The Last Magic

by Cynical

Lonliness

Flight. It was the only thing that kept me sane.

Over the years, and then the centuries, and then the millennia.

In the end though, it all came down to that one question. I knew it would plague my dreams if I ever stopped to sleep, and my thoughts if I ever stopped to rest. Which was at least one good thing that came from her, I no-longer got tired, I never felt the ache of strained muscles in my wings, nor did I feel the sleep-debt that I had gathered over the years. But now of course, my treacherous mind brings up the question again.

'Why are you still mad at her then?'

And then the familiar routine would begin again, as my inner-monologue struck up, and reminded me of her.

I never did keep track of the years. That was something only an egghead would do. Time was no-longer an issue, so there was no point making notes of the passage of it.

All I could remember was that what she did happened a very long time ago.

I opened my eyes to fire and ash. But no pain.

I tried to remember what had happened, and fragments of memories came back to me.

The party.

Twilight.

The Princesses.

And now this. It was as if fate was conspiring against me today. And this was further backed up when I looked around for an indication as to where we were, and saw only sand and ash and fire. A great ball of flaming magma, no more than 50 miles away, held off the ground by little more than a few metres, and bigger than anything I've ever seen. And of my friends? I saw nothing.

No Stetson wearing AppleJack, or fussy Rarity.

No timid Fluttershy, or over-excitable Pinkie Pie

And no sign of my egghead friend, Twilight.

I felt so very alone. That is, until I remembered that Twilight was invincible, and couldn't be killed. She was probably here somewhere, still knocked out from whatever it was that caused this. So at the very least, I would have one face that I knew to talk to. Except, that brought me to another question. 'Why was I still alive?' I knew for a fact that I wasn't immortal or indestructible, an incident with my wings had proven that very effectively. So why was I still alive, when I could see neither hide nor hair of my other friends? Of course, that ended up being a rhetorical question, and the answer that I gave myself was slightly mind-numbing to finally realise what had happened. She, that is to say, Twilight Sparkle, my 'friend', had made me immortal. Had robbed me of my right to die, to ever see my friends in the great pasture in the sky, and now it seemed like I was stuck here, with no-pony else, and with a lot of hate towards a certain mare.

Added to the fact that the air was completely devoid of water vapour, I wasn't going to get my hopes up about this being a short eternity. First things first though. I would have to have a talk with a certain lavender mare about her fate, wherever she was.

But then, what was that? A faint cough? A small wheeze? I knew the sounds of life against a ravaged desert well enough, and I took off in a heartbeat, searching the sifting sands for a hint of any colour that wasn't sand or ash. And there it was, a purple hoof, with a mouth in another gap. Forgetting about my anger for the moment, I dived towards the ground, my whole being focused on finding out whether or not one of my closest friends was injured.

I flew down through the scorching air which carried no pain, and grabbed the outstretched hoof with two of my own, then throwing my wings out to stop myself, and reversed direction rapidly, straining against the added weight of both Twilight and the sand which still covered her, but it was no match for me as I put in an extra burst of strength and speed, and pulled the mare out from under the desert, before gliding gently back down to the ground and letting Twilight collapse on the sand, where I joined her after another moment or so.

Twilight was looking lost, afraid and anxious. Then again, we had both lost everything, well, everything but each other. If I saw it that way that is, I was still having trouble deciding on Twilight's motives, but this was interrupted by a quiet voice belonging to the mare herself. Something that I thought was at least going to be unlikely due to the shock which had been so apparent not five minutes ago.

"Thank you for finding me Rainbow."

Her voice was beyond fragile, and mixed with the expanse of the desert, almost all the sound was lost to the air, leaving Twilight with a voice which sounded as if it could be broken with a single leaf, or a mouthful of sand, reflecting on our current environment and all. Well, what else could I do, I couldn't exactly flip out when her voice was that weak, and to be honest, she looked even worse. Maybe immortality prevented damage from a weapon, but it didn't seem to be stopping the damage from her own systems. There were deep red rims around her eyes, which were slightly puffy and bloodshot. Everything else about the unicorn spoke wonders about her 'brilliant health', how not even the sand had removed any of her fur, or intruded in her mouth or elsewhere.

But then, those weren't the signs that I was looking at and listening to. I tilted my head slightly, fixing my gaze on Twilight, trying not to make it too uncomfortable, but still making sure that she knew there was no backing out of my question when I asked it.

"You alright Twi?"

