Chapter 1: True Friends
It was a dark grey and stormy day, a light rain filled the sky. A flood of black umbrellas with ponies bearing black suits and dresses under them, the muddy road as they made there was toward the burial plot. There was no noise to be made other than the gentle rainfall that persistently hit the ground, never stopping. Celestia herself showed at this dreadful occasion, to excuse her soul from a seemly endless eternity inside a lifeless body. As the casket was lowered into the ground and muddy dirt being shoveled back into the earth as they buried it. Twilight Sparkle looked up at the cloudy, grey sky as a single tear slowly made it's way down her face, as her last true friend, one of the element bearers, was never to be seen again, but not forgotten.
As the members of the party for the funeral left, Twilight and Celestia stood there and stared at the grave, motionless. Celestia gently expanded a wing around Twilight and was the first to break the silence. "I never wished for this day to come, nor did anypony else I am sure. But you know that we must move on even if it is hard. We must be strong Twilight, and never stop moving." Grieved Celestia, quivering slightly. Twilight just stood there, with hollow, seemingly lifeless eyes. Celestia lowered her head, and slowly turned around and walked away, leaving Twilight to return to her royal duties.
After some time, Twilight turned around and walked away, looking back once at her friend's graves lined up perfectly in a row.
When Twilight arrived at her home, she opened the door only to be greeted by a certain purple and green young adult, dragon.
"Twilight, I..." Started Spike as he looked up at Twilight with red, puffy eyes and a weak, plastic smile.
"Not now Spike, I just want to be left alone." Whispered Twilight, with a quivering lower lip.
"Oh, uhh, ok..."
"I'm sorry Spike, I just haven't had the best of days."
Twilight walked over to the window, while magically grabbing a random book off of the shelf next to her. When Twilight sat down on the cushion and opened the book, saw it was about friendship, and propelled it across the room with a loud thud, and broke down sobbing with many wet tears dripping down her face.
Twilight awoke to find herself in bed with Spike laying down beside her in a large dragon shaped lump. Twilight walked down the stairs to the kitchen and looked in the cabinet for some cereal, and heard Spike walk down into the kitchen with her. Twilight sat in a chair and poured the cereal and milk into a bowl, as Spike started to speak.
"I am really sorry I couldn't come to the funeral, Twilight." Spike said after a large silence "I just couldn't take another."
"It's fine Spike." Replied Twilight with a sigh "I just don't understand why I get to live for an abnormally larger time than the average life expectancy of a pony. I mean like, I know that I have Longevity running in my family, but look at mother and father, They only lived to fifty, just two years longer than normal. And look at me! I am right her right now living WAY longer than I should be! I AM SIXTY FOR CELESTIA'S SAKE! THINK OF APPLEJACK, SHE LIVED FOR FREAKING SIXTY ALONG WITH ME! DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO LOSE ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS WITHIN THE SPAN OF JUST FIVE MONTHS?! WHY COULDN'T MY FRIENDS LIVE AS LONG AS ME?! WHY SPIKE?! WHY?! IT'S NOT FAIR THAT I AM THE LAST ONE OF MY FRIENDS! IT'S JUST NOT FAIR!"
"Twilight! Calm down! You know that your friends lived long, happy lives!"
"Why... W-why-y-y-y?" Twilight fell on the floor into a fit of sobbing, until Spike picked her up and gently placed her in her bed.
Moments later the door bell rang, and Twilight insisted on getting up and answering it. When she opened the door she found Shining Armor and Cadence waiting outside. Shining Armor looked at her for a split second with tears in his eyes, then immediately hugged his sister.
"I am so sorry Twilight, I know how hard it is for you." Shining Armor said through tears. "When mom and dad died I just wanted to hide forever and never come out. But I knew I had to move on."
"Heh, funny. Princess Celestia said about the same thing to me." Said Twilight, weakly. "W-Would you like to have something to eat? I have some soggy cereal that I was about to eat when you knocked."
"N-no thank you, we had breakfast before we left." Said Cadence, quivering as tears rolled down her eyes.
Twilight, Shining Armor, Cadence, and Spike sat at the table sipping tea as Twilight ate cereal. Spike was the first to say something.
