• Published 11th Sep 2012
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Cry for Eternity - asylum1388



After Celestia's death, Twilight must take on a role she is woefully underprepared for.

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Chapter 29

Author's Note:

Eh.


GO HERE!

Pre-readers: PiquoPie, and f0xhole.

Forty-nine years since the coronation of Princess Twilight Sparkle.

“It’s so weird, being here when she isn’t,” Sweetie Belle murmured as she led seven mares and one stallion into the cluttered building that was at one time the Carousel Boutique. “So many memories...”

“I can’t believe she ever let it get this messy,” Rainbow said, glancing around at the mishmash of boxes and chests stacked throughout the room.

“Well after she opened up the other shops she didn’t need to keep this one open, and she said there wasn’t enough room to raise three foals here,” a middle-aged mare replied.

“I know, Chic, but it’s still strange to see anything of Rarity’s not being perfectly organized,” Rainbow grunted.

“This was her workshop. Whenever she had any sudden bursts of inspiration, she came here to ‘make the dream a reality’ as she said,” a second mare snickered. “She told me the clutter helped inspire her further.”

“It seems like a lot of this stuff is old heirlooms. Things that have memories connected to them,” Twilight muttered, blowing dust off of an old framed photograph of a very young Rarity together with her parents. She sighed and turned to Sweetie. “So, Mrs. executor, shall we get started?”

“Yeah, I guess...” Sweetie glanced around the room for a moment before speaking again. “We should probably take care of the most valuable stuff first, then work our way through the rest. Chic and Magnifique, why don’t you two take Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Princess Luna upstairs and see what you can find. Unique, you stay down here with Princess Twilight, Fluttershy and I.”

“Sounds like a plan!” Applejack affirmed, turning to Rainbow. “Come on, ya old bat, we’ve got work to do!”

“Keep talking, AJ, I still look better than you do!” Rainbow retorted, limping up the stairs ahead of her.

As the first group left the room, the second spread out, opening the various boxes and chests scattered around to assess their contents. “Pins and needles... fabric... more needles—” Sweetie grumbled, digging through several chests.

“Aunt Sweetie? I think I found something.”

Sweetie trotted over to Unique and he stood out of the way to let her poke her head into the trunk he had found. She extracted a dozen or so sheets of paper and could only gape at them. “Oh my gosh... Look at these,” she breathed, passing them to Twilight who magically spread them out in the air.

“These are sketches of our Gala dresses... No, they’re her original sketches of our gala dresses!” Twilight gasped, blinking rapidly just to be sure her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her.

“There’s our bridesmaids dresses with Cadance’s wedding dress,” Fluttershy murmured, glancing at them over Twilight’s shoulder.

“And the outfits she made for Sapphire Shores, and so many others! Along with this, Sweetie,” Twilight snickered, floating a pink sheet over to her.

Sweetie took it in her hooves and her face fell.

“What is it, Aunt Sweetie? What’s wrong?” Unique asked concernedly, trotting up to her.

“Sh-she kept it. After all these years, she still had it,” Sweetie whimpered. She made a half-hearted attempt at wiping her eyes and gave Unique a teary smile. “Do you remember the story of the first time Rarity and I were in the Sisterhooves Social? Well this is the drawing I made that we fought over.” She stared at it wistfully for a while before passing it to Unique.

“It’s, ummm... Awful,” Unique muttered with an amused smirk.

“Hey! I was a little filly and not all of us are artistic savants,” Sweetie chuckled, poking him in the ribs. “That was... Fighting over that was probably one of the stupidest things we ever did. I was so angry at her; I couldn’t understand how she could be so selfish. It wasn’t until I was older and had a career of my own that I understood how easy it was to get lost in your work and how frustrating it is to have other ponies interfere with it.”

“Yeah, but she learned just how much you meant to her and after it was all over you two came out of it closer than ever,” Twilight said quietly. “Maybe, in the end, it was a good thing that you fought.”

“Y-yeah, maybe,” Sweetie choked. She let out a squeak as Twilight pulled her into a tight hug. “Thanks, Twilight. I’m-I’m really going to miss her.”

