Immortality Bites

"And once more, happy birthday to Princess Twilight Sparkle!" The hostpony said, leading the cheer.

That snapped the lavender alicorn out of her little mental reverie. Bringing her focus back to the party at hand, the mare focused on the large chocolate cake in front of her.

Birthday number Three Hundred and Sixty-Four, if she remembered right.

She always did.

A quick count showed the number of candles on the cake matched.

Twilight kept the serene, practiced smile on her face, as the ponies of Ponyville cheered and partied.

Celestia and Luna had managed to make it as well. Celestia was a given. She wouldn't miss her student's birthday for anything.

Never had.

Luna's arrival was a small shock, but one the lavender alicorn adjusted to quickly enough. Luna had definitely become much easier to approach as of late, finally learning how to drop the 'Royal Canterlot Plural' about a hundred years ago.

Spike was here as well, though he was observing from...outside the party hall. He had grown quite large, with wide, room-spanning wings. Dragons had lifespans measuring upwards of three thousand years. Despite being well into his adult years, Spike had plenty of life left in him.

He was still always eager to make Twilight happy.

The dragon would occasionally bring back a new book for her to read and catalog. Over the years, Twilight had gotten quite adept at reading Dragon. She could even speak a little, choppy as it was.

Cadence...hadn't made it to the party.

Even two hundred and eighty-six years later, she was still in mourning over Shining's passing. She wouldn't even leave her room, and had appointed an elected committee to rule in her stead as her last act in power. Twilight understood initially, as it was hard to cope for her as well.

Cadence had two foals, a stallion and a mare.

They had been on the committee as well, and in fact, her council had at least two seats reserved for Royal Family members to weigh in on issues as they arose.

After a few years, Twilight had managed to look back and laugh about the memories she and Shining shared. The pranks, the trouble they would get into, all the good times.

The lavender mare made a mental note to plan a visit. Maybe she could finally shake her sister-in-law out of her depression, and see her great-great nephews and nieces.

No, the hardest part, for Twilight, was watching her friends grow old...and eventually pass on as well.

First to go was Rainbow Dash.

Now that she thought about it, it was fitting. Always wanted to be the fastest...and was the first to leave the six of them.

At the relatively young age of forty-five, her last Sonic Rainboom saved a filly's life from a fateful fall out of the clouds. Her exhausted body simply gave up on her moments after touchdown. An old life for a young one, Twilight liked to think she would say. A little deep for the brash pegasus, but Twilight didn't think Rainbow would mind.

The filly she saved bore Rainbow Dash's cutie mark from that point onwards, until her own peaceful death seventy years later. Managed to become a commander of the Wonderbolts too, one of Dash's own dreams.

Fluttershy was next, passing away quietly in her cottage. Nopony knew about it for a week, not until after Twilight had seen her animals mourning a grave they had dug for the yellow pegasus. Discord had vanished entirely after Fluttershy passed...and Twilight simply didn't care enough to find him.

Her cottage was now a community-run animal shelter.

Pinkie Pie was third, a sudden heart attack taking her after the old mare finished her third party that day. Sugar Cube Corner had been sold multiple times since then, and was currently a slowly failing clothing shop.

Rarity was next, passing away quietly like Fluttershy. Her son let everyone know how sad and devastated he was...for the next year and a half. Even inherited her fainting couch for each and every instance his mother was brought up.

Twilight had no idea where it was now, somepony in that family had it.

Carousel Boutique had been sold once, roughly a hundred years ago to be...a dessert shop. Twilight had nearly died laughing when she read the news. The family that had bought it still ran it today, and ran it well. It was one of Ponyville's most lucrative shops.

Last was the hearty Applejack. She passed like her granny did: Shouting at her grand-kids about making a racket, then turning in for a nap on the porch.

