The Element of Surprise

It happened sixty-eight years ago, but to Twilight Sparkle it still felt like yesterday.

It was one of those indelible events so shocking and relevant that everypony who lived through it could remember exactly where they were when they heard the news. Contrary to popular notion, Twilight knew the shared memory had nothing to do with the emotional impact of the event. Ponies only remembered where they were because it was culturally significant: they would tell the story of hearing the news to each one of their friends, and this process would reinforce the memory. Twilight knew a lot of interesting things like this, but all those tidbits of knowledge provided little comfort to her when calamity struck.

Fluttershy and Big Macintosh had been married for nearly twenty years. They lived together in relative quiet on a small patch of land at the edge of Sweet Apple Acres. Fluttershy was barren, and both medical and magical interventions had failed. It had been vexing for Twilight that even alicorn magic had failed to help her friend conceive. Unfaltering, Big Mac and Fluttershy made the best of things and adopted a number of orphans, raising them as their own.

At the time of the incident, both ponies were in their early forties. They had raised thirteen foals to adulthood already, and currently cared for four others, each of them old enough to have a cutie mark. Time had not been kind to the adoptive parents, however. For whatever reason, both Fluttershy and Big Macintosh looked like they were aging faster than the rest of Twilight's friends. Twilight suspected the symptoms might be related to Fluttershy's infertility, but both ponies routinely tested healthy, apart from some early-onset arthritis.

Fluttershy's conspicuous aging began to nag at Twilight's conscience. Even though Twilight's other friends were relatively young and healthy, their age was also starting to show. Twilight was getting older too, just not quite as quickly. She wasn't a true alicorn yet, but a pegacorn: a pony with pegasus and unicorn natures, but still lacking the mass and strength of an earth pony. Twilight's lifespan had increased by perhaps forty years. It wasn't much of a difference, but seeing Fluttershy get older reminded Twilight that she would probably outlive all of her friends, even if she never became a true alicorn. However, Twilight was able to avoid dwelling on the negative because she also knew her friends still had decades of fun and adventure left to experience with her.

Fluttershy and Big Macintosh had recently decided that the current four foals they were caring for would be their last. Most ponies assumed the two Apples were emptying the nest to spend more time together, although Fluttershy still kept a veritable zoo on their property, and they already lived in quiet seclusion. Ever since they had settled down, it was rare to see either of them in Ponyville. Pinkie Pie would routinely host parties at their place so Fluttershy and Mac could stay in close touch with all of their friends, and Fluttershy's friends frequently babysat the foals so she and her husband could go on long nature walks alone. Given their reputations, nopony was surprised that the married pair enjoyed their peace and quiet.

The day before the tragedy was a Tuesday. Fluttershy insisted on having a picnic that day with her best friends and some of her pets. The picnic was held on a grassy hill overlooking Ponyville. Pinkie Pie had been planning an enormous party for the following day, but of course it never happened. Twilight couldn't even remember what the reason had been, but Pinkie knew every anniversary, birthday, and holiday on the calendar by heart. If none of those matched, she'd simply come up with a creative excuse.

While Tuesday's picnic hadn't been Pinkie's idea, any gathering of friends was special. Rainbow Dash made sure the weather was perfect. Everypony had a pleasant time, and at Fluttershy's request, they all reminisced about stories of their past adventures, all the highs and lows, and how special their friendships remained. Even Big Macintosh spoke up once or twice.

Twilight never figured out how Fluttershy and Big Macintosh knew what was coming, but in retrospect it seemed obvious they did. Fluttershy and Mac seemed unusually sentimental that day, Twilight recalled. They made special arrangements for the foals to stay with Rarity and Spike during the week, because they wanted the young ponies to have an interesting change of pace. Rarity was very nervous about four little ponies staying over at first, as she had never been comfortable around young ones. She would later end up surprising all her friends by becoming an adoptive mother herself. Maybe Fluttershy had guessed that, too.

