A/N: It's been ten years since the story started... so happy ten years to Learning To Live, I guess.
Spike's POV
I was pacing back and forth, as me and the other girls remained exactly where Twilight needed us to be. My eyes were turned towards the graveyard in the short distance, where she had gone off to. The graveyard that looked exactly like where Brayden had been buried years ago.
"Poor Twilight..." I could hear Fluttershy say to herself, as I turned in my pacing to see her start talking after a couple of minutes of silence from all of us.
"I hear you there, darling..." Rarity commented as well, exhaling a sad sigh from her lips. "...We all miss him."
"Yeah," Pinkie agreed, a sad expression crossing onto her face. "I remember that he comforted me when I was at lunch with him, and he comforted me when I was crying."
"What were you crying about, Pinkie?" I asked her, no longer pacing, and walking over to Pinkie, joining next to her.
"We had a few ponies there snickering at me and Brayden when we sat down, and I shouted at them that me and Brayden were not... you-know."
"Please, go on." Rarity commented.
"I was telling him that it was similar to when I was dating a special somepony before he came to Equestria."
"Oh, Ah heard 'bout that stallion," Applejack says, sounding a bit disappointed. "Ah'll be honest, Ah knew he was somehow stuck up."
"I played along with the laughing because I thought it was all fun, but he was quite serious and called it off," Pinkie continued. "When I went to see the stallion to try and make it up to him, he came out with another mare. Probably another that he'd break up with afterwards. I was in tears when I told Brayden this story, and he comforted me."
"That was really sweet of Brayden to do that," Rarity commented. "I always knew that he had the heart of a true stallion in him."
"He was there for me when Ah was reminisced 'bout mah parents," Applejack said, taking off her hat and placing it on her chest, revealing her mane. "So Pinkie's not alone, as he gave me comfort too."
"We all have our special memories of us and Brayden," I said to my friends, taking into initiation like Twilight always did. "I have my memories of him as well. I remember this as back as when the Golden Oaks Library was still standing, that me and him went together to the Carousel Boutique to help Rarity and Coco with fashion material."
"I remember that too, Spike!" Rarity said, an expression brightened on her face when I brought up that memory. "He really was a great help for us, as I needed to prepare for the fashion show that was coming up."
"Remember when Brayden went to the Wonderbolts show I was at, performing alongside them?" Rainbow Dash says, chuckling a little bit. "He got his hands a little too fair into the-"
"Yes yes Rainbow we know," Pinkie zips towards her and covers her mouth, to the cyan colored pegasus' disappointment. "He practically stuffed his face full of the carrot dogs. It however, wasn't funny to see him try to say 'chubby pony' at all."
"Yeah..." I said, with that memory coming to mind.
"It seems all of you have some good memories of that boy you are talking about..."
The voice that wasn't any of our other friends had spoken out, and even I could not recognize who it was that spoke, as there was the slightest echo as if it was distant. But I did however tell, that it was a female voice and that it did not sound like it was a threat whatsoever. Nonetheless, I am almost very certain that Rainbow Dash would immediately start going into 'defensive' and beckon for whoever spoke to come out.
"Who- who's there?!" Rainbow Dash lands in front of us, ready to protect us from whoever spoke out. "Show yourself!"
"Take it easy there... I'm not going to hurt you." The voice spoke out again, as we can hear the sound of hooves trotting on the rocks, and the shadow of what looks like a mare coming into view. "Neither both of us want to bring you harm..."
Alongside that mare, flapping its wings, my eyes could see that there was a pegasus accompanying her as well. The mists still shrouded their appearances, and even so, I didn't know who they were, as they looked very different from the regular citizen of Equestria.
By the time the earth pony hopped down from the misty rocks above, was I finally able to get a good look at what she looked like, as well as the pegasus who had joined her to her left. The earth pony herself, looking the closest to an Equestria citizen usually did was the closest to resemble. She had emerald green eyes, with a mane colored of both magenta and purple, which was tied back in a braid. Her coat was an apricot orange, with brown hooves, which had highlighted white socks that faded into the apricot orange color her coat had.
On the other hoof, the pegasus that was with the earth pony had purple eyes, almost similar to what Twilight's eye color looked like, with a bright pink coat and a dark blue mane. Her appearance was not familiar to my own eyes, as I watch her set her hooves down onto the ground and close her wings.
