The sunset was so similar, and yet nothing like it once was.
Twilight blinked her eyes to make sure the view around her was real. Each blink only helped to solidify it. Broken roads, decaying huts made of stick and straw and a sky grayer than fresh ash engulfed her field of view. No matter where she turned, a chipped away home lay or the blackening dirt that surrounded it. The young princess's heart pounded, but not from the atmosphere.
Below Twilight's hooves was a dot on the ground. It wasn't painted, but looked and felt like a part of the earth itself. It spread out in three directions, all equiangular, and shot into the town towards the ponies that inhabited it.
The faces of the ponies were grayer than the sky. None stepped over the line and in fact all kept as far as they could from it. Mothers kept their hooves over their young, lest they stray too close.
All the ponies stayed in their respective areas, caged by the forces that separated them. Nopony from one area gave so much as a smile to a pony in another; they didn't even look at each other.
Twilight felt her body ripping into three as she took a step.
Each area only had one type of pony, one race. One area of for unicorns, one for pegasi, and one for earth ponies. Each type kept to themselves in their own section; the only looks that met between the three were ones of menace and distrust. Twilight had never seen separation with her own eyes; she felt like she belonged nowhere, not even in the unicorn section. The dot was where she kept her hooves.
Even amongst the same race the ponies passed each other by like the other didn't exist. No smiles, no hello, not even a nod of existence; everypony was in their own world, alone, lost in the rush of their own lives.
A million ponies surrounded each of them, and yet still they were alone.
This place isn't real. This place isn't real... Princess Celestia's...
The sunset was familiar; she had seen it before. The way the sun sunk into the mountains, the way the approaching shadows blanketed the forests.
She had seen it just last night.
Twilight looked up and saw Canterlot on the mountain it always was, and herself staring up at it like she always did.
Her home had left her.
Twilight's heartbeat pounded through her bones, but just as her chest couldn't take anymore, a smile shot up on her face. I get it now... This is just a vision of what Ponyville and Equestria would be like if Princess Celestia never unleashed the windigos...
And with that in mind, she let out a sigh, finally able to understand.
I get it, Princess... you had no choice... I might not agree, but I understand.
Two seconds. That was all the time Twilight could keep up her smile.
As she gazed at the nightmare around her, the sight of a statue caught her attention in the unicorn section. The statue had wings though, as well as the neck harness of an earth pony. In fact, it was a spitting image of Princess Celestia, at least from where Twilight was standing.
Twilight flew to it, though she never made it more than halfway. She fell onto the ground, unable to move.
The statue was of an alicorn, but its cutie mark was not a sun. A star encrusted the alicorn's flank, surrounded by five smaller stars. On the bottom of the statue was, "Queen Twilight Sparkle."
The future queen collapsed to the ground in tears. No... I would never... I can't ever...
As Twilight stayed on the gray dirt, next to image of what she would allow, the world around her began spinning. One second she would see the future of her creation, and the next an image of the three tribes of the past arguing as the snow and ice surrounded them. One second her kingdom dying around her, the next the yells and curses of the three races towards each other. It all mixed together until her head, wings and body began pulling themselves apart from each other.
She let out a shriek of horror, but it was of no use. Her wings left her, as then did her body and hooves. An instant later her horn uprooted itself from her until she was nothing more than a lone head caught within the tornado.
The next thing Twilight knew she was once again in the throne room of the royal palace, back below her mentor and leader.
Twilight immediately dropped to the ground, "I understand," she said, shaking, "I understand..."
Celestia nodded, "I'm so sorry you had to see it for yourself... but sometimes," her serious face broke down and she faced down, frowning, "The only sane decision is the one least sane..."
"Just tell me one thing, please..." Twilight said, "Why?" Celestia raised her head. "Why will friendship die? Why did it before?"
Celestia sighed, "I... do not know." Twilight's eyes cracked. "It is as with all things... everything has a beginning, and an end... Just as we must all go one day so much friendship... however... while we cannot be brought back, friendship can be made eternal..."
Celestia took a step towards her daughter, "All it takes is one pony, willing to risk it all." She extended her hoof towards the pony on the ground, "Twilight, will you make friendship eternal?"
Twilight grabbed Celestia's hoof and stood up, now able to look her mentor in the eye, "Of course."
She may as well have been staring into her reflection.