To End A Life

by Diceman

Chapter VI:Not Exactly Sane

Chapter VI:Not Exactly Sane

Jeeze, did anyone catch the plate number on that trolley? Iron Eagle thought, his hooves massaging his temples as he tried to make the pain go away. Actually, I can't even feel the ground under my legs anymore now that I think about it. Iron Eagle opened his eyes, only to find nothing but pitch black. He turned his head every direction he could, only to find an endless void of darkness in every direction. He seemed to be tumbling as well, as if there was no gravity at all around him.

"Am I dead or did someone teleport me into space? Wait, I can hear myself talk-" Iron Eagle inhaled deeply. "And I can breathe as well, so space is out of the question."

"Yep, most definitely dead, though I'm not sure if this is what death is supposed to be like" Twilight said.

Iron Eagle looked above him or what he figured was up in a space with up or down and there was Twilight Sparkle, busily looking around herself like he just did moments ago.

"Hey, Twilight!" Iron Eagle yelled.

"Iron Eagle?!" Twilight yelled back, frantically looking around for Iron Eagle.

"Above you Twilight... errr, just look straight up, I guess, not sure if it's actually up though" Iron Eagle yelled.

Twilight looked straight up and saw Iron Eagle, floating just above her. "Wait, why are you here too? Did you die as well? Last thing I remember I was thrown by Luna and crashed into you and my potion. When I opened my eyes I was floating around in this void. At first I thought I bounced so hard off the ground that I ended up in orbit, but then-"

"No planet, you can breathe and you can hear yourself talk right?" Iron Eagle interjected.

"Yeah, exactly in that order. I guess we came to the same conclusion then?" Twilight asked.

"I haven't gotten that far. Still need more testing to confirm exactly where we are. Though I'm leaning a bit toward purgatory or some kind of pocket dimension caused by a reaction with one of the machines in your lab."

"Well there was a quantum time slip drive in there, but I never got it to work. The energy requirements were well outside what anyone could feasibly gather. I mean, I wanted it to work, but I don't have a galaxy worth of stars to power it" Twilight said. "No, I think we are actually very dead, though I'm confused. If this is what death really is, there should be millions of other ponies around us in this void."

"Why do you think it's death related? I don't remember you crashing into me that hard. I mean, I'm gonna feel that next week , but it was no where near a lethal impact" Iron Eagle said.

Twilight gave a little gasp and then covered her mouth. She then looked at Iron Eagle with the saddest look on her face. "We knocked over the potion. Either we both ingested some accidentally, or it can work by physical contact as well."

"Wait, does that mean I'm...dead with you?" Iron Eagle asked.

"I'm so sorry Iron." Tears began to run down Twilight's cheeks, leaving a long uncomfortable pause until she spoke again." You had the rest of your life ahead of you and because of that sun butt bitch you're deader than Billy Crystal's movie career."

"Who the hay is Billy Crystal?" Iron Eagle asked, scratching his mane.

"Oh, right. You wouldn't get that reference. He was a goat actor when I was about your age. Now that I think about it that joke is redundant. he's been dead a very long time now, like physically speaking, not metaphorically; like his career." Twilight gave a nervous smile at Iron Eagle.

"So, this is how I die eh? No college exams, no wife or kids, not even the chance to rub my PHD in my smug sisters face. Not exactly how I envisioned it would end. I was thinking I would probably die in my sleep in old age after tiring myself out yelling at fillies to stay off my lawn." Iron Eagle stared at his hooves and then at Twilight.

"I'm so, so sorry. I wish there was some way to fix this. Celestia should have never put a mortal life up to stop me, least of all a relative. She always does this though, putting ponies in mortal danger for crap she should be able to handle herself." Twilight sighed dejectedly. "No use getting angry over it now though. We are now both dead and floating around in a void of pointlessness."

"I guess so, but I'm not entirely convinced we are dead yet."

"Care to explain. I mean I'm not one to jump to conclusions, but I'm pretty sure we have exhausted the most obvious choices."

"Celestia mentioned that the potion forces you to relive your own worst memories until it kills you. It could be we are stuck here until that starts." Iron Eagle looked around once more, noticing a small glimmer of light appearing very far away, but slowly approaching them.

