It Wasn't Supposed to End Like This...

Another End

By: Ephraim Blue

A mark of one's destiny singled out alone, fulfilled. Twilight opened her eyes as she remembered Starswirl the Bearded's spell that had caused the mayhem of her friends' cutie marks being switched around. Something in her flickered with knowledge.

"Wait a second, that's it!" Twilight exclaimed, causing her friends, who were all gathered around her in a group hug, to back away from the purple unicorn. "I understand now; I know how to fix the spell!"

She quickly marched off to her home; a library that was built inside of a huge tree in the center of Ponyville. She opened the door with her magic and marched in, picking up the book with Starswirl the Bearded's spell from it's resting place on a pedestal in the center of the room.

Twilight grinned as she also picked up a quill from another part of the room, enough ink to write out what she needed to.

"From all of us together," Twilight began as she wrote the same words in the book, "together we are friends! With the marks of our destinies made one, there is magic without end!"

She pushed the quill into the paper to make her finishing touch on the spell. There was a small spark as she did finish, but she ignored it. Still grinning, she closed the book and placed it back down on the pedestal. Her horn dimmed as she finished placing it down.

Once her horn had fully flickered out, the Element of Magic atop her head began glowing a brilliant white light. A shock wave of energy quickly erupted from the element, forcing her friends back.

They all looked down at their elements, expecting the same thing to happen. As they did, a beam of light, the same color as their elements, erupted and flew strait toward Twilight.

Twilight, who was now being engulfed in a bright energy, looked around with fear in her eyes. But when she realized that this was happening without any pain coming to her, she calmed down and smiled at the ground.

Her friends shielded their eyes, for the bright light was too much for them. A few seconds passed before the light vanished.

"W- What happened?" Fluttershy asked. They all turned to the spot where Twilight was.

Pinkie gasped, along with the rest of the group there. Where Twilight once stood was a burnt floor with Twilight's cutie mark on it.

"Where'd she go?" Applejack asked. Sadly, no other pony there had an answer for her.

Twilight faded into a starry world around her. "Hello?" she called. Her voice echoed in the vastness around her. "Where am I? What is this place?"

In the distance, Twilight could see a tall, white figure fading into the world around her. A figure that she would always recognize. Princess Celestia.

"Congratulations, Twilight. I knew you could do it," the princess said.

"Princess!" Twilight called out in a calm, yet, excited voice. She trotted over to her mentor and they embraced quickly. "I don't understand. What did I do?"

The princess smiled down upon her student. "You have done something today that has never been done before. Something that, not even a great unicorn like Starswirl the Bearded, was not able to do. Because he did not understand friendship like you do. You have proven that you are ready."

"Ready?" Twilight asked. "Ready for what?"

"You are ready for something greater," Celestia answered. "Ready for a bigger part in your life."

"But what?" Twilight asked, even more thorough.

"You are ready to become an alicorn."

The five mares stared at the spot where their purple friend once stood. Each one of them was clueless to what was going on.

"What happened to Twilight?" Rainbow asked her friends.

"I... I don't know!" Rarity responded. "One minute she was here, and the next, there's this burning mark on the floor!"

"I- I..." Fluttershy began, "You don't think that..."

"NO!" Applejack shouted at Fluttershy, making her cower into the bookcase behind them. "Ah'm sorry Fluttershy, but I don't even want to think that..."

"Well, what do you think happened?" Pinkie asked Applejack.

"Ah don't know..." she confessed. "But Ah think Ah know somepony who does know what's goin' on."

"Who?" All the other mares asked her.

"Princess Celestia."

"A- An alicorn?" Twilight repeated.

Celestia nodded. "Yes, Twilight."

"B- But... why?"

Celestia smiled down at her student. "You have done something that no other unicorn has ever done before. You created new magic. That is something that would make anypony worthy of becoming a princess."

"A- A princess?" Celestia nodded. "W- What will change?"

