Last One Out, Get The Lights
Cadance was the first of us to depart.
Looking back on it, it makes sense, but I recall only feeling confusion at the time…mixed with a hint of betrayal. I recall feeling like she was abandoning her post, her calling.
Now? I look forward to seeing her again, and feel compelled to praise her foresight.
“I’m leaving Equestria.”
Cadance’s words seemed to echo in the chamber for longer than they should have, making Twilight wonder if her sister-in-law hadn’t laced them with a little magic for extra impact.
She didn’t spend long on that thought, as a new one came to replace it; the fact that neither Luna nor Celestia appeared to be surprised in the least.
“Leaving?” Twilight asked, her tone making it clear she wanted clarification. While she waited, she took a moment to channel her breathing, forcing her heart and mind to remain calm.
For her part, Cadance seemed slightly embarrassed at the way she’d made her announcement. Shifting on her pillow, moving to where she could better look Twilight in the eyes, she nodded.
“I’m leaving Equestria…and I don’t plan to return.”
Twilight’s agile mind raced with questions, but she settled for the obvious one. “Why?”
Cadance swallowed. "Ponies are losing their desire to love. Not wholly, of course, but I can feel it. Even in the Empire, the love of ponykind is beginning to wane. And I can't stop it."
"But you're the Princess of Love!" Twilight exclaimed. "Can't you just..."
"Wave my horn and make everything better?" Cadance smiled weakly. "I can't replace desire, any more than I can force two ponies with no attraction to each other to fall in love. No, Twilight...I cannot fix this."
Before Twilight could reply, Celestia spoke up.
“Alicorns are the embodiment of many virtues, but they each have one focus in particular, do they not?”
“Of course," Twilight replied. "We're granted our talents, same as other ponies get theirs through their cutie marks."
Ever the teacher, Celestia’s tone was a gentle, patient one. “And this central virtue…is the power inherently ours, or is it something granted and strengthened by the belief of our little ponies? Their belief that we not only embody it, but deserve to?”
Twilight opened her mouth to answer, but no words came out. For that to happen, she would have needed to know what to say.
From the knowing smile on her face, it didn’t seem like Celestia had expected an answer anyway. “I’ve always felt that one of the most underrated skills in life is knowing when to take your leave. Cadance first reached out to me a little over a year ago, and she and I have given the issue much thought.”
“As have I,” Luna added, joining the conversation at last. “I do not feel it is my time, yet, but I support my niece in her decision to…pass on, as it were.”
Twilight looked at the three of them, in something akin to shock.
“You can’t just leave,” she finally said, hurt and fear in her voice. “You’re the last friends I have. If you leave, I’ll be all alone, and I-“
Before Twilight’s rant could build up steam, Celestia stepped forward, embracing her former student in her wide, comforting wings.
“It’s okay,” she whispered. “I will not leave you.”
The words had the intended effect, and Twilight tried not to be too obvious about sinking into her former mentor’s embrace as the tears started to flow.
As her mind calmed, the softer, more emotionally aware side of her that she had spent decades strengthening realized that Cadance looked as though she were about to cry herself.
“Twilight, I…I don’t want to-“
Now it was Twilight’s turn to be the mare of comfort. As she moved to embrace her sister-in-law, doing her best to put on a brave face, she said the words that Cadance needed to hear.
“I’ll support your decision, even if I may not understand it.” She pulled back, giving Cadance a watery smile. “And even after you’re gone…you’ll still always be the best foalsitter in all of Equestria.”
Cadance half-laughed, half-choked, and the two mares – sisters – embraced once more.
It took her about six months to fully prepare to leave. There had been arrangements to make, coronations to oversee. Flurry Heart took her place as Sovereign of the Crystal Empire, a decision met with more rapid acceptance than I expected. They were almost too eager to see Cadance gone.
Perhaps I should have seen it then. But I must remind myself that I wasn’t ready.
About five years after Cadance left, Luna decided it was her time to depart.
You'd think the second time would have been easier for me.
It wasn't.
“But why now?” Twilight asked, staring at the mare who had come into her office as though she were merely placing an order for lunch.
“When my niece made the decision to pass on, I said that it was not yet my time. Recent events have caused me to reevaluate that decision.”
