Friends Forever

by Snow

Bonus: Questions Answered by Twi

Thanks to Pinkie Pie scaring the Fourth Wall into hiding along with Logic and Physics with her newly acquired magic, we have Twilight Sparkle with us today to answer some questions that readers, critics, and lurkers have voiced!

Hello everypony.

Let's jump right in shall we? Princess Twi, during the time of the show there weren't really any indicators that you are, were, or ever would be an Alicorn like your mentor or her sister. Can you explain then how you find yourself one?

Well luckily Pinkie managed to fish up some DVDs so we could watch some of our old antics so I know what you're even talking about but really this is something you should probably have addressed as the story teller.

...Humor us, please?

Oh alright. I suppose, first and foremost, I should say that the episodes that many of your readers consider canon fall in a slightly different reality than mine. For example, I was born an only child and while I'm certain Shining Armor would have made a positively darling big brother, I'm rather glad I didn't have to say goodbye to him as well. Similarly, there is no Princess Cadence in my world, though I admit I do wish I had a foalsitter like her when I was young.

The events of most of season one and even a large portion of season two were rather accurate, overall though I'd say, and I didn't even start having growing pains in my horn until three or four years after Luna's return, and it took almost a full decade for my wings to grow in fully. It was quite a slow process.

Fascinating, and while I'm sure we could get into quite the interesting existential discussion--

Oh yay! I haven't had a chance to--

--I'm afraid we don't have the time to get into that just now… Questions to answer and all that. Maybe next time.

Oh.. Well, at least you're organized.

Anyway, next question. What happened to Spike after the first several journal entries? Is he still around?

That's two questions, but yes, he's still around, if getting rather old. He sleeps most of the time, and we still see one another once every few decades. We ran out of subjects to really talk about a long time ago about our old friends, and sometimes I think if it weren't for my reminding him he may have forgotten a lot of the adventures we had together. He was just a baby for most of them, after all.

Spike settled in with a dragoness, and has maintained a diet consisting of vegetation and gemstones for the majority of his life, though he has not eaten (and never will eat) anything that can communicate. Unlike many dragons he and his mate keep in touch with local ponies and though they're reaching the end of their considerably long lifespans, seem happy with their lives. I'm considering introducing Sun Dew to him once she gets old enough for Rarity's personality to start really showing through but... it may be better to leave him with the peace he's made.

I'm glad to hear he's well, but speaking of Sun Dew and your new friends, do you have any idea how the metaphysics of all this works, what with the Elements and dead souls and all this?

Actually I do have a working theory! In short I believe that while their minds may be combined or even shared to accommodate the souls of both ponies, the souls themselves do retain their individuality and upon their deaths will separate into two distinct ponies once again -- providing they want to, of course. As for my new friends' souls, I do believe that my old friends will drastically impact their own psyches and spirituality but at the same time I feel that this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Through new experiences and views they can grow and develop in ways that would be otherwise unthinkable, so overall I'm willing to say that even in cases like Pinkie Pie's where it's almost a complete replacement - if not a total one - it's a net gain for both parties.

As for the Elements of Harmony themselves, some research and poking around, as well as judicious checking with Pinkie Pie and her 'cheat sheet' (that she refuses to show me), I've come to discover that the Elements of Harmony are actually separate form my friends souls, even if their personalities leave a very large impression on the sapience behind them. This means that should a pony come to represent that element even better than they in the future, I wouldn't necessarily lose my connection to that friend.

Truly the fourth wall must be sobbing. Remind me to thank Pinkie later. There is a small question I have though. In the story, it's briefly mentioned that it's been two thousand years since you lost your friends, yet the journals end after about 457 years, give or take. That's over fifteen hundred years that you've maintained your friends outfits and Ponyville's been growing. What happened in the meantime?

I don't really think I can go over fifteen hundred years of history in the time we have if I can't have one little existential debate but frankly technology's progressed slowly and population's evened out. There's been a little legislation involved but it's lead to overall happiness and a high quality of life for just about everypony and it is improving by the year. Most of our advances have been in entertainment and medicine; things that make ponies happy. As for preservation, I utilize a combination between preservative magics and careful repairs to maintain their appearances.