The earth pony set forward, with Rainbow Dash easing her pose and was willing to listen to what this mare was going to say to us. "I was listening in on the conversation you all were having, and I was able to be in touch with what you all were saying." She says to us.
"As nice as it is to hear a voice of reason here that is able to understand our situation with our friend who had passed away, who might you be exactly?" Rarity asked the apricot orange earth pony who was keeping aware when trotting closer to us, and trying her best to show that she was not a threat and that she had good intentions.
"My name is Sunny Starscout," The mare had told us her name, which didn't seem any different from the regular Equestria name around the country. "I'm from Maretime Bay, a coastside town."
"Maretime Bay?" As usual, Rainbow acted very suspicious, but did not try to get defensive again. "Probably a likely story."
"No, it's not a lie, as I am from there," Sunny continued. "From where Maretime Bay is... or well, would eventually be... it is closer to where Vanhoover would be, closer to the seas. I live in a lighthouse there."
A bit of laughter came from Pinkie. "A lighthouse?" She chortled at first, and then calmed after me and the rest of our friends gave her looks to tell her without words, not to start up our guest. "...Well, Twilight's lived in a tree house library before, so it's nothing out of the ordinary."
"You know Twilight Sparkle?" Sunny asked us. "Is she here?"
"Let's not rush and jump to conclusions just yet," I said, walking forward and getting between her and Rainbow. "We still don't know anything about Sunny's other friend right there."
"Oh, me?" The pink pegasus asked, laughing a bit nervously before continuing. "I'm Firefly. I come from Dream Valley."
"Dream Valley?" I asked myself, placing two claws onto my chin as I began to think hard about why that place sounded very familiar. "So, like the story that fillies and foals are told about, regarding the Two Stones?"
"Yeah, except it wasn't a tale!" Firefly exclaims, sounding relieved that there is me, other than Twilight who knew about it - although told as a tale among everypony else. "The stones are what held the valley I lived in with my friend together. It was the peace and friendship elemental powers in them that Dream Valley was able to remain stable."
"That don't make any sense," Applejack says, a confused tone in her voice as if she wondered what me and Firefly were talking about. "Ah thought the Two Stones were all just a myth."
"It seems everything we used to think was a myth, turned out to be real after all, Applejack." I hear Rarity comment in response to the orange earth pony's statement.
"You do almost look a little bit like me, you know." Rainbow comments to Firefly.
The pink pegasus was surprised as well by this, and responded "Yeah! We almost look alike, almost like we're twins! More than likely not the same blood though... otherwise I'd probably be your ancestor."
"I think Brayden might have shared a bit about Dream Valley, when he was still with us," Pinkie started to talk with them, trotting towards the two instead of doing her usual zip to them. "He had knowledge about that place, that we had only known in legends."
"And me?" Sunny asked.
"No, not you, because you come from the next generation that is still yet to come which is what he didn't know as you haven't technically existed just yet until closer to the end of the year... 2021 per say," Pinkie explained. "We don't exactly know what happened and how everything around us turned out this crazy after a time spell all of us were using went absolutely wrong."
"Please, do tell us." Firefly commented, allowing her to continue.
"Our friend who you have already heard us mention... his name was Brayden. He came from another world far from Equestria on the other side of the galaxy which only Princess Luna knew of. She brought him to our world, and became our best friend." Pinkie stated, taking a breath before she continued. "He was a warrior, and helped to protect us when the Blood Dragons of Mortem came about. We thought that it was a dragon that was controlling Brayden's friend, who was making her act out with violence against Equestria, but our friend unveiled the curtain on who was really behind the scenes, Grogar."
"Grogar?!" Firefly sounded a bit timid upon the mention of the ram's name. "The necromancer ram?! It can't be... me and Megan dealt with him in our... well, the generation I came in." She pauses a moment. "Your friend Brayden... was he human?"
"Yes, why?" Rarity asked, sharing a curious, yet interested expression on her face.
"My friend Megan, she was human just like your friend," Firefly answered Rarity's question, an expression crossing onto the face of the pegasus. "So it looks like our generation wasn't the only one to have a human in its world."