“Is it something I did? Is there something I can do?” Having lost Cadance, Twilight was loathe to lose another of her dearest friends.
“Nay to both questions, my dearest Twilight,” Luna replied, standing up to walk around and embrace the younger mare. “The time may come for you to decide to follow me, but my heart tells me that time is not yet. Yet I would be a liar if I did not admit that I pray our separation will be short.”
“When do you leave?” Twilight asked, trying to remain calm, fighting against the sucking sense of loss that threatened to overwhelm her.
“A few weeks,” Luna replied, trying to put on a brave face herself. “I do not have the entanglements that burdened Cadance. Few will miss a retired pony such as myself taking a very extended vacation.” She nuzzled Twilight, a few tears falling from her eyes. “I will stay here in the castle for the duration, if you wish.”
"I...I would like that."
I later learned that the ‘recent event’ that caused Luna to decide to leave was the dreamscape closing itself to her.
One of the first things I did upon hearing that from Celestia was attempt to enter it myself, but I was unable to even find it, when once it had been as simple as stepping into another room.
I thought back on Celestia’s question that she’d asked when Cadance had announced her intention to leave, about how Alicorns derived their power. At the time, I recalled feeling quite certain of one answer…but I started to wonder if I had been too hasty in that declaration.
Yet even now, many years later, I still don’t have the answer.
I can only say that it was an egg that put the final steps for our departure in motion. Not a dragon egg, nor some eldritch horror that had laid undiscovered for eons. Just a simple, humble white chicken egg, something Pinkie might have used to bake one of her cakes.
The pony that threw it had no idea what would result.
I wonder if they would have changed their mind, knowing how it would end?
Twilight looked at the crowd standing in the square, and felt unease for some reason she couldn’t name.
“Are you sure you want to be here, Princess?” Stout Hoof, the current head of the Royal Guard, fixed her with a concerned stare. “We can just send a messenger.”
“No,” she replied, putting on a brave smile. It was her job to stand strong for her little ponies, and that meant her guards too. “No, Stout Hoof. I will be just fine. And they need to hear it from me.”
There was nothing she could have done about the accident last week. She knew that, analytically. The ponies that had done the investigation had all made it very clear, that it was an unavoidable accident. No one could really explain why several unicorns had been unable to cast the needed spell in the moment, and not having been there, there was nothing she could have done.
So why did she feel like she’d failed them?
Stepping up to the podium that had been erected, she flared her wings in greeting, smiling brightly at them, drawing their attention and silence.
“Citizens of Canterlot, I thank you for your patience this day, and for the patience you have displayed this week as we have strived to determine what caused the collapse in the Southern District. It is-“
Exactly what Twilight was about to say next was only ever known to herself, for in that moment somepony decided to hurl an egg at the stage.
Twilight kept various protective spells around her person when out in public, as a matter of habit more than anything. Those were only meant to stop fast-moving objects, like arrows or spears, things that could cause her bodily injury.
They weren’t crafted to stop something slow, and so the egg landed squarely on her muzzle, covering her face in its yolky goo.
If the square had been quiet before, now it dropped into a dead silence, and even the very air seemed to hold its breath.
Nopony had ever dared do such a thing before. Nopony had even considered it.
The egg had two immediate effects.
Firstly, the ponies in the square saw their sovereign leader, the immortal that had guided them for as long as most could remember, for what she was.
A pony, nothing more, nothing less.
And second, the bubble of obliviousness that had built up around Twilight herself popped. As she did her best to wipe the eggy mess from her eyes, she saw clearly for the first time that her little ponies doubted her.
While her mind was still processing that painful realization, the shouts began.
“Why didn’t you stop it!?” somepony cried, which was met with cheers and jeers in response.
“Aren’t you supposed to have all the answers!?” another pony shouted.
"What good is magic, if it can't stop such accidents!?"
As the volume from the crowd intensified, the Guard, initially shocked into stillness by the brazen attack, moved quickly to escort the Princess to safety. As much as Twilight wanted to spread her wings and simply fly back to the castle, her nature, honed over centuries of rule, refused to let her take the coward’s exit. She walked with her head held high and proud, turning her back on the raucous crowd of nobles and merchants in the square, which were being corralled by the remaining guards and a few helpful bystanders. She would not give them the satisfaction of knowing how much the egg had rattled her.