It was a freak accident, by anypony's account: a million-to-one event where every possible chip fell in exactly the wrong place. Just before dawn, a large rock broke loose from a formation on a hill nearby their cottage. It rolled down one hill, somehow made it over the next, and then smashed headlong into an apple tree beside the cottage. The tree flipped end-over-end and landed on the roof, smashing it to bits.

Applejack found them in bed together, holding one another. She broke the news to her friends and family first, and then the town found out. And that was that.

Applejack was hit hard, even though she was already familiar with loss. But she and Rainbow Dash were very close, and they drew comfort from one another. Rarity and Spike had the foals to look after, which helped them to grieve. Pinkie Pie, however, was completely inconsolable. She cried for a couple of weeks, limp-maned and eyes without luster. Pumpkin and Pound even shut the store down for a while to give her some space. Candy sales were slow the first week anyway.

Twilight Sparkle naturally cried when she found out, but her tears dried up before the funeral began. The sadness had turned into a numb, empty feeling deep inside of her. During the funeral, Twilight realized that Fluttershy and Big Mac had actually lived full lives. This was underscored by how old they looked to Twilight, those empty shells at rest in their caskets. It was still a tragedy for middle-aged ponies to die, but all of her friends were growing old, and this was bound to happen again. They were all at least forty (though Rarity didn't look a day above thirty), and while they still went on adventures together, a younger generation of ponies handled most of the crises of the day. Twilight had never lost anypony close to her before, and she felt powerless by what had happened. It was a new and horrible feeling for her, and she languished in denial. Immediately after the funeral, Twilight spent a week in Canterlot looking through the royal archives in the hope of finding some way of bringing Fluttershy and Big Macintosh back to life.

Twilight briefly considered necromancy, but that class of magic was illegal for a reason—the side effects were horrifying. The only other possibility was time travel, and Twilight already had some experience with it. Unfortunately, she also had experience with the hard truth of Neighvikov's consistency principle: you can interact with the past, but the past can't ever be changed. No matter what you try to change, circumstances will align to make sure that whatever happened in the past stays exactly the same.

Of course, Twilight tried anyway. She transported herself back in time to the perfect moment to stop the rock, and she landed right in its path as it was rolling. She barely missed being crushed to death as she jumped to the side and quickly shoved the rock with her magic. Ironically, her telekinetic boost gave the rock the momentum it needed to make it over the second hill! Twilight had inadvertently become an important factor that allowed the accident to happen in the first place.

Logically speaking, Twilight knew being part of a time-loop that caused the death of her friends wasn't really her fault. If she hadn't gone back into the past to try to save them, it would have happened some other way. Nonetheless, her failed attempt to save Fluttershy made her feel incredibly guilty, and it wasn't long before even Twilight had to accept the hard truth. There was no going back to the way things were. One of her best friends was gone.

Two weeks after the funeral, something unusual happened. In a hoofbeat, Pinkie Pie's personality reverted back to her happy, bouncy self. Nopony knew why, but her friends assumed it had something to do with a secret project she had started. Pinkie told her friends that she'd come up with the best possible surprise ever, but it would take a few years before she could complete her work.

Pinkie Pie's cheerful demeanor was as infectious as always, and her presence helped cheer all of her friends up. All of them, that is, except for Princess Twilight Sparkle. Twilight tried to act curious about Pinkie Pie's secret surprise, but she really didn't care for surprises any more. After her failure to save Fluttershy, Twilight had even given up on her goal of becoming a true alicorn. Princess Cadance had naturally ascended to alicorn more than a decade before Fluttershy's death, but Cadance had been born as a pegasus with royal lineage. Twilight didn't have any alicorn blood in her veins. Her focus and drive were once so strong that Princess Celestia was convinced she would become a true alicorn anyway, but Twilight wasn't interested anymore. Although Twilight knew that living for a long time would lead her to new friends and other adventures, she also recognized the sadness carefully hidden behind Celestia's tired eyes.

