Book 3 - Chapter LXXII
Book 3: Equestria Abides
Chapter 38
Twilight Sparkle glided through the pre-dawn sky, skirting a thin layer of clouds below and watching her namesake last few stars of the night slowly disappear – disappearing at her command, of course. She had even experimented with daytime stars, but in the end decided that they looked much better with a dark background to be set against.
And anyway, now she was just enjoying the sensations of flying: the wind rushing through her mane, the buffeting of air in her wings, and the positively delicious feeling of being totally in-tune with the sky around her... her responding to it and it responding to her, all nearly automatically, like they were both just parts of each other... she could definitely see why Rainbow had liked it so much.
With that, she quickly lost her euphoria, remembering the purpose of this flight. It was the three hundred and twenty-ninth Princess Day celebration, and as her habit had become over the last century or two, she preferred to spend it away from Las Pegasus, away from all the forgetful ponies who thought it was a celebration about her, away from all the joy and shouting that so clashed with her mood on these days.
She would spend the time in the ashes of Ponyville and the ruins of Canterlot, remembering the true reason for the holiday, even if nopony else ever did... She felt it was important for somepony to remember the princesses... and her friends... as something more than just dry passages in a history book.
She banked down towards New Ponyville; even though the new town was built on the foundations of the old, she didn't begrudge them... After all, they were just trying to make their way in the world, just like anypony else... and in a way, a vibrant and growing little town was a far better tribute to Ponyville's memory than a sad pile of ashes could ever be.
Landing in the town square, she was greeted by a small group of ponies, who quickly bowed, and more than a few Princess Day decorations. Almost automatically motioning for the ponies to rise and go back about their business, she looked around at the décor. There wasn't quite as much here as there would be in Las Pegasus... some ponies traveled across all of Equestria to celebrate Princess Day in the capital, after all. What warmed her heart though, was that the decorations that were up were largely depicting a white alicorn with colorful mane, and a dark blue one with sparkles in her mane. Thanks to her frequent visits and speeches on this day every year since before the town was even founded, this town remembered what Princess Day was really about, even if no others did.
She was able to wander the streets almost entirely unencumbered by the local ponies – after decades of visiting this town every Princess Day, the locals all knew her preference for being alone with her thoughts... on this day at least. I really should visit on some other day sometime, and actually talk to them... Twilight thought idly. It wouldn't do for them to think she was always this way.
Turning a corner, she noticed a Rainbowbolts poster, advertising their air show in Las Pegasus for today. She smiled for a moment, wondering how Rainbow would feel knowing that the greatest aerial team in all of Equestria was now named after her. The poor pegasus had never gotten the chance to live her dream of being on such a team, but in a way, the name Twilight had given them made Rainbow a part of the team anyway. From what she had heard, one of the new generation of flyers on the team had even managed to repeat Rainbow Dash's stunt of a sonic rainboom.
Before long – just like every time she visited – without any conscious decision to do so, she found herself on the path towards the old Sweet Apple Acres. It had become her morose routine to come each year, wander Ponyville for a while, inevitably end up on a certain hill in Sweet Apple Acres, and then after some time there flit up to and... well... mope around the ruins of Canterlot for a while, always being sure to return well after dark when Las Pegasus's Princess Day celebrations would finally be over. Nopony would be trying to visit the night court after a long day of partying after all... and even if some did, Apollo could handle them on his own just this once.
Now well out of the (now much smaller) town of New Ponyville, Twilight lifted her attention away from the path immediately below her feet. The sight of those acres of apple trees, now growing wild, always managed to cheer her up a little: they were the Apple family's legacy, the proud result of hundreds of years of Apple family work, and the wild apple trees growing there would stand for centuries more, a testament to her old friends. Those apple trees were more than just trees, they were – they... they were GONE!
Twilight stood, frozen in shock at the scene in front of her. Rows and rows of furrowed fields stood in front of her, neatly fenced in and growing the beginnings of what looked very much like carrots and tomatoes. The trees though... the trees were all gone!
“Well howdy there, Princess!” A reddish mare with white mane, a carrot on her flank, freckles on her face, and a frayed straw hat on her head came trotting up to Twilight before making a quick bow. “Welcome to mah humble farm!” The pony said, rising.
“The... the apple trees!” Twilight managed to get out, though still mostly frozen in shock.
“Oh them? Shore was a lot a' hard work clearin out all them, but with mah brothers we got it done!” The farm pony tilted her head off toward a distant field, where Twilight could just barely make out two large stallions pulling a huge plow in tandem.