At least, not immediately.
It took me a few weeks before I reached out to Celestia. I’d wanted to be sure of my feelings and thoughts on the matter.
That egg, that stupid egg, did more to change the course of Equestria’s future than anything a princess ever did.
I asked Celestia if she took a few weeks of her own to respond because she wanted me to be sure. With a laugh, she told me that she wished she were that cunning, and explained the delay away as her having been out traveling.
I’m still not sure she was telling the truth, but it doesn’t matter. I was still set on leaving.
It took about a year to complete all the transition work. Some of that was delays caused by my own hooves, out of nervousness and fear that I was acting rashly. Through all that time, Celestia remained by my side, ever patient, ever trusting.
It was only after I made public my intention to step down that I was convinced it was the right choice. Ponies were…respectful, but there was hardly a line of petitioners outside begging me to retain the throne.
I still wonder how it took me so long to see.
I chose a successor from one of the unicorns that had recently graduated from my School. None of my students had ever proven worthy to ascend to Alicornhood, something that I hadn’t worried too much about previously.
Perhaps it is for the best that ponies will have a leader with a natural lifespan.
I leave this letter, along with all my other writings, in the hooves of Flurry Heart. She has proven to be a very capable ruler, and the Crystal Empire has prospered under her reign. Yet, while she has offered to go with us, I have seen it in her heart that she is not yet ready to move on.
I now understand why it is that none of my fellow princesses pressured me to make this choice. They knew, as I now know, that the choice has to come from within.
To those who receive these records in the future, may the Sun smile upon you, may the Moon bless you with her face, may Love fill your heart, and may Magic guide your way.
Twilight Sparkle.
“I’m going to miss you.” Flurry made no effort to hide her tears, which glistened in the fading moonlight.
“And I you,” Twilight replied, embracing her niece tightly. “But it’s time for me to move onto the next thing.”
“You have my instructions for how to follow us, should you wish,” Celestia added. “Your mother would kill me if I didn’t make sure of that.”
Flurry giggled. “Yes, she would. But it’s not my time.”
And then there was nothing more to be said.
Celestia and Twilight stepped some distance away from Flurry, lighting their horns as they charged the spell.
“Tell her I said hello,” Flurry called out.
The two mares smiled one last time before vanishing.
As the sun rose over the quarry, a griffon stonecutter looked across the rock they were attempting to dislodge, and felt a faint flicker of distrust toward the pony in his sight.
The unicorn currently hammering away at the final section holding the rock to the face hadn’t done anything to deserve it. He’d been nothing but forthright and trustworthy since he’d arrived, and the griffon wondered if perhaps that was why the feeling passed as quickly as it did.
But the thought lingered.
As for the unicorn, he was wondering why he’d nearly lost control of the hammer several moments ago. It was as though his connection to his magic had briefly cut off, though it felt fine once more, if perhaps a touch weaker.
But the doubt lingered.
As the final bit of rock was severed, the two exchanged a glance, each putting on a brave face.
Things would be fine. They were sure of it.
Flurry Heart watched the sun rise, the new ruler of Equestria doing it just as Twilight had done for centuries. Yet it was partly obscured by the dark storm clouds on the horizon, as if heralding rough days ahead.
She remained untroubled.
The Princess of Hope would always wait for the new dawn.
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I really like this idea of the Alicorns having to leave, it's more compelling and mysterious than them dying. I want to know where they're going, what they're doing there. Can they ever come back? Also this is a pretty solid lead up into the new series based on what we know so far.
that is a really pretty cover~
"From the consent of the governed."
Love this idea. Feels very Tolkien having the Alicorns leave for ‘somewhere else’. Think it ties in really well with the up and coming G5 and it’s world. Great work!
The world was fair, the mountains tall,
In Elder Days before the fall
Of mighty queens in Canterlot
And Crystal Lands who now beyond
The furthest star have passed away;
The world was fair in Twilight's day.
...
The world is grey, the mountains old,
The Friendship-fire is ashen cold;
No song is sung, no magic glows,
Castle Friendship lies locked and closed;
The shadow haunts her citadel
In Friendship's town, in Ponyville.
