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Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.
-Francis of Assisi
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Moving Forwards
Location Unknown
Spike and Twilight rushed together to embrace each other in a loving hug. The months apart had left the lavender alicorn constantly worried about her surrogate child's well-being. For once, Twilight figured she should thank Discord for doing something good.
"Spike, I missed you so much!" she cried, tears leaking down her furry cheeks. "I was so worried about leaving you alone!"
Spike wrapped his arms around Twilight as much as his little stature could handle. "I missed you too, Twilight," he said, memories of the chaotic dimension where Discord had brought him still fresh in his mind.
Rainbow Dash sat on the other end of the pair, smiling at the reunion. Then, remembering she had her own "gift" to unwrap, she tor away the wrapping paper to find a small horseshoe box with holes poked in the top. Curious, she lifted off the lid. Upon seeing what was inside, her eyes began to water.
"T-tank!" she said, joyously lifting the long-deceased tortoise out of the box. "But... but how?" Tank had disappeared many years before the Changeling War, and having never found him, everypony just assumed he had gone somewhere quiet to live out his final hours.
Spike and Twilight separated, Twilight sharing an equal look of joy and disbelief. But Spike had the answer.
"Discord went back in time to get him," explained the young drake. "That's the reason Tank just disappeared that day."
Not knowing whether to kill Discord, or give him a hug, Rainbow clutched her pet close to her warm body. "I missed you so much, buddy," she whispered, as the shelled creature affectionately nuzzled his head against her neck.
After the few moments of reunion, Spike finally popped the question. "So, where is this place?" he asked, climbing out of Twilight's grasp, and walking around the stone foundation to the edge, and staring out over the beautiful landscape that lay out before him. "Wow. That's a lot of trees."
Twilight couldn't help but giggle. "Yes, Spike," she said. "Those are a lot of trees." She walked over to him, and stood beside her draconian friend.
"What is this place?" he asked, hugging his caretaker's foreleg.
The lavender alicorn smiled. "This, Spike, is Elysium," she replied, rubbing his scaly back.
Her draconian friend looked up at her with a strange look. "Isn't that a place in tartarus?" he asked.
Twilight laughed. "Elysium is in the underworld, Spike, not Tartarus," she corrected him. "And I can assure you we are not in the underworld."
Spike lowered his voice, and pointed over towards the area where Rainbow Dash was playing around with Tank. "Then how is she here?"
Twilight gazed over at the cyan pegasus. "That's a long story, Spike," she muttered. "A long story."
Calling over Rainbow Dash, Twilight went to the precipice hanging out over the wide, sweeping forests below them, and took a seat. Spike sat next to her, gently wrapping his arms around one of her forelegs. Dash came over and sat down as well, softly patting her hoof over the tortoise in her lap.
Together, the two ponies recounted the story of their time here, and all that had happened. Rainbow, however, very pointedly left out the part where she tried to kill Twilight, and Twilight left out the part where she had died right on the precipice where they all sat.
Spike just sat there, his face a mask of complete shock at what Twilight and Ran bow had just told him. "So, you two have just been hanging out in this place for months while the entire outside world has completely lost it."
Twilight now mimicked his look of disbelief. "What?" she asked.
The young dragon shook his head. "From the times when Discord would pop back into reality, I saw some bad things happening," he said softly. "The ponies aren't taking the dissapearance of their only remaining Princess lightly, Twilight..." He sighed. "They're scared and lost."
The lavender alicorn was literally shaking as she stood, and slowly walked to the edge of the cliff. She stood there, frozen, as she gazed out across the beautiful landscape of the setting sun. It still amazed her that the celestial bodies here moved without guidance, but she supposed it didn't really defy the laws of physics too much. Twilight then began to run random equations, calculating just how big the sun would have to be in order for what she assumed was happening, and what Luna said, to be true.
As she was doing this, he gaze slowly began to shift downwards, until she was staring at the canopy of the wide, beautiful forests sweeping out across the landscape below her.
"T-twilight?" a worried voice came from behind her, yet unable to break her deep spell. "Twi?" the voice came again. The alicorn just mumbled some incoherent mutterings in reply.
A pair of strong forelegs turned her around, and she was staring into loving eyes of her marefriend. "Twilight, are you alright?"
Twilight's lip quivered, and tears were running down her muzzle. "R-rainbow, what d-do you know ab- about entropy?" she choked out.
Rainbow saw right through the scientific cover easily. Of course she didn't know anything about entorpo or whatever. But this question was just a mask. A poorly made mask to disguise her true feelings.
"Twi, what's wrong?" she asked, wrapping her marefriend up in a feathery hug.
Twilight whimpered as she leaned into the embrace. "All those ponies out there, Dash," she said softly. "They were all counting on me, and now... I'm not there for them." The lavender alicorn buried her face in Rainbow's breast, now sobbing uncontrollably.
Rainbow Dash held her marefriend, and comforted her. "Twi," she whispered. "You disappeared trying to save them. You didn't let them down."
Twilight extracted her head from the comforting, soft blue fur, and looked up into Dash’s magenta eyes. "No, Dashie. I wasn't trying to save them." The pegasus's eyes widened at the confession. "I was selfish. All I cared about was finding you."
Dash didn't know what to say to that, so she merely let Twilight continue while she stroked her mane gently.
"I loved you forever, Dash," spoke Twilight softly. "And when Discord said there was some hope that you might be alive, I pulled all of my resources to get you." She began to choke up again. "I took troops away from our defenses just so I could find you. And then I disappear trying to." Twilight began to cry again, only able to hold herself together for that last comment.
"I've failed Equestria, Dash."
Rainbow could only hold Twilight tighter as she sobbed. "You didn't fail Equestria, Twilight," she said softly. "You used everything in your power to find one of its lost heros."
The lavender alicorn sniffled. "But I did it for a selfish reason," she said softly. "The ends don't justify the means, Dash."
The pegasus chuckled. "Well, I think they do in this case," she reasoned. "Now we just gotta find a way back."
Twilight extracted herself from her cyan lover, and wiped her muzzle on a foreleg. "You're right," she sighed, putting on a brave face. "We gotta get back."
She walked back over to Spike, who was sitting there awkwardly. Rainbow Dash was close behind. Twilight spun around to her and she froze, trapped by the lavender gaze.
"Dash, watch Spike for me, I need to talk to Princess Luna."
Rainbow Dash's eyes widened in panic, while Spike just stared at her confused. "Twilight, how can you talk to Princess Luna? She's dead, remember?"
Dash let out a choked sob. "T-twilight! No!"