Lithe awoke to find herself still held in the embrace of Twilight. Groggily the draken-pony lifted a claw up to rub at her eyes as she yawned widely. Even though she was somewhat awake, Lithe didn't want to open her eyes. In her head, the longer she pretended to be asleep meant that she could stay as she was with Twilight. But as life tends to remind the world, all good things must come to an end. The 'bed' Lithe believed them to be on suddenly bumped slightly and nearly sent her tumbling out of Twilight's grasp.
Yelping, Lithe's foreclaws shot out to grab at something to keep her balance only to find she was floating in a violet aura.
"So, is it safe to assume you're awake?"
Sticking her forked tongue out playfully, Lithe shook her head in mock defiance.
"Nope, sound asleep."
Grinning like the Cheshire cat, a plan formed in Twilight's head, a wickedly horrific plan.
"Well, almost to Ponyville, guess I just have to wake you up...and you're ticklish."
Suddenly stiffening at the realisation of what Twilight was implying, Lithe began to struggle wildly against the hold.
"Nope, nope, nope, nope!"
Struggling futilely against Twilight's unyielding hold, Lithe began to giggle wildly as she felt Twilight's magic began to prod and poke at her sides and belly. Sputtering, Twilight watched as Lithe took a light blue hint to her cheeks before letting up and placing the mare down on the bench.
"You okay?"
In truth, Twilight was a little worried she might have taken it too far. Moving over towards Lithe, the alicorn was relieved to see her breathing was normal and she was nodding. Realising the train had stopped, Twilight opened the compartment door and headed out with Lithe following.
Completely unaware of Lithe's smirk, a plan forming in the draken-pony's mind.
Using the padded, softer scales of her feet, Lithe stealthily moved closer and closer to Twilight. Drawing just up behind the mare, Lithe shook her tail, her actual tail, a slim prehensile appendage, out from the braid and out from the mass of hair. Manoeuvring it carefully, Lithe waited until the last moment to wrap her tail about Twilight's trailing hindleg, causing the alicorn to trip and start to fall. Move lithely(giddit?) Lithe snaked under the falling alicorn and swept her up in her claws as she winged into the sky, spun three times and then lowered a now disoriented Twilight to the ground.
"Whoa...which way did the ground go..."
Nearly falling over giggling at the sight of Twilight stumbling around near incoherent Lithe leaned in close, sure that no one was watching, and gave Twilight a quick peck on the cheeks.
"You look cute when you're confused."
"Well, glad to know you're enjoying yourself. Your father will be happy."
Eyes shooting wide Lithe leapt around to see none other than Dartani towering over both her and Twilight.
"Darty! When did you get here?!"
Dartani found himself quickly wrapped in a tight hug from the mare, but found he had trouble bringing himself to a smile.
"Your father is here. He wishes to speak with you before you talk to any of the ponies here. You should probably go see him over at the outskirts of the apple orchard."
Nodding, Lithe winged away quickly, her fast track mind almost instantly forgetting about most anything else upon hearing that her dad was in Ponyville. In fact, Lithe flew off so fast she didn't catch the death glare Dartani unleashed upon Twilight when he turned to face her.
"You have no known idea what kind of troubles you have most likely caused, do you?!"
Flinching at the harsh tone Twilight was quick to come to the realisation that she was now standing, alone, before a bipedal dragon easily double her height that seemed very, very pissed off.
"Ninety six years ago I first met Lithe after she'd run away from home. She had just found out that her mother, who'd she'd never known once in her life, had died shortly after her birthing. Four years later, Lithe ran away again when her pet Cockatrice had died! Lithe does not, can not, and has not ever handled the idea of death well, and now you come along, willy nilly not a care in the world, and decide to date her?!" raged Dartani, "But who are you to do so? Let me hazard a few guesses. Early twenties, naive, no thoughts towards the future. Happy to live day by day, not thinking about the fact that in one hundred years you will be naught but a corpse in the ground while we dragons strive onward! And now? Now Lithe goes to meet my king, her father, to find that her newest friends and...fillyfriend...are going to die while she is still considered an infant. So yes, you stay in your perfect little life with no worries, and I'll be here for Lithe in one hundred years as she mourns and you rot!"
Dartani made to head towards Sweet Apple Acres, but quickly found himself yanked backwards off his feet only to come crashing down on his stomach before Twilight.
"Perfect life?! One hundred years?! You have no idea who under Celestia's sun you are talking to! I am Twilight Sparkle, Alicorn Princess of Friendship. Now tell me, what does that mean to you?!"