"Nothing, my student. You will simply become the same as I am."

"The same?" Celestia nodded at Twilight's question once again. "Will I live forever?" Another nod. "What about my friends? They helped me create this new magic, didn't they?"

Celestia frowned. "I'm sorry Twilight, but I'm afraid that won't be possible."

"Why not?"

"The magic that is allowing you to become an alicorn only works for the bearer of the Element of Magic. It would be impossible for them to become the same as you will be."

Twilight looked down and thought about what her mentor said. After about a minute, she looked back up at Celestia. "So you're just telling me that I should become an alicorn and watch my friends die before me?"

Celestia took a step back. "What are you talking about, Twilight?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about! If I become immortal while my friends stay mortal, then I'll live until they all die at my hooves! Why are you doing this?"

"Twilight, you do not have a choice here. You must become an alicorn."

"Why?" Twilight asked back. "Why must I become an alicorn and watch my friends die before me?"

"Well what other choice would you like?" Celestia asked.

"I'd rather die with my friends than live thousands upon thousands of years bearing the pain that will never leave me throughout all those years! Now tell me, why must I become an alicorn!"

Celestia stared sternly at her student. "Then you have gotten your wish." She turned and began to walk away from Twilight.

"Wait!" Twilight called, causing Celestia to stop. "What do you mean?"

Celestia didn't even look back at her student. She couldn't bring to show her the tears in her eyes. "You have died with your friends."

Spike ran down the stairs as his name was called from the room below. In the room, he saw Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy standing around a burn mark on the floor that strangely looked like Twilight's cutie mark.

"I didn't cause this, if that's what this is about," he said, pointing a claw to the burn mark on the floor.

"No Spike," Rainbow said, "we want you to take a letter for us."

Spike sighed. "Alright," he said, grabbing a quill and paper from a table. "Is this about another lesson about friendship?"

"No... This is about Twilight."

Spike froze where he stood. "W- What about Twilight?" he asked, stuttering a bit.

"Something has happened to her Spike," Fluttershy said. "She... She's..."

"She's vanished!" Rarity finished for Fluttershy. "And I must say, that this has become the worst. POSSIBLE. THING." She began to waver from side to side, before a couch appeared beside her and she fell on top of it.

"Right..." Rainbow commented on Rarity's acting skills. "Anyway, we were hoping that Princess Celestia knew something about her disappearance. So could we trouble you to send her a letter to her asking about this?"

Spike wasn't listening anymore. Tears filled his eyes as he wrote down on the paper. Some even fell onto the paper before he quickly closed it and blew his flames on it. The letter turned to dust and flew out an open window above them all.

He sat down on the ground as more tears filled his eyes. He wrapped his arms around his legs and wept into his knees. Somepony's hoof acme down upon his shoulder, but he didn't even bother to look up at them.

"Please be okay Twilight..."

"What do you mean I died with them?" Twilight asked her crying mentor. No immediate reply came. "Tell me..." Still no reply. "TELL ME!"

Celestia slowly turned to her student. "Twilight..." she began, "in order to become an alicorn, you must either be born, or ascended. Luna, Cadence and I were all born alicorns. In order for a regular pony normal pony to become an alicorn, they must ascend to their level. However..."

When no reply came, Twilight spoke. "What?"

"In order for any normal pony to become an alicorn, their old life must be sacrificed," Celestia said.

"S- Sacrificed?" Celestia nodded once again. "So... I'm already dead?"

"...Yes..." Celestia answered. "That is why you have no other choice Twilight. Only an alicorn can enter and leave this realm as they please."

"What is this place anyway?" Twilight asked.

"This is the place between life and death," Celestia answered. "A place that is on the verge of death, but also on the verge of life. This is where ponies end up when their time has come to pass on. Where all their actions in life determine where they end up."

"The verge of life and death..." Twilight repeated. "Why are only alicorns allowed to enter and leave this place?"

