> Fallen Unicorns
>  by Flyer
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Preface: The Best Evening Ever
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



PREFACE:
THE BEST EVENING EVER


The golden sun was finally setting, letting the once majestic red and orange sky give way to the midnight blue and black that is the night sky. A single firework exploded bright green in the foreground of the newly minted night sky. The green shimmered against the highest tower of the castle, and caused all of the ponies entering the majestic capital city to stop and gaze in a collective awe at the spectacle above them. More ponies continued to traverse the drawbridge as a second and third firework colorfully exploded in white and purple hues high above the castle walls.
Inside the castle ballroom, a place that housed such wonderful events as the Grand Galloping Gala, the Hearth’s Warming Eve Pageant, and the Royal Wedding of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor, was set up and installed for a different staged event.
A number of chairs, estimated to be in the hundreds, maybe even a thousand, sat in front of the hulking, grand wooden stage, the same wooden stage that played host to the famed annual Hearth’s Warming Eve Pageant.
As the minutes came and went, so did the amount of empty seats in the temporary auditorium as ponies came in and filled each and every one of them by the dozens. While they waited eagerly for the future event to finally unfold, they all talked to their neighboring seatmates in hushed whispers as to not disturb what was going on behind the massively thick velvet and gold curtain.
Slowly, a turquoise unicorn lifted up a small section of the hulking velvet mass. The slit opening allowed for only one eye to peer out amongst the gathering crowd filling all of the seats in the ballroom. The unicorn dropped the segment of curtain, let out a sigh, and then smiles and trotted away from the curtain.
There were more unicorns behind the stage excitedly chit-chatting away while they placed cap and gowns upon each other, which now signified a graduation ceremony was in the works. Each unicorn looked extremely happy, which was a stark contrast to the lone purple unicorn looking somberly in the mirror in the back corner of the back stage area.
Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes and sighed as she slowly put on her graduation gown. While the other unicorns’ graduation gowns were of a crimson color, Twilight’s was different. Her graduation gown was a bright golden yellow that slightly glimmered under the ceiling light that hung almost directly above Twilight. She walked over to the unoccupied mirror by the window overlooking all of Canterlot and stared silently at her reflection for a moment before a bright magenta glow surrounded her aura, bringing over a hairbrush wrapped in the very same magenta aura that was being emitted from her horn. Twilight brushed her mane a few times before magically placing the hairbrush on the windowsill besides her. She sighed again before upturning her eyes to see the few strands of her mane that fell in front of her left eye. She gave a quick blow, and the strands of midnight purple mane moved harmlessly out of her eye line. 
From the reflection in the mirror, Twilight Sparkle saw her faithful baby dragon assistant Spike approach her gingerly. He tightly clutched Twilight’s graduation cap and stopped moving toward Twilight once he saw that she noticed his presence in the mirror.
“Yes, Spike. What is it?” Twilight quietly inquired.
Spike took another small step forward and presented her with the graduation cap, which matched the golden color of Twilight’s 	special gown.
“I just thought you would like this, Twi.” Spike softly replied.
Twilight sighed and smiled at Spike through the mirror. She kept the smile as she turned her head around and dropped her neck to allow Spike to place the cap on her head. She thanked Spike and wrapped a single leg around his neck. Their cheeks both touched and together, Twilight and Spike shared a sweet smile.
“Thank you, my number one assistant,” Twilight said, breaking the silence.
“Hey, what else am I here for?” Spike replied.
With that, the two ended their embrace, and Twilight slowly trotted towards the window where she laid her hairbrush down in front of. Twilight took a deep breath and gazed upon the majestic Equestrian capital city through the clean window of the backstage ballroom. The sun had fully retreated for the time being. One by one, the city lights of Canterlot began to flicker on and shimmer, giving Princess Luna’s young night sky a beautiful complement to it. Twilight smiled at the sight. Even though she had seen this sight about a million times beforehand, the majestic sight before her put her in a comfortable ease. For the first time all night, Twilight’s nervousness diminished.
“What’s the matter, Twilight? Aren’t you excited?” Spike inquired from the background. It was this that brought Twilight back to reality as she slowly turned around to face Spike once again.
“I’m just nervous, Spike. This is one of the things that I have been waiting for, for a long time. I’m not sure what’s going to happen after this.” Twilight let loose, “I’ve never thought of this situation and what would happen after I finished school.” Twilight dropped her head and sighed.
Spike very gently wrapped his baby dragon arms around Twilight Sparkle’s neck. She returned the hug by wrapping one of her forelegs around Spike. After sharing the embrace for a couple of moments, Spike let go of Twilight. Twilight followed suit and unwrapped her hoof around Spike. Spike then gingerly lifted Twilight’s head up by way of her chin. They shared a moment of eye contact and Spike smiled.
“Don’t worry Twilight.” Spike attempted to reassure his oldest friend, “I’m sure, if nothing else, that Princess Celestia has something wonderful in store for you. I mean, not everypony graduates valedictorian from her school for the most gifted unicorns.”
This reassurance made Twilight smile because she knew that he was probably right. Twilight lifted her hoof to her hat and switched the tassel to the left side of her graduation cap, signifying that she still hadn’t officially graduated yet.
“Thank you for everything, Spike.” Twilight spoke. “I don’t know if I could have made it this far without your help and devotion.”
Spike smiled at Twilight.
“It’s my pleasure, Twilight. I love you,” Spike replied
“And I love you too, Spike.” Twilight said.
With that, Spike turned to leave.
“I’m gonna go sit with everyone out there,” Spike said as he exited.
“I’ll see you after the ceremony,” Twilight called out as she waved her hoof goodbye.
On the other side of the curtain, more ponies continued to enter past the huge double-doors. Amongst these ponies, were the familiar faces of Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity. They all appeared extremely excited as they made their way up to the third row of chairs from the stage. They each took up a place in the section of seats that were reserved just for them. Sitting with them in this section were the proud and smiling faces of Twilight Sparkle’s mother and father. As Twilight’s parents bade her friends hello and vice-versa, Spike returned from backstage to join the other ponies in the VIP seating area. As Spike took his seat, Applejack leaned in toward his face.
“She okay back there, Spike?” Applejack inquired.
“Of course,” Spike replied. “Why wouldn’t she be?”
“I just noticed her becoming more nervous about this in the coming days, Spike. Just bein’ honest.” Applejack stated.
Spike chuckled. Living up to her element, he thought.
“Applejack!” Pinkie Pie piped up. “Silly, you shouldn’t worry about Twilight! Of course she’s gonna be nervous! It’s a big day!¬ She’ll be all pouty and sad, and then she’ll toss her hat in the air and smile, and we’ll smile, and then she’ll be all happy and we-”
With that, Rarity sighed and lifted her hoof up over Pinkie Pie’s mouth, finally silencing her.
“I think we get the point Pinkie darling,” Rarity kindly spoke.
Rarity took her hoof off of Pinkie’s mouth. Pinkie gave off a huge, sparkling smile.
The lights began to dim, as did the idle chatter amongst the attending ponies. A spotlight was cast against the velvet curtain. Stepping in to the spotlight was the one and only Princess Celestia. The perfectly round light followed Princess Celestia as she elegantly strolled her way across the platform and to the podium on the other side of the stage. Princess Celestia, as well as the following spotlight, came to a halt in front of the simple, wooden podium to the far right of the stage.
Princess Celestia cleared her throat, sending some very minor feedback through the microphone. The feedback echoes through the dead silence in the makeshift auditorium.
“First off, I want to thank everypony for coming out here today.” Princess Celestia announced, “Today is a very special day for these wonderful fillies and colts, and I know that they, as well as I, are grateful for your attendance.”
An uproarious applause followed from the crowd of ponies. After Celestia raised her hoof, asking non-verbally for silence, the crowd followed suit and fell silent once again.
“Thank you,” Celestia said into the microphone. “And now, here are the fillies and colts graduating tonight!”
The velvet curtain withdrew, revealing a graduating class of about fifteen unicorns. At the center of the unicorns was Twilight Sparkle, who stuck out like a sore thumb with her golden gown compared to the other unicorn’s shining crimson graduation gowns. Princess Celestia stuck her hoof out as if to present the graduating unicorns to the crowd, like a showpony presents his new product to an astonished crowd.
“These special fillies and colts have worked long and daunting hours to reach this point in their lives, and finally, their hard work paid off,” Celestia proudly announced. “But before we begin handing out the diplomas, I shall let the valedictorian give her speech.”
A single bead of sweat slowly ran down Twilight’s forehead and onto her cheek. The words that had just fallen from Princess Celestia’s mouth sent her into giving off an uneasy, nervous smile.
“Twilight Sparkle!” Princess Celestia boldly announced, and Twilight quickly stood up to a chorus of applause and started to walk over to the podium occupied by Celestia.
“Twilight Sparkle has been my private pupil for many years, and has learned so much since I took her under my wing all those years ago. I am extremely proud to call her name here tonight to address you fine ponies.” Celestia said into the microphone.
As Celestia finished her introduction, Twilight had caught up to the podium. Twilight and Celestia shared a quick hug, which, in turn, caused the applause of the crowd to grow slightly louder. After the two ponies ended their casual embrace, Celestia gracefully backed away from the podium, giving Twilight Sparkle full access to the podium and microphone. The uneasy smile returned to her face as the crowd fell silent, intently awaiting her customary valedictorian speech. Twilight looked out onto the audience and her gaze fell upon her parents. They non-verbally gave her a smiling gesture, the same gesture that they gave her when she was just about to take the entrance exam to Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns all of those years ago.
Twilight shut her eyes for brief moment and took a deep breath. She exhaled quietly enough for the microphone not to register the noise. She cleared her throat and took another deep breath and exhaled.
“Thank you, Princess Celestia. I just want to start by saying what an honor and privilege it was to serve as your private student,” Twilight said. She took another deep breath before saying, “I did indeed learn a lot about magic since I enrolled in Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. However, it wasn’t until I went to Ponyville to learn about the magic of friendship that my knowledge of magic truly increased. I have learned almost all there is to know about magic. But the greatest magic of all is knowing that I have the friendships I have made in Ponyville. To Spike and to Applejack, and Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash, I have this to say: I love each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart. I don’t know what I would do without you. You have made my study of magic so enjoyable. I know, truly, that wherever I go in life, that I will always have the love and support from all of you.”
A tear fell from Twilight’s left eye as she paused her speech on account of her choking up with emotion. Out in the audience, tears of utter happiness were welling up in the eyes of Twilight’s friends. Tears were even forming in Rainbow Dash’s eyes, although she was doing a pretty good job of hiding it. 
Pinkie Pie began to cry in the same cartoonish fashion as when Princesses Celestia and Luna reunited after a thousand years of separation. She cried for a few moments before she noticed that not only was everypony in the audience staring at her in utter confusion, but also that her friends sitting beside her were shooting her a glare.
Pinkie stopped the fountain of tears and weakly smiled at her friends.
“Sorry,” Pinkie quietly and weakly said.
Twilight Sparkle silently chuckled and cleared her throat.
“As I was saying, to my loving parents, my brother Shining Armor, to Princess Celestia, and to my loving and loyal friends, thank you to everybody! As a new graduate of Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, the world is my oyster, and I can’t wait to get out there and make a difference!”
Twilight’s last words whipped the audience into a frenzy. She stepped down from the podium with a big gaping smile on her face. Her gaze met her friends and parents in the audience as they applauded her speech. Twilight could sense the immense pride that her loved ones felt for her as she trotted back to her seat amongst her fellow graduates. She sat down and realized that the nervousness had finally dissipated from her insides. This made Twilight smile even bigger.
Spike was right, Twilight thought. Everything is gonna be just fine!
After an hour’s time, the graduation ceremony had completed with the customary tradition of tossing the caps in the air.
Twilight Sparkle and her entourage wandered from the graduation ceremony over to the magical Canterlot Garden to pose for pictures.
“Say cheese!” The photographer pony exclaimed as he prepared to snap a photograph of Twilight Sparkle with Spike, her parents, and with her five closest friends.
After a few moments of fiddling with the settings of the camera, the photographer pony took the photograph. A bright white flash confirmed the action and everybody gave a thank you to the photographer pony for the gesture.
Twilight’s parents gave her a group hug and bother her mother and father gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“Your father and I are so proud of you, sweetums!” said Twilight’s mom.
“I always knew you’d graduate at the top of your class Twilight,” Her dad said, backing up his mare. “We always knew that where ever life took you that you would excel!”
“Thank you both so much!” Twilight responded “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
She hugged both of her parents as she noticed that entering the garden was both Princesses, Celestia and Luna. Twilight and her entourage all bowed before their two majestic leaders.
“Hello, Princess Celestia. Hello Princess Luna.” Twilight greeted.
“Hello, Twilight Sparkle. Congratulations to you,” responded Princess Luna. “Are you happy you finally graduated?”
Twilight nodded. “I certainly am. I’m just kind of disappointed that I will no longer be your student, Princess.”
Princess Celestia looked upon Twilight. “It is a fact that saddens me as well, Twilight. I’m going to miss teaching you as much as you loved learning from me.”
“Do you know what you want to do next?” Luna asked Twilight.
Twilight shook her head. “I haven’t the slightest idea. Why do you ask?”
Princess Celestia looked at over at Luna, who nodded back at her. Both princesses returned their gazes to Twilight’s direction.
“We actually would like to talk about that Twilight,” Princess Celestia said.
Twilight raised one eyebrow. “What do you mean?” She asked.
“Could we talk to you privately about a career opportunity?” Inquired Princess Luna.

