Chapter 8: Celebration
Chapter 8: Celebration
A small wicker basket was gently lowered atop the welcome mat with a soft crunch. The orange mare opened her mouth, letting the attached string fall lazily atop the fruit that was packed into the basket. She gave a small sigh as she looked up from the basket, staring at the large wooden door in front of her. After a moment, she raised a hoof and knocked gently on the door, stepping back a bit. She hoped against hope that today her friend would answer the door, but after a few moments, there was no response. Applejack sighed again and stepped up to the door.
“Twi? You alright in there?” Applejack asked loudly through the door. She waited again, yet no response came. “Can you at least give me a sign you’re doin’ okay?” the cowmare asked bluntly, as her patience at this tedious antic was wearing thin. After a few seconds, a thump could be heard on the other side of the door. She gave a small smile, relieved that her friend was okay.
“Alright Twi, I’ll be back a little later to pick up the basket. You go on ahead and enjoy what I brought you,” she said as she turned and headed away from the door before pausing for a last attempt at a sign from her friend. “Hopefully you might feel up for talking later,” she added. She waited a few seconds for a response, but when none came, she headed away, her head hanging low.
~`~`~`~`~
Applejack trotted up the dirt path leading towards the petrified tree at a slower than normal pace. It was a routine she had repeated every day for nearly two weeks, She consistently felt numb to the feelings that usually accompanied the trip to her friend’s home. Staring blankly towards the library, she listened to the sound of her hooves clopping against the soft dirt, before noticing a little bit of movement against the tree. Curious, she squinted, focusing on the door. From where she was, she could make out the undeniable purple mane and horn of the unicorn that resided within.
Applejack felt her eyes go wide as she broke into a gallop. A smile crossed her face as she could confirmed the head of her friend poking out from the door in the distance. “Twilight!” she yelled, running as fast as she could.
The purple head turned to see Applejack quickly approaching, but the cowmare watched in shock as her friends eyes widened and dropped the basket hanging from her mouth. The unicorn swiftly pulled her head inside, slammed, and locked the door.
Applejack stared in amazement as her pace slowed. She walked the last few steps up to the door, raising a hoof up and knocking on the door. “Twilight! Please! Open the door. Talk to me,” she begged of her friend.
“…no,” the unicorn replied softly through the door. The orange earth pony felt her jaw drop at the response.
Applejack began to plea, “Bu-but Twi-”.
“Go away!” Twilight interjected, frustrated at her friend’s persistence.
“We just want to see you again,” Applejack countered.
“I don’t want to see anypony again. It’s my fault both of our friends are dead. I don’t want anypony else to get hurt around me,” Twilight yelled back. The cowmare could hear the distress in her voice. She wondered if her unicorn friend was crying.
“Twilight, Fluttershy ain’t dead. She’s perfectly fine! If you’d come out an’ visit with us, you’d see that for yourself,” Applejack stated, attempting to explain.
“It’s still my fault they both got hurt!” the unicorn wailed.
“I was there with ya when Fluttershy got hurt, sugarcube. It has nothing to do with you at all,” Applejack responded softly, hoping to calm down her friend.
Twilight felt the frustration rise inside of her. She exclaimed out, “It did and it does! Go away, Applejack. Please, don’t come back, and tell everypony else the same.” She stopped for just a second to breath before finishing, “I’ve already sent a letter to the princess. I’m going back to Canterlot later this week. Until then, I’m just going to sleep. Goodbye.” The cowmare could hear a bit of anger in her voice as she stood there, stunned. Listening to the sound of hoofsteps moving further away from the door, she felt tears well up into her eyes. She turned away from the door and trudged forward, fearing that the short glimpse would be the last time she would see her friend.