This caused her to squirm slightly, as if trying to bury a bad memory that had just sprung up on her. But she still looked me directly in the eyes and said to me in a clear voice:

"Yes, Rainbow, I'm perfectly fine. Apart from the fact that, oh, I don't know both the princesses are now dead, one of whom was my ex-mentor, and the other was a pony who'd spent a fifth of her life stuck on the moon, and now I'm immortal, and I have to spend the rest of my life wandering the wasteland once known as Equestria, probably doomed to go mad in a year or two. Maybe less seeing as I've been talking to you for a while, and you haven't said anything back. Seeing my dead friends, or not seeing them as the case may be, that's a way to go insane, right there."

All the while, Twilight spoke in that same clear voice, the shock slowly disappearing from her eyes as she related a few tales about her various escapades in Equestria, seemingly trying to hold onto some semblance of normality.

But, by this time, I'd finally regained control of my senses, and started talking to Twilight animatedly about something important. Namely, the fact that she wasn't hallucinating, and that she had managed that spell. It would probably turn into a row sooner or later.

"I'm not a hallucination Twilight. You obviously messed me about with your magic, so what did you do huh?"

I asked, breaking Twilight out of her rant, and praying to the great Pegasus in the sky that she wouldn't give the answer that she was giving now."

"You're real!? Fascinating, so I performed the spell twice in less than a few hours, and yet I feel no ill effects from it's use, unless we've been asleep for a while, which could have replenished my reserves. I'd need to do more testing…"

At which, she tailed off into silence, her face now a mask, through which nothing about her thoughts could be gleaned. But she did manage to sum them all up, in a single, monotonous, "Oh."

All of which was going on in the background for me, as I furiously went through a couple of options that were open to me at that moment.

I could press Twilight for information about what she'd done to me, risking her emotional health as it stood right now. More stress wouldn't do her much good, if previous experiences were anything to go by.

I could attempt to completely ignore the elephant in the corner in favour of helping Twilight overcome her emotional shock, but somehow, I didn't think that it would have lasted long before I'd bring it up, with twice the force, and probably say something that I'd regret later. Even if it was a very, very long time later.

I was going to have to find the metaphorical middle ground. I approached Twilight, and I put my wing over her, gently soothing her, continuing to do so until she calmed down enough for me to speak to her. I spoke in a clear voice with no emotion, just like she had, and asked her.

"What did you do Twilight?"

To which she answered, looking straight ahead, and not blinking.

"I gave you immortality."

The result was a very leaden silence in the air as I considered that sentence. After a while, Twilight shrugged off my wing, stood up and asked,

"Do you hate me?"

Well, to say that I was surprised about the confrontation was an understatement.

This was after all the same Twilight who was scared of snakes, and freaked out when a report was about to become 'tardy'.

I thought about it for a few more seconds before replying, "Yes."

Well, what did she expect, if anything, it was a good thing that she hadn't asked anything about how much I hated her, but still, simply asking that question was enough for me to get a glimpse of what I truly felt towards her at the moment. The fact that it wasn't looking good for her was a given, and no doubt I should have been focusing on asking Twilight just what you did when you were the last two inhabitants of a burning planet. But at that moment, I wasn't exactly prepared to be logical to the reason for my predicament, that was also creating a source of anger that was just growing and growing the more I thought about it. As if by mentioning it, Twilight had given them a chance to vent my rage all at once.

In fact, I was so enthralled by my inner thoughts and feelings, that I only just heard Twilight's next words, instead only noting them for later in my mind, but spoken so quietly that it could have been Fluttershy standing there. Except, Fluttershy would never stand there again. Would never see me again. There was no afterlife for a pony with a never-ending life.

"I'm sorry."

The voice came from out of the blue, and it was a moment until I realised that it was just Twilight which had spoken, and that I'd only just heard what she'd said. And heard it I did, and I suppose that was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Twilight was 'Sorry' was she?

About what?

About the fact that Celestia and Luna were both gone? That she had forced Rainbow into this mess against her will? Or how about that we were now both destined to wander this wasteland forever, never dying, and never stopping. Twilight had a lot to be sorry for, and for once, I didn't think that I had it in me to forgive her this time. No matter what she said, or how much she pleaded. The end result was me looking Twilight straight in the eye, and clarifying, "You're sorry?"

To which Twilight immediately started bobbing her head up and down, showing just how much she wanted to emphasize the point, even if it was going to be futile in the long run.