> Chapter One: Life Altering Desicions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


CHAPTER ONE:
LIFE ALTERING DECISIONS


“1040 to Ponyville! Last call for all passengers departing for Ponyville!” a gruff conductor pony shouted as he paced back and forth on the long, wooden platform holding a round, chained stopwatch in his hoof.
Just as the conductor pony passed the last passenger car, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Spike, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy all crossed through the doorway and boarded the train. In front of the ticket window, Twilight stood and wished her parents a farewell. Twilight’s mom reached out to hug her.
“I know I’ve said this a million times before, sweetums, but we’re so proud of you, your father and I!”
“Thanks mom.” ,” Twilight quickly replied.
As her mom released her from the hug, Twilight’s head swiveled towards her father’s direction.
“Any idea of what you are going to tell Princess Celestia yet?” said her father, knowing of the opportunity that was offered to his young daughter by the ruler of all of Equestria.
Twilight shook her head.
“I’m not sure what I want to do yet, Dad,” Twilight responded. “I told her that I would take the upcoming weekend to decide which direction I want to go in.”
“Fair enough, sweet pea,” her father replied. “Just know that whatever you decide to do, that you have our full and utmost support.”
Twilight hugged her father goodbye. The father and daughter unicorns both tightly squeezed each other.
“Final call for the 1040; the train leaves in sixty seconds!” the conductor called out.
The shrill shout out interrupted the sweet family moment between both Twilight and her father. Twilight trotted toward the last passenger car. She crossed the threshold of the train car door just as the conductor shut the opening. Twilight looked out the window and waved one final farewell wave. Her parents, from the platform, returned the favor. The train pulled free of the station, and after a few moments, the train had been reduced to a tiny speck on the railroaded horizon. Twilight’s parents both sighed and after wiping a tear from the cheek of Twilight’s mother, they left the Canterlot train station and departed home for the night.
The train puffed and chugged its way through the Equestrian mountains and cliffs. It snaked along the pre-laid tracks leaving only the quickly, withering clouds of exhaust behind. 
The door to the last train car swung open widely, catching the attentions of the only inhabitants of the passenger car; Twilight Sparkle, Spike, and the rest of Twilight’s friends. The six ponies and the one dragon watched as a steward pony entered the car with a tray of assorted delicious looking desserts. He stopped in front of the second row of seats where Rarity and Fluttershy were both sitting.
“Would you like any amenities from this cart?” The steward pony asked the unicorn and pegasus.
Rarity shook her head.
“No thanks, darling! But thank you so very much for asking. Would you like anything, Fluttershy dear?”
Fluttershy pondered the question for a brief moment.
“No, thanks,” Fluttershy meekly muttered.
The steward pony nudged the cart to the seat row behind Fluttershy and Rarity. Rainbow Dash and Spike, who were huddled together and sprawled out across the length of the bench, snoring away, occupied the row. The steward pony turned his head to row on the other side of the aisle. Applejack looked at the tray in a thoughtful manner, debating whether or not to have a dessert from the tray. A growling sound emitted from Applejack’s stomach and she laughed, but not too loudly.
“Well why not. Whatcha got on that grub tray of yours?” Applejack said semi-excitedly.
“A lot of delicious treats my friend,” the steward pony said with a cheery smile on his face.
Using his mouth, the steward pony lifted the very large, metal lid from the plate. However, both Applejack and the steward pony were greeted with a sight that they never expected.
On the silver tray, Pinkie Pie was lying on top of multiple cupcake wrappers. Her belly was comically bigger from all of the food that she had just instantly devoured.  She was just finishing up chewing what was left of the last piece of dessert. Applejack’s mouth was wide open in shock, while the steward pony was instantly confused as he had no way of knowing that Pinkie Pie was “just being Pinkie Pie,” as the residents of Ponyville would say when Pinkie Pie would do something cartoonish or crazy like this.
“Y... Yo.... Yo... You... better be able to pay for all that, miss,” the steward pony stammered, still shocked at what he had just unbelievably witnessed.
“Pay? Oh of course, silly!” Pinkie Pie energetically replied.
With that Pinkie reached into her mane and began pulling out an extremely random assortment of items. Some of the items that Pinkie pulled out of her mane included a bouncy ball, a toy xylophone, a quesadilla on a plate, a jar of dirt, a pair of Groucho glasses, a tube of toothpaste, her pet alligator Gummy, and even a kitchen sink. Finally, she pulled out a bag of bits and handed the bag over to the steward. The only thing the steward did was slowly hold out his hoof to accept the small, burlap bag of Equestrian golden currency.
“That should cover it, right?” Pinkie Pie asked. An adorable squeak complemented the immediate smile that followed this statement.
“I... I guess,.” the steward pony responded, still completely flabbergasted at the performance of Pinkie Pie that he had just witnessed.
With that, Pinkie got off the tray cart with Gummy attached to the top of her mane.
“I’m so happy you’re back, Gummy! I thought you might have been in my adorable mane,” Pinkie Pie said as she walked towards the front of the car.
The steward pony looked over at Applejack, who at this point was giggling to herself. She took note of the steward’s confusion.
“Don’t worry about this, sugar cube,” Applejack said trying to console him. “This is normal.”
“Normal?! For who?” the steward said, even more confused.
“Well, normal for Pinkie Pie, I guess,” Applejack added.
After a brief moment of trying to make sense at what he had just witnessed, the steward finally gave up the futile attempt and sighed.
“Well then.” The steward pony said with a weak smile on his face.
The steward pony headed toward the door leaning toward the caboose. He paused next to the last row of seats so he could open up the exit door. The door opened after a brief fiddling of the knob. He grabbed the cart and stepped out into the passageway leading to the caboose.
In the last row of seats in the car, Twilight Sparkle sat all by herself and looked out the window at the passing countryside. With the popping in her pony ears, she knew that they were in the process of descending the mountain. After the descent into the beautiful valley, it would only be about an hour or so before the train moored in Ponyville.
Twilight looked up at the big and bright full moon high in the starry midnight blue sky and admired Princess Luna’s life’s work. She was fascinated with how the pale moonlight reflected off of the luscious green valley some hundreds of feet below in the hilly valley. The beauty of the scenery around her served as a break from the event that had happened earlier in the night after the graduation ceremony. Even though it had just happened no more than maybe two and a half hours prior, Twilight still rewound and played over her memory of the event just about a million times now. She shut her eyes and replayed the memory.

~~~

	“Career opportunity? What are you getting at, Princess?” Twilight Sparkle curiously asked the Equestrian ruler.
“You have an impressive gift of magic, Twilight, as well as possessing the most proficiency out of anypony on the study of practical knowledge and magical spells,” Celestia kindly said to her now former student. “Princess Luna and I were talking, and we both came to the same conclusion that you should be sharing your magical gift and knowledge with other unicorns.”
Twilight took a deep breath, unsure of where Celestia was going with this request.
“In this upcoming fall,” Princess Luna said, “we are opening a second, additional School for Gifted Unicorns in Fillydelphia…”
“And we agreed that you, Twilight Sparkle, would be the most qualified unicorn to head this new prestigious institution,” Princess Celestia said.
Twilight found herself unable to say anything at all. The offer presented to her left her speechless.
“What do you say, Twilight, are you interested?” the Princess of the Sun inquired.
Twilight nervously began to look around. She peered behind the regal alicorns standing in front of her to see her friends in the background speaking to Twilight’s parents. She looked at them for quite a few moments.
“Twilight, did you hear me?” Celestia asked, re-grabbing Twilight’s attention. She shifted her gaze back at the two majestic princess sisters. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“I’m not sure,” she finally said hoping that the princesses wouldn’t be offended by her display of indecision. “I honestly don’t know yet if that’s something I would want to do.”
The two princesses did not appear to be offended by this at all. Celestia lifted her sympathetic hoof and placed it gently upon Twilight’s shoulder.
“We understand, Twilight. This is a big decision you need to make. Take some time to contemplate your options and desires. Just know that we will need a decision soon. The fall season will be here before you know it,” Celestia said.
Twilight looked up at her former instructor.
“Thank you for your patience and understanding, and the offer. I will let you know as soon as I reach my decision.” Twilight responded.