When Dartani shrugged Twilight snapped back her reply full force.
"Because to me, that means I'm going to be spending my entire existence making friends...and as an alicorn, it will be with ponies whose lives are but the blink of an eye to me. So, where will I be in one hundred years? Moon willing, standing next to Lithe and enjoying the day. Now, where exactly is your king? I need to stop Lithe before she does anything rash."
W/(>V<)\W
The High King sighed sadly as he watched his daughter flee into the woods, the sound of her crying like a knife twisting in his heart. He wished to follow, but he knew it would do more harm than good, both for Lithe and for the forest. Frustrated, the High King slammed his face into the dirt and left it there for a few minutes before opening his eyes, his left catching an interesting view of a purple alicorn storming up to him.
"Which way did Lithe go?!"
'Well, isn't this is sure to prove to be interesting...'
M\(>^<)/M
Lithe sat at the edge of the world. Or at least that was what the cliff face was known as to the known world. In truth, there was next to nothing known about the area known as 'The Edge of the World' aside from what history stated, and all that any historical books knew was that this area was where Celestia and Luna made their final stand against Discord.
The aftermath was an unnatural mist that limited vision past the cliff face and disrupted the magnetic fields, leaving giant floating chunks of earth throughout the visible sky.
There were two other known things about the area. The first was that anything that entered the mist never came back, and the second was that it was where ageless beings, such as alicorns or dragons, came to when they decided to die. And thus Lithe found herself standing alone at the cliff face, staring down into the unfathomable depths of the mist.
It was almost soothing, the wind flowing through her fur as it was while watching the mist swirl mesmerizingly.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" called a familiar voice from behind Lithe, "I came out here myself a few years ago as well."
Lithe didn't even bother to turn around. She knew who it was, and she had known she was being followed.
"Eight days Twilight. I figured you would have been here in five..."
Twilight wordlessly moved to Lithe's side before seating herself on the edge of the cliff.
"The dragons respect you. You seem very much loved, and they were fierce in your supposed 'defence'."
Nodding, Lithe and Twilight spent the next few hours simply admiring the sight before them. There was literally no other place on Avol quite like 'The End of the World' and nothing else could match its haunting beauty. Thoughts drifted in both of their heads, nearly parallel to the other's own.
"Why run-"
"It's easier you know-"
Both mare's stopped talking, having started at the exact same time. After another moment of silence Twilight nodded for Lithe to continue.
"I was just going to say that it's easier, for me at least, to run. I know it doesn't really solve anything, but it numbs things."
Twilight couldn't argue Lithe's response. When she'd first learned that she would be outliving everypony she knew and loved she had also run out here and contemplated what the future held. Needless to say, she hadn't been at her best at the time.
"And the ones you leave behind?"
"They will al...some will be there in time..." Lithe replied emotionlessly, "Those that won't will have forgotten me by the time their ends come."
It was logical thinking, but Twilight didn't like where it was leading.
"And if they never forget? And if you never forget?"
Simply nodding towards the mist, Lithe refused to look over at Twilight. As for Twilight, while her face showed nothing, her mind was racing.
"You can't just leave now! Not like this! Besides, you're important-"
"Don't" try to tell me I have this or that to live for, I don't need to be here Twilight." Lithe growled, "You and your friends, they always see me happy go lucky, occasionally ditzy and weird, but this...this is the other side of the fence now. Down the rabbit hole as it were. My mother, countless bodyguards, assassins...115 years of trying to ignore the hard truth of the world. Everything dies."
"Fine, you don't want me to tell you why you can't die yet due to yourself, then I'm going to get selfish!" Twilight growled right back, "First off, I have feelings for you, otherwise I wouldn't have come to find you! Second, you know who Applebloom wanted to talk to? Y-"
"Me, Granny Smith told me she would." the draken-pony responded, "I knew Granny Smith was going to die, she knew so too. I just didn't know how short lived ponies were before my father told me."
Again they both sat there for a few minutes, digesting the information.
"You won't listen to me then?"
When Twilight got no response she leaned over and gave Lithe one more kiss despite the lack of response.
"Lithe...I love you...and I wish I could change your mind, but I won't force it on you."
Turning reluctantly from Lithe, Twilight started trotting away morosely, old words from Celestia in her head.
'To love one enough to ensure their safety is one thing, to restrict their rights to save them, though, will only make them resent you.'
Barely suppressing a sob that threatened to escape her lips, Twilight didn't even here the rock surface of the cliff she was on break until after noticing that she was falling. The startled alicorn let out a single yelp of surprise before falling into the mist in front of Lithe.