~`~`~`~`~
A loud knock awoke the bookworm unicorn from her peaceful slumber. She opened her eyes slowly, moaning a bit as she looked up at the small clock that hung by the window. The sky was still dark, and her clock read that it was still before midnight. Groaning in frustration, Twilight threw her sheets off of her body with her magic, rolling to the side and stepping down off of the warm, comfortable bed. The visitor knocked at her door once again as the unicorn climbed down the stairs. She grumbled a bit as she stepped off the last step and walked up to the door, sitting down in front of it. She had a feeling it was Applejack trying to talk with her again.
The offending hoof rapped firmly against the door for a third time, Twilight gritted her teeth at the mare’s persistence. “I told you to go away earlier, Applejack. Now go away!” she yelled through the door.
“Twilight Sparkle! You will open this door for your teacher at once!” the familiar voice commanded angrily. Twilight’s eyes went wide as she quickly stood up. She activated her horn, taking a hold of the door and pulling it open swiftly. Standing before her was the ruler of all of Equestria, Princess Celestia. Her normally soothing expression was now replaced by a cold, hard stare, causing the lavender unicorn to shrink back away from the doorway, intimidated. Why is the princess mad at me? What have I done wrong? Twilight questioned to herself as she watched her mentor make her way into the library. She racked her mind, trying to think of any recent magical accidents she had recently had.
“I believe you and I need to have a few words,” the princess said, interrupting Twilight’s chain of thought as she used her own magic to close the door behind her.
Twilight’s knees buckled as she heard the click of the door lock. The fear of having upset her teacher had taken over, as her body began to shake. “I… I’m sorry Princess, whatever spell I cast… I-I’m sure it can be reversed again,” she pleaded to her mentor, burying her face in her forelegs. She had never heard Princess Celestia sound this angry at anypony in her life, much less herself, before in her life. The unicorn felt frightened for whatever punishment she was about to endure, even though she wasn’t entirely sure what she had done wrong. She could practically feel the Princess’ stare burning right through her.
After a few moments, she felt something brush against her mane. The unicorn tensed up immediately, fearing that the brushing would become a strike against her. But the brushing motion was gentle, and it continued. Confused, she opened her eyes to see the princess standing over her, nuzzling against her with her nose. Twilight felt her mind jumble, attempting to come up with every scenario in which her mentor could suddenly be so gentle after being frighteningly angry just a few moments ago.
“Calm down, Twilight. It’s all going to be all right,” the Princess cooed into her student’s ear. The words had a soothing effect on the unicorn, as a wave of relaxation washed over her, causing her to stop shaking.
“B-but what have I done Princess? Did I miscast a spell? Did you happen to find one of my practice spots in Canterlot Castle?” Twilight babbled, still confused about that sudden visit by her mentor.
“Practice spots?” Princess Celestia asked quizzically, raising her head back and furrowing her brow.
“Err… Don’t worry about it,” Twilight said with a nervous laugh. “But what have I done, Princess? Why are you here?”
“It’s not so much about what you have done,” Celestia began, “as it is what you are doing, Twilight.” Twilight swallowed dryly, suddenly understanding. “I received your letter earlier this evening. Do you remember why I sent you down to Ponyville in the first place all those years ago?” she asked her student.
Twilight gave a slow nod, staring down at her teacher’s hooves. “Yes, Princess…” she said quietly.
“You’re a good student, and friend, and I have been very proud of you, Twilight. You came to this town and managed not only to make friends, but maintain these friendships since you have been here. You even pleaded to me to let you stay here. But now you’ve chosen to throw away all of your friendships. Why is that?” the Princess inquired her student.
Twilight felt guilt creep across her mind. “I… I don’t know, Princess. I was worried… My friends keep getting hurt or killed around me… I just didn’t want that to happen anymore…” Twilight explained.
The princess shook her head and wrapped a hoof around the shoulder of her student, lowering herself to eye level with the lavender pony. “Oh, Twilight. You know it isn’t your fault these terrible things have happened to your friends,” Princess Celestia said.
