Spike's Sacrifice

Chapter 9: Leaving the Castle/Twilight's Coronation

TWO MONTHS LATER

This was the day that Twilight was mentally preparing herself for. Ever since Celestia and Luna annonced their retirement and chose Twilight as their successor, Twilight was both excited and nervous about the event. She would've had her coronation sooner, but Spike's death threw a wrench in their schedule and they spent the last three months trying to heal. Now, however, her friends and she were packing up the last of their things in the castle and were getting ready to leave it behind for good. Cozy, Cobalt, and the Young Six pitched in to help too, but everyone noticed something was off about Twilight. She seemed a bit sad and distant from everyone else. Eventually, the Lavender Alicorn Princess excused herself from the rest of the group and went upstairs. Cozy and Cobalt could sense something was wrong and tailed her. They watched her as she climbed the staircase. Twilight was climbing it very slowly and there were teardrops falling off her face and onto the floor and stairs. She opened a door and walked into a room. The two kids saw the side of her face for a split second. Her eye was full of tears and she was trying not to break down in the hallway. Immediately, they realized their suspiscions were confirmed and notified everyone else.

"Hey, everyone," Cozy called, getting everyone's attention.

"What is it, Cozy?" Starlight asked.

"Twilight's crying. We don't know why," Cobalt responded.

The second they heard that, everyone dropped what they were doing and followed Cozy and Cobalt up the stairs. As they climbed the staircase, they noticed teardrops on the stairs as well as on the floor that turned left and stopped at a closed door. Cozy opened it and she, as well as everyone else, realized that they were at the entrance of Spike's bedroom turned memorial room. Twilight was sitting on the floor and she was facing away from the door. They could see the edges of an open book in front of Twilight.

"Twilight," Cozy began. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," Twilight began. Her tone was low and cracked as if she was trying not to cry.

Cobalt and Cozy weren't convinced. They quietly walked up to Twilight and looked at the book that was in front of her. It was a large book with several photographs glued onto the pages. The photos displayed images of Twilight and Spike smiling at the camera while their friends were sometimes doing fun activities in the backround. There were several fresh teardrops on the pages and Twilight was looking at the photos with possibly the saddest expression Cozy and Cobalt had ever seen her with.

"What's wrong, Twilight?" Cobalt asked.

"It's nothing, Cobalt. Honestly, I just miss Spike, that's all," Twilight sniffled.

Cobalt knew that was a lie and so did Cozy. They knew Twilight was always sad looking at pictures of Spike and her, but she never looked this sad.

"Come on, Twilight," Cozy coaxed. "You can tell us. We're your friends."

Twilight let out a shaken sigh. When she thought about it more, she knew it wasn't good to keep her emotions bottled up like this.

"Well," she started. "I just can't bring myself to leave the castle or Ponyville. For one thing, if I leave here I feel like my friends and I will grow apart because they're all living here in Ponyville while I'm in Canterlot."

Everyone gasped in shock at Twilight's revelation. Cozy and Cobalt listened more intently as Twilight continued on.

"I also can't leave here because Spike and I have made so many happy memories in here together. If I move out of here, I feel like I'm leaving all those memories behind and I won't ever be able to get them back," Twilight finished, feeling even worse, but at the same time, glad because she finally opened up to her friends and felt a huge weight being lifted off her chest.