-------- Melody’s Tale - After Life --------

“Celestia.” Melody breathed softly. She had never seen this woman before, but she didn’t have to. It was rather apparent. The flowing hair, her remarkable complexion, the way she carried herself. Something seemed oddly… Off, though… Maybe it was the tears in her eyes. Or perhaps the way her fists clenched tight. They were shaking, even… Celestia’s gaze was fixed on Twilight’s prone, still body... Melody herself had felt Twilight’s pulse, watched the blood flow slow and stop. She stared at the poor magi, her chest shaking with what Melody could only guess to be anger, rage, perhaps apathy... Maybe even sorrow?

“You’re Melody and Verse, correct?” Celestia said, breaking the silence.. Melody found her voice, despite the grief and terror that gripped her chest.

“Yes,” She said softly. Verse, next to her, was silent. He had been since they arrived in the clearing…

“Tell me something, then…” Celestia said, tearing her gaze away from Twilight. “And I want you to be as specific as you possibly can. Can you do this for me?” Melody swallowed hard, giving a slight nod. Celestia was imposing. She was powerful. Melody knew this woman ruled a kingdom, and ruled it well. She was old… But she didn’t look over thirty. Everything about her was… Beautiful. And as her next words proved, very intuitive…

“I know you had something to do with the Roc coming back. Not just something, but everything. You wouldn’t wear the colors of the four winds if you didn’t.” Celestia’s tear-stained gaze penetrated, staring at both of them with brilliant eyes. Despite the agony apparent in her expression, she still seemed remarkably serene… The way her hair wafted about her face, the smooth pronunciation of her words… Even the way her back was held straight, her head high… It was striking. “Tell me,” She continued. “What you did exactly.”

Melody and Verse looked at one another. Previously, both their faces had been screwed up in grief, tears freely flowing from their eyes. Now, confronted with a very serious and difficult question from Celestia herself, they were dumbfounded…

What had they done?

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Please, don’t go, Twi… We need you

Lily? What’s going on?

Guys, what’s happening?

Woah! Y’all are back! Wait… Twi?!

Panic, confusion, mystery… There were so many questions. Twilight didn’t know any of the answers… She only knew that she felt very warm. And very, very tired… Honestly, why was she so tired? She had just woken up a few hours ago… What… What were these voices running through her head? Twilight managed to open her eyes, but all she saw was this blank, white slate… An open panorama of pure, unblemished white…

She had been here before.

And she was not alone.

Lily? Girls? Wha… Wha’s happ’ning? Twilight managed a very drunk and incoherent thought… She knew she was in the link, and the others were around her, but why was everything so… Off?

Twilight! The relief in Lily’s voice was almost painfully audible… Why was she so relieved? What had happened? Something was very wrong… Twilight looked around, trying to get her bearings… She remembered this place… She had been here when she and Lily had conceived… The eve of the war, long, long ago… Since then, it had been a distant and admittedly dark memory. There had been some things she had faced here, a lot of doubt, a lot of adversity… Why was she back? Turning around, she saw five other individuals… Lily, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy… Her friends. The elements of harmony.

What… What’s happening? The thought pulsed out from her. She heard it in her head, even as she thought it… What’s more, she felt the others as their thoughts filled her mind. They were jumbled for a moment, but one spoke above all else. She knew it was Lily, her love. The fiery red curls of her hair bobbed a little bit as she turned her head, looking at Twilight.

Look down, Twi… She didn’t want to… She REALLY didn’t want to… But she did. Twilight’s right leg was gone. Sheared off, smooth and clean just above the knee.

What…

Oh, no…

How?

Lily, help her! Twilight felt her stomach churn at the sight. In this blank, unremarkable landscape, the paper-like floor beneath her was stained with blood. The puddle beneath her spread, more and more blood pouring into it from her leg. It plopped into the growing liquid, the sickening sound making her stomach flip over.

It’s your time, Twilight… This voice was new. Alien. No one knew who it belonged to. All that was left was silence in the shocking aftermath of the truth spoken by the newcomer.

Tears began to flow.

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“We… We just sort of… I was falling, and…” The memories of all that happened in Nest began to flow back freely. Melody thought long and hard about how it happened… She couldn’t explain it, though… It just… “Did.” She muttered. “We just… Did…” Verse, still quiet, only nodded stoically.