"It was probably non-sense. Celestia knew what I was up to and would say anything to stop me or in your case lie to anypony to stop me for her. Though I have to say that floating around in an empty black void for the rest of eternity wasn't what I expected." Twilight glanced over at Iron Eagle and noticed his attention was focused elsewhere.

"What are you staring at?" Twilight rolled over and traced Iron Eagles eyes to a small point of light in the distance that was growing larger in size. "What is that?" she asked.

"I think it's the light when you die. You know like that whole 'go toward the light' thing when you die that's in some older movies and books. Except we don't have to move toward it, it seems to be coming for us." Iron Eagle watched the light grow in size, though he was not sure of the light was expanding , moving toward them or if they were falling into it.

"Iron, shouldn't you be trying to avoid the light. I mean I'm not your mom or anything, but you should probably fly the other way. Assuming this is a death or near death experience that is." Twilight unfurled her wings in an attempt to fly herself, but found there was no air for her to glide with.

"That's why I didn't bother. I couldn't feel any wind currents, air or anything around us. We can breathe, but I think flying is out of the question." Iron Eagle watched as the light was now heading at them very quickly. "If this is death, I guess there's no escaping it. See you on the other side, Twilight."

"Hope to see you too Iron." Twilight Sparkle closed her eyes. Finally, after so long; some closure. She thought as she felt the tingling sensation of the light consume her as well.

Huh, that felt weird. However, she soon felt the rush of air past her face and the pull of gravity below her, she was most certainly falling.

"That's odd..." Twilight opened her eyes just in time for her face to collide with a dirt road head first. However, instead of her face being buried into the dirt, she bounced off the ground and rolled downhill until she came to a stop.

"Jeeze, are you okay Twilight?" Iron Eagle said as he trotted over to her. "You think with all your experience being an Alicorn, you would at least unfurl you wings."

Iron Eagle lent out a hoof, which Twilight grabbed as leverage to get herself up. Oddly enough though, that crash didn't seem to hurt her at all, there wasn't even so much as a blade of grass out of place from where she landed.

"So...this is the afterlife? It feels really familiar, like I have been here before." Twilight looked around her. There seemed to be apple trees that went on for miles and miles in nearly every direction. A couple were even growing sideways out of the hill. "I know this place. This is the southern field of the apple family farm!" Twilight inhaled deeply, the smell of fresh apples and tree pollen in the air.

"Rainbow, seriously gal, slow down!" The sound of a familiar southern tone came from the top of the hill.

"It can't be!" Twilight took to the skies and landed on the road in front of her. No more than a dozen yards in front of her was Apple Jack and Rainbow Dash, both bickering with one another as they walked down the road. Neither looking in her direction, nor even hearing her land.

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight yelled enthusiastically, rushing forward to hug her.

However, as she reached Rainbow Dash she noticed that her body collided with her, but instead of knocking them both over; she just phased through her harmlessly.

"Huh? I don't get it, I was able to feel Iron Eagle as he helped me up. Why would I just go right through her like that? Like Some kind of ghost....oh I get it!" Twilight let out a hearty, but timidly unsure laugh. "I see what you did there Rainbow Dash, always the prankster you!" Twilight watched as she just continued to walk down the road, ignoring her entirely.

Iron Eagle let out a sigh. Explaining this to her isn't going to be easy. He thought to himself.

"Why, why are they ignoring me? I heard of Applejack being in on a prank, but not this long" Twilight lowered her head and tried to use her magic, but nothing came out of her horn, not so much as a single spark.

Iron Eagle walked up beside Twilight. "Like Celestia told you, that potion you were going to drink was going to be the worst things you have ever done. She told us what would happen."

"What...but I, I worked so hard. This must be the death I was looking for" Twilight cried.

"If you need confirmation, just fly alongside those two for a bit. I'll be right behind you." Iron Eagle pointed at Apple Jack and Rainbow Dash, both of which had stopped in the road to glare angrily at one another.

