-but you still have a l-lot of magic. Y-you can’t die!” stuttered Twilight, stunned by her mentor’s announcement. “You as well as anyone knows that death is a part of life, just as pain is a part of happiness. My dear friend, I believe that the time has come for you to move on in your life without me,” said Celestia still able to maintain her stoic tone. “Leave you?! I would never!” Twilight replied frantically. “Twilight. You have turned out to be an exceptional mare beyond comparison. I am so proud of what you’ve done and all the people you’ve helped. But it occurs to me now that unlike so many of my students before you, you have become adept in the most powerful magic that exists. And that is of course through your studies in ponyville that you have mastered the magic of friendship, the value of happiness and love. It is with a proud heart that I can tell you that you are no longer my student. Twilight, you have become something much greater. You have learned all you can from me and in return I have learned quite a deal from you. For that, Twilight, I thank you deeply.” “B-but…I’ll always be your student! You have ages more wisdom than me and can always teach me something. Please, I still want to be your student…” Twilight said, her face frozen in an expression of anguish. Twilight couldn’t hold herself back as she ran forward to her mentor, wrapping her hoofs around her in a hug. “Please don’t leave me! You…you were like a….second mother to me after my mom p-passed away when I became your student. You looked out for me and treated me like your own. You may have been a little jealous that my friends in ponyville were getting so much attention from me, but you will forever be my very first best friend. Please…” the violet unicorn pleaded. Celestia looked down on her old friend and couldn’t help but think about their relationship for the first time in a few years. “And you were like a daughter to me, Twilight. You changed me for the better. You reminded me so much of…her” the princess thought, for some reason unable to put her thoughts into words. She closed her eyes as a single tear rolled down her face onto the cold marble floor below. When she opened them and looked down to Twilight, she did not see an aged mare, but a small filly bawling her eyes out over her mother’s death. “At least some things never change, Twilight. You will always be that little filly to me.” She thought, hugging Twilight closer. When they finally parted, Twilight looked up to her mentor with a look of gratefulness unable to be manifested in speech. Twilight wished she could stay longer, but she still had 2 more stops, both in or near Canterlot. She stood to leave and looked back to her mentor, her second mother, her friend, Celestia. “Thank you for everything. I really can’t put it in words, Celestia. Thank you,” she murmured, only loud enough for Celestia to hear. Celestia nodded and watched her former student push the doors to the throne room open and exit into the wide corridor past it. Twilight’s next destination was one that she was apprehensive of going to, but it had to be done. She used her magic to teleport away to the north side of the castle and materialized with a pop, landing softly on a smooth and beautifully dark azure pathway, cobbled with what dark blue marble. Ahead of her was a courtyard with a single discernable feature in the center of it, a grove of blue trees lining the far side in a crescent shape.