"Mine doesn't have a human... yet." Sunny commented, jumping into the conversation. "Before I ended up here with Firefly, I was back in the generation yet-to-come... I was gathering these crystal shards based on the three pony races. I was hoping to activate the magic from within it, but I was knocked out when Sprout, who was trying to go to war with the other pony races, had crashed his machine into my lighthouse home. I only remember falling from above the top of the lighthouse before I blacked out."
"Me and her found each other, having woke up in the same place, up there in the castle on that mountain that hangs on the side of the mountain," Firefly explains, turning her head towards the mist-covered Canterlot that sat above. "The whole place was practically a ghost city, as there was no one there."
Applejack trots forward. "Well, y'all of us just got through a deserted Ponyville, and nopony were there either." She said, trying not to think about the crazy feline sorceress that had her pet lizard chase after us.
"Now, if I am to believe, you were wondering if Twilight was here?" I asked the apricot orange mare.
"Yes, I did," Sunny asked, knowing that there was familiarity somehow... maybe her generation knows about what Twilight and her friends did? Was I involved with them? "You must be her assistant, Spike."
"Reminds me of Spike back in Dream Valley... he almost looks a bit like you." Firefly commented, as she puts a hoof on her chin and studied my appearance.
"The one and only," I said, rather impressed that she knew who I was. "But it still doesn't explain how you know all of us." I was still eager to know how Sunny knew about our friends.
"In my generation, they are legends that my dad had told me about... well, before he passed..." Sunny said, stopping with a saddened expression on her face when she thought of her father.
Fluttershy trots up to Sunny, placing her right front hoof onto Sunny's left front hoof. "I'm really sorry to hear about that. My condolences..." The soft, friendly voice of the pegasus spoke to her, as the earth pony lifts up her head to look at her, and then us again.
"Now that I am here though, I am sure that Princess Twilight is set to have all the answers I need to understand what the magic of friendship truly means, and for a way back to my generation," Sunny expressed, having cheered up a bit but sounding like she was off to find Equestria's greatest treasure. "So... do you know where she is?" She pondered, looking questioned.
"She went off to the graveyard," I revealed to her, raising my dragon claw to point out where the graveyard is. "She wanted to pay respect to her husband who passed away a long time back during the War of Mortem."
"Her husband? Was it the human?" Firefly asked.
"We try not to use the word 'human', Firefly. But yes, he was her husband." I said to the pink pegasus.
"Sorry," She apologized, not knowing that she couldn't directly say the word 'human'. "I'll keep that in mind for when we meet her."
"Don't worry about it," I responded to her with a smile, now knowing that Firefly had an understanding of what not to say in front of Twilight when it came to Brayden. I turn to look at Sunny and all of my other friends. "Should we go to the graveyard to see Twilight? She's been there for a while now."
My friends all look at each other and then look back with concerned expressions on their faces. By how their faces looked, they could more than likely tell that I was right... it has been what... an hour or two? I honestly thought she would have been back by now.
"You're right. She's taking longer than usual," Rarity commented, trotting towards the path and stopping to turn and look at us. "We should go and check. I'm a bit worried about her now."
"Me too..." Fluttershy said, sounding a bit sad - as she was Brayden's close friend. Just as much as his death affected Twilight badly, it took a while to get the pegasus through the Five Stages of Grief.
"C'mon then, let's go n' see Twilight before she wanders off without us." Applejack says, getting back onto her four hooves and joining alongside Rarity.
All of us silently look at each other, including our two new friends from different generations, and nod in agreement. I turn and begin to walk along with my friends down the path towards the graveyard, where I already knew that Twilight was going to be at Brayden's grave, probably to visit him again.
Twilight's POV
A quiet, but sad sigh was exhaled from my mouth, with my breath being seen in the cold winds, surrounded by the snow I was sitting in as I faced the specialized gravestone from long ago, which looked like a statue of my lover which looked to have aged a bit.
I was there again, just like I had been many times before, sitting and thinking of Brayden when staring at his grave. That was all my eyes were focused on from that moment and many more. Although like the statue above of Brayden holding the Song of Order above his head, the chiseled scripture on the gravestone was still readable, even when there were small cracks starting to appear on the smooth-cut stone tile the grave had.
"Here lies the Paladin of Equestria, the hero who conquered and defeated darkness once and for all. Brayden, a friend to all of Equestria, and the only born son of Princess Celestia."