Twilight nodded and flew over to where Applejack and Rainbow Dash were having their dispute, Iron Eagle close behind her.

"Listen, yer meh friend and all Rainbow, but I have to stop ya. There is no way a pony of your age can possibly beat the record that little mare set. She's a right bit lighter than you and in the prime of her years. You on the other hoof and I mean no offense by this, but yer a far cry from spring chicken anymore." Applejack stopped momentarily, waiting for Rainbow Dash to retort, but continued after she realized that Dash was actually listening to her.

"On top of it all, yer wings are starting to degrade, even the magic part of just bein a pegasus is fadin. You can barely keep up with weather duty anymore, despite bein told by others to retire already. To top it off, that's Spitfires daughter out there; I know you watched the last record she broke; she beat your hundred meter dash by more than three seconds." Apple Jack put her front leg over Rainbow Dash's back. "records were meant to be broken sugarcube, you had your time in the limelight, time for some pony else to have some fame."

Rainbow Dash sighed. "You're right, but pride is all I have left Applejack, well, besides friends. I have to try, I have to know where I stand."

Applejack shook her head. "You know, I know a pony that could settle this little disagreement. Let's go have a chat with Twilight before you make any hasty announcements or anything."

"I guess I can do hat much, let's go. Race ya!" Rainbow yelled.

"Yer on!" Apple Jack replied, chasing after Rainbow Dash.

Iron Eagle watched as Twilight fell to the ground, her body in a slump as she started to cry.

"Twilight, I-" He didn't know what exactly to say. How do you even go about comforting a immortal that just doomed herself to an eternity of suffering. "Listen, I know this may seem difficult, but I'm sure Celestia, Luna and the others are working on a cure to get us out of here."

Twilight looked into Iron Eagles eyes and wiped away a tear. "So, this potion...what exactly does it do again?"

"It's supposed to kill you, but it makes you relive the worst memories you have ever experienced. For a mortal pony like me, it would probably come rather quick since I would probably die from starvation or dehydration long before I went through all of my bad memories. However..." Iron Eagle hesitated, part of him not wanting to be the witness of another emotional breakdown from Twilight.

"It affects Alicorns differently, doesn't it?" Twilight asked somberly.

"Yeah, from what I was told the prevailing theory is you will witness all your worst memories for all eternity. All because Alicorns natural healing factor will keep you alive and the toxin replicating the magic that causes this won't be seen as an intruder. It's a feedback loop that's really hard to fix." Iron Eagle looked away, bracing himself for another round of crying from Twilight, but it never came.

"There's still hope then?" Twilight asked calmly.

"No idea, sadly chemistry is not my strong point. However, if there's any cure for it Celestia and Luna will find it."

Twilight tapped her hoof on her chin for a moment "From what I remember reading, the legends I found about it said it needed to be entirely green before drinking it. So at this stage there is still a chance to at the very least get you out of this mess." Twilight took to the air, Iron Eagle not too far behind.

"This is odd, why are you suddenly so...accepting of this?" Iron eagle asked.

"I have lived a lifetime of failures trying to kill myself, to finally rid myself of Celestia's unwanted curse. Now my own meddling with power beyond my understanding has led me here. I may not die, but I will at least know that I will have he smug satisfaction of defying her one more time." Twilight began to fly away toward Ponyville.

"I don't get it. I'm beginning to think you are mentally unhinged in a serious way. I get being lonely and wanting to kill yourself, but this...acceptance of what I can only see as a personal seven hells just blows my mind." Iron Eagle argued as he kept up with Twilight.

"If what you say about the potion is true, then WHY are you seeing my memories? Shouldn't you be reliving 5th graders stealing your lunch bits or something more personal?" Twilight asked as she landed just outside of Ponyville.

Iron Eagle landed behind Twilight, his mouth open as he tried to answer her question. "I- actually have no idea. Now that I think about it, if these are your memories, why do you remember...parts you were not there for."

Twilight sighed and motioned for Iron Eagle to follow her into town. "I'll explain while we walk, it's been so long since I explored this town so thoroughly. At least I can have that little bit of pleasure."