Twilight could still hardly move... this went against everything she wanted. Her eyes remained stuck on the two stallions plowing the field in the distance... when something horrible occurred to her... the tilled fields all around her, the ground all torn up... The grave site!
Suddenly no longer paralyzed with shock, Twilight was running toward the old hilltop. If these ponies had plowed right over it... if they had desecrated her last memories... She would – what would she do? – No time for planning that now! ...but she knew it wouldn't bode well for the vegetable farmer running behind her and struggling to keep up.
* * *
Twilight heard the farmer's hoofsteps and winded breathing as she finally caught up. She had been sitting and brooding, staring at the graves, mercifully untouched, but now surrounded by a sad remnant of only five apple trees. She could feel the tension building in the muscles along her back as the earth pony approached. That was the one! Her and ponies like her were the problem... the enemy. They didn't care about anything! They didn't care about what came before them, they didn't care about how things were supposed to be!
As the concerned farmer approached, Princess Twilight Sparkle whirled around, rising to hover just above the ground on her wings, horn and eyes glowing brightly. An intense wind picked up, whipping the dust along the ground as storm clouds quickly gathered to swirl around the hilltop and fill the morning sky. “YOU WERE WISE TO LEAVE THIS PLACE UNMOLESTED!” She boomed out in what only she would recognize as the royal Canterlot voice, thunder and lightning from the clouds above accentuating her every point. “THUS, YOUR LIFE WILL BE SPARED!” The earth pony was frozen at her feet, jaw dropped in shock and terror. “BUT YOU HAVE DESTROYED SOMETHING PRECIOUS AND YOUR FARM IS NOW FORFIET!” She allowed even more venom to seep into her voice, even more disapproving rage to show on her face, “YOU AND YOUR FAMILY WILL LEAVE THIS LAND AT ONCE, AND NEVER RETURN!”
Twilight's found herself enjoying the look of loss and horror on the pony's face: it mirrored her own feelings on seeing the trees gone. Good. Now that this farmer was taken care of, she would have to go back to New Ponyville. Those two-faced ponies had allowed this to happen right in front of them, they deserved to–
“TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” Twin voices from above accompanied by the light of a high-powered teleportation spell. Suddenly, Twilight's horn stopped glowing, the storm clouds above stopped roiling and quickly dissipated.
Twilight looked up, eyes still glowing and even more enraged now. What force in the world could neutralize her magic? The most powerful magical being in all Equestria! Who would dare? There! ... There above her were... Sunny Daze and Apollo Dawn?
The light faded from Twilight's eyes and she slowly fell back to the ground under the gaze of her only two remaining friends. “Wha... how did you?” She managed to get out.
“Your little lighting and thunder stunt was visible all the way from Las Pegasus,” Apollo pointed out to her.
“Twilight, what are you doing?” Sunny Daze asked her.
Getting a little back into the spirit of things, Twilight pointed at the still-prostrate farmer. “This... this thing tore up all the apple trees in this whole place! Those were the last legacy of my friend, they were the only–”
Getting a look from Apollo, Twilight skipped right to the point, “And for her crime, she and her family shall no longer be allowed to farm this land. It isn't theirs and they obviously don't care about it!”
“Twilight...” Sunny began to say.
“No! It's final!” Twilight cut her off. She wouldn't budge on this – it was too important.
“Twilight!” Apollo shouted at her, “Remember your friend, Applejack! How would she feel about this?”
“About having her legacy ripped out of the ground and burned away like so much trash? About –”
“No!” Twilight was interrupted by Apollo's magic forcibly grabbing her head and wrenching her around to look at the earth pony she had been yelling at, who was now just quietly sobbing into the dust. “How would Applejack feel about having her farm taken away for something she didn't know about, something she didn't understand?”
Suddenly, Twilight saw the pony... actually saw her. And with her frayed straw hat and freckles, it really wasn't hard to see her old friend Applejack in the same position, tears running down her face after unexpectedly and inexplicably losing what she loved most... and suddenly, the pony was no longer just an object, no longer the enemy: she was just sad and scared.
Tears welling up in her own eyes, Twilight rushed forward, trying to comfort the mare. She scooped the surprised pony up into a tight hug, saying over and over again, “I'm so sorry!” She set the now rather confused earth pony back on the ground, using her magic to lift the straw hat back onto her head. “I was wrong... and I take it back. You keep your farm.”
