• Published 11th Sep 2012
  • 32,583 Views, 2,490 Comments

Cry for Eternity - asylum1388



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

  • ...
106
 2,490
 32,583

Chapter 31

Author's Note:

Pre-readers: PiquoPie, and f0xhole.

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

Twilight opened her eyes to the sound of a rooster’s crowing. Motionless, she entered an out-of-body state and pushed the sun up over the horizon, the sight of it beginning to rise above a familiar orchard.

“Awake already?” a voice whispered into Twilight’s ear as she stirred.

She groaned, squirming in Luna’s grasp. “Yeah, though I wish I wasn’t.”

“That is hardly a good way to start your day,” Luna breathed, nuzzling the back of Twilight’s ticklish neck. With an emotionless sigh, Twilight extracted herself from her marefriend’s hooves, a chill running down her back as she pulled it away from Luna’s chest and exposed it to the morning cold. “Going somewhere?”

“For a run. I need some air,” Twilight said blandly.

“Would you like some company?” Luna asked her through a yawn.

“No thanks.”

“Are you sure?”

“I said no,” Twilight grumbled, bolting out of the room before Luna could respond. She felt a slight pang of guilt -- a very slight pang that lasted only for a moment -- as she stepped outside into the brisk morning air. She gazed around at the orchard’s orange leaves before trotting off. She hadn’t really decided where exactly she was going but picked up her pace all the same, reaching a full gallop as she reached the first line of trees.

Around the orchard, she decided, and took a sharp left, running along the treeline as the exercise swept away the last vestiges of sleep and allowed her conscious thoughts to return to her. It was odd, she thought, how easily the Apples had been able to let go. How they, just yesterday, buried their elderly matriarch, and the extended family was now gathering for a family reunion of sorts.

Applejack was gone.

And they wanted to celebrate.

She rounded the first corner, stomping the ground harder than she really meant to. She wasn’t pacing herself at all. She knew she would pay for it later, thinking back to her first Running of the Leaves, and how she had been able to overtake over a dozen Earth Ponies by strategy alone. But she was stronger now. Strong. Like Applejack.

Like Applejack had been.

She let out an angry snort, glancing ahead of her for an outlet.

The patch of daisies never stood a chance.

A fence came into view and she sped up further, jumping it at a full sprint. She bent her legs carefully for the landing, ready to launch herself back into her gallop, but slid as she met the ground. A few petals, slick with the morning dew, had attached themselves to the bottom of her hooves, nullifying what little traction she had on the wet grass. Cursing her carelessness, she stumbled, flaring her wings and barely catching her footing. She slowed down just long enough to kick the petals off before speeding up again, but gasped as a sharp throb wracked her back. The flowers had avenged themselves. A new misery fresh in her mind, she let out a low growl as she resumed her normal pace.

As if the Apples’ glibness wasn’t bad enough, Rainbow and Luna had fallen victim to their strange mindset. Rainbow, technically being an Apple herself now, Twilight could understand. Luna however... While the elder Princess had initially mourned their friend’s passing, she too was now all smiles and laughter.

In all her life, Twilight had never felt so alone.

She was approaching Big Mac and Rainbow Dash’s house. Or what once was. Now it was Rainbow’s alone; the stubborn old Pegasus refusing everypony who offered to move in with her. For the past few days, the house had been full again, albeit temporarily. Tomorrow morning, the Apple Clan would almost entirely depart and the house would be all but deserted once more.

As she turned to continue paralleling the treeline, she heard soft hoofbeats behind her; another early-riser who had apparently decided to join her.

Needlepoint; the youngest of Applebloom’s grandfoals. Quiet and reserved, Needlepoint was probably one of Twilight’s biggest fans and the last thing Twilight needed right then. She was also a fantastic athlete, having won several sprinting championships for her high school.

Unfortunately for Needlepoint, Twilight was almost as young as she was physically and had decades of long-distance training to boot. As the pair came to a hill the Princess charged on, utilizing her superior endurance to hold her speed up the steep incline. Needlepoint, despite her best efforts, couldn’t keep up Twilight’s pace and was left behind.