Iron Eagle watched as Twilight walked onto a cobblestone road past some very rural looking homes. This Isn't the Ponyville he knew, the one he knew was far more populated and didn't have architecture that was so dated. Some of the homes even still used thatch roofing, something that would never fly with current Ponyville's building codes.

"Are you coming or you just going to stand there?" Twilight asked.

"No, no I'm coming. It's just, this town looks like such a countryside dust bowl compared to the one I know" Iron Eagle said, noticing how the streets hadn't been swept of dirt in a very long time and were cobblestone instead of pavement or concrete.

Twilight cracked a smile. "Yeah, I prefer to remember it the way it was and not the way I finally left it. A peaceful town full of ponies with dreams and not the rotted cesspool of inadequate wealth distribution, corruption and hatred it became after I left."

"Never thought of it that way. Guess you really don't notice that stuff when you didn't grow up there." Iron Eagle followed Twilight further into town, making a mental note of how drastically different everything was in the past compared to how he knew it now.

"So, as I said earlier. The reason I remember things I wasn't there for is because I worked with incredibly forbidden magic. Magic that would possibly get a mortal pony a lifetime dungeon sentence, or at the very least a large scale memory wipe." Twilight paused, watching a mare water some of her roses.

Iron Eagle looked over Twilight's back, looking for why Twilight suddenly stopped. In front of her was a mare that had a very pale yellow coat, a single deep red mane and a single stripe of grey in her mane running all the way to her tail, a few stray strands of pink still visible around the edges of grey.

"That's Roseluck, shes one of the ponies that participated in the yearly spring and summer growing festivals for flowers. If memory serves me right..." Twilight watched as a slightly smaller deep red maned filly came out the house that looked strikingly similar to Roseluck, though her cutie mark was of a bush of thorns and not a rose.

"Mom, I have something we ummm, need to really discuss. And no, it isn't about me killing the daffodils" The Mare with the thorn bush cutie mark said.

"What is it dear?" Roseluck asked, walking over to her daughter as she motioned her closer to whisper.

"That's her daughter, Rosetta Thorn. She had all the gardening ability of a can of weed killer. Anything she touched would never bloom, no matter how hard she tried. She was however exceptionally good at keeping the weeds down. Reverse green hoof has it's advantages I guess."

"You're what now?...I can't believe it. Honey, how long have you known?" Roseluck said out-loud.

"A couple days now, the test came back positive" Rosetta replied, though in a hushed voice.

"Whoohoo!" Roseluck did a back-flip followed by a cartwheel in the street. "I'm gonna be a grandma!"

"This is the day Rosetta learned she was pregnant with what would become her daughter, Rosebud. The father found out a week later when he was on leave from the Navy, they were ecstatic to say the least. Something you don't get in cities too often anymore sadly." Twilight moved on, Roseluck still ecstatic and talking a mile a minute with Rosetta about foal showers and the like.

"How do you know this memory? You most definitely were not there for it." Iron asked, his curiosity over this even and the last one getting the better of him.

"I used a memory foundry and absorbed all the memories of every single pony in Ponyville" Twilight said,oddly enough intentionally staying silent for a moment as she intentionally played the pro-noun game with him.

"What is a-"

"It's a incredible device, able to pull memories from a land mass from any time period you desire. It can even go as pulling an entire lifetime from a living creature...alive or dead" Twilight said, a hint of foreboding in her voice.

Iron Eagle stopped in place. He had a terrible sinking feeling that he was going to hear something that he didn't want to hear about. Then again, with Twilight constantly playing the pronoun game with him like she was, his curiosity was getting the best of him.

"Fine, I'll bite. Just get on with it already, getting a little bit bored of playing question hot potato with you" Iron Eagle said.

"Don't have be be a jerk about it. You see a memory foundry is an incredibly restricted device, only two of them exist and they require massive amounts of power. I managed to steal one from Celestia's vault when I went into hiding and thankfully it was mostly powered. Originally I just wanted to use it to siphon the memories of my departed friends but..."

"Their remains are in the palace itself, in the hall of heroes" Iron Eagle finished Twilight's sentence for her.

I don't like where this is going... Iron Eagle thought to himself.

