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The Sacrifice2,137 words
The Aftermath1,277 words

The Aftermath

Things have not been easy for Twilight’s friends ever since the alicorn died.

Pinkie Pie had pretty much lost her cheery attitude and bouncy nature, her mane deflated and her pink fur took a dimmer shade of grey. She still did her job at SugarCube Corner like she always did, but everypony noticed that Pinkie’s flair for comedy was practically gone.

Rarity was no better, as always when it came to tragedies, she went through cartons of ice cream to try and heal the pain. She still ran her Boutique the best she could, but it was clear her heart wasn’t in it as it used to be. Customers noticed but they could hardly complain, she still got the job done at the end of the day and she lost her friend, all they could do was hope the fashionista returned to normal.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t a big fan of super intense emotions and Twilight’s death certainly caused a lot of them, most of them were negative and had to do with grief. Of course Rainbow Dash took it upon herself to train more for the Wonderbolts to distract herself from the pain of losing her friend. While she definitely was improving more on her stunts and tricks, Spitfire could tell Rainbow Dash lost the flame she usually had.

Applejack definitely handled her emotions a little better than Rainbow Dash, but to her, losing Twilight was basically like losing another family member and she already lost her parents so this didn’t exactly help the farm pony’s grief. Like Rainbow Dash, she was distracting herself by doing extra chores around the farm even to the point of exhaustion. Granny Smith had to force Applejack to stop working as she had done quite enough to help on the days Applejack went too far. She was better at controlling her emotions and did vent to Big Mac about how the loss of Twilight affected her.

If Fluttershy wasn’t shut-in before, she definitely was now. The death of Twilight really hurt the pegasus a lot. Ever since the battle, she had hardly spoken to anypony, and if she did, it was usually for animal reasons. Most of the time, she just confided in her animal buddies, especially Angel. She had occasionally run into her friends, but the conversations were usually brief. However, she hadn’t seen Discord ever since the battle with the villains, likely due to his own guilt at what happened to Twilight. That probably hurt her the most, Discord was one of her best friends and she just wanted to see him again but she knew she couldn’t force him to speak to her. Not now.

The castle never felt more empty in Starlight’s opinion.

Ever since Twilight’s death, she got full ownership of the Castle Of Friendship and her role as Headmare of the School Of Friendship was effective immediately. While Starlight was definitely honored for the positions she was given, there was a definite hole in her heart ever since Twilight left.

However, despite the hard times, Starlight was not willing to let herself crumble to despair as Twilight would never have wanted her to do that so she kept it upon herself to keep the peace despite the rough times.

The students at the School Of Friendship definitely missed their old Headmare, but despite that, they were largely accepting of Starlight taking her place, especially with Sandbar, Yona, Silverstream, Ocellus, Smolder, and Gallus helping to keep spirits up.

Starlight made a point to visit Twilight’s friends as much as she possibly could and over the past few weeks, things haven’t been looking so good. She had noticed Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy’s more secluded nature and Rainbow Dash trying to block out all mentions of Twilight. Applejack and Rarity were definitely taking the loss better than the other three but Starlight knew they were still a shell of their former selves.

She then felt the door to the kitchen open, as Spike flew to the table with a sigh. Starlight gave Spike a sympathetic glance, honestly he had taken the loss of Twilight the worst and Starlight really made sure to look after him ever since the battle. Spike didn’t really leave his room much except out of boredom or if he needed to eat something.

“Morning Spike.” Starlight politely greeted, “I-I made us some pancakes if you want any.”

“Oh… thanks Starlight.” Spike smiled kindly at Starlight but it was definitely half-hearted as he lightly dug into the pancakes.

Starlight didn’t like seeing Spike like this, she was honestly getting really tired of the depressing atmosphere around the castle. She wanted to give Spike some time before they could talk about Twilight, and it’s been a few weeks, now would be a good time as any.

“Spike… I think we should address what’s been going on lately…” Starlight said softly causing Spike to raise an eyebrow.

“We know we have to talk about Twilight eventually.” Starlight told the dragon.

“C-Can we not talk about this… I don’t like to think about it.” Spike said awkwardly, clearly upset about remembering what happened.

“But you clearly are upset about it. Spike, you haven’t been the same since Twilight passed.” Starlight argued, “Come on Spike, you know you can tell me what’s on your mind.”

Spike twiddled his fingers a bit in consideration before looking at Starlight and tearing up, “Okay fine! I miss her so much that you have no idea! Ever since Twilight hatched me we were inseparable! I was never really close with the rest of her family but me and Twilight just clicked once I was old enough to speak! Despite her lack of experience in friendship, she always cared about me and just recently we were finally able to define our relationship as siblings! I was looking forward to spending the rest of my life with her as my sister but the Legion Of Doom threw all that away! Now I’ll never see her again!”

Spike immediately burrowed his head into Starlight’s coat as he bawled his eyes out. Starlight said nothing, yet held the back of his head as he cried. This was painful and she knew it, but at least he was finally letting it out.

“I understand Spike. I-I really miss her too.” Starlight let some tears fall from her eyes, the words causing Spike to stop crying for a moment and wonder what Starlight meant.

“Our relationship may not have started as happy and fun as yours’ did but ever since she took me in as her pupil, we became more than just that arrangement. She genuinely became one of my first friends in a long time, it gave me a light in my life that somepony finally was willing to be my friend despite our differences and disregarding my twisted ideologies about equality. When I graduated our bond only increased and she became one of my best friends and while I love Sunburst and Trixie a lot, I never had the type of bond with them that I had for Twilight. My biggest regret is that I never got to say goodbye.” Starlight ranted before wiping her eyes sadly.

Starlight then pulled Spike into an embrace, “But just because she’s gone doesn’t mean everything we experienced with her was in vain, the magic of friendship will always be with us no matter if our friends are gone and like Twilight told me, I will always be here for you no matter what happens next.”

Spike quickly returned the hug Starlight offered him, they may not be healed from the pain of losing Twilight but it was definitely a start.

Author's Note:

So yeah, I touched upon the lives of the Mane Five this chapter but for now, the focus was on Spike and Starlight. I felt the focus needed to be shifted to those who really needed it and who better to focus on than the ones who live with Twilight?

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Catpaw616

Catpaw616 #1 · May 22nd, 2023 · 1 · ·

I wonder how Discord is holding up after this...

Starlight Fan

Starlight Fan #2 · May 23rd, 2023 · 2 · ·

11590860
I hand you the best friendship from this show having an emotional moment on a silver platter and all you care about is Discord?! The audacity.

We’ll find out later.

Catpaw616