“I know, we all are. She was a truly wonderful pony,” Twilight said, releasing her.

“Yeah, she was,” Sweetie whispered. She glanced again at the crude crayon drawing in Unique’s hooves. “Keep it.”

“What? D-don’t you want it?” Unique asked, glancing between it and her cautiously.

“No, I want you to have it. I have my memories,” Sweetie said with a sad smile.

“Well, thank you,” he replied softly. He stared at it for a few more seconds before placing it gently on a nearby empty table. “What about the rest of them, though? There are ponies who would pay a lot of money for those, but I don’t really want to sell them.”

“Me neither. However...” Twilight replied, turning to Unique with a mischievous glimmer in her eyes. “I might know of a few museums that would love to have these.”

“That’s... huh. I really like that idea. That way they’d be taken care of really well, and wouldn’t be hidden away in some rich pony’s private collection,” Unique said. “Sweetie?”

“I think she’d like having her work admired by future generations,” Sweetie nodded. “Twilight, I leave them in your hooves.”

“I’ll make sure they get to the right places. In fact...” She separated one from the rest before teleporting the rest of them away. “I think I’ll keep the one of my dress and put it on display with my dress at the palace in the Royal Gallery.”

“Sounds good. I wonder what else is in here?” Sweetie murmured, heaving a smaller chest out of the larger one. She kicked it open, took one look inside, and laughed. “This is going to Spike.” She slid it over to Twilight revealing that it was filled to the brim with bright green emeralds of all shapes and sizes.

“Oh yeah. No arguments there,” Twilight snickered. placing it next to the door.

“Umm, everypony? I just found her Gala dress. And her ticket,” Fluttershy called out from the other side of the room. The other three galloped over to the wardrobe and Twilight pulled the dress out, making it hover in the air for all of them to see.

“You know, she always told me that of all the dresses she had, this was one of her favorites. Even though it was, as she said, rather ordinary,” Unique chuckled, rubbing some of the fabric between its hooves. “She was a lot more sentimental than she let on.”

“Only she would call this ordinary,” Sweetie muttered.

“Yeah, it’s gorgeous,” Twilight said, smiling at it nostalgically. Her thoughts were interrupted by a quiet giggle from Fluttershy and she turned to the pegasus with a raised eyebrow and questioning smile. “Care to tell us what’s so funny?”

“I was just thinking,” Fluttershy sighed. “It’s a little strange how fondly we remember our first Gala considering it was ‘the worst night ever’.”

“Oh. Yeah,” Twilight cackled. “Wow, things seem so different looking back on them. Remember when she got stuck in the desert with Pinkie Pie? And they had to make their way home in a hoofcar?”

“Yeah, she didn’t speak to Rainbow for weeks afterwards,” Fluttershy laughed.

“Oh, that story’s my favorite. I always had Pinkie tell it when she foalsat us,” Unique said with a smirk. “Only after she made cherrychangas, of course. She refused to tell that story without cherrychangas.”

“And Rarity never ate a cherrychanga in her life,” Sweetie sniggered. “She point-blank refused to even try one. She said she was too ‘traumatized’. She was such a drama queen.”

“Yeah, but that’s one of the things we loved about her,” Twilight smiled.

“She kept things lively in her own special way, that’s for sure,” Sweetie chuckled, staring at the dress again. “So, Unique, who do you think should get this? I’d say Chic.”

“Definitely Chic. She’ll probably wear it so often that I’ll have to fix it every other month,” Unique said, failing to hide a smirk. “And if you don’t mind, I’d like the ticket. Sui Generis has been absolutely obsessed with the Gala lately and I know for a fact that she’d love to have something Gala-related that was also her granny’s.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. If she’s still so smitten with it in another month, then she might just receive an invitation of her own for her Sweet Sixteen,” Twilight snickered.

“Princess, she would lose her mind and I would owe you a gr-”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence, you would owe me nothing,” Twilight interrupted.

“Alright, alright...” Unique muttered, turning back to the wardrobe and sticking his head in. “Oh-ho! What have we here?”

He produced what looked like a red rag and waved it in front of Sweetie’s nose as his aunt groaned loudly. “Don’t tell me she kept that old thing!”