“Then why do these things keep happening when I’m around?!” Twilight said. Her voice cracked as she finally broke down into tears. “Two of my friends have gotten hurt right before my eyes, right in front of me! I just don’t want to cause anypony any more pain. I don’t mean for my friends to keep getting hurt, but it just keeps happening when I’m around,” she said, loudly and frantically.
The princess shook her head. “Twilight Sparkle, you should know better than to think that is your fault,” she began to say. “It’s nopony’s fault that Rarity passed on. It is also nopony’s fault that Fluttershy chose to take those actions against herself. You had nothing to do with it.”
“But…” Twilight began before being cut off by a hoof covering her mouth.
“But nothing. I would have thought I taught you better than this. You shouldn’t blame yourself and you certainly should not turn yourself away from your friends. What would Rarity think of this right now?” the princess asked.
Twilight grimaced, trying in vain to come up with a counterargument against her mentor. “I know… but…”
“Twilight, your friends care about you. That’s why they’ve come by every day to make sure you’re okay. They’ve brought you food, gifts, everything you could ever imagine. All they wanted in return was their friend to come back to them,” Celestia began to explain. “Do you think Rarity appreciates you acting this upset over the whole situation?” she asked her student.
Twilight bit her lip, hesitating. “No…” she said after a few seconds. The princess placed her hoof under her student’s chin, raising her head up and looking her in the eye.
“You’ve been a great friend to your loved ones these past few years, and especially so during this whole incident. Now give them the chance to return the favor,” the princess said to her student with a smile. Twilight wiped at her eyes and nodded. “Now, Twilight Sparkle, I must return to Canterlot to finish up some business. But from what I understand, your friends have gathered at Sugarcube Corner. Why don’t you go pay them a visit?” The princess suggested as she stood up. Using her magic, she opened the door to the library and stepped outside, walking towards the small carriage that sat on the dirt path.
“Um… Princess… Do you think they would still want to be my friends?” Twilight asked as she followed her mentor outside. The princess turned her neck and nodded to her student.
“Of course they do. Why do you think they’ve gathered at Sugarcube Corner?” the princess replied with a wink. She stepped onto the carriage and signaled to the pegasus guards to take off. “Goodbye Twilight. I hope to get a letter filled with a very important lesson from you very soon,” the princess said as she was lifted into the night sky. Twilight watched her mentor as she was carried off into the distance. After a moment of hesitation, She closed the door behind her and headed down the dirt path towards the town square.
~`~`~`~`~
Twilight stood in front of a darkened Sugarcube Corner and sighed. Maybe the princess was wrong… she thought to herself. She stepped up the landing and knocked on the door. She waited for a few seconds, but there was no response. A frown crossed her face as she looked around, searching for a sign of somepony being nearby. She stepped down from the landing and peered into one of the windows, squinting, hoping to catch the outline of something inside. Instead, she was greeted by an undefined blackness.
She groaned and stepped back up, reaching her foreleg down to jiggle the door handle. But she was surprised to find that the handle turned with ease. Somepony left the door unlocked? She thought to herself as she pushed the door open. The moonlight illuminated the floor in front of her, but did little to brighten up the darkness of the little café.
“Hello? Is anypony here?” Twilight called out. She received nothing but silence for a few moments until suddenly she found herself blinded by bright lights.
“SURPRISE!” She heard multiple voices yell as she covered her eyes. The unicorn jumped back a step at the sudden surprise, letting out a small gasp. Her eyes quickly adjusted to the light as she blinked, allowing her to see all of her friends gathered around a table, bright smiles across all of their faces.
Twilight was stunned for a moment as she took in the scene around her. She noticed a large cake sitting as the centerpiece on the table in front of her. Surrounding the table were pictures of Rarity. She looked stunning and impeccable in all of them. Twilight stepped forward, studying each picture. She stopped at the oldest one among the table. It was the picture of all of the girls in their Grand Galloping Gala dresses, posing in front of Canterlot Castle, excited to have their best night ever. For the first time in weeks, Twilight felt herself genuinely smile as her eyes glistened with fresh tears. The unicorn looked up at the banner hanging from the ceiling. In bright red lettering, it read:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY RARITY!