~~~

Twilight opened her eyes and looked at the town on the horizon, growing bigger in size with each passing moment. She realized that the train would be pulling into Ponyville Station in no time at all. Twilight yawned and smiled at the thought of being closer to snuggling up in her bed. It had been a long day for the purple unicorn and company, and she relished in knowing that it was finally almost over.
About a half an hour later, the train came to rest at Ponyville Train Station. Groggily, the inhabitants of the train cars exited the train and stepped onto the deserted platform. As some ponies gathered their luggage, the group of Twilight and her friends gathered in front of the ticket window.
“Goodnight, ya’ll,” Applejack yawned as she began her trek back to Sweet Apple Acres on the other side of Ponyville.
“Goodnight everypony,” Fluttershy quietly said as she headed off with Applejack towards the outskirts of the community.
“I’ll catch up with you all tomorrow,” said Rainbow Dash as she took off to her cloud home above the town, leaving only a streak of rainbow behind.
Rarity decided to walk back with Pinkie Pie to their respective homes nestled in the heart of Ponyville. They both bade Twilight goodnight as she began to walk with Spike back to her home and current place of work in Golden Oaks Library. 	Twilight and Spike moved their way through the dark and deserted town. As she began to see the library off in the distance, she noticed her youthful assistant was not moving very well.
“Want a ride?” Twilight offered.
“Please,” Spike said nodding.
It took two attempts for Spike to successfully climb atop Twilight’s back. But once he did, he exhaled a sigh of relief and slouched forward. His left cheek was resting on the nape of Twilight’s Sparkle’s neck. Spike let out a yawn and sighed. He noticed that Twilight was looking mightily down. It seemed very unusual for a pony that just graduated top in her class from an extremely respected and highly ranked institute.
“Twi, are you alright?” Spike tiredly asked.
“Yes, I’m fine Spike, what gives you the idea that I’m not?” Twilight retorted.
“It’s just, it seems that you became sad after you had that talk with the princesses after the ceremony.” Spike iterated. “I mean, what did they say to you?”
Twilight debated on whether or not to tell him about the offer of being a headmistress. He was going to be told regardless. However, she wasn’t sure if she would tell him now.
“I’ll tell you in the morning, Spike,” Twilight said.
“Promise?” asked Spike.
“Yes Spike,” Twilight replied.
“Pinkie promise?” Spike asked again.
“Pinkie promise,” Twilight reassured Spike. This mention of the ever-famous Pinkie promise left her with a slight smile on her face.
With that, Twilight noticed that her faithful sidekick had fallen asleep and was loudly snoring away. Twilight felt the vibrating sensation on the back of her neck and began to trot home a little bit faster.
A few minutes past when Twilight unlocked the door to the library. She opened the door, flooding the pitch-black interior of the library with the pale white moonlight. A magenta aura surrounded Twilight’s horn, as well a match on the other side of the library. She magically lit up the lantern and shut and locked the front door. Twilight sighed in relief; she was exhausted from all of the day’s events, and she could feel her hooves throbbing in discomfort.
She carried Spike upstairs and neatly tucked him into his little wicker bed. Twilight Sparkle then tossed his favorite blue blanket over him and tucked it tightly around him. She took a small pride in the fact that she got a sound asleep Spike tucked away into bed without waking him, or even stirring him. She rubbed her eyes as she heard a small rustling at her bedroom window. After deducing the correct window, she walked over to investigate the cause of the disturbance. The lavender pony opened the window, and into the window flew her pet and number two assistant Owlyicious.
“Who!” Owlyicious hooted in greeting.
“Hey Owlyicious, how are you tonight?” Twilight tiredly asked.
“Who!” was the only response Owlyicious could give.
Twilight giggled and petted the soft feathers on his back with her hoof. She stretched out and yawned. She smiled as she looked at her bed. The purple unicorn drew the covers and blankets atop her bed and snuggled under them. She exhaled all of her problems out of her as she did final preparations for her slumber. The only problem that could not be exhaled was the conundrum involving the job offer. Should she take the job? Twilight knew that taking the job meant she would have to leave her friends behind. But at the same time, she wanted to take the job. She longed to share her immense knowledge of magic with the masses of unicorns that would come to the school.
Twilight decided that she would think about this dilemma more in the morning. All she wanted now was to drift off into a blissful sleep. Twilight finally shut her eyes and drifted off into a peaceful slumber.

~~~

Twilight Sparkle reawakened the following morning when a warm, morning sunbeam came to rest upon her face. Her eyes batted open a few times. After her mind began functioning fluidly, she threw the covers off of her and looked down on the floor to the wicker basket that was Spike’s bed. It was empty, which meant that Spike would be downstairs preparing breakfast for the two of them. Twilight yawned and stretched her limbs out as far as can be. She relaxed after hearing the familiar cracking joint sounds and then rolled her neck a few times.
She stood off of the bed and set herself down on the floor. Slowly, Twilight made her way down the wooden staircase leading to the ground floor and main library room. As she felt her hooves step onto terra firma, Spike entered the same room from the kitchen, carrying a full breakfast tray. He placed the tray on the table in the center of the room and looked over at Twilight, who was approaching the appetizing looking breakfast that Spike had prepared.
“What did you make for us this morning Spike?” Twilight asked.
“Nothing special, just a bowl of hay and oats with a fresh apple and a glass of milk,” Spike replied. “Did you want something else?”
“No thanks, this is quite alright with me,” Twilight said.
With that, both Spike and Twilight Sparkle pulled up a chair and began to dig in to the simple breakfast tray laid out before them. Twilight took a small bite of her bright and juicy red delicious apple, while Spike shoveled a big spoonful of hay and oats into his mouth. He ate the giant spoonful in a single bite, leaving Twilight still wondering; How does he do that? Spike wiped a small amount of hay residue from the side of his mouth and looked over at Twilight.
“So, what did Celestia and Luna ask you last night after the ceremony?” Spike quietly asked.
This question reminded Twilight of the dilemma that had been running through her mind all of last night. She decided the previous night that it would be appropriate to inform Spike of the situation. He might even be able to provide some insight and maybe even a solution to her problem. She took a deep breath.
“In the fall, the Princesses are opening up another magic academy in Fillydelphia,” Twilight summarized. “They want me to be the headmistress of the new institution.”
An ear-to-ear smile instantaneously developed on Spike’s face.
“That’s amazing, Twilight! Congratulations!” Spike exclaimed.
“Thanks, but that’s not the problem,” Twilight retorted.
“Then what is?” Spike asked, perplexed.
“Taking the job would mean leaving Ponyville behind, our friends behind. I don’t know if I want to do that. I’m not sure what they’ll think! Especially Pinkie Pie. I mean, remember when she went crazy when Rainbow Dash left for a week of Wonderbolt Academy? This is a big decision I need to make, Spike, and I just don’t know what I want.”
Spike took a sip from his glass of milk.
“I see your point, Twi. That is a good point to think about,” Spike said.
“What do you think Spike?” Twilight asked.
“What do I think?” Spike replied.
“Yes,” Twilight quickly responded. “What do you think I should do?”
The duo of librarians stared at each other for a moment before Spike opened his mouth.
“Honestly, I would take it,” Spike said straightly.
“You would?” Twilight Sparkle asked. “Why would you do that?”
“Well,” Spike began, “this is an opportunity of a life time. I mean, what kind of unicorn can say that they were hoofpicked to run a school for some of the best magical unicorns in all of Equestria. I agree with the Princesses that you are the best pony to run things over there.”
“You really think so?” Twilight asked.
Spike nodded his head.
“What about our friends? What do you think they’ll say or think?” Twilight brought up.
“I think that they’ll say the same thing I just did. And don’t worry about Pinkie Pie. She’ll understand, and I have no doubt that she, as well as the rest of our friends, will be as proud of you as I am,” Spike confidently said.
Twilight thought long and hard, about a minute or so, about what Spike had just said. He knew deep down that she was right, and that her friends would be proud.
“You know, you’re right. I still want to ask what they think before I let Princess Celestia what I plan to do,” Twilight said.
“Of course, I agree that’s the right thing to do,” Spike responded.
They looked down at their breakfast plates to see that they had finished eating. Spike gathered all of the dirty dishes and piled them onto the tray. Twilight wiped her mouth and began to prepare for reshelving the returned books that she did not do the previous day. She magically lifted the stack of books out of the returns bin and carried them over to the sorting table they had just used to eat breakfast on. Twilight heard the door open and turned around to see who was there.
Fluttershy came strolling in, and Twilight smiled at seeing her yellow pegasus friend.
“Hey, Fluttershy! What brings you here?” Twilight warmly said.
“Oh, um hi, Twilight. I need a book,” Fluttershy said in response.
“What kind of book?” she inquisitively asked Fluttershy.
“I need a book about the duck billed platypus,.” Fluttershy responded. “I found one swimming in the creek by my house, and I was wondering how to take care of one.” 
Twilight went looking in the appropriate section for the book. She climbed the ladder to see if the book in question was on the top shelf.
“The duck billed platypus? I thought that was just an old mare’s tale,” Twilight stated.
“I thought so too, but I have one with me now,” Fluttershy said.
Twilight continued to cycle through the books on the top tier shelves.
“Ah hah!” Twilight exclaimed.
She used her magic to pull the appropriate book from the shelf and levitated it down to Fluttershy, who grabbed the hardcover book with her hooves.
“Thanks, Twilight!” Fluttershy said smiling. “Would you like to come see this platypus?”
Twilight shrugged.
“Why not?” she reasoned, “It’s not every day you get to see an odd creature.”
She shifted her sights towards the kitchen door. The sound of water running was heard by both ponies in the main room of the library.
“Spike!” Twilight called, hoping she could be heard over the water, “I’m heading out for a bit, if you need me, I’ll be at Fluttershy’s!”
After a moment of unresponsiveness from the kitchen, Twilight and Fluttershy simply heard: “Okay!” being called by Spike from the kitchen.
Twilight and Fluttershy walked down the main street of Ponyville, where multiple ponies stopped to congratulate Twilight on graduating from the Unicorn Academy. Finally, they passed by the famed Sugarcube Corner, where Fluttershy stopped walking. When Twilight noticed, she followed suit and turned around to face Fluttershy.
“Hey Twilight, do mind stopping here with me for a moment?” the pegasus asked. “I want to pick up the carrot cake for Angel bunny’s birthday tomorrow.”
“Not a problem, I could go for some tea scones for myself for later,” Twilight explained.
Fluttershy entered the confectionary restaurant first. The place was uncharacteristically dark and deserted. Twilight soon followed in. As soon as she past the threshold of the main door, the lights flickered on and her closest friends, and practically every other pony in Ponyville jumped out yelling, “SURPRISE!” Twilight jumped back and yelped from the genuine shock she had just received. A giant, multilayered cake was pushed in front of her by Applejack and Rainbow Dash. And out of the top layer of the cake popped Pinkie Pie, who picked Twilight up with her hooves high in the air.
“WELCOME TO YOUR DAY-AFTER-YOUR-GRADUATION PARTY!” Pinkie screamed, “DO YOU LOVE IT?”
“Th... Th... Thanks Pinkie,” Twilight stumbled, still shocked from the surprise and afraid of being dropped to the hard floor below.
“OH GOOD I GLAD YOU LIKED IT! 'CAUSE WE WERE GONNA DO THIS LAST NIGHT! But we got home too late, and everyone was asleep, but it was no problem because I was able to get extra balloons and cake and ice cream and–”
“PINKIE!” Twilight yelled, cutting off Pinkie’s rapid-fire monologue.
“Yes Twilight?” Pinkie asked.
“Thanks for the party, now could you put me down?” Twilight pleaded.
“Oh certainly!” Pinkie exclaimed.
She set Twilight down and Spike entered the premises.
“So, were you shocked Twilight?” Spike asked with a ‘haha gotcha’ grin on his face.
“You were in on this?” Twilight asked her baby dragon assistant.
“The whole time!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed before Spike could.
Twilight smiled and shed a small tear.
“Gosh, I don’t know what to say. Thank you so much!” Twilight said.
Rainbow Dash used her wings to lift her off of the ground and separate from the crowd.
“Alright! Enough with the sappiness! LET’S PARTY!” Rainbow cried.
With that, party music began to be blasted from the record player. Everypony in the room carried on with dancing and eating and all sorts of other fun stuff.
Hours passed by, and the sun had been lowered for the night by Princess Celestia. When Luna had the moon raised to replace the sun, the party had finally died down. Ponies were leaving one by one, leaving only the Cakes, Spike, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash. Now the graduation party had transitioned into a cleanup party. Bags of trash were hauled around the shop, with all of the decorations, empty cups, plates, and used utensils were all tossed in.
Rainbow Dash bumped into Twilight as she pulled around a broom.
“Sorry, Twi,” Rainbow Dash said apologetically.
“No problem, Rainbow,” Twilight said.
After a moment of silence, Twilight knew that this was the perfect opportunity to get her friends opinions on her possible new career pull.
“Rainbow Dash…” Twilight called out.
“Yeah, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash turned to respond.
“When we’re done cleaning up, I want to talk to all of you,” Twilight said.
“That’s fine. Let’s finish cleaning up,” said Rainbow Dash.
After finally cleaning up, the full moon hung high in the starry sky, and the mane six, along with Spike, gathered around the biggest table in the dining room of Sugarcube Corner. Mrs. Cake came out of the kitchen in the back.
“Would anypony like coffee or tea?” she inquired to the group.
“Tea would be fine Mrs. Cake,” Rarity replied.
“Okay dearies, I’ll be back soon,” Mrs. Cake said, departing back into the kitchen.
Twilight Sparkle looked at her friends sitting in the circle, eagerly anticipating the words that would fall out of Twilight’s mouth. Twilight knew what she wanted to say, but she couldn’t find the right words to say it. Finally, Rarity raised her hoof in the air just as Mrs. Cake came out carrying a tray with a teapot and seven teacups. Tea was poured and Mrs. Cake began to trot towards the staircase leading to the living portion above the shop.
“Pinkie Pie, will you lock you lock up the shop when your meeting is done? I’d like to go to bed, I’m quite exhausted,” Mrs. Cake asked.
“Sure, I will!” Pinkie Pie responded.
“Okay, thank you dearie! Goodnight, everypony!” Mrs. Cake announced as she climbed the staircase to the second story and finally departed out of sight.
Applejack looked over at Twilight Sparkle.
“What did you want to want to tell us sugarcube?” asked Applejack.
Twilight took a deep breath and let the same story that she told Spike earlier in the morning fall out. Each one of her friends listened intently, as she poured out her trepidations about each possible eventuality that could come with the choice she could make. When she finished, there was a silence amongst Twilight’s genuinely surprised friends. This silence was finally broken when Fluttershy leaned in towards the center of the table.
“Well, what do you want to do, Twilight?” Fluttershy softly asked.
“Yeah, it our opinions aren’t as important as your opinion Twilight,” Rainbow Dash added.
The rest of the ponies at the table nodded in agreement then looked at Twilight, waiting for her to answer. She shut her eyes, somewhat afraid of the responses she could receive.
“I don’t want to leave you ponies, but... but...” Twilight began to stutter.
“But…” Rarity said, trying to nudge Twilight along.
“I think I want to take the job,” Twilight said, “This is the opportunity of a lifetime, and I would like to take it.”
“Then take the job Twilight.” Fluttershy said, breaking the silence.
Rarity nodded in agreement. “I agree darling, you should take it.”
“Magic is your thing, and that’s awesome, Twilight! Follow your desires and be as awesome as I am!” Rainbow Dash contributed.
“Sugarcube,” Applejack began to say, “We love all love ya, and we want nothing more than to be happy. We’ll support whatever you want to do.”
“But don’t you understand?” Twilight rationed. “This means I’ll have to leave Ponyville.”
“We’re all friends, Twilight you silly filly!” Pinkie Pie piped up. “We’ll all be friends forever! Whether we’re all in the same room, or all over Equestria. Even at the bottom of the ocean, or in space, or hanging off the edge of a cliff with an avalanche heading right towards us!”
Twilight giggled at the latest sign of her pink friend’s randomness.
“Spike!” Twilight called.
“Yes!” Spike responded.
“Take a letter.” Twilight responded back.
Spike whipped out the scroll of parchment and a quill, ready to transcribe what Twilight was going to say.
“Dear Princess Celestia,” Twilight dictated, “I first off wish to thank you and Princess Luna once again for the opportunity that you presented me. I have decided that after much consideration and some reassurance from my loved ones, that I shall take the position of headmistress of Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns in Fillydelphia. Faithfully yours, Twilight Sparkle.”
Spike dotted the final period on the letter and wrapped it up in a roll. He took a deep breath, and with his magical green fire breath, he sent the letter away to Princess Celestia.
“Now we wait,” said Twilight.
However, almost instantly, Spike loudly belched up the lettered response from Celestia.
Everypony in the room gathered around the letter on the floor, and watched with much anticipation as Spike unraveled the scroll. Spike glanced over the written words for a moment before clearing his throat.
“Twilight Sparkle, my faithful former student,” Spike read aloud, “It delights me to know that you accept this position, and it delights me even more that your friends are all supportive and understanding about the upcoming changes in your life as well as theirs. With that being said, we have a lot of ground to cover if we want the school to open on time this fall. I am asking that you report in Fillydelphia in one week’s time to begin orientation and planning for the school semester in the fall. As always, Princess Celestia of Equestria.”
Spike rerolled the letter, and Twilight looked back at all her friends.
“Well, let’s enjoy the final week we have together, guys,” Twilight said with a smile on her face.
Everypony nodded in agreement.