“This is going to your daughter, I don’t care what you say,” he cackled, passing the tattered crusader cape to Sweetie.

“Yeah, I’ll never hear the end of this,” Sweetie replied with a reluctant smirk. “Boy, did I get in trouble for this one. Rarity didn’t get all that angry since she was still able to finish her order, but...”

“When grandma found out that you used your sister’s special cloth without her permission, you were grounded for a week,” Unique laughed. “And then, only two days after you got out, you took more of her cloth for your talent show and got grounded again!”

“Yeah, but she managed to convince mom to lower the second punishment to only a week without dessert,” Sweetie muttered. “I swear, she spent more time bailing me out than I ever gave her credit for.”

“Hey, everypony? We found something!” Magnifique’s voice rang from the stairwell. The four of them exchanged glances before galloping up the stairs to see. Magnifique met them at the top and gestured for them to follow her before leading them to the other three who stood before a closed door.

“Her bedroom?” Twilight asked skeptically.

“Sort of,” Chic mumbled. “After we all moved out, she made this her private study. She didn’t let anypony in there. Even dad was forbidden from entering.”

“I’ve always wondered what she was keeping locked away,” Unique said softly.

“Well, let’s open ‘er up ‘n see,” Applejack grunted, turning around and preparing a buck.

“Uhhh, AJ, why don’t I just use magic?” Twilight replied skeptically.

“Oh... Right. Yeah why don’t ya do that.”

“Yeah, we don’t need you breaking a hip,” Rainbow quipped.

Twilight had the door open before Applejack could retaliate, and the group filed into the room, awestruck at what they saw. A gown; long and flowing, colored as if the sunset itself had been captured from the sky and woven into the fabric.

“This is... amazing,” Sweetie whispered, slowly walking up and laying a hoof on it, “but it’s far too big for even Luna to wear.”

She turned around slowly. “T-twilight, I think this is meant for you.”

“But what- I mean how?” Twilight stammered, walking up to it herself. “I haven’t stopped growing yet and there’s no way she could’ve known how big I’ll eventually get.”

“That is not entirely true,” Luna said softly. “A while ago, maybe twenty years, she asked me about my size compared to Celestia’s size. Celestia was always much larger than average, while I’ve always been what you’d call a ‘runt’, and I told her as much. It would seem she just took the averages of our measurements for this.”

“This-this fabric... This is impossible!” Unique stuttered, examining the gown closely.

“What are you talking about?” Magnifique asked, trotting up to see what had rendered her brother dumbstruck.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. Softer than rabbit fur, stronger than silk... I could spend a hundred years trying to replicate it and never even come close!” he breathed.

“But the dress is unfinished,” Chic murmured sadly, pulling her head out from beneath the hem. “She was so close, but...”

“Let me see,” Unique muttered, shoving his own head up the skirt. “Oh yeah, I see what you mean; there’s a few tacking stitches along the inner seams and she only ever used those as a temporary measure. Even so, this is amazing! She put so many extra gussets in here that even a novice could fit it to its wearer perfectly.”

He untangled himself from the gown and turned to Twilight breathlessly. “Princess, I can finish it. I feel like she meant for me to finish it.”

“Well-”

“Please? I can’t let her final masterpiece — her greatest masterpiece — remain incomplete!”

“Okay, I trust you. It’ll probably be a century or two before I can fit into it anyway,” Twilight said with an nod.

“Thank you,” Unique squeaked excitedly bounding to the door and gesturing for his sisters to follow. “Come on you two, I won’t be able to finish it alone. You as well, Fluttershy! It’ll take all four of us to do this.”

Twilight chuckled to herself as his voice faded down the hallway and turned back to her gown. “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, Rarity,” she whispered. “Thank you.”


Twilight stood on her balcony the next evening, casting a scrutinizing gaze over the castle’s garden. A few minutes ago, she spotted a hulking shadow deep within the groves. At first, she thought her eyes had been playing tricks on her, but every now and then managed to catch a glimpse of it. She glanced upward to watch the stars, as she had originally intended, glancing down again when the wind blew. She spotted the shadow again through the moving branches.

