6| Through the Ages
The Matrix of Friendship
Chapter 6- Through the Ages
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“Spike!?”
Nothing.
“SPIKKEEE!?!?!”
Still, nothing. She ran downstairs and into the throne room. She looked it up and down, examining each of the six seats, and the corners of the crystal room. He wasn’t there. She ran down the large, cavernous hall to his bedroom, lifting up his covers and looking under the bed.
Nothing.
“Spiiiiiiiiiiiiike!?!?!?”
She bolted out the front doors of the castle, forgetting to close them behind her, and onto the streets of Ponyville.
He must still be at Fluttershy’s.
The ponies were going about their day, as usual. Some were at the market, buying and selling various vegetables and assorted knick-knacks, or some were just commuting. Twilight barged through both on her reckless gallop to where Fluttershy’s cottage was.
The sky began to turn a shade of wavy orange as the sun slowly began to set, showering the land in a gradually increasing, but beautiful darkness. All of this, however, went unnoticed and unadmired by Twilight as she galloped at full speed down the track to Fluttershy’s cottage, startling the various wildlife as she ran, causing them to come out of their hiding places and flee. Twilight couldn’t care less…
Something had happened here, and it wasn’t good.
Oh Celestia, oh Celestia, oh Celestia.
She wasn’t quite at the cottage yet, but a large, swirling, menacing dark cloud of smoke was rising into the air above where it usually was. Twilight’s eyes began to water, from a combination of exertion and the air rushing past her face.
The path swayed, following the contour of the land, and making it impossible to see up ahead, the trees to the side of the path blocking the view. Twilight’s legs were aching, her body in pain, she was heaving, barely able to inhale enough air to sustain her speed. She was exhausted, but kept on going, not even noticing the pain.
Then, she saw it.
Where the peaceful, modest cottage previously lay, was a humongous crater, the surface of which, charred black, and smouldering. Shards of rubble lay strewn across the landscape. Splinters of wood, spearing into tree trunks, and parts of dinner plates, strewn across a river bed. The ground around the crater was cracked, radiating out from it. Trees were felled, and leaved charred. The whole area looked like a warzone, as if some pony had just dropped a bomb.
But all that, wasn’t what Twilight was looking at.
No. In the centre of the crater, lay a black pegasus, with hints of a butter yellow coat, and a light pink mane and tail.
“FLUTTERSHYYYYY!!!”
Twilight rediscovered the existence of her wings, instantly unfurling them and taking flight, shooting down into the deep crater at speeds even Rainbow Dash would be impressed by. She impacted the ground right next to Fluttershy, rolling over from the speed of the landing. She instantly picked herself up, and scrambled over to Fluttershy, standing over her.
“Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy’s singed fur had patches of blood on it, some parts of it so badly burnt, flesh was visible. Her mane and tail were nearly all burnt away, with only a few inches left. She wasn’t moving. Hey eyes were open, and relaxed. Twilight pressed a hoof to her chest, failing to feel any pump of the heart of expansion of the lungs. Fluttershy was painfully hot, and began to burn Twilight’s hoof, but she failed to notice.
“Flutters?” Twilight lowered her head and nuzzled her cheek, desperately hoping for her to respond. Just something, ANYTHING.
“FLUTTERSHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!” Twilight began to cry. Tears streamed from her face, falling onto the diseased pegasus’s body, hissing a little on contact with the hot surface. The tears and sobs kept coming.
Twilight suddenly felt something touch her shoulder, but she didn’t turn around. She was staring into the dark, lifeless abyss of Fluttershy’s eyes. They stared back at her, emotionless. Nevertheless, Twilight knew who it was. She would know his unique touch anywhere.
“Spike…” Twilight began to cry again. The tears began to flow once more, dripping down her cheeks, onto her chin, falling to the ground with a tiny ‘splash’. There was silence, for what felt like an eternity, before slowly, Twilight turned to face spike. His eyes were red, just like Twilight’s, from crying.
“Snifffff…..wh-what happened to her?”
Spike’s face began to contort, scrunching up his nose and eyes, beginning to sob. He slowly moved closer and embraced Twilight, wrapping his claws around her stomach. She sat back onto her rump to hug him back with her forehooves, and spike rested his head on her shoulder.
After a long, long time, Spike finally answered. “Th-the…dragon…it…it was a Dilgia dragon…”
Twilight took hold of Spike’s shoulders, and held him in front of her, the two staring at each other. Twilight’s face was a mixture of horror, despair, and regret.
“I-it…tran-transformed into a ma-ma-massive dr-dragon.” Spike was barely able to form words.
“It…it…breathed f-fire…” That was all that Twilight needed, or rather, wanted to hear. She drew spike back into the hug, and the two quietly cried on each other’s shoulders.
The sky began to grow dark. The orange and yellows gave way to purples and blacks-it was twilight. The ground became difficult to see, all of it fading to a shade of black. The meadow was silent. Not an animal stirred, not a breeze blew, and there was not a cloud in the now deep indigo sky.
In the now pitch black meadow, a single, dim, yellow light began to shine. Twilight lit her horn like a torch. She slowly placed Spike onto the ground, and loosely fell forward, back onto her front hooves.