~~~

The next week came and went at a rather quick pace. Twilight spent most of the week packing her belongings and making arrangements for the library’s care after her departure.
Finally, the fateful morning arrived, and Twilight Sparkle stood staring at her empty bedroom. Her and Spike’s possessions were already in place at their new posh apartment in Fillydelphia. As Twilight took one last surreal look in the adoptive home that she came to know and love, Spike entered carrying a watch.
“Twilight, we better get going if we want to catch the train,” he said.
Twilight sighed.
“You okay?” Spike asked, noticing that Twilight was looking rather down.
“I’ll be fine, it’s just all happening so fast Spike. I’m nervous is all,” Twilight confided.
Spike hugged her back leg.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be fine. Aren’t we always?” Spike said trying to cheer her up.
Twilight thought about it for a minute, and then she smiled.
“You’re right, remember the hydra incident?” Twilight chuckled.
“I sure do, and the time when Princess Celestia wanted us, or more so Fluttershy, to reform Discord?” Spike brought up. 
They both laughed as Spike threw Twilight’s saddlebag on top of her. Then she let Spike climb up on her back, she turned around and walked down the staircase.
“We had a lot of fun adventures together, Spike, and let’s hope that there will be more together.” Twilight told Spike as she walked through the library exit one last time.
It was only a few-minute walk to the train station. When the purple duo reached the back lot of the station, Twilight found Rarity and Pinkie Pie waiting there for her. She smiled as she saw them.
“Hey guys! What are you doing here?” Twilight asked.
“Darling, did you really think that we would let our best friend leave without saying goodbye?” Rarity answered.
“Twilight silly! We all wanted to wish you well,” Pinkie Pie added.
“All? Who’s all?” Twilight inquired.
Rarity and Pinkie Pie didn’t answer. Instead they led her to the platform around the other side of the building. The sight that greeted Twilight upon her arrival caused her to stop in awe.
Standing on the platform were not only Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash, but also every other pony in Ponyville. Strung from the rafters was a large banner, which was inscribed with: “GOODBYE & GOODLUCK TWILIGHT SPARKLE.”
A tear fell from Twilight’s eye, and she wiped it away. Her heart melted at this display of affection from the residents.
“Did you all come just for me?” Was all Twilight could ask.
Everypony nodded. The mayor of Ponyville stepped forward from the crowd.
“You’ve done so much for us, Miss Sparkle, we all figured, at the very least, that this is what we could do for you,” The mayor informed Twilight.
“Thank you, everypony,” Twilight responded rather quietly, still unable to process the act of kindness.
She took a gaze at her friends. They all had faces rife with sadness and disappointment. Rainbow Dash wore her trademark sunglasses, even though there was not a cloud in the sky. It suddenly became obvious to Twilight that the sunglasses were for Rainbow Dash to mask her tears.
A horn sounded off in the distance, and everypony swiveled their heads to the left. The horn belonged to the approaching train, its smoke trail could be seen off in the valley.
Twilight and her friends gathered around for one final group hug.
“Don’t worry everypony, I’ll come visit as often as I can,” Twilight said with tears streaming down her cheeks.
Everypony squeezed Twilight back, knowing that this might the last time for a long time that they would all get to see each other.
The train now pulled up to the platform, coming to a loud halt. The departing passengers stepped off the train and pushed their way through the goodbye party that had arranged itself on the platform.
Twilight, as well as her friends, knew that it was time to go. She looked up at her crowd of well wishers, who parted a path to the first passenger car behind the locomotive itself. She walked through the path with Spike who boarded the car first.
As Twilight stepped onto the stairs leading to the inside of the car, she paused and turned around, taking one final look at all of the Ponyville residents and forced herself into a smile.
“Don’t worry my friends, I promise that we will all meet again.” Twilight announced.
And then, she departed onto the train as it began to puff and chug its way to the eastern port of Equestria.
The residents watched in silence as the train picked up more and more momentum, eventually disappearing into the horizon. 
Twilight Sparkle was now gone. 
The townsponies began to leave the station, however, Twilight’s five friends remained on the platform. They watched the eastern horizon in a somber silence, hoping that they would get to see their lavender unicorn friend again one day.

> Chapter Two: Ten Years Later
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


CHAPTER TWO:
TEN YEARS LATER


Rain fell in sheets over Ponyville, somewhat melting the high mounds of filthy gray snow lodged with leaves, and twigs, and other various pieces of debris. Lights, as well as the outdoor temperature, were all dimmed to a record low throughout the town as Princess Luna’s moon failed to peek through the thick pillow of solid gray clouds that hung overhead.
The Ponyville train station sat in the pure darkness when off in the distance, on the western-bound track, a small round orb of pale light shone into view. With each passing second, the orb grew larger, and the sheen of the orb grew even brighter. Finally, at the platform, the orb of light came to a complete halt, and it was obvious that it belonged to an Equestrian locomotive.
The train stood still for a moment, letting pockets of translucent steam hiss out of the vents and shoot into the air. The final passenger car opened, allowing a single pony to exit from the warmth of the car into the arctic air. This mare was hidden by a long, body-length khaki cloak. The only portions of the pony that were visible were the tips of her hooves and a pair of piercing violet eyes that shone from the blackness of the hood concealing the rest her face.
The violet eyed mare turned, startled as the entrance to the train car shut. She watched in total silence as the train began to slowly maneuver its way down the tracks ahead, eventually picking up forward momentum and disappearing in the vast abyss that was the western horizon. The hidden pony then turned and focused her attention on the state that the train station was in. Over the past decade, the once clean, lively, and prosperous train depot had fallen into massive disrepair. Large and gaping holes were sprinkled about the boarding platform. Columns supporting the roof were splintered and sagged, looking quite unable to hold up the roof for much longer. Out of the three ticket windows that overlooked the platform, only had not been boarded up. The pony calmly approached the only window that could still be looked through, and even then, it was still extremely difficult to see the interior of the building.
The pair of violet eyes squinted and paired through the dirt-caked and cracked window to see a rather melancholy sight. Inside, two mangy rats were duking it out over a rotting and long-browned apple core. The pony became implausibly mesmerized by the display of the smaller rat putting up a valiant effort to protect its meal from the larger, more menacing-looking rat.
Finally, the disguised mare had enough of watching this grotesqueness and sighed. She readjusted the plain brown saddlebag draped across her back and then slowly walked off the platform, out of the protection from the rain that the shoddy roof had provided. A bone-chilling gust of wind sent the rain into a different trajectory, from straight down to nearly raining sideways. Drops of rain stung the pony’s face in a pain on par with being stung by a thousand angry hornets. Each drop of rain blurred her vision as she slowly trudged through the muck made up of rain, melted snow, mud, and other ground debris. Finally, after a long, grueling hour, the pony reached the destination of Golden Oaks Library, which was normally a ten-minute walk to the train station. The pony looked up at a sign on the door that read:


TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
THE LIBRARY IS CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
WE APOLOGIZE FOR ANY INCONVIENCES CAUSED