"So Instead I time displaced the device multiple times and absorbed all the memories of every pony that ever lived in Ponyville during the lifespan of my friends. Then I absorbed them all into myself. Mainly to try and comfort myself, but for the other half of my plan. Soul recall."

"That sounds an awful lot like necromancy. There's a reason it is super special ultra banned everywhere. Every time some pony has tried it, it always ended poorly." Iron Eagle put a hoof up to his neck and slowly moved it across his throat making a choking noise as it went to the other side.

"Well, yes, but it was always a unicorn or mad scientist earth pony trying it. nowhere near the power I can put out." Twilight pointed to Applejack and Rainbow Dash, both of which just passed by a large cart full of apples being pulled by a very large Red stallion. "I remember this. Watch with me Iron."

"You know if Twilight's in her office today Big Mac?" Applejack asked.

"Eeyup!" Big Mac replied enthusiastically.

"Oh and did Apple Bloom fix the other cart? I don't like how this older one is lookin, hitch seems a bit worse for wear." Applejack moved over to the cart and started to inspect it, tapping on the spots where she noticed some cracking and splintering.

"Nnnope. Double finals this week" Big Mac said.

"Well, least she's got the book learnin down, now if she could only keep up with her farm responsibilities too. I mean, how many masters degrees does a girl need? She already has two." Applejack said disdainfully.

"Do you have any idea how stupidly hard the phd level in biochemistry is? I flunked the introduction course and that was in flight-school. Cut her some slack AJ, not like she's being lazy or anything" Rainbow Dash interjected.

"I guessin yer right Rainbow. It's just so hard to keep up with everything. Let's get to Twi's place so we can settle the dispute from earlier. No racin though, mah dogs are barkin somethin fierce from earlier."

Iron Eagle watched the exchange with Twilight, though he wasn't sure this had anything to do with necromancy. "So..."

"Oh, right. my plan. See, true necromancy is stupid difficult. Recalling just a single soul from wherever the afterlife is has severe consequences. If the body it receives isn't a perfect replica and the setting isn't right, they can rot away slowly, become zombies or ghouls. All kinds of really terrible things can go wrong." Twilight started following Applejack and Rainbow Dash towards the castle library in the distance.

"Then why even try it? What makes you think you can pull off what even Celestia or Luna would never dare to try?"

"Cloning. One of my original plans was to clone all of Ponyville biologically and then insert all the memories I acquired from the foundry into perfect replica bodies before starting a mass recall. At least that was he plan, I never went with it. Too many minor complications."

"Minor complications? I'm pretty sure being entirely against the law and nature itself would register as more than minor." Iron Eagle said, an obvious hint of disgust in his voice.

"Spare me the moral berating, I didn't go through with it because there was too much that could go wrong. That and the genocide part did not sit well with me. Ah, we're here!" Twilight watched as Applejack knocked on the door.

"Genocide?" Iron eagle yelled, his mouth agape.

"Yeah, setting is important. If it's not perfect there will be a 20% chance of body rejection with possible zombie apocalypse shortly after. In order to avoid this I would have needed to annihilate all of the residents of the current Ponyville, city and all to make way for a perfect replica. like I said, that didn't sit well with me." Twilight watched as the door on her old home opened up, a teenaged Spike answering the door and beckoning them inside.

"I...I'm at a complete loss for words. That you would even think of that kind of solution is just...insane." Iron Eagle stepped backwards.

"Yeah, no. I think I don't want to spend my time with an obvious nutcase" Iron Eagle said.

"I'm a scientist, first and foremost. Sometimes the conclusion and solution is very ugly. Just because I came to that conclusion doesn't mean I would execute it. You should know that's problem solving 101, map out all solutions."

"There just some solutions you shouldn't ever try to map out!" Iron Eagle said angrily.

Twilight rolled her eyes. " All solutions must be open, progress is not made by sandbagging with reality. You will learn that as you get older."

Iron Eagle opened his mouth, but then quickly closed it. He wanted so much to tell Twilight off, especially so with her patronizing attitude. However, he knew that starting an argument with her would get him nowhere.