Twilight sat back as she felt tears roll down her cheeks. “I-I completely forgot… Today is Rarity’s birthday. How could I possibly have forgotten such an important date?” Twilight asked out loud. She felt a pair of hooves wrap themselves around her neck. She pressed her cheek against them and looked down, noticing they were colored with bright orange fur.
“Don’t you worry your sweet head, sugarcube. I bet she’s happy you managed to make it,” the sweet southern accent cooed into her ear. Twilight turned herself around in her friend’s forelegs and returned the embrace.
“I’m sorry Applejack. I didn’t mean what I said earlier,” Twilight said.
“Don’t fret it, Twi. I know you were just stressed out,” Applejack replied. “S’long as you stay here in Ponyville, we’ll all be happy.”
Twilight looked at all of her friends, noticing the look of worry on their faces. She assumed that Applejack had told the group of the news she had sprung earlier that day.
“Um… Twilight… please don’t go back to Canterlot… if you don’t have to, that is,” Fluttershy said, breaking the short silence.
“Yeah! You can’t go because if you do I’ll… uh… You can’t go!” Rainbow Dash added.
“Please, please, please, please, please stay Twilight?” Pinkie Pie begged, giving her friend a sad look. Twilight looked at each of her friends in front of her as her mind flashed through various memories with the group. The princess was right. All they want is my friendship, Twilight thought to herself as she examined the worry that was plastered across all of her friends’ face. After a moment, she smiled again.
“Don’t worry everypony. I’m not going anywhere. I love everything I have here in Ponyville, and that includes the friendship you all bring me everyday,” Twilight explained. Her friends cheered in celebration.
“Oh my gosh! That’s great news! We have to throw a party! Wait, we’re having a party… Oh my gosh, a double party! This is going to be the best party ever!” Pinkie Pie stammered in excitement as she jumped forward and wrapped the unicorn in a tight hug. Twilight laughed at the antics of the pink earth pony. The rest of the group stepped forward and joined into the embrace.
“Come on everypony. We have a birthday to celebrate!” Twilight piped up after a few moments. The group broke their hug and began to enjoy each other’s company late into the night.
~`~`~`~`~
Twilight stepped forward, her horn aglow with a purple, magical aura. The sun had just begun to peek over the hills ahead, illuminating the sky with a bright orange. The unicorn smiled as she lowered a bouquet of colorful flowers between a party hat and a slice of cake. She broke the spell that was levitating the flowers and watched as they settled down against the headstone in front of her. Twilight sat down in front of the headstone as her friends stepped up to join her.
“Happy birthday, Rarity,” she started to speak. “You are a great friend, and we are so lucky to have known you. We know that you will always be with us in spirit, but we will make sure it feels like you never left. We can’t wait to see you again!” she finished. Twilight felt tears as they began to flow into her eyes. But this time, she wasn’t crying from sadness. She was happy to be surrounded by the group of ponies that had been with her since her first day in Ponyville, and she knew that they would stick with her through anything until the end. The remaining Elements of Harmony were finally happy once more.
As the group wrapped into one more group hug, a small group of clouds formed in the sky above them. The clouds slowly took the shape of three small diamonds, in a similar pattern to that of the cutie mark that emblazoned Rarity’s flank. The clouds held their shape for a few seconds before breaking apart and disappeared into the day.
The End
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First!! I cried when I saw the new chapters! 2 NEW BUCKING CHAPTERZ!!!BUCK YAH!
-clap clap clap-
Bravo. Well done.
To be honest, I didn't expect it to end in this chapter, but oh well. Your story.
DAAAAAAAAAAMN!! Epic conclusion!
A good way to end the story :)
This is a very good and emotional ending but there is one thing I personally miss. After the suicide attempt, this would be the first time that Twilight and Fluttershy see each other, correct? So, I would have expected some reaction from Twilight when she sees, that Fluttershy is alright. But this is my only remark.