A glint of green.

She grimaced and stepped over the railing, gliding down to the copse of trees. She landed and pushed her way through, finding Spike sitting in a small clearing, staring miserably at the chest of emeralds on his lap.

“I almost never see you out here,” she said, mostly to catch his attention.

He jumped at the sudden sound of her voice, but didn’t look up. “Yeah, well I sort of wanted to be alone.”

“I figured as much, but right now I think that’s the last thing you need,” she said softly, walking over and sitting down next to him. She remained silent for a moment before speaking again. “It was her time to go. As much as I wish we could’ve had more time, I’m grateful she passed peacefully and quickly, rather than lingering the way Pinkie did.”

“Yeah, I guess...” he muttered.

Twilight sighed and lay down. For whatever reason, Spike had never liked the gardens, but even he could be seduced by the gentle ambiance when dark thoughts entered his mind. She knew that her presence alone would be enough to lift his mood, and combined with the quiet sounds of the garden at night, it would be enough for him to open up to her.

“H-hey, Twilight? There’s something we need to talk about,” he eventually muttered. She glanced over at him, studying his face. Guilt and anxiety had been chiseled into his features, along with an exhaustion she had never seen in him before.

“It’s okay, Spike. I knew this was coming,” she replied softly.

“You... but-but how?”

“I’ve read every book in existence about dragons. Ponykind doesn’t know much about them, but most scholars agree on one thing: young dragons always leave their nest after their wings grow in,” she said, smiling at him. “I’ve known this day was coming for years.”

“That can’t be right. My wings grew in, what? Ten years ago?” he stammered, shaking his head. “Why would I suddenly feel the need to leave now?”

“Because Rarity’s gone,” Twilight sighed. She pushed herself to her hooves and gently laid a hoof on his claw, considering her next words carefully for a minute. “Supposedly, the wanderlust in young dragons is overwhelming. The fact that you held off this long is a testament to how much you cared about her.”

“But I care about all of our other friends too!” he argued.

“Yes, but Rarity was special.”

“B-but what about you? I love you just as much as I loved her,” Spike gibbered, finally beginning to cry.

“I know that, but I’m not going anywhere,” she cooed, conjuring a kerchief to wipe away his tears. “You know that in 50, 100, even 500 years you’ll be able to visit me. You didn’t have that with Rarity. Deep down, you wanted to spend all the time you could with her. But now she’s gone, and with her went your ability to suppress your urges.”

Spike sighed, staring off into space. “I-I don’t know. I don’t really want to go, but I feel like I have to.”

“In a way, you do have to go,” she said with a sigh. “The longer you wait, the worse these feelings will get. You’re going to end up leaving one way or another, and the longer you wait, the more miserable you’re going to get.”

“You don’t seem very sad about this,” he grumbled.

“I’m sad, but I’m also very excited for you!” she said eagerly. When he gave her a confused frown, she continued. “Spike, this means you’ve grown up, and now you’re going to travel the world! You’re going to see and do things I can only imagine. Maybe you’ll explore a jungle and find a village of creatures that have never met outsiders before, or find a treasure that’s been lost for a thousand years. Maybe you’ll meet a beautiful dragoness, start a hoard with her, and have a family... To be completely honest, I almost envy you in a way.”

“I never really looked at it like that,” he said, his expression softening. “I mean, I have always wanted to visit the minotaurs. You know, as a tourist instead of on a diplomatic mission with you. And the Cervi sound interesting. I guess it would be kinda cool to see what they’re like.”

“That’s the spirit!” Twilight snickered. She leaned over and hugged him around the middle. “Just remember: no matter how far you go, no matter how long you’re away, you’ll always have a home here. Even when you’re too big to fit in the castle.”

“Yeah... And now that I think about it, you’ll never be more than a letter away. Though I’ll have to get creative in the future; I don’t think you want to receive a letter the size of a circus tent,” he said, finally smiling.

“Exactly. And you had better write to me whenever something amazing happens to you, I want to hear all about it.” She released him and sat at his side, rubbing his back. “Now come on, I’ll help you pack. I’ve been working on a bottomless bag spell for you and I’d like to see what you think.”