PAST
Spike heard his bedroom door open. He was lying in his bed facing the window, so he didn't see who it was, but he had a pretty good guess. He didn't turn around.
Twilight approached his bed without a word, only speaking up once she had reached his bedside.
"Spike, are you ok?"
"What does it look like, Twilight?! No, I'm not ok! You treat me like I'm your family, yet you won't tell me what's really going on with you! How am I meant to feel?!"
"Spike, I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier. It's just… not an easy topic to talk about. But, you are my advisor, after all, and my little brother. If there's anyone I should talk to about this, it should be you."
That caught Spike's attention. Was she going to tell him now? He rolled over to look at her, and he saw the tears threatening to fall. He almost forgave her right there, but he still wasn't sure.
"I'm listening."
"You see, Spike, I'm worried about my immortality because I don't want to watch my friends grow old without me. I don't want to watch them… die. Or you. If I'm immortal and they're not, that will be my future. I'll have to keep on living without them, and eventually, without you too, knowing that I'll have to live forever without seeing any of you ever again, and I'm not sure I'd be able to take it."
Immediately Spike understood why she didn't want to tell him. This would be a tough burden for anyone to bear alone. Celestia and Luna always had each other, even when separated by the moon during Nightmare Moon's banishment, but Twilight didn't have anyone. Except for Discord, but even he wasn't sure how long he'd stay sane with the God of Chaos as his only permanent friend…
"So, if this was true, what would you propose? If it was possible, would you make us all immortal like you?"
"No. I thought about it, but you all have friends and family too. I wouldn't want to put you all through this as well. The only way I'd be able to avoid it completely would be to immortalise everypony and everycreature in the world, and you can see how that wouldn't work."
"So, what are you saying?" Spike was dreading what she was going to say next, but he had a strange feeling he knew where this was going.
"If it was possible, I'd want to give up my immortality. Just live my life as I was always going to, and eventually move on to the other side, where I'd be able to reunite with all of you again."
Spike wanted to say something, but he immediately felt like a hypocrite as he found himself unable to tell her. Even before they moved away from Canterlot, Spike knew how vastly different the life-spans of dragons were compared to that of ponies. He knew that eventually, the fear of having to watch all of his pony friends die would come to pass, and now here Twilight was with the same problem. If she really was immortal, then Spike would never have to worry about losing her, but if she gave it up, then the future Twilight spoke of wouldn't be hers, but his. He knew that she knew the exact same thing about their respective life-spans, but he decided that now may not be the best time to remind her.
"But, what about Equestria? Our country still needs a ruler." There was a brief pause.
"I hadn't thought about that. I suppose I could always do what Celestia did for me and try to train somepony to succeed me." It was Spike's turn to pause.
"So, I suppose that's what you were going to ask Starswirl? For a way to sacrifice your immortality?"
Another pause.
"Yeah."
"Well, in that case, I'd better get writing." Twilight instantly looked directly at Spike, who was now suddenly holding a quill and a scroll, waiting to scribe for her, just as he had always done. Before she said anything, though, she grabbed him in her magic, and pulled him closer for a hug.
"Thank you, Spike. I wish I'd told you sooner."
"So do I, but you've told me now. That's all that matters." After remaining in each other's embrace for a few more moments, they eventually broke apart, and after regaining his composure, Spike reclaimed his quill and scroll (that he had dropped when Twilight had magic-grabbed him).
"Right. Ready when you are, Twi."
"Right, right. Dear Starswirl…"
"Dad, are you ok?"
"Yeah, Barb. I'm fine."
"I'm guessing it was possible for Twilight to give it up?"
"It was."
"It is quite strange, though. To actively want to give up immortality. I mean, who doesn't want to live forever." She was going to say more, but before she was able to continue, she was hit in the back of the head with a fireball from her mother. Not big enough to do any damage, of course. It was basically the dragon equivalent of a smack on the wrist. Spike was quick to speak up again.
"No, Smolder, it's ok. Barb, think of it this way. Immortality really is a blessing and a curse. It is both having the ability to live forever, but also having to watch all of your loved ones die, over and over again. I don't think anybody would truly want a life like that. It sounds pretty lonely to me."
"I never thought of it like that. Sorry, Dad."
"It's ok, Barb. Do you still want to know how they passed on?"
"Are still ok with telling me?"
"Yeah. I think it's about time I talked about it."
Buuut, that'll have to wait until the next installment! Sorry! For those of you who didn't read my Zootopia fic, I took a week's break after the New Year began, hence why this chapter is a week late as well. We should be back to a more regular schedule now. Although, the next chapter of this might be going up next week if I can't think of any other short stories to write. If anyone has any suggestions for me to try, or if you just have a question to ask me, hit up my PMs. In any case, I'll hopefully be seeing some of you next week, either with this story, or a new one! Ciao for now!
OnTheSpectrum