Twilight crested the hill, momentarily catching the sight of the autumn orchard before beginning her descent. She hung a right, dipping into the rows of trees, knowing that she was far enough ahead of Needlepoint where the stubborn filly wouldn’t see her enter the orchard.

Taking a look behind her, Twilight let out a laugh that died in her throat as her side clipped one of the trees. She snapped her head back forward just in time to dive around a tree immediately in her path and immediately regretted her recklessness. She kept running anyway, trying to weave around the trees without losing her momentum, but she wasn’t Rainbow Dash. Her hoof caught on a root, sending her sprawling. She tried once again to catch herself, but this time, she failed. Her legs collapsed from beneath her and her side slammed hard into a thick, older tree.

As she lay there, attempting to catch the breath that had been knocked out of her, an apple fell from the tree and smacked into the top of her head.

It was at that point that she decided to just give up.


She had wallowed in her self-pity for an hour or two before getting up and leaving the orchard. It only took her a few minutes to find the old farmhouse. Approaching cautiously, she quietly pushed the front door open and peeked her head in, finding it mercifully empty. Everypony must have already left for the quasi-reunion.

Still, she tiphoofed her way to the bathroom and started to draw herself a bath before turning to the mirror and groaning. She had probably looked bad enough before her run, what with swollen bags under her bloodshot eyes, but now? The twigs and leaves stuck in her mane worked together with the dirt on her face, abrasions on her chest, and large blotchy bruise on her side to paint the picture of a pony who was anything but Princess-like.

She fumed silently to herself until the tub filled, then closed the tap and slowly submerged herself, crying out as the steaming water washed over her wounds. She took her time cleaning herself, but didn’t bother to do a thorough job of it. Cleaning off the results of her ill-fated exercise was about all she could find the motivation for. Afterwards she dried herself off and, against her better judgement, painfully applied some makeup to cover her injuries before finally dragging herself out to the party around mid-morning.

Approaching the massive canopy tent, she tried to ignore her physical and emotional aches and pains, putting on her best attempt at a happy face. Trying to be as discreet as possible, she managed to get over to the drink table and pick up a bottle of cider before she was set upon by Needlepoint and several of Applejack’s great-grandfoals.

“Princess, that was incredible!”

“What was?” Twilight asked, feigning ignorance.

“You were! I saw you running this morning and tried to join you, but you were just too good,” Needlepoint laughed.

“Oh. Sorry, I didn’t even realize you were there,” Twilight lied. “You should’ve said something, I would’ve slowed down.”

“She was like a machine,” Needlepoint gushed to one of the little ones. “Didn’t even slow down when she hit the big hill! I just couldn’t keep up.”

“You just need to work on your endurance a bit,” Twilight murmured, ignoring the self-inflicted aching in her legs. “Even Rainbow Dash would tell you that speed isn’t everything.”

“Alright! I’ll get to work on that right away!” Needlepoint chirped.

Twilight took that moment to extract herself from the conversation, slipping over to an empty corner of the tent as Needlepoint playfully ushered the foals on.

She slowly scanned the tent seeking a more isolated spot among the crowd and found one in a pair of empty chairs at the opposite corner.

She steeled herself for the journey and began slinking along the edge of the crowd, knowing full that her efforts to go unnoticed were pointless. Hoping to placate the crowd, she offered a smile to anypony who so much as turned their head in her direction. Unfortunately, the Apples were neither subtle, nor shy, and she was quickly accosted by Sweet Gala, one of Applejack’s cousin’s great-nieces or some other pointlessly complicated phrase. A distant relative nonetheless.

“Princess Twilight! I was hoping you’d be here, I haven’t seen you since I was a little filly,” the mare said with a grin. “You remember me, don’t you?”

“Somewhat. I remember your name and face,” Twilight said. That acknowledgement, however flimsy, was still enough for Sweet Gala and her grin grew broader. Twilight sighed internally at the star-struck mare in front of her and said nothing more, hoping the awkward silence would spur her to leave.

No dice.

“So how’s everything going in Manehattan? I’ve been sending what aid I can, but I don’t have very much money and most of my products don’t keep well enough to survive the journey,” Sweet Gala said, lowering her head apologetically.