"So, you want to see what happened or you just going to sit there and think of a way to toss morals at me?" Twilight said as she began to trot down the road Applejack and Rainbow Dash did a couple minutes earlier.

Iron Eagle hesitated, part of him wanted to know Twilight's past, but the other part wanted to be as far away from her as possible.

Maybe just a few minutes away from her to cool off will help... Iron Eagle thought to himself.

Iron Eagle turned away from Twilight and headed in the opposite direction.

"Hey, where are you going?" Twilight asked.

"As far away from your particular brand of crazy as possible." Iron Eagle replied curtly, picking up his stride to put some distance between himself and Twilight. However, the further he got away from Twilight, the harder it was to move, at around forty or so yards it felt as if there were rubber bands wrapped around his chest; pulling him backwards in the direction of Twilight. He tried to push on but at around sixty yards he stopped moving forward. The force pulling him back was too great and just as he managed to take a single step further he was flung backwards at high speed, skipping across the ground and landing right next to Twilight, his face in the dirt.

"Hmmm, didn't expect that. Seems you're stuck with me" Twilight said.

Iron Eagle pulled himself up, angrily knocking dirt off his nose and spitting some rocks onto the ground that he managed to eat when he landed. "Fine, but try to lay of the evil moral compass stuff."

Twilight rolled her eyes and sighed. "Just because I thought of a solution to a unique problem does not make me inherently evil. Also nothing I did was breaking any moral compass. Think of it this way, I thought of doing something bad and so have you. It's our decision to carry out those or to not carry them out. You know, like how you were thinking of looking into the mares changing room..."

Iron Eagles turned beat red. "H-how do you even know about that? N-not that I ever did such a thing or..."

"When you snapped back I got little flashes of your memories in the back of my mind. Also, yes, I agree Garnet has a nice behind. though, I don't think you will win her over by being peeking tom." Twilight watched as Iron Eagle lowered his head in shame.

"Don't beat yourself up over it, perfectly natural for a pony your age" Twilight said.

"It feels like you're blackmailing me here, who knows what secrets you managed to get out of me without my knowledge."

Twilight giggled. "I wouldn't use that against you unless I had no other options." Twilight tapped the side of her head with her left hoof. "I absorbed generations of memories, I could bring down families, even entire kingdoms and cities with the knowledge I have. It's my choice to use it or not use it that matters. Just like that Necromancy plan from earlier, just because I could do it, doesn't mean I ever will."

"Fine I get it, can we just get along with this whole memory thing already?" Iron Eagle said, his tone shifting from meek and embarrassed to frustrated anger.

"Sure, but I suggest if we ever get out of this that you find a better hiding place for your Haruna Miku hug pillow. If the guard captain ever finds that you will never live it down." Twilight smiled and turned away, walking up the dirt path.

"I...what. I don't" Iron Eagle took a deep breath, composing himself. Don't let her get to you Iron, she only doing this to play mind games and control you. "I-I happen to be a fan of hers mind you, nothing weird is going on, I swear!" Iron Eagle called after Twilight.

***

After a brief exchange of doubtful glares from Twilight the pair continued up the road, arriving at what Iron Eagle could only describe as a castle that was also part tree.

"Wow, it's so much more radiant in the past than how I remember it." The branches reached skyward, a mixture of sapphire blue and sharp purple amethyst. Gold adorned nearly every balcony on the structure and roof. The door was also solid gold adorned with gems all along the edges and 2 large jewels in the center. How this building still stood was beyond him though. The building he remembered had fallen into dis-repair and most of the gold had been stripped away by thieves. To see the building in it's past glory was just so overwhelming.

"Beautiful isn't she? Personally I prefer the old tree-house, but this building grew on me. Though, I would have to say mornings were not exactly fun; all these crystals mean the building was brighter than a dozen lighthouses stacked on one another in the early morning. No amount of coffee ever fixed that." Twilight stared at her old home, a tear running down her cheek.

"Are you...crying?" Iron Eagle asked, though already knowing the answer.

"I..I just. I really miss the past I guess. She was never the same after, well, after all my other friends died" Twilight said somberly.