He truthfully was a friend to all of us, even if few didn't like him. Memories of me and him came pouring through into my mind, his smile... his long hair that had grown out, as I remember when I first met him - his hair was short... and those brown eyes of his... I remember he would stare into my violet eyes, just as I did with his brown eyes... His voice, calm and gentle... I can still hear his voice from those memories of past... his final words exchanged before passing away from his sacrifice.
"You are my light Twilight... my guiding light... that's a promise..."
I can feel my eyes swelter a bit, thinking of what he said to me as the rain was pouring down on the both of us, with Celestia using her wing to hold her son as he was slowly dying. With a bit of pressure felt, I knew I could feel some tears crawling down my cheeks as another memory of his final words crossed my mind.
"Twi... Goodbye... Twi... I had... had... the time of... my life with you and every... everypony... you're all my... best... friends... I... I..."
I closed my eyes as I could hear myself cry, struggling to hide the tears even as I can hear myself in my own memories, screaming for him. I felt like I lost a huge part of me that day as I remembered kissing him for the final time before he exhaled his last breath, and my friends trying to comfort me when I lost it at his funeral. My friends were devastated, but I took it the worst, almost wanting to throw myself onto his coffin, hoping that his death was all just a dream... but it wasn't.
"Brayden... I'm sorry..." I said, sobbing a bit before continuing. "I... I let you down. I was supposed to protect you, as you protected me and everypony else... I failed... I'm sorry..." I feel forward, digging my head between my hooves as I sobbed. "I'm really sorry..."
There would be no hand of his there on my shoulder to give me comfort whenever I needed it, nor the warmth of his soul to keep me at peace... even with my friends at my side, I felt for the first time that this is what being alone felt.
"Twilight! Twilight!" I could hear the voices of my friends behind me calling out my name. I did not move or turn to look behind me at the sound of hooves approaching. I just kept my head down between my two front hooves, sobbing to myself as their voices would grow with concern and worry.
"Twilight! There you are!" Rarity said, as I can feel what I assumed was her front hoof touching onto my shoulder to check and see if I was alright. "You were here for a while, and you had all of us..." I can hear the white unicorn stop mid-sentence, as I am sure that she saw the tears crawling down from my eyes. "You're crying, Twilight... are you okay?" Her tone of voice became more caring, and sounded like she wanted to listen.
I struggle to get words out from my mouth as I rose up my head a bit, my eyes perched back onto Brayden's gravestone, with more tears crawling down my eyes. "It's all my fault, and I can only blame myself for letting this happen," I said, sobbing a bit more. "I... I think I'm the reason Brayden died. We were supposed to protect him, just like he protected us... but all we did was fail... I'm a failure for letting this happen!" The volume of my voice was raised when I nearly screamed that I felt that way.
"No... no Twilight, don't say you are a failure!" Rainbow Dash commented, placing a wing around me to give me some comfort. "We did fail, yes, but he knew the sacrifice he had to do to save all of us." This was probably the first time I've ever seen the cyan colored pegasus be expressed this way.
"He saved all of us, and that's what matters most," Rarity said, moving her hoof to my cheek and holding it there. "Twilight... please look at me..."
"I just..." I paused for that moment, as at first I didn't know exactly what to say. "I just miss him so much..."
"We know, Twilight... we know..." Applejack says, placing her hoof onto my back, trying to make me feel a bit better. "Ah miss him too."
Not a word came from my mouth to respond to any of my friends, as I had run out of what to say next. I close my eyes, but feel the hugs of my friends as more tears are being squeezed out from my closed eyes.
"I know exactly how you feel Princess..."
There's another voice. I do not recognize this voice from around Equestria. I slowly open my eyes, finally turning around from Brayden's gravestone and past my friends to see an apricot orange earth pony standing there behind me with a look of concern on her face, and between the expression, I could see that she was reading how I felt when I lost Brayden...
But I did not know who she was, with only her friend behind her my eyes could recognize. It looks like Firefly from the book of past legends, when I learned about her actions in the first generation, and what Brayden had told many years ago. My violet eyes were kept focused on the earth pony in front of me. "Who... who are you?" I asked, starting to calm a bit from crying. Although I was calm, tears still were aflow in my eyes.
