//------------------------------// // The day The Balloon Deflated // Story: Twilight's Last Goodbye // by Vinyl-ScratchDJ17 //------------------------------// Through the passing years, Twilight was seldom seen or heard. Her friends were gone. They were only mortal, and as they aged, Twilight merely stayed the same, while her friends slowly slipped between her hooves like melted butter. Whatever was left behind was the pain and sorrow her soul absorbed, pulling her into an enternal depression. The ones who taught her the meaning of honesty, loyalty, generosity, and kindness were all gone. As their faces wrinkled, and their paces slowed, made Twilight's condition worse. The first to go was Fluttershy, then Rarity, Applejack, then Rainbow Dash, and only Pinkie Pie was left. It was an unpalatable depression Twilight went through everyday, as she has been for the past four years. The remnant of any pride and joy she had were non existant. It was as if she never knew what it felt like to be happy. She's tried imangining it, but imangining to be happy, something she wanted, knowing she can't have it, made her depression worse. She sits in a chair, next to a hospital bed, where Pinkie Pie lay, attached to many machines to preserve her life, but it was all fruitless as she beeping heat monitor began to slow. Her lung cancer somehow went undetected as it spread , geting bigger and bigger, until it was too late to do anything to stop it. Sedatives, antibiotics, and other medication did little to even slow it down, now she lay unconscious, nearing her last breath. The once happy, and joyfull hyper teenager, who never seemed to get enough fun was even too weak to turn her head. Her mane was no longer the bright pink it was. With age, some of it began to fall out, and it has all turned to white. Her coat of fur was faded badly, and bags hung from her closed eyes. Twilight couldn't seem to pull her eyes off her friend, as they leaked tears from an aching heart. Past memories of her overjoyous friend lingered, once filling herself with happiness, now staining her heart with the blackness of the depression that consumed her. Twilight sighed as she took shakey breathes, wishing for some miracle to come save the last of her friends. She cleared her throat and spoke. "Sixty years ago," she looked down. "Sixty years ago was when I first met you on my first day in Ponyville," she sighed. "You saw me, and I wasn't prepared for your reaction. You made a really loud gasp and jumped into the air. You stared at me for a few seconds, somehow floating before you zipped off as fast as Rainbow Dash can fly. I didn't see much of it, but as time went on, I came to really enjoy your hyper antics. They made us all laugh when we were down and in need of a friend." Twilight gazed at her own hooves wishing she had never been made an alicorn. She sniffed as her breathing becme choppy. "It hurts to have watched all of you die, knowing there wasn't a thing I could do to save any of you. I've begged the princesses to make you an alicorn so you may live, but they knew it would be wrong. You'd feel the same pain everyday, but you will never die. I don't want to be left alone," said Twilight as she began to cry softly. "I miss spending everyday with you and the others, but you've all gone and left me behind. I've got nothing but memories that torture me to remember how it used to be, reminding me things will never be the same." Twilight watched as Pinkie's chest rose and fell at a very slow pace, as well as the heart monitor's beeping dropping ever so slowly. She coughed a few times, deep and heavy, raspy, and dry. Her eyes opened. "T-twilight...," she said, her voice quiet, and hoarse. Twilight's head shot up to see Pinkie staring at her, with her faded blue eye, and one completely white and grey. "Pinkie!?" Pinkie Pie forced a weary smile upon her cheeks. "Don't be sad...we'll always be with you." Pinkie reached a hoof out to Twilight, who took it in hers. "I know, Pinkie..." Twilight said just above a whisper. "Do...do you remember the song...I sang when Cranky Doodle Donkey came into t-town," she tried to keep her smile, but her coughing forced it away. Twilight nodded. “Don’t cry Twilight. Because if you’re sad...then..then I’ll be sad. And if I’m sad, I won’t be happy. And if I’m not happy...I’ll die sad.” Twilight forced a small smile, happy to see her friend still joyous, despite the fact she’s living the last few minutes of her life. “I’m trying, Pinkie...I really am,” said Twilight, barely managing to keep the smile on her face. The stinging achiness in her heart was just too much to bear. “Look at me, Twilight.” Pinkie lifted Twilight’s chin with a hoof. Twilight wanted to, yet she feared Pinkie would react badly to her depression distraught expression. Pinkie gave a sincere smile. “Come on everypony, smile smile smile,” Pinkie sang as best she could, pausing to take a breath or cough. “Fill my heart up with sunshine, sunshine.” Twilight stared at her, listening carefully, trying her best to fight back the tears of fours years desolation. She knew this day would come, and for sixty years, she’s been begging for it not to come, and here she is now, saying goodbye to her last friend. “Come on, Twilight! You know the words!” Pinkie cheered in her dreary voice, no longer high-pitched like it used to be. Now it was empty feeling, as if there were no emotion put into her words. After a clearing of her throat, Twilight sang, the way she did sixty years ago, as if she never aged. Being an alicorn is to blame for that. “All I really need is a smile, smile, smile, from these happy happy friends of mi-ine. All I really need is a smile as wide as a mile, to be happy as can be,” she sang softly. “Smile. Smile. Smile. Smile!” Twilight sang as Pinkie joined in, up until the highnote where even her voice couldn’t handle it, She began another coughing fit, and Twilight held her head in her forelegs, praying by some hint of amiracle she’ll pull through. Tears leaked from both their eyes, savoring whatever they can of this last moment they’ll have together. The heart monitor reminded them of how little time they had, as the beeping came to one beep every few seconds. They both knew this was it. Twilight held her friend close as tears slipped from her eyes, where they fell into Pinkie’s mane from the tip of her rounded muzzle. Pinkie sang again, as her eyelids began to close. “Come on and smile. Come on and smile...come on and…...smile…” “Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep” Hanging her head as she held her now deceased friend tightly, Twilight couldn't keep it in any longer, and cried. "Goodbye, Pinkie..."