In the dim light of Twilight’s magic, the two placed their dead friend on Twilight’s back, securing it with a spell, and began the long, dark, lonely walk to their home. The two walked in silence, avoiding eye-contact with one another. They walked slowly, heads drooped low, all their enthusiasm for life, drained from them. In the poorly lit darkness, Twilight tripped over a rock, stumbling to the ground, hitting her face. The coarse path’s stones drew blood, that slowly tricked down one side of her face before clotting. With what little strength she had, she picked herself up, and continued her trudge onwards.
This was truly, the most difficult part of their lives. Not Tirek, not Sombra, not Chrysalis, no. They didn’t steal your will to go on, to live.
What’re we going to do, now?
Well, we have a funeral to plan…….
The thought of that was horrible. Twilight never thought of having to send off one of her greatest friends, to be buried. They were all, still, so young.
Suddenly, Spike collapsed. Twilight turned to see what happened, and he wasn’t getting up.
“Spike?” She said in an exhausted, croaky voice. He didn’t respond, so she shuffled over, and nuzzled him onto his back. He was fast asleep, his eyes red, and puffy from sobbing.
“Spike…get up…..please…” The Alicorn was so close to giving up. All she had to do was to simply lie down, next to spike, and die.
Death. Why, Celestia, why?
Twilight’s hooves trembled, and she fell to the ground, with a thud. Her horn went out, all of Twilight’s energy gone.
Why continue? What’s left to do? Why even live life, if all that it brings is death?
She lay on the ground, her face emotionless, but deep inside her head, a battle of feelings was taking place.
No. There’s still things to live for. Friendship is not about giving up, friendship is about braving the difficult, toughing the impassable, and making the most of it. I still have to live, for my other friends, and, for Fluttershy’s legacy.
“For friendship does not end. Not even with death. Friendship carries on…” The words came from some pony else.
“…Through the ages.” Twilight finished.
“And you, you are the Princess of Friendship.”
She looked up to see who talked. Through the darkness, she could so nopony, but she felt a slight breeze on her fur. “He-hello?”
“Greetings, Twilight.” Twilight was sure she heard that voice before, but couldn’t quite place who it was. The overflow of emotion laying waste to her mind, wasn’t helping much either.
“Wh…who are you?” Twilight squinted, looking all around, but she couldn’t see anypony.
“Don’t thy remember me? I pray tell it hasn’t been that long.” The Princess of the Night floated down from her hover, landing in front of Twilight, revealing herself from her night-sky camouflage.
“Lu-Luna?”
“Yes, Twilight.”
“Please…help me.”
Luna bent down, craning her long neck, her flowing mane brushing the ground.
“Hush now dear princess, I’ll take you away, into a land of enchantment.” She placed a hoof on twilight’s shoulder. “Go to sleep now, I’ll take care of everything. It’s what friends do.”
The lavender Alicorn drifted into a deep sleep.
Twilight woke up, she was in her bed. She looked out the window, another beautiful sunny day, scheduled by the weather pegasi. She pushed back the covers, and jumped off her bed, her body tensing up from the cold of the hard wood floor.
She trotted across her room, opening the door, and continuing down the stairs. Spike was cooking… something he never cooked before.
Twilight climbed onto a chair at the table, and spike server her breakfast on a large plate, before returning to the counter to get his own breakfast.
“So, Twilight, what’re you going to do today?”
“You know what? I don’t know spike.”
Spike was surprised, evident by his small recoil. “Wow, that’s unusual for you. I thought you planned everything in advance.”
Twilight chuckled. “Sometimes Spike, it’s nice to have a little uncertainty. It makes things interesting.” The two thought about Twilight’s quote.
“You know what? I think I might go and see Celestia. We can take a nice train journey to Canterlot!”
“Yeah! That’ll be fun!” Spike was excited at the prospect of a train ride. They were rare experiences, a real excitement. “But why do you want to go see Celestia?”
Twilight looked puzzled. “I…I’m not sure. I just know I wanted to ask her something.
“Meh, oh well. You’ll remember it when we get there.”
The two stopped walking down the empty cobble street.
“Remember yet?”
“…No.”
“Oh well. We can go see Celestia anyway.”
“Sure.”
“You know, I’ve never seen Canterlot empty like this before. Something must be on.”
“I heard that some pony called ‘Sidcord’ is doing a magic show today, I’ll bet that’s where they all are.”
The two approached the gates to the castle, and they opened by themselves. They proceeded to walk through the castle gardens, and into the halls. They seemed different than usual, but they both knew their way around perfectly.
Finally, they made it to the throne room. The golden doors opened, and they were greeted by Princess Celestia. Only, her mane wasn’t flowing, and it was all a dull grey colour.
“Greetings, Twilight. What is it you wish to see me for?” It was as if the Princess was expecting them.
“I came to ask a question.”
“Yes?”
Twilight paused. What did she want to ask?
“Twilight?”
“What happens when some pony dies?” The answer just… came to her.
Celestia’s face contorted to an expression of confusion. “Whyever would you want to know that?”
“I…I…oh no…oh CELETIA NO. NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
With a gasp, Twilight jolted upright, wide awake and alert. Her brow was sweating, and her heart felt like it was going to fall out of her at any moment. She took one, single, short look at her surroundings.
“Fluttershy?”
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6046230 Trust me, you might not want people to 'tell you why'. Someone around here is just going up to people's stories and swearing at them.
6086863 Well, yeah, you're right. But I haven't been getting much response at all lately, so at least that's something.
6087180 True.
is there also a garden of shadows?