Still looking confused, but now rather relieved, the pony wiped some of the dusty tear streaks out of her eyes, “Ah... Ah don't know what ta say...” She surprised Twilight with another tight hug. “Thank Y'all,” she said, before dropping back to the ground and running off towards a farmhouse in the distance.
“It wasn't really about the trees, was it?” Apollo asked her, coming up beside Twilight.
Twilight looked back at him, her face finally unguarded, letting her sorrow, loss, confusion, and even fear show through. “This world... It's so different now... everything I wanted, everything I knew is gone... I just want it back the way it was!” Her eyes began to tear up again, this time in frustration. “Why does everything have to be taken away?”
Apollo nodded to Sunny Daze, who quickly teleported away... as the most popular princess, she had important duties on Princess Day after all... she would need to get back to them. “Come fly with me?” he asked.
Twilight wasn't sure what he was up to, but she no longer felt in any mood to resist, and she followed him up into the air, quickly angling off towards New Ponyville.
The two royal ponies flew low over the town, Apollo pointing to foals running and playing here, a group of old ponies reminiscing on a front porch there, a young mare blushing after getting a kiss from her special somepony there... before finally leading her to land on a small cloud above the town.
“It's different, I know,” Apollo said to her, “But our little ponies still live and laugh and love... and it's never going to be the same again.” She turned to him sharply at that. “but even if it's not the same, it's still good!” He looked her in the eyes. “I lost almost everypony to the past... all my friends, all my crew, everypony.” He looked down for a moment before looking back up at her even more desperately. “I can't afford to lose you to the past, too!”
Her sharp expression melted away as she looked back at him... and without warning, jumped on top of him for a fierce hug and a deep kiss. The two stayed that way for a few moments, hidden from the ponies below by the cloud, before Twilight finally relented and rose up again.
“Ready to go?” Apollo asked her, offering up a hoof and spreading his wings.
She knew that there was a lot more meaning there than what showed on the surface... He wasn't just inviting her back to the castle. He was asking if she was ready to let go, if she was ready to embrace the new world instead of being stuck in the old. It wouldn't be easy. The old order of things, the way everything used to be... that connected her in a way. It connected her to her lost friends. She looked up at Apollo and smiled weakly. With her new friends though, maybe she could manage to move on. Finally, she realized, she really was ready to let go.
The End
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Well, it's been quite the trip but it ended on the right note....with someone learning that the past can't be changed no matter how one tries.
If they had ripped up the graves then nothing would have stopped Twilight from going all Nightmare ... Stars... on everyones flanks.
Congrats on completing an epic level story. May you have many more
Completed with 73 chapters. That is a bit too much... About twice the needed number of chapters. Otherwise, that was pretty interesting. Even though a lot of time skipping was there.
And it all comes to a sad (and almost Nightmare Moon-ish) end. Good job ocalhoun.
Nice story keept mo on the edge of my seat the entire time
2125899
With this story, who knows, right?
Fun trivia fact: I had at one point considered an epilogue where Twilight gets visited by Celestia's ghost.
2126944
Come to think of it, just what is the range on dragon breath fax machines?
2127189
Nope, the Twi-rage comes later.
2128628
Well, I didn't want to spend the rest of the story answering the question, "what's the giant dragon doing during this part?" ... so I needed to get rid of him.
2130471
)
Not as screwed up as it had been, I suppose.
(Living fluttershy's dream
2131531
That would have been a fun detail to include.
2134746
Ah, now you're getting the point of the story! ^.^
2136058
^.^
I like making the feels.
2139519
Ah, another idea that would have been fun to include.
2143014
Of course it's all happened before. Celestia and Luna are hardly the first.
2143064
All things have their time.
And a story without a conclusion is only half a story.
2143136
You'd think me and three other people could catch that after spending days proofreading it...
2143609
Aww, she can't be consoled about it... then matters won't come to a head.
2145622
Well, the intended theme was learning to overcome tragedy and accept change... but close enough, I suppose.
2145903
Indeed.
And thanks!
Though I won't be attempting any more epics of this length for a long time.
2146633
Yeah. I really should have made the chapters longer, I suppose.
Very short chapters are just my natural style though. I struggle to write longer ones.
(Though I am improving in that. This was my first fic. In my newest one (not yet finished), I expect to have 20k+ chapters)
2146822
So people caught my idea of making alicorn Twilight into a Nightmare Moon-like figure. Good. 
2147590
Thanks!
Seriously though, the spirits of all of Twilight's friends and the two princesses SHOULD'VE come in at the end here and let Twilight know that they've always been with her. Seriously, we never even got to see them again after the fall of Celestia and Luna, like they were pointless in the first place.
