Spike clambered out of his tiny bed in the dead of night, unable to sleep. He crawled into the living room where he found his favorite purple unicorn filly deeply engaged in a book by the light of the fireplace. He silently crept up from behind her and climbed onto her back.
"Oh hi, Spike," Twilight said, turning her head to smile at him.
The dragon hatchling pointed inquisitively at the book.
"I'm reading about Starswirl the Bearded," Twilight said as she turned back a few pages. "Look. It says here that there was once a massive cloud shortage that prevented pegasus ponies from making rain, which made it almost impossible for earth ponies to grow crops. Then Starswirl came in and enchanted the earth ponies' crop seeds, making it so they would only need minimal water to grow. It says that he ended a potential famine that could have lasted for years. Isn't that amazing?"
Spike gurgled in agreement, despite not understanding anything she just said.
Twilight closed the book. "I hope I become a great unicorn like Starswirl someday..."
Spike wrapped his arms tightly around Twilight's neck, snuggling onto her coat as though he intended to make her his bed for the night. She giggled.
"Come on, let's get you back to bed. You may sleep with me if you need to."
Twilight took only a few steps, and did not move again. The atmosphere in the room suddenly changed, and a chill fell over the young dragon. He opened his eyes to find that he was now laying on the floor. Twilight was gone without a trace, and the fire that had been burning brightly in the fireplace was suddenly extinguished, leaving the room cold and dark.
Spike shivered, filled with fear. There was no purpose in even crying out for Twilight, because she wasn't there, and he knew it. She was gone—long gone. Gone to a place where he somehow knew he would not be able to follow her. As his fear increased, the room appeared to grow darker and darker until he could see nothing, not even his own claws in front of his face. Feeling overwhelmed and immensely frightened, he curled up into a tiny ball and began to weep...
****
Spike awoke instantly, briefly forgetting where he was and everything that had happened. It was just after dawn, and he quickly realized that he had not woken up in his own bed back at the castle, which was certainly where he would have preferred to wake up. Instead, he was back beneath the rock in the middle of Ghastly Gorge. To his horror, the nearly-charred body of Twilight Sparkle lay beside him, now cold and utterly lifeless.
Upon seeing it, he suddenly remembered everything. He remembered Twilight facing off against the massive fireball that had been hurling down to destroy him, he remembered sharing a few final words with her just before she died, he remembered dragging her body back beneath the rock, unwilling to walk back to Ponyville and leave her in the middle of the gorge, and he remembered crying his eyes out until he finally fell asleep.
Tears filled his eyes again. It was almost impossible to accept that she was gone, and in such a horrific way. The charred and burnt blackness of her body was unnervingly difficult and painful to look at.
Spike climbed out from under the rock and looked up into the early morning sky, wondering how he was going to get himself and Twilight back to Ponyville. There was not a single soul around, and it appeared to be that way for miles in either direction of the gorge. With that thought in mind, Spike suddenly realized that he did not know exactly which direction Ponyville was; he could not remember from which way they had flown to get there.
He sighed, kicking at the dirt. I wouldn't mind if I just stayed right here. Maybe I could find something to use so I can dig a hole and bury her, and then I could just stay here until I figure out what I'm going to do...
Just minutes later, he suddenly saw somepony flying above the gorge. At first glance, he thought it was a pegasus, but he soon noticed that its body type instead matched that of an alicorn. The pony descended down towards his location, and Spike was able to see that it was Princess Luna.
"How did you know—?" Spike asked once she landed.
"Where is she?" Luna interrupted, looking more grim and serious than usual.
Spike pointed towards the rock. Luna looked at Twilight's body and dropped her head mournfully.
"What happened?" she asked.
Spike shook his head, unwilling to even begin recounting the events that led to Twilight ending up a charred corpse.
"She sacrificed herself so that you would live, didn't she?" asked Luna.