But still the shining stars appear
In whole, unbroken Twilight's Mirror;
There lies her Mark in glassy stone
Till Twilight comes and returns home.
This is... It feels like it should be depressing, but on the other hand it strikes me more as "the old generation passing it over to the new one." And like someone else said, I am interested in seeing where they're going.
I personally imagine they're just going... elsewhere. Same planet, but leaving to live a simple life in a place where they will not be found.
10927972
Rhyming gets a bit wonky at the end, but overall a valiant effort!
I have never liked this idea. Yes, Twilight wouldn't have the most opportunities to go out and make friends once she's on the throne, but the idea that she just looses the capacity to form new, meaningful bonds never sits well with me.
That aside, lovely bit of melancholy. No queen reigns forever.
A lot of people are getting Tolkien vibes, which is certainly well-earned. But weirdly I'm reminded of a few things from One Hundred Years of Solitude, too.
I can't say if it feels like a depressing story, nor a fully cynical one. Rather, it feels indicative of cycles, and of passing a thing on, with the trust that what comes next, will know what to do with it. Or at least, will have a chance to know for themselves.
wait. Oh god-
I agree with the other commenters that this feels very Tolkienian -- there's that something about the slow fading of magic and wonder, the slow decline into mundanity, and the last few who remember the wonders of the ancient times slipping away forever.
"It is said that Flurry Heart went to dwell there after the departure of Twilight; but there is no record of the day when at last she sought her departure, and with her went the last living memory of the Elder Days in Equestria."
Hope springs eternal. Just pray that Hope never dies.
10927972
Filling it out a bit:
I have simply no words to say for this, I must admit.
your take on what lead up to gen 5 hmm...the princess of friendship departs, i can imagine there would be a debait among ponies...about whos fault it was, did twilight take the magic with her out of spite, or was it there spite that drove away the magic and thus its princess?...only the princesses know for sure, and they are gone...as pony kind wanted them to be, never to return in that form...
but hope springs eternal, and perhaps in the darkest hour, a single pony, guided by the star of harmony and the bright sun, shall lead the world back unto harmony, and ussure in a new golden age of magic and harmony?
well...this is refreshing stuff.
10927994
I'm not so sure. After all, when Twilight left, we saw that magic was weaker than it has been. They're is something that links them reach to their respective domains, and when they leave, so to does the strength of their domain fade.
The world will end when it's time for Flurry Heart to leave. If cloud move in front of the sun, ponies and griffons and everything will endure. If the moon hides below the horizon, ponies and griffons and everything will endure. Without friendship and love, ponies and griffons and everything may be lonely and miserable, but they will endure.
Without hope, nothing can endure; when Flurry leaves, it will all unravel.
Change is the way of existence. Not merely Chaos, though that, to be fair, can be an agent of change. But Change is inherent in all of nature, and is the bedrock of reality. From a single point, to a million spiraling galaxies. From a living body, full of vim and vigor, to a mound with something beneath, flowers blooming over it. This is how existence, in all its horror and glory, works. A Changing God has no for form or flesh, for I am in all things.
10928546
It struck me as more of a blib on the radar. That Twilight was the anchor for magic, and when she disappeared, there was a moment where magic had to re-attach itself to the world, as it were.
That's a nice bit of continuity on where alicorns could end up - not here, somewhere else.
10928060
I don’t think I’d take that line that way. Regardless of Twilight’s talent for friendship, the fact remains that after a certain point, ponies are going to see her the way Celestia was seen - an immortal demigoddess, someone both perfect and a bit unreachable.
By the time of that line, the only ponies that would still remember Twilight when she was just ‘a regular old unicorn’, the only ones for whom the events during the time period of the show would be memories, not historical events, would be her fellow Princesses.
This was a rather beautiful story to read, if not humbling. Perhaps it is the nature of mortality that prevents me from fully comprehending what immortality truly is, or the effects that would have on a sovereign. Perhaps it's cruel to those who are governed, and not those who govern, when they look up and realise that those who lead them will never truly understand the chains of a mortal's existence.
Beautifully written.
10927818
They take a magical boat to the grey havens, never to return.
A very interesting concept of how the princess would “move on” as it were. Also how their domains effect the world at large.