The pony’s heart dropped just a little bit after reading this sign. But nonetheless, she reached into the saddlebag, pulled out a key, and placed it in the lock. After a few minutes of jiggling the lock, the door creaked open, after which the pony rushed inside to escape the cold and rain.
The door was shut, kicking up a swirling cloud of dust in the old library. The hooded pony looked around the abandoned tree interior to see nothing but blinding darkness. Even though she had stepped out of the rain, it was still just as bitterly cold inside the library as it was outdoors. And the fact that the pony was wearing a saturated garment didn’t help matters any, in fact, it made her even colder. She knew it was time to act fast before a dreadful sickness sat in. With chattering teeth, the pony made her way over to the fireplace and checked the wood bin to see if there was wood any left over from the library’s last usage. Much to her surprise, there was still some left inside the storage bin. It may have only been a few small pieces of wood, but it was dry and just enough to suffice for a warm fire.
The pony tossed the contents of the wood receptacle onto the fireplace grate, which allowed all the soot and ash to seep through to the ground.
But what to use for kindling? she wondered.
Looking around the library, came to the realization that there was a source for kindling, which was the thousands upon thousands of old books that made her home right here in Golden Oaks. But dismissed the thought of using a book to start a fire, as she could never bring herself to disrespect any book like that. However, a change of heart soon swept through, as an icy draft wafted her way through the window and sent the sopping wet pony into shivers.
No matter, swallowed her pride and grabbed the smallest book on the nearest shelf she could find. It was a tattered old copy of Funny Dinner 4: The Funny Hijinks of Dinner Colt. It was one of the few books that she could not stand at all. She disliked the movie even more than the novel. So with a slightly clearer conscience, she tossed the book onto the top of the firewood. A lit match almost immediately followed, starting a small fire sheening of bright orange and red hues.
The pony calmly approached the brightly glowing warm fire. Giving a loud sigh as she felt the heat from the fire beginning to warm her entire body, she slowly dropped the saddlebag from her back. The bag hit the ground with a thud, and finally, removed the cloak that was concealing her features.
Twilight Sparkle stood atop her disguise and stared at the almost hypnotic sight of the fire and sighed. She sat on the dusty floor and stuck her hooves out in front of the embers, hoping to warm her hooves. She rubbed them together and blew warm breath on them. She stood up and looked around the room, saddened by the sight of the place she had once called home: volumes upon volumes of books that hadn’t been opened, let alone touched, in what seemed like ages. Almost everything was caked with a thick layer of gray dust. Twilight shut her eyes, hoping that this sight wasn’t true. But it was, no matter how many times she tried to reason with herself that it wasn’t.
Twilight looked at herself in an old mirror. She had never fully noticed before how much she had aged in the past decade. She was still the same size as she was before, however, a lot of her other features had changed. Her mane and tail, once lustrous and shiny violet with a streak of neon pink, had become dulled and grayed. They were both still violet, but with wisps of gray peeking out. Dark circles and bags of exhaustion had taken up a seemingly permanent residence below her eyelids. Her coat used to be a bright lavender hue with soft, delicate fur. But the lavender had faded into dullness, and her fur was full of mats and other rough patches. One thing, however, stood out as a glaring change in Twilight’s appearance. Her unicorn horn was now mangled and misshapen. The purple pony was still capable of doing magic;, however, she was nowhere near as capable as she used to be. There were even times when her horn didn’t function at all. She looked at her massively aged body in the mirror and sighed. Twilight Sparkle had looked in the mirror at herself dozens upon dozens of times within the past few years. However, this was the first time that she really noticed how much she had aged in the past decade.
Gee, Twilight thought, I look so much older than I should. That’s something Rarity would be worried about.
Twilight shed a tear as she thought about her fashionista friend. It had been just over ten years since she saw Rarity, as well as her other friends. Twilight had written her friends diligently at first. She sent weekly letters for the first year. However, as she became more and more involved in her career, the amount of letters trickled down from weekly, to monthly, to bimonthly, and finally, she just stopped sending them.
Twilight realized that she had last sent a letter over eight years ago. This angered her, as she had broken her Pinkie Promise to her friends, the mares that she loved just like they were her family. She shook her head and walked away from the mirror. Then she picked her saddlebag up off of the ground and emptied the contents onto the table. One piece of paper fell to the hit the side of the paper and fell to the ground. Twilight bent over to pick it up and swiped it off of the floor, realizing that it was photograph. She took a look at the photograph, with its aged yellow tint and frayed corners. The photo was of her and Spike dressed as Star Swirl the Bearded and a baby purple dragon respectively. She looked at the date on the bottom left hand corner and saw that it was dated back to both of their first Nightmare Night in Ponyville.
A tear of sadness fell from Twilight’s eye; she wiped it away and became lost in the photograph. She thought about Spike and wondered how he was. Twilight could hardly believe that it had been seven years since she and Spike had parted ways. Twilight choked up and shut her eyes.
She sadly could still remember it just like it happened yesterday.

~~~

Twilight awoke in the morning in her special dormitory at the Academy. She looked at the clock, reading five-thirty in the A.M. and looked out her window. The night sky was about to give way to Princess Celestia’s raising of the cool springtime sun. She smiled and tossed the covers off of her bed and stretched all the limbs in her body that she could and yawned. She and Spike had been at the academy for only a semester and a half, but she already felt like she was home. 
The lavender headmistress looked over at Spike’s wicker bed to see the covers thrown off and the bed empty. Twilight looked and saw that the bathroom was unoccupied and cleared her throat.
“Spike!” Twilight Sparkle called out, worried about her number one assistant.
Twilight then opened the balcony door and stepped outside, the chilly spring air felt good against her shiny, soft coat. She scanned the area from the balcony, which overlooked the entire boarding academy. There was no sign of him out there that she could see.
“SPIKE!!” Twilight cried with more worry in her voice than before.
Finally, when she hung her head down, scared and wondering what to do next, Twilight heard:
“I’m up here Twi,” an unseen Spike calmly replied.
Twilight’s head immediately perked up in anticipation. With wide bug eyes, she frantically began to look around the balcony.
“I told you,” Spike called out, “I’m up here!”
“Where’s here?” Twilight responded.
“Look up,” Spike said after a moment of silence.
Twilight followed suit and looked up to see Spike sitting on the roof nonchalantly. He smiled at Twilight, who stared back at him in complete and utter confusion.
“Spike,” Twilight called, “how in Equestria did you get up there?”
Spike did not reply; he just started laughing.
“Hold on Spike,” Twilight said. “I’ll get you down!”
“No need Twi,” Spike replied.
With that, he stood up and walked over to the edge of the roof, the last sign of terra firma before at least a six foot drop to the balcony floor.
“Spike!” Twilight screamed. “No!”
But it was too late, Spike had stepped off the edge of the roof and began his hasty descent. Twilight frantically leaped forward hoping to catch her closest confidante, but he never reached the ground.
Twilight heard what sounded like flapping wings. She slowly looked up to see Spike, levitating himself to the ground with his brand new pair of dragon wings. As Spike landed, Twilight could only stare directly at his smugly smiling face with her mouth comically agape. After a few moments of awkward silence, Spike unfurled his wings again.
“So,” Spike asked proudly, “Whaddya think of these new babies?”
“W… Wh… When did you get those?” Twilight inquisitively stammered.
“Sometime between bedtime and four o’ clock this morning,” Spike responded. “I noticed these when I woke up to go to the bathroom.”
Twilight shut her mouth and recomposed herself. She knew that one day he may sprout wings, but did not expect it to happen so soon. The thought of Spike growing up brought out the maternal side of her. She was sad, yet proud of Spike like the way a mother becomes sad when her children grow up and go out into the world.
The lavender headmistress forced a smile and gave Spike a hug.
“Congratulations, Spike!” Twilight said proudly.
They continued to hug as the sun now officially burst into the far eastern horizon.
It turned out that Spike growing his wings were just the tip of the iceberg in terms of his maturation. As the days, and weeks, and months passed, Spike began to grow bigger and bigger. His size increased, his teeth grew sharper and more abundant, the pupils in his eyes grew narrower and more lizard-like, and his voice grew deeper and much more masculine.
Finally, about a year after Spike grew his wings, he had become too large to enter into the dormitory, let alone, anywhere else that was interior in the school. Spike, who was once so excited about growing up, had now grown more and more depressed as his size increased. His new bed space was the entire balcony was confined to the outdoor campus, and while the students of the academy liked Spike and knew he was pretty harmless, they began to grow fearful of being crushed by his gigantic purple and green body.
Although Spike was depressed about his new features, he hid his inhibitions from Twilight because he knew that it would devastate her if he decided to leave. It had been something that he had been thinking about for at least a year. Spike yearned to spread his wings and aerially explore the lands beyond Equestria. From his sleeping space on the balcony, he watched the stars and wanted to fly to them. He loved Twilight, he loved her so much, but he wanted to leave.
Little did Spike know that it pained Twilight to see Spike cooped up in the school grounds. She could see it in his eyes and his actions, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. Twilight often spent sleepless nights pondering what to do. She wanted Spike to be happy, but at the same time, she struggled with a small sense of selfishness over her number one assistant. After all, Twilight hatched Spike and raised him with Princess Celestia. Spike was arguably Twilight’s closest, and at this time, only friend in Equestria. This was around the same time that she had stopped communicating with the rest of her pony friends back in Ponyville. Finally, one spring night, a little over a year after Spike began his dragon puberty, Twilight awoke from a sleepless toss and turn to get a drink from her dormitory’s kitchen. On her stroll towards the eating space, she caught out of the corner of her eye Spike watching Princess Luna’s exceptionally large full moon. She walked over to the sliding glass door and pressed her nose against the glass. Spike did not notice, as his sight and mind were lost in the night sky. As he once again yearned for the chance to explore, a tear fell from his eye.
Spike choked up, trying not to burst into a fit of tears. However, inside the dorm, Twilight pulled back and began to cry. She knew her number one confidante was miserable, and now Twilight had finally come to terms with the fact that it was time for the two of them to go their separate ways.
Twilight awoke the next morning looking like she had not slept at all. She splashed some water in her face in the bathroom and sighed. The purple unicorn knew that it was time for her and Spike to talk, and the sooner the better. She knew that the longer she waited, the harder it would be to do so.
Twilight Sparkle looked out to the balcony. Spike wasn’t there, but she could see him in the courtyard of the school. Tears welled up below the surface, and Twilight could feel a sickness in the pit of her stomach. No matter, she shook it off. It was time to do it.
Out in the courtyard, Spike, now the size of a normal adult dragon, leaned against one of the wings of the school. He sighed; he was going to tell Twilight how he felt finally, as soon as he saw her, so he wouldn’t talk herself out of it later.
“Hey Spike,” a familiar female voice quietly called out.
Spike turned around to see his best friend straining her neck to see his face.
“Hiya Twi,” Spike replied in an extremely deep voice.
“What are you doing down here?” Twilight asked.
Spike shrugged.
“Just checking out the view,” Spike replied. “It’s actually quite nice down here.”
A brief bit of silence followed before Spike extended his massive dragon claw to the ground in front of Twilight.
“Wanna check it out?” Spike asked with a small smile on his face.
Twilight stepped into the wide open palm of his claw, allowing him to lift her up to his level. The hulking dragon let Twilight down on the roof. They both looked out at the view of the Fillydelphia skyline. The view wasn’t as majestic and breathtaking as it was from the balcony of Twilight’s bedroom, but it was still pretty to look at, especially at this time of the morning, with the morning sun glistening off of the city’s tallest skyscrapers.
Spike and Twilight both took their eyes off of the city view and looked at each other.
“Can we talk?” both Twilight and Spike asked at the very same time.
The awkward timing flabbergasted both purple creatures.
“You first,” Spike said.
Twilight took a deep breath and let the words fall out of her mouth.
“Have you ever looked out beyond the horizon and wanted to explore it?” Twilight asked.
Spike shot her a ‘how did you know?’ look.
“I’ve known you’ve wanted to leave Spike,” Twilight explained. “I always knew this day might come, and I have to accept that.”
“I do want to go, Twilight,” Spike confessed, “but at the same time, I don’t want to leave you.”
“I understand. I don’t want you to leave either,” Twilight retorted, “however, I also want you to be happy. And can you honestly tell me that you’re truly happy here?”
Spike clenched his teeth and sighed. He let his claw down and allowed Twilight to climb on. Spike carried her up to eye level. The unicorn nudged her nose against Spike’s larger nose.
“I love you Spike,” Twilight said with tears streaming down her face.
“I love you too Twilight,” Spike replied. “I will always remember you, Twilight.”
She gently placed her hoof against his nose.
“I will never forget you Spike, my little dragon,” Twilight said sadly.
They both shared one last smile before Spike set Twilight back down upon the grassy courtyard. Spike stretched his mammoth wings out wide. With a final wave, he leapt off of the ground and flew high into the air.
Twilight could only watch as her now former number one assistant had departed to make a life of his own. She sighed and wiped the tears from her eyes, and began to walk back indoors.

~~~

Twilight reopened her eyes and looked down upon the photograph that brought back that painful memory and placed it facedown upon the table. She looked back into the saddlebag that she had dumped out earlier and pulled out one final item that did not fall out earlier: a letter. She picked up and read it again, like she had several times before. The letter read:

Dear Twilight Sparkle,
I am very appalled and disappointed in the incident that occurred this past week.  Although I understand that you have been maimed in this unfortunate incident and are still recovering, it has come to my attention that your actions led to this unspeakable tragedy. Therefore, as of this moment, you are relived of your duties as headmistress. You are also required to attend an official inquiry hearing on this subject at the time of ten-thirty of the morning of this upcoming Wednesday.

As always,
Princess Celestia of Equestria

Twilight grimaced at this letter again.
Normally, Princess Celestia wouldn't have been this un-cordial. It intially confused Twilight as to why she had just recieved a letter from her former mentor, rather than receiving a visit from the Princess herself. Had something changed with the Equestrian ruler since she had last saw her years ago? It simply baffled Twilight. But she would find out what was going on with the regal alicorn soon enough.  Twilight took one last look at the summons in her hooves, and in anger, she crumpled it up and threw atop of the still strongly burning blaze in the fireplace. Looking at the paper blacken and shrink in the fireplace, she decided that she had had enough and that she need some rest.
The injured unicorn climbed the rickety old staircase leading to the old bedroom she used to occupy. She opened the door and took a view. The room was barren, save for the thick layers of dust and an old, dirty mattress in the corner of the room. Twilight looked at the mattress in disgust. It looked so dirty, and smelly, but decided to suck it up for the night because it was better than laying in the inches thick dust layers.
The exhausted mare slowly climbed onto the mattress, it sagged under her weight and she could feel a couple of the metal springs poking out of the fabric, causing a severe sense of discomfort. She took a few minutes to readjust herself before finding the most comfortable position available. Finally, Twilight grew too weary to care about being totally comfortable. Her eyes became heavier and heavier with each passing moment.
Twilight Sparkle shut her eyes and drifted off into a deep sleep.

> Chapter Three: Disappointing Reunions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


CHAPTER THREE:
DISAPPOINTING REUNIONS


Even though the temperature was cold, the sun gave off a warm sheen, helping the air to feel warmer than it actually was. Snaps and cracks were heard as Twilight Sparkle led a group of twelve young teenage unicorns out of the great forest that laid adjacent to the metropolis that was Fillydelphia.

They stopped at the edge of a cliff and looked out at the ginormous Lake Pegasi that outstretched as far as the eye could see. Twilight stood and paced in front of her students the way an army drill sergeant does with his or her recruits.

“What are we doing here today Miss Sparkle?” asked a young male unicorn.

Before Twilight could answer, the world around her began to fade out and then–

~~~

Twilight Sparkle awoke in a cold sweat. She instinctively patted her body all around, checking for injuries. She was relieved that she hadn’t found any, until she put her hoof to her mangled horn, serving as an instant reminder to Twilight why she was in the boat that she was in. She stretched out her legs and looked around the room.

It was still pretty dark in the room, although thin slivers of natural sunlight from the boarded up windows indicated that it was indeed morning. Twilight stood up straight and rolled her neck. It was a Tuesday, so she didn’t have to be in Canterlot until the next morning. As Twilight exited the room and descended the staircase, she felt a large and rather loud rumbling in her stomach. She had barely eaten anything much at all in the past week, but it had never been made apparent until now. Twilight Sparkle didn’t think that anything edible would be left in the kitchen, but she decided that she would make an attempt regardless.

The door to the kitchen was opened for the first time in what was probably multiple years. Twilight opened up one of the pantry doors; there was nothing in the cabinet except for some unidentifiable crumbs. She shut the door. Over in the next pantry, all that was there was a long expired box of saltine crackers, and old can of beans. Twilight stuck her tongue in utter disgust. She hated beans more than any other food out there. It wasn’t necessarily because of the taste, although it was a taste that Twilight could’ve done without, but because beans never agreed with Twilight’s digestive system. 

Finally, she checked the third pantry door. It held multiple cobwebs, and a spider with an egg sac filled with countless younglings, but it had no food meant for ponies.

Twilight Sparkle slammed the third and final pantry door. She grumbled over her futile attempt at finding food in the library. It was then that she heard and felt her stomach growling once again, this time, more violently than before. The unicorn looked in the main foyer and saw that the once burning fire had been reduced to nothing but ash and dust. She had remembered that all of the dry firewood had been used when she had returned less than twelve hours previous.
Well, Twilight thought, I might as well go gather some firewood. And some food for that matter.

Twilight approached her tan and khaki cloak and rubbed her hoof on it to see if it had dried out overnight. The thick, wool cloak was still slightly damp, but it was wearable. Twilight picked up the garment and tossed it onto her back. The dampness of the fabric sent chills down Twilight’s spine.

No matter, it would do for now.

She opened up the door to the outside. A blast of arctic wind was the first thing to greet Twilight, who reflexively clenched her eyes shut. Her tear ducts activated trying to keep her closed eyes from drying out. Finally, the gust of icy wind dissipated and Twilight stepped out of the almost abandoned library and shut the door behind her.

The sun was out and shining, however, it made no difference to the temperature as the oldened, Twilight Sparkle wandered through her old hometown, where it appeared that the years were even more unkind to the town than they were to Twilight herself. Town hall, sitting in the center of Ponyville, looked like a rotting brown specter against the brightness of the sun in a contrasting clear and blue sky. The wind perked up once again, sending Twilight’s teeth into a loud chatter, as well as sending her hood flying off of her head, now exposed to the arctic, almost in-equine elements. Twilight trotted towards Sugarcube Corner, which appeared to be the only business in the downtown district that hadn’t closed shop. Twilight was hungry, but she knew that the confectionary wouldn’t be open yet.

Twilight turned and set her gaze off into the west side of the once thriving small village. She walked towards the western outskirts of Ponyville, looking at an all too familiar place off in the distance. With each passing step, Twilight drew closer to the estate of a once dependable, old friend.