I stood up, keeping my eyes fixated on Twilight as I did so, and turned towards her, to which she took several steps back under the intensity of my gaze.

"You're sorry?" One pace forwards, " I'll believe that when I see it. What the BUCK have you done Twilight," Another pace, and my wings were now extended, and looked ready to start a fight, "you've dragged me into this, you've made me so that I can never see the others again, you know, the ponies who just DIED" I was now face to face with Twilight, not even realising that I'd taken off and flown straight into her face, which didn't mean that I was about to back down any time soon.

"You've taken my life, turned it upside down, isolated me, and then given me an eternity away from ponies that I was the best of friends with, and you're Sorry?" By this point, my voice was ice cold, and Twilight was obviously trying to come back with a smart answer that she could use to set things right, eventually finding it, and baring it to me. Not that it did much good.

"I'm the element of Loyalty, so I'd never leave a friend hanging? Is that it?" I asked incredulously. "You had to resort to the fact that my element would prevent me from leaving you alone." She continued, the amount of incredulity in her responses getting higher and higher until it reached a crescendo at the end.

My emotions were getting out of check.

I wanted to reach towards Twilight to slap some sense into her. I even wanted to hurt her. No.

I stopped myself there, no matter what she'd done, she was still, or had been, one of my best friends. I couldn't just go around hurting my friends, even if it was the end of the world. Instead, I turned back to her and stated,

"What elements?"

To which Twilight opened her mouth for a second, then shut it again, as she realised the implications of what I'd said.

As much as I wished it to be false, we were but two now, There was no Applejack the Honest, no Fluttershy the Kind, no Pinkie Pie the Joker or Rarity the Generous. It was just me, and Twilight, Loyalty and Magic. We wouldn't have stood a chance if Discord had returned now, but then, that was also impossible, seeing as his statue was now either ash, or a pile of molten slag, deep within what was Canterlot's secret passages.

I continues watching Twilight, waiting for her next response, while my anger simmered just below the surface, now having reached it's peak, and waiting for a chance to strike again. A chance which was removed when she did eventually respond with, "What now?"

This had the effect of simply draining away all my anger. To be honest, I hadn't really thought about it like that, after all, what do you do when you're the last two Ponies on a dead world. Doomed to roam the face of the planet for ever.

The entertainment prospects weren't exactly looking good, that was certain.

I replied simply. "I don't know."

Then again, that's what started an idea in my mind, I did know what I'd like to do eventually, the problem was that I had no idea where to start with it, no method, no plan, no nothing.

After what could have been five minutes, or five hours, I spoke again.

"Actually, I do have a plan."

To which Twilight looked up, with the faintest spark of hope in her eyes, or maybe it was just the reflection of the Sun, burning above us.

"What plan?" She enquired, trying to sound casual, but her voice still cracked with the strain of keeping calm.

What did I tell her?

I told her that I was going to find a way to die.

And what did she do?

Twilight. Twilight simply nodded and accepted it. Maybe she already knew that it was a fruitless task, but still.

She'd just given me immortality, and she was now just wishing it all away, she didn't even care about it, never even tried to stop me.

Of course, I was ignorant to her inner dialogue at the time, but still. Not even trying anything to stop me, a raised voice, or a shocked face. Nothing, just a simple, OK.

Fine.

Again, in retrospect, nothing worked. Seems like immortality really is forever.

I flew into the sun, which wasn't that hard now, with it only being a few miles above our heads.

I starved myself, I went to the one spot on the planet which was below freezing.

Hell, I even tried eating sand once, just to ruin my stomach. But I ramble.

Nothing worked, I didn't even get sick once, and all it brought was a view of a dead planet, and a weird taste in my mouth.

Anyway, the result of it was that I looked at Twilight sadly for another moment or two, said a simple goodbye, and left.

I've been flying ever since, it doesn't hurt anymore when I exert myself, I even produced a Sonic Rainboom once or twice over the years. But I never land, I never stop, at least, not as much as I can help it, because I know that she's somewhere on the planet too, and I know that if I see her, I'll probably lose my resolve to hate her, and give up on this fruitless quest.

Then again, maybe, after all this time, I might have considered the idea.

It's been on my mind of later, after the past… Celestia knows how many years actually, I lost count after the fiftieth, and then it just became a simple routine of day-after-da- No, not even that anymore. Time lost meaning.

But every once in a while, I do see the eighth colour, in the world of drab.

Every once in a while, I see a shimmer of Twilight, around the planets surface.