The platinum-plated necklace the lavender alicorn was currently wearing bore five gems, each in the shape and color of a previous Element bearer's cutie mark. Even after all this time, Twilight still hated the jewelry that Celestia and Luna wore. Hence the lighter and thinner items she wore...and immediately removed when she wasn't being formal, which was pretty much any time she wasn't at a gathering with other leaders.

Twilight was known as the 'Unconventional Princess' for a reason.

Twilight sighed almost imperceptibly. Celestia caught it, but said nothing at the moment. Instead, she smiled and brought over a glass of wine for the lavender mare.

"Been thinking about finding a new apprentice. I hope my previous one doesn't mind." The sun princess said with a hint of a giggle.

"We both know you stopped taking students after me." Twilight replied with a smug grin. "You can't find one better than I am."

"Is that a bit of pride I hear?"

"Might be."

Both mares laughed, Twilight taking the glass and sipping on it. Not too fast, not too slow, some water with it on occasion. Anon had taught her that...

Twilight froze for less than a half-second at that train of thought, one she immediately derailed and set ablaze in her mind. She didn't want to think about him. Not right now.

Twilight and Celestia shot the breeze for a bit. What was going on around Canterlot, conditions abroad, things like that. The Griffons were in the midst of a civil war, one that every other race was staying well clear of.

Aside from giving asylum to those that didn't want to fight, Equestria as a whole merely observed.

They both wandered outside, where Spike happily trailed after. Wordlessly, all three of them knew exactly where they were going. Spike's smile diminished a bit, but not entirely.

A quiet grove at the top of a hill, with a modest memorial to the five friends, made of marble.

"To the Saviors of Equestria, time and again." It read simply, bearing all five cutie marks. They were exactly as they appeared on her friends. Twilight made sure of it. The stoneworker got an absolutely furious Princess of Friendship at his door when she found out he screwed up Fluttershy's cutie mark.

She made him redo the entire thing.

From scratch.

Didn't pay him for replacement materials either.

Twilight was shockingly and uncharacteristically cold over that little goof up, now that she thought about it. He had died a hundred years ago though, too late to make amends.

There, the trio sat. Twilight had stopped crying completely over her friends fifty years ago. Now the monument merely brought about a melancholy feeling.

Celestia draped a wing over Twilight's shoulder. Twilight merely smiled a sad smile as Spike left a small bouquet underneath the memorial. One of the three did this every year, sometimes all three of them did.

The stonework had been enchanted by the mare herself to never wear down, and to be practically indestructible. A permanent monument to her greatest friends.

"Twilight, I will be back at the party. When you are ready to rejoin us, please do." Celestia said, giving her student a tender nuzzle on the cheek, like she used to when Twilight was only a filly.

"I will."

Twilight merely stood there at that point, reflecting. If she had known she would outlive her friends, would she still have become Celestia's protege?

The answer was a resounding yes.

Without that, she never would have met them in the first place.

"I used to wonder what friendship could be...until you all shared its magic with me..." The alicorn sung softly. "Thank you all, for the best memories of my life."

Twilight, the Element of Magic, then turned around, heading back to her party.
---

Night had eventually fallen, and the festivities were winding down. Spike had to leave, but he promised he'd be back within a month. With a nod and a smile, Twilight gave him a motherly kiss on the cheek.

"I'll see you next month then, Spike. Take care of yourself!"

"I will, I will! You'd swear I'm clumsy or something!" He shot back with a laugh.

Celestia and Luna had also left, Luna on her usual night patrol and Celestia for bed. The sun princess had gotten a little *too* into the festivities, buzzed but not quite drunk. Luna had rolled her eyes with a chuckle, and the sisters' personal carriage took them back to Canterlot.

Waving goodbye for now, Twilight turned towards Golden Oak Library. Unlike everything else in the area, it was almost unchanged. Even still had her underground lab. The only thing that was different was the sign in front, denoting it as a museum now.

Closed, at the moment.

Twilight still had a 'permanent access anytime pass', though. She merely teleported inside.