The earth pony stayed where she was with Firefly behind her, who watches our conversation. "I'm Sunny Starscout," The earth pony told me. "...I'm really sorry about your husband. I... I know how you feel about losing somepony you love dearly."
"No... no you don't..." I said to her, my tone of voice filled with doubt. "Nopony but me and my friends know how special he was... You have no idea how it feels to wake up, knowing that they won't be there beside you, or to hear them smile, laugh, cry or get angry..."
"But I do know Twilight..." Sunny continued after I have said what I needed to say. She paused for a moment, clearly thinking about what to say next as I glance and wait for her to continue. Watching her inhale some breath, she speaks again. "My father, who was a big follower of your viewpoints and knowledge of the Magic of Friendship, he passed away a few years ago from where I am... and I felt that it was my own fault that I let that happen to him."
Her... her father died? My heart felt troubled still, but I kept listening, knowing that hearing stories related to my own loss would be that to heal my wounded heart.
"It was a stormy night along the road back to Maretime Bay, and my father was returning from another journey to get his mind off things after a couple of days trying to spread the message of friendship and harmony to no avail," Sunny continued. "Nopony in our town believed any of that, and thought we were crazy. The winds and rain were nasty that night, and a misstep by a cliff that was around the path sent him falling from the cliff to his death close by the rocks. There was a search out for my father... I was devastated when my closest friend Hitch had to tell me the news..." She looks like she is stumbling a bit through words to find the right ones to say. "I... I ended up blaming myself that I wasn't able to be there for him that night. There was nights I would blame and kick myself for letting it happen... but just like time, it healed all my wounds and I was finally able to accept that he was gone, knowing that he will always be in my heart."
"Just like how Brayden is..." I said to myself, but loud enough for her and my other friends to hear.
"You two are not the only ones who feel that way..." Firefly commented, trotting forward a bit to join next to Sunny. "My loss was a complete accident... I thought it was all my fault when the brother of my human friend Megan had passed away."
"Your human friend had a brother?" I can hear Spike ask.
"Yes, she did. His name was Danny," Firefly continued. "When my generation's version of Tirek had returned for revenge, he had targeted Danny, knowing that he was related to his sister Megan. The blast was way too much for him, and he sustained fatal injuries that even we couldn't heal. He passed away in Megan's arms when we returned him to Megan. She and her younger sister Molly were devastated... but I felt inside that it was my fault that he did."
"Did you ever end up expressing how you felt to Megan after that?" Rainbow asked.
"I did," Firefly continued. "When I told her what happened, she wasn't mad that I wasn't able to get that strong enough to defend him, and told me not to blame myself for what happened. We were able to avenge Danny's death, and defeat Tirek again once and for all with the Rainbow of Light once again."
Inside, I started to feel a little bit better. The tears I was shedding had stopped the more I listened to them, and while I still felt a bit hurt about losing Brayden, they did have some truth in their words. I start to get up onto all four of my hooves, standing up and trotting towards Sunny, stopping a few feet away.
"I... I thank you for telling me both of your stories," I said to both Sunny and Firefly, a huge weight that kept me under now starting to lighten up. "I didn't know that you had somepony that you both lost either. It still hurts, but I know now that time will heal this long wound that I held for those many years."
"Just give it time, that's all I can say," Sunny responded to me. "It was a huge help to making me feel a lot better, knowing I would continue to deliver the message about friendship in my father's name."
A smile crossed onto my mouth when I looked at her. I think she may be right... probably best to remember those words when healing...
"Twilight..."
That voice... I recognize it. It... sounds like him...
"Twilight... I'm here..."
I turn my head, looking back to where Brayden was buried, with the iris' in my eyes shrinking a bit when I saw a familiar shadow hanging onto the pave of the gravestone. The shadow of a human itself with wings...
...Brayden.
"Brayden? Is that really you?"
"Yes, it's me..." The shadow of Brayden says, staying where it was on the gravestone. "Come to me, Twilight..."
I turn myself around, and I start trotting slowly, but close towards the gravestone, allured by the sound of his gentle tone of voice that called for me. Is this all true? Has he really still been alive?
"Wait... something is not right here..." I hear Sunny behind me, pondering to herself with the realization that there was something fishy going on.