Spike nodded slowly. The thought that Twilight chose to die for him only pierced his body with an intense guilt for remaining alive. He began to think that he might have preferred it if she had just stayed beneath the rock with him, bracing each other as they awaited an inevitable death.
Luna shook her head. "I'm so sorry."
"Can't you bring her back? Please? Isn't there something you can do...?" Spike asked, looking deeply and desperately into her eyes.
"There is no cure for death, nor is there any spell capable of reversing it," said Luna. "I am sorry, Spike."
Spike dropped to his knees in helplessness, his guilt growing even more intense.
"Come now. We need to go," said Luna as she magically conjured a tarp from thin air and tightly wrapped Twilight's body inside it.
"Go where?" asked Spike.
Luna lowered her knees for Spike to climb onto her back.
"I will take you back to Ponyville so that you may inform your friends about her death. I will take her body back to Canterlot with me to inform her family."
Spike warily climbed onto Luna's back, and she lifted off the ground, carrying Twilight's covered body in her magic. She set off in a westward direction, and from up high, Spike was able to see that they had been deep within the gorge. It would have at least been a day's walk back to Ponyville on foot.
"You come into ponies' dreams, right?" Spike asked as a thought suddenly occurred to him. "So I'm probably just dreaming, right? I must be dreaming—how else would you have known where I was?"
Luna shook her head solemnly. "You're not dreaming."
"Then how did you know?"
"The dream you had earlier," answered Luna. "When I look into a dream, I am able to obtain information about the dreamer, including the dreamer's location. That is how I was able to find you."
Spike did not speak again. As impossible as it was to believe, it was painfully clear now that nothing was going to change the fact that Twilight was gone. It was around this time yesterday that he was forcefully awakened by Celestia sending her hastily-scrawled letter which threw Twilight into a sudden panic. Had he known that would be her last day alive, he certainly would not have left her alone as she wanted. He sadly looked over at Twilight's body floating beside them in Luna's dark blue magical aura.
After a relatively short flight, Luna landed in Ponyville nearby the castle.
"Break the news to your friends, and when you're all ready, meet us in Canterlot," she said as Spike hopped off her back. "Then we will discuss our next course of action."
"Fine...," Spike said, hanging his head.
"Are you going to be okay?" asked Luna.
Spike shook his head; the question may as well have been a joke. "No."
Luna frowned. "Rely on your friends for comfort. You are not alone in this. It will be a sad day for all of Equestria."
With that, Luna flew off, still carrying Twilight's body. A cold sensation ran across Spike's scales as he feared that he had just seen it for the last time.
He lay curled up on the ground for several minutes, unsure of what to do. He remembered Twilight's dying wish, but he did not feel like informing her friends of her death, particularly since he was having so much trouble accepting it himself. Spike felt as though his entire life had come to a screeching halt. After dedicating so much of his existence to Twilight, what would he do with his life now? How would he find the strength to go on living without her? Did he even have a place in pony society anymore? Without Twilight, he was simply lost in the dark, just as he had been in his dream...
"Spike?" said a voice that he instantly recognized as Applejack's.
She was standing just above him, a single saddlebag hanging from one side of her back. Spike looked up at her, but could not bring himself to say anything.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
He shook his head, and after a few seconds, Applejack glared fiercely.
"I don't believe it! She ended her friendship with you, too, didn't she?! Why, of all the cold-hearted things I've ever heard a pony do in all my life! And ta think I came all this way just to give this back to her...." She reached inside her bag and removed Smarty Pants. "I shoulda just thrown it in a fire!"
"No, Applejack." Spike said, picking himself up off the ground. "Twilight....is dead."
A flood of new tears unleashed from his eyes and he quickly descended into a weep. Applejack stared at him in bewilderment.
"What? That can't be..."
"She...she wanted me to tell you that you were right," said the inconsolable baby dragon. "You were in danger and she was....trying to save you."
Applejack shook her head. "I knew it..."