“Hmm. You said you were falling.” Celestia appeared to be mulling the thought over. To Melody, it looked like she made something fit together, some gears click in her mind. “What then?” Melody remembered, the thought coming to her very clearly. The ground rushing towards her, the roar of wind in her ears, the catatonic acceptance of the end…

“I heard something.” She said softly. “One word… Just one… It told me to fly.”

Celestia smiled.

“Melody,” She said gently. “And Verse…” Celestia took two steps forward, laying her hand on either of their shoulders. “Twilight is going to die.” Melody sobbed, the words striking her heart hard. She felt the tears flowing faster then, her chest shaking with sobs. “But.” Celestia said, squeezing her gently. “We can bring her back.”

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There is a greater design for you, Twilight Sparkle. The voice said softly, over the sound of gentle sobbing and sickening blood. She had long fallen over, her one leg too weak to support her weight. Sobbing pathetically, she dragged herself across the smooth white ground, grunting against the flashes of pain that gripped her body. She dragged herself forward, fighting to get closer to Lily. Towards her love… Lily watched, her eyes wide as tears fell down her face. Outside of the blank white reality, she was clutching Twilight’s body, crying hysterically. Here, watching Twilight crawl towards her, she was completely shocked.

Your job is not yet done, Twilight… The voice vibrated in her chest, made Twilight choke and sob. Not yet… It echoed through her, made her insides feel like they were liquid. She felt cold. Very, very cold… Let it go, Twilight… Let it all go… She choked and gagged, tasting bile as her hands clawed at the ground, trying to drag her further along. Closer to Lily. Let it go… She cried harder and shook her head. Let it go.

Twilight’s world went black.

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“Lily,” Melody said gently, pulling on her mother’s arm. “Mom, come on… Let go.” She urged. Lily choked as she clutched Twilight closer, defiantly. “Mom, let her go…”

“Lily, you need to let Twilight go.” Celestia said, crouching at the other end.

“I can’t believe this… This can’t work…” Verse muttered.

“Shush. It can. It will.” Melody’s voice was filled with panic and sadness, not reprimand or anger. “Mom, you need to let go…”

“We can’t have this.” Celestia’s hands glowed brightly as she reached out and laid her fingertips on Lily’s forehead. Thumbs on the estranged changeling’s temples, Celestia smoothly put her to sleep. Her muscles relaxed, and her body fell backwards… She sprawled into the blood stained grass, chest rising and falling slowly. If not for the tear stains on her cheeks or the blood she lay in, she would look peaceful.

“Go now. You can do it.” Celestia said softly, moving out of the way. Verse took her place, he and Melody crouched on either side of Twilight’s prone, still body. Their eyes met. In that gaze, an entire conversation took place. Doubts and fears were exchanged with subtle movements, hardly a twitch of an iris or a slight arch of the brow. At the end, both children simultaneously nodded. Hands aglow, they laid them on Twilight’s still chest…

And took the dive.

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“No… Twilight…” Rainbow Dash writhed atop the bed, her feverish sweat dampening the sheets beneath her

“What’s wrong with her?” Mathias asked softly, his brow drawn with worry. Luna leaned back, her hands resting on her thighs. She was frowning.

“She shares a link with the other elements of harmony… All I am able to tell is that she’s in that link now… She may be unconscious here, but elsewhere, she’s completely active.” Luna sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose between thumb and forefinger. “I need Celestia here, I really do… She could have picked a better time to leave…” Luna stood from the bed, walking out onto the flat floor and towards the balcony. She was tired from having lowered the sun herself, an event she was somewhat unused to... Just not in her nature, really... Where Celestia used strength and demands to raise and lower the sun, Luna used dexterity and coaxing with the stars and the moon... She had always admired Celestia’s brutish strength during the event… Now, though, she had her normal duties to attend to.

“We’re moving mobile command here for the night. I need to stay with General Dash and ensure she rides this out properly. Scramble the codes and bring me the latest reports, Mathias.” With a salute and a click of his heel, Mathias slipped out of the princess’ bed chamber, even as Luna leaned over the balcony. She looked to the North, where the battlefield was slowly beginning to calm for the night.

