Part 2: The Discovery

Rainbow Dash and the others arrived at the library and, to their shock, found Spike sitting outside, looking as if he had been crying his eyes out. They each rushed to the purple dragon, fearing something had gone horribly wrong.

“Spikey-Wikey! What’s wrong!?” Rarity asked immediately.

“An’ where’s Twilight?” added Applejack.

Spike, still sobbing and sniffling, hardly managed to choke out, “Inside… Twilight’s inside…”

“Why are you out here crying, then?”  Rainbow asked, concerned about Spike’s current disposition. “And what’s so urgent that you sent me that letter?”

“I… Twilight… Please, just… go inside and I’ll explain,” Spike replied, all the while choking back tears. “Twilight is… *sniff* in her room, by the way.”

The group, very worried, enters the home of the lavender unicorn and makes their way to her room. What they laid their eyes upon was a most devastating sight.

“Oh hi, girls…” Twilight had weakly rasped.

Twilight was laying in her bed, looking completely disheveled. Her mane was very unkempt, her coat was a pale shade of its normal color, she was sweating profusely, and her eyes looking as if she hadn’t slept in days, but had been trying.

“T-Twilight?? What happened to you?!” shouted the cyan Pegasus, horrified by the look of her friend.

“Oh, my gosh! Are you okay? A-Are you sick? Is there anything we can do to make you feel better?” Fluttershy quickly added, noticeably upset.

“I… I’m sick…” Twilight croaked, breathing heavily as if she had run around Ponyville ten times.

“I-Is it the flu? Or a cold of some sort?” asked a saddened Rarity.

“It’s… something… new… something… unheard of… here…” answered Twilight, straining each word between her heavy breaths.

“Well is there some kinda cure or remedy or somethin’ one uh yer many books mentions?” Applejack asked somewhat hastily, wanting only to help her friend recover.

“I’m… afraid… not…” Twilight grimly and breathlessly replied, bringing her fore-hooves to her chest and wincing in extreme pain.

“Oh, no! Twilight! Are you going to… to…” Pinkie Pie was unable to finish asking her question as tears had begun to well up in her eyes.

No one had needed Pinkie to finish her question to know what she was about to ask.

“I’m afraid… it… looks… that way…” The ailing purple unicorn had hardly managed to whisper as she once again clutched her chest in agony.

“Please, no! No, no, no! Not now!” cried Fluttershy, tears already streaming down her cheeks.

“I’m… sorry girls… I… love… you… all… and you… too… Spike…” Twilight had quietly whispered as she drew her final breath, and with a steady exhale, had passed away. A single tear rolled down the unicorn’s cheek as her body relaxed itself on the bed... Next Chapter: The Cause Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 2 Minutes