"I don't know what I'm going to do, Applejack...," Spike said, his voice broken by intense sobs.
Applejack affectionately wrapped her hooves around him as tears began to fall from her own eyes.
"There, there sugarcube..."
"I...I don't know if I c-can live without her."
Applejack held the young dragon tightly for several minutes as he continued to weep, feeling more sorrow for him than she did for Twilight's death. She had always felt something of a loving bond towards him, which intensified after he briefly dedicated his services to her and subsequently saved her life.
"Could you tell me what happened?" Applejack asked as his weeping died down.
Spike wiped his eyes. "She was...there was this huge fireball that was coming down to kill me and she....she stopped it."
"A huge fireball?" questioned Applejack.
Spike nodded. "I guess there would have been one coming for you, too, if she hadn't..."
"But why?" asked Applejack. "And where'd this fireball come from, anyway?"
"Twilight said it was....Starswirl's spell—the one that she finished. He cursed it to make it so that her friends would die. I guess the only way she could save you was to let you think that she wasn't friends with you anymore."
Applejack went silent, thinking all of this through.
"We need to tell the others," she said. "We were gonna meet at Sugarcube Corner for breakfast this mornin'. Do you feel like comin'?"
"I'm not hungry," replied Spike, shaking his head.
"Nor am I. What I meant was, do you feel like tellin' them right now?"
Spike sighed and nodded. "Yeah. I have to tell them."
"Well, let's go..."
****
Luna suddenly burst through the throne room doors, interrupting another one of Celestia's nervous paces. She had been waiting all night to hear from Twilight, unsure whether or not her task had been successful. The conceptual portions of the counterspell were scribbled onto a sheet of parchment in the study, untouched ever since the clock struck six PM. Celestia could not shake the feeling that there was no longer any need to complete it anymore...
"Did you find her?" she asked at once.
Luna nodded solemnly. "I did."
She carefully placed Twilight's body at Celestia's hooves, closing her eyes so as not to see her reaction.
"NO!!!" Celestia cried instantly, levitating the tarp off of Twilight's body to stare into her burned and near-unrecognizable face.
She burst into tears at once, kneeling down beside her former student. "NO NO NO NO NO!!!"
Luna opened her eyes again and watched as her sister gently stroked Twilight's face while she wept. She had not seen her sister cry in this manner since they were both fillies—millenniums ago. Only now was she truly made aware of just how much Twilight meant to her.
"How did this happen...?" Celestia whispered after a few minutes.
"Must you ask?" replied Luna. "She could not bring herself to end her friendship with Spike. She sacrificed herself so that he would live."
"This wasn't supposed to happen," Celestia whispered.
"Well, it did happen," Luna snapped. "And exactly what else were you expecting? You may as well have tasked a mother with abandoning her child."
Celestia shook her head in numb disbelief. "She...she was supposed to do it..."
"Well, what happens now?" asked Luna. "Spike is telling her friends. We're going to have the be the ones to tell her family, and how do you think they'll react when they learn that this only happened because of a curse in a spell that you tasked her with completing? I can only defend you so much."
Celestia did not respond, her somber eyes remaining glued to Twilight's corpse. Luna soon left the room, shaking her head.
"If only you'd left well enough alone..."
****
"...and she wanted me to tell you how much she loves all of you, and how sorry she is for everything she said," Spike finished, staring into the tearful faces of Twilight's former friends.
As expected, no pony had any will or desire to eat at the moment. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie began to wail almost uncontrollably. Rainbow Dash bit her lip, wrenched with unmistakable guilt.
"I told her...to go die in a fire. That was the last thing I ever said to her..."
"How could I have been so foolish?" Rarity said to herself as tears welled up in her eyes. "I should have known she would never..."
"We had to believe that she was bein' honest," said Applejack. "We wouldn't be here now if we didn't. She saved all of us."
"She saved us....and now we've lost her forever...," said Rarity, unleashing her tears.