~~~

The sun had become hidden by a passing gray cloud as the barn door to Sweet Apple Acres swung wide open, allowing Applejack to step out onto the frozen wasteland of the apple orchard that she had called home since she was a foal. Like Twilight Sparkle, the past ten years had aged Applejack as well. She sported a more muscular figure, however, her eyes showed circles darker than Princess Luna’s night, and her face was haggard and showed a weight of utter exhaustion. Applejack sighed, just as a gust of icy wind sailed through her apricot hued coat, leaving her to stamp her hooves on the ground to try and drive the sudden chill from her very body. As the burst of wind ceased, she noticed Big Macintosh off in the distance sitting under a barren and brittle tree, staring at a small stone monolith.

As Applejack began to slowly approach Big Macintosh on the other side of the farm, Apple Bloom left the confines of the barn and stepped out onto the barren earth. Apple Bloom had transformed from being a small filly into a fully-grown mare, being roughly about the same size as Applejack. She wore her mane cut slightly shorter and still sported her trademarked big red bow in her mane. However, now that Apple Bloom was bigger, it didn’t look quite as big on her. Perhaps the biggest difference in Apple Bloom now wasn’t her size, it was the cutie mark on her flank. Apple Bloom’s cutie mark consisted of an artist’s palette constructed into the shape of an apple, with all of the colors of the rainbow filling in each little paint tray. This was a rather fitting cutie mark for the pony that had singlehoofedly redesigned and repaired Applejack’s old tree house into the Cutie Mark Crusader’s clubhouse all of those years ago

Apple Bloom caught up with Applejack just as she sat on the frozen tundra next to Big Macintosh. Apple Bloom did the same, except she sat on the on the opposite side of Big Macintosh.

The three Apple Family siblings stared in silence at the small grey stone monolith that laid no more than two feet in front of them. In the center of the monolith was a faded inscription that read:


GRANNY SMITH
Beloved friend and grandmother


Applejack sighed at the sight of Granny Smith’s simple stone memorial. Even though it had been a couple months since she had passed in a blissful sleep, the mental wounds still resided in the mind of not only Applejack, but also of Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom.

The Apples silently stared at the memorial before Applejack sighed. This sigh was followed by Apple Bloom letting a few tears of grief fall from her eyes. Big Macintosh noticed this and he lifted his mammoth right hoof and wrapped it around Apple Bloom’s body. He reeled her in and she buried her face into his warm red coat and began to sob uncontrollably. Applejack wrapped her hooves around her beloved brother and sister. After about a minute, Applejack let the two ponies go, and Big Macintosh followed suit and released Apple Bloom from his grasp.

The blood red stallion sighed, knowing that it was time to leave now before it would be even harder to do so. He stood upright and his sisters mimicked his action. Apple Bloom grabbed a rolled up blanket and a saddlebag. She draped the blanket and bag over the large back of Big Macintosh. Applejack used her teeth to grab a large metal helmet from the ground. Big Macintosh lowered his head, allowing his orange-coated sister to place the helmet over his gruff, towheaded mane. Big Macintosh lowered his head and gave Applejack a hug goodbye. Then he turned over towards Apple Bloom and gave her a tight embrace that almost lifted her off of the ground. He nuzzled his nose against her forehead and finally gently placed her back on the frozen earth below.

The stallion turned and took one last look at his homestead and sighed. He turned and began to walk towards the town.

“Ya’ll be careful now big brother! We love ya!” Applejack cried out.

Big Macintosh stopped dead in his tracks. He turned his head around and tried his best to smile.

“Eeyup.” was the only response that the mammoth red stallion could give. With that, Big Macintosh sadly trotted towards the entranceway of Sweet Apple Acres.

~~~

Twilight Sparkle took a look up at the entry to Sweet Apple Acres, the hanging sign was rotting off of its rusted hinges. It creaked as it swayed freely in the breeze. Twilight sighed and crossed the threshold into the Apple homestead. As she slowly walked through, she noticed Big Macintosh walking towards the entrance. She stopped and watched as he left the orchard, seeming almost oblivious to Twilight standing there. The red stallion disappeared into the distance and Twilight turned her sights at the dilapidated barn off in the distance and started making her way towards that very sight.

~~~

Applejack felt a hoof touch her shoulder; she spun quickly to see Apple Bloom retracting a hoof of her own.

“What is it Apple Bloom?” Applejack inquired.

“Do you want a cup of tea Applejack? I’m making a cup for myself to go.” Apple Bloom said.

Applejack sighed.

“Actually, I would,” Applejack said, “Ya’ll head back inside now, I’m gonna see if I can get some more firewood.”

Apple Bloom nodded and headed back towards the barn. Applejack walked to the other side of the aged and rotting barn. She came to a structure against the wall that was covered up by a blue tarp. Applejack approached the tarp, noticing that a couple of never before seen rips were strewn across the tarp. The shroud was removed from the pile of firewood, and Applejack patted the logs neatly stacked against the side of the barn.

“Shoot.” Applejack said, dejectedly.

She shook her head in frustration. The firewood had become wet and damp from the torrential storm the previous night.
At least I have enough firewood to stretch through till tommora, Applejack thought.
She began to pull a few of the larger pieces of wood from the configuration when she heard the sounds of hoofsteps behind her.

“What is it Apple Bloom?” Applejack asked, not taking her eyes off of the wood in her hooves.

“I’m not Apple Bloom,” a familiar voiced softly replied.

Applejack’s red and veiny eyes popped open, and she dropped the damp firewood to the ground. Slowly she turned to see a pony whose voice she hadn’t heard in just over a decade. Twilight Sparkle stood nervously about a few feet away from Applejack. The apricot coated earth pony could do nothing except drop her jaw as she correctedly deduced who was standing behind her. 

Mixed feelings rushed through Applejack. Sure Twilight Sparkle stopped communicating with Applejack, as well as the rest of her friends, several years prior, however, at the same time, Applejack was happy to see her.

“I… I… Thought you was in Fillydelphia…” was all that Applejack could stammer out.

“I was.” Twilight replied.

Applejack slowly stepped forward and hugged her old friend. Twilight returned the awkward, yet genuine hug. The middle Apple released Twilight from her grasp and stepped slightly back to get another good look at each other.

“You sure look… Different Applejack,” Twilight quietly said in disbelief.

“ I reckon I could say the same about you sugarcube,” Applejack responded.

She noticed a part of Twilight’s disfigured horn underneath the worn, tan shroud that Twilight had on.

“What happened to your horn?” Applejack asked with a voice filled with awe and concern.

Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“It’s a long story AJ,” Twilight said, “Do you have a couple minutes to talk?”

Applejack nodded.

“I do,” Applejack immediately fired back, “Are you hungry? I mean, I already ate breakfast, but I’m sure Apple Bloom and I could rustle up something for ya.”

Twilight thought about it for a moment.

“Sure.” The shrouded unicorn responded.

The wind picked up again, sending shivers through the bodies, and souls, of Applejack and Twilight Sparkle.
“Come on in Twi,” Applejack said, guiding Twilight to the nearest door.

~~~

The kettle loudly whistled in the kitchen, leading Apple Bloom to remove the boiling hot water from the stove. She poured the contents of the kettle atop three different dry tea bags in three different cups. The saturated leaves began to discolor the clear, hot water into a translucent copper toned liquid.

Apple Bloom let the tea sit and brew for a few moments before grabbing two of the steaming cups and bringing them to Twilight and Applejack in the dining room. She placed the cups on the table.

“Thank you, Apple Bloom.” Applejack said.

“No problem.” Apple Bloom replied as she exited the room.

Applejack grabbed her cup from the center and blew on the liquid inside. Twilight tried to pick up her cup by way of magic, forgetting for a moment that her deformed horn rendered her magical capabilities null and void. Twilight sighed as she remembered why and picked the cup up with her hooves. She sipped the beverage, and although the temperature of the tea dropped to lukewarm, it still was hot enough to remove the chills she had in her body.

Twilight sighed and placed her cup back on the table and cleared her throat.

“So what has happened to Ponyville? Twilight asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence, “I thought things would look different, but not like this.”

Applejack took a deep breath and shut her eyes.

“It all started ‘bout maybe a year ago,” Applejack said, “All was still pretty well, until strange monsters started attacking the town.”

“Strange monsters?” Twilight interrupted.

Applejack nodded. “You didn’t see no monsters out there in Fillydelphia?” Applejack inquired.

Twilight thought for a moment. In Fillydelphia, at least when she was still there, the city was not attacked by monsters of any kind. Sure, the weather had been colder than normal, and it had been a lot snowier than it should have been, but other than that, all was normal in Twilight Sparkle’s second adopted home. 

Then Twilight’s thoughts drifted towards wondering whether or not any other place in Equestria had experienced these monster attacks.

“No,” Twilight finally responded, “I can honestly say no. What did these monsters look like Applejack?”

Applejack stood up and pulled some papers out of a drawer from a cabinet on the other side of the dining room. She placed a stack of photographs clipped from The Ponyville Express in front of her friend.

Twilight spread the photos out in front of her and took a long, hard gaze at each one of them. In the leftmost photograph, a rough scaled apelike creature was destroying a two-story building with the aid of a rather large spider twice the size of the demonic creature. The two middle photographs depicted a scene of a pure black boar decimating a row of crops, and a pack of large, grotesque looking bugs approaching Ponyville from the Everfree Forest. The clipping furthest to the right showcased perhaps the most disheartening scene of all, a stallion, attempting to ward a black, sharp-clawed entity away from his huddled and frightened family. 

Haunted by the snapshots she had just laid eyes on, Twilight brushed the pictures aside and took a deep breath.

“Oh dear,” Twilight said, “Are these the only ones?”

“Nope,” Applejack responded back, gathering the brushed aside newspaper clippings, “These were the only ones that managed to be clearly photographed.”

“Does anybody know where they came from?” Twilight quickly asked.

“Nobody knows where in Equestria they came from, but they nonetheless caused a lot of damage to Ponyville. Eventually, nearly everypony got sick of this and packed their belongins and head out to live in other parts of Equestria. The monster attacks still happen, but not as bad as when they first started. But it has still taken a mighty toll on our crops. With them eating a good portion, as well as them destroyin’ a lot of our trees. Nor has the weather been very kind to our crop as well.”

“Why didn’t you leave?” Twilight asked.

“We couldn’t,” Applejack retorted, “Granny Smith was too sick to travel anywhere at this point, and we refused to leave her behind. And besides, this here Apple farm has been in our family since Ponyville was founded. I couldn’t just up and leave like that.”

“What happened to Granny Smith?” Twilight Sparkle sympathetically inquired.

“She first got sick not too long before these monster attacks started happenin,” Applejack said before pausing to sigh, “At first, we thought it was just nothing but a simple cough, which we thought we could handle. However, as the days n weeks passed, she didn’t get any better, and her mobility dropped dramatically. We had the doctor visit her and he said that Granny Smith showed signs of muscular dystrophy.”

Applejack paused for a minute, choking up just thinking about what she was going to say next. Twilight began to get glassy eyed as well.

“Apple Bloom, and Big Macintosh and I spent the followin’ months not only dodging vicious monster attacks on our town and our crops, but we also watched the mare who raised all of us slowly wither away into nothing. By the end, she was completely bedridden, unable to move until she finally died in her sleep this past Hearth’s Warming Day.”

Tears were falling from Applejack’s eyes and Twilight shed a few as well.

“After she died, the three of us decided that we were going to pack up and leave for Appleloosa once the Winter Wrap Up ended. However, once Big Macintosh got drafted into the Equestrian Army, we had to alter our plans slightly. Now once he gets discharged, we will leave. I don’t want to, Apple Bloom don’t and neither does Big Macintosh, but we just can’t live like this no more.” Applejack told as she wiped the tears from her face.

Twilight took another sip of her tea.

“So that’s where Big Mac was heading? Why did he get drafted?” Twilight then asked.

“An army is being raised to help deal with the monster attacks that have been plaguing Equestria, at first they started taking volunteers, then when they didn’t get enough volunteers, they instituted a draft.” Applejack stoically replied.

“Oh,” was all that Twilight could say, wanting to sound more sympathetic.

“Anyhow,” Applejack started, “What has been happening with ya’ll Twi? How long are you staying in Ponyville?”

“I have to go to Canterlot tomorrow, then I don’t know. I might come back, but I haven’t decided yet.”

“I see,” Applejack replied.
The silence settled in as both the prematurely aged mares took a gulp from their respective teacups.

“Ya know Twi,” Applejack began, “You never did answer my question from earlier.”

“Which question would that be?” Twilight inquired with only one eyebrow raised.

“You never told me what happened to your horn.” Applejack stated.

Twilight desperately tried to search for the best possible response to this question. Finally she found what she thought was a palpable reply and took a deep breath.

“I had an accident, Applejack. An experiment went wrong,” Twilight said, trying her best to hide her lie, “So I took a leave of absence from the academy so I could have some time to recuperate.”

Applejack frowned. Twilight noticed this and gave off an uneasy smile.

“Twilight,” Applejack said sternly, “You don’t need ta lie ta me, I’m still your friend after all.”

Twilight Sparkle’s eyes shot wide open, knowing her bluff had been called.

“What makes you think I’m lying AJ?” Twilight nervously responded.

“I may not’ve seen ya in ten years, but I can still tell when you’re lyin’ Twilight Sparkle. And besides I am the element of Honesty,” Applejack said.

Twilight sighed, Applejack was right, she was a really bad liar. But she could not reveal her real reason for leaving Fillydelphia, not now at least, not while her future was in limbo. Twilight cleared her throat.

“Can we save this conversation for a later time Applejack?” Twilight asked.

Applejack didn’t respond right away, instead she stared at her troubled unicorn friend.

“Certainly,” Applejack finally responded, “Do you promise?”

“I Pinkie promise,” Twilight said, forcing a smile.

Twilight Sparkle’s response seemed to startle Applejack. It was almost as if the words that had just fallen out of Twilight’s mouth had emitted an electrical shock. Twilight noticed this in Applejack.

“What’s wrong Applejack?” Twilight asked.

Applejack recomposed herself and cleared her throat. “Nothing,” Applejack replied, “It’s just, I haven’t heard that phrase for a long time. To tell you the truth, ever since Granny Smith got sick, I haven’t been keeping up with the rest of our friends. I didn’t have time to do anything. All I did was either work in the fields, or sit by Granny Smith’s bedside.”

Twilight was saddened to hear this. She took the last gulp of tea from the cup and wiped the sticky sugar residue from her upper lip. She placed the emptied cup back on the aged and rotting table.

“Do you know if they all still live in Ponyville?” Twilight inquired.

“As far as I know. I haven’t seen anybody really since Granny Smith’s funeral.” Applejack responded.

Twilight took a deep breath, knowing she was wasting her breath asking Applejack any questions about her friends since Applejack knew next to nothing about them.

“Thank you for the tea Applejack,” Twilight said, throwing her hoof around Applejack’s neck in an embracement. Applejack returned the hug.

“You come back when you can Twilight. Don’t leave us again,” Applejack said, trying to smile.

“I’ll try AJ,” Twilight replied, “I’ll try.”

That was the last of what was said between the two ponies, as Twilight re-shrouded herself in preparation for her return to the frozen wasteland that was now Ponyville.