Fighting a war against changelings was very, very difficult… At one moment, it’s nothing but guards slashing at other guards, hollering unintelligibly and trying to cope with having to stab a friend or comrade, waiting for that moment when they shifted back into the black, vicious changeling they were known to be. Then the next moment, it would be a full-tilt battle as trueform rained from the sky, revealing all of the changelings for what they really were. Lines would shift and change as the two groups fought to re-arrange and regroup. She sighed as she looked down at the dark city, the street lamps lighting the way for a stray patrol or two.

“It’s going to be a very long night…”

Behind her, Dash groaned on the bed.

“Twilight…”

--------

“Gotta find Mom.” Melody grunted, half to herself, half to her brother. She felt the reassuring presence of him nearby, of his muscled frame hovering hardly a foot away.

“Right.” They plummeted endlessly through the darkness, the feeling of falling an incomprehensibly long, definitely lethal distance making her swallow hard and fight the urge to vomit. What’s worse, it was difficult to tell when her eyes were open and closed. The only indication she had was the muscles in her eyelids… The vast, inky blackness was the same whether she had her eyes open or not. After several long moments, though, everything began to grow more… Dull…

“I think we’re getting there.” Verse said gently. Indeed, it felt as if they were making progress… The pure, pitch black was slowly fading into a dark sort of charcoal, and again into a deep, stormy grey. It progressed lighter and lighter until only the edges of Melody’s vision were even remotely dark, and the rest of her sight was filled with brilliant, pure bright white.

“Woah.” She said softly, feeling a surface press into her feet. Her legs accepted her weight readily, thankful to be back under the control of gravity once more… They were standing on a stark white, plain surface that stretched on forever in each direction. There wasn’t a single blemish on the entire landscape.

“I recognize this.” Verse said, drawing her attention to him. To his bare body. She realized she was nude as well in that moment… Awkward, but somehow fitting… Verse didn’t seem to mind, or even notice. His eyes were fixed on the broad, wide landscape, searching for one landmark, something, anything to give them orientation. There was nothing… This whole scenario made Melody feel chilled. Cold, even…

Probably because she was standing in a wide pool of blood. Twilight’s blood. The pale-skinned woman lay in front of them then, snapping into existence faster than she could blink. Melody gasped at the same time as Verse, both of them taking a shocked step backwards from the sight. Once the initial shock faded, though, Melody heedlessly fell to her knees, splashing down in the thick, coagulated puddle, her hands laying on what remained of Twilight’s right leg.

“Well,” Verse muttered, his voice thin with panic and shock. “We found her… Now what?” Melody’s heart hammered in her ears as she gripped Twilight’s cool flesh, her hands immediately stained red with the thick blood leftover. She looked up at her brother, another glance that held an entire conversation. Her jaw was set, determination filling her senses. She had to do this. THEY had to do this. For Twilight. For Lily. For Celestia. Heavens help her, for themselves… She wasn’t ready to say goodbye to her mother, her teacher, her friend and her mentor…

Verse’s eyes met hers once more, both of them dead-set on their course of action.

“Just like Celestia said.” Melody started.

“Blood for blood.” Verse nodded. Together, they held out their wrists, the fingertips of their opposite hands glowing. Slowly, with shaking nerves, Melody and Verse sliced their wrists open.

Melody had been cut before. It was no big surprise to learn that her blood was as black as Lily’s, which she had seen now and then. Save for when it was her flow, Melody bled as black as any other changeling, and so did Verse. Twilight had always been mystified by the phenomena. They had the same magical capabilities as some of the most talented magi Twilight had ever seen, but could also shift like changelings did. What’s more, they were physically similar to changelings in their natural human form… More questions arose, then, when Melody and Verse had been exposed to trueform, and it had no effect on them. They stayed as they had always been… Twilight was astounded. She tried her best to avoid “Testing” them from a young age, but when they were old enough to start studying biology and other sciences, they both agreed to give blood samples and perform other tests for her.

Now, the same blood Twilight spent hours studying under a magnifying glass poured out of her children’s wrists.

At least, Melody thought it was the same… After the first few drops of goopy black liquid, she realized something was drastically different.

Her blood began to turn purple.

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“Well this is… Kind of nice.” Twilight said, her voice sounding flat and dead in the dark air. She was suspended, floating in nothingness, pure darkness hugging her every curve. It wasn’t a claustrophobic sort of darkness, either… It was like… Being outside on a starless night with no moon, no streetlamps, no nothing… And no ground beneath her feet, either. Scratch that, this was unlike anything she had ever known. She wasn’t falling, wasn’t spinning, wasn’t… Doing anything… She was just sort of… There.