After all I enjoyed the story from beginning to the end. Thank you
306740
Applejack had told her.
That was awesome.. Well, very touching suits better. You.. Well, you're good
. You'll almost reach perfection here, nice job !
Yet, I still feel this sentence's a little weird :
"She had never heard Princess Celestia sound this angry at anypony in her life, much less herself, before in her life."
That was very a touching story, thank you !
Well it's been quite a ride! This is a beautifully written story. Thank you very much sir for the touching adventure, it is one of the best. Your writing is excellent as your the story shows, and I commend you on making such an emotional and inspiring work of art. You have my eternal applause, though it is a small token compared to the reading that you gave me.
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I can't say I see the reactions in this fic matching at all. From the beginning the behaviour of Dash and Rarity were jarringly inconsistent with their true characters. This persisted all the way to the end.
It isn't an awful fic, but you can just as easily replace these names with characters from any other series and have it play out the same way.
This was a very sad story. I don't care for Rarity very much but after reading this it reminded me how important she really is to the show. Thanks for the awesome story.
306941
I know, but still they haven't met until the party (so it seems)
And so ends another wonderful chapter. *Sniff*
*trixie pops in* Master Fenris, Are you... Are you crying?
No... No It's these damn onions I'm cutting they always make me tear up....
Well.... THAN GET ME SOME ONIONS!!!
306740
This is my only gripe with this story. I expected Fluttershy and Twilight to hug each other, get teary-eyed at the sight of each other, or...something, at least!
Mother of Celestia, that whole story seemed depressing.
Other people have commented that they didn't think Rarity was a very important character in the story, and neither did I, mostly because I thought she was just a snooty brat, but in this, it made me feel like I was one of the mane 6, grieving with them. The whole scene was almost always sad, and just when it started to get better, BAM! A bombshell is dropped and another twist is added to the mix. It takes a very creative and inspired mind to create a story like this, that isn't too gory for it to be considered disgusting, but at the same time giving enough detail to know everything that is happening to the ponies. The story seems to have a conncection to me somehow, but I don't know why. Maybe I like the show too much, I don't know. The only thing that I can remember that baffled me about this masterpiece was what was going to happen afterwards? Would there be no Element of Generosity to help aid the ponies? What if there is another attack, like what happened with Nightmare Moon and Discord and they can't vanquish it because they're missing an element? So many things to think about for a sort of prologue, but I know it won't be written.
All in all, a fantastic story that moved me and kept me glued to my computer screen, and yet has had me yearning for more. You should make more of these stories, except, maybe try and get less tears out of us next time. Thank you!
This whole story I was bawling my eyes out. I cried so much that my eyes where blood shot. I didn't like Rarity all that much before but now, after this. I am just wow, just wow. Also one last thing.
Where is Spike?
Yeah, where is Spike? That means this is an unconclusive ending. And that means... we need a sequel.
And to conclude. Beautiful. There's such a complex rush of emotions when dealing with loss, and you've portrayed that perfectly. Well done.
I just have to say that after reading the first three chapters, I literally just had to create an account just so I could like and favorite. This story is the first one I've read in a long time with true emotion in it, and I must say that it takes a lot of planning, hard work, and a brilliant mind to write such a masterpiece with such a sad plot, but still give it a happy ending. You have also given me the "spark" needed to relight an old hope. That hope was shut out long ago, but after reading this, I decided to give it another chance.
For those wondering, that hope was to become a writer.
You only need one "recent."
This is the best thing I have ever read in my life!
Well done sir, probably one of the best tragedy's I've ever read.
This was really good.
Thank you for the good story.
2159386
Good luck with that!
Well done. Now, about the sequel. They need a new Element of Generosity. I suggest Spike. Tell him that he is NOT taking Rarity's place. No one could do that. He is taking his own place. He will, however, be doing Rarity's job.