//------------------------------// // Epilogue // Story: Regret // by canonkiller //------------------------------// It was startlingly calm in the library. The air was still and muggy outside, while the inner sanctum was cool and shaded. Not a single noise was heard, inside or out. It seemed like the world itself was in mourning, with the birds silent as stones and the crickets little more than decoration. The ponies in town were even less bright. Each wandered around with an aimless, sluggish gait, magic silent, wings resting in mourning. Nopony cared why Twilight Sparkle had left this world, only that she had gone. The world was a quiet place. ----- Luna stared out the window, watching as the stars she strained so hard to make at night were unsympathetically obliterated by her sister's rising sun. The two Princesses had not spoken since Twilight's passing, and Luna was quite fine with that fact. More than fine, actually. She did not regret rebelling against her sister. She was actually pleased about that. It was more... Symbolic. If they saw each other, somepony would notice their standoff. And report it to some newspony for a lot of money. And maybe Celestia would reveal her surprising lack of feeling. But, as luck would have it, she would probably blame it all on Luna. Because nopony cared that Luna had absorbed the Nightmare from Celestia in the first place and let herself be banished, no~oo. Of course not. So Luna was content with being alone. ----- Spike hated the gravestone with a passion. It wasn't that it marked Twilight's death, or any of that. It was how it looked. The round stone was topped with a spire in the shape of the Element of Magic. Fine. But on top of that, it depicted Twilight rearing up, with a set of beautiful wings of the finest violet blown glass. Which would be fine, except he knew everypony else knew that she was Celestia's student. Which meant she was being compared to Celestia for having wings. Turned into Celestia, really. Spike was still trying to figure out how much Twilight would have mattered if she wasn't a Princess's pupil. But he loathed the inscription. Twilight Sparkle Lived a life full of friendship and happiness. Fine. Missed by her adopted brother, Spike, and her closest friends and family Also fine. Always in the heart of the dear Princess Celestia, who shall mourn for the loss forever. THAT was what he hated. Not only did he know Celestia didn't give a horse-apple, there wasn't a mention of Luna, who was actually affected. With a decisive snarl, a thin trail of fire licked over the stone, melting the final words into a smooth, unmarked surface. Twilight would have enjoyed it. ----- Luna struggled against her sister's superior power, holding the sun on the horizon at just the right spot for an entire week. For seven days, the heavens were lit with stars, and the sky around them was a deep purple. The world mourned in a melodic chaos of sudden birdsong and cricket chirps, tuning themselves into a harmonic beat, somehow meeting in the middle of discordant notes, and flooding the quiet with cacophonous sound. For seven days, a single purple unicorn was the last word on everyone's tongues, the silent end to a long reign of joy, and somehow, in that sad, broken moment... ...life had no regret. ---END---