"Twilight, I do know how hard it is to lose a friend, no, multiple friends. They were my friends too you know, not just yours. Do you know how long and how hard it was for me to get over Rarity's death, only for Pinkie Pie to die almost immediately after? Practically all of my friends have died. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle in the freak 'accident', Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, does my sadness mean anything to you? Or does it only matter because they were 'mainly' your friends?"
"Spike, I" Twilight started.
"No Twilight. It doesn't matter anymore. They are all dead and gone now. Lets just move on and forget everything."
"No, Spike, Twilight, I don't think you should forget anything." Said Cadence with a glowing horn and a deep voice. "The times that you had with them were wonderful, you must cherish them always and never forget. For all you know this could be your last day Twilight. Heck, for all I know this could be MY last day. So, lets just all stop this senseless bickering and get on with our day."
Twilight, Spike, and Shining Armor sat there staring at Cadence, dumbfounded, with their jaws slack.
About two hours later Shining Armor stood up. "I am sorry, Twilight, Spike, but Cadence and I must take our leave of you, for we shall be late for the train back to Canterlot if we wait any longer." Said Shining Armor, as Cadence stood up with him.
After many goodbyes Shining Armor and Cadence left for the train. Right after they left, Twilight went upstairs and lied down in her bed and eventually, drifted off to sleep.
Twilight was awoke to the sound of the doorbell of the front door, only for Spike to go down and get it. Spike opened the door to find Princess Celestia, with her head hung low. "Hello Spike, I need to speak to Twilight." Said Celestia, in a quivering voice. Once Twilight and Celestia had sat down at the table in the kitchen, Celestia looked up at Twilight. "I am so sorry Twilight, but you know that train that your brother and sister in-law left on about an hour ago?"
"Yeah, but I don't see why you have to apologize, it's just a train."
"Twilight. While the train was running around a turn, the engine room suddenly caught fire and made the train go at an unreliable amount of speed. Soon after the train de-railed and combusted. Taking your brother and sister in-law with it."
Chapter 1: Keeping Sanity
"You know Princess, my life is actually kinda funny if you think about it!" Blurted Twilight while stifling a laugh after a long silence "I mean like, if you reeeealy use that noggin of your's you will start to see the comedy that my life has within it. Heh, look at my mom and dad, they died in a factory fire, just like Shining Armor and Cadence, Fire was the cause of death. Death, if you think about it is just another one of those sick jokes that life plays on you."
Celestia's eyes grew wide as she looked up at Twilight, with a slight twinge of fear as she remembered just what this purple unicorn can do.
Twilight started to laugh hysterically now, moments later falling on the ground in a fit of laughing. "You know this very well Celestia, life can be funny, VERY funny. You must have had a loved one or two, that you have seen die at your hooves. Take Dusk Dune of example, didn't you love him, only for your relationship to go so far as for him to jump off of the third story balcony. I might as well just do that right now. It would save so much time if I were just to fall for an extended period of time." Twilights horn was flaring with magic now. All Princess Celestia and Spike could do was just stare, petrified as they watched their friend, their family, go insane.
"What are you guys waiting for? Aren't you going to put me in an insane asylum or something? Where I could just sit there all day, in a padded room, watching the birds fly by my window and whisper to me. The birds would whisper so many untold secrets, such good friends they would make. Fluttershy would be so proud of them, keeping an eye on me, not allowing me to escape or anything. Eh, screw it, escaping is too hard." Twilight spat at the ground, and was now hovering in midair, blinding lights surrounding her.
Celestia finally broke out of her trance. "Twilight! That is enough! You know full well that I know what death is like! Hell, I have been technically dead for short periods of time before. But I have carried on, become stronger and less willing to let death overcome me and defeat me like it has with you! Do you think what you are doing right now would make your mother and father proud? Would it make them look down at you from above and smile?" Celestia was now standing up, with her wings extended fully. A low booming voice coming from her mouth, making even Spike cower in fear "No! I don't think it would! You have disappointed me Twilight. You have let me down and made me feel like all of my years that I have been teaching you were for naught. But the one thing I can't stand is you on the brink of insanity. So snap out of it right now, or I swear on the behalf of Luna that I will have to... to..." Twilight released the air's grasp on her, and she hit the floor in a fit of rage and sobbing.
Celestia had broken down, several tears made their way down to the tip of her muzzle, falling off into the cracks of the floor below her. It was a rare sight to see a one thousand-five hundred alicorn break down and cry, but she just couldn't handle it any longer.