~~~

Twilight trotted as carefully as she could back towards Ponyville, trying to avoid slipping and sliding on the many sheets of hidden ice that covered the dead and browned grass. The sun, which had been shining brightly and clear earlier, had been replaced by a thick pillow of gray clouds.

A gust of bitter wind shot through Twilight’s shroud, almost blowing the hood off of her head.

I wonder what has happened to the rest of my friends, Twilight thought. I hope that their lives haven’t turned out as rough as mine or Applejack’s.

Twilight was too wrapped up in her thoughts to notice a gathering shadow from directly above her.

I just hope that all is well–

Twilight Sparkle’s train of thought was interrupted when she felt a massive weight fall upon her back. Her legs immediately buckled and succumbed to the unseen object that had unceremoniously landed atop her weakened back. Both Twilight Sparkle and the fallen object crumbled to the ground, kicking up a massive cloud of dirt and dust into the air.
As the debris cloud slowly dissipated, Twilight tried to stop her panting and take a few slow, deep breaths to calm her suddenly racing heart rate. After a few attempts, Twilight’s heart rate finally returned to normal, the dirty cloud had finally vanished. Hearing quick breathing behind her, she turned her head with a look of utter disdain upon her face. However, the sight that greeted her was that of a mare of whom she had not seen in a decade.

This mare sported a tussled, multicolored mane that was accented by a powder keg blue coat. Twilight’s jaw dropped as she realized that she was staring at her old tomboyish friend, Rainbow Dash.

Now Rainbow Dash, not able to recognize Twilight under her tanned disguise, shot a look of concern over at the disguised pony.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!” The blue pegasus rapidly fired, “I am so sorry! I didn’t mean to, a fast-moving cloud took me by surprise, and knocked me off course! I-”

“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight interrupted, “It’s okay!”

“How do you know who I am?” Rainbow Dash asked confusedly.

Twilight Sparkle removed the shroud covering most of her head. Rainbow Dash gasped at the reveal.

“It’s good to see you Rainbow,” Twilight said.

Rainbow Dash could not respond. Not even as Twilight wrapped her hooves around her back for a friendly embracement. 

Rainbow reflexively put a hoof around Twilight and hugged back.

Twilight Sparkle let her pegasus friend go.

Rainbow Dash looked upon her long lost friend, who looked much older than she would have expected and with a mangled and disfigured horn.

Twilight took this moment to also take a good look at Rainbow Dash, and like Applejack and herself, Rainbow Dash looked more middle aged and haggard than she should have.

“Twilight,” Rainbow Dash weakly said, “What happened to you? You look so, old.”

Twilight wanted to be mad at Rainbow Dash, but at the same time, she thought that it was nice to know that Rainbow Dash still had her brash and rather blunt personality.

“You know Rainbow, I honestly could ask the same about you.” Twilight said taking more notice on how her powder blue winged friend looked way too mal-nourished for a pony as active as she was.

“I know Twilight,” Rainbow ashamedly replied, “I know. I’ve been busting’ my tail to keep the weather as in order as possible. What happened to your horn?”

Twilight bit her lower lip, faced with the same question that she had barely dodged answering earlier with Applejack. She gulped and cleared her throat.

“I had a mishap with an experiment,” Twilight fibbed once again, “I took a leave of absence from the Academy and thought that I would stop by and see how everyone was doing since it’s been a while since I talked to anybody.”

Rainbow Dash nodded with a slight frown on her face. “It has,” Rainbow Dash said, “It sure has been.”

Twilight noticed her look of disdain, and slowly opened her mouth to respond. “What happened with you?” Twilight inquired, hoping to change the subject, “You look like you’ve lost a lot of weight.”

Rainbow Dash nodded with a look of sadness on her face. “I see you noticed.” Rainbow Dash added.

“What happened Rainbow?” Twilight prodded.

“I haven’t had much time, nor funds to each very much this winter,” Rainbow began, “the weather has been completely insane, with the bitter winds and the constant snow slash rainfall and all.”

Twilight was slightly baffled by what Rainbow Dash had said.

“But why would you pegasi schedule weather like this if you couldn’t handle the fallout?” Twilight asked.

“Because Twilight,” Rainbow Dash replied, “this isn’t being caused by the Cloudsdale weather factory. I know, I’ve checked on several occasions, I’ve witnessed perfectly normal weather patterns leave the factory, only to arrive atop of Ponyville doing something completely different. We don’t know where this weather keeps coming from. It’s like it’s doing this all on it’s own.”

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and exhaled after delivering that mouthful. After a moment of awkward quiet, Twilight kicked a clod of dirt, which broke apart into a tiny cloud of dust.

“Is anypony at least helping you keep this weather at bay Rainbow?” Twilight asked.

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Yes actually,” Rainbow Dash replied.

It was then that Twilight, as well as Rainbow Dash, heard an additional pair of flapping wings above. With all of the birds down in the southern plains of Equestria, it was obvious that it was another pegasus pony in the air above. Twilight stretched her neck out to see who was above her, but could not make out who it was due to the distance in the air.

“Rainbow Dash,” a slightly gruff, yet feminine voice called from above, “who are you talking to?”

“Come down and find out!” Rainbow Dash yelled back.

A shadow appeared on the ground next to Rainbow Dash, growing bigger as the sound of flapping wings grew louder. The pegasus pony settled on the ground next to RD. Twilight instantly recognized who this pony was. Sporting a long pink mane, albeit a bit shorter than it was back in the day, and a coat the color of faded yellow, was Fluttershy.

Twilight Sparkle looked at her yellow pegasus friend, out of everypony she had seen that morning, she looked the most unchanged, albeit a bit more muscular.

“Hey Fluttershy,” Twilight said.

“Twilight,” Fluttershy started, “It’s been a long time.”

Twilight looked away ashamedly. “I know.” Twilight meekly replied, “Since when do you work on the weather?” She asked, trying to change the subject.

“For about–” Rainbow Dash began.

“About six months now,” Fluttershy angrily interrupted, “I started this job when most of the animals either left Ponyville or died because of this weather.”

Twilight looked at her dumbfounded. “They all died?” Twilight asked.

“’fraid so.” Fluttershy responded.

“I’m sorry Fluttershy.” Twilight responded.

“Don’t be.” Fluttershy almost instantaneously snapped back, “You have no reason to be, just like you had no reason to just up and stop talking to us.”

Twilight was taken aback at this new way Fluttershy was acting. Sure, the faded yellow pegasus had grown to be willing to stand up for herself when Twilight was still living in Ponyville, but this was something that the physically scarred Twilight Sparkle was not prepared for.

“Nothing to say Ms. Headmistress?” Fluttershy snarled, bringing Twilight back to the conversation.

“I don’t know what to say,” Twilight said in a tone reminiscent of Fluttershy many years prior.

Fluttershy began to physically confront Twilight, all with an almost frightening glare upon her face, leading Twilight Sparkle to futilely attempt to retreat.

“Wow, I’m not surprised,” Fluttershy began to rant, before Rainbow Dash inserted her hooves between the quarrelling pair, like a mother trying to separate her two fighting children.

“Okay Fluttershy, that’s enough, I think she gets the point.” Rainbow Dash said, breaking off a major conflict just before it began, “Why don’t you go take care of that patch of clouds out there, it’s not supposed to be cloudy today after all.”

After a grim pause, Fluttershy nodded and quickly soared back off into the air, almost as fast as Rainbow Dash herself. Rainbow Dash looked back at Twilight who looked somewhat shaken up by the experience.

“You okay, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I guess,” Twilight started, “I thought some of you might be mad, I just didn’t expect Fluttershy to be the one who would call me out on it. What happened with her anyway? Is it because of the animals?”

Rainbow nodded and sighed.

“Did you hear about the monster attacks that were taking place throughout the town?” Rainbow Dash inquired with a look of sadness on her face.

“I did, actually.” Twilight responded, “Applejack told me on how the monsters decimated her crops.”

“Well the monster attacks also took its toll on the wildlife here around the town, and the Everfree Forest as well,” Rainbow said, “At first, Fluttershy was keeping really busy, you know, attending to all of the wounded and dying animals. But she was overwhelmed with all of the work she had, and with everypony else leaving the town in droves, she was on her own tending to the animals. Soon enough, whatever animals that hadn’t died, also migrated from Ponyville.”

“Oh my,” Twilight said, she could feel her heart sinking.

“Anyway,” Rainbow Dash began, “This was about the time that the weather started going all wrong so I convinced Fluttershy to stay and help me. I trained her really well so she could be as good of a cloud buster as me.”

“That doesn’t explain her personality change,” Twilight said, “Why has she become such a cynic?”

Rainbow Dash shut her eyes, lowered her proud head, and sighed.

“To be honest,” Rainbow Dash said, “I blame myself for that.”

Twilight was taken aback by Rainbow’s startling admission.

“I berated her for so many years, you know, calling her weak and such. I just wanted her to toughen up and be more like me so other ponies would stop giving her a hard time. Now that she has toughened up and changed, I feel horrible for instigating this whole issue. I feel like I was an awful friend to Fluttershy.”

As a few tears began to be shed by Rainbow Dash, Twilight had no idea what she wanted to say, she had never seen Rainbow show this much emotion. In fact, she never remembered her athletic pegasus friend admit so readily that she was wrong.

Twilight was about to place a consoling hoof on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder when an unexpected swirl of snow flurries fell from the sky. Both coldly hued ponies took an almost immediate notice of this sudden change in the weather, leading Rainbow Dash to quickly wipe her tears away and take off like a rocket into the sky.