Like she had many a time before, she simply browsed the shelves for books she had read a thousand times. Each. The 'secret hatch' to her lab was gone, allowing public access when the place was actually open.

The mare went down the stepladder, looking at the various machines that were horribly outdated by now. She was, if anything, a mare that kept with the times. Her new lab had the latest testing and experimentation gear, things she utilized frequently.

Back up the stairs, and up another flight to her room. Her bed looked like she had just left it that morning, despite not having lived here in over two centuries.

Sheets slightly unkempt, quilt wrinkled. Pressing a hoof onto the mattress revealed it was still warm, too. A simple trick of the enchantment placed on it, of course.

Smiling warmly at the memories the library held, she teleported outside.

Her contingent of Royal Guards were patrolling the Ponyville streets, or heading back to the castle in the Everfree for shift changing.

The forest had been mostly tamed, and the Tree of Harmony tenderly cared for by the mare herself. Stories of the 'cursed Everfree Woods' were now just that: Stories.

Teleporting into her large bedroom, she immediately removed her jewelry and the uncomfortable shoes. Even now, she had no idea how Luna and Celestia actually *enjoyed* wearing them. She then opened the window and flew out, going to the one special spot that only she knew of.

Touching down moments later, she folded her wings and put on a small smile.

"Hey Anon. How are you doing?"

The wind blew lightly.

"I know, I should visit more. Today was my birthday, not that you'd ever forget."

A pause.

"Yes, Anon, three hundred something."

Twilight giggled, before sighing. Her head drooped towards the ground.

"...I miss you. Every day."

Twilight laughed mirthlessly after a moment.

"Heh, you were right. Immortality sucks."

In front of her was a simple headstone, on top of a hill overlooking a valley.

"Anonymous: Wonderful, Loving Husband. Never forgotten, Always missed."

He was...the absolute last to go.

Stubborn human.

He had even joked, on his death bed, that he'd outlive Spike at this rate.

He was one hundred and two, she was ninety-nine.

Twilight had sobbed her heart out when he passed on, had nearly ended herself in a bout of loss-induced madness. She only stopped herself when she realized that's not what he would want.

Equestria still needed her, and...it didn't need him.

"When everyone else was gone, I still had you. Now..."

Twilight heaved a heavy sigh. She wouldn't cry anymore. The mare had stopped crying over him thirty-five years ago. Twilight simply...had no more tears to give.

She instead stood there for a few minutes, remembering. All the trouble she had gotten him into with her experiments. All the love they had shared. When he had asked for her hoof in marriage.

Everything.

She smiled, giving the headstone a kiss.

"I love you."

She trotted over to the cabin nearby. It was one Anon had built by himself, long ago. They both had taken incredible care of it, her magic fixing what he couldn't by hand. The bed was inviting, so she lit the fireplace and settled in.

Her horn then lit up, an invisible hand going through her mane and across her coat. Her magic had gotten quite good at simulating his touch. If she closed her eyes, Twilight almost couldn't tell the difference...

...aside from the small amount of power she felt coursing through her horn.

After he had passed, she had no other suitors or mates. Twilight wouldn't take any, despite the 'eager' stallions she would occasionally meet on the streets. After Anon passed, her sex drive had practically flat-lined. Every now and then she'd feel 'heated', but those occasions were rare.

Like Luna and Celestia, she had no children. Sighing as 'Anon' stroked her mane, she closed her eyes to try and sleep.

Sometimes, she wished she wouldn't wake up.

Sometimes, she wished he hadn't gone.

Sometimes, just sometimes, she wished she had never met him, or any of them.

Twilight knew her life wouldn't have been the same without them, though. Another small smile fought its way to the surface. Her life would have never been so amazing.

Like he had sung to her many, many times...

Everything was going to be alright.

Her steward would panic when he opened her door late tomorrow morning to find her gone, she knew. Happened every year. For now though?

She let the comfortable darkness of sleep take her to her dreams, where everything was perfectly fine.
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