Applejack looked up suddenly to see that Mrs. Cake had approached them.
"Did...did I hear you correctly? Did you say that Twilight is dead?" she asked in disbelief.
Applejack nodded somberly.
"Oh my!" she cried, putting a hoof to her mouth. "I'm so sorry!"
"Buck this!" Rainbow Dash shouted angrily over all the wailing, causing every head to turn towards her. "First that stupid spell switches up our cutie marks, and now it kills our friend?! Somepony's going to pay for this!"
"She's right," said Rarity, wiping her tears. "We simply cannot let this slide."
"Well, what do you suggest we do?" asked Applejack. "Starswirl is long gone."
"Starswirl wasn't the one who gave Twilight the spell to complete, was he?" Rainbow said, a surprisingly sharp bitterness in her voice.
They each fell into a deep and cold silence as they realized with whom the guilt lay. Without a word, Mrs. Cake uncomfortably retreated back into the kitchen, no longer wanting to be involved in their conversation.
"I...I don't like where this is going..." Fluttershy said nervously.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Fluttershy," snapped Rainbow. "Are we just supposed to ignore the fact that Celestia is the reason why our friend is now dead, and why we were almost killed, too?"
Fluttershy closed her eyes and lowered her head slightly, as she often did whenever Rainbow expressed frustration towards her.
"Well, it ain't like she knew about the curse," said Applejack.
"What difference does that make?!" retorted Rainbow. "She's been in possession of his journal for how many centuries now? She's had plenty of time to find out about it."
"But what if she's super sorry about it?" questioned Pinkie Pie.
"I'm certain she is," replied Rarity. "But that still does not change the fact that this is her fault."
"And in the end, what was it all for?" said Rainbow Dash. "Twilight became an alicorn princess, and she would have potentially become immortal and outlived all of us. It was never even worth it. Never!
Applejack sighed. "So what're we gonna do, then? Lay down charges and have her prosecuted?"
"I don't know, but she will answer for this," said Rainbow. "You may be okay with her getting Twilight killed and almost getting us killed, but I'm not, Applejack."
"I'm not okay with it," Applejack protested. "But I don't think we should be irrational about this. I mean, this is the same princess who raises the sun every day."
"Oh, and because of that, she should just be absolved of any wrongdoing?!" snapped Rainbow.
"I can't forgive her," said Spike, shaking his head. "I never will."
His words triggered a short pause. Sitting beside him, Rarity tenderly placed a comforting hoof around the young dragon. He did not react to it, instead dropping his head to look at the floor, as though ashamed to be accepting pity.
"I'm sorry, Applejack, but Rainbow Dash is right," resumed Rarity. "Celestia may not have killed Twilight directly, but she's still the reason why she's....gone. We owe it to her to make sure that she receives proper justice."
"Umm...I'm not really sure about this," said Fluttershy. "I don't like the idea that we're...against Princess Celestia."
"Me neither," added Pinkie Pie. "We can't really be against Princess Celestia, can we? That would mean that we're against all of Equestria, and if we're against all of Equestria, we can't be the ones who defend Equestria, and if we can't defend Equestria, we'll—"
"I don't think it'll just be us, Pinkie," said Rainbow Dash. "Once word gets out that Twilight died because of Celestia's actions, all of Equestria will probably be clamoring for justice, and I, for one, am not letting this go."
Applejack sighed with disappointment. "I seem to recall you saying once that you'd always be loyal to the princess."
"That was before she nearly got us killed," retorted Rainbow. "I'm more loyal to my friends than I am to her, and that's why I'm going to be proving my loyalty to Twilight by making sure that Celestia does not go unpunished for this."
"Well, what kinda punishment would be good enough for you?" asked Applejack. "A few years in a prison cell? A few months in Tartarus? Or maybe....her execution? Mind tellin' me which one would satisfy you the most?"