Twilight Sparkle had a different project to work on entirely, and unlike Pinkie Pie's project, hers was anything but secret. She had turned all of her attention to a single goal: find a preventative cure for the disease of aging. While Pinkie worked fervently on her surprise in the basement of Sugarcube Corner, Twilight Sparkle spent long hours in the castle lab, testing and retesting chemical, electronic, and magical components. She rarely came out to visit with her friends anymore, and she never left the castle on the anniversary of Fluttershy's death. Twilight would hole up in her laboratory, the doors locked and bolted, sometimes for weeks at a time. Eventually she started locking the castle entrance, and then she relinquished her royal responsibilities to the Mayor.

At first, perhaps once every month or two, Twilight would visit with her friends or attend an event that Pinkie Pie hosted. Of course she still liked spending time with her friends, but she was never able to enjoy herself. All she could think about was how much time she was wasting. If somepony close to her died, and she hadn't worked hard enough, in her mind, their death would be her fault. Her visits to the outside world became more and more infrequent. She started paying to have food, newspapers, and supplies delivered through a drop slot. She wouldn't even let Spike assist with her work when he asked. Her friends tried to force her to come out of the castle, and that worked several times during the first year. But after two years, she stopped answering her door altogether. Her best friends still tried to get her to come out on a weekly basis, but she wouldn't respond, and the doors were kept magically barred. She wouldn't reply to letters, not even from her family or the other Princesses. Her best friends had to mourn her as though she'd died with Fluttershy and Big Macintosh. Yet somehow, Pinkie Pie still had hope that things would change.

One day, a little over three years after Fluttershy's passing, somepony was insistently knocking at the castle door. Twilight had learned to tune this sort of thing out. The laboratory was far from the castle entrance and the magical barrier covering the door muffled sounds from the outside. But this time the knocking was extremely loud and insistent, like a mechanical woodpecker who didn't know how to take a break. After ten minutes of constant pounding, Twilight walked to the castle entrance to open the door.

"What is it?" said a weary Twilight Sparkle. Her eyes were bloodshot, her mane was uncombed, and she smelled like wet dog.

"Wow, Twilight. You look awful!" said a smiling Pinkie Pie. "But hey! I have great news! You should come to the Great News Party with me so I can tell you!"

"I don't have time for parties, Pinkie. I have important work to do, because I love you and all of my friends. Now if you'll excuse me..." Twilight began, and tried to shut the door.

"No, wait!" said Pinkie, as she quickly blocked the door with a hoof.

"Pinkie, go away!" barked Twilight.

"Just one thing! I want you to know that I finished my surprise," she said, bubbling over with excitement. "And it's amazing! Oh, and it's a surprise that's just for you, too! I can't tell you what it is yet, though. Actually, it will be a really, really long time before you can find out. But all our best friends know and they are super-duper psyched about it!"

Twilight smiled slightly. She missed Pinkie Pie and her other friends so much, but she'd be missing them a lot longer if they died. "I'm sorry, Pinkie. I'm very happy for you, but I have to get back to work. Tell everypony I miss them, okay?" she asked, then thrust Pinkie's hoof outside the door with magic before slamming it shut.

Later that month, Twilight Sparkle read in the Foal Free Press that her friends had cut back significantly on their normal activities. This was especially true for Rainbow Dash, who had stepped down as Captain of the Wonderbolts and reduced her service to the Reserves, just for emergencies. Ponies stopped seeing Twilight's friends in Ponyville except on rare occasions. Even Pinkie's parties were less frequent. Most ponies assumed they were out having adventures or doing things together elsewhere in Equestria, but Twilight knew better. She chalked up the reduction in their activities to the ravages of aging, and this made her work even harder.

For whatever reason, that was the last time Pinkie Pie ever knocked on Twilight's castle door. Her friends seemed to have finally given up trying to get her to come out and spend time with them. But this was good, thought Twilight. It was one less distraction to have to deal with.