"Alicorns are immortal, Twilight. They cannot die. We may come close to death sometimes, but we always stay alive. That's why only they are allowed to return to the land of the living. And that's also why unless you also become an alicorn, you won't leave here. You will remain dead."

Twilight looked down at the starry ground she was on. "Please Twilight," Celestia begged. "Please, come back. I did this so that I didn't have to lose you."

Twilight looked back up at her mentor. "I'm sorry Princess, but I've made my decision."

The five mares and one dragon sat in the center of the Golden Oaks Library, waiting for a reply to come. They all say around Spike, waiting for him to receive the letter from the princess.

A knock came at the door, causing a bit of distress between all that were there. "I'll get it," Rainbow said as she slowly trotted to the door. She opened it and said: "I'm sorry, but this library is currently clos-"

Standing on the other side of the doorway was Princess Celestia. "I... I hope I'm not intruding or anything."

"N- Not at all!" Rainbow responded. "Please, come in."

Celestia nodded and walked into the library, causing a bit of excitement between all of the mares in the room.

"What happened to Twilight?" Pinkie asked, causing the other mares to nod in agreement.

Celestia sat down in front of them all, tears filling her eyes. "I must apologize to you all..."

She told them all the story. The story about how Twilight refused to become an alicorn because she couldn't bear to live while her friends dies before her.

"So... that's what happened..." Applejack said.

Celestia nodded, allowing tears to fall from her eyes. "I'm sorry for all of this. Its my fault for her death..."

"Princess, you shouldn't blame yourself for Twilight's choices," Rainbow said. "Even to the end, she chose her friends over her own life."

"If only there was a way we could repay her," Fluttershy said sadly.

They all looked sullen on the library floor. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie looked a bit happier.

"Maybe we can..." she said, her face curling into a small smile.

"What do ya mean Pinkie?" Applejack asked. "Twi's gone. There's nothin' we can do for her now..."

"There is!" Pinkie exclaimed. She ran over to a bookshelf and pulled out a book.

"Pinkie, this is no time to be reading!" Rainbow complained. Instead of a response, the book that Pinkie held in her mouth landed at her feet, and the cyan pegasus read the title. "'The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide'. Pinkie, what does this have to with Twilight?"

"Everything!" Pinkie responded. "Don't you see?" The other mares(and dragon) in the room shook their heads. Pinkie groaned. "Turn to page 274."

Rainbow obliged and turned to the page specified by Pinkie. "'The Element's Bearers'," she read.

"Go on..." Pinkie said, motioning to continue. Rainbow rolled her eyes and looked to the book.

The Element Bearers
The Elements of Harmony are the most powerful artifacts known to pony kind. If all six are used correctly, they can be used to either bring great harmony to the land, or great destruction. However, even with their almighty power, they cannot be used by themselves.
In order for them to be used, up to six must first show that they have the qualities of at least one of the elements. For example, the bearer of the Element of Kindness must first show kindness, even if it is in the face of danger.
If those wish to become the bearers of the elements, they must let the elements choose them. If their hearts are pure and they show the proper qualities to bear the elements, they may be chosen to become a bearer. If they try to become a bearer without the element choosing them, they will befall a terrible fate.
One last thing is required to become a bearer of an element. They must have shown that friendship is pure and true, and all of the bearers must be friends. If they are not friends with the other bearers of the elements, they will be rejected by the elements.
Once six are chosen, they will be the bearers until either they are forced to give the elements away, or until they perish. If it so happens that one of the bearers perishes, then all of the elements must have new bearers chosen. For if one perishes, their friendship shall no longer be strong.
The elements will leave their bearers if they lose the qualities they bear, or if the above happens. They will become stone, and unable to be used until new bearers have been chosen.
For more about the elements' powers, see page 367
For more about representing the elements, see page 50
274

Rainbow finished reading this entire page out loud and turned back to Pinkie. "What does this have to do with Twilight?" she asked again.