Rainbow paused to think for a few seconds. Rarity looked uncertain, as if trying to decide between two different outfits to wear to a formal event. Spike did not look up.
"I don't know," said Rainbow. "But she has to pay for this in some way."
"There's a fine line between wantin' justice and wantin' revenge," said Applejack. "I want Celestia to own up to her actions, but at the same time, I realize that this wasn't somethin' that she intended ta happen."
"I don't care," Spike said indignantly. "Twilight is gone now and it's her fault! I wouldn't care if she was executed for this."
Again, his words triggered a pause in the discussion. Applejack and Rarity stared at him with wide-eyed shock. Fluttershy appeared to be conflicted, as though she did not want to be apart of the conversation anymore, yet still did not have any willpower to leave. Pinkie Pie looked as though she were dying to throw a party if for no other reason than to leave all of this unpleasantness behind her.
"We deserve justice, and Spike especially," resumed Rainbow Dash after about a minute. "You wouldn't be so understanding if her actions ended up causing the death of Apple Bloom, would you?"
Applejack sighed, refusing to respond. Rainbow Dash nodded her head, taking Applejack's silence as indication that she made a valid point.
"You know, this was probably a long time coming," Rainbow said. "I had a feeling that it was only a matter of time before she got one of us killed. Just weeks ago we were captured by Tirek, even though she thought that us not knowing about their transferring power to Twilight would keep us safe. But it didn't. We got captured anyway, so it was all for nothing. But at least if we had known, we would have been able to offer her our help."
Rarity nodded. "Indeed. So what do we do now?"
"Princess Luna wanted us to come to Canterlot when we were ready," said Spike. "I think I'm more than ready."
"I am, too," replied Rainbow Dash. "Guys?"
Rarity nodded. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie looked at her with nervous uncertainty.
Applejack shrugged, admitting defeat. "Fine."
"Well, the Canterlot train should be arriving soon."
One by one, they each walked out the door, Applejack deliberately staying behind. Feeling defeated, she shook her head with frustration and followed them out.
****
Celestia gently placed the tarp back over Twilight's body, no longer wanting to look at it. Luna soon re-entered the throne room.
"I've sent a letter to Cadence and Shining Armor," she said. "I told them to come to Canterlot but did not tell them why. Meanwhile, Twilight's friends may be here soon, and we still need to tell her parents."
Celestia nodded. "I'm finished."
"What?" asked Luna.
"Do you not see?" said Celestia, starting her sister dead in the eye. "I needed her to do this, and she couldn't. Her blood is on my hooves, and of all the countless centuries I've been ruling this land, I have never caused the death of a pony whom I did not intend to die. This is it for me. There's no going back now."
Luna looked hard at her. "You are sure?"
"I do not want you to defend me," said Celestia. "In fact, I want you to tell anypony who asks that it was all my fault. I'm prepared to accept whatever consequences may come."
"Then who shall rule Equestria?" questioned Luna.
"Must you ask?"
Luna blinked with surprise. "Me? But I am only the Princess of the Night."
"Now you must become the Princess of both night and day, as I did."
"But I have never raised the sun."
"It is nothing complicated."
"And what then shall happen to you?"
Celestia sighed. "When word of this gets out, I may no longer be welcome in Equestria. I do not know what will happen to me."
Luna shook her head. "I...I am not sure I can do this. Was it not you who said that we were meant to rule together?"
"That is what I believed when I banished you—that I would not be able to do it all alone," said Celestia. "But I found a way, and so shall you."
"I believe you exaggerate," said Luna. "After more than a thousand years of rule, I do not think the citizens of Equestria will turn against you over a mistake like this."
"It is not only this," said Celestia, shaking her head. "I realize now that I am simply unable to protect my subjects anymore. I failed to protect them from Discord, from Chrysalis, and from Tirek. Chrysalis was right beside me—right under my nose—and yet I could not see her. I trusted Discord to stop Tirek, and that was a grave mistake that nearly allowed him to win control over all Equestria. This is just the final straw. I know now that I am unfit to continue ruling. No matter what comes of this, I am stepping away from the throne and relinquishing it to you. Tomorrow shall be a new dawn, and you will be the one to bring it."