Also, I think 250+ years between this chapter and the last one is a bit excessive; about 50-80 is a much better time span.
But I digress.
2150915 The Celestia's ghost thing, like I said in the other comment, please do it, along with everypony else.
2240276
I tried to be pretty clear about it -- partly why I made a point of having the last few chapters deal with the 'princess day' -- it gave an easy way to say the date.
2242312
Yep, it did. ^.^
2245765
Well, in the last few chapters, time flies by as it would from an immortal's perspective... or at least that's the intention.
And yeah... the ghost thing... I was thinking about it as an epilogue, but I ended up deciding not to. It would just get too sappy, I think.
2246071 But like I said, after the fall of Equestria, not once did any of the rest of the mane 6, cutie mark crusaders, or any of Twilight's other closest friends serve a significant purpose until the very end, and only in that Twilight was JUST NOW trying to make their memory known to everypony still alive. The least that could've been done was to recover the bodies of her friends and give them a proper burial alongside the Princesses; that's what Twilight Sparkle would've REALLY done in this hypothetical scenario.
2246370
She spent a long time searching for her friends and couldn't find them.
How's she going to find the bodies?
2247357 The element of magic could surely find a way. The point is that there wasn't adequate closure to the story as far as her friends were concerned.
2249036
Now, that, I'll admit is probably true.
...I do struggle with properly climactic endings and closure.
2249967 I've had an idea floating around in my head for a while that I'd be happy to give away to you to remedy that problem.
Here's what it entails: somewhere in an obscure part of Equestria exists an altar that was used in ancient times to commune with deceased spirits, called the Necroshrine. Princess Twilight, Sunny Daze, and Prince Apollo learn about it, and Twilight wastes no time in stating she's gung ho on going there to see all of her long lost friends again. Upon further investigation into the shrine's history, however, it's revealed that in order to use it one must sacrifice a significant portion of their life energy to give the spirits a (temporary) solid form. In Twilight's case, this could possibly mean giving up her immortality. Twilight stands her ground, saying that she never even got to say a proper goodbye, and that she wants to ask her friends where their skeletons are so she can give them all proper burials. Her fellow alicorns relent and preparations go underway for the trip to the Necroshrine.
The rest I suppose should be up to you.
2250056
Interesting idea there, even if it is a bit dark & sad... And it does kind of completely reverse the point of the story -- that Twilight eventually learned to accept the loss and move on to what she had in the present. ... Giving up what she had in the present to temporarily undo the loss would be a big backslide.
...And anyway, I'm long done editing this fic. What's there is there, and that's the way it stays.
I'm focusing my energy instead on exciting new fics. (A futurama crossover is my current project.)
2250137 I know that was the point of the story, but like I said, there wasn't adequate closure on her friends' part. This idea could be used in place of Twilight's and Apollo's honeymoon, where Twilight is willing to give up all of her life energy so she could be reunited with her friends forever, but they talk her out of it, saying that she owes it to Celestia and Luna to rule in their place. Before they return to the spirit world, Twi's friends say how happy they are to have gotten a chance to see her again and that they'll always watch over her.
Twilight loves her friends too much to move on without saying a proper goodbye. It's simply wrong to have their last time together be watching Celestia and Luna getting killed by Discord's niece and then running off in separate directions, never to see each other again.
2251062
Yeah... you're probably right... too late to change it now though.
2251906 Not really, there's an edit button for a reason. But I understand if you want to move on to other fics. If you ever want to add my idea in as an "alternate scenario" to one of the end chapters, I'll be more than happy to write it out for you so you're not distracted from other fics.
I regret nothing... totally worth it!
2296261
Glad you liked it.
This was the first fic I ever wrote, and I put a lot of time into it... mostly because of how long it is.
2367151
You're my hero
There's lots of stories out there that don't get the attention they deserve. I'm glad somebody's doing something about it.
I do!
2368099 important question: what inspired you to write a fanfic.
2378660
Well, what inspired me to write fanfic in general:
Since I read so much growing up (a book a day, more or less), I developed a bit of a talent for writing.
I decided I wanted to use that to publish books of my own... but I also knew enough to realize that my talent was raw and untested. I needed to hone it before I would be ready to write anything that would make it past the publisher's desk.
Some time later, I find the brony community, and I notice that fanfics get a lot of feedback and writing advice, all for free... So, I decided that fanfic writing would be great practice for my ambitions of being a novelist.
