The figure stood at the entrance to the cave, dripping a little as it had been fittingly raining for a while outside. He didn't make any advancements, he just stood there, waiting.
"How did you find me?" said Twilight.
"A gem-finding spell modified to track alicorns. It was pretty easy to sort through who was who once I had your signature." Even in all his calmness, he was visibly shivering from the cold, yet he remained otherwise stock still.
"Is it true?" Twilight said, "Are you really trying to convince me into a Ritual of Transcendence?"
"Note how you did not say this with fear or anything, just curiosity, which is good." He paused, "Do you want the short answer or the long answer?"
"Give me the long answer," Twilight replied, "we have time."
"Not as much as either of us would like to think," he said as his horn glowed a little and he tilted his head as if listening for something. "Nevertheless, you shall have as you desire." For once, he sat down.
"I have in my years, which are not nearly as much as yours, witnessed many people I know and love pass on from this life into the next," Twilight heard a slight sadness enter his voice, "whatever that is." He took a few moments to gather his thoughts. "I was born in an important family, you know, the kind where all of their offspring must appear to the world to be perfect in every way, never to get into trouble, and always to remain steadfastly loyal to whatever they were charged with." He turned to Twilight again, "But you don't want to hear about all that, it's boring really. No, I'll get to the important stuff. Do you remember Fair Flight, Shining Armor's daughter?" Twilight nodded. "Well, when I say I come from an important family, I meant I am Fair Flight's descendant. So an all actuality I really meant it when I called you 'Auntie Twilight' when we first met."
Twilight widened her eyes, she had lost track of her family tree, probably because she didn't want to be reminded of the parts that no longer existed.
He went on, "So now here I am, trying to get you to perform a Ritual of Transcendence with obvious consequences, and I haven't even explained why, pardon my manners." He breathed in deeply. "Over those same years of mine, I have studied all over the world the way of magic and sorcery. I have traveled to the most remote of places to find ancient tomes and forgotten books that frankly should've stayed forgotten. And yet, in all my research, I came upon this horrifying and humbling realization. True immortality does not exist." He let that sink in. "I have accessed hidden records, and found accounts of previous beings that do obtain such a status, and yet they all meet their end one way or another."
"So what am I?" said Twilight. "I am immortal" -she choked on that word- "aren't I?
"Now there's the problem. the body can be immortal, but the mind cannot, if that makes sense." Again a tone of sadness entered his voice. "Those previously immortal beings I've mentioned, with all of them I've noticed a pattern on how they meet their end. One, they are defeated and destroyed. Or two, self will. Now guess how many went the way of the first option?" Twilight didn't respond. "Exactly one, and only because he didn't have the heart to fight harder."
Twilight finally had something to say. "But this is not self willed, you are just trying to convince me!"
"No," he said firmly, "do you remember what I said not to long ago?" He conjured another magic screen, showing a previous encounter. Twilight of the screen said, "and I don't need you to come here and-" "Help you remember." The figure finished. "So you see, I am trying to help you remember, to realize that you cannot go on like this forever. There are only two known constants in this world, the sun, and the moon. And twilight, twilight is but a moment between sunset and moonrise. Twilight cannot, should not last forever!" He calmed down, and seemed to consider something for a while. "Look, if it will make you trust me any more..." He reached for his hood, and pulled it back. The pure white face that was revealed was in deep contrast to his dark demeanor, and to the charcoal black mane that he also possessed. But what really got Twilight was how much he looked like her brother, dear Shining Armor. His stature, his hair, his military posture, and those eyes that could stare down the toughest foe, while still being soft enough to comfort someone at the end of a hard day.
Twilight felt the tears welling up and cried again, loudly and without restraint. She didn't care if this pony saw her, nor if the whole of Equestria saw their heartbroken princess and were washed away in her tears. Her crown fell to the ground.
She felt a body embrace her, he spoke quietly, "Poor Auntie Twilight, we are all slowly dying, every day. I am, Spike is, nearly everypony you know is, even you. But you have been dying for far too long, dear aunt." Twilight could hear his voice crack a little, "It breaks my heart to see you this way, which is why-" Twilight just pulled him in harder, warm tears flowing down her cheeks and onto his chest.
"I understand," she croaked, "you just want to help."
Twilight lay there as T.L. (as he told her to call him) set to work preparing the ritual. He worked quickly and efficiently, with no pause. "Another thing you may not know," he said as he marked runes in a standard incantation circle, "is that Celestia had an entire room set up with these symbols in preparation for a Ritual of Transcendence for when she would need one." He then went to the cave entrance and started up a barrier spell.