Luna was stunned silent. Celestia nodded to ensure her seriousness.
"Now, summon her parents here, and let's get this over with..."
****
Spike stared somberly out the train's window, thinking about the upcoming confrontation. The ride to Canterlot was mostly silent, and all of the sadness and grief that had briefly been lost while they discussed Celestia's guilt instantly returned—even Rainbow Dash shed a few tears. But Spike was all out of tears to shed, at least for the moment. His guilt still wore heavily upon him, and it blended well with all the rest of his mournful and uncertain feelings. He tried not to think about Twilight and he tried not to think about what he would do with himself now, but more than anything, he tried not to think about tonight.
For tonight, there would be no denying how different his life would be from now on. He surely expected that he would receive no sleep, instead remaining awake in the quiet darkness just waiting for the sunrise.
Ever since he began living with Twilight, he had almost always slept beside her in the same room, and even on the rare occasion when he did not, it was almost never for more than a single night. He could still remember several nights over the years when he was awakened by a nightmare: he would climb out of his tiny bed, walk over to Twilight, gently poke her to wake her up, then ask to sleep with her. And without fail, she would always scoot over and allow him to climb into her bed, then fall back asleep, a protective hoof extended over his body. Naturally, these occurrences had become less common as he got older, but sleeping next to Twilight was now a habit that he was used to. Even in the large castle with more than a dozen rooms, he had still opted to share a room with her.
But tonight....tonight would be the first night he would never again sleep next to Twilight. The habit was broken forever. He was not even sure where he would sleep now, as he certainly did not want to go back to that stupid castle again...
"Spike?"
For the second time, he recognized Applejack's voice.
"May I talk to you?" she asked, taking a seat beside him.
He shrugged. "I don't mind."
"I don't wanna say I know what yer goin' through, but I do at least know how yer feelin'," said Applejack. "Angry, confused, even scared. Probably thinkin' how unfair it all is, probably thinkin' 'why'd this have to happen', or even 'why couldn't it have been me.' I know what it's like. The first day is always the hardest. It's gonna be quite some time before things start feelin' normal again, but sooner or later, they will. Because one day, you'll get used to her not bein' here anymore."
Spike sighed, no longer wanting to hear what Applejack had to say. While he was well aware of her parent's death, he still did not think that she could possibly relate to his feelings. They had not sacrificed themselves to save her, and so she was not carrying that kind of weight on her back like he was.
"Yesterday, I told Twilight that all the years we spent together didn't mean anythin' to me anymore," Applejack continued. "I wish I hadn't said that—not because I know now that she was only tryin' to save us, but because it wasn't true. I was just tryin' to hurt her, and I know did, because I saw a tear fall from her eye. She tried to hide it from me, but I saw it. And at the time, it felt good to see her hurt after everythin' she had said. But later on, I realized that I knew that statement wasn't the truth, because I consider the years since you and Twilight came to Ponyville to be the best years of my life. And I wouldn't trade them for anythin', not even then."
Spike turned his head to look at her, and Applejack tenderly removed her hat as a gesture of affection.
"I'm sad that she's gone, but I'm also thankful that she chose to save you," she said. "I'm thankful that we didn't lose you, too."
Spike's guilt prevented him from feeling touched. Feeling lost for a response, he turned his head back towards the window. The train crossed through a tunnel, and the entire car went dark for several seconds, triggering a silence between them.
"I understand being upset at Princess Celestia," Applejack resumed once they exited the tunnel and light returned to the car. "I honestly do. But she wasn't the one who cursed the spell. It was Starswirl who did that, and that's why I blame him more. I understand if you never want to forgive her, but you really think she deserves to die?"
