Time of Death

by Starscribe

Epilogue

It wasn't just the Elements of Harmony that mourned that day. In a nation like Equestria, Dirge's powerful spell constituted more murders than had been seen in decades. Though Twilight had worked herself to the bone, though Discord had searched far and wide for the ingredients to his time-travel spell, nothing had been enough. The five cursed ponies (and one griffon) all died exactly as the awful spell promised.

With the whole nation watching, Celestia declared a national holiday of remembrance forevermore. Equestria had not been able to prevent the deaths of some of its most-beloved sons and daughters, but it would do everything it could to prevent similar disasters from occurring in the future. Ponies young and old were encouraged to spend the day with their friends and families, reflecting on the value of their lives and how destructive hatred could be to the lives of those who let it control them.

Of Dirge himself, there were few words spoken that day. Few outside those affected even knew his name, as Equestria had gone to enormous lengths to ensure that the stallion and his accomplishments had been forgotten. His sanctum had been burned, his acolytes imprisoned, and all his research destroyed. Equestria could only hope all that would be enough.

But while the pony who had caused so much pain for so many was barely known by name, there was a service held to remember the ponies who were killed. Princess Twilight Sparkle didn't know what Celestia had done to recover the bodies so quickly, or make them look so peaceful.

She sat in the front row, only a few strides away from the row of six caskets, each in a different color and marked with the cutie mark of the deceased. Four of the coffins were open, displaying the bodies of the dead. Twilight could faintly sense the spell on them, keeping the ponies within as fresh and vibrant-looking as they had been when they were alive. The other two coffins were shut, those that would belong to Maud and the griffon Gilda. Both had their own wishes regarding their burial, and so the boxes here were merely symbolic. There was nothing inside them.

Twilight still felt very near to death herself. Spike had been begging her to slow down for weeks now, to eat more, sleep more, take more time outside the lab. She hadn't even noticed that she had lost whole sections of her mane's color in the stress, gone from purple to white and gray. Alicorn she might be, but she was not immune to the stress she had inflicted on herself. I’ll get better. Celestia isn't letting me go back to work until I take a full month's vacation. Maybe some time with the girls will help me feel better.

Twilight Sparkle was less sure any of her friends would feel like relaxing much after this. She felt guilty about that too—the pony resting in the blue casket at the front of the row had been put here because Dirge mistook a rival for a friend. Twilight had not wept for Trixie. On the surface, she would've been pleased never to see the mare again. But not like this. But now that she looked over her shoulder at the crowd and saw only a few ponies here for Trixie—no family, no friends, only a hooffull of her dedicated fans... now she cried.

Princess Celestia had not been able to save her ponies, despite her love for them. But she had done everything in her power to make the occasion as bearable as possible. She had organized the ceremony herself, setting aside the throne room of Canterlot Castle as the site for the memorial. She had also provided a location in Canterlot's own royal cemetery for those slain, where they might rest with the honored heroes of Equestria’s past.

Maybe future historians will find your grave one day, Trixie. I'll make sure it says something good about you.

Princess Celestia led the ceremony. She directed the attention of the ponies to consider the importance of Friendship and Kindness in Equestria's future, considering all that the failing of those virtues had cost. She explained much to the families of the dead regarding what Equestria would do in the future to make sure that no more families would suffer as they did.

"We have the families and friends of each of our departed ponies," Celestia said. "I invite anypony with kind memories of the departed to step forward." Her eyes seemed to linger on Twilight and her friends, even though they were thoroughly spread throughout the room. "There are six ponies here with us today whose lives were saved by those we're remembering.

"Let us not remember those who are responsible for this tragedy, and instead remember the love we have for those we lost. To that end, I invite each of the ponies whose lives were saved to step forward and tell us about their friends." Celestia returned to her throne beside her sister, then sat down. There was no music to fill the awkward silence, nothing but the shuffling of hooves as ponies looked around, waiting to see who would get up first. Twilight didn't—she didn't want to start the ceremony when there were so many other ponies here who had been close to the dead.

Applejack made her way to the podium. She sniffed, her eyes wide and puffy, but she managed to fight back her tears. "When I was just a wee little filly..." she began. She swallowed, looking up at the assembled ponies. Mostly she looked towards where her family was sitting. There were probably more apples in the throne room than everypony else combined. "My big brother promised he'd look out for me. I, uh... I needed it back then, ya' see. He kept his promise." That was all she could manage. Applejack pulled her hat down, obscuring her face as she made her way back to her seat.

There wasn't nearly as much awkward silence before Pinkie Pie got up. She wasn't bouncing today, and her mane fell flat around her as she spoke. "My sister liked rocks," she began. "I know that doesn't sound very exciting, but I promise nopony knows how awesome rocks can be until they've met my sister. She taught me everything I ever learned about rocks, including lots of things I didn't care about. But that never mattered, because I could always tell that even if I didn't care about rocks the way Maud did, she cared about me." She went on, getting progressively more tearful with each sentence she spoke. He words became more and more rambling until her sister Limestone finally rose to guide her gently away from the stage.

Pinkie Pie jerked away from her sister, returning to the podium and straightening a little as she spoke again. "I'll miss you, Maud. I'll never miss feeding Boulder, I promise." Then she went back to her seat.

By then, Rainbow Dash had already gotten up, and she made her way to the podium in a few quick flaps of her wings. "Gilda was kind of a jerk. Not like... not like some ponies are jerks. But she was a griffon, and they're like that. That doesn't mean they're bad ponies, because they... well, they're not ponies. Life is harder for them out there. They must be tough to survive, and that's worth respecting. I miss my friend, but I know she died without regrets. Some of the awesome stuff we were doing these last few months, you wouldn't believe! If you've ever..." she trailed off, sensing the uncomfortable looks. "Well, Gilda was awesome. She was my friend before I was cool. I hope whatever griffons do in the afterlife is as cool as she is."