The sixty-eight years which followed Fluttershy's death passed too quickly for Twilight Sparkle. After the first few years, she emerged from her castle only four times.

The first time was for Rainbow Dash's funeral. It happened about a dozen years after Fluttershy had passed away. Even at fifty-something years old, she was still the fastest flyer in all of Equestria. There had been an attack on Ponyville by a monster or something like that, but Twilight Sparkle couldn't recall any of the details. Specifics didn't really matter, anyway. All she remembered was that Rainbow Dash stood her ground to defend the other Wonderbolts, and when death came for her she didn't even try to get out of the way. Her actions ended up saving the entire town, including Twilight Sparkle herself. The funeral had to be closed-casket because there wasn't much left of her, but it was a large affair with an enormous attendance from all over Equestria. Twilight was despondent, but her words at the podium were soft and hollow. The tears just wouldn't come.

At Dash's funeral, Twilight was able to see her friends very briefly at another of their darkest moments. But they seemed serene about it, even Applejack. Spike begged Twilight to give up on her quest for immortality and spend time with her friends again, but Twilight simply blamed herself for what had happened to Rainbow Dash and went right back into her castle.

The second time Twilight came out was for Pinkie Pie. This happened around twenty years after losing Dash. Pinkie had been around seventy at the time, which was a pretty good run for a pony. Her heart gave out after a five-day sleepless marathon session of touring foal's hospitals (dressed as a clown, of course) in Canterlot and the surrounding area. At the funeral, Twilight could barely recognize her friends anymore, it had been so long. Rarity and Applejack looked very old. Pinkie Pie's body looked even older.

Spike reminded Twilight that that Pinkie Pie's surprise was still waiting for her in the future, but Twilight didn't listen. Her friends half-heartedly tried to stop her from returning to her castle again, but to no avail.

Rarity's funeral wasn't long after that. She passed away on the operating table while donating bone marrow to her sister, due to physician error, but the family elected not to sue. Rarity had carefully set up a living will and provided tissue samples in advance of her death to maximize the chance her organ donations could save lives. In addition to her sister, four other ponies' lives were saved by her gifts, and several others greatly benefited.

Twilight still wasn't able to cry, and this time nopony tried to stop her from returning to her castle.

Many years passed. Twilight Sparkle never gave up in her quest, even though she was very, very old now, over one hundred and twenty years, though she hadn't been keeping track. Sacrificing most of her life to try to cure death could still be worth something if she could finish soon. Twilight regularly sent manuscripts through the drop slot, and her work had already led to advances in medicine. But in all this time, Twilight had only been able to extend the lifespan of ponies by a decade or two. Irreversible damage to DNA and neural tissue over time was blocked by the innate magic of alicorns, but for regular ponies it was a nut that even Twilight couldn't crack.

Twilight Sparkle was still very far from her goal when the day came she finally had to admit defeat. Applejack was on her deathbed. So Twilight reluctantly showered and deloused herself, cut her mane and tail short and ragged to get all the knots out, and headed down to Sweet Apple Acres.

It was sixty-eight years to the day she'd lost Fluttershy, Twilight knew that much for certain. Since she stopped receiving the daily paper several decades ago, she kept track of time in her lab by counting the days. Fluttershy's passing was the only date she knew for certain, even though she couldn't remember the month or the day it fell on anymore—just that it had been a Wednesday in Spring.

As she approached the barn, Twilight saw a very, very old pony resting on a soft bed of hay. As Princess Twilight Sparkle walked up to Applejack, the Apple family members tending to her bowed and left to give the princess some privacy with her old friend.

"Well howdy there, stranger!" Applejack said cheerfully, a smile on her face despite the weakness apparent in her voice. "It's almost worth dyin' just to see you again, Twilight. Not quite worth it, but almost, to be true."

Twilight wanted to cry, but the tears still wouldn't come. "I'm sorry AJ. I failed you. I failed you all. I tried as hard as I could, and I still failed," she said, flatly.