...This is actually a great place to ask me about that, since this is the first fanfic I ever wrote.
If you're asking what got me writing this one in particular, some people at my Bronyville forum were talking about doing a collaborative fic about the end of the pony world. I was originally going to join in, but over time, I decided that I had too many great ideas about it that wouldn't be possible within the collab's restrictions, so I set off on my own solo project. This fic is what that became.
2379112 cool, thanks alot
3007290
good dark or bad dark?
Sooo...
3011532
Well, I could bring up how in the show, Celestia doesn't fight an unknown enemy slowly and carefully; she goes right on in with a full-force attack... and in that instance, too, it doesn't turn out well. (Chrysalis)
But... I do see your point and agree. That could have probably been done better.
Rookie mistakes because, well, this is the first fic I ever wrote.
Thanks for bringing it up; this is the kind of comment I love to get -- one that gives good, specific feedback that I can use to improve my future writing.
3110522
Finally, someone appreciates that surprise!
3111028
)
You're not the first one to have loved that part.
...
(It may interest you to know I have a clopfic-posting alt account... or it may not. I don't want to presume.
3182496
(And earlier drafts did have it that way)
I'm well aware.
I chose the lowercase version though, because I felt the all-caps broke the flow too much, and because it would seem imply that the word was shouted, especially to unfamiliar readers.
If I do a proper Doctor crossover at some point, I'll use the correct version, since it will be more targeted toward whovians.
My eyes... they're about to become Niagra Falls... SO MUCH FEELS!!!
aw... MORE!!! oh wait, it's completed... SEQUEL!!!!
3183546 I see, in that way then you can ignore the comment and I can just walk away, oh, and again, SEQUEL!
3191462
I'm glad. That part of the story was actually the most emotional for me -- especially when Twi is abusing the farmer, then suddenly realizes what she's doing.
Is it weird for your own writing to make you cry?
And a sequel? Really?
I don't see any room for a sequel.
Of all the fics I've written, this would be the hardest to sequel... most of my characters are dead, and the three who are living solved most of their problems hundreds of years ago.
Seriously...
3111775 *To the last comment* O_O i dont clop...
3194210
It isn't weird to cry towards your own work
Now that I think of it, yeah, you cant really do a sequel...
3195375
carry on. (pay no attention to the clop-posting alt account behind the curtain)
Oh,
Though... actually, I haven't made up my mind if I'm going to make it a clop yet. I might make it pg13 or just pg.
3195396
I was gettin' a little worried.
Oh, good.
3195432 Although I might just take a few peeks... *insert evil grin*
3581724
It gets better as you go on.
And I love your comment!
3834670
Almost right.
At least there's going to be a little surprise in there.
OM THIS IS THE LONGEST STORY HERE I HAVE EVER SEEN! YOUR SO AWESOME
I LOVE LONG STORIES! The longest one I knew of before this was Fallout Equestria
3872514
Well, then.
I've got a present for you:
http://www.fimfiction.net/stories/words
Enjoy!
3872607
OMG THANK YOU! YOUR EVEN AWESOMER!!!!!!!!!!
edit:
Why does it do that? it was a reply to you ocalhoun
edit 2: oh, there it goes, fixed the name thing
Exactly 1000 views, yay!
3876045
'Twas the least I could do.
3016891
Old comment, late reply. Apparently your reply decided to show up today though, haha...
Glad to hear that my "critique" didn't come across as rude and pointless-- I felt (after re-reading my original comment and what it pertained to) it was somewhat on the mark but focused too much on what I preferred, rather than whether or not the sequence was cohesive/realistic as a whole. Of course, it doesn't matter now, I'm just merely reflecting/criticizing my original criticism-- that's quite a novel thought.
Once again, sorry for the late reply. Better now than never, eh?
4180558
Indeed, better late than never.
4961165
Sorry.
If it helps, this was the very first ponyfic I ever wrote.
And after the dark part it does get better. (The situation... not necessarily the writing.)
6183587
Heh, yeah... this one has its issues. It's the first thing I ever wrote ever.
As such... its purpose is more to remind me of how far I've come than anything else, so I'll leave the stupid mistakes in place. ^.^
Looks like found an interesting adventure, I hope it's as great as it seems!
6387652
Well, that depends how great it seems...
This is the very first fic I ever wrote, after all.
7762291
I'm sure that wouldn't work. Fixed point in history or something.
Anyway, it's neat to see someone reading this old thing again. Even though it's nowhere near as good as my more recent stories are.
10552922
Yep