Twilight searched for an out, but couldn’t find one. Instead she focused all of her efforts on not gritting her teeth as she spoke again. “What is it you make, exactly?”

“Apple ice cream, Your Highness,” Sweet Gala replied proudly. “Soft ice cream, specifically.”

“We have refrigerated box cars, you know,” Twilight grumbled.

“Yeah, but our ice cream doesn’t ship well. We have a very special blending process that we use to make the mix and it starts to separate if it sits too long,” Sweet Gala said, shaking her head. She shrugged before continuing, “It wouldn’t be a problem if we made hard ice cream, but every time we tried, the flavor came out all wrong so we sold the equipment years ago.”

She paused, staring at Twilight blankly for a moment before snapping out of it. “And you still didn’t answer my question!”

“Oh! Umm, Manehattan’s doing alright. It could be better, but they’re hanging in there,” Twilight answered truthfully. “We got rather lucky. A significant portion of the city suffered pretty heavy damage, but the rest of it was mostly unscathed. Light damage here and there, but nothing that we couldn’t repair or at least patch up right away. We also responded quickly enough to rescue most of those who were trapped, and were also able to send enough medical supplies to save most of the injured, as well as enough money to house those rendered homeless. That last bit came with significant political cost, but it was worth it, I think. I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.”

“You sound... Not happy, but at least satisfied with how things are going.”

“Yeah, I suppose,” Twilight grunted.

“Well, I’ll let you go. Kinda rude to keep you all to myself, huh?”

The same conversation repeated itself; one of the attendees would stop her and make some small talk, basking in their chance to be the center of her attention for a minute or two.

It repeated itself again.

...And again.

...And again.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, she finally made it to the other corner and collapsed into one of the chairs.

“Hey, how’s it going?” Rainbow asked Twilight with a tired groan as she climbed into the chair next to her. “You don’t seem to be enjoying yourself.”

“Should I be?” Twilight grumbled.

“Well, yeah. That’s what we’re supposed to be doing,” Rainbow chuckled. “The Apples set all this up, the least you could do is have a good time.”

“Oh. In that case, I’m sorry that I can’t just stop mourning and join the party. How rude of me!” Twilight growled sarcastically.

“Twilight, that’s not what I meant and you know it,” Rainbow sighed. “There’s no point going through life miserable. I miss our friends, but I owe it to them not to dwell on the fact that they’re gone and I owe it to my family to make the most of the time I have left. The same goes for you.”

“Who are you to tell me how I should be feeling?”

“I’m your oldest friend,” Rainbow replied quietly. She leaned in and gently placed a hoof on Twilight’s. “It sucks to be the last one to go; I know that. But you-”

“Just what do you know? How could you possibly understand how I’m feeling?” Twilight bellowed. The entire party stopped as the Apples turned to stare at her. “What makes you think you can even comprehend what I’m going through?”

“Do you honestly think I’m not hurting too?” Rainbow asked, gravely quiet. “You see, Twilight, AJ wasn’t just my friend, she was my sister-in-law; my family. I’m hurting a lot, but unlike you, I’m not going to let that get me down. Applejack wouldn’t want us moping around, and neither would Pinkie, Rarity, or Fluttershy!”

Twilight sneered at her and turned away, but Rainbow wasn’t finished. “Did you know that the Apples considered asking you not to come to this? That’s how bad you’ve been. Your awful mood is making everypony around you miserable. You know what else? When they told me, I stuck up for you. I stuck up for you because I know how much you’re hurting and hoped that spending time with us would make it hurt less! Some thanks I get...”

“Sh-shut up,” Twilight simpered.

Shaking with anger, Rainbow leaned forward to continue her assault. “Despite that, here I am, trying to cheer you up because you’re one of the only friends I have left. Here I am, letting you hurt me, because I want to make you feel better. What great friend you’re being!”

“Shut up!”

“That’s it, huh? ‘Shut up’,” Rainbow growled. “If I were you, I wouldn’t be able to look at me either. Not with how selfish you’re being. What would Celestia say if she saw you like this?”

Twilight jumped out of her chair with a snarl, knocking it over. Furious, she wheeled around on Rainbow, but stopped as she felt the eyes of everypony there on her. Instead, she glared at each of them in turn before teleporting away