Pinkie groaned in annoyance. "Don't you see? If Twilight has truly perished, then the elements around our necks would have abandoned us!"

They all looked down to their necks. True to Pinkie's word, they were all still there, and didn't seem to change in the slightest.
"What does this mean?" Rarity asked.

"It means we can still get Twi back!" Applejack answered, a huge smile on her face.

Twilight stood in the starry space around her, looking around at the vastness that she had been left in. Princess Celestia couldn't stay, obviously. She had things to do, and she had promised to see her old friends and tell them the news.

She walked off in a random direction. It seemed like that was all she could do. There was nothing else to do. Nothing but stars everywhere around her.

"I'm ready to move on," she said quietly for none to hear.

"How?" Princess Celestia asked. "She's in the realm between life and death. Sooner or later, she'll be taken where even I cannot go. How can we save her?"

To her question, the mares around her looked down, completely sullen. That is, until Rainbow spoke up.

"With the same thing that Twilight chose over her life. Our friendship."

"Dash," Applejack started, "how is our friendship going to bring back out Twilight?"

Rainbow only put her hoof under her necklace shaped like a red lightning bolt. "It's only a theory, but what if these things could help us get Twilight back?"

All the bearers looked down at their elements. "These things are used by our friendship," Rainbow continued. "If we are really still connected to them, and Twilight is still alive, then we should at least try it."

"I... I agree with Dash..." Fluttershy said. "We should at least try it."

Applejack nodded. "Ah second that. Anything to get Twi back."

The rest of them nodded in agreement to Rainbow's idea. Spike stepped forward to them. "Please," he said. "Please get Twilight back. I don't know what I'd do without her..."

Rarity stepped forward to him. "We know Spike," she said in a calm and quiet voice. "We know..."

She stepped back to the circle that the rest of her friends had created around the burn mark on the floor.

"Alright..." Pinkie said. "Now what?"

Twilight walked for what seemed like hours. Seeing nothing but a starry path, it was hard to tell if she had really gone anywhere. Her legs never grew tired, and it seemed as if she could walk forever.

Out of nowhere, she came across a large set of double doors. She stared at them, wondering.

"What's this?"

"This..." a raspy voice responded. "This is the gate to a permanent Tatrtarus..."

"But... I've been to Tartarus..." Twilight spoke. "What makes this one different?"

"The one you went to Twilight was the same Tartarus as this one... However, this is the gate that all pass through when their time comes..."

Twilight looked around. "Who am I speaking to?"

A cloaked figure suddenly appeared in front of her. "I am known by many names, Twilight Sparkle... But you may call me Death..."

"Death?" Twilight echoed. The cloaked figure in front of her nodded slowly. "So why are you here?"

"I believe... You know very well why I'm here... Miss Sparkle..."

Twilight looked down at her hooves. Reluctantly, she stepped toward the two large doors.

"Twilight..."

"Hmm?" Twilight's ears perked up. She turned to Death. "Did you say something?"

The cloaked figure slowly turned to its left, and then back to its right. "No... I did not..."

"Twilight... please hear us..."

Twilight turned around and looked in the opposite direction of the doors. Something new shone in the vastness of these stars. A light. And the voice was coming from it.

"Twilight..." She could tell who's voice it was now. It was Rarity speaking. "If you can hear us, please come back."

Twilight looked down. "I... can't..." she said. "I died back in the library..."

"Twilight..." This time, it was Pinkie Pie speaking. "Do you remember the first time I saw you enter Ponyville? Well, I knew you were a special pony from that moment on. And if you left us... I... I..."

Twilight chuckled. "Don't worry Pinkie. I'm sure you'll find another special pony."

"Twilight..." Applejack began, "Ah know things must look hard for you right now..." Twilight nodded silently. "But please... We can't lose you... You're our friend."

The light in front of Twilight grew slightly, much to Twilight's surprise. What is this? she thought.