"Well now, fallin' short ain't always a bad thing. Didja at least learn somethin', Princess Twilight Sparkle?" Applejack asked her friend.

"I... I guess I learned that I was arrogant, and I wasted my life trying to make up for Fluttershy's death when I should have been spending it with my remaining friends," said Twilight. "At least then I'd have memories, and I could have touched the lives of my friends more. Maybe I could have saved Rainbow Dash, even. I know my work probably allowed you to live this long, but I still abandoned you. I don't understand why you don't hate me." Twilight grimaced.

Applejack coughed and struggled for breath for a moment. "Now, don't you frown. The past is written in stone, sugarcube. You of all ponies know that by now. And I don't rightly blame you Twi, because I know you did what you thought was right," she explained. "Besides, you'll get to see us all again soon." Applejack smiled gently up at Twilight from where she lay.

Twilight shook her head and sighed. "Of course I'll see you all again, but not for trillions and trillions of years and passings! I wrote the book on meta-consciousness, AJ. I actually, literally wrote the first book on the topic," Twilight said, clearly frustrated. "It does nothing to help me feel better, knowing that I'll see bits and pieces of each of you over and over in different lives without having the full thing again until a near-eternity passes. What I had, what we had together, was perfect. It was an opportunity so rare you'd have to be a foal to throw it all away, and that's exactly what I did. I was so stupid. I've wasted everything, and my only comfort now is that I'll get to die soon, too, and then I won't be able to remember my mistakes for a very long time." Twilight looked away from her friend and closed her eyes.

Applejack snorted. "Horsefeathers, Twilight! Them's some mighty harsh words you got for yourself. You know, I can still recall a certain idealistic young'un who used to believe in second chances. A certain somepony who inspired us all, even Discord. You of all ponies deserve another go, I'd say."

Twilight turned back to look at Applejack. She looked so frail, so different from the pony she remembered. It almost hurt to gaze upon her.

"You admitted the past was written in stone," said Twilight.

"Eeyup. That it is," said Applejack.

"Then there aren't any chances left for me, Applejack. I'm sorry."

Applejack smiled, a slight twinkle in her jaundiced eye, and pulled out an envelope from beneath her shoulder. It was highly weathered and looked ancient, clearly made of fine parchment to withstand the ages. It bore a magenta wax seal with the embossing of three balloons.

"What is this?" said Twilight Sparkle, carefully taking it from Applejack's trembling hoof.

"It's your surprise. Don'tcha wanna know what it is, after sixty-whatever-odd years of waitin'?" Applejack said horsely.

"No," said Twilight, stone-faced. "I really don't."

"Well, yer darn well gonna open that thing after I kick the bucket, missy! We all went to a heckuva lot of trouble for you," she huffed.

"Applejack..."

"Please, Twi. Just trust me this one last time. I wouldn't lie to you, and I think you still know that." Her weathered eyes shimmered with hope.

"But... I don't want to wait for you to die," Twilight whispered, a pained expression on her face even though her eyes remained dry. She reached down and stroked her old friend's face with a hoof.

"I'm afraid ya ain't gonna have to wait, hon. Kyoo-ee-dee," Applejack said, her mouth a slight smile as she breathed her last.

Twilight opened the envelope. All it said inside was, "See Spike".

It wasn't hard to find Spike. He still holed up in the "house" that he had carved out of pure granite from the mountain next to Ponyville. Rarity had done all the interior decorating, of course. The dwelling was more of an immense furnished cave than a house, but it was truly majestic. Spike went to a lot of trouble to keep it up just as Rarity had envisioned it. The entrance to Spike's home lay at the edge of Dragon Tears River.

Spike was waiting at the entrance for her. Amusingly enough, the cave was designed for Spike's inevitable growth, but he hadn't grown by very much over the past century. When on all fours, he was a bit larger than Princess Luna. Spike smiled as Twilight approached him.

"Hello, big sister. I've missed you dearly," said Spike, his voice far deeper than Twilight remembered it.