Spike huffed, his eyes fixed on Canterlot Castle, which was now only a short distance away.
"I don't know. I mean, if she had just..."
Spike failed to finish his thought, and Applejack's face dropped in disappointment, feeling that this talk had been a waste of time.
A few short minutes later, the train finally reached Canterlot Station and came to a quick stop. Wiping their eyes of any remnants of tears shed during the ride, the six friends exited the train, beginning an unusually slow stride towards the castle. None of them had discussed or gone over what they were going to say once they were standing face-to-face with the primary ruler of Equestria, and so their slow walk granted them some time to think on it. Fluttershy and Pinkie both avoided thinking about it, and their own slow movement was instead a result of wanting to avoid this confrontation for as long as possible.
Shortly after their train left the station, a sharp rumble faintly trembled the ground beneath each of their hooves while an unbearably loud screech simultaneously reverberated in their ears. They turned their heads to see that another train, which appeared to be decorated in a magnificent crystal casing, was zooming quickly into the station. They had each seen this train before—it was the same train that Princess Cadence had arrived in on the day she spent with Twilight some months ago.
When it came to a stop and the doors opened, a pair of crystal pony guards stepped out instantly and stood firmly at opposite ends of the doorway. Princess Cadence and her husband exited the train, both looking particularly nervous and none too thrilled to be there. They soon caught sight of the six friends and hurried towards their direction, an unwarranted sense of relief washing over both of them. The two guards receded back into the train and it chugged away moments later, trembling the ground in its wake once again.
"I suppose you were all summoned here as well?" Cadence asked as soon as she approached them.
"Where's Twilight?" asked Shining Armor, noticing his sister's absence.
The friends exchanged nervous glances with each other, realizing that Cadence and Shining Armor had clearly not been told the reason why they were summoned.
"I...I think this about somethin' that concerns her. Maybe Princess Celestia wants us to know about it first," answered Applejack, hoping that her friends would go along with her attempt to feign ignorance. To her relief, they each nodded in agreement.
"Oh. I guess we should go find out, then," Cadence replied nervously.
The couple walked swiftly in an obvious hurry to get inside the castle and find out what they had been summoned for. The six friends felt compelled to move at the same pace, causing them to lose time to think and allowing the confrontation to come that much sooner. They were inside the castle before they knew it, and still without any idea as to what they would say.
When they entered the throne room, they were surprised to see that it was empty, save for a single guard—a guard whom Shining Armor recognized from his days of being Canterlot's Royal Guard captain. Unfortunately, however, he could not recall his name.
"Good, you've all arrived," the guard said, approaching them. "The Princesses are awaiting all of you in the castle infirmary." He looked towards Shining Armor. "It's good to see you again, Captain."
"Uhhh...likewise," Shining responded, still unable to remember the guard's name.
"Why the infirmary?" asked Cadence.
The guard looked hesitant to answer. "Uhh...just go and you'll see."
As it turned out, Shining Armor was the only one among them who knew the location of the infirmary, as he had frequently sent his subordinates there whenever they suffered training-related injuries. They walked to the far west end of the castle where they met Princess Luna standing just outside the infirmary doors.
"What's going on, Princess?" Shining asked.
Luna said nothing, and instead motioned with her head for them to go inside. Cadence stepped through the doors first, where she quickly found a distraught Twilight Velvet and Night Light weeping over a bed where a somewhat grotesque figure lay, the sheets pulled up over most of her body. Celestia stood stiffly beside them, her eyes respectfully closed.
"Mom? Dad?" Shining Armor said as he entered the room. He looked at the grotesque figure on the bed, and realized that it was not so unrecognizable after all...
"NOO!!!" he rushed to the bed, his wife just behind him.
At the visual confirmation of Twilight's death, her five friends also huddled around the bed and broke down harder than any of them had before, briefly putting the inevitable confrontation on hold. Still lacking in tears to shed, Spike turned to walk back out of the room and sat against the wall beside Luna, shivering uncomfortably at the sounds of their distress.