"Twilight..." This time, it was Fluttershy. "Twilight, I... I don't know... I don't know where you are right now... But I... Uh... We want you back now... Please come back..."

Twilight shook her head. "Oh, Fluttershy..." she said quietly. "If Celestia told you the truth already, you know I can't do that..."

"Twilight..." Rainbow spoke. "Twilight, you are the biggest egghead I've ever met."

"...Thanks Rainbow..."

"But," she continued, "that is one of the many reasons that you are our friend. We can't lose you. We've been through so much together. Nightmare Moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra... Please Twilight... You can't leave us after all we've been through."

Twilight smiled. "We have been through a lot, haven't we." She turned to the starry floor and looked sullen. "Sadly, its too late for me. I'm dead."

"On the contrary..." Death suddenly spoke. "You aren't dead... Yet..."

Twilight looked at the cloaked figure. "How can you say that? Celestia said that in order for me to become an alicorn, my old live had to be sacrificed." Tears started to fill her eyes. "How can you say I'm not dead when Celestia herself has said that I died?"

"I am the master of life and death Twilight Sparkle... If you were truly dead, I wouldn't have hesitated to take you to my realm... However... Your old life still exists..."

"But... I was sacrificed!" she argued.

"Yes... Any normal pony would be dead by now... However... I cannot say that a pony who has created new magic is anywhere near... normal..."

A tear fell from Twilight's cheek. "So... There's still a chance for me?"

"Unless you would rather came into my realm... I would be happy to allow that..." Twilight shook her head quickly while backing away from the large doors. "Pity... I would have enjoyed putting you on trial..."

The doors suddenly turned to dust, and flew away in the wind that came out of nowhere. "We will meet again... Twilight Sparkle..." The cloaked figure also seemed to turn to dust and fly away in the wind that wasn't there.

Twilight turned around and looked at the light that had appeared when the voice of her friends spoke to Twilight. "Okay... So how do I get out of here?

Rainbow and the rest of the element bearers had their eyes closed around a glowing light white light that had appeared above the burned mark on the floor. All of their necklaces glowed and flowed into the light.

One by one, they spoke, hoping that their voices were reaching their friend. After they were done speaking, they all waited for something to happen. Nothing did, and the light in front of them seemed to fade.

"Twilight please come back!" Fluttershy suddenly said, crying her eyes out. "Please!" The light grew once more.

"Twilight please!" Rarity joined in, causing the light to grow once more. "Please come back!"

The rest of them all joined in. This time, they all spoke. "Twilight please!"

The light grew brighter than ever, blinding all that were there. Some time passed before it finally faded. When it did, the light was no longer there. Instead, a purple unicorn laid on the ground in front of them, struggling to stand up.

"Twilight!" all of the ponies(and dragon) called when they saw Twilight lying on the floor. She looked up and saw all her friends rushing toward her.

"Hey..." she said weakly as she was embraced by all of them. She could hear some of them weeping as she returned the embrace.

"W- We were so worried!" Fluttershy said.

"What happened?" Rarity asked? "You look simply exhausted!"

Twilight sighed. "I'll be fine," she said. "I'll tell you the story about what happened tomorrow. Can you all promise that you'll never forget something for me?"

Of course!" Rainbow replied.

"What is it Sugarcube?" Applejack asked.

Twilight smiled. "Always remember that you are my friends."

Author's Note:

Immortality is a curse. You may live forever and never die, but you watch all those around you, even your closest friends, perish.

And sometimes, even the smallest voice can bring us out of the darkness, whether they are your friend or not.

Inspired by the final song in the IMmortal album by Black Gryph0n and Bassik: Another End. All of their songs are good, and you should enjoy them.

Like, Comment, Fave. Well, probably not that last one... unless you want to. There's no point to Favorite the story unless you want to see any blog posts I may or may not post that are connected to this story.

But still, at least Like and Comment. Feedback is appreciated(Except for the haters).

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