//------------------------------// // Epilogue // Story: I Forgot I Was There // by GaPJaxie //------------------------------// Nine letters rested on the desk. Each was a scroll, sealed with wax and laid out neatly side by side. The seals were blank, but each had a name printed on the upward-facing section of the paper. One scroll read Mom and Dad, while the one next to it read Princess Cadence, and the one after that Shining Armor. The remaining six were the names of the Elements of Harmony, ending with the name of the Element of Magic. Twilight Sparkle. The wax seal on the last letter easily broke, crumbling away as the scroll rolled open on the desk. Dear Twilight Sparkle, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. Princess Luna finished deciphering Starswirl’s spell a few months ago, and discovered why he went through so much effort to conceal it. It isn’t permanent. Even under ideal conditions, the duplicate can’t last more than a year, and there’s nothing Princess Celestia or Luna can do to help me. Starswirl must have been worried that ponies would use it anyway. Celestia said he was always mistrusting. Things would have been simpler if I’d told you as soon as I found out. Things would have been simpler if I’d let you kill me on that first day. But I couldn't. I wanted to live, and I wanted to have time with my friends when they weren't pitying me. I know that isn’t fair. I know that this last year has been about my selfishness and your selflessness, with everypony bending over backwards to help me while you stand there and pretend I’m not turning your life upside down. I made it all about me. But it’s not about me anymore. I didn’t write these letters so I would feel better. I suppose it’s cowardly to do the right thing once you’re not around to pay the price for it, but I do want to do the right thing. I want you to have your life back. I want you to have your name back. And I don’t want a funeral. I don’t want everything I was to go away and make everypony sad. You should have it, like it should always have been yours. Help Rainbow Dash train and hang out with her more. Get to know Time Turner better. Spend time with Princess Luna. She gives good advice. It may seem strange for me to say that. We spent so much time trying to be different from one another, but now that I’ve got nothing left to worry about, that’s all starting to seem silly. You are me, if things had just gone a little differently. What does it matter if it’s me or you who does all those things? As long as one of us is around, for Mom and Dad and Ponyville and our friends, it can’t be as bad as that. I wish it could be both of us, but if it has to be one, it should be you. I know that this is my goodbye letter, but don’t think of it that way. Nothing is going away but the relationships I had with the ponies around us, and those can all come back again. I feel like this year took something from us. Twilight Sparkle isn’t bitter, or angry, or selfish, or cowardly. She’s a hero. We took that from each other with our fighting, but now you can have it back again. Everything we are is yours, and I want it to be that way. I want you to be what we both should have been. I wish I’d understood this earlier, but I want you to have my life—or whatever parts of it bring you joy. I want you to have everything. Because you deserve it, and I like you. You’re a good mare, Twilight Sparkle. I wish I’d realized that sooner. There was no signature at the end. After a moment, Twilight Sparkle put down the letter. She turned to the window to watch her reflection in the glass. And, after a time, she cried.