//------------------------------// // Star Fire // Story: A Long Life // by pertelote345 //------------------------------// Star Fire "I'm only going to say this one more time..." I spat at the receptionist. "Let. Me. In!" I had stared down Chimeras with that line. The receptionist didn't even blink. "Ma'am," He said, frighteningly calmly, "You are not officially family, and visiting hours are over. I'm afraid I can't let you in." I ground my teeth. I felt a surge of magic in my horn. "Listen to me you miserable, chunky horse-apple. My best friend just had a heart attack. If you don't open that stupid door right now, I'm going to open your-" A griffon's claw rested on my shoulder. I turned around to see Derick. Apparently he was the second to show up. Considering that I was two blocks away when I heard the news, I had to admit he was living up to his title. "Star, this isn't going to help AJ." He said. "Why don't you come with me? The Princess wants to talk to us both." I let out a breath. As much as I hated to admit it, he was right. I followed him out through the hospital waiting room. I made sure to shoot that receptionist a good old fashioned death glare before we turned the corner. I wasn't sure what I was worried about. AJ'd survived two centuries of combat missions. The old bird would outlive all of us. Tartarus, I'd wager she'd even outlive Pinkie if that coot didn't stop guzzling frosting. She'd be fine... yeah... I followed Derick's bobbing lion tail through a few administrative hallways. This time security actually recognized us. They weren't hospital rent-a-cops either, they were royal guard decked out in kevlar and chain. Celestia must have called them in to make sure Slice didn't make a run at AJ while she was down. It was a smart move... of course, a smarter move would be to have someone even more qualified on guard duty, like, say, the Elements of freaking Harmony, AKA us. I swear, Princess or not, if Celestia didn't give me a damn good reason for why she was dragging us away from our friend in her hour of need I was going to kick her divine teeth in. "Where the buck is everyone else?" I asked, brushing past. He sighed and turned down the next hallway. "Chell's with Spike on patrol near Manehatten. Pinkie's at her weekly checkup in the Crystal Empire. As for the other princesses, Luna and Cadence are at Rainbow Falls for the Traders Exchange. Last I heard, Discord was still in Appleoosa." I groaned. "We should never have let ourselves get so spread out... Wait a minute, why mention the other princesses and Discord?" He held up his ID badge for the uniformed soldier guarding the next hallway. "Because apparently every single one of them is hightailing it here." My eyes went wide. "That does not sound good... Why are they all coming to ponyville?" He pointed a claw to a steel security door behind four armed guards. "Honestly? I have no idea, but the answer is in that room." Oh... We swallowed, nodded to the guards, and walked in. # Meetings with princess Celestia ranged from serious, formal discussions of national security to cake tastings and pillow fights, so I'd come to see the pony who raised the sun in a much more informal way than most. She had this veneer of a calm tight-wad when she deigned to put it on, but underneath she was upbeat, fun loving, and a little bit devious. In short she was an actual pony. But I had never seen her like this before. It was weird, it was like her gears were constantly turning. And... Like... Ah pony feathers, I'm no good at describing this stuff. She was ecstatic and miserable at the same time, that'll have to do. She was sitting on a big pillow and she had her wing around some purple unicorn mare in a blanket. Considering the door I was surprised to find we weren't in a conference room or some holding cell for crazy people... we were in the hospital's daycare room. There was some muted silly cartoon playing on a little TV, a pile of stuffies and blocks in the corner, and cheerful murals on the walls. There was also a pile of food scattered on a picnic blanket on the floor, all untouched save for a single mug of hot tea which the unicorn clutched shakily in a purple magic aura. She was staring off into space in shock. Derrick recovered first. He gave a firm salute. "Elements of Kindness and Loyalty reporting for duty your majesty. What can we do to help?" To my surprise, the unicorn mare looked up at us. "Wait, what? Who are you? Where are Dash and..." Some sort of realization hit her. Her tea clattered to the ground and she started sobbing... From the looks of her face she'd been doing that a lot. Derrick, being Derrick, instantly went down on his knees and offered the girl a tissue. "Hey, shh... it's okay. We specialize in fixing scary things and making the world better. Just let us know what the problem is and..." "I know what the problem is." Said Celestia. We turned to look at her. "Her spell worked too well." Celestia said with a hollow ache in her voice. She slipped the blanket off. The unicorn had wings! "May I introduce to you Twilight Sparkle, 6th and final Element of Harmony... Princess of Friendship... The faithful student I thought forever lost." My jaw dropped. A thousand questions whizzed through my head. Twilight Sparkle was dead! Over a century dead. I'd heard a bit about her, but only from old fogies like AJ and some history books I half paid attention to. We couldn't find friendship because she was what, hiding? What the...? I tried to complete the next thought, but all my brain was giving me was white noise. Derrick was in a similar state, but he recovered a hair more quickly. "This..." he said. "This is actually good..." His eyes lit up, "Like, really good!" Right on cue, the TV flickered and all the lights went out. I heard a distant scream. Now this was bad. Like, really bad.