//------------------------------// // Until It's Gone (Sad, TS) // Story: Bedtime Stories // by Holy //------------------------------// "...and that concludes our duties for the day." Celestia trailed off, looking over the list in front of her. Twilight nodded absentmindedly, this had become such a routine for her, she could even predict her next words. Celestia lowered the list back down to the table and looked to her. "It's been a long day, you should get some rest, Twilight." Twilight nodded, then headed back to her quarters for the night. Everyday was the same: wake up, deal with the nobles complaining about the bureaucracy, deal with the bureaucracy complaining that the nobles are pushing things to fast, deal with all the requests and problems that the citizens of Equestria would tell her and Celestia, deal with envoys from neighboring countries, and finally, check the mail. Spike had long since moved on to live a life outside of the castle. Every now and again Celestia would recieve a letter on how much he had grown, or where he was headed next; it was all the same to her, it wasn't like they were going to see each other anytime soon. Twilight passed by the mail room for the second time that day. Usually a courier would bring it to her personally, but it never hurt to check. Twilight walked up to the counter, where a young servant filly worked quickly to get all of the mail in the right slots before the end of the day. "Um... Excuse me." Twilight looked over the counter just in time to see the filly bang her head on the counter above her, then turn around apologetically while rubbing the back of her head. "Sorry. Is there something you need, Princess?" she looked up at her with a bright smile. Twilight had long since given up trying to get them to just call her by her name, so the title no longer bothered her. "I just came by to see if I had gotten any letters." "Um..." The filly cast an uneasy glance back at the empty box that usually contained Twilight's mail. "...I could check for you." Twilight knew the answer already, but didn't want to accept it. She returned her bright smile and asked, "Please?" She knelt back down and began to look through some of the letters that hadn't been sorted yet, digging around and throwing letters and scrolls to the ground that weren't labeled 'Twilight'. The seconds grew longer, and Twilight's heart dropped with each piece of paper as she could hear it lightly tap the ground. The filly slowly rose back up to meet her with an uneasy expression. "I-I'm sorry, Princess, but there's nothing here for you." She was about to continue, but Twilight cut her off by raising a hoof. "Don't worry yourself. Thank you for checking," she tried to say brightly, holding back the tears forming at the edges of her eyes. Twilight turned back toward the hallway and decided to go to sleep, with nothing else to do for the day. As soon as she was away from anyone that could see her, she let a couple of sniffles echo through the hallway, and a the occasional teardrop hit the tile floor. She had sent at least two letters to each of her six old friends within the past year. Not a single reply had ever come back. Still, everyday she would check her mail, and everyday, she would well up with tears in disappointment. The last time they had spoke, they were all living happy lives on their own. Rarity had moved to Manehatten and had become quite the seamstress, taking Equestria's fashion scene by storm. Rainbow Dashed toured the world, living her dream as a wonderbolt. Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Fluttershy were still in Ponyville as far as she knew. None of them had bothered to send a reply though. She couldn't blame them, she was far too busy to even think about visiting now, she had to think they were facing more of the same. That didn't ease her aching heart though. She yearned for just a single word from them. Anything would be better than this. She pushed open the wooden door to her room and made sure it was closed behind her. She nestled into the finest silk sheets in the world, and futily held back a sob. The lonliness crashed down upon her. Every day without a letter, every night without someone to talk to, all her sadness and frustration came pouring out of her face as she gave up trying to hold it back. She wailed into her tearstained pillow for the hundreth night in a row, before she finall cried herself to sleep yet again.