I personally don’t think pony kind of ever willingly disown the princesses, though like the scene with the egg. Equestria clearly loosing faith was rather chilling in a way. I do wish we got to know what the accident that Twilight was holding the speech for was but it’s not really important to this story.
Flurry as the princess of hope is also a really cool idea.
Really nice work, well done
Good story, but I also thought it was slightly egotistical from a certain perspective. As soon as they're no longer needed, they leave? Could they not stand the concept of just living normally? That kind of hints at unhealthy levels of self-importance.
10929476
It seemed to me more along the lines of that they represent aspects of the world and when it’s no longer being truely represented in by the beings in the world, they leave. Or die. We don’t really know what they mean when they say they’re leaving, they could be going to their the immortals own version of the afterlife.
It’s why I’m pretty sure Flurry Heart will never leave, because there is always hope.
10928727
10928546
I'm mostly not commenting on the story interpretations for this one, because it's meant to be open ended, but I did want to call out one line from the story, before Twilight speaks to the crowd.
That might change your thoughts somewhat.
10929476
This is one of the few I'm going to comment on. Not in a bad way, I just want to clarify a little by pointing some things out. (I'm going to spoiler the lines, for future readers)
"Ponies are losing their desire to love. Not wholly, of course, but I can feel it." (emphasis added)
I later learned that the ‘recent event’ that caused Luna to decide to leave was the dreamscape closing itself to her.
Along with one element in this story that's implied but not explicitly stated: they're more or less a family. Cadance is Celestia's adopted niece, Luna is her sister, Twilight is her most faithful student and successor. Cadance is also Twilight's sister in law. Twilight sees Celestia as a mother figure of sorts, and at the bare minimum she's a good friend of Luna's, and Luna feels similarly.
I'll leave the interpretation of their reasons for leaving up to you, but I will say that they wanted to be together, in no small part because they also understand each other.
10929008
In light of that last part, I took care to not have the princesses be resentful of how they were being treated. Twilight might have been indignant in the moment, but that's a reasonable and understandable reaction.
Thanks for your comment, and thanks to everypony else for the kind words.
10929912
I admit, I missed that, and it is an important detail.
I think now, perhaps, they I was on the right track, but that I had the order of things backwards. The world will still end when Flurry Heart leaves, but not because she leaves, for of all the things necessary for life to continue, hope is perhaps the most difficult of them to extinguish.
..."God is dead" Nietzsche.
?
... In the everyday world, I'm an atheist.
But, I think there's a price to be paid for our 'enlightenment'. Perhaps a sense of wonder. Magic?
Hope springs eternal?
Perhaps I'm delusional and a dreamer... but I hope I'm not the only one.
10929928
It feels...for lack of a better way to put it, like 'They had Goddesses, and proven unworthy of them, and so they departed.'
Which fits given how this clearly flicks towards G5, especially, and potential ways that might happen.
This is a pretty good and interesting work, love it
I like what you did here, but I this idea would have deserved a much longer fic. In this form, it almost feels like a plot summary only, although a well written one. But keep it up, I like fics that have thought put into them like this one.
Great story!
Very nice story! It's an interesting interpretation of how the princesses would go away and their mystical connection to abstract concepts. One does wonder how it's possible for love to diminish and for the society to still be stable; that makes me wonder if it's less the princesses moving on because society has moved on, and more that the end times are coming for that society. In any case, you did a great job with the characters.
10930433
Yeah we've totally lost the wonder of magic. You ever listen to Greg Locke shrieking in his ministry about all the witches in his room? They keep leaving tarot cards because he keeps complaining about LGBT, and these cards piss him off way too much. He even accused his wife of being demonically possessed once, and fired some of his employees for being demons. I am just unaffected by seeing a tarot card 😿
10929223
Much of Canterlot is built on massive shelves held up by pillars. So then:
While I originally read "in" as "of", which would have meant an even larger loss of life, I still think it plausible than entire city blocks plummeted when the magic reinforcing one of.the columns or other structural members failed. We can only hope that evacuation was in progress or even completed while the Unicorns mentioned tried to recast the spells that previously could have prevented the collapse.
...or perhaps it was just some scaffolding at a.construction site and the workers were well clear by the time it fell.