It lasted for hours. Twilight wanted to close her eyes and take a nap, but found she was unable. There was no difference between when her eyes were closed or open. No matter how she curled up in a ball or stretched out or tried to lay her head down, she couldn’t find any comfortable position… There was nothing solid to rest against. So she was just… There. In the darkness. Doing nothing but… Just being there.

“My, my darling… I DO hate coming to this place.” That voice… Twilight recognized it immediately. Her lips spread into a smile as she opened her eyes.

“Hello, Rarity…” She opened her eyes and saw the very first discernible object in the past… Who knew how many hours… Rarity, looking the same as she ever did, floated before her. She wore a simple white dress that fell to her ankles, and it billowed as if in a soft breeze. The fabric appeared to be lit by a source that Twilight couldn’t see… Like she was being projected there from a different place. Twilight guessed that could very well be true, since Rarity was… You know… Dead.

Then again, so was she, right?

“The years HAVE treated you kindly, Twilight Sparkle.” Rarity said with a soft smile. Twilight felt her own lips curl up in a soft, embarrassed sort of flush.

“Thanks… I try.”

“Not very hard, darling. It just came so naturally to you. I envied your simple beauty, Twilight.” Rarity said wistfully. “I always thought I looked absolutely DREADFUL whenever I went Au’ Naturel’…” Rarity adjusted the fabric of her dress around her hips, shrugging indifferently. “I suppose I did alright after all… Just… A victim of the fashionista world.” Twilight chuckled along with Rarity, the white-clothed woman stepping forward… How was she standing at all? And where could Twilight get one of those dresses? As far as she could tell, she was nude. Rarity’s roaming gaze proved that fact, and Twilight flushed a little.

“Rarity, I’m-“

“Dead.” She said simply. Twilight stammered for a moment. Rarity could carry a conversation for thousands of words and never once touch on the topic discussed… But she could also deliver curt, simple answers that were both shocking and sometimes rude… Though she would never be blamed for it. “Unfortunately…” Rarity continued, closing the gap between them. She took Twilight’s hand in both of her own, holding it up. “Otherwise, of course, you wouldn’t be seeing me…”

“But…” Twilight stammered, her heart beginning to beat faster. She knew it was true, she just didn’t want to believe it. “It’s not my time, is it?”

“That’s not for me to decide, love.” Rarity said with a soft smile. “Now, don’t read into this any, but your presence there… That is, where you are now, and not here, with me and everyone else, means there’s a chance. Trust me, I stayed in that place for some time myself before arriving here. You’ll have to ask Lily about that little bit… No, Twilight… You being there means something will happen.” Rarity pulled Twilight closer, her warm arms wrapping around Twilight’s quivering body. Twilight clung to Rarity desperately, realizing in that moment how much she had missed her friend… “What that something is… Well, like I said… It isn’t for me to decide.” Rarity’s hand ran back through Twilight’s hair, smoothing it, picking out the tangles and knots… She had such a soothing touch, Twilight slowly calmed down.

“I can tell you from experience, darling…” Rarity whispered softly into her ear, holding the poor magi as she slowly relaxed. “None of us ever truly says goodbye…” She leaned in, giving Twilight one soft squeeze before pulling away. Twilight clung tight, but Rarity slipped through her arms like smoke. Her lips were curled in a soft, serene, beautiful smile as she faded away…

“We only ever say… ‘See you later.’”

Twilight’s world shattered.

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“HUUUUUUUHH!” Rainbow Dash’s back arched up from the bed, her entire body coming awake in an instant with a very loud gasp. Both Luna and Mathias jumped from the desk they had been seated at, the former rushing over to the bed. Luna smoothly slid underneath Dash’s back, cradling her close. The avian panted, her eyes wide with fear and shock. Luna held her close, stroking her rainbow hair gently.

“What’s wrong, General? Tell me.” Dash quivered, her shaking hand reaching up to grasp Luna’s blouse firmly. Her words were ragged, her forehead broke in a feverish sweat. In the aftermath of her rapid gasp, she coughed twice, her chest wracked with each one. “Dash, breathe. I need you to focus. Listen to me.” Luna said softly. “What happened in the link?”

”Twilight!” Dash finally gasped. ”Twilight’s alive!”