Fluttershy made her way up next, looking positively overwhelmed by so many eyes on her. Twilight had thought she looked the worst of all her friends, but now that she got a good look at Fluttershy she could tell that she wasn't the only pony who had destroyed themselves with worry. Fluttershy would need a few weeks to recover when this was all over.

Then the pegasus made it to the podium, and started talking. At least, Twilight assumed she was. Her mouth was moving, but whatever she was saying was coming out so softly that Twilight couldn't hear her, not even up in the front row. Fluttershy went on like that for several minutes. Her parents in her nearly-empty section broke down in hysterical sobbing as Fluttershy spoke, but still she couldn't make out what she was saying. Only near the end did she seem to get up enough confidence to speak loud enough to hear. "I loved Zephyr. He might not have flown the fastest, or done the most, but he was nice to me. He listened. That's more than most ponies." She sat down.

Rarity rose from her seat in a far-away section with poise and decorum. Those who had come to remember Coco Pommel did not look unified by family like the apple section, at least not past the first few ponies at the front of the group. But they were by far the second most-numerous of any of the ponies here. Many of them were important names in Manehattan, though Twilight didn't follow politics closely enough to remember them. She'd seen them on magazines, anyway.

"My dear friend Coco Pommel..." Rarity said. "Often suffered ill-fortune. She encountered many obstacles on her quest to become a designer for the masses. What made Coco great was not just that she overcame the adversity she faced, but that she faced her adversity with poise. She thrived under pressure that has driven many an aspiring artist to stop creating before they create their masterpiece. My friend persevered. She toiled all these months to leave the gift she deserved to have a whole lifetime to create. She didn't have that time, but she didn't give up. She kept creating until the end. It was an honor to be her friend."

Rarity returned to her seat at the front of the discordant group. Eyes started to drift towards the seats set up for Trixie and her family. There was just one problem: it was almost empty. There was no family here to remember Trixie, only a few nervous-looking fans towards the back row. That meant all the ponies in the room were now watching Twilight. Including both princesses.

Twilight rose to her hooves, and walked up to the podium. Each step felt like miles, but she kept going through the silence. Eventually she reached it, and forced herself to turn around and see the ponies. "Trixie Lulamoon and I... weren’t close. I've never been much for magic shows." She fell silent, thinking desperately. But there was nopony to save her. "But Trixie is proof of what Equestria needs now most of all. She's proof that ponies who do bad things aren't necessarily bad ponies. They want the same things we do—love, acceptance, recognition. Trixie was a reminder to each of us that we can be better friends. I wish the pony who did all this had a friend, maybe we wouldn't be here right now. But ponies can't change the past... I've tried that, and it doesn't work."

She looked back at Trixie's section. Spike sat beside where she had been, giving her a thumbs-up of encouragement. Other than him, none of Trixie's fans seemed to even be watching her. What few of them there were. "Trixie taught me more than most ponies. Equestria is poorer without her."

When everypony had said their piece... something that took several hours, given how many had come... they relocated to the royal cemetery before the three fresh monuments, one for each of the ponies who was going to be buried here. Trixie's, naturally, was twice as large as the others. Coco and Zephyr had both requested modest markers—Coco a simple carved relief of a filly wearing one of her dresses and Zephyr a list of his accomplishments on an average-sized obelisk. The other dead either weren't here or wouldn't be buried in Canterlot.

Twilight cried as she watched the graves lowered into the ground. She threw in a few hooffulls of fresh soil. Then they separated.

After Twilight visited each of her friends, she found her way back to the castle. She sat in the lab still packed with her notes, filled so high with books and scribblings and broken quills that she had to fly over some parts. She perched across a bookshelf and looked out the window at the town. She'd fought Trixie out there, years ago. She'd won. But Trixie had paid a bigger price than any of them anticipated.

Twilight Sparkle didn't know if she would miss Trixie, not the way her best friends would miss the ponies they had lost. But she could try.

Author's Note:

And thus ends Time of Death. Hopefully nobody saw this as a terrible surprise. I tried to use the tags to warn you! Thanks to Vilken666 for making this story possible--it was written to his specifications as part of my Patreon. Thank you so much to all those who joined me for this... experiment. It was a challenge to write at points, but I think I learned a lot making it. It's amazing what you can make into a story. Patreon has been a real learning experience for me so far--learning to write ideas that aren't my own, trying to structure the emotional beats of a genre I've never even tried before. Hopefully, this was at least a passable attempt.

One of those on the editorial staff suggested I should consider writing an alternate version of this ending--one that's a bit more upbeat. I'll post that later tonight before I mark the story complete.

Comments

[Assy Assman]

Time of death: 4:20

[Yami Vizzini]

Strangely less anticlimactic than I had expected. I suppose when dealing with an inevitability like this, the real climax is how those left behind can deal with it. And Twilight, at least, seems to be starting to move forward, a struggle though it be.

On the surface, she would've been pleased never to see the mare again. But not like this.

s2.quickmeme.com/img/7e/7e2057d746cd3c99fff31a01c5ed0d21b6af93d8c5276a02f5fb1759e4530def.jpg

[Mother3Forever]

I'm not gonna cry... I'm not gonna cry... I'M NOT GONNA-

Twilight cried as she watched the graves lowered into the ground. She threw in a few hooffulls of fresh soil. Then they separated.