Shocked and horrified, Lithe did the only thing she could think of and dove into the mist after her friend. It honestly didn't take long to catch up to Twilight, but the tricky part was actually figuring out how to hold her as there was a large gash in between her wings. Lithe Finally settled with one hoof around Twilight's neck, the other around her waist, similar to two lovers embracing each other. Twilight was quick to return the embrace as well despite her surprise.
"Lithe?!"
"Which way is up, Twilight?"
When the alicorn shook her head Lithe began to panic, especially as she started to hear whispers and see shadows flitting across her limited vision. Even despite her resistance to most any damage, Lithe began to feel true fear, her instincts reacting as if she were surround by vamponies or thestrals.
Suddenly one of the shadowed forms rushed out faster than anything either mare had ever seen before and struck out at Lithe leaving a shallow cut across her left thigh. The draken-pony let out a shallow whimper at the stinging sensation, but for the most part ignored it. Desperately Lithe began flapping in the direction she believed was up. As she did, the shades struck out at Lithe six or seven more times, each time leaving another stinging cut.
The latest hit having spun her around, Lithe began to desperately look around, fearful of the next attack. To make matters worse, Twilight had passed out and was nothing but dead weight in her claws.
"This way my child."
Ears catching the slightest hint of the voice, Lithe spun to find a very faint light in the distance.
"The lights will guide you home."
Devoid of any other options Lithe began powering her way towards the lights. Each time she drew close to one it would disappear only for another to show up even further away. Finally when Lithe felt her wings were going to cramp the mist was suddenly gone and the draken-pony found herself barreling out of a thunderhead just outside Ponyville.
Making a beeline for the ground Lithe set Twilight down gently just as the alicorn's eyes began to flutter slightly and open.
"Ow...my back...what happe-"
Before she could get any further Twilight found her lips silenced as Lithe's own lips locked over them.
"Well, that happened...guess I got you back to Ponyville after all."
Lithe suddenly jerked back away from Twilight and glared at her in rage.
"Did you plan that?! Was that all a ploy?!"
Attempting to rise to assure Lithe that this was not the case, Twilight inadvertently stretched the damaged muscles in her back wrong and let out a cry and nearly fall only to have Lithe catch her on her chest much like what had happened back during the waterfight.
"Well, no, and I didn't just plan falling just now, but I don't necessarily feel like arguing with it."
Lithe's features softened into a smile as she lifted Twilight up and began to carry her off towards the orchard.
"You're ridiculous."
"So says the one fascinated with doors..."
M\(>^<)/M
After ensuring everypony was okay, after Lithe assured Applebloom she wasn't leaving again, after Twilight got around to reading Celestia's letter(ironically warning Twilight that Lithe may not understand the aging differences of ponies), after Twilight's back was fixed up magically and after everypony had a quick memorial service for Granny Smith, Lithe was found rolling on the ground spastically laughing at the sight of her father who had himself both a black eye and chipped tooth.
"So father, you're saying..."
"Yes."
"So that means..."
"Yes."
Suddenly Lithe held out her claw for a brohoof from Twilight, still trying her best and failing to remain serious in light of her father's appearance.
As for the High King, he even couldn't hide his smirk at his daughter.
"So, I would assume that Twilight and yourself will be heading to Canterlot soon? After all, there is still a peace treaty to be signed."
Twilight nodded.
"Correct. There are many reasons for this, namely that the peace treaty will need to be presented before a council appointed by Celestia and Luna. Anyway, there is much to do, and our train will be leaving shortly."
The massive dragon king nodded.
"Safe travels you two...oh, and Twilight, I understand why you did it, but if you ever lift half a mountain and suckerpunch me with it again, I'll roast you alive and swallow you whole, understood?"
Twilight just smirked before turning to follow Lithe towards the station.
M\(>^<)/M
Awakening warm and comfy the next morning, Lithe was quick to note, with much appreciation and joy, that she was in the overnight car of the train in Twilight's hooves. Squirming towards Twilight somewhat to get closer to her Lithe felt the alicorn plant a small kiss on her ear.
"You know, completely should have told you this yesterday, didn't really think about saying it until now, but alicorns live forever."
Too comfy to care, Lithe just shrugged.
"Doesn't matter anymore. Shouldn't have mattered to begin with. I love you Twilight."
Squeezing Lithe a bit more tightly, Twilight's breath caught for a moment before she could respond.
"I love you too Lithe."
~Not the End~