"Come closer Twilight... come to me..." That voice of his allures me closer towards the gravestone. As I pass all of my friends, they look at the gravestone with confusion as well, as they didn't expect to hear his voice.
"Wait a minute..." I can hear Sunny behind me before she raised her voice with alarm. "...Wait! Princess Twilight! STOP!"
Hearing the alarm in Sunny's voice, I turn my head around to look at her, seeing the expression of suspicion crossing onto her face. "That... that's not your Brayden! It's a trap!" She says, galloping next to me as I stopped in my tracks, seeing her raise a hoof to point at the shadow. "That's anything but your Brayden!"
"You are right," The shadow spoke once more, changing from what I thought was Brayden's voice, to something a bit more deeper. The shape of the shadow that represented Brayden, changes into that of an alicorn filly in front of us. By that point, I started to recognize the deeper but gruff tone of voice. "It really is a trap that Blueblood had us lure you into."
I exhale a gasp of terror, realizing now who this was, as those recognizable centaur horns came out from around the gravestone. "TIREK!" I gasped out with shock.
There is the sound of screams as my ears picked up the sound of magic emitting, realizing that was the sound of my friends. I turn around, gasping louder to see that a magic aura was circled around each of my friends and both Sunny and Firefly, pinning them downwards to the snow-covered ground. The one who was pinning them down, was that of a young filly... one I haven't seen before.
The filly's mane color was almost similar to Coco Pommel's, only difference was the style that almost resembles curls. Her coat was salmon-pink while her scarlet colored eyes glared at me with a clever smile on her face, and a cutie mark that resembles a chess piece of a rook.
I was almost driven into action right away, seeing all of my friends in danger. I channel magic into my horn, stopping for that moment when the alicorn filly didn't flinch for even a moment of seeing me take my defensive stance, knowing I was surrounded front and behind by both her and Tirek.
"Nu-uh-uh!" The filly exclaimed with proud arrogance. "Try any moves, and you're going to lose those friends of yours!"
"What do the both of you want with us?" I demanded, still keeping magic channeled into my horn just in case they tried something or had something in mind. "I haven't met you, but Tirek who is... how- how did you even plan it out without going at each other's throats?!"
The filly held her smile. "Simple," She says. "I'll let Tirek explain a little bit, but not for long as we have little time."
"I'll be brief about it, Princess," Tirek says, as I turn my head and look to see him with a sharp grin, and his eyes focused down at me. "The filly you have met, her name is Cozy Glow and she is my apprentice. While all of you ponies were distracted with the war of Mortem, I was able to get her to help me escape Tartarus again."
"No... a filly managed to free you... Impossible." I said, pondering at first, but having a feeling that it probably wasn't true. "Tartarus is closely sealed, and there was Cerberus."
Cozy Glow, keeping her magic active around my friends, flies over to me and pokes her head forward. "It wasn't easy!" She said, a glare right in my face before she backed away. "Tirek had to instruct me on how to distract Cerberus which was the hardest part."
Tirek just stated as his eyes were still focused on me. "It's a long story," Taking in a bit of breath, he takes one step forward. "There is no time now, the pony who has made a deal for us... he waits for you and your friends, and we are personally escorting you to him whether you like it or not."
A pony who made a deal with the two... Blueblood!
"I'm already suspicious that it is Prince Blueblood himself that offered this to both of you, didn't he?" I said to Tirek.
"Absolutely," He smiles with a bit of a dark chuckle. "He's promised me and my apprentice the timeline we could ever want in our lifetime."
"Now's the time to make a decision... will you come willingly, or will we have to force you to come?" Cozy now demanded, sounding like a guard making harsh negotiations in an interrogation.
I lower my head... I knew that either way was going to lead us directly straight to Blueblood. Both of us were already in a trapped state that it would be a fight we wouldn't be able to win, so I think we have no choice but to come with them willingly, with hopes that there were no tricks up their sleeves like taking all of our magic, or trapping us... you know.
"Alright," I raise my head to look at Tirek again. "We'll come along."
"Excellent," Tirek says with a chuckle, then pulling back his right arm. "...Lights out, Princess."
By the time I realized what was going on, the last things I saw with Tirek and Blueblood's tower behind him, which awaited us before the centaur threw a fist into my face, turning my vision black.