Twilight held out the envelope to him, saying nothing.

"Ah. Applejack has passed on, then," said Spike, bowing his head reverently for a moment. "I've been waiting sixty-five years for this day, you know. Come this way." Spike began leading his former mentor through the cavern.

"Yeah," Twilight said, as internally she steeled herself for the most disappointing surprise in history. "Look... it's good to see you Spike. And I'm sorry about, well, everything. Just, I mean, to clear the air, or whatever," she added. It had been so long since Twilight had tried to make conversation that she'd almost forgotten how.

"I cast a spell on myself today to keep me from crying. I can do the same for you, if you like," Spike volunteered.

"Thanks, but I haven't cried even once since I lost Fluttershy. Since we lost her, I mean. Just an hour ago I watched my last dear friend pass away, and I still can't cry. It's not going to happen, even if this is some kind of sappy time capsule or whatever Pinkie Pie dreamed up one day," Twilight said, her voice soft. "Huh. You can do magic now? That's neat, I guess."

Spike smiled at the last comment. "I thought that might be your response. I prepared tissues in the room, just in case," he said. The dragon led Twilight into a cozy-sized room. All of the walls were oddly draped in white curtains, and there was an enormous dressing screen in the center, covering half the room from view.

Twilight Sparkle walked slowly toward the dressing screen. "Okay, I'm calling it now," she said, "there's an enormous cream pie and it's going to hit me in the face when I get too close." She paused for a moment and sighed. "Even after this long, I miss them all so much, Spike." Twilight stood there deep in thought, uncertain what to expect, or whether she should even bother to look behind the screen.

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie poked her head outside of the screen, and then she froze in shock. "Oh no!!! She saw me! Do-over! Twily, let's have you come back in and..."

"W-what is this?" Twilight said, her aged hoof shaking as she pointed toward Pinkie Pie, who wasn't very old at all by comparison: middle-age, at worst. "This is the surprise? Pinkie Pie trained a changeling? I don't find this amusing!" she said, angrily.

Pinkie giggled. "It's okay! I'm not a changeling. Oh, and neither are they!" she said, and toppled the screen over. Standing there were Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Big Macintosh, and Applejack. Mac, Fluttershy, and Rarity looked quite young, while her remaining friends appeared to be the same age as Pinkie.

Twilight stared, dumbstruck, mouth halfway open.

"Wowie zowie! I think we snapped her brain. Well, I guess she is really really really old, after all. Maybe if we explain it she'll be able to talk again?" Pinkie suggested.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Pinkie, this is all you. I still don't understand any of this."

"It was your splendid idea, after all," smiled Rarity as she embraced a very happy Spike.

Pinkie grinned. "Well, it's actually really simple! I'm kind of surprised that you didn't think of it, Twilight," she began. "After Fluttershy and Big Macintosh passed away, I noticed how they seemed to know when it was going to happen, right? And I was also really sad about the fact that they spent a lot of time alone together, but then I thought: wait! What if the reason they were spending so much alone time was because maybe that whole time they were actually spending it with us? And if they can do it, why can't we all do it? Plus, I'm pretty sure I saw myself hiding in their back room once."

It took only a moment for the gears in Twilight's brain to put things together. "Wait. You used time-travel, without changing the past... You assumed that Fluttershy and Big Mac had already done something crazy, and then you just... went back in time to make it happen?" she said, eyes wide. "Pinkie Pie, you're a genius. I... I don't know what to say. Seeing all my friends one last time is an amazing gift, though it doesn't hardly make up for..."

"Thanks! And yeah, I get that a lot. But what's this 'one last time' nonsense? You think we're only going to have like, one party together?" she scoffed. "Puh-leaze! We might be on borrowed time, but we have a whole lifetime to make up for, Twilight!"

Suddenly, it clicked. Twilight quickly did the math in her head. "Oh holy Celestia. I can't believe it. You borrowed time. You actually, literally borrowed time! You borrowed time from everypony's past, so they could spend it in the future..."