After a long while of Twilight and Celestia shedding tears, Celestia stood up. "I am sorry Twilight, but I must get back to Canterlot because I scheduled to meet someone at a café for coffee five minutes ago." Twilight nodded weakly, and Celestia disappeared. Spike also got up and walked out of the door, looked back, and extended his wings and took off as Twilight passed out.
Twilight came to in a colorful hospital room, with Spike staring down at her. "I'm sorry twilight, I just couldn't bear to see you hurt yourself any longer. After I came home and saw you unconscious, I brought you to the hospital seeking mental help for you."
Nurse Snowflake (Nurse Redhearts replacement after retirement) walked over to the bed and sat down next to Twilight, "Ah, good to see you're awake. Your good friend Spike here brought you to this hospital just in time, if he hadn't have Celestia knows what would have happened." Nurse Snowflake paused and looked up slightly, looking at Twilight's head. "As you probably have noticed, we have attached a little machine to your horn there. You see, there has been a leak of magic into your brain that caused you to faint, and if Spike had not brought you here the damage that has already been done would have been a lot worse."
Twilight looked up at her head "To be honest, I hadn't noticed this contraption." Said Twilight weakly. "But I have never seen or heard of a leak of magic into somepony's brain before."
"Oh, it happens all the time. We just don't talk about it."
"Oh, ok then. Do you have any idea of why my magic has leaked?"
"After we did many tests the results came up as that you have suffered severe mental and emotional trauma, most likely related to the recent deaths of your friends, and family. You have suffered from minor brain damage, that will be fixed of coarse, but it will require that you do stay in the hospital for sometime before leaving, to make sure that you have fully recovered."
"I sure am looking forward to that."
Snowflake chuckled a little, much to Twilights dislike "I'm sure you will be out of here in no time." Twilight rolled her eyes. "Oh, and don't use your magic too much, we don't want you to hurt yourself anymore than you have already. Oh! I almost forgot. You have a visitor."
Scootaloo walked over to Twilight. "Oh, hi Scootaloo. I haven't heard of you since Rainbow Dash's passing." Scootaloo smiled painfully.
"Yeah, you know when after something really, really bad happens to somepony, and they want to bury themselves in a hole or something? Well, I pretty much did that. I shall not go into the details of what happened. Anyway, lets not get off topic too much. How have you been doing?"
"As you can see I am in a hospital after a complete mental breakdown in the wake of one of my friends death, and also my magic is broken due to a leak causing minor brain damage to my brain, making me have a constant slight headache all of the time. Let's just say that I am not really feeling one-hundred percent right now, technically speaking I am feeling about five to ten percent right now."
"Riiiight, stupid question with an obvious answer. Anyway, Pound Cake finally gave me a job at Sugarcube Corner, so at least I have a steady income now. And also I located my birth parents and apparently they have been dead for about fifteen years now, so... Yeah."
"Well, that's good, er, I mean that you got the job, not that your parents have been dead for quite some time now."
A short while passed until Scootaloo suddenly started to talk. "Hey, Spike, could I talk to you for a second in the other room?"
"Yeah, sure, Ok." Said Spike, following Scootaloo out of the room.
After Spike and Scootaloo had left the room and closed the door behind them nurse Snowflake looked over at Twilight with a smile "Twilight, I believe that you would most likely like something to do while you are here, so when you were out I asked Spike to go back and get these." Snowflake floated a basket of books over to the side of Twilight.
As Twilight looked through the books for something to read, a frown started to form on her face and her eyebrows start to lower as she saw that they were about friendship and getting over losses of loved ones. "Well played Snowflake. Very well played indeed."
Snowflake looked at Twilight with a wide smile "After all laughter is the best medicine."
"Try telling that to Pinkie, oh wait, you can't. She died in a hospital related accident that, may I remind you, you caused after she had four painful years of diabetes and strokes?"
Snowflake looked hurt. "Now why do we need to bring Pinkie into this, She is dead and gone now, she has been for four months now."
"You really should stop while you're ahead. You are just digging it deep-" The argument was cut off by a loud high-pitched scream from the other room.
"SCOOTALOO!" They both said at once, Twilight jumping out of bed and running toward the door with Snowflake closely behind.