"You still haven't explained one thing," Twilight said, "Celestia told me that you will receive my wings if we do this. What about then?"
"Do you think I want your wings?" He said as he strengthened the barrier, "No. But don't worry, I've already anticipated that, and I wont receive your wings."
"What makes you so sure?"
"Because," he said simply, "I am not worthy to be an alicorn."
"Are you ready?" asked T.L.
"I- I guess."
"Good, now remember what I told you about doing this correctly. It should come naturally, but you still have to concentrate a bit."
Twilight nodded hesitantly and closed her eyes, what she was about to take on would surely mean the end of her.
But it's all right, isn't it?
She looked over to T.L. for a second, his horn was glowing and he looked like he was listening for something. He saw her looking and waved for her to continue, so she closed her eyes again, but not before seeing him activate another rune outside the circle. As she concentrated, she heard a sound like a magic blast hit the barrier at the cave entrance, followed by more blasts. "Don't lose concentration!" She heard T.L. think. She found that he was right when he said it would come naturally, so she concentrated her magic and let it flow through the runes which started glowing brightly. She reached the point where she could stop and let the spell continue on its own. When she opened her eyes, she at first saw T.L. charging the rune that he put up, creating a stronger barrier. But it was failing. "A little help would be nice." Twilight ran over and helped augment the rune as colored swirls and wisps from the Ritual flew around in brilliant hues. "Remember to at least concentrate a little on the Ritual for it to succeed." He strained a little, "and maybe speed it up please." Twilight started to try to speed up the ritual when she heard a familiar voice from the other side of the barrier.
"Twilight!" Celestia shouted, "Twilight! What are you doing?" Celestia knew of course, but momentarily refused to believe it.
"Leave us alone, Celestia, we know what we're doing." T.L. said.
"He just wants your wings!"
"Hah! Hardly, I can solemnly pledge on Celestia's Sun that that is not my goal."
"You can't do this Twilight!"
"But she can! And guess who gave that power to her?"
Twilight listened to the exchange between the two, and though the Ritual required little effort, she trembled. Was Celestia right, was this all a big scam? She fought with herself again, the strength of the Ritual waning and increasing as an exact measure of her confidence. Celestia was her longtime mentor, the one she's trusted all her life. But T.L. just made so much sense, he knew her, and he was family too.
"Twilight, think of all you're leaving behind." Celestia pleaded.
"Think of all you already have left behind."
"Please, just think this over!"
"For what, another ten years? A hundred? A thousand? She's made up her mind."
"Don't believe what he says!"
"Why? Because I'm the only one who's told the complete truth?"
Celestia could only watch as Twilight looked one final time at Celestia with wide eyes, and finished the spell in a brilliant flash of light, leaving Celestia all alone in the cave.
"Twilight..."
She was once again in the Cosmic Zone, but it was real this time. The colors swirled around in the background, and though they were like sand in an hourglass counting down minutes, Twilight felt strangely at peace. She looked around, and could see the magic screens that Celestia had used to show Twilight her accomplishments, only they were blank this time. There was a silence in the air, but it was broken by a whining ball of light that appeared a few feet in front of Twilight. The ball expanded and then popped, leaving a slightly dazed T.L. He quickly shook off the confusion and looked around as well, contemplating the illusion of floating in the middle of a cosmos while still standing on "solid" ground. He looked at this back and noticed that his robe was gone. He then turned to Twilight.
"Hello there," he said, "what now?"
Twilight thought for a second, "Well, when Celestia took me here, she toured me past all these screens." She gestured at the two rows of blank screens that formed a rough hallway.
"Alright then," he said, and they started walking slowly along side by side. The silence returned, but T.L.'s presence made it awkward. They walked past several screens, all of them displaying a steady white glow. Twilight looked at him confused. He caught her look and stopped walking. He explained, "These screens show the recipient's accomplishments in life, as they did for you." A pained expression flashed across his face, "And as you can see, I there are none for me to have displayed." He started to walk again, but was stopped by a loud whooshing noise as the screens started moving towards a central point. They both watched as the screens joined together, forming a much larger screen that nearly took up their field of vision. An image then started to appear on screen. At first it was unrecognizable, but became clearer as it focused. It showed a younger T.L. in a library reading books and surrounded by them. It then went over his life, depicting him reading more books, exploring ancient ruins, and practicing magic vigorously. The view then changed to T.L. in a robe- talking to Twilight in her dreams, arguing with her, and finally comforting her and convincing her to do the Ritual. As it showed this, the screen glowed brighter and grew bigger, engulfing them both in its light. They both looked at each other with concern, and the last thing either of them remember is the sensation of falling.