As for Ponyville, since population's stable it hasn't actually expanded all that much, and it's still a fair deal smaller than Manehatten, though it does rival Fillydelphia, and several other towns and cities have popped up in the meantime. In fact, some parts of Ponyville look like something out of a history page, as the town's very proud of its past and has dedicated resources to maintaining places of historic significance, including Sweet Apple Acres, and Rainbow Dash's cloud house, or rather the museum it's become.

Let's see... Twilight, some stories feature all of the Elements of Harmony becoming Alicorns, what are your feelings about being the only one to become immortal when the Element of Magic is so closely tied to each of the others?

I used to ask 'why me' almost every day, and I guess it would even seem like a curse to some but I've accepted a long time ago that there are other forces at work in our world than just those Celestia, Luna, and I are responsible for...

I suppose I like to think that I was the only one of the six of us to become an Alicorn was because there was, or is something yet to do, that could only happen with my life taking that turn. With me, and my friends learning the lessons we have because of all of this. I can very safely say that I have become a better pony for all that I've been through, and I like to think the same of my sisters, and my friends.

That's actually... an inspiring way of looking at it I think. So, one more question I suppose. Do you have anything to say to the readers, your fans, or just anypony that stumbles upon this?

Well let's see... To my fans I guess I'd have to say "Thank you" for supporting me, even if I never really get to meet you all... To the readers who have gone on this journey with me, I'd like to say that I hope you all have learned something that you can take away from my experiences, as I have and overall enjoyed it and shared in some of the joy and happiness I've felt.

I think if I could give a little advice and share in my lessons? It's important to never give up hope and keep your promises. Be honest with yourself and your friends, cherish the time you have, and never stop living just because you might lose somepony dear to you. They're still there in your heart, and wouldn't want to see you sad.

Thank you, Twilight for your time, and I hope we see you and your friends again soon.

Comments

[Hecatia]

*entire chapter of 4th wall break*
Wut

[Zytharros]

Definitely Twilight-esque.

[Chaos Knux]

Twilight's colortext dies out
after para breaks.

[Snow]

1241510

Thanks, didn't catch that.

[MitchellTF]

...I want to see more of these new elements! It's an awesome fic.

[Reaper1oo]

1244090 Agreed
Wish I was at this fic ~3hrs ago

[elfs]

I can't be the only one hoping this will be continued. (Unless it already was said to be, in which case I missed that announcement, oh Celestia I hope I did!)

Wonderful story from start to finish.

[Professor Donger]

Sequel now

[musicluvr1974]

Excellent story... the realistic touches with Loyalty's new Bearer definitely added something. I also like the note of renewed hope you closed the story with.

[Skittles48]

Nice little story here, but dayum did it take a long time. I'm glad I stayed with it.

[Snow]

1524416

You're very welcome, and thank you for your words of kindness and encouragement. Any sequals I write will be single chapters though, I can only write in bursts, you see, or else it seems forced and shallow. Anyway... I'm glad to have made you smile.

[Alchemystudent]

This fic becomes even better and more poignant when you take the recent season finale into consideration.

[Snow]

5389134

TASTE THE ALMIGHTY POWER OF THE D'AWWWW!

<3

[Midna Diane Pie]

again....colored text against most backgrounds here? Unreadable. It hurts my eyes to try to make it out.

[Snow]

6330158

Huh. It looked alright when I used it but then I only viewed it in the normal white and also the black backgrounds. Short of 'signing' each line though I'm not sure how to easily denote who was 'speaking', which defeats the purpose of the little fourth wall breaks.

[Midna Diane Pie]

6330315 Mm. True. It just hurt my eyes to read that.

[bigbear]

Thank you for writing and sharing this story. I am happy that I came across it. It is fun to put ones self back into the 2012 mindset and enjoy a heartwarming story.

[Snow]

10681282
Thank you so much!
I appreciate the praise and I'm glad you enjoyed it.