"How could you let this happen?" cried Twilight Velvet to Celestia. "We trusted you with our daughter's life!"
"Yes, I know," Celestia nodded. "And I loved her like my own."
"How did this happen?!" Cadence tearfully demanded, prompting Celestia to take a moment to explain the curse.
Shining Armor had never sobbed so loudly in his life, at least not as far as his parents could recall. They would never forget how thrilled he had been at the notion of getting a baby sister, and how he held Twilight with such loving care shortly after she was born, knowing that he would do his best to be everything that a loving big brother should be.
"And so Spike is the one who gets to live, huh?" Twilight Velvet said with contempt in her voice. "Is that supposed to be an even trade? Because, it's not."
"Don't you dare place blame on Spike for this!" Rarity snapped at her. "Twilight loved him enough to die for him, and you should respect her sacrifice."
"Respect her sacrifice?!" Velvet roared. "Well just answer me something, what will he do with his life now? He had no goal or purpose outside of serving my daughter. So what will his oh-so-important life that was apparently worth more than hers consist of now? Will he leave to be with his own kind, hoarding gems, gold, and whatever else, napping for whole an entire century, and then migrating from one hole in the earth to the next? Is that what my daughter gave her life for?!"
Just outside, Spike's ears caught every word Velvet said. As she finished, he stood up and dejectedly walked off back the way they came, ignoring Luna's inquires as to where he was going.
Applejack stamped a hoof. "Ma'am, you have some nerve to be poundin' him over this as if it's his fault. Twilight died right before his eyes! You have any idea how he's feelin' right now? You think he's relieved that he's here and she's not?"
"Enough!" shouted Cadence. "Just stop it!"
Twilight Velvet and Applejack said nothing more, yet still stared coldly at each other.
"It is not Spike's fault," said Celestia. "It's mine, and only mine."
"Oh, you've got that right," snapped Rainbow Dash. Celestia showed no reaction to her comment.
"Why did you even give her that journal?" questioned Night Light.
"I believed that she could complete the spell," Celestia answered.
"And why did you want her to?" he asked, staring her coldly in the eye.
"Because..."
"Because you wanted her to become an alicorn, didn't you?" Night Light interrupted. "Because you wanted her to become immortal so that she would never leave your side, didn't you? Because you wanted to steal our daughter from us, didn't you?"
The room went silent for a few seconds, and every eye fixed on Celestia. She turned her head to look at Twilight's body, ignoring their penetrating stares.
"I did want her to become more like me, yes, but only because I thought that she earned it. Only because I thought that it was the next step for her."
"And only because you wanted her for yourself, right?" said Night Light.
Celestia looked him in the eye. "I am in no position to argue that."
"So...what happens now?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Because you can't possibly think that we're just going to let this slide, can you?"
"Of course not," Celestia answered. "I must be sentenced for my actions." She looked in the direction of Twilight's friends. "To that end, the sentence I receive will be left to the discretion of you five as well as Spike, since I put each of you in danger. Whatever the six of you believe I deserve, it shall henceforth be put into motion, and I will not protest in any way."
The five ponies exchanged uncertain glances with each other, obviously taken by surprise. It was unexpected enough that Celestia made almost no attempt to defend herself, but the notion of deciding the fate of the pony who ruled Equestria for numerous centuries before they were even born was almost entirely unthinkable. Twilight Velvet raised a curious eyebrow, as though she did not think that these five ponies, who were mostly strangers to her in spite of her daughter's fondness for them, were capable of passing down a suitable sentence for the one most responsible for her death. Or perhaps she simply believed that Celestia was attempting to somehow grant herself an easy way out...
After a few silent seconds during which every pony in the room slowly reeled from shock, Celestia made a stride for the door, speaking only once more before she left:
"I await your decision..."