"Why did you leave? It's only broken down because you left your post as a princess." Iron Eagle quickly covered his mouth, knowing he has messed up in accusing Twilight; even though he was technically correct in doing so.

Twilight didn't seem to get angry though, she just calmly turned toward Iron Eagle and smiled. "Even if I did stay, it would have changed nothing."

"I think you're pulling my chain" Iron Eagle said sarcastically.

"I wish I was. After my friends started dying off the magics protecting it began to slowly fade. At first it was little things like roof panels falling off, but as more and more of the elements of harmony died the damage began to stack up. A building like this is very unstable naturally, the sapphire and amethyst both being magically created. After each friend died it became more and more unstable, until it was no longer safe to live in. Ponies think that thieves and vagrants pilfered the building of all the gems and gold, but most of it just evaporated into thin air."

"But, most of the building is still thee, just horribly faded" Iron Eagle interjected.

"It's only because I'm still alive. The second my life ends the rest of the building will collapse in on itself, becoming little more than dust." Twilight stared at her former home, sighing dejectedly. "At least that's what all the models show would happen."

"Seriously though, how can you drink that stuff?" Rainbow Dash yelled.

"Green tea spiced with apple spice is what gives us Apples longevity. Granny drank some every morning and you see she lived past a hundred" Apple Jack replied.

"Yeah at the expense of having the taste of boiled used tube socks in your mouth for the rest of the day" Rainbow Dash said, pointing at her mouth with her left hoof, making a gagging motion.

Apple Jack just rolled her eyes in dismissal. "I just don't wanna play cards with the reaper so early ya know, want to see Apple Bloom safe and secure ya know. If she ever gets done with all the book learning anyhow. How many Masters degrees does one pony need?"

"I wouldn't know. I dropped out of Flight School, seemed to work out in the end for me" Rainbow Dash said enthusiastically.

Apple Jack looked as if she wanted to chastise Rainbow Dash for a moment, but bit her tongue and just raised an eyebrow.

Rainbow Dash walked up to the library door and knocked Twice, Apple Jack close behind. After a few moments the sound of a pop could be heard behind the door, followed by the door slowly swinging open.

"Hello Apple Jack; Rainbow Dash, what can I do for ya today?" Past Twilight Sparkle said. "I didn't miss another one of Pinkies parties did I?"

Iron Eagle couldn't believe his eyes. This Twilight Sparkle was nothing like the one he had been following around. He coat was practically gleaming bright purple, her eyes where focused and full of life and how she carried herself was nothing short of bursting with exuberance. Iron Eagle looked to his side, watching Twilight Sparkles reaction, but there really was none; only the smallest of frowns was on her face; like she didn't even recognize herself from way back then.

"Actually we needed you to mediate a little debate me and Rainbow were having and by mediate I mean talk some sense into the air she keeps between her ears." Apple Jack said snidely.

Rainbow Dash shot Apple Jack a glare, but kept her composure. "Can we come inside to discuss this?"

"Sure girls, I'll have Spike put on some tea" Twilight replied, barely containing her cheer at having friends over.

Twilight Sparkle headed into the library, beckoning her friends to follow her in.

Iron Eagle got up and started to move toward the door when he noticed Future Twilight was just sitting on her haunches, her head held low, her hair blocking her face from view.

"Is something wrong?" Iron Eagle asked.

Twilight stood up; brushing aside a stray hair from her mane that fell on her face. Iron Eagle tried to make out what Twilight was thinking, but he couldn't get past how...sad she looked. Her tail was down, her eyes had a dead fish look to them and it seemed like any energy she had was gone. Nonetheless she moved forward, phasing through the door to the library as it closed.

"You're about to see one of the biggest mistakes of my life" Twilight mumbled.

Comments

[Diceman]

Well new chapter is up. Took forever to get her done though, serious case of writers block is serious.

[badninja]

Yup Twilight is definitely off her rocker. I hope in the end she can get her closure she desperately needs.

[Sensible Clutter]

Ah, cliffhanger! Why you gotta play me like that

[FleetlordAvatar]

I sense a great tragedy unfolding.