"...so we could spend that time with you after you finally came out of that stupid castle," grinned Applejack. "No reason to waste our lives fritter'n the time away without our best Princess," she added with a wink.

"And that's why Fluttershy and Big Mac seemed so old when they died, because they were spending extra time in the future!" said Twilight, gasping.

"Oh and we're very happy to be here," said Fluttershy, smiling. "And Rarity, thank you so much for taking care of the young ones, um, when that bad thing finally happens, I mean."

"No problem, love. You'll never believe this, but we actually started adopting some colts and fillies ourselves! We have so much to catch up on," Rarity laughed, taking a moment to stop hanging on Spike so she could hug Fluttershy. Rarity was crying and smiling all at the same time.

"Yeah, three years without Fluttershy was really tough! We'll never understand how you did seventy, Twilight," said Pinkie Pie. "Now, it's kind of complicated because we need to spread things out properly, so I have a schedule set for everypony to follow that will allow us to keep in touch relative to how long each pony lives..."

Rainbow Dash shook her head. "Yeah, and mine's even worse than Fluttershy's, because apparently I die sooner or something? So I have to retire as Captain of the Wonderbolts, and then I can constantly go back and forth between dimensions or whatever the hay insane Pinkie Pie thing we're doing," she complained. "But at least I leave while I'm on top! Rainbow Dash: LEGEND," she bragged.

"Actually, Dashie, you just get to spend more time in the future with Twilight! Oh, and Applejack and everypony else of course. But that way you can live a pretty long life too, although I peeked already and apparently you do get a really amazing funeral," said Pinkie Pie.

"I... I just don't know what to say," said Twilight, her mind still reeling from the revelation. "This is so amazing, Pinkie... I only wish I had another lifetime left in me to appreciate it." Twilight Sparkle looked down at her own weathered hooves.

"Nah, we got that one covered too," said Pinkie Pie, with a wink.

Twilight Sparkle began to sniffle, and felt something rolling down her cheeks as the tears finally came. Seeing the smiling faces of her friends, realizing they essentially gave up the remainder of their lives to spend it with her... right then, something inside her snapped. It was friendship, and no force in the multiverse was stronger, not even death. It was magic, true magic, the irrational sacrifices that made friendship possible, the very thing that made life worth living. A burst of magical energy filled her to the core, and the entire room was illuminated with light so bright and blinding everypony except Pinkie had to avert their eyes.

When the light faded, Princess Twilight Sparkle stood before them, but as a true alicorn: tall and strong, with a shimmering, flowing mane and tail that glittered with deep blues and soft pinks, like the last majestic glimmers of light just before the nightfall snuffs them out. And she looked quite young, or more accurately, immortal.

Despite her grandeur, the alicorn princess was bawling like a newborn foal. "Th-thank, you, P-pink," she gasped as Rarity quickly hoofed her some tissues.

"Of course! What are friends for?" said Pinkie Pie. "So, are you ready for your surprise now?"

The utter shock interrupted Twilight's tears for a moment. "I... Wait, what? This isn't the surprise?" she said, laughing nervously. "Not the alicorn thing, not the friends returned from the dead to have another lifetime with?! Pinkie Pie, what could possibly be left?" she said, choking back emotion.

"Oh, my. You were right, Pinkie! All this time, and she doesn't remember at all," said Fluttershy.

Applejack hugged her brother and chuckled. "Well, I reckon we best remind her, since we ain't had the pleasure in sixty-eight full years. Er, by the Twilight clock, I mean," she said.

"Eeyup," said Big Macintosh, nodding heartily.

Pinkie yanked on a large silk rope, and the curtains fell around the room, revealing balloons, cake, punch, and other typical party paraphernalia. But something was written on the cake, something Twilight Sparkle had indeed forgotten shared the same date as Fluttershy and Big Mac's untimely demise. It was something she hadn't thought about at all in the past sixty-eight years.

"All together!" shouted Pinkie Pie.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!"

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