“Wait! Rainbow!” Twilight cried into the windswept, gray sky, “Where are you going?

“I’m going to get Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash called back, “It’s not supposed to snow at all today! We gotta stop this weather now!”

Twilight wanted to call out something else, but she correctly figured that Rainbow Dash at this point was well out of earshot.

The snow flurries began to accumulate on the ground and become more intense in the air. The wind blew a mess of snowflakes at Twilight’s face, stinging her face with every hit from a pure white flake. The shivering unicorn noticed Sugarcube Corner off in the near distance. She trudged through the snow, which was extremely unusual in how quick it was accumulating.
She finished her thought just as she reached the main, and only ground entrance of Sugarcube Corner. The oldened pony struggled against the mighty wind to pull the door open, which she finally did, after a few futile attempts.

Twilight took off her hooded garment and hung it on the coat rack by the door. In a rather shocking surprise, the interior of the confectionary was the opposite of practically everywhere else in Ponyville. A comfortable warmth spread throughout Twilight’s shivering and battered body, putting her somewhat at ease. She took a deep breath and exhaled as she finally felt truly warmed for the first time all day.

As Twilight slowly approached the countertop of the seemingly deserted pastry shop, she looked at the rest of the shop’s layout. Pristine and clean, and quite lavishly decorated, Sugarcube Corner looked extremely different from the local hangout that Twilight Sparkle constantly frequented when she was a Ponyville resident so many years ago.
Twilight leaned her head over the glass-covered countertop to see if anypony was behind it, which there wasn’t. However, there was a little silver bell, along with a fancily hoofwritten note underneath the bell that read:


Please ring bell for service


Shrugging her shoulders, the magically crippled unicorn lightly tapped the little bell, leaving a somewhat loud ping to resonate throughout the eerily silent and possibly deserted building. After about a few moments of unresponding silence, Twilight decided to tap the bell again. Finally, a voice from the rear of the shop, shouted out in response:

“Just a minute! I’ll be out there!” a high classed trans-Atlantic accented voice called out from the other room.

Twilight’s ears perked up to this voice, it was most certainly not the voice she was expecting, but it was indeed a voice that she recognized.

As the responding pony stepped out of the kitchen and behind the counter, Twilight’s suspicions were confirmed at the sight of the unicorn she had just now seen.

Rarity stood in the doorframe, her mouth hanging open in a surely un-ladylike manner.

“I never thought I’d see you again Twilight Sparkle.” Rarity said in astonishment.

Twilight honestly did not know how to respond to this statement. “Rarity, do you work here?” Twilight asked.

The unicorn with a pure snow white coat nodded. “I do Twilight darling,” Rarity replied, “How have you been? Why haven’t you spoken to us in a while? And what in the name of Equestria has happened to your horn?”

As with every other pony who asked that question throughout the day, Twilight Sparkle had no honest answer to give.
“It’s a long story, Rarity,” was the only feeble response that she could make as a reply.

Twilight quickly looked at her unicorn friend whose beautiful complexion had changed very little, if at all over the previous decade of separation. She thought that it was somewhat nice that that at least one of her friends hadn’t changed, on the outside at least.

“Anyway,” Twilight began, “Why do you work here now?”

“I’m sure you’ve seen and heard how nasty things have been around here in the past year?” Rarity asked.

Twilight nodded. “I have.”

“Well, after weeks turned to months of dwindling customer base, I had to do close the Carousel Boutique.” Rarity responded.

“I’m sorry Rarity,” Twilight responded sympathetically.

“It’s quite alright darling. No need to feel sorry. That’s what happens when you have nopony to buy clothes from you.” Rarity responded rather indifferently.

Twilight immediately thought it was strange how Rarity was acting over her having to give up the Carousel Boutique. This was the pony who threw on an overdramatic performance, with a couch included, when she forgot to bring plates to a picnic and she was acting so stoically about something far more disheartening and less trivial?

For now, Twilight would let it slide, as she had more important things she wanted to know.

“So why did you come to work here?” Twilight then asked.

“Well,” Rarity began, “after I shut the door for the last time at the boutique, I prepared to move to Canterlot to be with my mother and father, who moved there a few years ago. However, I decided to come here one day for a cupcake. I talked to Pinkie Pie about what had happened with me, and long story short, she offered me a job and I started working here. And to tell you the truth Twilight, I like it here. Sure, I can’t decorate clothes anymore, but at least I get to decorate something for a living, even if it is cakes and pies.”

“Pinkie Pie still works here?” Twilight then inquired.

“Works here? She owns Sugarcube Corner now, darling,” Rarity said.

“Seriously? For how long?” Twilight asked, unable to fathom Pinkie Pie being responsible enough to own a store.

“Since about two and half years ago,” Rarity responded, “The Cakes left the store in the hoofs of Pinkie Pie after they decided to move to Las Pegasus.”

“Why did they leave?” Twilight asked.

“They said they wanted Pound and Pumpkin Cake to live in a safer environment,” Rarity responded.

Twilight Sparkle could at least be happy that it seemed that at least Pinkie Pie was successful today. Or so she thought.
“Is Pinkie Pie still here?” Twilight asked.

“Of course she is,” Rarity replied, “Would you like to see her?”

Twilight nodded in agreement and Rarity smiled and cocked her head towards the rear of Sugarcube Corner.

“Pinkamena, Darling!” Rarity politely shouted, “I need you to come out here!”

“Pinkamena?” Twilight confusedly asked.

“She refers to herself by her full birth name now, Pinkamena Diane Pie,” Rarity replied, “She thinks it sounds more formal and… business-like.”

“More formal?” Twilight said, concerned, “that doesn’t sound like the Pinkie Pie I know.”

“Twilight, I must first warn you that–”

“What is it, Rarity?” A dull, feminine voice spoke from behind the doorframe, not allowing Rarity to complete her warning.
Rarity spun her body around, allowing Twilight Sparkle to gaze at Pinkie Pie. Her friend looked absolutely different than when she last saw her on the platform at the train station all of those years ago.

Pinkie Pie’s mane and tail were not the poofy mess of curls that Twilight was used to seeing, they were both completely straight haired. Her coat was no longer vibrantly pink, but rather dulled and gray. She also looked extremely depressed, almost catatonic, as she had undoubtedly witnessed all of the tragedy and despair that had befallen Ponyville in the past year.
Twilight forced an awkward looking smile at her pink earth pony friend and opened her mouth.

“Hey Pinkie,” Twilight softly said.

“It’s Pinkamena now, Twilight Sparkle,” Pinkie coldly and flatly responded.

Twilight made a small laugh, trying to lighten the suddenly high tension in the room. “Rarity did say that’s what you go by now,” Twilight responded.

Pinkie did not respond. Instead, she lowered her eyebrows in an extremely menacing glare. 

Twilight awkwardly smiled. Not knowing what to say in response made her uneasy.

“You have a lot of nerve coming back here, Twilight,” Pinkie Pie snarled, “a lot of nerve.”

“I’m sorry,” Twilight apologized. “I really am, I feel awfuly–”

“YOU SHOULD BE SORRY!” Pinkie Pie screamed whilst slamming her hoof down on the glass countertop, putting a crack in the recently cleaned, translucent covering.

Twilight stood with her mouth agape, now definitely not sure how to respond. “I… I… I…” Twilight stammered in utter nervousness.

“I… I… I…” Pinkie Pie cruelly retorted, “Stutter much, Ms. Too Good For Ponyville?”

“I’m sorry Pinkie–” Twilight began.

“I TOLD YOU, IT’S PINKAMENA NOW!” Pinkie shouted.

Rarity, with a surprised look on her face, put her hoofs over her ears, trying to muffle the unusual anger oozing from the pony formerly known as Pinkie Pie.

“Listen Pinkie,” Twilight said, trying to regain some control of the conversation.

“NO, TWILIGHT!” Pinkie roared in response, “IT’S ABOUT TIME THAT YOU LISTENED TO ME!”

Twilight Sparkle said absolutely nothing in response.

“You know how disappointing it is to wait by the mailbox, day after day, waiting for a letter from Somepony I loved as a friend, and not get a response from that same pony?” Pinkie Pie asked Twilight, her anger had calmed but it still was boiling under the lid. “You promised to keep in touch, but that stopped within a year, and you promised to come back and visit, but you never did.”

“Pinkie, I’m here now,” Twilight softly replied.

“Yeah, a full ten years later, Twilight Sparkle,” Pinkie Pie snapped in response.

“I-” Twilight started.

“I’M NOT FINISHED YET!” Pinkie Pie immediately interrupted, “I waited by that mailbox almost all day, every single day for over year after you sent our last letter! I at first thought that it was something that I did, and it messed me up inside.”

Pinkie Pie lifted up her right, front hoof, revealing a series straight and faded scars on the underside.

“You see that?” Pinkie Pie snapped, “That’s what happened, I was in the trauma ward of Ponyville Hospital for two weeks after one of these went too deep.”

Twilight Sparkle stood appalled, as did Rarity, who did not expect Pinkie Pie to become emotional so suddenly.

Tears began to well up around Pinkie Pie’s eyes, as she continued to unleash a decade’s worth of grievances at Twilight.

“Luckily, I had Rarity to help me through after being discharged,” Pinkie Pie said as she shifted her line of sight towards Rarity. “She helped me to see that it wasn’t my fault that one of my best friends just stopped talking to me. She even moved in here later when the Cakes left to help me run the store. She’s been my real friend through all of this.”

Tears began to fall from Pinkie Pie’s eyes as she looked back over at Twilight who had a single tear rolling down her lavender cheek.

“Why did you stop talking to me, Twilight? Why did you cut us all out of your life?” Pinkie cried.

“I’m sorry, Pinkie, I was extremely busy.” Twilight tried to reason.

“And you couldn’t take five minutes to write a letter?!” Pinkie cried back, insulted by Twilight’s response, “That’s the best excuse you can come up with?!”

Pinkie Pie buried her face into her hooves as a floodgate of tears had opened up.

“I’m sorry Pinkie, I’m so sorry for everything,” Twilight said.

She extended out her consoling hoof and laid it upon Pinkie Pie’s shoulder. Pinkie acted as if she had been zapped by an electrical charge and smacked Twilight’s consoling hoof away. 

“Don’t touch me!” Pinkie screamed.

“I’m so sorry,” Twilight repeated.

“Just go away, Twilight!” Pinkie cried as she rushed out of the room, loudly slamming the door behind her.
Twilight looked over at Rarity.

“I’m sorry, Twilight,” Rarity apologized, “I was going to warn you before Pinkie interrupted me.”

Twilight was still shaken up by the unexpected display of rage from Pinkie Pie. “Did she really try to hurt herself because I stopped sending letters?” Twilight softly asked.

Rarity closed her eyes and nodded. “I’m afraid so, darling. I’m afraid so.” Rarity responded. “It was a really bad time for all of us here. That’s another reason that I moved in here, just to keep an eye on her in case that started to happen again.”
“Why didn’t you let me know?” Twilight asked, “If one of you would have said something, I would have been out here in a heartbeat.”

“We thought you didn’t care about us anymore, Twilight,” Rarity said. “It hurt, that you stopped talking to us, it really did. I felt really betrayed, but I have forgiven you for that. I’m not going to ask why you stopped, because I know you’re not going to tell me the truth. When you are ready to tell me, and the rest of us, the truth, we will listen.”

Rarity could see how awful Twilight was feeling and she walked over and wrapped a hoof around Twilight’s back and hugged her. Twilight shed a few tears and she returned the hug.

“I’m so sorry Rarity, for everything!” Twilight cried.

“I know you are, Twilight,” Rarity softly responded.

Rarity released Twilight Sparkle from her friendly grasp. They took another long, silent look at each other, and then Rarity walked back behind the counter.

“I need to get back to work and repair this countertop, Twilight,” Rarity said, “Can I get you something to eat before you go?”

Twilight took a moment to think. She was starving when she left the decrepit library earlier this morning. However, as she discovered the fates of each of her friends, her hunger had slowly dissipated. At last, after experiencing the most disappointing reunion involving Pinkie Pie, she had officially lost her appetite.

Twilight shook her head.

“No thanks, Rarity,” Twilight stated, “I’m not hungry anymore.”

“Okay,” Rarity responded, “What are you going to do now?”

Twilight Sparkle took a deep breath.

“I’m going to meet with Princess Celestia tomorrow,” Twilight said. “After that, I’m not sure what I’m going to do.”

“Will you come back this time?” Rarity asked.

“I’ll try, Rarity,” Twilight said.

Rarity walked to the door and placed her hoof on the finished wood. “I will see you, Twilight,” Rarity said. “Take care darling.”

With that, Rarity departed through the door, leaving Twilight to stand alone in the dining room. Twilight then grabbed her shroud from the coat hook and exited the confectionary.